Political Power and the Prophet

Ahab, Elijah and Naboth's Vineyard

Foreword from Daniel Clarke-Serret:

Today, for the first time, Ha'ger v'shalom welcomes a guest contributor to provide their voice to the conversation. Peace is about dialogue. Dialogue is about listening to the alternative viewpoint. Below, Rabbi Eli Kavon helps us see the events of the Biblical Book of Kings from a different perspective, that of geopolitics and history. How does the Biblical Ahab compare to the historical Ahab? Was “evil” King Manasseh - who survived on the throne for 55 long years - really without any foreign policy achievements? How did prophetically-praised Hezekiah nearly bring the nation to ruin? And was vanquished Zedekiah as delusional as they say for thinking that he could defeat the Babylonians? Let us find out.

[Image: “Naboth in his Vineyard”, painted by James Smetham. 1856. Credit: tate.org.uk]

Rabbi Eli is a rabbi, essayist, and lecturer living in West Palm Beach, Florida.

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POLITICAL POWER AND THE PROPHET: AHAB, ELIJAH, AND NABOTH’S VINEYARD by Eli Kavon

A special thank you to Professor Zohar Raviv of the Spertus Institute in Chicago for providing the inspiration and teaching that are the basis for this essay.

(Vocabulary explanations:

“ethical teleology”—the ethical mandates are built into the Sinai Covenant.

“covenantal paradigm”—the model of the Sinai Covenant as an agreement on law, and especially ethics in society.

“axis mundi”—the position of leader as focal point of the relationship between God and Man.

“henotheistic polytheism”—belief in one central god and many other divine underlings).

Ahab was one of the great kings of the ancient Middle East. As ruler of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th century BCE, Ahab proved himself to be a superior political strategist, a powerful warrior, and a master builder of cities and fortresses. According to the “Monolith Inscription” of Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, Ahab provided 10,000 men and 2,000 chariots as part of rebelling coalition that faced the emerging superpower of Assyria at the Battle of Qarqar in Syria in 853 BCE. While Shalmaneser claimed victory in this battle, it is clear from his inscription that the coalition led by Israel halted the Assyrians’ progress and maintained the integrity of the Northern Kingdom’s independence in the face of a formidable enemy. Although the confrontation at Qarqar is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible’s account of Ahab’s reign, both external sources and archaeological evidence provide us with the portrait of Ahab as a powerful player in the politics of the ancient Middle East.

Also hardly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible is Ahab’s success as a great builder. Ahab’s father Omri fortified the hill of Samaria and established it as the capital of Israel. The son continued his father’s work and built up Samaria as the chief city that represented an “era of strong leadership and political—even international—prominence” for the Omrides. Archaeological evidence from the biblical period reveals that Ahab also involved himself in building magnificent structures in Dan, Hazor, Megiddo, and Tirzah. The king of Israel built an elaborate shaft and a tunnel to tap into the underground water sources at Hazor. In Megiddo his builders created a magnificent chariot park and horse stables. These building projects strongly suggest “the Kingdom of Israel became one of the most important states in the entire region, enjoying economic prosperity through the development of commerce and industry, along with territorial expansion and increased urbanization.”

At first glance, the Hebrew Bible’s silence in regard to Ahab’s successes is bewildering and disturbing. Why would the Book of Kings not mention a battle as important as that fought against the Assyrians at Qarqar, especially when the Assyrian superpower plays such an important role in the demise of the Northern Kingdom more than a century later? Why does the Hebrew Bible not describe the glory of Ahab’s building projects in Samaria and his feats of engineering in Hazor? The biblical scribes mention an “ivory house” built by the king of Israel (I Kings 22:39-40) and also makes scant reference to “all the cities that he built.” (I Kings 22:39). Otherwise, the prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible chooses to focus on other aspects of Ahab’s monarchy that have nothing to do with realpolitik and the geo-political realities of the ancient Middle East.

This silence becomes understandable, however, once we ourselves understand the theological agenda of the Hebrew Bible’s writers and the message they are trying to convey to the reader. What we see clearly from the text is its concern not with the “sight” of the monarch of Israel but the “vision” of the prophet Elijah who condemns the rulers of the Northern Kingdom for their idolatrous practices and their immorality. The reality of Ahab’s political power is only of concern to the prophet as it relates to Ahab’s failure to fulfill the “ethical teleology” enshrined in the “covenantal paradigm” that is the basis of the ongoing relationship between God and Israel.

The Book of Kings sets the stage for the activities of Elijah in its first description of Ahab as King of Israel:

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. Ahab son of Omri did what was displeasing to the LORD, more than all who preceded him. 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. He erected an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made a sacred post. Ahab did more to vex the LORD, the God of Israel, than all the kings who preceded him. (I Kings 16: 29-33)

The authors of the Book of Kings does not applaud Ahab for his marriage to Jezebel—a shrewd political move that increased the power and standing of the Israelite kingdom in the ancient world of the Middle East. This is not the Hebrew Bible’s concern. All that matters is that his union with the Phoenician princess led to Baal worship that was a betrayal of fidelity to the One God of the Israelites and a deviation from the covenant between God and Israel. Jezebel’s persecution of God’s prophets, the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, and Ahab’s seizing of the vineyard of his neighbor Naboth—these are the stories that dominate the Biblical text in its recounting of Ahab’s reign with Jezebel. The power of Ahab at the Battle of Qarqar and his magnificent building projects are all but forgotten—deliberately dismissed, perhaps— in the Hebrew Bible.

What was the nature of the rift between the prophets of the God of Israel and the rulers in Samaria? According to the historian A. Tadmor: