God rebukes Baasha for his evil ways. Baasha dies. Elah, his son comes to reign over Israel. Only for two years, though. While Elah was intoxicated, his servant Zimri killed him, and then Zimri reigned in his place. He obliterates the house of Baasha, fufilling the prophecy in God's rebuke.
Zimri had a very short reign. Seven days to be exact. Israel didn't want him, so they gave the throne to Omri instead. Zimri set fire to the king's house and died in it.
Omri didn't follow God, and so neither did Israel. He builds up Samaria, which will now be the place where Israel's king resides. (I guess Zimri really destroyed the palace with that fire...) After 12 years of reign, he dies, and his son Ahab reigns.
Ahab reigns 22 years. He was a very, very evil king. He has a temple & altars built for Baal worship. He marries a Sidonian woman Jezebel, and they are two peas in a pod. She's just as evil as he is. (but perhaps a bit more ruthless....)
Elijah the prophet tells Ahab that God is going to punish them with drought. God tells Elijah to go hide by a brook, where he can drink, and the birds will bring him food. But after awhile, the brook dries up. God commands him to go to Zarephath, where a widow will feed him. He goes and finds the widow and asks for his food, but as she explains it, she has nothing but a little oil and flour, and is about to prepare something for her son and herself to eat, and then they will prepare to die. (starve...because there will be no more food.) He tells her to prepare him a little cake, and not to worry, God will refill her jars, and they'll never empty. And He does. But later on, the boy becomes very ill and dies. Elijah brings him to his bed and lays him down. Then Elijah calls out to God to save the boy's life, and God listens and the boy is raised back to life.
Three years after the drought began, Elijah is told by God to confront Ahab, and then it will rain. Ahab, as it were, has been around a man of God- Obadiah - who is over the household. (hey! there's a book called "Obadiah" after awhile...I wonder if it's the same guy!) Obadiah has hidden 100 prophets of God and has been secretly feeding them, because Jezebel has been "cutting off" the prophets. So, anyway, Obadiah runs into Elijah, and falls on his face. Elijah wants Obadiah to tell Ahab that he has arrived. Obadiah panics, because Ahab has been angrily searching everywhere for Elijah, and Obadiah greatly fears what might happen when Elijah suddenly shows up, especially because.... Elijah has this special power of disappearing...Obadiah describes it as "the Spirit of the Lord carrying you away"..... One second he's there, the next second he's *poof*.
So at any rate, Elijah confronts Ahab, and orders him to bring all Israel and gather the false idol's prophets together at Mount Carmel. (oooh....this is gunna be good....). It's time for a little false god vs. Almighty God showdown. Elijah orders the idol's prophets to prepare an altar with a bull upon it, and Elijah will do the same. Whichever God brings fire to the altar, will be proven as the true God.
So from morning till noon, Baal's prophets are calling out to Baal for fire, but nothing happens. Elijah mocks them, saying that maybe Baal is considering it, maybe he's gone away on some errands, or perhaps he's using the restroom... They keep crying out, and begin cutting themselves with swords, trying to get Baal's attention. Of course, nothing happens. Now it's Elijah's turn. He builds an altar with 12 stones to represent the 12 tribes of Israel. Then he has people fill four jars with water and pour it onto the sacrifice... He tells them to do it a second time....and then a third time.... (Twelve jars of water poured....). He calls out to God, and fire consumes the altar, the stones, the dust, the water, everything. The people fell on their faces and confessed that Elijah's God is the true God. He orders the people to seize Baal's prophets, and they do. Then he slaughters them.
Elijah tells Ahab to go up on a mountain and look for rain. He has him go up and down this mountain 7 times, and finally, on the 7th time, Ahab sees a small storm cloud coming up from the sea, in the shape of a hand. Elijah tells Ahab to get on his chariot and bugger off so as to not get caught in the rain that's coming. When Jezebel finds out that Elijah killed all Baal's prophets, she sends word to him that she will do the same to him within the next 24 hours. Elijah runs off and hides in the wilderness, is fed by an angel, and begins travelling to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. (where Moses received the Ten Commandments from God).
Once there, he hides in a cave, and God asks him what he's doing. He explains that Israel has turned away from the Lord and they are out to kill him, so he's hiding. God tells him to get up on the mountain before the Lord. The Lord "passed by" and wind tore up the mountain and broke lots of rocks...but God was not in the wind..... And after that, an earthquake...but God wasn't in the earthquake... Next, a fire.... but God wasn't in the fire, either. Then Elijah hears a whisper..... He goes back to the cave, and God asks him again what he is doing. He repeats himself, and God tells him to go to Damascus and annoint Hazael as the new king of Syria, and Jehu as the new king of Israel, and Elisha as the new prophet to take over for Elijah. He says that whoever escapes Hazael's sword, Jehu will kill, and whoever escapes Jehu's sword, Elisha will kill. But He will leave 7 thousand of Israel, all who haven't worshipped Baal.
Elijah finds Elisha, who is plowing. Elisha asks to say goodbye to his family, and then picks up and follows Elijah. I would loved to have seen these two together, btw. They seem to have a very interesting bond.
The Syrian king Ben-hadaad makes some pretty serious demands on Ahab...(his wife, his children, his gold, his silver...), and so begins war between Syria and Israel. God tells Ahab that He will deliver the Syrians into their hand, and they win the battle. A prophet warns Ahab that the Syrians will come again for war in the spring. The Syrians, meanwhile, are figuring that Israel's gods are "gods of the hills" (when it talks about "high places" in the Old Testament, it's referring to altars and places of worship that were build high up on hills for idols, as was their practice...). Therefore, the Syrians decide to attack on low ground, on the plains. God tells Ahab that He will make Israel victorious on the plains, so it will be known that He is Lord." And so, Syria suffers a terrible defeat. Afterwards, Ben-hadaad devises a plan which involves eating some humble pie. He comes crawling to Ahab in sackcloth and ashes, begging for pardon. Ahab makes a covenant with him and lets him go. (bad, bad, bad idea, Ahab.....) A man of God comes to Ahab and condemns the release of king Ben-hadaad, and says that Ahab's life will be the price for letting the Syrian king live. Ahab gets all bummed out about it. Then he gets even more upset when Naboth, who owns a vineyard near the palace, won't sell Ahab his vineyard. Ahab is all pouting in bed and turning away his food. Jezebel asks what's wrong, and Ahab tells her. She arranges for Naboth to be killed by having him be falsely accused of blasphemy against God and the king. They people stone Naboth, and Ahab gets the vineyard, which he plans to turn into a vegetable garden. (So....he destroyed the vineyard....."I am the Vine, you are the branches", because he just had to eat the "fruit of the garden"......while Naboth was killed for being falsely accused of blasphemy....alot of wierd parallels there, no?) God sends Elijah to go and condemn Ahab. He tells Ahab that the dogs will lick up his blood from the same place where they licked up Naboth's blood, and that Jezebel will be eaten by dogs, along with all others from the house of Ahab.
And though Ahab was pretty much the worst of the worst, he finally humbles himself before God. In response, God declares He will not bring disaster on Ahab's house until the next generation. After three years, Johoshaphat (king of Judah) commissions Ahab's army to help in battling Ramoth-gilead (and the Syrian army). Ahab wants to petition the Lord on this matter. The prophets speak that they will be victorious and all will be well. They bring in one more prophet, a certain "Michaiah", much to the chagrin of Ahab, who says that Michaiah always gives such condemning prophecy. Michaiah proceeds to tell them that the Lord has sent a lying spirit into the mouths of the prophets to entice them to the battle. Ahab and Jehoshaphat have him seized and taken away, and they go off to battle, ignoring his warning. What they don't know, is that the Syrians have been specifically instructed to seek out Ahab and kill him. They succeed by accident when a soldier shoots his bow at random and it wounds Ahab. He lays bleeding on his chariot for a good long while and then dies. They buried him in Samaria, but as the chariot was being cleaned, his blood dripped onto the ground, and as you probably guessed, the dogs licked it up.
Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah 25 years. He strove to follow God all his life, like Asa, his father. Judah, however, was still involved in idol worship. He is credited with making peace with the Israeli king, and exterminating what was left of the male prostitutes in the area. After he died, his son Jehoram reigned next.
Ahaziah, Ahab's son, came to reign over Israel after Ahab's death, only for two years. He was just as evil as his parents, and worshipped Baal, and made God very, very angry.
King Ahab: "Forget your grapes!!! I want zucchini, and I want it NOW!"
Wow, I love your way of retelling the story. Makes it flow and even be more understandable! The "1st & 2nds' of the Old Testament are some of my favorite books of the bible! Keep it up!! You are encouraging me to do the same!
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