1 Kings 16:29 - Meaning and Application

We have here the beginning of Ahab’s reign, and we are told more about him than about any other king of Israel. Even in this brief introduction, he is shown as the worst of them all, so we know what to expect from the details that follow. He ruled for twenty-two years, long enough to do a great deal of harm.

He was worse than all the kings before him and did more evil than they did (1 Kings 16:30). It was as if he had a special hatred for God and for Israel, because he kept provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger and bringing judgment on the land more than any king before him (1 Kings 16:33). Things were in a sad state when each new king was worse than the last. What would such a people finally become?

Ahab had seen the ruin of other wicked kings and their families, but he did not learn from it. Instead, his heart grew harder and more angry against God. He thought it was a small thing to follow the sins of Jeroboam (1 Kings 16:31). Breaking the second commandment by worshiping images was not enough for him, so he went on to break the first by bringing in other gods. His smallest offense against God’s laws would weigh more heavily than Jeroboam’s greatest sins. When people make light of smaller sins, they make room for bigger ones, and those who try to excuse other people’s sins only make their own worse.

He also married a wicked woman, knowing she would bring in Baal worship, and he seems to have married her for that very purpose. As if it were a small thing to follow Jeroboam’s sins, he took Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31) as his wife. She was a devoted idolater, harsh and cruel by nature, given to witchcraft and sexual sin (2 Kings 9:22), and evil in every way. In Revelation, the false prophetess is called Jezebel (Revelation 2:20), because no worse name could be given to a wicked woman. We will later see the harm she did and the judgment that finally came on her (2 Kings 9:33). This one foreign wife led Israel into more corruption than all of Solomon’s foreign wives.

Ahab then set up the worship of Baal. He abandoned the God of Israel and served the god of the Sidonians, that is, the Phoenician deity worshiped by that people. Some thought Baal was the sun, while others thought he was a deified hero. Ahab was tired of the golden calves and seemed to think they had been worshiped long enough. Such empty things are idols, and even those who once loved them can grow bored with them. Like adulterers, they always want something new.

In honor of this false god, whose name means “lord,” and to make his worship easier, Ahab did several things. First, he built a temple for Baal in Samaria, the royal city, because the true temple was in Jerusalem, the royal city of the other kingdom. He wanted Baal’s temple close at hand, so he could visit it often, protect it, and give it honor. Second, he built an altar in that temple to offer sacrifices to Baal, showing that they depended on him and wanted his favor. What foolishness in idolaters, who spend so much to win the friendship of someone they could have chosen not to make a god at all. Third, he made a grove around the temple, either by planting shady trees or by creating something like a grove if the trees would have taken too long to grow. The goal was to hide and protect the shameful acts done in the filthy worship of Baal. Evil loves darkness, because he who does evil hates the light.

One of Ahab’s subjects, following this same bold spirit, dared to rebuild Jericho in open defiance of the curse Joshua had spoken long before against anyone who tried it (1 Kings 16:34). This is given as another example of how far sin had spread, especially in Bethel, where one of the calves stood, because this daring sinner came from that city. Notice how wicked he was. Like Achan, he took what was devoted to God and used it for himself. He started building in spite of a curse well known in Israel, perhaps treating it like a scarecrow or thinking time had weakened it, since more than 500 years had passed since Joshua spoke it (Joshua 6:26). He kept building even after part of the curse had already taken effect, because when his eldest son died as he began, he still went on in contempt of God and of the wrath already shown against his sin.

Notice also how badly he fared. He built Jericho for his children, but God made him childless. His eldest son died when he began, his youngest when he finished, and it is likely that the others died in between. Those whom God curses are truly cursed. No one has ever hardened his heart against God and prospered. God keep us back from presumptuous sins, those bold and great transgressions.