The First Words of Ahab

In this video I look at the first words of Ahab.

Support the Channel: https://www.patreon.com/thebibleisart
Website: https://www.thebibleisart.com
Email: thisdivineart@gmail.com
Twitter: @johnbhiggins

| Best Books on How to Learn to Read the Bible as Literary Art |
Reading Biblical Narrative: An Introductory Guide (https://amzn.to/30LzaRa)
Narrative Art in the Bible (https://amzn.to/30RVGIb)
The Art of Biblical Narrative (https://amzn.to/3aDrIfk)
Old Testament Narrative: A Guide to Interpretation (https://amzn.to/38rcE2C)
The Poetics of Biblical Narrative (https://amzn.to/2Gh4cqE)

| Transcription |
Welcome back to the Bible is Art where we explore the literary art of the Bible and this week we’re talking about the first words of Ahab.
Robert Alter taught us but the first words and the first actions of characters are important for their characterization, revealing depths about who they are. They’re not just surface details.

The first words of the notoriously evil King Ahab come in 1 Kings 18:5, “And Ahab said to Obadiah, "Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, and not lose some of the animals."

This might on first reading appear to be a good characterization, a king, a man of the highest status, spending his time looking for food and water for the lowest of creatures in his kingdom. But this is actually an ironic portrayal.

Ahab was the seventh (Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab), climatically evil king who catalyzed the arrival of Elijah. That is, things were so bad that we need to send in some serious prophetic power. And his catalytic action was idolatry and the murder of his own children, those who were closest to him.

With this as the background, Ahab’s care for the animals appears as the action of a psychopath, one who slaughters his children but saves his horses.

This also serves to contrast with David and parallel Saul. David was a good shepherd of sheep while Saul started his reign unable to find donkeys. Both Ahab and Saul are unable to care for neither the lesser (animals) nor the greater (people).

Finally, Ahab should not be caring for animals at this point. David’s tenure as a shepherd prepared him for shepherding people. Abab is years into his reign trying to manage animals when he should be leading men. And when he tries, he ends up extinguishing them. And that, my friends, is why, the Bible is Art.