If the reign of Ahab had been written in any book save the Bible, far less heavy would be the thunder-clouds which gather round his name. Even the Bible gives a hint of better things: "The ivory houses that he made and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?" But it is the history of religion in Ahab and under Ahab that the Bible would teach us; and so the fairer side, which is the world's side, only shows itself to render more oppressive the moral midnight which settles upon his name as one who sold himself, more than any other, to work evil in the sight of the Lord.
Notice:
I. Ahab's general conduct as revealing the essential character of his mind. The clue to the career of Ahab is to be found in the counter-influences of Jezebel and Elijah. Ahab was a man weakly wicked. Alike to evil and to good, he was led on by stronger wills than his own. In his ivory palace Jezebel bowed him to her false worship, and to a participation in her enormous crimes; but no sooner did he meet Elijah than the great prophet asserted over the unstable king all the majestic might of holiness. Ahab's history demonstrates that there may be intense sinfulness before God without any deliberate design. From very weakness of character he sold his own soul.
II. Ahab's repentance. At Elijah's words of righteous wrath which accused him of the murder of Naboth, the king's heart was for a while broken; for a moment he seems to have caught a glimpse of the greatness of his sin. The incompleteness of his repentance suggests the two main causes of the frequent incompleteness of repentance among ourselves: (1) the infirmity of will which so often leaves a man at the mercy of whoever will take the trouble to lead him, and (2) his repentance was partial, not comprehensive; it had reference to a portion of his sins, not the whole. He seems to have endeavoured to couple humiliation to the true God with the tacit retention of idol-worship.
Bishop Woodford, Oxford Lent Sermons,1858, No. 9.
References: 1 Kings 21:25. R. Heber, Parish Sermons,vol. ii., p. 118; I. Williams, Characters of the Old Testament,p. 215; R. Twigg, Sermons,p. 117; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons,p. 417. 1 Kings 21:29. J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes,2nd series, p. 22; H. Thompson, Concionalia: Outlines of Sermons for Parochial Use,vol. i., p. 371; Homiletic Magazine,vol. xv., p. 164. 1 Kings 21 Preacher's Monthly,vol. vi., p. 91. 1 Kings 21 W. M. Taylor, Elijah the Prophet,p. 165; Parker, vol. viii., p. 51. 1 Kings 22:1-41. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. v., p. 22.