INTRODUCTION.
After the unified nation of Israel split into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, both nations had their own kings. One of the kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was Ahab and one of the first things we learn about him is that “he did evil in the sight of the LORD above all (the kings) that were before him” (see I Kings 16:30), and that he also married Jezebel who was the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians. His marriage to her led him to serve and worship Baal (see I Kings 16:31). Ahab reigned in Israel for twenty years and all those years were full of evil. But when he and his wife plotted to take Naboth’s vineyard and then kill him, Ahab had gone too far and the LORD had had enough of him. As a result, in this week’s lesson, God sent Elijah the Prophet to pronounce His judgment on Ahab and Jezebel.