1 Kgs 19:1-2-The Rage Of Jezebel - Elijah Series – 9 of 18
09-1Kgs19.12-Rage-of-Jezebel-–-Zemeski.docPosted by: bzemeski <bzemeski@...>
The Rage Of Jezebel
Elijah Series – 9 of 18
TEXT: 1 Kings 19:1-2 (Don’t read)
AIM: Satan’s plan to destroy God’s people and to destroy the line of Christ.
INTRODUCTION:
The contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel proved conclusively to Israel that Jehovah was God and that the idol Baal was utterly powerless and a farce!
A. The realization of a revival in the nation of Israel was at hand.
As a result of the victory of Elijah the nation turned back to God and crying in 18:39
The Lord He is the God; Jehovah, He is Elohim!
In determination that the people were to make a full commitment in returning to God, Elijah ordered the people to execute all 850 of the perverting prophets of Baal.
God in response to Elijah’s prayer and the keeping of His Holy Word – God graced the earth with a drenching rain after 3 ½-yrs. of drought! As a result, Elijah assumes the war had been won and that the enemy will embrace the truth since it has been so dramatically demonstrated the superiority of Jehovah God!
Elijah was so excited he was about to have a spiritual conniption (i.e. hysterical hallelujah fit).
Seemingly, under God’s power he races Ahab 17-mi. to Jezreel and even though Ahab has a head start on a chariot pulled by two horses, Elijah beats him on foot.
Elijah probably thought he was gonna help establish the revival and lead the victory parade. Jezreel was the king’s winter residence and it was near a major temple of Baal.
What a place to start the ball rolling for God.
B. When Elijah came to Jezreel he runs into something he never faced before – the Rage of Jezebel.
She had been waiting for a report when Ahab AND Elijah showed up.
We read 1 Kings 19:1.
What a sad commentary for King Ahab! This is all he had to say and such is his reaction to this very significant day! He had just witnessed the clearest evidence as to who was the true God: He saw the miraculous fire fall consuming the sacrifice and altar, he was soaking wet from the rain—yet there was no change—his attitude was still the same.
He would be like many people today who have enough to eat (remember that Elijah told him to eat in 18:41), people have their material needs met (Ahab has had his horse and mules were cared for), therefore they, like he, are content. Why get excited about religion? What’s the big dead? God is God no matter what you call him “Lets eat, drink and be merry; for tomorrow we die.”
C. How could a man witness so much and be affected by so little?
1. Ahab feared Jezebel – she was ruthless, vengeful, uncontrollable and violent.
2. Maybe Ahab thought he’d be out of character for a king to be excited – to make radical changes – after all, leader does what he must!
3. Main reason for Ahab’s lack of response – he was hard-hearted.
In Luke 16:31, we have Abrahams words to the rich man in hell who requested that Lazarus be sent back from the dead to his 5 living brothers. Abraham said, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets (BIBLE), neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead.”
Ahab didn’t change under the chastisement of the drought and he wasn’t persuaded even though God performed miracles on the mount. If men don’t respond to God’s oral message it is highly unlikely they’ll be convinced otherwise. God has ordained that “by the foolishness of preaching” (1Cor. 1:21) His salvation message is to be proclaimed.
When Jezebel heard the news, she threw a fit!
She went into a raged. READ >> 19:2
What kind of person was Jezebel? I have three thoughts about Jezebel.
I. The Inherent Character of Jezebel
II. The Insidious Plan of Jezebel.
III. The Intense Rage of Jezebel.
I. Jezebel – Her INHERENT character
It is no doubt that Jezebel was a very beautiful and attractive woman. She dressed seductively and used cosmetics in such a way to make her sexually alluring. But be warned all the glitters is not gold and beauty is only skin deep – underneath Scripture strips her of her vanity–her covering of beauty– and reveals an ugly, wicked, corrupt and hard-hearted person.
Song or Poem:
Beauty is only skin deep
Ugliness is to the bone
Beauty fades away
But ugliness holds its own.
A. She Was A Conniver
1. Behind every successful man is a woman.
IN her case it was in front of every successful woman is a man – I Kings 21:25
a. King Ahab’s power lay with his wife – she instigated, coordinated and cooperated in all his political and religious dealings.
b. One of the root problems in the land was in the home of Ahab – Ahab and Jezebel reversed their God assigned roles.
1) Ahab lost his britches and covered himself with a skirt!
Jezebel wore the symbolic trousers in the family – though today in most homes, whether the wife is the boss or not she still wears the trousers!
Joke: Henpecked husband in heaven.
A new group of men had just arrived in heaven. Saint Peter looked them over and ordered, “All men who were henpecked on earth, please step to the left;
“All those who were bosses in their own homes, step to the right.”
The line quickly formed on the left for the henpecked husbands and line was as long as the eye could see.
The other line to the right just had one husband standing in it!
Peter looked at the frail little man standing by himself and inquired, “What makes you think you belong on there on the right side of the un-henpecked husbands?” The man sheepishly answered: “Because this is where my wife told me to stand.”
2) One has to wonder if Ahab ever had an independent or original thought the whole time he was married to Jezebel.
3) It appears that every evil thought he had Jezebel planted it in his mind – every hatred that he evidenced was placed there by the wickedly conniving character of Jezebel.
c. She manipulated Ahab for her own selfish desires – he was under her control – she dominated the home.
1) “Unto the woman” God said, “thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule OVER thee.”
2) It is the husband’s responsibility to lead the home.
3) The wife is to submit to that leadership Eph. 5:22. Failure to do so will prevent your husband from being the man God wants him to be.
2. Her conniving character is seen in the murder of Naboth and the taking of his vineyard – 1 Kings 21:1-10.
a. Because Naboth wouldn’t sell the vineyard to Ahab, he like a spoiled brat, threw a temper tantrum, then a pity party (you know who is the blame for a spoiled brat don’t you?)
b. Jezebel is seeking to exhort her power over the pampered Ahab. She patted him on the head and promised her little dumpling “I’ll give you Naboth’s vineyard, even if mommy will have to kill him to get for her little boy.”
c. That is exactly what she connived. She forged some letters in Ahab’s name accusing Naboth of blasphemy, thereby having him stoned.
B. Jezebel Was corrupt – Her HEART Was Rotten
1. She was corrupt in her religion AND denied the one true God and the worship of Him alone.
2. Baalism was a religion of idolatry, gross immorality and human sacrifices. The New Testament sheds further light…
Rev 2:14 – “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.”
Rev 2:20 – “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.”
3. Her morals were corrupt – 2 Kings 9:22
a. Her priest were sex perverts – she was from the same mould.
b. She permitted immoral behaviour in her name of religion, she protected it, she promoted it, and she practiced it.
c. NOTE: as the morality of the mother goes, so goes the nation.
C. Jezebel Was Cruel and Callous
1. Her threat against Elijah demonstrated her willingness to kill in the name of her religion – 1 Kings 19:2
2. In 1 Kings 18 during the 3-½ -yrs. of drought and in Elijah’s absence she exterminated God’s prophets as a reprisal for the drought.
3. She was callous and cruel in disregarding Naboth’s property, life and family – she had him murdered.
In trying to find out about Jezebel we just look at her INHERENT Character. Now see…
II. Jezebel’s Insidious plan
It was not original with her – from the beginning Jezebel had a plan that was instigated, incubated and hatched in HELL!
A. Contents Of Her Plan
1. She utilized the plan instigated and designed by the devil to destroy Israel as a nation and to form a united nation of her country and Israel – of which she’d be the queen!
a. Jezebel was not a Jew – she was a Zidonian.
1) This is the first time that a king of Israel had allied himself by marriage with heathen princess.
2) Ahab was only a tool of Satan.
b. She would use intermarriage of the two nations, the two cultures, and the two religions to destroy the foundations of Israel and their worship of God.
1) This intermarriage of God’s people with the heathen is the Sin of Balaam
2) Intermarriage always results in tremendous social, cultural and religious problems.
3) This is a fact of life and it makes no matter whether it is intermarriage of race or religion.
c. Her desire was to make her religion dominant! It was the religion of the Devil – any religion not of God and the Bible is of the Devil!
1) Her hometown was Zidon – Lebanon (North of Israel).
2) Israel in the south was a divided kingdom.
a) Northern – 10 tribes – claimed Jehovah as God.
b) Southern – 2 tribes – Judah claimed Jehovah as God.
2. Jezebel purposed by her plan to destroy the religion of nation of Israel and establish Baalism as the world religion. At the time Israel was an oasis in the middle of a pagan desert. Baalism ruled in every direction.
a. Here plan was to destroy Israel as a nation and form a united nation.
b. To do so, Satan would destroy the royal seed from which Christ would come.
c. Satan has a master plan today.
1) He wants to marry the people of God to the world. Satan wants to use the believer as a means of accomplishing his ends.
2) Presently, we have a world religion now – it is called “the Brotherhood of man” – humanism.
3) This is still Satan’s plan for today – establish a one world Government and one world religion.
3. Jezebel wanted to destroy the royal seed from which Christ would come. Not because she understood, but Satan did – It is his plan!
a. Satan knew a Saviour would come – and through whom it would come.
b. Whether Satan knew it was to be through the tribe of Judah is immaterial at this point – Jezebel was determine to corrupt the entire nation of Israel (North and South). Destroying those in the royal vine of Judah would only be a mopping up exercise.
Application:
Satan has a plan for us: He wants to corrupt us, he wants to destroy our character; he wants to destroy our name, testimony, home, everything there is to destroy about us! He wants to corrupt our devotion to who is True, what is true—for a devotion to the world.
B. Course Of Her Plan – Plan a work, Work Your Plan
1. Began with her marriage of Ahab into the royal family of Israel. Jezebel was a Zidonian. It was a violation of the law of God for an Israelite to marry one of that nation. It was especially an evil thing for the King to do.
Deut. 7:3 – “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.”
a. Not a marriage based on love – based on convenience, self-promotion and lust. It was a Satanic plan.
b. Loving companionship was not on Jezebel’s mind—on her mind was her self-centred goals.
c. Ahab was a weak man – putty in her hand – she could shape, mould and push him in any direction she wanted him to go.
d. Jezebel – means un-husbanded – “island dwelling”
1) This doesn’t mean she wasn’t married
2) Husband – Hus = manager
3) Band = union
4) She wasn’t submitted to any man!
2. Ahab made it easy for her plan to succeed, as Jezebel immediately corrupted him with her idolatry – 1 Kings 16:31-33
a. Firstly, he was off the track spiritually.
1) Jezebel’s task was made easier by Ahab’s earlier heresy of following the apostasy of Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12:25-33. Otherwise, one can only speculate, if he would have ever married Jezebel.
2) It was easier to tumble spiritually when you are already off track.
b. Secondly, he supported the divisive and convenient worship of God – a plan devised by King Jeroboam 58 years earlier to have Israel to worship in a different place than Jerusalem.
c. He did this for fear of losing his Kingdom to the south, so he sustained the spiritual division of their nation by providing an alternate place to worship in Dan & Bethel.
3. This wicked couple began to destroy God’s Prophets and the places of worship
– Kings 18:13; 19:10
a. As soon as Jezebel got Ahab into the marriage contract she required him to go to church with her.
b. Immediately she corrupted Ahab and introduces idolatry. They erected Temple to Baal and a temple meant priests
c. She then had her priests tear down the altars of God and had God’s prophets killed – removing from the land all that reminded the people of the true God or that might be a threat to her.
d. If she could destroy the North’s religion and worship – she could then destroy the South’s – Domino Theory
e. Ahab and Jezebel produced a daughter named Athaliah. She married Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah.
1) Jehoshaphat, the godly king of Judah – no business compromising and making and unholy alliance with an apostate Israel
2) Affinities were created
a) Commercial alliance – 2 Chron. 20:35-37
b) Military alliance – 1 Kings 22:2-4
c) Personal alliance TURN >> 2Chron. 21:4-6
f. Later Jehoram (Jehoshaphat’s son) became the King of Judah. Jezebel has now extended her contact into the south through her daughter.
1) This was the continuation of the satanic plot to install the worship of Baal in both kingdoms.
2) “The house of Ahab” was the counsel of King Ahaziah, Jezebel’s grandson. She influences him through her daughter, Athaliah – 2 Chron. 221-4
3) Athaliah attempts to kill all her grandchildren, so she like her mother could rule! – 2 Chron. 22:10
4) Note vs. 11 – she didn’t succeed – she was thwarted by the hiding of Joash.
a) He was the only one left of the royal line, who took the throne 6-yrs. later (2Kings. 11:1-3).
b) If Satan could have destroyed him and he could have destroy the line of Christ! Joash had divine protection!
c) It is easy to see Jezebel’s influence on her daughter.
d) Behind all this was Satan’s scheme to own the world.
All around Israel false religion already prevailed.
In trying to find out about Jezebel we just look at her INHERENT Character and her INSIDIOUS plan. Now we see the…
III. intense rage of Jezebel
Jezebel’s plan had been interrupted by the revival on Mount Carmel.
Elijah is about to learn about her rage!
A. The Cause of Her Rage
1. Ahab’s report enraged her – 1 Kings 19:1
a. Elijah was given credit for the miracle.
Obviously God was not given any credit. He was ignored!
b. The judgment by God was rejected.
2. Her disrupted plans enraged her.
a. Her plan had been working well until Elijah showed up.
b. Baalism was the fastest growing religion of the day!
c. Her daughter was married to Jehoram.
d. Israel seemed to be meekly submitting to the evil being inflicted on them.
3. The sight of Elijah strutting down the street enraged her.
She came to a boiling point.
B. Counter Attack by Jezebel
1. Now, finding out the Baal lost contest and her beloved prophets of Baal were dead, she issued a venomous threat – 19:2
2. Elijah had thought the battle had been won.
a. Jezebel was far from being defeated. Ahab may have been cowed but not her!
b. Jezebel continued in her evil presence for another 20 years.
c. Jezebel continued to manipulate her husband until he was killed about 8 years later. After Ahab’s death she ruled through her sons (Jehoram, Ahaziah both Kings of Israel) – 1 Kings 21:25
d. She controlled Judah through her daughter, Athaliah, who was the wife of Jehoram, King of Judah.
Application:
Don’t ever think Satan is going to admit defeat—that he is going to lay down because you win a skirmish. We may win a victory but the battle is not over. Many battles are yet to be fought, but the war won’t be won until Jesus comes back!
Until then, Satan will be back with a vengeance!
The rage of Jezebel may lift its cry against you, but God is still God – He is still on the throne – Hold you’re ground! Don’t Run!
C. Lessons:
1. Don’t assume you have won just because you have reached a spiritual plateau.
2. Satan has plenty of Jezebels with which to attack you.
3. Just as Satan had a plan to take over the world, he has a plan to master us.
4. Satan is attempting to corrupt you, lead you astray, deceive you, use you – once you have been destroyed he’ll throw you on the trash heap and leave you just as he did to the traitor Judas. Satan will give you what you want and if you embrace him he’ll squeeze you to death.
5. Elijah won a battle at Mount Carmel but Satan was not defeated. We may win a battle. We may be victorious in a significant area of our life, but Satan will be back to test us again. He has an abundance of Jezebels with which to attack us.
6. Remember, don’t ever relax your guard
7. Realise God will never forsake you though Satan may rage.
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Bob Zemeski
Leixlip, Co. Kildare W23 C8K1
1 Samuel 12:23,24
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