Skip to main content

The Amazing Ahab

I must admit I'm somewhat fascinated by King Ahab of Old Testament Israel. Maybe it's similar to my fascination with the early auditions of American Idol. The worse they sound, the more I laugh. I think Ahab's reign over Israel was like one long, horrible Idol audition. If ever there had been a competition to find the next king of Israel, Ahab would probably fall somewhere between William Hung and that guy who sand 'Pants on the Ground'.

Is it just me, or is Ahab that guy at the party who's only there because he's hosting the party. Like the guy that never realized what he had or what part he should be playing. Lest we forget, this is the king who let his wife do all the hard work, though most of that work was sinful; 1 Kings 19:1-2, 1 Kings 21:8-14.

But maybe Ahab was more unlucky than evil. After all, he did know how to play people. When he & Jehoshaphat went into war together, Ahab convinced his good buddy Jehoshaphat (king of Judah) that he should wear his kingly robes while Ahab went incognito. Really? Why Jehoshaphat did not think for himself in this issue I'll never get, but that's what they did. Because no one ever aims for the leader of an army, right?

But through randomness (1 Kings 22:34-37) or by God fulfilling prophetic words, Ahab died. That's too bad. He brought such great times to Israel. Mind you, nobody recorded those good times, but I'm sure they were there. After all, Ahab was hosting the party.

What do you think? Who's your fave loser from the Bible?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his ...
Post a Comment
Read more