Winning Ugly
1 Kings 21:1-21

June 13, 2004

Herman Melville knew what he was doing when he handed out names in his greatest novel, Moby Dick. The Captain, obsessed with the great White Whale that had rendered him one-legged, was appropriately Ahab. A complex man confused by the complexities of his fate and vocation, Captain Ahab had difficulty knowing where the boundary between good and evil lay. His namesake, King Ahab of Israel, wanted to be good and godly, but his allegiances weighed more heavily on the wrong balance.

Not a small group of people have resented these sordid tales of Scripture that we find in the Books of Kings. They are too violent, both in the actions of the bad guys and in the retribution of the good guys spurred on supposedly by our God. Last time I looked, the world in which we live and have to make our most important decisions is a mirror image of the world of Ahab. If we are to expect that Christianity matters, it will have to matter between Ahab, Naboth, Jezebel and Elijah, and then between Iraq and Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and South Africa, and our own First Nations reserves.

Incidentally, there are Christians who still revel in such bloody stories - the innumerable black Christians who know how it feels to be Naboth, just praying that some Elijah will rise up and say the right thing to the Ahabs wanting to take over all our vineyards.

This episode has a context in the past actions of Ahab and some of his predecessor kings of Israel, but there is really too much to tell. Let’s just say that Ahab was not one of the better kings of Israel, and his biggest problem turned out to be his wife, the infamous Jezebel, a princess of Sidon, a kingdom that did not know the God of Israel. Moreover, Jezebel worshipped the fertility gods of Ba’al, and she was a true believer. That meant she thought everybody should worship Ba’al and she demonstrated the power to make sure as many people as possible did.

It’s almost innocent how this starts out. Ahab thinks that the vineyard of Naboth is pretty good; it’s right beside his palace and he wants it. He goes to Naboth and makes what seems a reasonably fair offer. Economic fairness is not the issue, however.

Here is a full-blown conflict between two economic systems - Marx would be proud. Naboth’s vineyard had belonged to generations of his family, and so the land was truly a part of his identity and his place in the world. This land was sacred to him, and no amount of money or land exchange would be equivalent. Naboth refused Ahab, perhaps with an edge to his voice, “How dare you?”

Ahab knew the customs and traditions, and recognized the resistance he was meeting. He wanted to view Naboth’s vineyard as an economic commodity. He wanted to buy it, just buy it and use it. When he was rebuffed, he went home and sulked and wouldn’t eat. He knew there was something else to the story.

When Jezebel found him in such a dark mood, she understood the economics all too well. For her society, that vineyard was not an important piece of Naboth’s life and family - it was just a piece of land to be bought and there was nothing a king couldn’t buy. “Aren’t you the king?” she taunted him. Get up there and act like a king. A king takes what he wants and nobody else asks any questions.

Nevertheless, something had to be fixed now, so Jezebel sits down to write some powerful poison letters. Not too many people could write then; just writing was a sign of power. You could not ignore a letter.

She organized a bogus fast day and put up several low lifes to publicly accuse Naboth of religious and political blasphemy. He had spoken disgracefully and unfaithfully of both God and the king. The other leaders didn’t take kindly to that kind of talk, so they dragged him out into the street and stoned him to death. Ahab subsequently used his royal prerogative to annex the erstwhile vineyard of Naboth. Might is right and powerful. The story appears to end.

It doesn’t end so much as pick up steam on another front. God wakes up the greatest of prophets Elijah and sends him with an awesome message to the king. Ahab and Elijah have clashed violently before. “You found me out again, my enemy,” Ahab sighs with violent irritation. “Oh yeah, I found you,” says Elijah, “and I’ve got a word for you.” God had a strong word for Ahab, and Elijah embellished it somewhat. You killed this one man and stole his property, stole his life for that matter physically and economically. So for killing this one man your whole family will be wiped out, just like the previous degenerate kings of Israel. Dogs will lap up your blood, and as for Jezebel, why, dogs will fight to lap up her blood. This may have been the holy word of the Lord, but it wasn’t nice. It’s stuff like this that makes a lot of folk say the Old Testament is old and no longer the way we do things; it’s the New Testament that we want to listen to now. It’s non-violent, except for that crucifixion matter and after Mel we know how violent that can be.

This is the juncture at which all good prophetic preachers lay it on thick, naming names and crimes. I don’t need to do that: you know lots of examples in which Ahabs have murdered and robbed Naboths. You know them; talk amongst yourselves. Governments and corporations, kings and queens and de facto kings and queens are all out there for you to choose. It’s safer for me if you do it!

But after you are done declaring the Word of the Lord in no uncertain terms, where do you go? Is this a God you want to worship and snuggle up with spiritually in times of trouble? This is a God from whom you may learn justice, but what else?

The Lectionary readings are sometimes not quite adequate. Wayne read this long story as far as the Lectionary police would allow us, but it’s not over. Ahab reminds me of more than a few world leaders who want to be good, know they have to be responsive to the ethos of their people, but really just want to get what they want. Ahab, not a particularly nice man and a stubborn one as well, hears Elijah’s broadsides and does the completely unexpected: he repents and does penance like nobody’s business. Sack cloth and fasting, “he tiptoed around, quiet as a mouse.”

God called Elijah back. “Have you seen how Ahab’s been behaving, how repentant he’s been? I think he really means it, and as a result I will not wipe him out during his lifetime, but Ahab’s son, however, will get it.”

It’s happened before, and while the Scripture doesn’t say it out and out, but God changed his mind. God was merciful and graceful to a person you and I would not let go free. God’s name, after all, is “I Am That I Am” or better here “I Will Be What I Will Be.” A lot of people have a great investment in God never changing. God knows everything in advance, so God doesn’t have to change his mind. Because if God changes his mind then we might not know what God is going to do. We will have to pay better attention, because God is no longer predictable to human beings, and the worst of all is that God might bless one of those corporate thieves or unethical government types - and not bless us good people!

This is the type of God you and I are stuck with: a God who acts like God, not like the way we want God to act. Our God gets into the mess of our world and its inevitable violence, declares the necessity of justice as well as peace, and this God forgives. Our God forgave Pharaoh in the midst of the famous plagues. Our God forgave the most wicked Ninevites when Jonah had decided they were history. God forgave Ahab and we can’t figure out why.

Don’t worry about it, the story is really not about Ahab, it’s about you and me.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan