Elijah: Jezebel & Ahab’s Wars

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the Chosen people. The morning after Mount Carmel was quiet, the hills stretched golden under the first breath of sunlight. Elijah sat outside his home, cross legged, his fingers curled around a simple clay cup of watered wine. For the first time in years, the tension in his body had begun to uncoil. The fire had fallen, the heavens opened, rain had come, and the people collapsed in worship to Yahweh. Maybe Israel would finally return. Maybe Jezebel's grip had begun to slip. But the quiet was interrupted by the sound of running a messenger. 00:00:48 Speaker 2: By this time tomorrow, your blood will stain earth. You will not die here. You will not die a modern die as a man abandoned, screaming for a God who will not answer, and only the rats will mourn you. 00:01:10 Speaker 1: That's not ink, my Lord, it's blood, the blood of the prophets of all. Elijah went white. He didn't think, didn't speak, didn't breathe. 00:01:25 Speaker 3: He just ran. 00:01:31 Speaker 4: Mercy feels holy until it defies God. Shelloh, my friends, from here in the Holy Land of Israel. I'm l Extein with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and welcome to the Chosen People. Tell me what makes a king worth following? 00:01:49 Speaker 3: Is it his. 00:01:49 Speaker 4: Victories, his mercy, his ability to speak for God, or perhaps the way that he listens when God speaks back. In today's episode, we find king a Hub of Israel, trap between humiliation and war. He is mocked and he is outnumbered. The great ben Hadad of Aram marches on Samaria with thirty two other kings at his side. The walls are tall, but not tall enough to hold back the judgment of heaven. Then a prophet arrives with a strange promise, and we're left to wonder what will God do with a king who doesn't know him, but who uses his holy name anyways. 00:02:33 Speaker 1: The throne room of Samaria reeked of sweat and stale wine, the air thick with the sour tang of a ruler who had long abandoned discipline. Ahab, King of Israel, slumped in his ornate seat, a cup of wine dangling precariously from his fingers. He was a man who had once commanded armies, but had since found soulas in the dull embrace of indulgence. His robes, once pristine, were stained with food and drink, his girth straining against the fabric. A servant hesitated at his side, uncertain whether to refill the goblet or wait for permission that never came. The doors groaned open, and a scout stumbled in, breathless and wide eyed with terror. 00:03:29 Speaker 5: My king, the Aramaean's a ear. They march upon Samaria. 00:03:35 Speaker 1: Ahabs squinted at the man, as though struggling to comprehend words that did not involve drink or leisure. He exhaled, heavily, shifting in his seat with the effort of a man unused to sudden movement. 00:03:51 Speaker 6: Here are already bah, Let them march. Walls stand for reason. Jazebel, Oh, Jezebel, Jezebel, where is that woman? 00:04:05 Speaker 1: As if conjured by the mention of her name, Queen Jezebel appeared in the doorway, her presence sharp and cold, the flickering torchlight carving shadows across her angular face. She was not adorned in full regalia, but even in a simple gown, she commanded more authority in a single glance than Ahab did with his crown. She studied her husband, then the scout, then the cup in Ahab's hand, and sighed. 00:04:38 Speaker 2: Drunk before noon, impressive even for you. 00:04:42 Speaker 1: Ahab's fingers twitched. He dared not meet her gaze directly. How many the scout swallowed hard? 00:04:52 Speaker 5: All of them are King Ben her Dad has come with thirty two kings and their armies. Their camp stretches beyond the hills. They send a messenger. 00:05:02 Speaker 1: Jezebel's expression remained unreadable, but her fingers tapped absently against her wrist. Ay have groaned, pushing himself upright with considerable effort. 00:05:15 Speaker 3: Let's hear what the dog wants. What did the messengers say? 00:05:20 Speaker 5: Thus speaks Ben Hadad, King of Aram. Your silver and your gold are mine. Your best wives and children. 00:05:28 Speaker 3: Are also mine. 00:05:29 Speaker 5: Give them freely, and Samaria will remain untouched. 00:05:34 Speaker 1: Silence swallowed the room. Ahab blinked, his mind sluggish with wine and disbelief. Jezebel folded her arms, her lips twitching slightly, as though she had just been told an amusing joke. 00:05:50 Speaker 3: My wives, my silver. 00:05:54 Speaker 1: He can't, Jezebel interrupted, stepping closer, her voice ablaze through the murk of his hesitation. 00:06:03 Speaker 2: Oh he can, and why not? He is a real king after all. 00:06:07 Speaker 1: Ahab's stomach tightened. There was something in her voice, something pointed. She watched him now like a cat watching a mouse struggle beneath its paw. 00:06:19 Speaker 2: Then Hadad is a conqueror, a warrior. 00:06:23 Speaker 7: I imagine he takes what he wants with strength and confidence. 00:06:28 Speaker 1: Ahab's fingers clenched the goblet. A cruel smirk ghosted across Jezebel's lips before she turned away, as though bored. 00:06:38 Speaker 6: Tell Ben haygand tell him it is as he says, he may have what he asks for. 00:06:48 Speaker 1: The messenger nodded once and turned to leave. Jezebel tilted her head, her expression unreadable. As soon as the doors shut behind him, she turned to Ahab, voice like venom wrapped in silk, the great. 00:07:04 Speaker 2: King of Israel, bowing like a servant. 00:07:08 Speaker 5: What a legacy. 00:07:09 Speaker 1: Ahab flinched, his throat, working soundlessly. Before he could answer, the doors burst open again. The same scout returned. 00:07:19 Speaker 5: Benadad sends new terms. He says that he will not only take your gold, your wives, and your children, but tomorrow his men will enter some Maria and take whatever pleases them. 00:07:30 Speaker 1: The man trembled, wondering if he should relay the next part. 00:07:35 Speaker 5: He suggests you set the tables and pour the wine in preparation. 00:07:40 Speaker 1: Ahab's face darkened. For all his weaknesses, even he could recognize when he was being mocked. He looked at Jezebel, but for once she remained silent, her face unreadable. His gaze swept the room, meeting the eyes of his elders and officials. 00:08:00 Speaker 3: Council, what do you say? 00:08:04 Speaker 1: The elders, sensing the line that had been crossed, murmured among themselves before one stepped forward. Do not listen to him nor agree to his terms. Ahab swallowed, suddenly, more sober than he had been all day. He turned back to the messenger, straightening with effort. 00:08:25 Speaker 3: Tell ben hey, Dad, that I agree to his. 00:08:28 Speaker 6: First demand, But this. 00:08:31 Speaker 3: This I will not allow. 00:08:34 Speaker 1: The young man bowed and departed. One of the elders shifted in his seat. We may need to prepare for war, my king. Silence held the room in its grip. Then Jezebel exhaled sharply and walked toward the balcony, looking out over the city below. Ay haveb hesitated before following. Standing beside her, his breath reeked of drink, but his hands trembled less than before. 00:09:05 Speaker 8: Ugh, we cannot win this fight. 00:09:08 Speaker 1: Jezebel didn't look at. 00:09:10 Speaker 2: Him, and you should pray that your God intervenes if he still listens to counts. 00:09:15 Speaker 1: Ahab closed his eyes. Below. In the distant hills, fires burned as the Aramian army settled into their siege. Thunder rumbled overhead. A storm was coming, and for the first time in years, Ahab wondered if the God of Israel might still be watching. The throne room was quieter now, the weight of impending war settling over Samaria like a fog. Ahab sat hunched forward, his fingers tangled in his beard, his goblet untouched at his side. For once, he was sober, though the lack of wine did little to ease the churning in his gut. The heavy doors creaked open, and a lone figure entered. A prophet, not Elijah, thanked the heavens, but another one. This prophet was known as Azarel. He moved with the ease of a man who knew the ending of the story before it had begun. He spoke in measured tones, his words deliberate, each syllable dripping with an almost theatrical patience. His robes were simple, but his posture was that of the king addressing a lesser man. He did not hurry, nor did he fawn. 00:10:43 Speaker 8: Thus, says the Lord, have you seen this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this day, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 00:10:56 Speaker 6: And by what means you have no right to stand against them. 00:11:02 Speaker 8: The junior officers of the provincial commanders shall begin the attack. The battle shall not be won by might nor by numbers, but by the hand of the Almighty. 00:11:15 Speaker 3: The junior officers, the untested. 00:11:18 Speaker 6: You would send boys to die. 00:11:22 Speaker 8: Ah But you misunderstand, my King. It is not their hands that shall bring victory, nor yours. But they will strike first, and when they do, the enemy will waver. 00:11:36 Speaker 3: But these small rants can't fight a vast army. M you have truly forgotten your history, King Ahab. Is that not all that the Lord has done since our nation's beginning? Moses the exile, Gideon the coward David, Yes, yes, yes, you've made your point. 00:11:59 Speaker 1: Aabexhaled through his nose. He wanted to argue to dismiss it, but something naught at him, something deeper than fear. 00:12:09 Speaker 3: All shall start the battle. 00:12:11 Speaker 1: Azarrel smiled, a slow, knowing thing, like a cat playing with a bird. You will, Ahab swallowed hard. He sat there for a long moment, fingers drumming against his throne. Then finally he stood tell. 00:12:31 Speaker 3: The commanders to prepare. 00:12:33 Speaker 1: Hazarrel inclined his head, as if he had already known the decision before it was spoken. Then he turned and walked out, his robes, swaying with the weight of inevitability. Ahab stared after him, his stomach twisting. He had expected a prophet to bring doom, to curse him, to declare judgment upon his head, but this one had brought something far worse us expectation. The sun hung low over Samaria's walls, bathing the land in gold, as the first trumpets blared outside the city. The Aramians lounged in their sprawling camp, confident, overfed, their leaders, drowning in drink. Ben her Dad himself reclined beneath a vast canopy, goblet in hand, his fingers tracing slow, lazy circles along the rim. He was draped in silks, posture, languid voice dripping with indulgent condescension. Oh quaint, the israel arch against us. A king should know winter kneel not too damps on the edge. 00:13:55 Speaker 8: Of the blade. 00:13:56 Speaker 1: Ben her Dad gestured for his commanders is like kittens bearing their no doubt. 00:14:04 Speaker 3: They'll run fight. 00:14:06 Speaker 1: It's too hot to. 00:14:09 Speaker 3: Prepare to take prisoners, lots. 00:14:11 Speaker 1: Of them outside. The Israelite forces surged forward, green but determined. The battle was not grand, not the clash of Titanic forces, but it was sharp, quick, and ruthless. The untested junior officers fought like men with something to prove, cutting through the first line of Aramiane defenses with startling precision. Panic spread through the enemy camp. What had started as a jest turned to confusion, then fear. Shouts of alarm rippled through the tents. The generals stumbled over themselves, shouting orders between gulps of wine. Then her Dad's lazy smoke faltered as he pushed himself upright. 00:15:02 Speaker 3: Moner horses rally. The men did not try to embarrass us as well. 00:15:09 Speaker 1: But it was too late. The initial push had turned into a route, the Ramian scattering in disarray as Israel pursued them. Then her Dad, once so sure of his victory, now found himself gripping the reins of his horse with sweaty fingers as he fled for his life. Back in Samaria, a Hab stood atop the city walls, watching the enemy retreat. His breath came heavy and his hands trembled. Against all reason, the prophet had been right. Ahab returned to the palace, the echoes of battle still ringing in his ears. He should have been triumphant, elated even, but instead he felt hollow. The throne room was dimly lit, a few flickering torches casting shadows along the stone walls. Jezebel was waiting for him. She stood by the window, her back to him, fingers tracing slow patterns against the wooden frame. She did not turn as he entered, did not greet him with words of praise or admiration. 00:16:24 Speaker 3: So you won the Lord gave them into our hands. 00:16:31 Speaker 7: Oh yes, yes, yes, how fortunate for you. But tell me, my king, do you really believe he did this for you? 00:16:45 Speaker 2: Or did he do it despite you? 00:16:49 Speaker 3: What do you mean? 00:16:51 Speaker 7: Elijah and the province of yahweh to cry me and my profits for our blood sacrifices. 00:16:57 Speaker 2: But I have come to discover some your God is more bloodthirsty than mine. 00:17:08 Speaker 1: Jezebel leaned against the balcony and threw her head back. 00:17:14 Speaker 9: And when you, when you inevitably fail on that battlefield, your God will turn on you, mark my words. 00:17:28 Speaker 1: She stepped closer, her voice dropping to something soft, something sharp. 00:17:33 Speaker 2: He's a petty, jealous woman. 00:17:36 Speaker 5: God. 00:17:37 Speaker 2: He always demands something. 00:17:40 Speaker 6: Ah I followed the word of the prophet. It seems obedience is all he required. 00:17:47 Speaker 2: And you follow orders like a good little boy. 00:17:52 Speaker 9: But one slip and you will fall from your God's good graces. And I'll be here reveling in the mess, feasting on the carcass of your shame. 00:18:06 Speaker 3: It will be delicious. 00:18:10 Speaker 1: She leaned in, whispering, her breath warm against his ear. 00:18:15 Speaker 2: The Lord of Israel, just you wait. 00:18:23 Speaker 1: She turned and walked away, her silhouette vanishing into the darkened corridors. Ahab stood alone, the weight of the crown heavier than ever. The halls of Samaria still carried the scent of victory, but Ahab's hands were clammy. He had barely settled onto his throne when the doors creaked open once more. Asarel entered, slow, deliberate, his expression void of triumph. 00:18:59 Speaker 8: Thus, says the Lord, because the Aramians have said, the Lord is a god of the hills and not the valleys. I will give this vast army into your hands once more, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 00:19:16 Speaker 1: Ahab's lip twitched. 00:19:19 Speaker 3: Another battle, the man fled like a rat. 00:19:24 Speaker 8: Let him run, Oh, he will, but he will return, and the Lord will give you victory once more. Though I wonder, do you truly wish to know the Lord I have or only his victories? 00:19:43 Speaker 6: Ugh, you prophets always speak in riddles. What does it matter why I fight? So long as I win? 00:19:54 Speaker 8: Because my king, the Lord, sees the heart, and yours is running out of places to hide. 00:20:03 Speaker 1: A Hab exhaled sharply, but said nothing. Asar L's eyes gleamed, almost amused. 00:20:11 Speaker 8: We shall see. 00:20:15 Speaker 1: The valley stretched wide, dust swirling around the feet of the assembled armies. Ahab stood at the head of his ranks, his pulse steady. His men were outnumbered, but Assarel's words lingered in his mind. Ben her Dad watched from Afar, perched atop his war horse, smug. 00:20:37 Speaker 3: Let's see how their god fights on even ground. 00:20:41 Speaker 1: The horns sounded. The battle began, but it was not a battle. It was a slaughter. The Aramians, confident in their terrain, broke like dry twigs beneath the weight of Israel's charge. Ben her Dad's confidence shattered as his men fell, His horse bucked beneath him, panicked nostrils flaring, Ben her Dad turned eyes wide, breath shallow, goods, all of you. His sword fell from his grip. The mighty army of Aram crumbled before him. Ahab sat in his war tent, swept cooling on his brow. Before him, on his knees was Ben her Dad, filthy, trembling eyes, darting like a corner jackal. 00:21:43 Speaker 3: My Lord, Mercy, we are brothers, are we not? Let us make these? 00:21:50 Speaker 1: Ahab leaned forward, studying him. The man who had sneered, who had toyed with him, now looked like nothing more than a broken thing. 00:22:00 Speaker 8: A brother, Yes, you shall leave, have you asked the Lord Ahab? Or only yourself? 00:22:10 Speaker 1: Ben her Dad exhaled, almost laughing in relief. Ahab smiled faintly. He had won. He had the power to grant mercy, to rule as he pleased. But behind him, in the shadows, Azarel turned his head slightly, exhaling through his nose. The streets of Samaria were thick with the kind of celebration that only followed war, not the grief stricken mourning of the defeated, but the sickly desperate relief of the survivors. The banners of Israel rippled in the evening wind. The people cheered, their voices roar from praise, lifting Ahab's name as if it could drown out the memory of the blood just barely dry on the battlefield. Ahab dismounted from his chariot, his hands stiff on the reins, his muscles aching from the long ride. The scent of war still come to him, sweat, leather, the metallic bite of iron and death. But there was a small, flickering part of him that dared to believe this day had been good, that perhaps, just this once, he had done something right on them. And then the shadow stepped forth, a single man, cloaked and hooded, standing among the revelers like a stone in a river. The people parted around him without knowing why, their jubilation dimming as if someone had snuffed out a torch. The figure's hood lifted just enough to reveal a face of a prophet, not Elijah nor Azaril Ahab didn't recognize this one, though the kind of dread that prophets broad was always familiar. The man's voice rang out, clear, unshaken, the kind of voice that carried the weight of the divine. 00:24:14 Speaker 6: Ah You fool, you think you know better than the Lord, because you have let an evil king live, whom the Lord. 00:24:22 Speaker 1: Had determined to die. 00:24:24 Speaker 3: Your own life shall be for his life, your people, for his people. 00:24:30 Speaker 1: Ahab's breath hitched. The words struck like a whip lashing deep beneath his skin, down into the marrow of something he had spent his life trying to keep from rotting. He knew, of course, he knew. The Lord had wanted ben her Dad dead, had wanted his justice carried out swift and unflinching, like the edge of a sword through a traitor's throat, had spared him instead, had played the benevolent King, had reached for mercy with a hand that wasn't his to extend, And now the weight of his own mercy turned to iron shackles. 00:25:16 Speaker 6: This, this is how my victory is repaid. 00:25:23 Speaker 1: The prophet did not answer, only stared. The silence stretched an unbearable thing, pressing down on Ahab until he could feel it in his ribs, could hear it beneath the cheers of the people, their celebration now hollow, distant, as though he stood in a dream, a nightmare. Ahab turned desperate to find solace in the faces of his people, in the joy that had been his just moments ago. But now all he could see were mouths moving with meaning, hands raised in praise for a king already doomed. He swallowed hard, his throat tight. Ahab had always known that Yahue's prophets never spoke lightly, and they never spoke in vain. The judgment had been rendered, and in his bones, a have knew his time was running out. 00:26:31 Speaker 4: What good is obedience if it forgets who God is. There's a word in Hebrew, and it echoes and stories like this. It's called livave. It means heart, but not the pink hallmark kind of heart that we see on Valentine's Day cards. This is the seed of decision, of intention, the soul's compass. Ahab heard the prophet, he followed instructions, he moved his troops into place, and yet judgments still came. Why well, maybe because Ahab followed the letter but not the spirit. The prophet never said spare him. The voice from Heaven never wavered. And yet Ahab, perhaps craving validation or looking for leverage, extended mercy that wasn't his to give. Ben Hadad called him brother, But the God of Israel had ready called Ben Hadad enemy. You see, God's word doesn't flatter kings, it exposes them. David mourned when he took a census. Saul trembled before sheep. He was told to slaughter. And here Ahab offers leniency like a bribe to Heaven, and Heaven answers with silence followed by a sentence. God's name cannot be used as a tool for public approval. It is holy, it is fire, and when a man pretends otherwise, the fire comes for him. But even before the battle, there's something that I want to take a look at. In the lead up to the war between King Ahab and King ben Haddad Bahram, Israel's mortal enemy, Haddad demanded this of Ahab, whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes. Now, Jewish tradition teaches that this refers to the tourist girl. That every king of the Chosen people from King David an was required to keep by his side. Wicked King Ahab had refused to follow this directive from God. But as far from Jewish law and practice as he was, Ahb knew that the holiness was found in the Tourist girl. He knew that it contained God's actual words, and he refused to hand it over to Haddad. According to our sages, that is why Ahab was rewarded with the miraculous victory in the war with Ahram. There are so many stories from the Holocaust about Nazis who demanded Jews to trample on a Turist scroll or to spit on it, or worse. Many of these Jews refused, and they usually paid with their life. Because the Chosen people have always known how holy a Torus girl is, and they have so many times refused to defile the word of God, even wicked King Ab. And I pray that each one of us, as God's chosen people, respects his word in this same way, and that we never have to pay with any hard prices, including our life. AB's mistake wasn't lowed. It didn't arrive with golden calves or pagan altars. It came wrapped in diplomacy, a peace, offering a moment that looked noble from the outside but wreaked of compromise when the prophet walked in. There's something terrifying about that, because many of us won't be tempted by open rebellion, will be tempted by subtle negotiations, by kindness that flatters evil, by a version of mercy that makes us feel spiritual without requiring us to be obedient. The Hebrew Bible does not give us a tame God, or God is holy, He is consistent, He is just, and sometimes heartbreakingly so, because when God speaks, it's never for show. This story calls something out in all of us. The need to look good rather than be good, the desire to hold the sword even when God has said put it down. The urge to rap disobedience in pretty language and call it faith. But my friend God sees through the veil and he doesn't flinch. The path forward well, it's honesty. Ask yourself, where am I bargaining with truth? Where am I sparing something that I need to cut out of my life. It could be a habit, it could be a relationship. It could be a version of yourself that's more interested in being praised than being pure. Don't wait for the prophet to speak the verdict, lay it down now, and then watch what God builds in the empty space that's left. Sello, my friends, from here in the Holy Land. 00:31:22 Speaker 1: You can listen to The Chosen People with Isle Eckstein ad free by downloading and subscribing to the prey dot Com app today. This Prey dog comproduction is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Gattina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yile Eckstein, edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltefianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland, Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Leshinsky, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, Bree Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paulinier, Robin van Ettin, kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, Rabbi Edward Abramson, and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yile Eckstein, please rate and leave a review.