Bible in a Year - Women’s Thematic Reading Plan | Day 117

Day 117 of the Women’s Bible Plan: Read 1 Kings Chapter 21 and reflect on Ahab and Jezebel as a sobering picture of influence within marriage. Through the story of Naboth’s vineyard, this devotional helps women consider how a husband and wife can either encourage one another toward righteousness, humility, and the fear of God, or enable one another in selfish desire, manipulation, and sin.

🌸  Dear Sister, welcome to Day 117 of our reading journey. 

Marriage is not only about two people loving one another, living together, and building a family. Marriage also deeply shapes the heart, worship, values, life direction, and spiritual faithfulness of a person. When an intimate relationship draws us closer to God, it is a blessing. But when a relationship slowly pulls our heart away from Him, even strong feelings, beautiful promises, and outward security can become spiritually dangerous.

Solomon had once received wisdom from God. He built the temple, prayed before the Lord, and experienced God’s extraordinary grace. Yet in 1 Kings Chapter 11, Scripture shows us a painful turning point: Solomon loved many strange women. His wives turned away his heart after other gods, so that his heart was no longer perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

This passage is not meant to make us despise marriage or view love with fear. Rather, it reminds us that intimate relationships carry deep spiritual influence. The people we love, depend on, and listen to can slowly shape our hearts. Marriage choices are not only lifestyle choices; they can also become choices that shape spiritual direction.

A Minute of Grace

1 Kings Chapter 21 tells us that King Ahab desired the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Ahab offered to give Naboth a better vineyard or money in exchange for it. But Naboth refused, because the vineyard was the inheritance of his fathers. In Israel’s law and faith, this was not merely a matter of land and property; it was connected to the inheritance God had given to families among His people.

When Ahab heard Naboth’s refusal, he became heavy and displeased. He went to his house, laid down on his bed, turned away his face, and would eat no bread. His reaction revealed greed, self-pity, and childish resentment. When Jezebel saw this, she did not help him examine his heart. She did not remind him to fear the Lord or respect Naboth’s rightful inheritance. Instead, she said, “Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?” Then she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, arranged false witnesses against Naboth, and caused him to be stoned to death.

After Naboth died, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.” When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he went down to take possession of the vineyard. This is a deeply grievous scene: one person’s greed, joined with another person’s manipulation and cruelty, led to the death of an innocent man.

From the perspective of “Marriage and Husband-Wife Relationships,” Ahab and Jezebel are a serious warning. They did not encourage each other toward righteousness. They cooperated in sin. They did not call one another to fear God. They strengthened one another in power, selfish desire, and injustice. They did not protect the innocent together. They joined together in trampling him down.

This chapter reminds us that the influence between husband and wife must not be underestimated. The spiritual direction of a household is often not shaped by one dramatic decision, but slowly formed through daily conversations, emotions, desires, choices, and responses. We can help someone we love draw nearer to God, or we can make it easier for that person to sin.

Today’s theme, “Ahab and Jezebel: Partners in Evil,” invites us to reflect: In marriage and close relationships, are we helping one another fear God, or helping one another justify selfish desires? When someone we love is weak, greedy, angry, discouraged, or drifting toward sin, do we gently speak truth, or do we remain silent, flatter, protect appearances, and drift away from God together?

Whispers for the Heart

1 Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard, and when he was refused, he became heavy, displeased, and lay on his bed without eating. Have you ever responded to disappointment in relationships with self-pity, coldness, complaint, or emotional control? How does this passage help you see that many conflicts in marriage are not only about the outward issue, but about selfish desires in the heart that need God’s light?

2 Jezebel saw Ahab’s weakness, but instead of calling him to fear God, she helped him sin. How do you respond to the weakness of someone close to you? When someone wants to do what does not please God, do you remain silent, help cover it, justify it together, or lovingly speak truth?

3 Ahab and Jezebel were united in sin, and an innocent man was harmed. How do you understand “unity” in marriage? Is godly unity simply standing on the same side no matter what, or is it standing together on the side of God’s truth and righteousness?

As you read 1 Kings Chapter 21 today, do not see Ahab and Jezebel only as an evil king and queen from ancient history. Let this passage also shine light on the real interactions within marriage, family, and close relationships. May God help us not to enable one another in sin, but to watch over one another in truth.

Take a quiet breath before you begin. Bring your desires, control, silence, people-pleasing, avoidance, and relational patterns before the Lord, and let His Word meet you there.

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🪕 Response Hymn: 

1 Kings Chapter 21 (KJV)

21 And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

2 And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.

3 And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.

4 And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?

6 And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.

7 And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

8 So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.

9 And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people:

10 And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.

11 And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.

12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.

13 And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.

14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.

15 And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.

16 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

17 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.

19 And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.

21 Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,

22 And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.

23 And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.

24 Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

26 And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

27 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.

28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

29 Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.

🪕 Response Hymn: 

💡 Closing Thought · Not United in Sin

After reading 1 Kings Chapter 21, we see a heavy warning in the marriage of Ahab and Jezebel: a husband and wife can encourage one another in good, but they can also pull one another deeper into evil. Ahab’s greed was not restrained, and Jezebel’s manipulation drove the sin even further. They seemed to gain what they wanted together, but together they walked toward God’s judgment.

As we close this page and return to our own relationships, perhaps God is inviting us to ask not only, “Have I done anything wrong?” but also, “Am I helping the people close to me draw nearer to God?” When someone near us is weak, are we willing to speak with love? When selfish desire rises in us, are we willing to be exposed by God’s light? When sin appears in a relationship, are we willing to return to truth instead of covering it together?

May today’s Scripture remind you that true unity is not drifting away from God together, but fearing Him together. True love is not enabling sin, but helping one another return to the Lord. May God make our marriages, families, and close relationships places of grace, truth, and repentance—not partnerships in sin.

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