Meanwhile, King Rehoboam also erects altars
and shrines to idols in Judah, even authorizing male and female
prostitution in these shrines. The two kingdoms, northern and southern,
continue to fight each other. After Rehoboam and Jeroboam die, the
narrator recounts the story of all the succeeding kings in each
kingdom, summarizing each king’s reign by whether he does good or
evil. Almost all of Israel’s northern kings commit great evil, expanding
on the practices of their fathers. Some of the southern kings in
Jerusalem try to revive obedience to God, but none of them bans
the worship of foreign gods in Judah.
With the help of his wife Jezebel, Ahab, northern Israel’s
most wicked king, spreads cult worship of the god Baal throughout
the northern lands. In response, a prophet named Elijah emerges
and informs Ahab that God will curse the land with a great
drought. Elijah leads a secluded life on the outskirts of civilization.
Ravens bring Elijah food and he performs miracles for the local
people. After three years of drought, Queen Jezebel begins a campaign
to murder all of God’s prophets in the land. Elijah publicly confronts
Ahab, demanding that the Israelite people profess allegiance to
either God or Baal. The people do not respond. Elijah challenges
the priests of Baal to a contest to see whose god can miraculously
set an unlit animal sacrifice on fire. Despite animated prayer and
self-mutilation, the priests of Baal are unable to ignite their
altar. Elijah soaks his altar in water three times, and, when he
prays, God engulfs the altar in flames.
Elijah flees from the belligerent Jezebel into the desert.
He complains to God that, despite his earnest service, the Israelites
continue to be disobedient. God promises to show himself to Elijah.
Elijah is surrounded by wind, earthquakes, and fire, but none of
these, we are told, is God. Instead, Elijah hears a soft whisper
amidst the storm, and he recognizes that this is God. Encouraged,
Elijah returns to civilization where he appoints a new man, Elisha,
to be his apprentice and to eventually succeed him as prophet.
One day, Ahab and Jezebel steal a man’s vineyard
by slandering the man’s name in public until the citizens stone
the man. Elijah finds Ahab in the vineyard and declares that because
of their murderous deeds, Ahab and Jezebel will die and dogs will
lick up their blood. Soon after, King Ahab makes a rare pact with
the king of Judah. The two lead their united forces against the
Arameans who are occupying Israel’s borders. Ahab is killed and
bleeds to death in his chariot. When the chariot is cleaned after
battle, dogs gather to lick his blood.
Not long after, Elijah is miraculously taken up into
heaven by a flaming chariot, never to return, while Elisha looks
on. Elisha assumes Elijah’s role as prophet, acting as a cryptic
doomsayer to Israel’s kings while performing miracles for the common
folk. Elisha helps a barren woman become pregnant, and when her
young son suddenly dies, Elisha brings the boy back to life by lying
on top of him. He guides the king of Israel in eluding the Aramean
invaders from the north by plaguing the enemy troops with blindness.
Elisha initiates a coup to cut off Ahab and
Jezebel’s dynasty by secretly anointing a military commander, Jehu,
to overthrow the throne. Jehu descends on the city where the current
king, who is Ahab’s son, and Judah’s king are visiting each other.
The men of the city rapidly defect to Jehu’s side. Jehu overcomes
the kings on horseback and shoots them with an arrow, decrying their
witchcraft and idolatry in the process. Entering the city, Jezebel
calls out seductively to Jehu from a window. The men of the city
throw her out the window, and Jehu’s horses trample her. The dogs
eat her dead body, fulfilling Elijah’s prophecy. After killing the
rest of Ahab’s family, Jehu invites all the priests of Baal to an
assembly and murders them. He wipes out the Baal cult in Israel, but
he does not forbid the worship of other gods.
