Achav: It's Complicated

(29) Ahab son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of King Asa of Judah, and Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years. (30) Ahab son of Omri did what was displeasing to the LORD, more than all who preceded him. (31) Not content to follow the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he took as wife Jezebel daughter of King Ethbaal of the Phoenicians, and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. (32) He erected an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal which he built in Samaria. (33) Ahab also made a sacred post. Ahab did more to vex the LORD, the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel who preceded him.

(1) Much later, in the third year, (of the drought) the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go, appear before Ahab; then I will send rain upon the earth.” (2) Thereupon Elijah set out to appear before Ahab.
The famine was severe in Samaria.

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(7) Obadiah was on the road, when Elijah suddenly confronted him. [Obadiah] recognized him and flung himself on his face, saying, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?” (8) “Yes, it is I,” he answered. “Go tell your lord: Elijah is here!” (9) But he said, “What wrong have I done, that you should hand your servant over to Ahab to be killed? (10) As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom to which my lord has not sent to look for you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made that kingdom or nation swear that you could not be found. (11) And now you say, ‘Go tell your lord: Elijah is here!’ (12) When I leave you, the spirit of the LORD will carry you off I don’t know where; and when I come and tell Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill me. Yet your servant has revered the LORD from my youth. (13) My lord has surely been told what I did when Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred of the prophets of the LORD, fifty men to a cave, and provided them with food and drink. (14) And now you say, ‘Go tell your lord: Elijah is here.’ Why, he will kill me!” (15) Elijah replied, “As the LORD of Hosts lives, whom I serve, I will appear before him this very day.” (16) Obadiah went to find Ahab, and informed him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. (17) When Ahab caught sight of Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” (18) He retorted, “It is not I who have brought trouble on Israel, but you and your father’s House, by forsaking the commandments of the LORD and going after the Baalim. (19) Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, together with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
(20) Ahab sent orders to all the Israelites and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel.

(41) Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a rumbling of [approaching] rain,” (42) and Ahab went up to eat and drink. Elijah meanwhile climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, crouched on the ground, and put his face between his knees. (43) And he said to his servant, “Go up and look toward the Sea.” He went up and looked and reported, “There is nothing.” Seven times [Elijah] said, “Go back,” (44) and the seventh time, [the servant] reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising in the west.” Then [Elijah] said, “Go say to Ahab, ‘Hitch up [your chariot] and go down before the rain stops you.’” (45) Meanwhile the sky grew black with clouds; there was wind, and a heavy downpour fell; Ahab mounted his chariot and drove off to Jezreel. (46) The hand of the LORD had come upon Elijah. He tied up his skirts^-i and ran in front of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

(1) King Ben-hadad of Aram gathered his whole army; thirty-two kings accompanied him with horses and chariots. He advanced against Samaria, laid siege to it, and attacked it. (2) And he sent messengers to Ahab inside the city (3) to say to him, “Thus said Ben-hadad: Your silver and gold are mine, and your beautiful wives and children are mine.” (4) The king of Israel replied, “As you say, my lord king: I and all I have are yours.” (5) Then the messengers came again and said, “Thus said Ben-hadad: When I sent you the order to give me your silver and gold, and your wives and children, (6) I meant that tomorrow at this time I will send my servants to you and they will search your house and the houses of your courtiers and seize everything you prize and take it away.” (7) Then the king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land, and he said, “See for yourselves how that man is bent on evil! For when he demanded my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him.” (8) All the elders and all the people said, “Do not obey and do not submit!” (9) So he said to Ben-hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king: All that you first demanded of your servant I shall do, but this thing I cannot do.” The messengers went and reported this to him.

(13) Then a certain prophet went up to King Ahab of Israel and said, “Thus said the LORD: Do you see that great host? I will deliver it into your hands today, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

(14) “Through whom?” asked Ahab. He answered, “Thus said the LORD: Through the aides of the provincial governors.” He asked, “Who shall begin the battle?” And he answered, “You.”

(15) So he mustered the aides of the provincial governors, 232 strong, and then he mustered all the troops—all the Israelites—7,000 strong.

(30) The survivors fled to Aphek, inside the town, and the wall fell on the 27,000 survivors.
Ben-hadad also fled and took refuge inside the town, in an inner chamber. (31) His ministers said to him, “We have heard that the kings of the House of Israel are magnanimous kings. Let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, and surrender to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.” (32) So they girded sackcloth on their loins and wound ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘I beg you, spare my life.’” He replied, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” (33) The men divined his meaning and quickly caught the word from him,^-d saying, “Yes, Ben-hadad is your brother.” “Go, bring him,” he said. Ben-hadad came out to him, and he invited him into his chariot.

(35) A certain man, a disciple of the prophets, said to another, at the word of the LORD, “Strike me”; but the man refused to strike him. (36) He said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the LORD, a lion will strike you dead as soon as you leave me.” And when he left, a lion came upon him and killed him. (37) Then he met another man and said, “Come, strike me.” So the man struck him and wounded him. (38) Then the prophet, disguised by a cloth over his eyes, went and waited for the king by the road. (39) As the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the thick of the battle. Suddenly a man came over and brought a man to me, saying, ‘Guard this man! If he is missing, it will be your life for his, or you will have to pay a talent of silver.’ (40) While your servant was busy here and there, [the man] got away.” The king of Israel responded, “You have your verdict; you pronounced it yourself.” (41) Quickly he removed the cloth from his eyes, and the king recognized him as one of the prophets. (42) He said to him, “Thus said the LORD: Because you have set free the man whom I doomed, your life shall be forfeit for his life and your people for his people.”

(1) [The following events] occurred sometime afterward: Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel, adjoining the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. (2) Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it as a vegetable garden, since it is right next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange; or, if you prefer, I will pay you the price in money.” (3) But Naboth replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give up to you what I have inherited from my fathers!”

(15) As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Go and take possession of the vineyard which Naboth the Jezreelite refused to sell you for money; for Naboth is no longer alive, he is dead.” (16) When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab set out for the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it. (17) Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: (18) “Go down and confront King Ahab of Israel who [resides] in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard; he has gone down there to take possession of it. (19) Say to him, ‘Thus said the LORD: Would you murder and take possession? Thus said the LORD: In the very place where the dogs lapped up Naboth’s blood, the dogs will lap up your blood too.’” (20) Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy?” “Yes, I have found you,” he replied. “Because you have committed yourself to doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD, (21) I will bring disaster upon you. I will make a clean sweep of you, I will cut off from Israel every male belonging to Ahab,bond and free.^-a (22) And I will make your house like the House of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the House of Baasha son of Ahijah, because of the provocation you have caused by leading Israel to sin. (23) And the LORD has also spoken concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the field of Jezreel. (24) All of Ahab’s line who die in the town shall be devoured by dogs, and all who die in the open country shall be devoured by the birds of the sky.’” (25) Indeed, there never was anyone like Ahab, who committed himself to doing what was displeasing to the LORD, at the instigation of his wife Jezebel. (26) He acted most abominably, straying after the fetishes just like the Amorites, whom the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites.) (27) When Ahab heard these words, he rent his clothes and put sackcloth on his body. He fasted and lay in sackcloth and walked about subdued. (28) Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite:

(29) “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the disaster in his lifetime; I will bring the disaster upon his house in his son’s time.”

(28) To which Micaiah retorted, “If you ever come home safe, the LORD has not spoken through me.” He said further, “Listen, all you peoples!”^-b

(34) Then a man drew his bow at random and he hit the king of Israel between the plates of^-d the armor; and he said to his charioteer, “Turn the horses^-e around and get me behind the lines;^-f I’m wounded.” (35) The battle raged all day long,^-d and the king remained propped up in the chariot facing Aram; the blood from the wound ran down into the hollow of the chariot, and at dusk he died. (36) As the sun was going down, a shout went through the army: “Every man to his own town! Every man to his own district.” (37) So the king died and was brought^-g to Samaria. They buried the king in Samaria, (38) and they flushed out the chariot at the pool of Samaria. Thus the dogs lapped up his blood and the whores bathed [in it], in accordance with the word that the LORD had spoken.

(1) All of the Jewish people, even sinners and those who are liable to be executed with a court-imposed death penalty, have a share in the World-to-Come, as it is stated: “And your people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land forever; the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, for My name to be glorified” (Isaiah 60:21). And these are the exceptions, the people who have no share in the World-to-Come, even when they fulfilled many mitzvot: One who says: There is no resurrection of the dead derived from the Torah, and one who says: The Torah did not originate from Heaven, and an epikoros, who treats Torah scholars and the Torah that they teach with contempt. Rabbi Akiva says: Also included in the exceptions are one who reads external literature, and one who whispers invocations over a wound and says as an invocation for healing: “Every illness that I placed upon Egypt I will not place upon you, for I am the Lord, your Healer” (Exodus 15:26). By doing so, he shows contempt for the sanctity of the name of God and therefore has no share in the World-to-Come. Abba Shaul says: Also included in the exceptions is one who pronounces the ineffable name of God as it is written, with its letters.

(2) Three prominent kings mentioned in the Bible and four prominent commoners who are described in the Bible as men of great wisdom have no share in the World-to-Come. The three kings are: Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and Ahab, both of whom were kings of Israel, and Manasseh, king of Judea. Rabbi Yehuda says: Manasseh has a share in the World-to-Come, as it is stated concerning Manasseh: “And he prayed to Him, and He received his entreaty, and heard his supplication and brought him back to Jerusalem unto his kingdom” (II Chronicles 33:13), indicating that he repented wholeheartedly and effectively. The Rabbis said to Rabbi Yehuda: He regretted his actions, and his repentance was effective to the extent that God restored him to his kingdom, but God did not restore him to his share in life in the World-to-Come. The four commoners are: Balaam, son of Beor; Doeg the Edomite; Ahithophel; and Gehazi.

Rav Naḥman says: Ahab was balanced in terms of the mitzvot and transgressions that he performed, as it is stated: “And the Lord said, who shall entice Ahab that he may ascend and fall at Ramoth Gilead? And this one said in this manner, and that one said in that manner” (I Kings 22:20), indicating that it is unclear whether or not he was a full-fledged transgressor....

§ The Gemara proceeds to discuss the second king enumerated in the mishna, Ahab. Ahab [Aḥav], although he was a brother [aḥ] to Heaven, he was a father [av] for idol worship. He was a brother to Heaven, as it is written: “And a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17), and in desperate times, he turned to Heaven. He was a father for idolatry. This is the highest level of attachment, as it is written: “As a father has compassion for his children” (Psalms 103:13).

Once he [Achav] had allied himself with Eliyahu, he was accorded due honor as is befitting a king, for at that moment he had repented. He [Eliyahu] sought to draw him closer to the service of God.

The Gemara asks: What is “the delight of your eyes” that Ahab refused to give Ben-Hadad after agreeing to give him his wives and his gold? Is it not a Torah scroll? Ahab treated the Torah with deference.

(11) He said, “This will be the practice of the king who will rule over you: He will take your sons and appoint them as his charioteers and horsemen, and they will serve as outrunners for his chariots. (12) He will appoint them as his chiefs of thousands and of fifties; or they will have to plow his fields, reap his harvest, and make his weapons and the equipment for his chariots. (13) He will take your daughters as perfumers, cooks, and bakers. (14) He will seize your choice fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his courtiers.

He may seize any of the fields and olives and vineyards for his servants when they go to war. He may deploy his army in any of these places and take from there if they have from nowhere else to feed themselves. But, he must pay its worth, as it says, “and your good fields and vineyards and olives…he shall take; and he will give to his servants” (I Samuel 8:14).

And Rav says: Nevertheless, anyone who follows the counsel of his wife descends into Gehenna, as it is stated: “But there was none like Ahab, who did give himself over to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife incited” (I Kings 21:25). Rav Pappa said to Abaye: But don’t people say a popular proverb: If your wife is short, stoop and whisper to her and consult with her? The Gemara answers: This is not difficult, as this statement of Rav instructs that one not follow her counsel in general matters; and that proverb instructs that one follow her counsel in household matters. The Gemara presents another version of this distinction: This statement of Rav maintains that one should not follow her counsel in divine matters; and that proverb maintains that one should follow her counsel in general matters.

Desire leads to coveting and coveting leads to robbery. For if the owners do not desire to sell despite the offer of much money and many supplications by friends, the person motivated by desire will be moved to robbery, as Michah 2:2 states: "They coveted houses and stole." And if the owner stands up against them to save his property, or in another way prevents the person motivated by desire from robbing, he will be moved to murder. Take, for example, the narrative of Ach'av and Navot.

“Would you murder and take possession?” - This is a question which aims at opening the conversation to hear an answer, even though the details are known. Like… "Where is Hevel your brother?"

Did you kill him justly that you wish to inherit the land of someone killed by a king for yourself?! You committed a murder! How do you now [have the right to] take his possessions?

"And he walked about slowly" - He [Achav] walked with consideration here and there, like the way a person worries and mourns and thinks what can be done to fix the matter.

"Because he has humbled himself before me" - There is a difference between humbling milfanai and mipanai, since milfanai is due to [awe of] G-d's greatness and exaltedness and mipanai is for fear of punishment. One who submits due to awe will strive to become close to G-d and serve Him and submit to His exaltedness, while one who submits from fear will hide and flee to be saved from his punishment. The passuk is telling us that even though it seems that Achav has submitted due to awe, it is not so. In fact he only submitted due to fear of punishment. Therefore, because he submitted from fear [G-d says]: "I will not bring the punishment in his days; however, since he did not submit from awe I will bring punishment in the days of his son, the decree will not be fully abolished."

Although there are other sins that are more serious than murder, they do not present as serious a danger to society as murder does. Even idol worship - and needless to say, incest or the violation of the Sabbath - are not considered as severe as murder. For these sins involve man's relationship with God, while murder also involves man's relationship with his fellow man. ...

Come and learn from the example of Ach'av King of Israel. He was an idolater so debased in his paganism that I Kings 21:25 says: "There was none like Ach'av who gave himself over to the performance of wickedness in the eyes of God." And yet when his merits and sins were weighed in the presence of the Lord of spirits, there was no sin that warranted his destruction and was not counterbalanced by a positive quality, except the blood of Navot.

To what extent did he fast? If he was used to eating every three hours, he now ate only after six hours. If he would usually eat every six hours, he now would eat only after nine hours. What does it mean that he "walked about subdued"? R' Yehoshua Ben Levi said it means that he walked barefoot. What is the meaning of "...Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me?" G-d said to Eliyahu: "Have you seen Achav has done teshuva (and that I have accepted it)?"...

Achav did not let on that he was wounded so that nobody in his nation would lose heart (and, the implication is, fall in battle).

Thus, it is written Ibid. 22:21, in the description of the prophecy of Ach'av's death in battle: "And the spirit came and stood before God." Our Sages commented:: "This is the spirit of Navot." And God told the spirit (Ibid.:2): "You will persuade him and prevail."

Now this wicked man Ach'av did not actually kill his victim with his own hands; he merely brought about his death. How much more so this condemnation should apply when a person kills another with his own hands.