My Lovely Dwelling Place

Ahab Admonitions Part IV:  A Vineyard and A Legacy             I’ve been thinking about legacies lately.  It’s a term we hear when watching documentaries about our favorite heroes from history.  It’s also a term we hear during election years, especially in regards to the outgoing president.  The definition of legacy is basically an inheritance – something left to others, presumably of value.  Unfortunately, as in history and the presidency, what gets left behind might not be worth having.  In fact, it might be downright dangerous.              In the case of Ahab and Jezebel, their kids turned out just like them and embraced their parent’s legacy with their whole hearts.  One could only hope that those of us with something truly valuable to pass on would have recipients as zealous to receive it!  But alas, that is not always the case.  Bad parents can yield good kids; good parents can yield bad kids, but often the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.              Last w

Ahab Admonitions Part III:  Ahab and Jezebel, a Match Made in Hell Mawage, that bwessed awwangement, a dweam wifin a dweam*             Well, maybe not for everyone.  As stated in a previous blog, Ahab was the worst king Israel had – and that is saying something, since Israel never had a good king.  He gets this dubious designation with the help and encouragement of his darling bride.  There is truly someone for everyone. We meet this lovely pair in 1 Kings 16:31-33. It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria.  Ahab also made the Asherah.  Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him. Now this arrangement was most likely political.  Since Ahab adop

Ahab Admonitions Part II:  The Widow of Zarephath             In my last post, I started a conversation revolving around Ahab, Israel’s worst king.  Because he was so bad, God sent Elijah to proclaim a drought.  This was a divine slap in the face to Ahab, because Baal was the god of the weather.  Israel was an agrarian society and dependent on rain for their crops – drought meant famine, famine meant death.  The true God meant to show Ahab and all Israel who was really in charge.             As things begin to dry up in the land of Israel and food becomes scarce, God tells Elijah to do a strange thing.              Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying , “ Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you,” (1 Kings 17:8-9).             Sidon is Jezebel’s home country.  It is under the control of her dad, Ethbaal.  These are the folks that Ahab wants to emulate.  It is Baal territory – and