Ahab was the worst king that we ever encountered in the northern kingdom of Israel. In 1 Kings 16:30, we are told that he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He marries a woman named Jezebel; she is from Sidon, or Zidon in some translations. There they worshipped Baal.
Sidon was a part of the tribe of Asher, but the tribe never conquered it, and it was a major port city on the Mediterranean. Sidon, we see in Genesis 10:15, was a grandson of Noah. It was very wealthy, famous for its purple, glass, and ships. Jezebel was a princess from this area, a part of modern-day Lebanon. The Sidonians worshipped Baal; the name means lord, master, or owner. As a part of their belief system, they believed that Baal controlled the seasons, the weather, and even fertility. Worship often included prostitutes, and another very common way to worship Baal was to burn one’s firstborn child to him to gain favor from him. The priests of Baal were known to cry out and cut themselves as part of their worship rituals.
Jezebel and Ahab brought Baal worship to Israel. In one of His wonderful senses of humor, also known as judgments, God shuts the heavens (1 Kings 17:1), and for the next 3.5 years, there is no rain. Things get so bad that Ahab worries for his horses and is unable to find grass for them. In the middle of the drought, God takes care of Elijah at the Brook Cherith. There God commands the ravens to bring him food, and he is able to get water from the brook. But soon, the brook dries up, and God has to move him to another place.
In 1 Kings 17:8, God sends him to a woman in Zarephath. The irony of this is that Zarephath is in Sidon. We never know her name, but she is one of the most amazing pictures of faith in the Bible. We know the story; Elijah asks her to make him some bread. She tells him that there is just enough to make food for her and her son, and then they will starve to death. Elijah assures her that if she will make him a cake, the flour and oil will not run out, and they will all eat and live until the Lord sends water.
She steps out in faith and obeys. The irony of this is that God puts Elijah in Sidon, the home of Baal, where the people of Sidon are starving from the lack of rain. But God provides in the middle of the drought, in the city that is supposed to be Baal’s. The Bible is simply one of the best-written accounts of history in the world. Baal could not provide for Jezebel in Israel, but God could provide for Elijah in Sidon. Isaiah 45:5 tells us that God is the only One and there is no other.
The worship of Baal included a trinity of sorts; there was Baal, his wife Ashtereth, and Molech. In 2 Kings 16:3, we see that many kings of Israel sacrificed their kids to Baal. We see the same thing with Manasseh in 2 Kings 21:6. We see in Jeremiah 32:35 that the people of Judah sacrificed their children to Molech as well. So, the practice was not just among the kings; it has trickled down to the people.
In addition to the sacrifices, the worship of Asherah included episodes of public sex; there were temple prostitutes, and some of the research said that even back then, there was cross-dressing and transvestites involved in these pagan ceremonies. Is it not ironic that even back then, when people turned from YHWH, it did not take long for them to fall into the practice of sexual perversion, child sacrifice, men dressing like women, and vice versa? Evil has been evil for a long time.
God is in control. He could take care of Elijah and the lady at the same time that He was bringing drought on Samaria. The interesting part was that He took care of Elijah and the woman without bringing rain to them. God takes care of His own.
We live in perilous times; things can be financially tough. We can see the rise and the promotion of all that is evil in sexuality, the systematic murder of millions of kids, and the destruction of Christianity. Yet in all that, God can and will take care of us. Keep holding on! Keep trusting! The same God who cared for Elijah will care for us today.
Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario