COVETOUSNESS: Lesson 6 Ahab

Posted on by BETH

(1 Kings 21:1-29; 2 Kings 9:25-26)

Ahab was the son of Omri and the seventh king of Israel (1 Kings 16:30), who cemented a political friendship between Israel and Phoenicia with his marriage to Jezebel.  Jezebel was the nefariously wicked daughter of Ethbaal (worshipper of Baal), king of the Sidonians (1 Kings 16:31).  Ahab’s conversion to his wife’s false religion soon led to many immoral acts in every facet of his life.

From the window of his summer palace, Ahab could see a lovely vineyard as he viewed the landscape.  He pondered how convenient it would be to turn that into a vegetable garden next door to his palace and decided to purchase it.  To this point, Ahab’s covetousness did not pass the normal boundaries accepted by most men; however, when his offer was rejected his covetousness took full control of him.  Imagine a king pouting and refusing to eat because he could not have his heart’s desire.  Even yet, his covetousness appeared harmless enough to outsiders.  When Jezebel promised to procure the vineyard for him and took his ring, he was passively in agreement to whatever method she might use to get the land.  After she had finished her job, instead of taking action against her for dishonesty and murder, he resolutely went to put his name on the stolen property.  It appears that he had absolutely no remorse for the corrupt judgment or the murders he caused as long as he could possess what his avarice demanded.  When it came to dealing with Naboth, Ahab’s covetousness sprang from a greedy self-centeredness and an arrogant disregard of God’s law. Truly greed can make a very hard heart.

On the other hand, Jezebel had neither religious scruples nor any regard for the established government of Israel (Lev 25:23-34).  She had Naboth tried unjustly and killed so that Ahab could take over his property (1 Kings 21:1-16). Jezebel bribed two mercenaries to bear false witness against Naboth and testify they heard him blaspheme God and the king. As a result of their lies, Naboth was found guilty; and both he and his sons were stoned to death (2 Kings 9:26). Elijah the prophet pronounced God’s judgment against Ahab and his house for this horrible act of false witness and murder (1 Kings 21; 2 Kings 9:21-26).

Naboth, the object of the crime, was an Israelite of Jezreel who owned a vineyard next to the summer palace of Ahab, king of Samaria (1 Kings 21:1). Ahab offered Naboth the worth of his vineyard in money or a better vineyard, but Naboth refused to part with his property, explaining that it was a family inheritance to be passed on to his descendants.  Had Naboth deeply considered the laws regarding property, he might have understood that the land would be returned to him or to his heirs in the year of Jubilee. The concept of the sacred birthright probably accounted for Naboth’s refusal to sell his vineyard to King Ahab. He answered, “The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!” (1 Kings 21:3).

QUESTIONS:

1.Ahab was king and Naboth was his subject.  What kind of strain would that put on Naboth when Ahab demanded his vineyard (1 Kings 21:1-3)?

2.Ahab had an intense desire to possess something that belonged to another man.  The Law of Moses prohibited that attitude (Exod. 20:17; Deut. 5:21). What did Ahab reason in his heart about the imagined need for such a garden?

3.Why did he desire (covet) Naboth’s property (1 Kings 21:1-2)?

4.Did Ahab’s offer to buy or trade seem reasonable if there had been no law against it?

5.What was Ahab’s reaction to the answer Naboth gave him (1 Kings 21:3-4)?

6.Pouting, sullenness and depression seem to be childish behaviors.  Was it a harmless matter for Ahab to dwell on his disappointment and become depressed and morose about not getting what he wanted (1 Tim. 4:7; 2 Pet. 2:14-15; Matt. 6:21; Luke 12:34)?

7.Who came to Ahab’s “rescue” (1 Kings 21:5-7)?

8.What was Jezebel’s plan for taking the vineyard by force (1 Kings 21:8-10)?

9.Relate the events of Naboth’s unjust judgment (1 Kings 21:11-13).

10.Was Naboth the only one who died that day (2 Kings 9:25-26)?

11.Why would it be necessary (in Ahab’s eyes) to kill the sons of Naboth?  This answer is partly based on the research in question #18.

12.After Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, what did he do (1 Kings 21:14-16)?

13.Which prophet went to meet Ahab there (1 Kings 21:17-18)?

14.What was the message God had told the prophet to give Ahab (1 Kings 21:19, 21-24)?

15.What was Ahab’s temporary reaction to this message (1 Kings 21:27)?

16.As a result, what was God’s reaction to Ahab (1 Kings 21:28-29)?

17.In spite of the apparent repentance, what does God say about Ahab’s character (1 Kings 21:25-26)?

18.RESEARCH QUESTION: 

The following ideas have to do with possession of property under the Law of Moses.  This is pertinent for understanding Naboth’s answer to Ahab and for understanding what happened to Naboth’s sons at the same time (2 Kings 9:26).

•Why might Naboth not want to sell his vineyard (Num. 36:7; Ezek. 46:18)?

•Using Leviticus 25:1-55, answer the following questions:

     * How do you know that fields could be redeemed by the original owner within a year or, if not then, in the year of Jubilee?

     * Who could the Israelites NOT sell their lands to?  Why?

•In the account found in Numbers 27 and Numbers 36, who received the inheritance of their father?  What would happen if they married within another tribe (Num. 27:7; Num. 36)?

•By implication, who usually received the inheritance (You may also search keywords birthright or firstborn.)?

•When there was no heir, who inherited?  Give the line of succession.

•Who were daughters to marry (Num. 36:3-13; Deut. 7:1-4)?

•By implication, who would sons of the tribes marry?

•What was to be the inheritance of the tribe of Levi (Num. 18; Num. 35; Deut. 10:9; 18:1)?

•What was the situation surrounding Ruth’s inheritance and why the nearest of kin could not take possession of it when Boaz gave him the chance (Ruth 4:5)?

COVETOUSNESS: LESSON 1–Eve Coveted the Forbidden Fruit

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COVETOUSNESS

Lesson 1

EVE COVETED THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Gen 2:15-18—And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Gen 2:21-24—And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 

We can easily see in these passages that Adam and Eve were given a specific job to do and that job, although a pleasant one, had restrictions.  Adam and Eve were to dress and keep the garden God had created.  They were given the freedom and the privilege of eating from any tree they chose—except for one.  The LORD showed it to them and very clearly gave the reason for not eating.

Gen 3:1-6—Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Appealing to Eve’s desire to be better and to her weakness in desiring a shortcut to get it, Satan subtly pointed out to Eve the advantages of disobeying the Creator of all to gain something for herself.  He turned her attention away from her responsibility to serve and obey her Creator to things that she could get.  Notice what Satan said would be the benefits and what Eve ultimately concluded.

• In direct contradiction to the LORD, Satan said, “You shall NOT surely die.” Using the same word with a different meaning, Satan turned Eve’s attention away from God’s statement that she would die spiritually in the day she sinned by disobeying His command.  Or, he could have simply contradicted God’s statement.  He could also have indicated that God meant physical death—that she would not die physically the day she ate of it.  In any case, Eve lacked faith and believed Satan’s word above God’s word.  Eve was thus deceived.  She no longer believed that she would die.

• Then Satan attributed an evil motive to the Lord by saying, “God knows you will become like gods, knowing good and evil.”

By this means, Satan subtly turned Eve’s attention to God’s wisdom with the hope she could get it by simply eating some fruit.  Every person wants to be wise, so Satan appealed to a natural desire in all men.  Satan’s words were at least partially correct.  Eve was not deceived by this statement for she did learn what good and evil was.  False teachers, like Satan, many times quote scripture and speak the truth, but only with the distinct intention of turning souls to their false doctrines.  We should not be deceived into believing that just because a teacher gives some parts of truth that everything he teaches is truth. Like Satan, false teachers may impart much good for they are Satan’s ministers and follow his pattern to tell enough truth to turn God’s children to evil.

Being a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44), Satan first caused Eve to covet the ability to be as gods with the knowledge of good and evil.  In doing this, she appeared to forget the warning about death coming to her the day she ate.  Possibly Eve did not know what spiritual death was.  If she believed God spoke about physical death, she had to reject God’s truth and believe Satan’s lie.  In either case she was certainly deceived by Satan’s half truths and lies. Her response was consider her own personal desires and judgment rather than to trust her Creator.. 

• It was good for food.

• It was pleasant to the eyes.

• It was desired to make one wise.

Benevolent lady that she was, she shared the coveted fruit with her husband who obviously let her lead him into rejecting the command of God.  Thus, sin came into the world because Eve coveted wisdom, beauty and food.  Eve’s covetousness led to Adam’s and her spiritual death by sin (Rom 7:7-9).  We see the LORD’s view of what took place in the Garden of Eden through His words in 1 Timothy 2:13-15. “For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”

No mention is made of the incident after Genesis 3:24 until Paul, in defense of his apostleship in 2 Corinthians 11:3 says, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”  Paul was concerned that the Corinthians had left the pathway (job they had been given to do) to follow after “another Jesus” and “another gospel.”

QUESTIONS:

1. What/who caused Eve to covet the forbidden fruit?  How was this brought about?

2. Was Eve exonerated because she was enticed and lied to (Gen. 3:16)?

3. What did the Lord do to punish Adam and Eve for their sin (Gen. 3:14-24)?

4. What happened to the young prophet who believed an old prophet’s lie (1 Kings 13:1-34)?  

5. What should the young prophet have said when the old prophet contradicted what God had told him?  What should Eve have said to Satan?

6. Notice Satan’s twist of the words “surely die” in Genesis 3:4.  Did Satan give Eve the right understanding of God’s promise of death (1 Tim. 2:14)?

7. Which kind of death was Paul speaking of in Romans 7:7-9?

8. Which kind of death came to Eve in the Garden of Eden and how do you know (Rom. 7:7-9; 8:2)?

9. Decisions bring consequences.  Tell what decision(s) Eve made and what the consequences were.

10. Research Question:  Study about two kinds of death spoken of in the scriptures.  Explain which one comes as the result of sin.  What is the “second death (Rev. 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8) ?”


PUT OFF ANGER

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“Put off Anger”

When it comes to anger, we sometimes let our “what-can-we-get-away-with” attitude show through.   The most popular scripture dealing with anger is, “Be ye angry, and sin not” (Eph. 4:26).  Even though it is absolutely true that anger is not necessarily sin in itself, it is not something that can be used with impunity.

Consider these:
1. Anger can put our souls in danger. “But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matt. 5:22).  Everyone thinks he has a cause.  Be careful.

2. It never works the righteousness of God. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:   For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).

3. A wise man is slow to anger (Prov. 16:32). Are you wise? There are many other scriptures which teach about being slow to anger: Neh. 9:17; Psa. 103:8; Psa. 145:8; Prov. 15:18; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Nah. 1:3.

4. It is a glory to pass over a transgression (Prov. 19:11). Is that how you feel about overlooking things done against you?  Remember the many good discussions and studies about forgiving others.

5. He that rules his own spirit is better than a man who takes a city (Prov. 16:32: Prov. 25:28). How strong are you?  If you cannot control your own spirit, do you need to seek help?

6. Just because anger itself is not a sin does not mean it is OK to use it to control people and situations.  God says to put off anger. ” Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Eph. 4:31). “But now ye also put off all these: anger”¦” (Col. 3:8).

PRAYING FOR OUR DAILY BREAD

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“Give us day by day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3).

Daily means occurring every day. The Israelite’s day lasted from one sunset to the next (Gen 1:5; Ex 12:18; Acts 2:14-15; Mat 20:1-6). When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Mat 6:11; Luke 11:3), He was telling them to trust God to provide their food every day-one day at a time.

We are to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread;” that is, “Give us each day the bread which our bodies require, as we pray for it.” We are to depend upon our Heavenly Father in the same way the Israelites depended upon Him for their manna (Exodus 16:27-33). We might pray, “Let us have enough bread today,” because in this way we continually depend upon Him, as children upon their parents.

The Lord wants His children to trust Him and depend upon Him, and He often has given only a portion of “bread” at a time. In Mat 10:5; 9-15, Jesus first sent the apostles out two by two to preach to the Jews (not the Gentiles or Samaritans). See also: Mark 6:8-11; Luke 10:4. At that time He told them not to take anything for their journey other than a staff. Later we see in Mat 6:11; Luke 11:3, He told them to pray for their daily bread. They were dependent on God as much as the birds, for they did not know who would receive them and who would not.

Later, the Lord asked them if they lacked anything when He sent them out without a wallet, and they acknowledged that He had cared for them (Luke 22:35). Obviously they did not lack because they had prayed and had faith in His promise to provide. Finally, when it was time for Jesus to be crucified, He gave his disciples yet another commission (Mark 16:15; Mat 28:19-20) and told them to provide for their journey and also to purchase a sword (Luke 22:36). These were not conflicting directions but directions for different purposes and different situations.

There is another sense in which we need to request our daily bread. We may have an abundance of food and every other convenience, but if we don’t have the health and strength to make use of it, of what value is it? (Eccl 6:1-2) A few verses prior to this passage (Eccl 5:18-19) He spoke of the blessing of God-not just the food in the pantry, but the ability to eat it.

Today, when our pantries and cabinets are so full of food and most of us are so healthy, it is difficult for us to see God’s hand in providing our needs (Mat 6:34). We must trust His promise to provide if the seek the kingdom first (Mat 6:33) and not be anxious for tomorrow (Mat 6:25: Luke 12:22, 29). We must not desire to be rich (1 Tim 6:10), nor should we be slothful in business (Rom 12:11; Pro 30:8) but we should always pray the Lord will provide what we need to live to serve Him (John 6:27-33).

AN ELDER’S CHILDREN

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Who or what are the elders? Consider how the qualifications and work of an elder would be one of the best influences a child could enjoy. Elders were associated with James in Jerusalem in the local church’s government (Acts 11:29-30; Acts 16:4-5; Acts 20:28-32; Acts 21:18) and, with the apostles, in the decisions of the early church (Acts 15:1-35). Elders were also appointed in the churches established during the Apostle Paul’s first missionary journey (Acts 14:23). Paul addressed the elders at Ephesus (Acts 20:17-35). Elders played an important role in church life through their ministry to the sick, both physical and spiritual (James 5:14-15). They also were teachers in a local congregation (1 Peter 5:1-5). In addition to ministering to the sick, their duties consisted of explaining the Scriptures and teaching doctrine (1 Timothy 5:17-20). The elder’s child would have the benefit, not only of his own father’s influence in the home but also the influence of the entire eldership to train him.

We know that John was an elder (2 John 1:1; 3 John 1:1) and as such had faithful children. Timothy was told to count those elders who ruled well worthy of double honor and not to receive an accusation against an elder except at the mouth of two or three witnesses (1 Timothy 5:17-19). Titus was also told to ordain elders in every city (Titus 1:5). The qualifications specified for becoming an elder follow in the next three verses (Titus 1:6-9). An elder should be “One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity” (1 Timothy 3:4-5).

A very important qualification of an elder or bishop is that he rules his own house well. With a view to being qualified as an elder, a man would make a special effort to be sure his children were well trained in all the ways of God. Therefore, the elder would learn how to preside over and govern his own family. He must be a man who has the command of his own house, not by tyranny, but with all gravity; governing his household by principle with everyone knowing his own place, and each doing his own work. “For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” (1 Timothy 3:5).

Method is a matter of great importance in all the affairs of life. Look at a man’s domestic affairs, and if it is discovered that they are not good, he cannot be trusted with any form of government in the church.

“If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.” (Titus 1:6). It is an either-or situation: either his children enjoy the proper training in the way they should go, or he is not acceptable to rule God’s children.