About Ahab, Elijah & Baal

THE DIVIDED KINGDOM
The term “Divided Kingdom” is somewhat misleading, as it could lead one to assume that the loose confederation of 12 tribes known collectively as “Israel” had a perfectly defined sense of national identity and “oneness” prior to the division. This was more of a work in progress. Regardless, following the first three kings of the “United Kingdom” (Saul, David, and Solomon) nation divided and took on separate histories.

When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam took the throne. When he became king, Rehoboam had to deal with a rising tide of resentment over the high taxes and economic problems that had begun during Solomon’s last years. When Rehoboam refused to give relief to the Israelites, all the northern tribes broke away and formed the northern kingdom. This kingdom was named Israel with a man of non-royal descent, Jeroboam, named as its first king. The southern kingdom, named Judah, only included the territories of Judah and Benjamin. A total of 20 kings ruled in each of the separate kingdoms. The northern kingdom had several dynasties, and the reigns of the kings were generally short. In the southern kingdom, the dynasty of David continued, and the kings generally ruled for longer periods of time.


THE NORTHERN KINGDOM
The northern kingdom lasted from about 930 BC until it was conquered by Assyria in 722 BC Jeroboam established his capital first at Shechem but later moved it to Tirzah. Jeroboam feared that he would lose the loyalty of the people if they continued to go to Jerusalem to worship. Because of this, Jeroboam set up a new religion of his own. He instituted calf worship and built shrines at Dan in the north and Bethel in the south. God condemned this idolatry and promised that all of Jeroboam’s descendants would be wiped out. The Bible tells us that all of Jeroboam’s successors followed in his idolatrous steps. The northern kingdom was at war during much of its history. This included wars with Judah, Syria, and Assyria.
There were four other historically important kings of Israel: Omri, Ahab, Jehu, and Jeroboam II. King Omri, who reigned from 885 BC to 874 BC , must have been an impressive ruler. After many generations, the Assyrians still called Israel the land of Omri. After Omri became king, he moved the capital to Samaria and began to build a palace there. Early in his reign, Omri was successful in conquering Moab, and later he reestablished the good relations with Tyre that existed during the days of David and Solomon. Omri established an alliance with Tyre and sealed it with the marriage of his son Ahab to Jezebel, who was a princess of Tyre.
Ahab, who reigned from 874 BC to 853 BC, was one of the most significant kings of Israel. He and his wife, Jezebel, promoted worship of the idol, Baal. There are many things about Baal worship that remain a matter of guesswork to us moderns, but it appears that Baal ….or more precisely “The Baals” were considered the LOCAL deity in charge of rain and fertility; fertility of the land, crops, animal husbandry, etc. etc. A local hill or “high place” would be considered especially ‘sacred’ in terms of the Baal cult. As we try to get our minds wrapped around this situation, it’s not so much that the people of Israel would EXCHANGE worship of the true God for the Baals, but rather that they would mix the two together. The thing about Baal is that he really seemed to be concerned primarily with every-day needs like rain and the crops, and making sure one’s herds expanded. In addition, some commentators state that worshiping Baal usually involved prostitutes and sexual antics meant to urge Baal on to do his job—being, after all, a “fertility god.”

Because Ahab not only continued the false religion of the North but also with the help of his wife made Baal worship a ‘state-sponsored’ religion, the prophet Elijah opposed the king. In ‘wide-screen’ dramatic fashion the book of 1Kings displays several “showdowns” between Yahweh the one true God and Baal—all through the work of the prophet Elijah. The most dramatic of these showdowns happened on top of Mt. Carmel when Elijah confronted 850 prophets of Baal.