When is enough, enough?

 In the time after Elijah had departed from the scene King Ahab was caught up in a number of conflicts. On two occasions he went to war with Aram and each time he was victorious. On the second occasion in an attempt to rescue his life Ben-hadad the Aramean bargained with Ahab. The terms were accepted and Ahab and established a covenant with Ben-hadad and let him go. Once more Ahab had put personal gain in front of obedience to his God. When a prophet came to Ahab and told him that because of his disobedience his life would be given in exchange for Ben-hadad’s and the people of Israel would be given in exchange for the people of Aramea, Ahab went to his house ‘sullen and vexed’.

Sometime afterward he went from his palace in Samaria to Jezreel, his summer residence. When he arrived he took an interest in the vineyard of Naboth a local resident. He asked Naboth to let him have the vineyard as a vegetable garden, but Naboth refused. Ahab was insistent, he offered money or other land in exchange, but Naboth stood firm. There were probably two reasons for Naboth’s reluctance, in the first place this was his land and he didn’t want to part with it. It was evidently good land and well-positioned otherwise Ahab wouldn’t have wanted it. No doubt the vines that it produced were of good quality and gave a good yield. The right amount of money may have overcome these objections but there was a bigger issue at stake. The law prohibited the sale of land that was an inheritance a fact of which Ahab was well aware. Rather than respect Naboth’s religious convictions and his personal desires he was insistent and contrived to have him break the law. But Naboth was more concerned with obeying God than Ahab was and steadfastly refused to part with his land.

Ahab’s response was to sulk. He went to his house sullen and vexed and refused to eat. By turning his face to the wall he showed that he was refusing to talk or engage with others. Despite being a powerful king, astute political campaigner and ruler of the nation Ahab was childish. Having had his personal wants frustrated he sulked. He had seen something he wanted and was prepared to not only ask a loyal citizen to break God’s law by giving it to him but he applied pressure on him to do so. When his plans were frustrated he sulked. This response of Ahab was not unusual, when God had told him that he would be punished for his disobedience he sulked, his previous encounters with Elijah demonstrated that he lacked the courage to stand up and take responsibility for his own actions and was quite happy for others to do things that he lacked the conviction to do himself. He was more concerned with his own interests than those of his nation or of his God. And now having been denied a piece of land he wanted to grow vegetables in, he sulked. Ahab’s life was characterized by his desire to satisfy his own personal wants and desires. He was prepared to bring others into his deceit and moral failure in order to fulfil his wishes. In his personal, civic and business life he was prepared to put ambition and success above integrity, sincerity and righteousness. Ahab had all he needed, he was wealthy and powerful and yet when he couldn’t add one more possession to his already impressive collection he became sullen and vexed and refused to speak. He had everything he needed, but it wasn’t enough, he was still unsatisfied – he wanted more.

How much is enough? Will the increase of possessions ever bring satisfaction or fulfillment? For Ahab, certainly they didn’t, and history would suggest it doesn’t for many of the rich and famous either. The tragedy here is that the reckless pursuit of possessions to satisfy the desire for meaning resulted in not only Ahab falling further and further into moral and spiritual failure, it resulted in unethical behaviour and corruption of the social order. When your ambitions are thwarted, how do you respond? Do you go off and sulk or do you rise to the challenge, re-evaluate your goals and set a new direction? Meaning and fulfillment will never be found in possessions, but in understanding your position and calling and acting with integrity as you pursue your dreams.