Lesson 11 – First Murder, then Theft
Read 1 Kings 21:17-24 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/1KI.21.ESV
From 1 Kings 21:19 – Thus says the Lord – Have you killed and also taken possession?
 
 God told Elijah to go confront Ahab, king of Israel. He would find Ahab in Naboth’s vineyard, where he had gone to claim it for his own. God gave Elijah these words to say to Ahab: “This is God’s word to you. What is happening here? First you murder Naboth, then you steal his vineyard? God says dogs will lick up your blood in the same place they licked Naboth’s blood after he was falsely accused and stoned to death.”

Ahab answered Elijah: “So, my enemy, you have found me!”

“Yes”, Elijah answered, “I have found you out, because you have continued to do evil, defying God. The Lord will make sure you are completely destroyed and will also cut off every male descendant of yours – even everyone whose name is connected to yours. You have made the Lord God that angry because you have caused His people Israel to sin.”

Elijah continued: “God also said dogs will eat Jezebel’s flesh. Everyone associated with you, Ahab, will die and be eaten by stray dogs in the city or by carrion crows in the country.”

 An earlier ruler, King David, was also confronted by the prophet of God Nathan after he sinned. Read 2 Samuel 12:1-12. Nathan told David a story about a poor man who owned only one animal, a beloved pet lamb who was like a daughter to him. A rich man who had huge flocks of sheep and cattle lived nearby. One day a traveler came to the rich man’s house, but he was too stingy to take a lamb from his own flocks to feed the traveler, so he took the poor man’s pet lamb and killed it for their meal.


When David heard this story, he exploded in anger: “The rich man deserves to die for what he did! He should pay for the lamb four times what it is worth for his crime and stinginess!”

“You are the man!” God’s prophet Nathan replied. “Here is what God says to you: I made you king over both Israel and Judah. I freed you from the constant threat of the former king of Israel, Saul. I gave you your master’s daughter and other wives. So why have you treated the word of God this way, doing this great evil in My sight? You took another man’s wife to be your own wife while he was fighting in the armed forces of Israel. Then you set him up in battle and had him killed. Because you have treated Me with such contempt, killing and murder will be in your family from now on. You did your deed in secret, but the whole country will watch Me make trouble for you within your own family.”

We will see what Ahab and David do in response to their rebukes from God in the next lesson.
 
*How have you seen your own sin affect those you love and lead – in your family, your workplace, your church, your neighborhood?