Your Constant Selfishness Will Hurt Someone

Commentary

Israelites of that time valued the land that they had and took to heart that God had divided it up among the twelve tribes. Each man regarded his land as being given to him by God. Therefore, land was not usually sold but passed down through the generations of that family.

Ahab’s request didn’t seem unreasonable. In fact, he was willing to pay its full value. But as we read these two verses, it’s hard not to wonder what Ahab’s motives were. He was a very self-absorbed man, doing more evil than any other king in Israel before him.

Being king of Israel meant that he likely had many fields, many servants to work those fields, and servants who could bring him his vegetables. I think we’ll find later that his intentions were driven by covetousness of that land, rooted in a narcissism that was poison to his soul and even deadly to those in his path.

Commentary

Ahab didn’t take the rejection of his offer well. He fell into self-pity, a dangerous fuel of delusion for the narcissist, and Ahab was certainly that. The narcissist holds themselves in a very high and distorted view, a view that makes someone like Ahab believe that they are owed anything they want. They use an outward-facing shell of false confidence, which is often very convincing when they feel superior and things are going their way, but when things don’t go their way, they often crumble like a wet piece of paper.

As Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, came to console him, I can just picture in my mind a man pouting and airing his grievance in a whiny voice. Much like a little child who is having a pity party because they can’t play with the toy that another child is already playing with. He blew this little situation up in his mind to be a full-on crisis, one where he was the ultimate “victim”.

Ahab was not a follower of Christ, but we can take lessons from his example. While we’re all selfish at times, as Christ followers, we should never be living a life so focused on self, as Ahab and Jezebel did. It’s not possible to live for yourself and for Christ, certainly not at this level of self-centeredness.

Commentary

Jezebel was an extremely evil and narcissistic person. She had zero regard for others and did anything she wanted to get the results she wanted. She was such a wicked manipulator and hater of God that she has been used throughout history to describe the spirit of rebellious women.

This passage gives us insight into the palace of the king, that Jezebel was likely the strong personality who guided Ahab’s decision-making. If there is anything worse for a narcissist, it’s partnering with another one. That’s a recipe for constant instigation.

When a person is so self-absorbed and then enabled by others to be that way, it only leads to worse and worse outcomes for them and those in their path.

Commentary

Though Jezebel was the mastermind of this plan, it took men who were willing to do evil to carry out the task. They knew very well that their actions were wicked, yet still carried out the "orders of the king". How many examples of people "just following orders" do we have in history, which led to the harm of others? Understand that the Christian or Good Samaritan who hid Jewish people during WWII were the ones breaking the law of Nazi Germany, but the murders of the Jewish people were the ones obeying the law — “just following orders”.

Narcissists need enablers in order to keep living how they live. It can be easy enough for the common person to find family or friends who will indulge their desires, but imagine how much easier it might be for a king or queen to command such people to indulge them.

Consider your choices when dealing with anyone in your life who has a tendency to be extremely selfish. Giving into demands out of fear or being supportive, because you think you are loving them, is like pouring gasoline on a raging fire. People will get hurt and the one who is struggling with habitual selfishness will not learn the lessons they need to humble themselves.

Commentary

How gut-wrenching this scene is. Ahab and Jezebel, so high on themselves, didn’t care who was hurt in their selfish pursuit. They did whatever they had to do to get what they wanted, even cold-blooded murder.

The land should’ve gone to Naboth’s next of kin; however, the framing of him as a criminal likely allowed the royal family to take possession and skirt the inheritance process.

God sent Elijah, His prophet, to give a message to Ahab. Ahab viewed himself as a good person, so naturally he viewed Elijah as his enemy because Elijah always brought God’s judgment to him. For the narcissist, anyone who is not enabling them and especially speaking out against their behavior, they view them as an enemy.

After hearing the prophecy from Elijah, Ahab did become scared and humbled himself enough to prevent God’s promise of that exact death fully coming to pass on him; however, Ahab was eventually killed in battle. Fulfillment of Elijah’s prophecy would fall upon Ahab’s son (Joram) later on (2 Kings 9:24-26) — a man who was also wicked in the sight of the Lord — and Jezebel would get what she deserved as well. (2 Kings 9:30-37)

This is an example of God’s wrath falling upon the unrepentant after many years of allowing the behavior. He gives us all a chance to repent and turn to Him, but His patience does have an end. Also, we can see that without Jesus, the unbroken chain of sin flows down the generations of a family. Children who are taught poorly and who don’t come to Christ will do as they are taught and continue on in wickedness.

I’ll leave you with a teaser that really displays the delusion of narcissism. While God’s newly appointed king, Jehu, comes to take Jezebel’s life, her most immediate concern is with how she looks, though her death was immanent.