Ahab - Legacy

Legacy

While the above passages from 1 Kings do not view Ahab unfavourably, there are others which are less friendly. Essentially, 1 Kings 16:29 through 20:40 is the story of Ahab's reign. This reign is one which faces opposition from several prophets of Yahweh throughout as well as various consequences because of his marriage to Jezebel, because of his worship of Baal, disobedience to prophetic warnings and words, and also because of the murder of Naboth. The murder of Naboth (see Jezebel), an act of royal encroachment, stirred up popular resentment just as the new cult aroused the opposition of certain of the prophets (Elijah, Micaiah, and a few unnamed prophets). Indeed, he is referred to, for this and other things as being "more evil than all the kings before him" (1 Kings 16:30). The followers of Yahweh found their champion in Elijah, whose story reflects the prophetic teaching of more than one age. His denunciation of the royal dynasty of Israel, and his emphatic insistence on the worship of Yahweh and Yahweh alone, illustrated by the contest between Yahweh and Baal on Mount Carmel, as told in 1 Kings 18, form the keynote to a period which culminated in the accession of Jehu, an event in which Elijah's chosen disciple Elisha was the leading figure. Ahab himself was not a wicked person, but he was easily influenced by his wife, and this led to his destruction. In Rabbinic Literature, there are three women who caused the deaths of their husbands, Eve, Delilah and Jezebel.