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Christian Family Principles
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

Copyright - Lester Hutson - 1981
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.

Ahab and Jezebel Husband and Wife
Part One

Chapter Twelve

INTRODUCTION: Text * I Kings 21:25

King Ahab, who ruled from Samaria in Israel, is one of the better known husbands of all times. No doubt, the main reason why Ahab is known so well, is his marriage to Jezebel. Jezebel is the epitome of a wicked wife. Even people who know nothing of the Bible story know that the name Jezebel stands for something bad. One of the greatest insults you can put to a woman is to call her Jezebel. It says she is rotten to the core.

I Kings 16:30-31 says, "And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him." The marriage of these two people constituted one of the wickedest homes this world has ever witnessed. It was like the serpent kissed the devil. The wickedness of one became the delight of the other. I Kings 21:25 makes this statement about these two: "But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up."

I. AHAB WAS AN EXTREMELY WICKED HUSBAND.

A. In fact, Ahab was more wicked than any of the kings who had ruled in Israel before him, as in our text verse.

1. I Kings 16:33 says, "Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him."

2. It is really saying a lot to say that Ahab was more wicked than any king of Israel before him.

a. Israel had already had some humdingers before Ahab.

b. King Jeroboam, the first to rule after the civil war at the death of Solomon in I Kings 14:30, made Israel to worship calves of gold, in I Kings 12:28. He turned the people from the worship of the true God to idol worship, sensuous living and a scorn for separation and Godliness. The third Israeli king after the country split, Baasha, murdered Jeroboam’s son to become king, I Kings 15:27-28. Baasha also systematically sought out and killed every member of Jeroboam’s family.

c. After 24 years of wicked living, Baasha died. Now listen in the words of the scripture to what happened next. I Kings 16:8-10, "In the twenty and sixth year of Asa, king of Judah, began Elah, the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years. And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah. And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his stead." Verse 11 says he immediately killed all the house of Baasha. After a seven day reign, Zimri burned his house down upon himself and died. Bloody civil fighting followed, and Omri emerged the next king. I Kings 16:25-26 says this about Omri, "But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all that were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities."

d. Ahab was Omri’s son, and he became king next. Now can you imagine that Ahab "did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him"? That’s exactly what I Kings 16:30 says.

B. I want you to see some of the wickedness of which Ahab was so guilty during the twenty-two years he reigned over Israel.

1. Right off the bat, he married the wrong person.

a. Jezebel was a Zidonian, which was one of the wicked, heathen, pagan tribes of the Canaanites. Note I Kings 11:1. They were famous for worshipping Baal, the sun, and Ashteroth, the goddess of fertility, in I Kings 11:5, 33. Promiscuous sex, sensuous living, immorality and child sacrifice were their way of life. It is not difficult to see what kind of values Ahab had. He was bent on sex passions and the lust of the flesh. He married the wrong person, and he didn’t change her. Instead, she dominated him and brought him to even more Godless living.

b. Ahab had multiple marriage sins. It is sin for God’s people to marry the Devil’s people. It is sin for a man to be henpecked or controlled by his wife. It is sin for a man to glorify the lust of his flesh. Ahab was weak, lustful, sensuous, ignorant and uninterested in God's Word about marriage, with his attention focused on this world and its pleasures.

c. And what the Bible says about Ahab has to be said about many of today's husbands.

2. Ahab was rotten with selfishness.

a. You can see it clear as day regarding Naboth's vineyard, in I Kings 21. Ahab owned most of the land in Israel, yet he was not satisfied. Naboth had a beautiful little vineyard in Jezreel, and Ahab wanted it. Verse 4 says when Naboth refused to sell it, "Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread." Though that happened thousands of years ago, I can still smell the sickening stink of Ahab, and it makes me want to vomit. This twenty-first chapter of I Kings reeks with the wickedness of Ahab. He was greedy. He was vicious. He was conceited. He was cowardly and underhanded. He was jealous, envious, covetous and full of pride.

b. And oh, how he typifies many modern husbands. They are rotten. Just like Ahab, they are greedy, jealous, proud, conceited, deceitful and often vicious.

3. Beginning with chapter 16, the remainder of the book of I Kings will tell you plenty more that was wrong with Ahab.

a. It tells how he was personally a coward in I Kings 21:27, yet when he had power on his side, he was a bully in I Kings 21:5-16. Lots of people are committing lots of sins because it is legal to do so. Ahab was cruel, irresponsible, unjust, rebellious against God, self-deceived, arrogant, dishonest and determined to satisfy the lusts of his flesh, regardless of who he had to step on to do it, and with no regard to God or anybody else.

b. Mister, these are the things that caused God to say, "Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him," in I Kings 16:30. I can't help wondering how many of these traits characterize some of you. It's cowardice, hatred, covetousness, greed, deceitfulness, injustice, irresponsibility, cru- elty, dishonesty, selfishness and other such traits that make a man or woman wicked in the sense that Ahab was wicked.

c. Ahab was a terrible excuse for a husband. No doubt, some of you ladies can see your husband in Ahab. It may very well be that some of you men are exactly where Ahab was.

C. Let me show you what God did about the wickedness of Ahab.

1. Because of the wickedness of Ahab, God brought a three year drought upon Israel. Everything dried up in the land. I Kings 18:2 says, "There was a sore famine in Samaria." As I Kings 17 will show, people in the kingdom began to starve to death. I Kings 18:5 will show you that the livestock began to die in large numbers. Ahab knew it was God’s judgment upon him through Elijah the prophet, so he sent everywhere hunting Elijah, as you can see from I Kings 18:10.

2. All of his reign God brought enemies upon Ahab. He was in conflict with Judah. The Syrians sent armies to destroy him; Ahab was never free to relax and enjoy peace.

3. I cannot begin to tell you the misery Ahab knew in his family life. Life with Jezebel would be a curse to any man. She henpecked him and dominated him. She painted herself and flirted with other men. Jezebel treated him like a bossy mother would treat a timid little son. You can see it in I Kings 21:4-5. There is every indication that Ahab’s home life was a disaster. He was jealous, envious, cowardly, afraid, frustrated and never satisfied.

What a scourge! You talk about God’s hand of justice. He was bringing it down heavy on this wicked husband. Ahab was learning that "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," in Galatians 6:7. "They who sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind," as Hosea 8:7 points out.

4. A guilty conscience and terrible fear also became the lot of Ahab. It is always that way for men and women who live wicked lives. After he allowed the murder of Naboth that he might take Naboth’s little vineyard, God sent his prophet to speak these words to Ahab: "Thus saith the LORD, in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee; because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity." God promised Ahab that He would kill every male in his entire house, and He continued to say to him through Elijah the prophet, "And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat." Verse 27 says, "When Ahab heard these words .... he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly." I would guess that every time Ahab heard a dog bark after that, his heart melted. Can you imagine the fear and dread under which this wretched man constantly lived?

5. And, finally, God drew the hangman’s noose up tight around Ahab’s dirty neck. While he was at war against the Syrians, I Kings 22:34-35 says, "And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness; wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot." And so Ahab, who did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord more than all whoever lived before him, died a slow, agonizing, cruel, gory death.

6. He died in disgrace. I Kings 22:37-38 says, "So the king died and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armor; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake." The very thought of dogs coming to lick up your blood is a repulsive, detestable thought.

7. Oh, can’t you see the folly of wicked living? It never pays. Your sin will always find you out according to Numbers 32:23. "The way of transgressors is hard," in Proverbs 13:15. I warn you, husbands, who listen to me today, that you’d better not pursue the way of Ahab. You’d better not let pride, arrogance, jealousy, envy, injustice, greed, dishonesty, selfishness, cruelty and other such characteristics possess you. The result of that kind of living is destruction, misery and ultimate death.

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"