Tag Archives: 1 Kings 20

The God Commerce

January 3, 2023 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

“I will return the cities my father took from your father,” Ben-Hadad offered. “You may set up your own market areas in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.”
Ahab said, “On the basis of a treaty I will set you free.” So he made a treaty with him, and let him go.
1 Kings 20:34 (NIV)

Over the years, my amateur genealogical and historic studies have led me to better understand the Dutch heritage I inherited on the paternal side of my DNA and family experience. Dutch culture is a fascinating study for a number of reasons. In the 1600s, the Dutch were arguably the wealthiest nation on earth because of Dutch trading ships dominating the seas. Amsterdam became a hub of global trade and commerce and Dutch bankers in Amsterdam became bankers to the entire world.

At this same time in history, an intense rift dominated the spiritual and political landscape. The Protestant Reformation had led to entrenched rivalries (and wars) between Roman Catholics and Protestant Reformers. The Dutch, much like other European nations, had citizens in both camps zealously holding to their beliefs.

I once read a historian who declared that the reason the humanistic Dutch Catholics and the pious Dutch Reformers got along was that both religious camps ultimately cared more about the commerce that was making both camps increasingly wealthy. When Catholics and Reformers argued, it was business and the money it generated that acted as the tiebreaker and peacemaker.

Today’s chapter deals with a dispute between the King of Aram and King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel, somewhat like the Dutch culture of a thousand years later in history, was spiritually divided between those who clung to the God of Abraham, Moses, and David, and those who were committed to the plethora of local and regional pagan deities.

Underneath the obvious events of today’s chapter lies a political undercurrent many readers miss. It was all about trade and the subsequent wealth it generated. Israel had key strategic ports on the Mediterranean along with treaties with Tyre and Phoenecia that were incredibly lucrative. Aram was landlocked and wanted access to those trade routes. The reason that both the King of Aram and the King of Israel were so quick to surrender to one another was the same reasoning between the Dutch Catholics and Protestants. There was still a lot of money to be made and a lot of wealth to be enjoyed by both Kings if they formed an alliance.

But this arrangement is spiritually revealing. Ahab and the Kings of Israel have been operating under a spiritual policy of appeasement. The King and officials allow the prophets of God and those loyal to the God of Moses to do their thing. However, they freely ascribe to the local and regional pagan gods because doing so is good for political alliances and lucrative trade deals with other kingdoms. At the end of the chapter, God speaks through a prophet to call out Ahab regarding his complicity. Ahab cares more about trade, political aspiration, and wealth than the things of God.

In the quiet this morning, I can’t help but feel the resonance between my cultural heritage and the story in today’s chapter. Art historians claim that a key to Rembrandt’s rise to artistic prominence in the 1600s was his ability to create portraits of wealthy Protestants that portrayed them in all of their religious piety while hinting at their immense wealth. It reminds me of a local resident my friend knows who drives around our small Iowa town in his old Buick, but his vacation home in Arizona has a garage filled with extravagant luxury cars and motorcycles.

This leads me to ask myself about my own priorities. Jesus taught that my heart would be where my treasure is. So what is it I most treasure, and where does that treasure lie?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

For the Prophet, “The Play’s the Thing…”

October 28, 2014 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

source: seattlemunicipalarchives via Flickr

The prophet found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” So the man struck him and wounded him. Then the prophet went and stood by the road waiting for the king. He disguised himself with his headband down over his eyes. As the king passed by, the prophet called out to him, “Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and someone came to me with a captive and said, ‘Guard this man. If he is missing, it will be your life for his life, or you must pay a talent of silver.’ While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared.”

“That is your sentence,” the king of Israel said. “You have pronounced it yourself.”

Then the prophet quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. He said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.’” Sullen and angry, the king of Israel went to his palace in Samaria. 1 Kings 20:37-43 (NIV)

I will never forget this one day in an Acting class I participated in college. Students were broken up in pairs and each pair prepared a short scene to perform before the class. My partner and I played our scene and, as we were playing the short scene, something remarkable happened. I have since learned that there are rare moments as an actor when you are on stage and you experience this (perhaps it happens frequently to great actors who are on stage for a living, but I believe it’s rare even then). When it happens you lose yourself in the portrayal and in the moment you are playing. The audience is caught up in it, as well. There’s this thing that happens, which is nearly impossible to describe or explain. I happens in that place at that moment between the actors on stage and between the stage and the audience which is a communal and emotional and spiritual moment experienced by the whole.

The scene ended and there was no polite, golf-clap applause that is traditionally offered to the players by the rest of the class. There was just an “oh….wow” kind of silence. I felt a surge of emotion like I wanted to cry. It was the power of theatre as a medium to relate story and theme experientially. It is that experience which is at the heart of what I love about live theatre.

One of the things I love about the stories of the ancient prophets is the way they used theatre to communicate their message. The prophet in today’s chapter creates a character and a story: A man is commanded to guard an enemy prisoner and is told that he will be sentenced to death if the prisoner escapes, which he does. He develops his character: He asks another to punch him in the face to make it look like he’d been wounded. He then performs his improvised scene: He plays out his part to the unsuspecting King Ahab when the king passes by, and in the playing out of the scene the King’s hypocrisy is revealed.

“The play’s the thing
Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king,”
– Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2, Line 416-417

I love that God’s Message can be communicated in endless number of expressive mediums from art to poetry to stage to novel to film to graphic design. And, I love that each expressive medium can communicate pieces of God’s truth in powerful ways unique to that medium.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 1 Kings 20

February 2, 2010 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

The man said to the king, "God's word: Because you let a man go who was under sentence by God, it's now your life for his, your people for his." 1 Kings 20:42 (MSG)

Reading the past few chapters, I'm struck by King Ahab's character. He had to have some backbone to have ascended the throne, but his actions reveal that he's a wimp. He straddled the fence, allowing his wife to promote and worship other gods, throwing his lot in with her while keeping Obadiah on the payroll and turning a blind eye to the prophets he hid in a cave. When God brought the fireworks on Mt. Carmel, Ahab ran like a tattle-tale to his wife and let her do the dirty work. In today's chapter, it looks like Ahab is going to obey God and do what the prophet says, but then wimps out and allows Ben-Hadad to walk.

It's easy to start well and make well meaning promises. It's a lot harder to actually carry through.

It's February 2nd. How am I doing on all those goals and resolutions from New Year's?

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and krishnade