The mercies of God

For most of the Old Testament, if asked to name one really bad king, King Ahab springs to mind. For a king who tolerated idol-worship, and persecuted the prophets, he was portrayed as the epitome of Israel turning away from God.

In 1 Kings 20, though, another side of Ahab appears. Ben-Hadad, king of Aram along with 32 other kings threatened Israel, and Ahab was bold enough to answer to his threats, "Tell him: 'One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.' " (v11) Ahab managed to defeat Ben-Hadad with God's help, and later, he inquired if Ben-Hadad was still alive.

"The king answered, 'Is he still alive? He is my brother.' " (v32)

This seemed like magnificent behaviour on King Ahab's part. One might almost say his bloodthirsty reputation was not justified at this point. However, merely 10 verses later, a prophet had this to say to Ahab.

"He said to the king, 'This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.' " (v42)

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Put simply, there are some things the Lord wants to put to death. In verse 42, the word 'die' in Hebrew apparently is a term referring to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.

Seemingly quite against God's nature, and unsurprisingly, its hard for me to put certain things away for good. But the consequences of this false mercy don't look good. Not only is my own life forfeit, but the lives of those around me, those that I'm responsible for, will be put at risk.