Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 21:25
But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
25. to work wickedness ] R.V. to do that which was evil. See above, 1Ki 21:20.
Ahab exceeded the wickedness of all the other kings in that he introduced Baal-worship, and allowed his wife to proceed to all lengths in her attempts to destroy any recognition of Jehovah, even such as remained in the corrupted worship of the northern kingdom.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
whom Jezebel stirred up – The history of Ahabs reign throughout exhibits him as completely governed by his imperious wife. Instances of her influence are seen in 1Ki 21:7, 1Ki 21:15, marginal reference, 1Ki 18:4; 1Ki 19:2.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ki 21:25
But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord.
Ahab
I. An illustration of the depths of human depravity.
1. Ahabs pre-eminence in sin (1Ki 16:30). There had been many instances of wickedness decked with the robes of royalty; but there was none like Ahab.
2. Ahabs bargain with hell. He stands before us as a self-sold slave of the devil. Ahab sold himself! What a bargain!
3. The daring character of Ahabs wickedness. In the sight of the Lord. Most strive to work wickedness under the covert of darkness–under the shades of night, or wearing the hypocrites mask. Not so Ahab.
II. An evidence of the unmanly servility of evil. Whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. This Syrian princess, whom Ahab had married, was a woman of the most consummate subtlety, duplicity, and cruelty.
III. A proof of the magnitude of the divine mercy. Great was the long-suffering of God in permitting Ahab to reign so long (2Pe 3:9). Great, too, was His mercy in regarding the humiliation of this guilty man (1Ki 21:29), i.e. the destruction of his posterity (Psa 86:15). God gives no repulse (says Bengel), when He gives good things: He neither upbraids us with our past folly and unworthiness, nor with future abuse of His goodness.
IV. The evanescent nature of merely selfish penitence. Ahab appeared by his fasting and humiliation to return to God; but his goodness proved like the morning cloud. He soon cast off the yoke of the Divine authority, and returned to his wallowing in the mire. In this he is the type of multitudes, who in their affliction say, Come, and let us return unto the Lord; but bring forth no fruits meet for repentance. (Patrick Morrison.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. Did sell himself to work wickedness] He hired himself to the devil for this very purpose, that he might work wickedness. This was to be his employment, and at this he laboured.
In the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.] A good wife is from the Lord; a bad wife is from the devil: Jezebel was of this kind; and she has had many successors.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
There was none like unto Ahab; none among all the kings of Israel which had been before him.
Whom Jezebel his wife stirred up: this is added to show that temptations to sin are no excuse to the sinner.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord,…. Not of any of his predecessors, even those whose families had been destroyed, as his would be, 1Ki 21:21.
[See comments on 1Ki 21:20].
whom Jezebel his wife stirred up; to idolatry, revenge, and murder, and to whose will he was a slave, and is one instance of his being a captive to sin, and giving up himself to the power of it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1Ki 21:25, 1Ki 21:26 contain a reflection on the part of the historian concerning Ahab’s ungodly conduct, whereby he brought such an ignominious end upon himself and his house. , “only there has not been (one) like Ahab,” i.e., there was no one else like Ahab, “who sold himself,” etc. for , from , to entice, to seduce or lead astray (cf. Ewald, 114, a., and Ges. 72, Anm. 6). , and he acted abominably. Amorites: for Canaanites, as in Gen 15:16, etc.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
D. THE CONTRITION OF AHAB 21:2529
TRANSLATION
(25) But there was none like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. (26) He erred exceedingly in going after the idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD had driven out from before the children of Israel. (27) And it came to pass when Ahab heard these words, that he tore his garments and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted, and lay in the sackcloth and went about softly. (28) And the word of the LORD came unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying, (29) Have you seen that Ahab humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days; in the days of his son I will bring the evil upon his house.
COMMENTS
1Ki. 21:25-26 seem to be in the nature of a parenthetical remark which is intended to further justify the harsh sentence pronounced against Ahab and his wife. No Northern predecessor had so completely abandoned the ways of the Lord as had Ahab. His gross apostasy is explained by the fact that his wife, a devotee of a pagan deity, stirred him up or incited him to sin (1Ki. 21:25). Ahab tolerated, condoned and engaged in the idolatrous practices of the nations[489] which God had driven out before the mighty armies of Joshua (1Ki. 21:26). Canaanite Baal worship survived among the Sidonians and by means of Jezebel was reintroduced in the kingdom of Samaria.
[489] Technically, the term Amorite refers to those peoples dwelling in the mountain regions of Palestine as opposed to Canaanite which refers to the inhabitants of the valleys. Here, as frequently in the Old Testament, the Amorite is used as a general name for the seven nations which possessed Canaan prior to the Israelite invasion under Joshua. Cf. Gen. 15:16; Eze. 16:3; Amo. 2:9-10.
Ahab was deeply affected by the dire predictions of Elijah. By several outward signs he manifested his inward repentance for the crimes he had committed. He rent his garments, put on sackcloth,[490] fasted and even slept in his sackcloth. He also went about softly (1Ki. 21:27), which may mean he walked barefoot, or, to take the expression in a more figurative way, humbly, contritely. Taking note of this royal repentance, the Lord sent an important word to Elijah (1Ki. 21:28) which in effect cancelled the threat against Ahab. It is not clear whether or not this mitigation of the sentence was ever announced to Ahab himself, but there is no reason to think that it was not. The merciful Lord regarded the repentance of the king as sincere, and because of it, deferred the execution of the sentence unto the days of Ahabs son (1Ki. 21:29). This is no example of the innocent suffering for the guilty, for God knew what the son of Ahab would be. Furthermore, that son would have the option of repentance by which still further reprieve could be granted (cf. Eze. 18:14 ff.). Judgment was deferred to give the house of Ahab another chance. How marvelous is the divine patience!
[490] Mourners seem to have worn sackcloth on the outside where it could be seen; but penitents wore it under the clothes as a form of self-affliction.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(25) The dogs shall eat Jezebel.In all his address to Ahab, Elijah has, as yet, disdained to name the instigator, on whom the coward king, no doubt, threw his guilt. Ahab stands revealed as the true culprit before God, without a shred of subterfuge to veil his ultimate responsibility. Now, briefly and sternly, the prophet notices the bolder criminal, pronouncing against her a doom of shame and horror, seldom falling upon a woman, but rightly visiting one who had forsworn the pity and modesty of her sex. In the ditch (see margin) outside the walls, where the refuse of the city gathers the half-wild dogsthe scavengers of Eastern citiesher dead body is to be thrown as offal, and to be torn and devoured.
This verse and the next are evidently the reflection of the compiler, catching its inspiration from the words of Elijah in 1Ki. 21:20. There is in them a tone not only of condemnation, but of contempt, for a king most unkinglythus selling himself to a half-unwilling course of crime, against the warnings of conscience, not disbelieved but neglected, for the sake of a paltry desirethus moreover, grovelling under the open dominion of a woman, which, to an Eastern mind, familiar enough with female intrigues, but not with female imperiousness, would seem especially monstrous.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25, 26. These two verses are parenthetically added by the writer of this history to intensify the thought of Ahab’s extreme wickedness, and to show the reason of the bitter judgments that were pronounced against him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 21:25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
Ver. 25. But there was none like unto Ahab. ] A very non-such, as is before noted, bipedum nequissimus, non scelestus sed ipsum scelus.
Which did sell himself, &c., whom Jezebel, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Structure (p. 485) places the member, verses: 1Ki 21:25-26, as within a parenthesis.
none like unto Ahab. Out of twenty bad kings Ahab was the worst. Compare 1Ki 16:30, 1Ki 16:33.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
But there: 1Ki 21:20, 1Ki 16:30-33, 2Ki 23:25
sell himself: 1Ki 21:20, 2Ki 17:17, Isa 50:1, Isa 52:3, Rom 6:19, Rom 7:14
whom Jezebel: 1Ki 21:7, 1Ki 11:1-4, 1Ki 16:31, 1Ki 18:4, 1Ki 19:2, Pro 22:14, Ecc 7:26, Mar 6:17-27, Act 6:12, Act 14:2
stirred up: or, incited
Reciprocal: 1Ki 16:33 – did more to provoke 1Ki 19:1 – Ahab 1Ki 21:5 – Jezebel 1Ki 21:23 – Jezebel 1Ki 22:52 – in the way 2Ki 3:2 – but not 2Ki 8:18 – the daughter 2Ki 9:7 – at the hand 2Ki 9:22 – the whoredoms 2Ki 9:34 – this cursed woman 2Ki 14:24 – in the sight 2Ki 16:3 – he walked 2Ch 18:1 – joined affinity 2Ch 19:2 – Shouldest Est 5:14 – said Zeresh Pro 14:1 – the foolish Ecc 8:12 – a sinner Jer 34:14 – been sold Jer 44:19 – without Dan 4:17 – the basest Mic 6:16 – the works Joh 8:34 – Whosoever Act 13:50 – the Jews Act 17:13 – stirred Act 21:27 – stirred
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 21:25-26. There was none like unto Ahab Among all the kings of Israel who had been before him. Whom Jezebel his wife stirred up This is added to show that temptations to sin are no excuse to the sinner. He did very abominably in following idols, &c. There was no abomination which the people of Canaan committed, (here called the Amorites, according to their ancient name, Gen 15:16,) which Ahab did not imitate.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did {i} sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
(i) By the wicked counsel of his wife he became a vile idolater, and cruel murderer, as one that gave himself wholly to serve sin.