Rev. David Holwick R The Life of Elijah, #5
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
May 27, 2007
1 Kings 21:1-27
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I. New Jersey corruption.
A. We do it right.
1) Google "New Jersey political corruption" - 1,200,000 hits.
a) Website www.NJ.com has a whole section on corruption.
2) A partial litany of political felons:
Martin Barnes, mayor of Paterson, was indicted and
convicted of accepting lavish gifts in exchange for
city contracts.
William Braker, Hudson County freeholder, pled guilty to
attempted extortion.
Paul J. Byrne, Hudson County Democratic power broker,
suffered heart failure and a stroke while awaiting
conviction on corruption charges.
Nidia Davila-Colon, Hudson County freeholder, was elected
to another term while she was under indictment; her
tenure was short-lived after she was found guilty
of passing bribes.
Robert Janiszewski, Hudson County executive, was nabbed for
taking bribes.
[What is is about Hudson County??]
Currently, "Janu" is the feds' star witness in a litany of
cases against other corrupt Jersey politicians.
Harry Larrison Jr., nicknamed "Mr. Monmouth County" after
serving the region almost 50 years, was charged with
asking developers to pay for a Florida vacation.
Matthew Scannapieco, Marlboro mayor, pled guilty to
accepting $245,000 in bribes from developers.
Jim Treffinger, Essex County executive, pled guilty to a
host of graft charges and then said he found Jesus ...
skeptics noted it was just in time for his sentencing.
[1]
B. Ahab and Jezebel would love it here.
1) They knew how to throw their power around.
2) What they didn't reckon on was God's justice.
C. Corruption is inside every human heart.
1) We like stories about crooked politicians, especially
when they get caught.
2) But think of all the stories about regular people who do
corrupt things.
Some believe all this corruption could bring our nation
down.
Philip Yancey notes that Gallup polls find that 83% of
Americans believe our nation is in moral decline.
Historian Barbara Tuchman has won two Pulitzer prizes for
her books.
She is certainly not an alarmist of the religious right,
but she worries about moral bankruptcy.
She told Bill Moyers she was concerned over the loss of a
moral sense, of knowing the difference between right
and wrong. She told him:
"We see it all the time.
We open any morning paper and some official has been
indicted for embezzlement or corruption.
People go around shooting their colleagues or killing
people....
I ask myself, have nations ever declined from a loss of
moral sense rather than from physical reasons or the
pressure of barbarians?
I think that they have." #657
3) You might think you are a "little person" and your moral
choices don't matter. Think again!
4) God will judge. Someday will be your payday.
II. The setting of the crime.
A. An average Joe Israelite named Naboth had a vineyard.
1) The king wanted it for his own use.
2) He offers Naboth a fair price. No crime there!
3) But Naboth refuses, citing inheritance traditions.
a) Some scholars say Jews could not sell land but only
pass it on to relatives because God owned it and
they were just stewards.
b) Other insist Jews were allowed to sell land (within
the Jewish community, anyway).
c) Apparently Naboth didn't trust the King's motives, or
he had a special religious attachment to his land.
B. The great King Ahab sulks. 21:4
1) Truly a classic pout: lays on bed, won't eat.
2) Jezebel finds out about the problem and takes charge.
a) First, she insults her husband.
1> "Is this how you act as king?"
b) Second, she creates a diabolical solution to problem.
1> Israelite kings were restricted by troubling things
called "laws" and could not seize land for no reason,
like Phoenician kings could.
2> So they had to come up with a political pretext.
C. The royal conspiracy.
1) A fast is proclaimed.
a) Public fasts signified some turmoil in the kingdom -
weather problems, foreign affairs, etc.
b) This is the setup to blame a scapegoat.
c) False testimony is arranged against Naboth.
2) Naboth is summarily executed and his land is seized.
a) This was perfectly legal if Naboth was a traitor.
b) Everybody is happy. Except one person, a prophet.
III. The prophet's rebuke. 21:17
A. The moral vision of Israel's prophets.
1) The popular image is that they predicted the future.
a) Their specialty was grim events concerning the coming
of the Messiah, with plagues and wrath.
b) Literature like the "Left Behind" series focus on this.
c) Certainly they did predict future events, but they
were broader than this.
2) Another aspect of prophets is upholding God's moral law.
a) Amos spent most of his ministry denouncing social
injustice and the ill-treatment of the poor.
b) Ezekiel condemned their sexual sin and idolatry.
c) Isaiah's society was much like ours:
"Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves;
they all love bribes and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
the widow's case does not come before them."
(Isaiah 1:23-24)
d) Elijah is told to uncover Ahab's corruption.
1> He boldly exposes the royal family's sin.
2> And he makes a grim prediction to boot.
B. God's message. 21:18
1) Ahab has murdered a man and stolen his property.
a) Conspiracy is just the same as pulling the trigger.
b) Moreover, the royal family has brought the whole
country into sin.
1> Sidebar comment: Ahab was the worst, as bad as a
Canaanite, which is pretty bad. 21:26
2) A grim prediction: both will die ignominiously. 21:19
a) Instead of being decently buried, scavengers will get
them first.
b) A more complete judgment - their lineage will be erased.
1> (Just like what happened to Jeroboam and Baasha)
C. Christians have carried on this prophetic tradition.
1) Christians led the charge against American slavery.
2) Rev. Martin Luther King made us aware of the injustice
of having discrimination in the "land of the free."
3) Others have condemned wars, death penalty, oppression of
farm workers, and many other social ills.
a) We may not always agree with the stand they take, but
taking on society is a Christian duty.
IV. An unexpected result.
A. Evil King Ahab - repents!
1) His actions show contrition: tearing clothes, putting on
sackcloth, giving up food.
2) He is meek and humble, a prerequisite of coming to God.
B. Nobody is beyond God's grace.
1) Proof that even the worst can be turned around.
2) Modern examples: Charles Colson. (also Jersey's Treffinger)
C. God cuts Ahab some slack.
1) He will still be judged, but he will be spared seeing the
final disaster.
V. Is God's judgment negotiable?
A. God's decrees often imply conditions.
1) There is often (but not always) an implied "unless..."
a) Human repentance can adjust God's plan.
b) It doesn't change it completely: the plan still happens.
2) The fate of Ahab & Jezebel shows inevitability of judgment.
a) Ahab himself is killed quickly.
1> A "random" arrow finds a chink in his armor. 22:34
2> But his descendants survive a little longer.
b) It takes years for Jezebel's fate, but it comes.
1> Literally, dogs devour her. 2 Kings 9:35
2> An old poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow says:
Though the mills of God grind slowly,
Yet they grind exceeding small...
B. Your payday is coming.
1) Famous sermon by Rev. R. G. Lee: "Payday Someday".
a) He traces the fate of each character in this chapter.
b) Then he concludes: we are no different.
2) The Bible reveals God's moral requirements.
a) We have all failed them.
b) We must repent and come to God.
3) The judgment is coming, but grace is available.
4) Repent and believe, today.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Rogues Gallery of New Jersey Politicians. http://www.nj.com/~
enter/index.ssf?/corruption/stories/index.ssf%3f/corruption/~
stories/rogues_gallery.html. For Treffinger's testimony see
#28954 "Fallen Politician Becomes Born Again," by Diane C. Walsh,
Star-Ledger Newspaper, Newark, New Jersey, January 10, 2005.
#657 "A Historian on the Moral Decline of America," by Philip Yancey,
Book: What's So Amazing About Grace? Zondervan Publishing:
Grand Rapids, 1997, p. 232.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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