We are going to continue our study on the Aleph Tav. If you are new here, I recommend reading through the very first post on this subject called, Jesus is the Aleph Tav. It will give you a great foundation for all the other posts in this series.
We started this series on the myths of prayer. Last week, we concluded our look at myths regarding prayer. Today, we are going to take a look at who Elijah, Jezebel, and Ahab were.
Introduction to Elijah
Today we are going to take a look at a man who knew how to pray. We are going to look at Elijah. First let’s take a look at the characters in this story.
A few weeks ago, Brett talked about Gideon being called by Jesus to destroy the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth. We learned that through the courage of Gideon, idol worship was defeated in the land of Israel.
I wish I could say that the people of Israel never turned back to idol worship. Sadly they did.
Today we are going to look at a time when not only was the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth were back but the leader of Israel actually married a woman who was likely dedicated to Baal as a baby.
Who is Jezebel?
We are first introduced to Jezebel in 1 Kings 16 where we are told she married King Ahab who was a king in Israel after Israel split into two nations, Israel and Judah. According to the Blue Letter Bible the name Jezebel means: “Baal exalts” or “Baal is husband to” or “unchaste”.
Her father was called Ethbaal who was the king of the Sidonians. The Sidonians served both Baal and Asheroth. (See 1 Kings 11:33 and 1 Kings 16:31) We know after her marriage to Ahab, she went on a killing rampage to kill the prophets of the true God, Yahweh. (1 Kings 18:13)
We also know from 1 Kings 18:19 that Jezebel was a protector of the false prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth.
Could it be since her name means “Baal is husband to” that she was given to the demon who is behind Baal worship in a spiritual marriage and then given the authority to rule over the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth?
Jezebel was the ultimate narcissist. She believed she could do whatever she wanted without any consequences. How dare anyone stand in their way if she or her husband wanted something. This is proven when Ahab wanted a vineyard that a man named Naboth owned. Ahab wanted to buy the land from Naboth, but Naboth refused to sell his family’s land. Ahab went home and pouted like a big baby. When Jezebel learned that Naboth refused to sell her husband the vineyard he wanted she plotted to kill him and take over his land. Only an extreme narcissist would do such a thing! (1 Kings 21:1-16)
One meaning of Jezebel’s name means “unchaste”. Jezebel seemed to use her body to get whatever she wanted. We see an example of this on the day of her death.
“When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. And she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window.” And he lifted up his face to the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. He said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her.” 2 Kings 9:30-33 (ESV)
Jezebel knew she was in trouble and tried her best to seduce Jehu. We can be sure this wasn’t the first time she used her body to control men. Jezebel was a woman who used sex and her body to control the men in her life. She was wholly dedicated to serving Baal and Ashtoreth. Jezebel was a murder of Yahweh’s true prophets. She believed she deserved to have anything she wanted, no matter who was hurt in the process.
Who is Elijah?
On the other side we have Elijah. His name means: “my God is Jehovah”
Elijah was a man who represented his name well. We see many examples of him standing up to evil to proclaim and show the people that Jehovah is the one true God. Elijah’s job was to confront King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. We never see him interacting with any other kings, though you can be sure he lived through many of them.
The time period right before Ahab, there was a lot of political unrest.
They had 4 kings in 6 years right before Ahab became king.
- There was Elah who was king for 2 years.
- Zimiri who reigned for 7 days.
- Then the nation divided once again into two parts. Tibini ruled one part and Omri ruled the other.
- This only lasted for about 4 years until Omri conquered Tibini.
- Omri who reigned for 6 years.
- Finally, we come to Ahab as king.
Can you imagine having 4 presidents in 6 years because they keep dying or get taken over by another president? There would be so much unrest in the nation.
Sadly, Ahab was said to be worse than all the kings who came before him. He was evil and allowed evil to rule the land freely. We are going to look at why God said this about Ahab next week.
The stage is being set for a great show of God’s power through prayer. I hope you will join me next week as we take a look at this great power!
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