There have been many corrupt couples throughout history: Julius Caesar & Cleopatra, Louis the 16th & Marie Antoinette, Bonnie & Clyde, and Brad & Angelina, but there has never been any worse than Ahab and Jezebel. They were a match made in hell!
Ahab
Let me begin by introducing to you to the first half of this match made in hell! Ahab was the son of Omri, the wicked king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. When Omri died, Ahab followed in his father’s footsteps by succeeding him on the throne and leading the nation of Israel even further into sin and idolatry. As a matter of fact, I Kings 16:30, 33 says that Ahab “did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him” and “did more to provoke the Lord than did all the kings of Israel before him.”
Ahab was a spoiled, spineless, yellow-bellied monarch who surrounded himself with “Yes Men”—that is people who always agreed with him. He pouted when anyone opposed him. He whined when he didn’t get his own way. And he sulked when he didn’t get everything he wanted. He trivialized sin and disobeyed God’s prohibition against marrying outside the faith.
He was a deeply religious person; the problem was that he worshipped the wrong god. He was the King of Israel, but he turned his back on the one true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the God of his ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who delivered his people from slavery in Egypt. He allowed his wife to lead him and the people to worship the pagan fertility gods Baal and Asherah. In Samaria, he built an altar and a temple for Baal worship and even erected an Asherah pole, a phallic symbol made out of wood and protruded from the ground. (I Kings 16:32-33) Their worship practices were lewd and lascivious and usually included sacred prostitution in the temples and shrines.
For the King of Israel to allow such an abomination in his realm and to permit his queen to practice her lewd worship is shocking enough, but for him to participate in it himself and lead God’s people into such idolatry is simply unimaginable. Most of the people wanted to remain true to God, but they did not have enough courage to disobey Ahab or his queen.
Ahab’s character should serve as a warning for us today. First, be careful that you don’t succumb to generational sin. Ahab committed the same sins as his father Omri, but he took them even further. It never ceases to amaze me how sinful habits and patterns are passed down from generation to generation. Children are susceptible to their parent’s sin. I see this all the time with drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, promiscuity, anger, etc. Ahab had the opportunity to break the cycle, but instead, he perpetuated it. Don’t commit the same sins as your parents! Let the pattern stop with you!
Second, we should be careful not to surround ourselves with “Yes” people who agree with everything that we think, say, and do. It is important to have people in our lives that encourage and help us, but we also need other people to help us see things from different perspectives and to even periodically oppose us. Don’t seek advice from people who are just going to make you feel good about yourself. Surround yourself with people who will be brutally honest with you and hold you accountable!
Third, be careful not to trivialize sin! Ahab considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam (I Kings 16:31) and it led to even more sin. We live in a time and culture where sin is trivialized and rationalized all the time. How often do we hear the excuses for sin “Well, I know it’s wrong, but it’s really not that bad!” or “Well, everyone else is doing it!” or “It’s not hurting anybody!” or “I didn’t have any other choice!” If we are going to take God seriously, we have to take sin seriously. Every one of our sins is responsible for nailing Jesus Christ to the cross!
Fourth, be careful you don’t fall into the trap of being a “religious” person! Ahab was as religious and spiritual as one could be, but he worshipped the wrong god. Likewise, we live in a culture where it is popular to be “spiritual”, but not have an allegiance to any particular god. Many people today say, “All religions are basically the same! All gods are equal!” Don’t be deceived by this idolatrous jargon. There is only one God! His name is not Allah, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius, Barak Obama, or Glen Beck. His name is simply God and he is eternally existent in three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is only one God who humbled himself to be born in human flesh and die for our sins on the cross!
Even if they won’t admit it, everybody worships something! Make sure you worship the one and only God! He alone is worthy of our worship!
Jezebel
And now for the other half of this match made in hell! Jezebel was a Phoenician princess, the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon. Her father wasn’t only a king but he was also a priest of Baal and Asherah. Jezebel grew up worshipping these pagan deities and participating in all of their repugnant practices. Her character was evil to the core: she was cunning, controlling, manipulative, power-hungry, and bloodthirsty! As a devout adherent to paganism, she hated the God of Israel and murdered many of his prophets. She hated Elijah most of all, and did everything in her power to slaughter him. Elijah had to go into hiding to stay alive.
Jezebel’s character is portrayed well in Frankie Laine’s 1956 hit “Jezebel”:
If ever the devil was born,
Without a pair of horns
It was you,
Jezebel, it was you.
If ever an angel fell,
Jezebel,
It was you.
Jezebel, it was you.
If ever a pair of eyes,
Promised paradise.
Deceiving me, grieving me,
Leavin’ me blue.
Jezebel, it was you.
If ever the devil’s plan,
Was made to torment man,
It was you,
Jezebel, it was you.
‘Twould be better I had I never known,
A lover such as you.
Forsaking dreams and all,
For the siren call of your arms.
Like a demon, love possessed me,
You obsessed me constantly.
What evil star is mine,
That my fate’s design,
Should be Jezebel?
Ahab married Jezebel for political purposes. He wanted to solidify the alliance between Israel and Phoenicia because Phoenicia controlled the shipping routes on the Mediterranean Sea and was the gateway to international trade. Basically, he married her for her money and power. But she didn’t mind; she wanted to seduce the Israelites away from the one true God and convert them to paganism. As soon as they were married, she went about setting up shrines to her gods in all the holy places and built an altar to Baal in the capital city of Samaria. She immediately recognized that Ahab was weak and eventually dangled him around like a puppet on a string. Ahab was the king, but Jezebel was the one who really wore the pants in the family. Indeed, this was a match made in hell!
Here we see how an obsession with money and power can get us into trouble. Ahab’s desire to strengthen his kingdom caused him to break God’s law of marrying someone outside the faith, not to mention someone of despicable character. If Ahab’s heart had been focused on God, he never would have trivialized sin, disobeyed God by marrying Jezebel, or been overcome by idolatry. We must be careful not to allow our passions, whether it be money, power, sex, or something else, lead us to make poor decisions.
Choosing a spouse is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. For better or for worse, your spouse will be the greatest influence on your life. This is why God doesn’t want us to marry outside the faith. This is why the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
One of my good friends made this mistake. He was a solid Christian and even has a seminary degree. Because of his commitment to God, he kept himself sexually pure throughout his teenage years and though his mid-twenties. As he watched most of his friends get married and start families, he kept waiting for the right woman to come along. But as the years went by, his desires for marriage, sex, and a family grew stronger, and his patience began to wear thin.
Eventually he met a young woman who showed interest in him. She was a quasi-Christian at best and her character exhibited numerous red flags. Despite the advice of all of his family and good friends, he married her. Since their wedding, I have watched his values change. His wife is what we might call “high-maintenance”; she always has to have the most expensive everything. My friend, who used to be driven by his relationship with God, is now driven by making money to keep his wife happy. His wife has already led him to spiritual bankruptcy, and I guarantee that it is just a matter of time until she leads him to financial bankruptcy!
Whatever you do, don’t make the same mistake that King Ahab and my friend made! Don’t marry a non-believer! Don’t marry someone with questionable character! They will turn your heart away from God!
Naboth’s Vineyard (1 Kings 21)
We see the depth of this match made in hell in the story of Naboth’s vineyard in I Kings 21. Ahab had built an ivory palace in the town of Jezreel, and when looked at his beautiful palace, he noticed that there was a vineyard belonging to a man named Naboth beside it. Ahab thought, “That vineyard would be a great place for my vegetable garden.”, so he approached Naboth to purchase the land from him. But Naboth said, “I can’t do that. The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” Naboth took God’s law seriously.
So, like a child who didn’t get what he wanted, Ahab went home, laid down on his bed, sulked, and refused to eat anything. When he didn’t show up for supper, Jezebel entered and asked him, “What is wrong with you? Why won’t you eat?” In a whining voice, he explained that Naboth wouldn’t give up his vineyard. At this, she shook her head, threw up her arms, and said, “You weak little man! Do I have to do everything around here? I’ll get the vineyard for you!” So, she implemented a practice called “eminent domain-mafia style” where you knock someone off to get what you want. She then sent that infamous letter to the elders to stage a set-up to accuse Naboth of blasphemy, which was punishable by stoning to death. Jezebel executed her plan perfectly: Naboth got stoned and Ahab got his vegetable garden!
When Ahab went down to take possession of the vineyard, God’s prophet Elijah was waiting for him. Elijah confronted him on his sin and prophesied, “In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours.” (I Kings 21:19) He also prophesied concerning Jezebel, “Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” In time, both of these prophesies came to pass just like Elijah said.
In his famous sermon “Payday Someday”, Robert G. Lee, the long time pastor at Belleview Baptist Church in Memphis, TN said, “Did pay-day come? “Pay-day—Someday” is written in the constitution of God’s universe… And to Ahab and Jezebel, pay-day came as certainly as night follows day, because sin carries in itself the seed of its own fatal penalty.
This story reminds us that sin always has consequences. Payday may not come today, but it will come someday. The only way to avoid the ultimate payday for our sin is to put our faith in Jesus Christ. Forgiveness and atonement only come through his sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead! Repent and follow him today!
As I said at the beginning, Ahab and Jezebel was a match made in hell! I hope that this story of a match made in hell will help you on your march toward heaven!