05.08.2014 Old Testament: 1Ki 16.29–33

To read the Bible in a year, read First Kings 16–18 on May 8, In the year of our Lord 2014

By Don Ruhl

To be named in the Bible would be such an honored distinction, unless it had been for excessive evil, as it was for King Ahab of Israel,

In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him (1 Kings 16.29–33).

We know the name of Ahab well, but not for good reasons, rather we know him for his evil in which he surpassed those who went before him. Yes, all sin is bad, but some bring even more evil into the world, and they only serve to set up their people for destruction.