Transcript
First Kings 19:19:
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelve. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, ‘Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.’ And he said to him, ‘Go back again, for what have I done to you?’” So he turned back from him, and took the yoke of oxen and slaughtered them, and boiled their flesh using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and served him.
I pause in the reading here. Obviously in these verses Elijah is preparing for the end of his own inner ministry. And he is making a nice show, the next great prophet of the book of Kings, his understudy or his disciple as we might say it. And we’re not going to comment on these verses today. We’re going to reserve comment until we get to the beginning of Elisha’s career.
But we are going to consider the material in the first half of chapter 20. When I picked up the morning newspaper today, the headline in the Dallas Morning News, it was that the dictator Assad in Damascus has died. And it’s uncertain what will happen in Syria because he had not exactly made all the necessary arrangements for an orderly succession. So it will be interesting to watch that.
As you know Assad has been in a state of hostile peace with Israel for quite a number of years. And the rivalry between Israel and Syria is one of the most ancient rivalries in the history of nations. And the path we’re going to look at is a very ancient chapter in that story of rivalry between Israel and the nation of Syria, ruled in those days as it is today from the capital called Damascus.
So let’s read the first half of chapter 20. “Now Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his forces together. There were thirty-two kings with him, with horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria and made war against it. Then he sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, and said to him, ‘Thus says Ben-Hadad, “Your silver and your gold are mine. Your loveliest wives and children are mine.”’ And the king of Israel answered and said, ‘My lord, O king, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours.’ Then the messengers came back and said, ‘Thus speaks Ben-Hadad, saying, “Indeed I have sent to you, saying, ‘You shall deliver to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children.’ But I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants. And it shall be that whatever is pleasant in your eyes they shall put it in their hand and take it.”’”
Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, “Notice, please, and see how this man seeks trouble, for he sent to me for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, and I did not deny him.” And all the elders and all the people said to him, “Do not listen or consent.” So he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, “Tell my lord the king, ‘All that you sent for to your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do.’” And the messengers departed and brought back word to him.
Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, “The gods do so to me, and more also, if enough dust is left of Samaria for a handful for each of the people who follow me.” So the king of Israel answered and said, “Tell him, ‘Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.’” And it happened when Ben-Hadad heard this message, as he and the kings were drinking at the command post, that he said to his servants, “Get ready.” And they got ready to attack the city.
Suddenly a prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, saying, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’” So Ahab said, “By whom?” And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘By the young leaders of the provinces.’” Then he said, “Who will set the battle in order?” And he answered, “You.” Then he mustered the young leaders of the provinces, and there were two hundred and thirty-two. And after them he mustered all the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand.
So they went out at noon. Meanwhile Ben-Hadad and the thirty-two kings helping him were getting drunk at the command post. The young leaders of the provinces went out first. And Ben-Hadad sent out scouts, and they told him, saying, “Men are coming out of Samaria.” So he said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive. And if they have come out for war, take them alive.” Then these young leaders of the provinces went out of the city with the army which followed them. And each one killed his man. So the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. And Ben-Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the cavalry.
Then the king of Israel went out and attacked with horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter.
Most of you are probably not old enough to remember the Andrews Sisters. I know Carlos over there remembers the Andrews Sisters. They were a popular musical group, three sisters who sang as a trio, and very popular in the days that I was growing up. And off the top of my head I can’t remember very many of their songs. But there was one portion of their lyrics that kind of stuck with me through the years. And it went like this: “Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, latch on to the affirmative, and don’t mess with Mr. In-Between.”
Now with a tip of my cap to the Andrews Sisters the title of my talk this afternoon is Don’t Be Mr. In-Between. In my opinion if there is anybody in the Bible who deserves the title of Mr. In-Between it is Ahab the son of Omri, the king of Israel.
Now please remember that we are in one of the most famous sections of the entire book of Kings. And there are three personalities that dominate this portion of the book. On the one hand we have, using the Andrews Sisters, Mr. Positive. And that is Elijah the prophet who stands for all that is good and right, the righteousness of God, the truth of God. And he is a valiant prophet of the Lord.
On the other extreme there stands Mrs. Negative. And of course I’m referring to Jezebel whose claim to the title the wickedest woman in the Bible is probably justified. And she stands for everything that is negative. It was she that introduced the worship of Baal to Israel. And it is she that sent Elijah a threatening message telling him he’d be dead by tomorrow because of what he’d done to the prophets of Baal.
And in between Mr. Positive and Mrs. Negative is Mr. In-Between, Ahab. Now I’m not going to tell you this morning that I am absolutely sure that Ahab was a born-again man. But I’m not. It’s very hard sometimes in the Old Testament to prove that some of the people are saved or unsaved because the Old Testament doesn’t directly address it. On the other hand there are quantities in Ahab and there are certain lines of behavior that would lead us to think that he might very well have been a born-again man.
In any case he is a model to us of what it would mean for a Christian to be a Mr. In-Between. Ahab obviously made the disastrous choice of marrying Jezebel, the daughter of a pagan king. And he stood passively by while she introduced the Baal worship, while she wined and dined the prophets of Baal, the prophets of Asherah in the palace.
On the other hand he is perfectly capable of a genuine repentance. Though as we will see in the next chapter he does in fact repent before the Lord. And the Lord postpones the judgment that God had pronounced on his house.
And it is interesting to notice that it is Ahab who is on the mountain of Mount Carmel when Elijah is having his confrontation with the prophets of Baal. It is Ahab who sees the fire of God come down on the altar, burn up the sacrifice, burn up the stones, lick up the water that was in the trenches. And it’s notable that Ahab doesn’t threaten any violence against Elijah. And he stands passively by while Elijah engineers the execution of the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.
On the other hand after it’s all over he goes straight home and tells Jezebel. So he’s Mr. In-Between. And it seems to me that at this stage in Ahab’s career he’s very much in the middle. And that he really has the opportunity to change direction if he should choose to do so.
Now I think you will agree with me that the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel is certainly one of the most impressive stories in the Bible. And think of this king seeing the fire of God coming down in response to Elijah’s prayer. But not only that he has learned the prophetic word of God amounts to something. Because when Elijah had gone to him and said it’s going to be no dew or rain for these years except by my word, it happened.
So on the one hand Ahab has seen the reality of God’s power. He has seen God’s word coming true. On the other hand so far he ain’t done nothing about it. He’s Mr. In-Between.
And I think it would be surprising to us to realize how many Christians there are who are Mr. or Miss or Mrs. In-Between. If you looked at that eye you would find that there is somebody in that eye. It was a very powerful negative influence on them. Or there is something in their life that they are strongly attracted to that’s negative in its impact.
And yet if you look at them at other times they believe the Bible. And we’re talking about Christians. So they know that they’re saved. And yet their life is neither fish nor fowl, neither good nor bad. It’s bad in a sense but it’s not as bad as some people. And there are positive things that you see in that. And that’s where Ahab is.
And it seems to me that what happens in this chapter is that God sends to Ahab a situation which is designed to drive Ahab in the right direction. You see according to the twentieth chapter of Kings, Ben-Hadad the king of Syria is apparently at the peak of his kingly power. And he brings a very large force into northern Israel. And he besieges the city of Samaria.
Now this turns out to be a very arrogant, very self-conscious, very proud ruler. And he has surrounded himself with thirty-two kings. Now we learn later in the chapter that he can dismiss them too and replace them by other people. So these are not independent kings. They are people that he has elevated to the position of kingship. So he’s the, you know, kind of the king of kings.
And so he invades Israel with his large army and he besieges Samaria. And then he sends to Ahab a terribly insulting and humiliating message. He says to Ahab, “Thus says Ben-Hadad, ‘Your silver and gold are mine. Your loveliest wives are mine. And so are your children.’” And you think of a more humiliating message to send to a king. All your silver, your gold, I’m going to take it. I’m going to take your best wives. I’m going to take your children.
That was very much the custom in those days to take children as hostages to the good behavior of the kings from whom they were taken. So this is not too surprising but it’s very, very arrogant.
Now mind you Ahab has been on the mountain and he has seen the power of God, right? He’s seen the fire of God coming down. So what does Ahab do? “Lord please help me. I can’t yield to this. I need your help.” No, that’s not what Ahab does. He sends a message back and he says, “My lord, O king, it is just as you say. I and all that I have are yours.” He’s going to yield because the force that is opposing him is obviously stronger than him.
Now let me suggest that this is something that Christians often do when they’re walking away from God, when they’re out of touch with God. They meet problems. They meet difficulties. They may meet situations that are too overwhelming. And they say to themselves, “If I just give in a little bit, if I would just compromise my principles a little bit, if I would just make this kind of agreement with this person or in this situation, I can get it to go away.”
Obviously that’s what Ahab was hoping for. He hoped he wouldn’t take everything but maybe he’ll go away if I agree to this. But making a response like that to a king like Ben-Hadad was like throwing raw meat to a hungry tiger. And Ben-Hadad correctly recognizes this as a sign of weakness. So he sends a new message to Ahab.
This time he says, “Ahab you know I’ve only told you that your silver and gold, your wives and children are mine. That’s you know we’ve already settled that. But here’s my new proposition. Tomorrow I’m going to send my servants through all of your house, through your palace, through the homes and mansions of the people who serve you. And whatever you like in those houses, whatever your servants like in those houses, my men will take it. We’re going to take it home.”
Now even for a king Ahab that was too much. So does King Ahab say, “Lord I need your help”? Nope. Nope. He calls his council of elders together and says, “Please notice, help me see how this man seeks trouble.” And his elders say, “Do not listen nor consent. Don’t give in.” So he sends a message back. It’s a polite message. He said, “Tell my lord the king that all that you sent to me for the first time I’m willing to do. But the second thing I can’t do.”
And Ben-Hadad is furious. So he sends a message back and he says, “The gods do so to me and more also if when I’m finished with Samaria there’s enough dust to put in the hands of all the people who follow me. I’m going to wipe you out. You’re finished.”
And that’s when Ahab comes out with that line that’s always been one of my favorite lines in the Bible. “Tell him, ‘Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.’” Freely translated, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. Don’t think you’ve won before the battle is over.”
But what does Ahab have behind that line? Nothing. This is pure bluster as we discover from the subsequent verses. He’s got seven thousand men, that’s all, against this huge multitude. And you know it often happens that when Christians are walking away from the Lord and they’re not really trusting the Lord, not turning to the word for help, first of all they try to compromise with the situation. And you never can compromise satisfactorily with evil because the more you give the more evil demands of you.
So then they may get their back up. “You’re not going to do this to me. You’ll be sorry if you try to do this to me. I’ll never forget what you’ve done. I’ll see that you’re paid back somewhere down the line.” It’s bluster. There’s nothing behind it. And that was the situation in which Ahab found himself. His back was to the wall. And all he can do is say to this man with a well-meaning course, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.” And he had to be thinking to himself, “I hope they don’t hatch because they’re not going to hatch the way I want them.”
Not for a moment has he sought the help of God. And then what happened? Suddenly a prophet, an unnamed prophet, appears to him. And the prophet says to Ahab, “You see this big multitude? I will deliver it into your hand today. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
You want to talk about the grace of God? That’s the grace of God. Here is this king who has not lifted a finger to help the worship of God in Israel. He has watched and stood still while his wife promoted idolatry. And even now in this terrible situation he’s not turning to God. He’s not asking for help. And God says, “I want to help you. I’m going to help you.”
Why was God going to do that? The answer is given by the text, “that you may know that I am the Lord.” This is a phrase that is used in Scripture. Moses uses it a few times in the presence of Pharaoh when he announced the judgments that would fall on Egypt. It’s like saying, “I want you to know what I can do. I want you to see My power. I want you to see My difference. I want you to see that I’m worth trusting.”
You know that often happens when people are away from the Lord and they’re struggling with their problem and they don’t have sense enough to ask God for help. Just like Ahab doesn’t have sense enough to ask God for help here. You know what God does a lot of times? He steps in and helps. He steps in and solves some big problem. He gets rid of some difficult person. He does something that is so obviously from Him. Not because the person deserved it but because God is compassionate and gracious. And because God wants that individual to know that He is the Lord.
What Ahab needed was to realize that there was no safety, no security anywhere except in the Lord God of Israel. And this is his opportunity to find that out through the grace of God.
Now I have to hand it to Ahab. I’ve been kind of tough on Ahab but I kind of have to hand it to him here. The prophet says God is going to deliver this multitude into your hands today. And Ahab says, “By whom? How can that be? I mean how can we possibly defeat them today or any other day? And today of all days? Why?” But instead of that Ahab says, “By whom? Who are you going to use for that?” And the prophet says, “The young leaders of the provinces.”
Then Ahab says, “And who will set the battle in order? Who’s going to be in charge of this battle?” And he answered, “You.” You see what God is doing? Ahab even has the sense to respect the prophetic word of God. It’s about time after all his exposure to the word of God. And now when he hears the word of God he believes it. He believes it.
And he says, “Do you have any further instruction? So who are you going to use? And who’s going to take charge of this battle?” And then he acts upon the prophetic word of God. If only the kings of Israel and Judah had done that consistently how different their history might have been.
One answer to our question over here, “Why is Israel judged?” Because it ignored the prophetic word of God. How important it was for the kings of Israel to know that they must act on the basis of God’s word. And that God’s word direct them. Because only by following the word of God could they encounter success.
So he musters the young leaders of the provinces, two hundred and thirty-two. And he musters his army, a pitiful seven thousand. And they march out to confront the overwhelming forces of Ben-Hadad. So what happens? The angel of the Lord goes out and strikes the tenth of the Syrian army? No, that’s not what he says, right? The angel of the Lord goes out and strikes them with the deadly plague? Well he did that in Hezekiah’s day too, the forces of Sennacherib. But he doesn’t do it here.
Here the remarkable fact that demonstrates the reliability of his word by doing something that doesn’t even look miraculous. It doesn’t even look miraculous. On this particular day Ben-Hadad has decided to attack Samaria and they’re getting everything ready. Well what has Ben-Hadad done at noon? What are the thirty-two kings who were with him doing? They’re having a party and they’re drinking themselves under the table.
Now I’ve never had any military training. I didn’t get a degree from West Point. And I don’t know what kind of military training they gave up in Syria in those days. But I’m pretty sure they didn’t tell the military leaders that on the days they were preparing to attack the enemy and complete their siege of a city that they should have a big old party and get drunk.
The arrogance, the self-confidence, the pride in Ben-Hadad. He’s so completely confident. And so his patrol comes in and says, “Oh there’s some people coming out of Samaria.” And then comes the most ridiculous military order ever given in the history of warfare I think. Ben-Hadad says, and you can imagine him slurring his words, “If they come out for peace, take them alive. And if they come out for war, take them alive. Don’t kill anybody. After them all.” Ridiculous. Ridiculous.
He ties the arms of his army behind their back. And the young leaders of the provinces lead the army out and they kill the opponents that confront them. And by this time I think Ben-Hadad is sobered up a little bit. And he has realized he’s got to see the scene of the battle. He gets up on a horse and he escapes with his cavalry. And the king of Israel comes out and he administers a decisive and disastrous defeat to the armies of Syria.
Miraculous? Yeah. But not openly miraculous. You see what God is pointing out here is that when you act upon My word and you believe My word and act upon it I get the job done. Doesn’t matter. He doesn’t have to call down fire from heaven every time, right? He can do it this way when He wants to.
And so often, don’t you agree with me, if you’ve been a Christian for very long, if you’ve seen prayers answered, isn’t it true that although there are times when we get very spectacular answers, marvelous demonstrations of God’s power, a lot of other times God answers our prayers by things that are very ordinary? It’s kind of everything kind of all together, you know. And that’s the way God is.
But the point is that those who know that He is the Lord must live their lives on the basis of His word. And they must be guided by the word. I hope that’s something that we all know. That there is no pathway to success except by obedience to the revealed word of God.
Thank the Lord. The songwriter has said it very well: “The Bible stands like a mountain towering o’er the wrecks of time. Pages burned with the truth eternal and it rose with a light that survived. The Bible stands. Though the hills may tumble it will firmly stand. Though the earth may crumble I will plant my feet on its firm foundation for the Bible stands.”
Okay, questions?