1 Kings 21:5-7
“But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “Why is your spirit so vexed that you eat no food?” And he said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money, or else, if it please you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ And he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” And Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Arise and eat bread and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
We have seen the evil of Ahab and Jezebel at the national level; now we see their evil at the personal and individual level. They reject the one true God and follow Baal, and their actions are directed by the darkness of the malevolent false god they worship. That is how the human spirit works.
Whatever “god” to whom you give your heart will shape your thinking and guide your life. This is why Proverbs says, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”
This situation also shows that mental/emotional weakness makes a person vulnerable to deceitful manipulation. Ahab had the attitude of a petulant child. He offered to buy Naboth’s vineyard, but Naboth refused his offer, so Ahab is now sulking and pouting. Literally.
Verse 4 says that, “Ahab went into his house vexed and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, for he had said, ‘I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.’ And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food.”
Ahab was emotionally weak, and Jezebel exploited that weakness. Under pretense of comforting her husband, she fed his pride and selfishness, fueling the fires of his sinful impulses. She sympathized with his selfish desire, strengthened his feeling of disappointment, tempted him to exercise (and abuse) his power, and urged him to disregard the rights of another in defiance of the Law of God.
Her message was: “You shouldn’t be sad; you should be happy. You are king, and you can have whatever you want. You can use your power to take the vineyard. In fact, don’t worry, I will take care of it for you.” Jezebel is the very voice of selfish impulse. She is the personification of what scripture calls “the deceitfulness of sin.”
We all have the voice of Jezebel within us. We all have an old nature that is selfish and impulsive. The New Testament regularly alerts us to the internal battle between our old, fallen nature (the voice of Jezebel) and our new nature in Christ (the voice of the Holy Spirit).
“Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and by the renewing of your minds, put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4.22-24)
The voice of Jezebel is quick, careless, and convincing. It is persistent and seductive. Defeating that voice requires trusting God and doing disciplined inner work.
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2.11)
The Lord is calling.
