Naboth won't sell his ancestral land to the king who makes a
fair offer for it. With the Jewish
attachment to the Land and the fact that the Lord gave the particular property
as a land grant to the tribes who divided them among the people, it isn't
particularly surprising that he would not sell or trade. Ahab's reaction, however, tells us everything
we need to know about this king. He
acted like a spoiled young child pitching a tantrum because he didn't get his
way, getting into bed, turning his face to the wall and pouting, even refusing
to eat. Not only do we find that Ahab is
weak, so too do we see the weakness of all the men of the land in the face of
Jezebel. For no particular benefit to
themselves other than the avoidance of Jezebel's displeasure they agree to do
her bidding in killing an innocent man, Naboth, based on false charges two
worthless men bring against him. Sounds
a bit like what happened to Jesus doesn't it?
Ahab, rather than repudiating his wife's actions, gladly takes possession
of the vineyard.
Jesus won't sell his birthright and blessing for a mess of
pottage as Esau did. Remember that Esau
was famished and sold his birthright to his brother Jacob and his father Isaac
was hungry for some tasty game stew and fell for the ruse Jacob and his mother
cooked up to deceive him to give his paternal blessing to Jacob in the guise of
Esau. While Jesus is likely far more
hungry after His forty day fast than either of those patriarchs, He will not do
what the Father has not commanded. He
does not controvert the nature of things like a rock to become food. Likewise, He is certain of the Father's love
for Him without devising a test to make sure His faith is not misplaced or
misguided. Truth is truth. Finally, He will not receive the kingdoms of
the world in exchange for the kingdom to come, the kingdom of heaven. In the end He will rule over heaven and earth
and He, unlike Ahab, is willing to wait to receive the kingdoms properly. Temptation never won with Jesus.
Yesterday's lessons had much to say about wisdom. We saw the "wisdom" Caiphas who
thought it best for one man to die rather than for the nation to perish so the
decision was made to sacrifice Jesus to save the nation. Gamaliel showed wisdom in determining to let
this whole Christianity thing play out to see if it would last, if it was of
God or just some passing fad. Paul
speaks of wisdom inhering in following Jesus, the one who was sacrificed, who
sacrificed willingly, and following Him alone.
The wisdom of God, the true wisdom, was in what looks like
foolishness to man, Jesus' death on the
cross by which He reconciled sinful humanity to Himself. We can choose the wisdom of the world which
only sees a sad spectacle of an innocent and good man dying on the cross or we
can choose the wisdom of God which sees the truth, an innocent man, a righteous
man even, taking on the sin of the world in order to save the world. He is receiving the kingdom of heaven and the
kingdom of earth all in dying there. The
resurrection is the coming into the kingdom as conqueror. We can have it God's way or we can have it
man's way but we can't have both.
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