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1 Kings 22:37-40. The king has died in battle and is brought to Samaria and buried there. The chariot in which he bled out is being washed by the pool of Samaria "and the dogs licked up his blood, and the harlots washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord."

 

Part of what I really enjoy about choosing these random readings is that often I drop in on a story at a certain point and I don't know the characters or the backstory, so all I have is the impression that that particular passage gives me. This seems to be kind of the point, often, of why the Holy Spirit guides me to a particular passage on a particular day. Here, the passage does not mention which king has died, It just calls him "the king." It starts with "So the king died." So I start reading there, and I think "Oh no, the king is dead." But then I read - "and they buried the king in Samaria," and I think "Wait, Samaria went bad, I know that much, they were worshiping Ba'al, and got God mixed up with all kinds of false gods, so if they're burying the dead king there, that raises an alarm bell." Then the next sentence includes "and the dogs licked up his blood, and the harlots washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord." Now, in two sentences, I have gone from "Oh no the king is dead" to "Oh, this king was clearly a bad guy and had it coming." I mean, he's being buried in Samaria, and the dogs are licking up his blood, this can't be good! Then, I look back a bit and see that this is Ahab, the king who married Jezebel and allowed himself to be drawn into all kinds of evil plots and worshiping of false gods. So this short passage was able to convey the truth about Ahab without even mentioning his name. I just think that's so cool!

 

Ahab was a very bad guy. He is actually why Samaria got its bad name - he led the people so far astray! Ahab is introduced to us in 1 Kings 16:29-33, five lines that twice tell us that Ahab did more "evil in the sight of the Lord... than all the kings of Israel who were before him." (This was when the kingdom was divided - Israel to the north with the capital of Samaria, and Judah to the south with Jerusalem as its capital.)

 

The story of Ahab illustrates the special responsibility placed on leaders, and how they will suffer not only for their own sins, but for being false shepherds, for leading God's people astray. Before the battle in which he died, Ahab had called in all his usual sycophant prophets to ask if he should go into battle against Syria. Of course they all said he should, and that he would win a decisive victory. Then, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, who was allied with Ahab for this fight against Syria, asked him if there were any other prophets they could ask (probably knowing that Ahab was being told what he wanted to hear). Ahab reluctantly called Micaiah, the one prophet who Ahab hated because "he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil." That is, the one prophet who told Ahab the truth! Micaiah did not disappoint. He told Ahab about a vision he had - he saw the people of Israel scattered with no shepherd and the Lord, surrounded by the host of heaven, asked for a volunteer to convince Ahab to go into battle so that he would be killed. A spirit came forward and said it would put lies into the mouths of his prophets to convince him he will win so he will go into battle. Ahab, of course, ignores Micaiah and this vision, goes into battle, dies, and the people are scattered. All as the Lord said through his vision to Micaiah.

 

Ahab was leading his people astray, he was not a good shepherd, so he had to go. The people are, of course, responsible for their own actions, but their leaders are held to a higher standard, for obvious reasons. Ahab had built altars to Ba'al in Samaria. He and his wife were doing all kinds of evil, and worshiping all kinds of false gods. When the king is doing evil, the people are sure to follow his example, and so they did, and Samaria went bad, and Ahab was punished, to the point where dogs were licking his blood upon his death.

 

Israel's biblical kings were both religious and political leaders, those two goods are inseparable. Of course, in our day we have political leaders on the one hand and religious leaders on the other (and never the two shall meet!). But that does not mean that either group is absolved from their responsibility of being good shepherds to all the people. They must set a good example, they must protect the most vulnerable, care for the poor, and encourage the people in virtue. When they go astray from this, they lead the people astray. We are like sheep (we really are!), and we look to our leaders on how to behave.

 

In some cases, I can very clearly see the same thing happening right now with many of our political and religious leaders - many of them are doing very bad things and are leading us astray. This does not absolve us of the moral responsibility to examine our own behavior, and stand against our leaders when morality requires it (and I think now it does in many, many cases). But the "king" has more responsibility - and when the king suffers, so does the kingdom, so we must pray for all of our leaders. Ask they they stay on, or be be guided back to, the path of virtue, and not lead us astray. Otherwise, they, and we, are in for more suffering, and I, for one, have had enough suffering right now!