Deep Calls

OK...so Jehoshaphat has come home from Israel to the rebuke from God. " Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this the wrath of the LORD is upon you. " (2 Chronicles 19:2) And, in response, he did a GREAT job cleaning house...calling the people back to GOD, sending out judges and priests and elders. But what the prophet told him was that because he had gone to war with Ahab (the wicked man who hated the LORD) that Jehoshaphat was under the wrath of God. I bet he dreamed about that word...like in movies when the dreams replay like a psychedelic broken record:  "wrath..wrath of God..wra-wra-wrath of God, the wrath of God is UPON you". So one morning a messenger comes in with a grim face and Jehoshaphat's stomach fell -- the armies of the Moabites and Amnonites and some of the Edomites were on their way, and in fact they were already in the En-Gedi -- in Judah and only a few hours away. And Jehoshaphat does exactly the rig

So Ahab died. . .                             after so many events where GOD reached out to him, showed him the miraculous so he would "know that He is LORD", warned him ... warned him to the very end. So poignant ~ he was pierced and slain by a random arrow. The theme song of his life ~ "If Only, If Only!" But there was another king at that battle with Ahab: Jehoshaphat. It is quite a juxtaposition. JUXTAPOSITION: an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast. The story of Jehoshaphat begins in 2 Chronicles with these words: "Jehoshaphat (the son of Asa, who had been a very good, God-fearing king)   succeeded him as king and strengthened himself against Israel. He stationed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah and put garrisons in Judah and in the towns of Ephraim that his father, Asa, had captured ." (2 Chron. 17:1-2) Then we are told that in the 3rd year of his reign he sent officia

This, as the title warned, is NOT about The Last Battle , the brilliant conclusion to the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis ... which you should read if you have not, by the way. This is the story of the last battle of King Ahab's life. It is a poignant story. You will see why, I hope, by the end of this blog. "poignant" That is such a great word...here let me give you the definition (to save you time, cuz I know you are about to go get a dictionary to look it up...right? POIGNANT 1. keenly distressing to the feelings: poignant regret . 2. keen or strong in mental appeal: a subject of poignant interest . 3. affecting or moving the emotions: a poignant scene Etymology: ME poynaunt < MF poignant, prp. of poindre < L pungere to prick, pierce   Let's start by playing the fun, fun game  " Who Would YOU Cast?" again. Go and read the story of Ahab's last battle in 1 Kings 22, and in 2 Chronicles 18. 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles tell

Reading the story of Ahab in a chunk, as it were, (instead of reading part of it one time, then another part -- or only reading only the part of the story referred to during a sermon) actually makes me feel uncomfortable. It is like this: have you ever watched a movie where one of the characters makes a stupid decision, or walks into a trap? OK, confession time: when that happens to me, I find myself yelling at the screen : "STOP! Don't do that!" -- or some equally inane warning. I bet you do too -- well maybe not you , but some people do. That is how I find myself feeling as I read this story -- only what I want to do is yell at God , "Just kill Ahab! He is going to go on being a jerk! What? You didn't kill him after that??? NO lightening? Really? He's not going to get it, God. He is a self-indulgent brat. YOU said he did more to provoke You than any other king of Israel before him...GIVE UP!" I want to yell this because God does not give up. Infact, &q

Ahab goes home. Ahab goes home to Jezebel. He has lived through 3 years with no rain -- three years with God proving the impotence of Baal. He has seen the contest that Baal LOST and GOD won. He saw fire come down and consume the ox, the wood, the stone and all the water Elijah had poured out to soak the sacrifice. Then he rode 20 miles in the rain in an open chariot. I am SURE God timed the rain so Ahab would be saturated with fact that God ~ not Baal ~ sends rain. Then Ahab goes home. I suppose that Jezebel had heard before Ahab showed up that her 450 prophets of Baal had been slaughtered...that Ahab had done NOTHING to stop the slaughter. What Ahab says is significant, but, for me, MORE significant is what Ahab does NOT say: Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 1 Kings 19:1 Ahab does not  tell her all that God had done. Who knows how he couched the story, but he lays all the blame on Elijah and gives God no

It was a decidedly BAD day for the prophets of Baal! They had spent a long day screaming and jumping and cutting themselves with their swords to try to get Baal to send fire from heaven -- he didn't. Can you imagine..." 'Jump higher, scream louder!' 'Hey I had the last shift - you go jump and scream for a while.'  'I just did the sword-cut thing and did you not see that I am bleeding all over the place?' "   Adding insult to injury -- literally -- Elijah stands off to the side and does a "SaturdayNightLive-esk" routine at their expense. At the end of the day, Elijah calls the people, rebuilds the altar of God and simply says , as it were, " Would you please send fire, God?" THEN . . . the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD-he is God! The LORD-he is God!"

              Elijah             some ravens at a brook                                  a widow and her son                                                                         Ahab           Obadiah                                       450 prophets of Baal                                                                                                                                                                               the people of Israel                                                                     and                                   GOD  God picks a fight. {Maybe God thought, " Soooooo, you want to worship Baal -- why? OH! cuz you want a guarantee of rain and . . . you think Baal, like, is in charge of that ... storm god / rain. Really?" } There is no threat, there is no warning, there is no "if you...then I'll..." Baal is the god of the storm ~ rain in a desert land is a must. Give Baal worship and you get rain; giv

Sometimes, when I am teaching a Bible class, I give this assignment:         Imagine that Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame)         has decided to make a movie about 1 Kings. He has hired        you and put you in charge of casting. Who would  you         choose for these roles?                   1. Ahab ~ evil king of Israel.             2. Jezebel ~ the evil wife of Ahab.                                 She is the daughter of                                 Ethbaal, king of Phoenicians.                                 She seems to be the power                                 behind the throne.           3. Elijah ~ prophet of God.           4. Obadiah ~ Prophet of God who works                                 for Ahab. OK, so go read the story. You can find it in 1 Kings 18. And -- do the assignment. Who would YOU cast and why? I have people do this because when you read the story and give a face and a voice to the characters in the stories, then the storie

Jeroboam (Israel) -------------/Nadab-- (22 years)                                                                           (2 years) /Baasha------------/Elah---/Zimri/Omri-----/ Ahab                                  (24 years)                            (2 years)         (7 days)     (12 years)          (22 years)    Rehoboam (Judah)----------/Abijah---    (17 years)                                                          (3 years)   /Asa -----------------------------------------/Jehoshaphat   (41 years)                                                                                           (25 years : 4th year of Ahab)              _   _   _   _       Above, you see a rough (OK, very rough) comparison timeline of the kings of Israel and Judah. There was not only a lot of turn-over in the kingdom of Israel (Ahab is the 7th king in Israel, and Jehoshaphat is only the 4th king in Judah) but while Nadab, Jeroboam's son, follows him, Jeroboam's whole family

OK, the last post about the kings was very much like a broken record. -- I wonder how many people get that phrase, by the way: broken record. OK...I know Jeff knows (he is my across the nation friend that I know reads my blog) but Jeff ~ do your daughters? hmmmm -- OK, for those of you who might have lived most or all of your life without a record player ~ back in the 'olden' days we had records and record players. The records were like much much bigger cd's, they were black (nic-named licorice pizza) and had a groove that spiraled from the edge to the center. A needle would ride the groove, from the edge to the center, while the record spun on the record player. (If you want to know how the music was held in that grove, you must go to wikipedia or the library ... or someone smart like Jeff, for instance ... cuz I just listened to them -- I have NO idea how the magic happened.) but anyway if the record got a scratch on those groves, it would 'skip'. The needle wo

OK, taking a break from the divided kingdom because I walked home last night. I work tutoring for a couple of hours after school each day. Erica, my daughter, borrowed my car so I walked to and from work . (This is NOT an accomplishment ... it is like a block. I usually drive because I don't want to carry all the books and stuff I use for tutoring ~ anyway... ) When I stepped out of the classroom yesterday it was twilight. I love everything about twilight. It is my favorite favorite favorite time of day. I always feel like I am being given a gift when I happen to step outside as twilight comes. The sky above me was a soft aqua. The trees were black in silhouette against the sky. At the horizon, as I stepped outside, the sky was a paint stripe of baby yellow and first blush pink. It has snowed on the mountains that rim the northern edge of my view. The mountains themselves were a dark dusty blue and the snow on top was shimmery white with just a tinge of pink. I stood just looking