Even Ahab Repents

He was the worst not just because people thought so: but rather because he was evil and led his own people astray.

Here are some other things we know about Ahab:
– 7th King of Israel
– Son of Omri
– His existence is supported by archaeological evidence outside of the biblical record.
– He was not Jewish – rather he was an ardent Ba’alist until the final period of his life.

During his reign he actively tried to get people to apostatize by use of bullying, murder, fear, and lies. His wife used whispering campaigns to support her husband. His friends were often at risk of instantly becoming his enemies. 

He was the worst of the kings, but he was the Anointed of God. In that respect the people prayed for him. There were sacrifices on his behalf in the Temple. God sent him prophets to correct him (even though he ignored them). God tries and fails over and over – because we are free – to win this man back to the good path and away from idolatry. And, as the king goes so goes the country. So there are many many folks who follow Ba’al simply because it’s popular. The People follow him as Lawful King, his brother King, in Judah, treats him with respect, but ignores his theological errors.

When every attempt at reform fails, God finally tells him off face to face. And that works. But he’s still done so much damage that he must pay for it all. A King is responsible for all the sins of his people following him. He sort of dies in battle, disguised out of cowardice as a regular soldier. He gets shot by an “unaimed arrow” and his blood is licked up by the dogs (MT) or by pigs (LXX). 

In the end, God protected his people from the King and from the needful sins of Regicide. 

Jesus says, Resist not evil. Turn the other cheek. Pray for your enemies. Bless those who curse you. And St James asks us elsewhere who are we – each of us sinners – to judge another servant? Who are we to be worse than God in showing mercy, in showing love? We are to act like God, giving even our political opponents every chance to move forward to their theosis, even at our own expense.

How different is this from our current political environment where we are governed by anger and a prideful rage so out of proportion as to be comedic. Our rage is out of proportion because we have lost the cultural sense that we are all equally fallen. We are each and every one sinners and, so, damned. We are each and every one a potential saint, but only if we all help each other (all of us) to get there.

So when the rightful authority is Ba’alist, and destroying the icon of God all around us, we should never abandon our god-given duties to build up that icon. But at the same time we are obligated to our own equally God-give function to save the icon amid the Rightful Authorities. It’s a tight line to walk. Our Spiritual Enemies are the demons. We may have political opponents, but they are not our enemies. They are only the dupes of the demons as are we often enough – and as we will be if we let them trick us into judging folks for their political sins.