Caught between worldviews and how to live for God

Increasingly in the West, religion and spirituality are treated as private that should have no bearing on our public behaviour. Yet, our vision of God and beliefs (even without faith in God) affect our identity and attitudes. Moreover, we all absorb from the culture perspectives incompatible with our larger worldview. Thus, many secular people believe in treating everyone equally, irrespective of skin colour, gender or social status. However, such a conviction has no rationale in a universe that is the result of chance, without design or purpose. The belief of intrinsic human worth is rooted in the Judeo-Christian perspective based on God creating all humanity in His image. Conversely, of course, we Christians also integrate into our thinking convictions from the culture around us (more on this below).

Caught between conviction and desire

Ahab likewise finds himself in a web of convictions that jostle against each other as he covets Naboth’s vineyard. On the one hand, he is willing to make a fair offer for the land (1 Kings 21:2) knowing perhaps that an Israelite king is meant to act justly as God’s representative. On the other, he is ‘vexed and sullen’ as earlier (1 Kings 21:4; 20:43), straining against the restrictions placed on him by Naboth’s refusal to sell (1 Kings 21:3). The reference to ancestral land reflects the Israelite worldview that God apportions land, which should remain with the tribe and family as their inheritance. Even if an owner becomes impoverished and must sell, the land reverts to the original owner at the Jubilee or may be redeemed by a relative (Lev 25:23-28). Here, Ahab wants to brush aside God’s requirements because it hinders the fulfilment of his desires. Tellingly, in his conversation with Jezebel, the king leaves out Naboth’s rationale for refusing to sell (1 Kings 21:6). Either he considers such reasoning unimportant or does not think his pagan wife would appreciate the point.

Buying into a different perspective

Jezebel’s speech reveals a very different perspective on kingship. Although Ahab reacts to the limits on his power with ill grace, he still has scruples, while his pagan wife sees no obstacle. She effectively says, ‘Are you king, or aren’t you?’ (1 Kings 21:7). In her world, might is right. Once again, Westerners tend to assume that God is just and morally good (or if He is not, He should be!), but in the ancient world, the gods were amoral at best. There was no intrinsic belief that they required good and just behaviour from people. For pragmatic reasons, order was enforced in society to keep chaos at bay, but power could make its own rules, if it so desired. In a chilling sequence, Jezebel has Naboth framed and executed as a blasphemer (1 Kings 21:8-13). The elders play along, either corrupt themselves or too afraid to protest. As a traitor to the crown, Naboth’s land can now be legally confiscated by the king. Ahab keeps his distance from the dirty business and Jezebel plays along by focusing on the advantage (‘take possession’), emphasising Naboth’s obstinacy (‘he refused to give’) and skimming over the circumstances of the death (1 Kings 21:15). Yet the narrator’s disapproval is underlined by the repetition of Naboth being ‘stoned and dead’ (1 Kings 21:14-15).

The choice between worldviews

Like Ahab, who was caught between his Israelite worldview and his wife’s pagan one, we also experience this tension as Christians. It becomes particularly tempting to follow secular convictions and reasoning when it coincides with our wishes. Thus, we may know God’s command about certain lifestyle choices yet buy into the secular world’s conviction that happiness is the highest good and we have a right to it. Personal fulfilment and the freedom to choose our way often trump moral obligations to others in our modern context. Ahab so far had a bad reputation for worshipping foreign gods (1 Kings 16:31-33), but it becomes clear in our reading that this is not an issue that can be separated from the way he acts and reigns as king. Whom and what we worship comes with a whole worldview and affects how we live. May we align our thinking with God’s Word about who He is and what He wants us to be.

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