Ahab
Top
(flourished 9th century ) Seventh king of the northern kingdom of Israel (r. 874853 ). He inherited a realm that included territory east of the Jordan River, in Gilead and probably Bashan, and also the tributary kingdom of Moab. His marriage to Jezebel revived an alliance with the Phoenicians, but her efforts to establish Baal worship provoked bitter opposition from Elijah. Ahab's reign was dominated by a fierce border war with Syria; he died in an attempt to recover Ramoth-Gilead from the Syrians.
For more information on Ahab, visit Britannica.com.
Top
King of Israel (871-852 BCE). Ahab son of Omri ascended the throne in the 38th year of Asa king of Judah (I Kings 16:29) and continued his able father's policies in a time of material prosperity and military might for the kingdom of Israel. He maintained good relations with Phoenicia and Judah, his daughter Athaliah having married Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat and he himself having been given Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal of Sidon. He twice defeated Ben Hadad II of Aram-Damascus, the first time at the gates of Samaria, which the latter besieged with 32 vassal kings, and a year later at Aphek in the Golan Heights, after which peace was made (I Kings 20:1-34). Ahab also joined an alliance to block Shalmaneser III's invasion of Syria in the battle of Qarqar in 853, being credited in an Assyrian stele with supplying the largest force---10,000 infantry and 2,000 chariots. His building activities were extensive, apparently including the stables at Megiddo previously attributed to Solomon.
Under the influence of his wife Jezebel, the cult of Baal was introduced in Samaria and paganism spread (I Kings 16:31-33). Jezebel conceivably wished to make the Baal cult the official religion of Israel, persecuting the prophets of the Lord and becoming the patroness of 450 priests of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah (I Kings 18:19). In this the royal family was opposed by Elijah the prophet, who challenged the pagan priests and prophets in a confrontation on Mount Carmel, where they were killed (I Kings 18:20-40).
For countenancing paganism and for his dealings with Naboth the Jezreelite, whose vineyard he coveted and whose death was instigated by Jezebel (I Kings 21:1-16), Ahab is particularly anathemized in the Book of Kings. Elijah prophesied that dogs would drink Ahab's dying blood and that his house would perish (I Kings 21:19-21). His end came in a third war against the Arameans, at Ramoth-Gilead (I Kings 22:1-27).
Top
1. The son of Omri, and the seventh king of Israel. Ahab reigned over the Israelite Kingdom at Samaria for 22 years (c. 871-852 B.C.). He entered into a political marriage with Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Sidonians (I kgs 16:28-31). Under Jezebel's influence the cult of idols penetrated into Samaria where Ahab himself built a pagan temple (I Kgs 16:32-33). Some 450 priests of Baal and 400 prophets of the goddess Asherah enjoyed her royal protection (I Kgs 18:18-19). The altar of the Lord was destroyed (I Kgs 18:30) and Jezebel had Israel's prophets killed. It was only thanks to Obadiah – a court official and a devout worshiper of God – that 100 prophets were saved. Obadiah hid them in caves and fed them with bread and water (I Kgs 18:3-4, 13; 19:10). The prophet Elijah, who fought fiercely to preserve the monotheistic worship from the cult of Baal, warned Ahab that the country would suffer a severe drought which would end at his bidding only. Elijah stayed out of reach until the due time (I Kgs 17:1-9; 18:1-10). The king blamed Elijah for the drought and resulting famine in Samaria, but Elijah refuted the accusation (I Kgs 18:18). He then challenged the pagan prophets on Mount Carmel and proved their inefficacy. The pagan priests were seized and executed (I Kgs 18:20-40), and the rains came. Ahab informed Jezebel of Elijah's victory and of the defeat of the priests of her cult, and the queen vowed to pursue him relentlessly (I Kgs 19:1-2).
Jezebel exerted an equally evil influence on the king in other matters: when Naboth the Jezreelite refused to sell or exchange his vineyard which Ahab desired, Jezebel had him falsely accused of "cursing God and King", and he was subsequently stoned to death (I Kgs 21:1-16). When Ahab went to take possession of the vineyard, he was confronted by Elijah who denounced him as a murderer. The prophet predicted that, as the dogs licked up Naboth's blood, so dogs would lick up Ahab and Jezebel's blood and "whoever belongs to Ahab" would be eaten by dogs. The execution of the punishment, however, was postponed because Ahab became deeply repentant (I Kgs 21:17-29).
During Ahab's reign the Kingdom of Israel played an important part in international affairs. Ahab continued the policies of his father Omri, maintaining peaceful relations with Phoenicia in the north and with Judah in the south. These were strengthened on the one hand by his marriage to Jezebel, and on the other by the marriage of his daughter, Athaliah, to Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah (II Kgs 8:18; II Chr 18:1).
Ahab was also very active in strengthening his kingdom internally. He completed the building of the city of Samaria begun by Omri, and fortified other cities, such as Jericho. Carved ivory plaques found at the site of Ahab's palace at Samaria confirm that here was "his ivory house" (I Kgs 22:39), and other finds also point to the wealth of the kingdom.
Ahab, however, was continually being harassed by Ben-Hadad the Aramean king of Damascus, who engaged Ahab in three wars. Ben-Hadad, together with 32 vassal rulers, succeeded in advancing as far as Samaria, and laid siege to the city. Ahab at first meekly accepted the enemy's demands, but Ben-Hadad's insulting and arrogant behavior roused Ahab's indignation, and brought the people to unite under his rule (I Kgs 20:3-6, 10, 13-21). The Syrians were routed. One year later Ben-Hadad reassembled his troops at Aphek, but was once more defeated. He then concluded a covenant with Ahab whereby Ben-Hadad was to return the Israelite cities which had previously fallen to the Syrians, as well as granting the Israelite merchants marketplaces in Damascus (I Kgs 20:22-34). At about this time (853) Ahab was one of the leaders of 12 kings who fought against the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III in the second battle of Karkar in Syria. He provided 10,000 infantry and 2,500 chariots. The battle, known from the inscriptions of the Assyrian king, probably ended in a stalemate, even though Shalmaneser claimed a total victory. Three years after the second battle with Ben-Hadad, the peace was broken; Ahab, in alliance with Jehoshaphat king of Judah, set out to liberate Ramoth Gilead from the Arameans. Ignoring the somber warning of the prophet Micaiah (I Kgs 22:1-28), Ahab stubbornly went to battle disguised as a soldier and was seriously wounded. In spite of his wound, he fought bravely all day propped up on his chariot, and died in the evening. The Israelite troops were forced to retreat and the dead king was brought back to Samaria where he was buried. "Then they washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood while the harlots bathed in it according to the word of the Lord which he had spoken." Ahab was succeeded by his son Ahaziah (I Kgs 22:29-40).
2. Ahab the son of Kolaiah, a false prophet living among the Babylonian exiles. The prophet Jeremiah predicted that Ahab, and his associate Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, would be burnt by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and their death would become an example which people would cite in curses.
Concordance
AHAB 1:
I Kgs 16:28-30, 33; 17:1; 18:1-3, 5-6, 9,12, 16-17, 20,41-42, 44-46; 19:1; 20:2, 13-14, 34; 21:1-4,8, 15-16, 18,20-21, 24-25,27, 29; 22:20,39-41, 49, 51. II Kgs 1:1; 3:1,5; 8:16, 18,25, 27-29; 9:7-9, 25, 29; 10:1, 10-11,17-18, 30; 21:3, 13. II Chr 18:1-3,19; 21:6, 13; 22:3-8. Mic 6:16
AHAB 2:
Jer 29:21-22
Top
Ahab (ā'hăb), d. c.853 B.C., king of Israel (c.874-c.853 B.C.), son and successor of Omri b>1. Ahab was one of the greatest kings of the northern kingdom. He consolidated the good foreign relations his father had fostered, and Israel was at peace during much of his reign. His marriage with Jezebel helped his friendship with Tyre, and his alliance with Jehoshaphat b>1, king of Judah, made Ahab sure of his less powerful neighbor to the south. Ahab's prestige is seen in Assyrian inscriptions mentioning his alliance against Shalmaneser III (see Shalmaneser I), who won an indecisive victory (c.854 B.C.) at Karkar on the Orontes. After this campaign Ahab and Benhadad b>2 of Damascus went to war over the country E of the Jordan. Ahab was killed in battle. The biblical account of Ahab's reign is most interesting in its religious aspects. To the devout, Ahab's foreign wife, with her Tyrian cults and behavior, represented evil. Besides, she was a willful woman and entertained exalted ideas of royal prerogative. She met her match in Elijah, the champion of Israel's God. He was an important factor in the discontent that began to develop in Israel at this period. Ahab was succeeded by his sons, first Ahaziah, then Jehoram. The ruins of his palace have been excavated at Samaria. The Ahab of Jer. 29.21,22 is a different person, a lying prophet.
Top
, Ninth century B.C.Pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel who, according to the Bible, was overthrown by Jehu.
Top
For other uses, see Ahab (disambiguation).
| Ahab | |
|---|---|
| King of Israel | |
 Ahab from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum |
|
| Reign | c. 869 – 850 BCE |
| Birthplace | Samaria |
| Died | c. 850 BCE |
| Place of death | Kingdom of Israel |
| Predecessor | Omri |
| Successor | Ahaziah of Israel |
| Consort | Jezebel |
| Royal House | House of Omri |
| Father | Omri |
Ahab (Hebrew: אַחְאָב, Modern Aẖ'av Tiberian ʼAḥʼāḇ ; "Brother of the father"; Greek: Αχααβ; Latin: Achab) was king of Israel and the son and successor of Omri according to the Hebrew Bible.[1] His wife was Jezebel.
Ahab became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned for twenty-two years.[2] William F. Albright dated his reign to 869 – 850 BC, while E. R. Thiele offered the dates 874 – 853 BC.[3] Michael D. Coogan dates his reign to 871-852 BCE.[4]
|
Contents
|
Family
Omri (Ahab's father and founder of the short lived Omri Dynasty) seems to have been a successful military leader being reported in the text of the Moabite Mesha Stele to have "oppressed Moab for many days". Ahab was succeeded by Ahaziah and Jehoram who reigned over Israel until Jehu's revolt of 842 BC.[5] Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of the King of Tyre, and the alliance was doubtless the means of procuring political support. Jezreel has been identified as Ahab's fortified chariot and cavalry base.[6] 1 Kings chapters 16-22 tells the story of Ahab and Jezebel, and indicates that Jezebel was a bad influence on Ahab.[7]
Ahab's reign
During Ahab's reign, Moab, which had been conquered by his father, remained tributary; Judah, with whose king, Jehoshaphat, he was allied by marriage, was probably his vassal; only with Aram Damascus is he believed to have had strained relations.
Battle of Qarqar
The Battle of Qarqar is mentioned in extra-biblical records, and was perhaps at Apamea where Shalmaneser III of Assyria fought a great confederation of princes from Cilicia, Northern Syria, Israel, Ammon, and the tribes of the Syrian desert (853 BC), including Ahab (A-ha-ab-bu mat) (Adad-'idri).
Ahab's contribution was reckoned at 2,000 chariots and 10,000 men. In reality, however, the number of chariots in Ahab's forces was probably closer to number in the hundreds (this due to archaeological excavations of the area and the foundations of stables that had been found).[8] If, however, the numbers are referring to allies it could possibly include forces from Tyre, Judah, Edom, and Moab. The Assyrian king claimed a victory, but his immediate return and subsequent expeditions in 849 BC and 846 BC against a similar but unspecified coalition seem to show that he met with no lasting success. According to the Tanakh, however, Ahab with 7,000 troops had previously overthrown Ben-hadad[disambiguation needed 
] and his thirty-two kings, who had come to lay siege to Samaria, and in the following year obtained a decisive victory over him at Aphek, probably in the plain of Sharon at Antipatris (1 Kings 20). A treaty was made whereby Ben-hadad restored the cities which his father had taken from Ahab's father (that is, Omri, but see 15:20, 2 Kings 13:25), and trading facilities between Damascus and Samaria were granted.
Ahab and the Prophets
In the Biblical text, Ahab has four important encounters with prophets. The first encounter has to do with Elijah, whom Ahab refers to as "the troubler of Israel" (1 Kings 18:17), in which Elijah predicts a drought (1 Kings 17:1). This encounter ends with Elijah victorious over the official Baal prophets of Israel in a contest held for the sake of the Israelites and their king, Ahab. The contest ends when Elijah's God consumes the offering which the Baal worshipers could not induce their god to touch, after which Elijah slaughters the Baal prophets (1 Kings 18:17-40). The second encounter is between Ahab and two unnamed prophets in 1 Kings 20:22. The third is when Elijah confronts Ahab over Ahab and Jezebel's execution of Naboth and usurpation of his land in 1 Kings 21. The fourth encounter is with Micaiah, the prophet who, when asked for advice on a military campaign, first assures Ahab he will be successful and ultimately gives Ahab a glimpse into God's plan for Ahab to die in battle (1 Kings 22).[9]
Death of Ahab
Three years later, war broke out on the east of the Jordan River, and Ahab with Jehoshaphat of Judah went to recover Ramoth-Gilead. During this battle Ahab disguised himself, but was mortally wounded by an unaimed arrow (ch. 22). The Hebrew Bible says that dogs licked his blood, according to the prophecy of Elijah. But the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) adds that "pigs" also licked his blood. Israelites of course abstained from pork, but Ahab was married to a Phoenician/Tyrian princess Jezebel, who was one of the most "powerful and notorious women of monarchic times" yet who died of a similarly seemingly random death like her husband,[8] and his capital of Samaria was said to follow Canaanite gods. Ahab was succeeded by his sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram.
Legacy
While the above passages from 1 Kings do not view Ahab unfavourably, there are others which are less friendly. Essentially, 1 Kings 16:29 through 20:40 is the story of Ahab's reign. This reign is one which faces opposition from several prophets of Yahweh throughout as well as various consequences because of his marriage to Jezebel, because of his worship of Baal, disobedience to prophetic warnings and words, and also because of the murder of Naboth. The murder of Naboth (see Jezebel), an act of royal encroachment, stirred up popular resentment just as the new cult aroused the opposition of certain of the prophets (Elijah, Micaiah, and a few unnamed prophets). Indeed, he is referred to, for this and other things as being "more evil than all the kings before him" (1 Kings 16:30). The followers of Yahweh found their champion in Elijah, whose story reflects the prophetic teaching of more than one age. His denunciation of the royal dynasty of Israel, and his emphatic insistence on the worship of Yahweh and Yahweh alone, illustrated by the contest between Yahweh and Baal on Mount Carmel, as told in 1 Kings 18, form the keynote to a period which culminated in the accession of Jehu, an event in which Elijah's chosen disciple Elisha was the leading figure.
See also
References
- ^ 1 Kings 16:29-34
- ^ 1 Kings 16:29
- ^ Edwin Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, (1st ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1951; 2d ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965; 3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel, 1983). ISBN 0-8254-3825-X, 9780825438257
- ^ Michael D. Coogan, A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) 237
- ^ Michael D. Coogan, A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)239
- ^ David Ussishkin, "Jezreel—Where Jezebel Was Thrown to the Dogs", Biblical Archaeology Review July / August 2010.
- ^ 1 Kings 16:31, 18:4-19, 19:1-2, 21:5-25.
- ^ a b Michael D. Coogan, A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) 243
- ^ Achtemeier, Paul (Editor), The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, (New York: HarperCollins, 1996), p. 18.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ahab". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links
|
Ahab
|
||
| Preceded by Omri |
King of Israel 874–853 BCE |
Succeeded by Ahaziah |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
Encyclopedia of Judaism
The New Encyclopedia of Judaism. Copyright © 1989, 2002 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Read more
Bible Dictionary and Concordance
Illustrated Dictionary & Concordance of the Bible. Copyright © 1986 by G.G. The Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
Read more
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Read more
