Shiur #19: Chapter 16 - Achav: An Introduction
Sefer
Melakhim: The Book
of Kings
By Rav Alex
Shiur #19
Chapter 16
Achav: An Introduction
Omri's reign
is characterized by political stability, military strength, peace and
cooperation between the Northern and Southern kingdoms. The development of a new
capital city, Shomron, gave a spirit of renewal to the
Omri did
evil in the eyes of the Lord; he was worse than all who preceded him. He followed all the ways of Yerovam ben
Nevat and the sins which he committed and caused
There is a
certain inconsistency in the verses here.
If "Omri followed all the ways of Yerovam," then why is he "worse than
all who preceded him?" We can
possibly suggest[1]
that it was Omri who set the negative trajectory of the kingdom, aligning it
through economic, cultural, and religious ties with the wealthy trading region
of
ACHAV
Achav, son
of Omri, became king over Yisrael in the 38th year of King Assa of
Omri married
his son Achav to the daughter of the King of Sidon. His name was Etba'al, the Ba'al suffix
indicative of the spiritual allegiances of
The alliance
with Phonecia compounded by Achav's marriage to Izevel, thrusts Ba'al to the
very center of Israelite life in the
The effects
were overwhelming. In the era of
Achav, Baal became the official religion.
Israelites had frequently dabbled in other gods, but the people always
perceived their fundamental alignment as oriented towards Hashem. Now, with the "Beit Ha-Ba'al"
functioning as the exclusive means of worship in the capital city of
One may ask
how Achav, an Israelite king, could have fallen so thoroughly into the hands of
the Ba'al, a foreign deity. In
today's western world, with its separation between religion and state (to one
degree or another), we fail to understand the degree to which economic and
political alliances, on the one hand, and religious orientation, on the other,
went hand in hand. We see, time
after time, throughout Tanakh that when
Let us add
some wider comments by the famous scholar of the
In judging
the frequent triumphs of Canaanite polytheism in
A LITTLE
ABOUT THE BA'AL
The chapters
we are about to study describe the ongoing struggle between two personalities:
Achav the king, and his nemesis, the great prophet Eliyahu. The Baal is at the focal point of the
tension. The tool or medium which
generates much of the drama is a drought, a simple absence of rain. Is there a connection between Ba'al and
the rain? There certainly is a direct link.
Ba'al is a
god which was endemic to both
As we
mentioned in an earlier shiur,[10]
we should not be tempted to see the Ba'al as merely a figurine or a molten
image. There were whole worlds of
mythology that animated the Ba'al, and the entire religion, with its colorful
pantheon of gods, must have appeared very sophisticated. Moreover, the accessibility of the
rituals associated with Ba'al must have been tempting, especially in arid
years. Ba'al was associated with
its female counterpart, the Ashera,[11]
which came in two possible representative forms, either a tree, or alternately,
a female form, frequently a woman who was clearly pregnant or nursing. The theory was that the rain (the male
god) penetrates the earth, giving fertility to the tree (the female). Hence,
sexual rituals were frequent in the ceremonies of the Ba'al.
I detail
this in order to help us understand the magnetic allure of this deity, such that
from the time of the Judges (Shoftim 2:11) through the
CHIEL BEIT
HA-ELI AND THE CITY OF
As we
continue through the lines describing Achav and his kingdom, we encounter a
mysterious and seemingly disconnected pasuk:
During his
reign, Chiel from Beth-El built
What is this
pasuk referring to? What is the connection between building
To answer
the first question, we need look no further than the verses in Yehoshua
(6:26), in which Yehoshua pronounces an oath:
Cursed of
the Lord be the man who shall build the city of
Chiel
abrogated this oath. He built
UNRAVELING
Some wish to
frame this occurrence within the perspective of homecoming and exile. After all, the first city that
CRISIS OF
VALUES
But I would
prefer to take a simpler direction and explain this event in the perspective of
the national sense of priorities, the degree to which the nation is in touch
with their identity. Let me
explain.
The entry to
In time to
come, when your children ask their fathers: What is the meaning of these stones?
Tell your children: Here the Israelites crossed the
In other
words, these monuments were intended to educate, to instill a legacy, a sense of
national heritage and historical importance. Similarly, the ruined hill of Jericho
would symbolize for eternity the miraculous victory of the founding of the
country.
What would
it take for Chiel to take a national heritage site and to build upon it? It
would be similar to the travesty of a developer who wanted to build luxury
housing on the
If Chiel can
rebuild
ENTER
ELIYAHU!
It is at
this juncture that we meet the overwhelming personality of the prophet Eliyahu,
who enters the story unannounced and, in characteristic Eliyahu fashion, with a
devastating pronouncement:
As the Lord
lives, the God of Israel whom I serve, there will be no dew or rain except at my
word. (17:1)
Again, a
non-sequitur. What is the
connection between the events here? The midrash offers an ingenious
narrative that connects the otherwise distinct and dislocated pesukim,
offering a new story that reconstructs the continuity of the
story:
What is the
sequence here? Eliyahu and Achav went to comfort Chiel in his mourning. Achav said to Eliyahu: Is it possible
that the curse of the student [Joshua] was fulfilled, and the curse of Moshe
Rabbeinu was not fulfilled? After all, it states, "If you stray and serve other
gods
God's anger will be ignited against you and he shall close the heavens
and there shall be no rain." All
This
creative midrash manages to connect Achav's flagrant idolatry, the
preordained death of Chiel's sons, and Eliyahu's radical
pronouncement.
But beyond
the linkage, it focuses our attention on the central bewilderment regarding
Achav's reign and Eliyahu's impatience about it. The problem is this: Achav is the most serious sinner thus
far amongst the Israelite kings; he has made idolatry the official Israelite
religion and abandoned God entirely.
And yet, his kingdom is flourishing. This goes against all the predictions of
the Torah! The midrash portrays Achav at Chiel's shiva house
scoffing at the notion that Chiel's sons might have died as a result of Chiel's
sin, his abrogation of God's word.
Achav hasn't witnessed or experience any correlation between his (lack
of) faith and the national fortune.
And it is at
this point that Eliyahu steps in and swears in God's name "as God lives"
that there will not be rain until he allows it. As if to say I will uphold the honor
and commitment of God; I will enforce the Torah's pledge, the divine
stipulation. If Achav is going to
continue with his idolatry, Eliyahu insists that there can be no rain. And
indeed, chapter 17-18 describe a three year drought.
Eliyahu's
outburst raises serious questions. If Eliyahu is outraged, why is God not angry?
Is Eliyahu correct? Furthermore, is Eliyahu making his pronouncement as an
emissary of God, or as a man, a concerned Jew who sees the idolatrous rule of
Achav and seeks to protest this departure from traditional Jewish faith?
We shall
take up these questions in our shiur next week, as we study chapter
17.
[1]
See
Ralbag, who offers a different explanation.
[2]
See Micha 6:16, in which Omri
is implicated in the same sinful category as his son Achav.
[3]
And it would appear that there was more than a single ensemble of
prophets see 18:19, 22. Note how
they are denoted as "eating at the table of
Izevel."
[4]
18:4,
13; 19:2; and see how Achav threatens the prophet of God in
22:26-27.
[5]
This is reflected especially in the story of Navot's vineyard in
ch.21.
[6]
Uncharacteristic to Sefer
Melakhim, in which kings are singled out for punishment, in our case, Izevel
receives her own condemnation from God (21:23); her influence upon Achav is
noted in 21:25. See also the fulfillment of God's prophecy in Melakhim II
9:35.
[7] Good examples are Achaz in Melakhim II, ch.16, and, of course,
Menashe in ch.21, both pf whom were under Assyrian influence.
[8]
Moed
Katan 2a-b;
Bava Batra 28a
[9]
See
Devarim 11:10-12
[11]
See how they both appear together in
18:19.
[12]
Some
have viewed this anecdote as a footnote to the worship of Baal. For example, "
it was a
frequent practice - in an effort to placate their gods - to kill young children
and bury them in the foundations of a house or public building at the time of
construction
In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the
foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn..."" Howard E. Vos, An
Introduction To Bible Archaeology, Revised edition (Chicago: Moody Press,
1953), p. 19.