Ahab

For more information on Ahab, visit Britannica.com.

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).

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

For other uses, see Ahab (disambiguation).

Kings of Ancient Israel
United Monarchy of Israel Saul • Ish-bosheth David • Solomon • Rehoboam Northern Kingdom of Israel Jeroboam I • Nadab Baasha • Elah Zimri Omri • Ahab • Ahaziah Joram/Jehoram Jehu • Jehoahaz • Joash/Jehoash Jeroboam II • Zechariah Shallum Menahem • Pekahiah Pekah • Hoshea This box: view • talk • edit

Ahab (or Ach'av or Achab in Douay-Rheims or Hebrew: אַחְאָב, Modern Aḥʼav Tiberian ʼAḥăʼāḇ, ʼAḫʼāḇ ; "Brother of the father") was king of Israel and the son and successor of Omri (1 Kings 16:29-34). William F. Albright dated his reign to 869 – 850 BC, while E. R. Thiele offered the dates 874 – 853 BC.^[1]

Contents 1 Family 2 Ahab's reign 2.1 Battle of Qarqar 2.2 Death of Ahab 3 Order of events 4 Legacy 5 Interpretation 6 Sources 7 External links 8 References

Family

Ahab married Jezebel, the daughter of King Ithobaal I of Tyre, and the alliance was doubtless the means of procuring political support. Ahab is a playa

Ahab's reign

Shalmaneser III's (859-824 BC) Kurkh Monolith names King Ahab.(see List of artifacts significant to the Bible

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 one event mentioned by external sources 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). Here Ahab (A-ha-ab-bu ^mat) (Adad-'idri).

Ahab's contribution was reckoned at 2,000 chariots and 10,000 men. The numbers are comparatively large and 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 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.

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 shot by an arrow and mortally wounded (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 princess, Jezabel, and his capital of Samaria was said to be wicked, following Canaanite gods and other practices.

He was succeeded by his sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram.

Order of events

It is very difficult to obtain any clear idea of the order of these events (the Septuagint places 1 Kings 21 immediately after 19). How the hostile kings of Israel and Syria came to fight a common enemy, and how to correlate the Assyrian and Biblical records, are questions which have perplexed all recent writers. The reality of the difficulties will be apparent from the fact that it has been suggested that the Assyrian scribe wrote "Ahab" for his son "Jehoram", and that the very identification of the name with Ahab of Israel has been questioned.

Legacy

possibly Jehu, described as "son of Omri", or Jehu's ambassador, kneeling at the feet of Shalmaneser III on the Black Obelisk.

While the above passages from 1 Kings do not view Ahab favourably, there are others which are less friendly. 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. Indeed, he is referred to, for this and other things as being "more evil than all the kings before him".The latter found their champion in Elijah, whose history reflects the prophetic teaching of more than one age. His denunciation of the royal dynasty, and his emphatic insistence on the worship of Yahweh and Him alone, form the key note to a period which culminated in the accession of Jehu, an event in which Elijah's chosen disciple Elisha was the leading figure.

Interpretation

Roger Williams, the founder of the American colony of Rhode Island and the co-founder of the First Baptist Church in America wrote about Naboth's story in The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience as an example of how God disfavored Christians from using government force in religious matters, such as the religious decrees by Jezebel and Ahab. Williams believed using force in the name of religion would lead to political persecution contrary to the Bible.^[2]

Sources

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

• Ahab - Archaeowiki.org

References

1. ^ 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 082543825X, 9780825438257
2. ^ James P. Byrd, The challenges of Roger Williams: religious liberty, violent persecution, and the Bible (Mercer University Press, 2002)[1] (accessed on Google Book on July 20, 2009)

Ahab House of Omri Contemporary Kings of Judah: Asa, Jehoshaphat
Regnal titles
Preceded by Omri	King of Israel 874 BC – 853 BC	Succeeded by Ahaziah

v • d • e Israelite Kings Pre-Dynastic Abimelech United Monarchy Saul · Ish-boseth · David · Solomon · Rehoboam Northern Kingdom of Israel Jeroboam I · Nadab · Baasha · Elah · Zimri · Omri · Ahab & Jezebel · Ahaziah · Jehoram · Jehu · Jehoahaz · Jehoash · Jeroboam II · Zechariah · Shallum · Menahem · Pekahiah · Pekah · Hoshea Southern Kingdom of Judah Rehoboam · Abijam · Asa · Jehoshaphat · Jehoram · Ahaziah · Athaliah · Jehoash · Amaziah · Uzziah (or Azariah) · Jotham · Ahaz · Hezekiah · Manasseh · Amon · Josiah · Jehoahaz · Jehoiakim · Jeconiah (or Jehoiachin) · Zedekiah Hasmonean Dynasty Simon Maccabaeus · John Hyrcanus · Aristobulus I · Alexander Jannaeus · Salome Alexandra · Hyrcanus II · Aristobulus II · Hyrcanus II · Antigonus II Mattathias Herodian Dynasty Herod the Great · Herod Archelaus · Herod Antipas · Herod Philip II Italics: Disputed kingship, or kingship over only part of Israel

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)