The challenge of how we respond to God’s generous grace
1 Kings 22:41-53
A former colleague once shared how an aunt raised her after my colleague’s mother died. The aunt was not an easy person, very critical of her and never satisfied with anything she did. In old age, the aunt needed care and my colleague tirelessly looked after her, despite the woman’s difficult personality. Often, the aunt would take advantage of her niece’s loving nature and put extra burdens on her with demands for attention and with additional services that she required. It was only towards the end of her life that she came to acknowledge my colleague’s generosity towards her. Kindness and love should evoke a like response, but with human beings this does not always happen. Sometimes people can take advantage of someone’s caring nature, though genuine love has the strongest power to soften hard-heartedness. The bigger question, however, is how we respond to God’s generosity towards us.
Two trajectories
The exiles looking at their history would have seen two trajectories as Ahab and his son Ahaziah are juxtaposed with Jehoshaphat. The implicit question is, which route will they follow? The two Israelite kings keep to a wicked path and do not listen to God, Jehoshaphat seeks Him even though he is far from perfect. He is mentioned earlier as the son of Asa and the king of Judah after his father (1 Kings 15:24). He also appears in the campaign against Aram in our chapter but is only properly introduced now. Like his father, Jehoshaphat does the right thing (indicating worship of the Lord) and gets rid of the worst pagan practices such as cult prostitution (NASB ‘Sodomites’, 1 Kings 22:46). However, he does not remove the local shrines where sacrifices continue (1 Kings 22:43). Since God’s people were meant to worship in the Jerusalem temple (Deut 12:13-14), this is a shortcoming, and it also opens the way for potential syncretism (a mixing of worshipping God and other gods/idols).[1] Eradicating local worship would have been incredibly hard, so Jehoshaphat is commended for what he has achieved.
An unwise alliance
However, there is also the matter of his peace agreement with Israel,[2] which would have been expedient, but it also meant working closely with a godless king. The tensions are evident in the joint venture of a campaign against Aram (Syria). Although Jehoshaphat’s godliness opens the way for God’s Word to be heard through Micaiah (1 Kings 22:7), Ahab’s resolve for war means that the king of Judah must follow him despite the prophet’s warning. The situation suggests that Jehoshaphat is the weaker partner in the alliance and cannot easily get out of his commitment to support Ahab. Yet, when his life is in jeopardy and he cries out, God rescues him (1 Kings 22:32-33). However, this does not mean that no trouble can touch him and the loss of his ships even before they leave the harbour is perhaps a warning sign (1 Kings 22:48).[3] Jehoshaphat’s refusal to allow Ahaziah to join his maritime venture (1 Kings 22:49) may be an indication that he has realised his past mistake in forging partnerships with pagan Israel. The history then flips back to Israel and to Ahaziah’s godless reign (1 Kings 22:51-53), raising again the question of choice for the audience.
God’s generous grace and our response
What Jehoshaphat’s story teaches us is that God reaches out and seeks us in His grace even when we are far from perfect. He did so even with Ahab, but the latter refused to heed the warning and repent. Jehoshaphat was overall a godly king who sought the Lord and was rescued when his foolish action landed him in trouble. God is so often more generous than we deserve despite our failures, but we must not therefore conclude that living faithfully for the Lord does not matter. If anything, His kindness should soften our heart and move us to seek Him more, not less.
[1] Local shrines often had a long pre-history as worship centres not only for Israelites, but also for the local Canaanite population. Thus, it would not have been hard to mix in other pagan elements from earlier practices with the worship of Yahweh. Another issue of having many shrines is that they tend to develop certain aspects of the deity worshipped there so that the ‘Yahweh of Beersheba’, for the sake of argument, may become known, for His healing powers, while the ‘Yahweh of Gibeon’ be famous for giving military victory. Although technically, these would have been manifestations of the same God, the nuance might have been too fine a point for worshippers on the ground. Thus, people would come to treat the Yahweh of their local shrine as a god distinct from other Yahwehs.
[2] As it was customary at the time, the peace treaty of the two kings was strengthened by the marriage of their offspring (Jehoshaphat’s son married Ahab’s daughter; 2 Chron 18:1; 2 Kings 8:18).
[3] Not every disaster is God’s discipline, of course, but given that the writer’s history is selective and focuses on a theological message, it is likely that the inclusion of this incident is meant to be read as a warning. The reference to Edom (SE of Judah) not having a king in v.47 and Judah having access to Ezion-Geber, an Edomite port near Eilat, suggest that Edom was under Judah’s control at this time (1 Kings 22:47-48).
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