Jezebel: that name conjures up some images for all of us. It's almost exclusively used as an expression of negative, to call a lady a "Jezebel" would really be the ultimate insult. In the witness of "pop" culture I've always assumed that to call someone by that name was to accuse a woman of having some loose sexual morality. It's seems to be the way it gets used.
Jezebel is the wife of King Ahab here in I Kings. Her name being used in the negative is certainly well earned. Ahab is bad enough, but together these two really bring down the property values of leadership.
In today's story Ahab has his eye on a local vineyard. Ahab wants a donation or to buy it outright. For the owner this is family inheritance, you don't ever sell that. It's not about money, it's about hundreds of years of family growing up here. Ahab goes home vexed and sullen(not sure what either of those words mean...sounds bad). But no plan to fix it, just upset that it wasn't going to happen.
Jezebel hatches a plan almost instantly. Throw a banquet, have some lousy people give fake witness of the owner cursing God and King, stone owner, take what you want. Just for reference, Ahab was famous for having a house built out of ivory. I'm gonna throw out a guess that he might have had a nice garden somewhere and didn't really need this one too.
The instant knee-jerk reactions of life will tell us much about where we are at. Posed with a problem, Jezebel's first thought went to faking a legit problem to murder someone and get my way. Now David hatched a similar plan once and felt the weight of it for the rest of his life. Jezebel does this as a way of life, all her life.
What are the knee-jerk reactions we have that catch us off guard? That moment when something happens that we can't control, didn't expect, is going to cost us something. What do those reactions say about what's going on in our heart? How can we use those times to gain a better picture of what needs a makeover in our hearts? I encourage you to not run from, or downplay those reactions we have. To be honest, reactions that we'd rather cover up and hope nobody saw. Those are great little insights for us about areas of life we need to address to be more like Christ. They are great opportunities for growth.
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