August 26, 2025 • 35 mins
# 223 - Elijah: Ahab & The Dogs - In this episode of The Chosen People with Yael Eckstein, King Ahab’s thirst for false prophecy leads him to the battlefield where God’s word proves unshakable. In this episode on 1 Kings 22, Elijah’s warning echoes as deception, pride, and judgment collide—reminding us that silencing the truth never spares us from it.
Episode 223 of The Chosen People with Yael Eckstein is inspired by the Book of Joshua.
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For more information about Yael Eckstein and IFCJ visit https://www.ifcj.org/
Today's opening prayer is inspired by Isaiah 5:20, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."
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Show Notes:
(01:47) Intro with Yael Eckstein
(02:52) Elijah: Ahab & The Dogs
(28:20) Reflection with Yael Eckstein
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously on the Chosen People.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You don't understand, Jezebel.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
I wanted it.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I offered him a better vineyard. I offered him money.
I was generous. But neighbors won't sell. He said it
was his family's inheritance. Ugh, some nonsense about your way's law.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
And don't ask him.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Just take it.
Speaker 5 (00:28):
Who's to stop you?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
And at the center of the elders was Naboth, the
owner of the vineyard. Ahab so desperately coveted the elders
had called him there to stand trial.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
What Noah, No, this is false.
Speaker 7 (00:47):
I've done nothing of the sort.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
The first stone was thrown, and it struck Naboth's shoulder,
knocking him off balance. The second hit his ribs, knocking
the wind from his lungs. Then came the third, than
the fourth. Then came the dogs. They lapped at the blood,
indifferent to the weight of the moment, indifferent to the
(01:10):
crime that had been committed. First murder.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Then what's next?
Speaker 7 (01:17):
They will you steal a cripple's clutch, snatch it, widow's
last coin, maybe grand second orphanage while you're at it, enough,
Thus says the Lord, God of Heaven and Earth, the
god of the nation you claim to rule in the
very spot where the dogs licked up Nebo's blood, they
(01:37):
will lap up your yes yours.
Speaker 8 (01:49):
Every lie in the throne room was a thread pulling
AHB closer to his grave. Shall out my friends from
here in the holy land of Israel. I'm you l
X with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and
welcome to the Chosen People. What happens to a soul
when the truth becomes intolerable?
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Today?
Speaker 8 (02:10):
In First Kings chapter twenty two, we entered the last
strangled chapter of King AB's long descent. We followed him
through vineyards stained with blood and palaces stained with idolatry,
and now we find him sitting beneath the mountain of voices,
none of them honest, none of them safe. There's something
awful about a man who wants prophecy only if it
(02:32):
flatters him. And yet couldn't that be said for each
of us? Sometimes? This Bible story isn't one of clean
cut heroes and clear cut victories. It's about when humans
confuse their own desires with those of God. And above all,
it's a warning about the price of silencing the truth.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Aabs still heard the dogs. The prophecy had been years ago,
spoken in that ragged voice, Elijah's voice, a voice that
never seemed to be in a hurry, and yet it
ran like a thread through Ahab's nightmares, in between the
wine soaked feasts and the hours he spent staring at
(03:17):
the walls of his palace, half drunk and half praying
to a god he didn't really believe in, the.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
God of the nation.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Your play in the.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yes, yours sleep.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Sometimes in the dark hours of the night, Ahab thought
he could hear them, just faintly, a slithering sound, a slow,
wet lapping somewhere in the corridors, somewhere behind the walls.
He'd had a servant beaten to death once for bringing
dogs into the palace. There had been no dogs, but
(04:02):
the sound had still not gone away. But there were
distractions for the King of Israel. The Great Hall was
an offense to subtlety. A hundred gold laden sycophants, wrapped
in robes the color of crushed pomegranates and saffron, swayed
and applauded as the prophets. Ahab's prophets performed their revelations.
(04:26):
It was a spectacle, a theater of divinity staged for
a god who wasn't there. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat
among the velvet and the grandeur, his posture stiff. Jehoshaphat
was a man of war. He was a descendant of David.
After all, the men in Ahab's halls had never seen
(04:49):
such a specimen. Across the room, Zedekiah, the self proclaimed
chief of the prophets, lifted a pair of iron goat
horns over his head. His wild voice filled the hall
with a guttural roar.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Thus says, yalway we these.
Speaker 7 (05:08):
You shall got your liniens until they are utterly destroyed.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Victory is yours, o king. The gods have declared it.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
King Jehosha fat exhaled through his nose, resisting the urge
to rub his temples. He had tolerated much from Ahab,
his theatrics, his excess, his endless parade of boot licking prophets.
But this, this was embarrassing, a court full of sickophants,
(05:44):
hollering nonsense, waving iron horns like madmen. It was a farce,
and thanks to his son's marriage to Ahab's daughter, he
was technically chained to this disaster of a king by family,
a decision he regretted with every passing moment. He straightened
(06:05):
in his seat, voice cutting through the noise like a
blade slipped between ribs.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
Are these truly the Lord's prophets? Is it not one
more a prophet who shows perhaps a bit more devotion
to the God of Israel?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Ugh, there is one man, Makaiah, son of Imla, But
I hate.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Him, hate him.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
He never prophesies good concerning me, only evil.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
You know, aheb.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
My father once told me, a king who only listens
to yes men will soon hear nothing but war drums
and wailing widows.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Fie bring him.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Merciah was exactly where one would excit expect a prophet
of God to be in Ahab's kingdom prison. The messenger
arrived in a rush, the cell door swinging open, dust
swirling in the dim light.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Macaiah, please listen to me.
Speaker 6 (07:15):
This should be good.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
All the other prophets have spoken favorably to the king.
You should do the same.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
No should I?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
Do you want to die in this cell? Do you
want to make this harder than it has to bee?
Speaker 6 (07:31):
Whatever the Lord says, I will.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Speak the messenger exhaled, sharply, muttered a curse under his breath,
and gestured for Maciah to follow. The whole was a
painting gold, silk, wine, dark reds, and prophets swaying in
divine ecstasy. Maciah stepped inside, still dust covered from captivity,
(08:00):
his presence like a crack in the grand illusion. He
took his time looking around. His gaze landed on Zaidakiah
and the iron horn still perched atop his head. Macia snorted,
ay have draped in gold and shadow watched him from
his throne, a goblet in hand, his knuckles tight around
(08:21):
the stem.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Well, well, well, if it isn't my dear friend, Makiah,
the light of my life, the joy of my court,
truly my day would be incomplete without your delightful presence.
Tell me, Prophet, shall we go to war at ramoff Gilead?
(08:46):
Or shall we refrain?
Speaker 6 (08:49):
What a difficult question, my king? What could possibly be
the right answer?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (09:00):
I'm getting a prophetic word. Go up in triumphal king,
Yahweh will absolutely deliver you into your head, guaranteed, nothing
to worry about. I just take my reputation on it.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Shut you idiots, he's obviously mocking us.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Unless you want to rot in that self forever.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You tell me what our God actually says.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
There it was the moment Makaiah had been waiting for.
There was a peculiar kind of joy in watching Ahab,
a man so committed to his own delusions, demand honesty.
It was like watching a drunk beg for water, but
away the moment it touched his lips, Makaiah offered him
(10:04):
a slow, knowing smile, the kind that suggested he had
been planning this exact moment for years.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
Oh the truth you wound me, Oh keith, here I
thought you preferred the comfort of well rehearsed lies.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
He made a grand, exaggerated gesture, as if parting the
very veil between heaven and earth.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
Very well. Hear ye, hear ye. I saw all israels
scattered on the mountains like sheep with no shepherd, and
lo Yahweh himself did speak, saying, these have no master,
Let them return to their homes in peace.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
A breathless pause, the weight of it settled into the room,
thick and suffocating. The words sank into Ahab's gut like
stones thrown into deep water.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Ah what did I tell you to host of that
his proclamations are never good, always evil.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Yes, Ahab, what a terrible injustice, the prophet of your
way refusing to lie to you. How do you bear
such suffering?
Speaker 6 (11:17):
I saw the Lord seated upon his throne in all
the hosts of heaven. The spiritual beings stood before him,
one to his right, one to his luck. And the
Lord said, who will entice Ahab? That he might go
up and fall at raymuth Gilead.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
He let the words linger, glancing at Ahab, who now
gripped his goblet so tightly it threatened to shatter.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Oh, but don't worry, my king. There was some discussion,
a few ideas thoss around. One suggested this, another suggested that.
But then a spirit came forward. Hold, and this particular
spirit said, I will entice him, my Lord. So Yahweh
(12:06):
asked by what means? And the spirit, Oh, my dear King,
This spirit smiled and said, I will go and be
a lying spirit in the mouths of all a house prophets.
And Yahweh said, very good, you will succeed in enticing him.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Go and do it.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
Now behold, look around you, think, Ahab, there's a reason.
All these fools only tell you what you want to hear.
The Lord has put a lying spirit in the bouths
of all these prophets of yours. Yahweh has decreed your ruin.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
The silence that followed was the kind that settled in
the bones, the kind that wrapped around the life ungs
and squeezed. Ahab's face twitched, but before he could speak,
Zedekiah stormed forward, his ornate robes billowing like a child
playing dress up in a king's closet. His fury was immediate, personal,
(13:16):
a man who had just realized he was the punchline
of a joke he hadn't understood. His hand cracked across
Mackiah's cheek, the slap reverberating through the chamber like a
gavel striking doom.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Insulends, whelp tell me which way did the spirit of
Yahweh go when he left me to speak to you?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
The prophets gasped, The courtiers flinched, the guards stiffened. Machia
smiled a slow, knowing, infuriating smile. He turned his head
back to Zedekiah, rubbing his jaw as though trying to
decide whether the slap was worth responding to.
Speaker 6 (13:58):
Oh, you'll find out one day, soup when you're hiding
in your chambers like a soiled little child, weep for
your mother.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
For a fraction of a second, Zedekiah stood frozen, as
if the very breath in his lungs had turned to lead.
His face twisted rage, fear, denial, all warring behind his eyes.
He wanted to laugh, to strike Makaia again, to prove
this was nonsense, but the words hung there, a rotten
(14:33):
thing in the air. Suddenly Ahab was on his feet,
screaming orders, clinging to control like a man drowning in
his own power.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Gods, seize him, take him back to the rots in
his cell, feed him nothing but bread.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
And water until I return in victory.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Makaiah tilted his head, gaze flickering toward the throne as
if considering something, and then, softly, with the patience of
a man who already knew how this story would end,
he said.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
If you return in victory, God has not spoken through me,
mark my words. The only one who will be victorious
in this story is Yahweh, not you.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Ahab's left eye twitched as if something inside him was
about to break. He did not speak. He simply pointed
to the door with a trembling finger. The guards grabbed
Macaia's arms, violently, hauling him toward the door. But the
prophet did not resist. He did not struggle, He did
(15:46):
not beg or plead. He just turned his head back
toward Ahab and smiled. Ahab wanted to scream, he wanted
to vomit, but he just stared eyes and somewhere, beneath
the guard's footsteps, beneath the incense, beneath the wine and
(16:07):
the gold and the desperation, Ahab could hear it again,
the slow, wet sound of dogs lapping at the ground.
The battlefield stretched wide and barren under the weight of
a brutal sun. The air was thick with heat, the
(16:28):
kind that made armor unbearable, made every breath feel like
sucking in dust and copper into your lungs. In the distance,
the war horns blared low and guttural, the kind of
sound that sent something primal crawling up the spine. Soldiers
shifted uneasily, sweat trickling down the backs of their necks,
(16:50):
waiting for the moment when waiting would end and dying
would begin. Ahab stood at the center of it, all,
wrapped in the heavies, sickly stench of fate closing in.
He was not stupid. He knew. He had known since
the moment Makaiah had spoken, maybe even before that. The
(17:12):
words of Elijah had never left him, always somewhere in
the back of his mind, gnawing, whispering, in the.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Very smart with the dogs licked up their boss.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
They were lad he had tried to forget. He had
drowned them in wine, in power, in the bodies of
women who would never be Jezebel. But no amount of
conquest or cruelty had changed the truth. God was against him.
The ground beneath his feet was already a grave. But
(17:48):
Ahab was not the kind of man to go quietly.
He was the son of the great Omri, king of Israel.
He would not be made a spectacle. He would not
be an easy prophecy. He turned to Jehoshaphat, who satisfried
his horse in his royal robes, draped in the colors
(18:08):
of Judah, looking every bit the king Ahab had failed
to be.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You should wear your robes into battle, let them see
their king.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
And what will you wear?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Something less conspicuous.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Jehoshaphat did not like this. He did not like much
about today, about the way Ahab moved, like a man
trying to cheat death. But what could he say. He
knew Ahab was a dead man, whether he wore his
crown or not. The battle began swiftly, the armies clashed.
(18:48):
It was confusion and steel, cries of agony, and the
wet sounds of men breaking open. For the soldiers, the
world shrank down to what was right in front of you,
What was trying to kill you, what you had to
kill first. There was no thinking, no strategy, just the
law violence of the moment. They have moved through the
(19:11):
carnage like a man with something to prove. He fought
harder than he had in years, maybe harder than he
ever had. Maybe he thought, if he could make it
through this battle, if he could turn the tide, if
he could be the hero, just this once. Maybe the
weight of everything, the ruin of his reign, the mockery
(19:32):
of his marriage, the weakness of his legacy, could be
rewritten in Bloody. It was almost convincing until the arrow.
It was not an act of skill, It was not
the hand of a great warrior, some noble assassin taking
fate into his own hands. No, it was some nameless
(19:57):
Aramian soldier pulling back his loosing an arrow into the sky,
without aim, without reason, without expectation. The arrow arked high,
silent and swift, an instrument of judgment, an afterthought in
(20:17):
the chaos, and then, almost impossibly, it found its home
right between the plates of Ahab's armor. For a moment,
Ahab did not move, he did not even register it.
Then a slow creeping fire spread through his chest, and
(20:41):
he knew, he knew before he even looked down. No,
his breath caught, his hand trembled as he reached for
the shaft protruding from his ribs. It was deep, too deep.
He could feel the warmth or red, the blood spilling out,
(21:02):
filling his armor like a cup being poured out.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
No, no, no no.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
The chariot rocked as he sagged against its frame. His
servant turned horror, creeping into his eyes.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Marking, we must get you out, BlimE, we must hold BlimE.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
The battle raged on, and Ahab, the dead man, still standing,
stayed in his chariot. The arrow lodged in his body
like a final act of defiance. The pain became everything.
It hollowed him out, It took his vision and turned
the edges black. But he gripped the side of his chariot,
(21:49):
forcing himself upright. He would not fall, not yet. Hour
by hour, the blood pulled at his feet, thick and warm,
sloshing with every movement of the chariot. He could smell it,
taste it. His men fought, His kingdom bled and Ahab.
(22:11):
Ahab sat in the ruin of himself, staring at the sky,
feeling the slow pull of the end. At sunset, the
weight was too much. His fingers slipped from the frame,
his body crumbling forward. It will belong now before the
(22:32):
dogs come. His servant did not answer, he could not
bear to. And as the chariot rolled through the battlefield,
the blood of King Ahab dripped down into the earth.
The battlefield had no use for kings. It consumed men
(22:54):
without preference. The wind whispered through the broken bodies, lifting
the dust, carrying the scent of old blood and new decay.
Ahab's body was just another among them. Now he had
spent his life clothed in gold. But now there was
no throne, no kingdom, no Jezebel to whisper in his ear.
(23:18):
There was only the cold weight of his corpse, sagging
where it lay. The soldiers worked in silence, their hands
moving with the detached precision of men accustomed to handling
the dead. The captain, a man who had followed Ahab
into every war since he was a boy, knelt beside
(23:39):
the body, fingers grimy with dust and dried blood, as
he unfastened the last buckle of the king's armor. It
was a cursed thing, now tainted by prophecy and failure.
A cadet, younger, less hardened, hesitated as they lifted the
lifeless weight. They heaved his body into the cart, limbs loose,
(24:03):
his fingers stained dark with the blood he had choked on.
He was still warm when they started the journey back
to Samaria. The cart creaked as it rolled through the
entrance of the palace, the wheels rattling over uneven stone.
(24:24):
The soldiers avoided eye contact with the courtiers who had
come to watch. They did not carry a king home.
They carried a warning. The chariot stood near the washing pool,
streaked with the blood that had poured from his wounds,
sticky and congealed in the heat. A servant, young and
new to the palace, swallowed hard and stepped forward, carrying
(24:48):
a bucket of water. His hands trembled as he lifted it,
tilting it over the chariot's side, letting the water slosh
and swirl over the wood, turning the dust to mud,
sending thick red streams trailing toward the gutters. The blood
found the cracks in the stone and flowed outward, curling
(25:09):
in rivulets, until it reached the open ground where the
wild dogs waited. There had always been dogs in some area.
They lived on the scraps of the city, scavengers, picking
at whatever had been left behind. Tonight they found something fresh.
(25:30):
The servant looked away as the first one lowered its head,
its mouth pressing into the blood, lapping it up. The
sound wet and slow. More came slipping from the alleyways,
creeping closer, tongues flicking against the stone. It was just
as Elijah had said. From a high window. Jezebel watched.
(25:55):
She had not wept, She had not torn her robes
or covered her Elfin's sadcloth. She had not even left
her chambers when the news came. She had known before
the first horse rode through the city gates. Ahab had
always been easy to predict. That was the greatest of
(26:16):
his many flaws. He was not like her. He wanted
too much, needed too much. Now he was dead. Her
fingers traced the carved stone of the balcony, railing, her
nails clicking softly as she leaned forward, gazing down at
(26:37):
the spectacle. A servant, young and stupid, hesitated behind her,
wringing his hands, eyes flicking between the window and the
queen's face.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
My late e, do you grieve?
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Jezebel turned her head slowly, her lips curled, but it
was not a smile.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
I suppose I mourn him as one would a last
sandal less, sorrowful, more perturbed than now.
Speaker 6 (27:06):
I have to find a new one.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
The servant flinched. Jezebel turned back to the window, watching
as the last of the blood washed away, as the
dogs finished their meal, and as the city swallowed its
dead king without ceremony.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Ahab was never made for war, or for ruling.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Or for me. The wind tugged at her hair, dark
strands slipping across her cheek. She breathed in, tasting the
air heavy with the scent of dust and prophecy, of
filth and judgment.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
My lady will, what shall we do?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Jezebel exhaled, slow and measured. We shall wait for what.
Jezebel let her fingers rest against the railing one life
time before stepping away. Below the dogs licked their muscles clean,
and somewhere unseen but undeniable, the words of Elijah still echoed,
(28:15):
The dogs will feast.
Speaker 8 (28:22):
Let me ask you something, Why do we fear profits
more than enemies? Seriously? Why does Ahab tremble before Mikaia
but not for the Armyan army? Why is the voice
of God more terrifying than the sword? Here's what I
think is because prophecy strips us, not just of illusions,
but of our defenses. Doesn't care for titles or wealth.
(28:46):
It cuts deep, it humbles, it refuses to flatter. And
that's exactly what happens right here. Mikaia's vision of heaven
is odd, isn't it? God inviting his spiritual court and
tyson king to destruction. It should make you uncomfortable, because
it's supposed to do. Let's take a closer look. The
(29:07):
Hebrew verb used for entice in verse twenty is pitin
This isn't just about trickery. It's the same root used
in Judge's fourteen when Samson is enticed by Dlaiah. It
implies seduction, yes, but also consent willingness, a kind of
(29:27):
tragic attraction to one's own room. Ahab isn't duped, he's drawn,
and that's the horror. He wants the lie, and God,
in his sovereignty, allows him to chase it. Because sometimes
justice isn't a thunderclap. Rather, it's the silence that follows
(29:48):
your very own choice. This is the same pattern that
we see in Isaiah six, when the prophet is told
to make the heart of this people calloused, not because
God delights in their death fitness, but because they've demanded
it for so long he lets them have it. Truth
rejected becomes truth withdrawn. And here's the sobering reality. The
(30:12):
people cheered louder for Zendekiah's iron horns than for Mekaiah's warning,
and by then their king bled out his chariot. While
the dogs fulfilled every word the prophet has spoken. God's
word doesn't flinch, it doesn't soften anything. It tells the truth,
even when the truth is unwelcome. There's another lesson in
(30:36):
today's story that I want to look at. When King
Yehosha Fat of Southern Kingdom of Judah comes to visit,
ahab Aha proposes a joint military campaign against Aram, and
Yohosha Fat accepts. This seems strange because initially, at least
Yohosha Fat is considered to be a righteous king. It's
also strange that ab would have proposed such a campaign
(30:58):
because in our previous chapter the prophet predicted that he
would die in battle. But although Ahab had repented, apparently
his repentance wasn't complete. But our sages criticized Yohosha Fat's
acceptance of an alliance with a king with such a
checkered background. They make this famous statement, woe is to
(31:19):
the wicked person, and woe is to his neighbor. Now
that is every bit as true today as it was
in the days of the Bible, isn't it, Because if
a good person consorts with an evil one, something evil
is bound rub off. We'll see later in the Book
of Second Kings that in fact, the righteous Yehosha Fat
(31:40):
lost some of his righteousness, maybe because of his association
with evil Ahab, who also happened to be his brother
in law. But the lesson here is that we all
need to choose our acquaintances very carefully, whether it's on
a personal level or on a community or a national level, because,
as Jewish tradition teaches, the opposite also works. If someone
(32:04):
befriends a good and decent person or nation allies with
the nation built on good values, then that goodness and
righteousness rubs off the very same way as evil would.
There's something that I've learned living here in the holy
land of my ancestors. God's justice may wait, but it
(32:25):
never sleeps. This story isn't just a tale of doom.
It's about the stubborn mercy of truth. The truth that
stands out even when mocked, The truth that loves even
when hated, The truth that will outlive every throne that's
built on lies. As we've studied the Bible together, I've
often mentioned tshuva, this concept of repentance, not as a performance,
(32:51):
but as a return coming home. And what this story
reminds me is that even when it's too late for Ahab,
it's not too late for us. We still have the
chance to listen. We still have the chance to change,
to stop surrounding ourselves with voices that flatter, and start
seeking the one that saves. Maybe you're feeling like Ahab, trapped, overwhelmed,
(33:16):
unsure of how to listen to God without being crushed
by what he might say. Or maybe you're like Mikaia,
telling the truth in a world that only wants stagecraft
and showmen. Wherever you find yourself today, let this story
push you towards courage, ask the hard questions, turn down
the volume of the crowd, get quiet enough to hear
(33:39):
the voice of God again, and when you do, don't flinch.
Even if it wounds, God's word heals, and even when
it corrects.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
It loves. You can listen to The Chosen People with
the Isle e Stein ad free by downloading and subscribing
to the Prey app today. This Prey Dog comproduction is
only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents.
Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are
(34:12):
the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yaiel Eckstein,
edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are
voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan,
Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and
(34:32):
Mitch Leshinsky. And the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore,
music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, bre
Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paul Lanier,
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and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
(34:54):
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Previously on the Chosen People.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You don't understand, Jezebel.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
I wanted it.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I offered him a better vineyard. I offered him money.
I was generous. But neighbors won't sell. He said it
was his family's inheritance. Ugh, some nonsense about your way's law.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
And don't ask him.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Just take it.
Speaker 5 (00:28):
Who's to stop you?
Speaker 1 (00:31):
And at the center of the elders was Naboth, the
owner of the vineyard. Ahab so desperately coveted the elders
had called him there to stand trial.
Speaker 6 (00:43):
What Noah, No, this is false.
Speaker 7 (00:47):
I've done nothing of the sort.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
The first stone was thrown, and it struck Naboth's shoulder,
knocking him off balance. The second hit his ribs, knocking
the wind from his lungs. Then came the third, than
the fourth. Then came the dogs. They lapped at the blood,
indifferent to the weight of the moment, indifferent to the
(01:10):
crime that had been committed. First murder.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Then what's next?
Speaker 7 (01:17):
They will you steal a cripple's clutch, snatch it, widow's
last coin, maybe grand second orphanage while you're at it, enough,
Thus says the Lord, God of Heaven and Earth, the
god of the nation you claim to rule in the
very spot where the dogs licked up Nebo's blood, they
(01:37):
will lap up your yes yours.
Speaker 8 (01:49):
Every lie in the throne room was a thread pulling
AHB closer to his grave. Shall out my friends from
here in the holy land of Israel. I'm you l
X with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, and
welcome to the Chosen People. What happens to a soul
when the truth becomes intolerable?
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Today?
Speaker 8 (02:10):
In First Kings chapter twenty two, we entered the last
strangled chapter of King AB's long descent. We followed him
through vineyards stained with blood and palaces stained with idolatry,
and now we find him sitting beneath the mountain of voices,
none of them honest, none of them safe. There's something
awful about a man who wants prophecy only if it
(02:32):
flatters him. And yet couldn't that be said for each
of us? Sometimes? This Bible story isn't one of clean
cut heroes and clear cut victories. It's about when humans
confuse their own desires with those of God. And above all,
it's a warning about the price of silencing the truth.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Aabs still heard the dogs. The prophecy had been years ago,
spoken in that ragged voice, Elijah's voice, a voice that
never seemed to be in a hurry, and yet it
ran like a thread through Ahab's nightmares, in between the
wine soaked feasts and the hours he spent staring at
(03:17):
the walls of his palace, half drunk and half praying
to a god he didn't really believe in, the.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
God of the nation.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Your play in the.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yes, yours sleep.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Sometimes in the dark hours of the night, Ahab thought
he could hear them, just faintly, a slithering sound, a slow,
wet lapping somewhere in the corridors, somewhere behind the walls.
He'd had a servant beaten to death once for bringing
dogs into the palace. There had been no dogs, but
(04:02):
the sound had still not gone away. But there were
distractions for the King of Israel. The Great Hall was
an offense to subtlety. A hundred gold laden sycophants, wrapped
in robes the color of crushed pomegranates and saffron, swayed
and applauded as the prophets. Ahab's prophets performed their revelations.
(04:26):
It was a spectacle, a theater of divinity staged for
a god who wasn't there. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat
among the velvet and the grandeur, his posture stiff. Jehoshaphat
was a man of war. He was a descendant of David.
After all, the men in Ahab's halls had never seen
(04:49):
such a specimen. Across the room, Zedekiah, the self proclaimed
chief of the prophets, lifted a pair of iron goat
horns over his head. His wild voice filled the hall
with a guttural roar.
Speaker 6 (05:04):
Thus says, yalway we these.
Speaker 7 (05:08):
You shall got your liniens until they are utterly destroyed.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Victory is yours, o king. The gods have declared it.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
King Jehosha fat exhaled through his nose, resisting the urge
to rub his temples. He had tolerated much from Ahab,
his theatrics, his excess, his endless parade of boot licking prophets.
But this, this was embarrassing, a court full of sickophants,
(05:44):
hollering nonsense, waving iron horns like madmen. It was a farce,
and thanks to his son's marriage to Ahab's daughter, he
was technically chained to this disaster of a king by family,
a decision he regretted with every passing moment. He straightened
(06:05):
in his seat, voice cutting through the noise like a
blade slipped between ribs.
Speaker 5 (06:11):
Are these truly the Lord's prophets? Is it not one
more a prophet who shows perhaps a bit more devotion
to the God of Israel?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Ugh, there is one man, Makaiah, son of Imla, But
I hate.
Speaker 5 (06:32):
Him, hate him.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
He never prophesies good concerning me, only evil.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
You know, aheb.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
My father once told me, a king who only listens
to yes men will soon hear nothing but war drums
and wailing widows.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Fie bring him.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Merciah was exactly where one would excit expect a prophet
of God to be in Ahab's kingdom prison. The messenger
arrived in a rush, the cell door swinging open, dust
swirling in the dim light.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Macaiah, please listen to me.
Speaker 6 (07:15):
This should be good.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
All the other prophets have spoken favorably to the king.
You should do the same.
Speaker 6 (07:22):
No should I?
Speaker 5 (07:25):
Do you want to die in this cell? Do you
want to make this harder than it has to bee?
Speaker 6 (07:31):
Whatever the Lord says, I will.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Speak the messenger exhaled, sharply, muttered a curse under his breath,
and gestured for Maciah to follow. The whole was a
painting gold, silk, wine, dark reds, and prophets swaying in
divine ecstasy. Maciah stepped inside, still dust covered from captivity,
(08:00):
his presence like a crack in the grand illusion. He
took his time looking around. His gaze landed on Zaidakiah
and the iron horn still perched atop his head. Macia snorted,
ay have draped in gold and shadow watched him from
his throne, a goblet in hand, his knuckles tight around
(08:21):
the stem.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Well, well, well, if it isn't my dear friend, Makiah,
the light of my life, the joy of my court,
truly my day would be incomplete without your delightful presence.
Tell me, Prophet, shall we go to war at ramoff Gilead?
(08:46):
Or shall we refrain?
Speaker 6 (08:49):
What a difficult question, my king? What could possibly be
the right answer?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (09:00):
I'm getting a prophetic word. Go up in triumphal king,
Yahweh will absolutely deliver you into your head, guaranteed, nothing
to worry about. I just take my reputation on it.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Shut you idiots, he's obviously mocking us.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Unless you want to rot in that self forever.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You tell me what our God actually says.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
There it was the moment Makaiah had been waiting for.
There was a peculiar kind of joy in watching Ahab,
a man so committed to his own delusions, demand honesty.
It was like watching a drunk beg for water, but
away the moment it touched his lips, Makaiah offered him
(10:04):
a slow, knowing smile, the kind that suggested he had
been planning this exact moment for years.
Speaker 6 (10:11):
Oh the truth you wound me, Oh keith, here I
thought you preferred the comfort of well rehearsed lies.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
He made a grand, exaggerated gesture, as if parting the
very veil between heaven and earth.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
Very well. Hear ye, hear ye. I saw all israels
scattered on the mountains like sheep with no shepherd, and
lo Yahweh himself did speak, saying, these have no master,
Let them return to their homes in peace.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
A breathless pause, the weight of it settled into the room,
thick and suffocating. The words sank into Ahab's gut like
stones thrown into deep water.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Ah what did I tell you to host of that
his proclamations are never good, always evil.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
Yes, Ahab, what a terrible injustice, the prophet of your
way refusing to lie to you. How do you bear
such suffering?
Speaker 6 (11:17):
I saw the Lord seated upon his throne in all
the hosts of heaven. The spiritual beings stood before him,
one to his right, one to his luck. And the
Lord said, who will entice Ahab? That he might go
up and fall at raymuth Gilead.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
He let the words linger, glancing at Ahab, who now
gripped his goblet so tightly it threatened to shatter.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
Oh, but don't worry, my king. There was some discussion,
a few ideas thoss around. One suggested this, another suggested that.
But then a spirit came forward. Hold, and this particular
spirit said, I will entice him, my Lord. So Yahweh
(12:06):
asked by what means? And the spirit, Oh, my dear King,
This spirit smiled and said, I will go and be
a lying spirit in the mouths of all a house prophets.
And Yahweh said, very good, you will succeed in enticing him.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Go and do it.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So.
Speaker 6 (12:32):
Now behold, look around you, think, Ahab, there's a reason.
All these fools only tell you what you want to hear.
The Lord has put a lying spirit in the bouths
of all these prophets of yours. Yahweh has decreed your ruin.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
The silence that followed was the kind that settled in
the bones, the kind that wrapped around the life ungs
and squeezed. Ahab's face twitched, but before he could speak,
Zedekiah stormed forward, his ornate robes billowing like a child
playing dress up in a king's closet. His fury was immediate, personal,
(13:16):
a man who had just realized he was the punchline
of a joke he hadn't understood. His hand cracked across
Mackiah's cheek, the slap reverberating through the chamber like a
gavel striking doom.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Insulends, whelp tell me which way did the spirit of
Yahweh go when he left me to speak to you?
Speaker 1 (13:39):
The prophets gasped, The courtiers flinched, the guards stiffened. Machia
smiled a slow, knowing, infuriating smile. He turned his head
back to Zedekiah, rubbing his jaw as though trying to
decide whether the slap was worth responding to.
Speaker 6 (13:58):
Oh, you'll find out one day, soup when you're hiding
in your chambers like a soiled little child, weep for
your mother.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
For a fraction of a second, Zedekiah stood frozen, as
if the very breath in his lungs had turned to lead.
His face twisted rage, fear, denial, all warring behind his eyes.
He wanted to laugh, to strike Makaia again, to prove
this was nonsense, but the words hung there, a rotten
(14:33):
thing in the air. Suddenly Ahab was on his feet,
screaming orders, clinging to control like a man drowning in
his own power.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Gods, seize him, take him back to the rots in
his cell, feed him nothing but bread.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
And water until I return in victory.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Makaiah tilted his head, gaze flickering toward the throne as
if considering something, and then, softly, with the patience of
a man who already knew how this story would end,
he said.
Speaker 6 (15:11):
If you return in victory, God has not spoken through me,
mark my words. The only one who will be victorious
in this story is Yahweh, not you.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Ahab's left eye twitched as if something inside him was
about to break. He did not speak. He simply pointed
to the door with a trembling finger. The guards grabbed
Macaia's arms, violently, hauling him toward the door. But the
prophet did not resist. He did not struggle, He did
(15:46):
not beg or plead. He just turned his head back
toward Ahab and smiled. Ahab wanted to scream, he wanted
to vomit, but he just stared eyes and somewhere, beneath
the guard's footsteps, beneath the incense, beneath the wine and
(16:07):
the gold and the desperation, Ahab could hear it again,
the slow, wet sound of dogs lapping at the ground.
The battlefield stretched wide and barren under the weight of
a brutal sun. The air was thick with heat, the
(16:28):
kind that made armor unbearable, made every breath feel like
sucking in dust and copper into your lungs. In the distance,
the war horns blared low and guttural, the kind of
sound that sent something primal crawling up the spine. Soldiers
shifted uneasily, sweat trickling down the backs of their necks,
(16:50):
waiting for the moment when waiting would end and dying
would begin. Ahab stood at the center of it, all,
wrapped in the heavies, sickly stench of fate closing in.
He was not stupid. He knew. He had known since
the moment Makaiah had spoken, maybe even before that. The
(17:12):
words of Elijah had never left him, always somewhere in
the back of his mind, gnawing, whispering, in the.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Very smart with the dogs licked up their boss.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
They were lad he had tried to forget. He had
drowned them in wine, in power, in the bodies of
women who would never be Jezebel. But no amount of
conquest or cruelty had changed the truth. God was against him.
The ground beneath his feet was already a grave. But
(17:48):
Ahab was not the kind of man to go quietly.
He was the son of the great Omri, king of Israel.
He would not be made a spectacle. He would not
be an easy prophecy. He turned to Jehoshaphat, who satisfried
his horse in his royal robes, draped in the colors
(18:08):
of Judah, looking every bit the king Ahab had failed
to be.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
You should wear your robes into battle, let them see
their king.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
And what will you wear?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Something less conspicuous.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Jehoshaphat did not like this. He did not like much
about today, about the way Ahab moved, like a man
trying to cheat death. But what could he say. He
knew Ahab was a dead man, whether he wore his
crown or not. The battle began swiftly, the armies clashed.
(18:48):
It was confusion and steel, cries of agony, and the
wet sounds of men breaking open. For the soldiers, the
world shrank down to what was right in front of you,
What was trying to kill you, what you had to
kill first. There was no thinking, no strategy, just the
law violence of the moment. They have moved through the
(19:11):
carnage like a man with something to prove. He fought
harder than he had in years, maybe harder than he
ever had. Maybe he thought, if he could make it
through this battle, if he could turn the tide, if
he could be the hero, just this once. Maybe the
weight of everything, the ruin of his reign, the mockery
(19:32):
of his marriage, the weakness of his legacy, could be
rewritten in Bloody. It was almost convincing until the arrow.
It was not an act of skill, It was not
the hand of a great warrior, some noble assassin taking
fate into his own hands. No, it was some nameless
(19:57):
Aramian soldier pulling back his loosing an arrow into the sky,
without aim, without reason, without expectation. The arrow arked high,
silent and swift, an instrument of judgment, an afterthought in
(20:17):
the chaos, and then, almost impossibly, it found its home
right between the plates of Ahab's armor. For a moment,
Ahab did not move, he did not even register it.
Then a slow creeping fire spread through his chest, and
(20:41):
he knew, he knew before he even looked down. No,
his breath caught, his hand trembled as he reached for
the shaft protruding from his ribs. It was deep, too deep.
He could feel the warmth or red, the blood spilling out,
(21:02):
filling his armor like a cup being poured out.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
No, no, no no.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
The chariot rocked as he sagged against its frame. His
servant turned horror, creeping into his eyes.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Marking, we must get you out, BlimE, we must hold BlimE.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
The battle raged on, and Ahab, the dead man, still standing,
stayed in his chariot. The arrow lodged in his body
like a final act of defiance. The pain became everything.
It hollowed him out, It took his vision and turned
the edges black. But he gripped the side of his chariot,
(21:49):
forcing himself upright. He would not fall, not yet. Hour
by hour, the blood pulled at his feet, thick and warm,
sloshing with every movement of the chariot. He could smell it,
taste it. His men fought, His kingdom bled and Ahab.
(22:11):
Ahab sat in the ruin of himself, staring at the sky,
feeling the slow pull of the end. At sunset, the
weight was too much. His fingers slipped from the frame,
his body crumbling forward. It will belong now before the
(22:32):
dogs come. His servant did not answer, he could not
bear to. And as the chariot rolled through the battlefield,
the blood of King Ahab dripped down into the earth.
The battlefield had no use for kings. It consumed men
(22:54):
without preference. The wind whispered through the broken bodies, lifting
the dust, carrying the scent of old blood and new decay.
Ahab's body was just another among them. Now he had
spent his life clothed in gold. But now there was
no throne, no kingdom, no Jezebel to whisper in his ear.
(23:18):
There was only the cold weight of his corpse, sagging
where it lay. The soldiers worked in silence, their hands
moving with the detached precision of men accustomed to handling
the dead. The captain, a man who had followed Ahab
into every war since he was a boy, knelt beside
(23:39):
the body, fingers grimy with dust and dried blood, as
he unfastened the last buckle of the king's armor. It
was a cursed thing, now tainted by prophecy and failure.
A cadet, younger, less hardened, hesitated as they lifted the
lifeless weight. They heaved his body into the cart, limbs loose,
(24:03):
his fingers stained dark with the blood he had choked on.
He was still warm when they started the journey back
to Samaria. The cart creaked as it rolled through the
entrance of the palace, the wheels rattling over uneven stone.
(24:24):
The soldiers avoided eye contact with the courtiers who had
come to watch. They did not carry a king home.
They carried a warning. The chariot stood near the washing pool,
streaked with the blood that had poured from his wounds,
sticky and congealed in the heat. A servant, young and
new to the palace, swallowed hard and stepped forward, carrying
(24:48):
a bucket of water. His hands trembled as he lifted it,
tilting it over the chariot's side, letting the water slosh
and swirl over the wood, turning the dust to mud,
sending thick red streams trailing toward the gutters. The blood
found the cracks in the stone and flowed outward, curling
(25:09):
in rivulets, until it reached the open ground where the
wild dogs waited. There had always been dogs in some area.
They lived on the scraps of the city, scavengers, picking
at whatever had been left behind. Tonight they found something fresh.
(25:30):
The servant looked away as the first one lowered its head,
its mouth pressing into the blood, lapping it up. The
sound wet and slow. More came slipping from the alleyways,
creeping closer, tongues flicking against the stone. It was just
as Elijah had said. From a high window. Jezebel watched.
(25:55):
She had not wept, She had not torn her robes
or covered her Elfin's sadcloth. She had not even left
her chambers when the news came. She had known before
the first horse rode through the city gates. Ahab had
always been easy to predict. That was the greatest of
(26:16):
his many flaws. He was not like her. He wanted
too much, needed too much. Now he was dead. Her
fingers traced the carved stone of the balcony, railing, her
nails clicking softly as she leaned forward, gazing down at
(26:37):
the spectacle. A servant, young and stupid, hesitated behind her,
wringing his hands, eyes flicking between the window and the
queen's face.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
My late e, do you grieve?
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Jezebel turned her head slowly, her lips curled, but it
was not a smile.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
I suppose I mourn him as one would a last
sandal less, sorrowful, more perturbed than now.
Speaker 6 (27:06):
I have to find a new one.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
The servant flinched. Jezebel turned back to the window, watching
as the last of the blood washed away, as the
dogs finished their meal, and as the city swallowed its
dead king without ceremony.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Ahab was never made for war, or for ruling.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Or for me. The wind tugged at her hair, dark
strands slipping across her cheek. She breathed in, tasting the
air heavy with the scent of dust and prophecy, of
filth and judgment.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
My lady will, what shall we do?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Jezebel exhaled, slow and measured. We shall wait for what.
Jezebel let her fingers rest against the railing one life
time before stepping away. Below the dogs licked their muscles clean,
and somewhere unseen but undeniable, the words of Elijah still echoed,
(28:15):
The dogs will feast.
Speaker 8 (28:22):
Let me ask you something, Why do we fear profits
more than enemies? Seriously? Why does Ahab tremble before Mikaia
but not for the Armyan army? Why is the voice
of God more terrifying than the sword? Here's what I
think is because prophecy strips us, not just of illusions,
but of our defenses. Doesn't care for titles or wealth.
(28:46):
It cuts deep, it humbles, it refuses to flatter. And
that's exactly what happens right here. Mikaia's vision of heaven
is odd, isn't it? God inviting his spiritual court and
tyson king to destruction. It should make you uncomfortable, because
it's supposed to do. Let's take a closer look. The
(29:07):
Hebrew verb used for entice in verse twenty is pitin
This isn't just about trickery. It's the same root used
in Judge's fourteen when Samson is enticed by Dlaiah. It
implies seduction, yes, but also consent willingness, a kind of
(29:27):
tragic attraction to one's own room. Ahab isn't duped, he's drawn,
and that's the horror. He wants the lie, and God,
in his sovereignty, allows him to chase it. Because sometimes
justice isn't a thunderclap. Rather, it's the silence that follows
(29:48):
your very own choice. This is the same pattern that
we see in Isaiah six, when the prophet is told
to make the heart of this people calloused, not because
God delights in their death fitness, but because they've demanded
it for so long he lets them have it. Truth
rejected becomes truth withdrawn. And here's the sobering reality. The
(30:12):
people cheered louder for Zendekiah's iron horns than for Mekaiah's warning,
and by then their king bled out his chariot. While
the dogs fulfilled every word the prophet has spoken. God's
word doesn't flinch, it doesn't soften anything. It tells the truth,
even when the truth is unwelcome. There's another lesson in
(30:36):
today's story that I want to look at. When King
Yehosha Fat of Southern Kingdom of Judah comes to visit,
ahab Aha proposes a joint military campaign against Aram, and
Yohosha Fat accepts. This seems strange because initially, at least
Yohosha Fat is considered to be a righteous king. It's
also strange that ab would have proposed such a campaign
(30:58):
because in our previous chapter the prophet predicted that he
would die in battle. But although Ahab had repented, apparently
his repentance wasn't complete. But our sages criticized Yohosha Fat's
acceptance of an alliance with a king with such a
checkered background. They make this famous statement, woe is to
(31:19):
the wicked person, and woe is to his neighbor. Now
that is every bit as true today as it was
in the days of the Bible, isn't it, Because if
a good person consorts with an evil one, something evil
is bound rub off. We'll see later in the Book
of Second Kings that in fact, the righteous Yehosha Fat
(31:40):
lost some of his righteousness, maybe because of his association
with evil Ahab, who also happened to be his brother
in law. But the lesson here is that we all
need to choose our acquaintances very carefully, whether it's on
a personal level or on a community or a national level, because,
as Jewish tradition teaches, the opposite also works. If someone
(32:04):
befriends a good and decent person or nation allies with
the nation built on good values, then that goodness and
righteousness rubs off the very same way as evil would.
There's something that I've learned living here in the holy
land of my ancestors. God's justice may wait, but it
(32:25):
never sleeps. This story isn't just a tale of doom.
It's about the stubborn mercy of truth. The truth that
stands out even when mocked, The truth that loves even
when hated, The truth that will outlive every throne that's
built on lies. As we've studied the Bible together, I've
often mentioned tshuva, this concept of repentance, not as a performance,
(32:51):
but as a return coming home. And what this story
reminds me is that even when it's too late for Ahab,
it's not too late for us. We still have the
chance to listen. We still have the chance to change,
to stop surrounding ourselves with voices that flatter, and start
seeking the one that saves. Maybe you're feeling like Ahab, trapped, overwhelmed,
(33:16):
unsure of how to listen to God without being crushed
by what he might say. Or maybe you're like Mikaia,
telling the truth in a world that only wants stagecraft
and showmen. Wherever you find yourself today, let this story
push you towards courage, ask the hard questions, turn down
the volume of the crowd, get quiet enough to hear
(33:39):
the voice of God again, and when you do, don't flinch.
Even if it wounds, God's word heals, and even when
it corrects.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
It loves. You can listen to The Chosen People with
the Isle e Stein ad free by downloading and subscribing
to the Prey app today. This Prey Dog comproduction is
only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents.
Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are
(34:12):
the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yaiel Eckstein,
edited by Alberto Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are
voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan,
Stephen Ringwold, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and
(34:32):
Mitch Leshinsky. And the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore,
music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvato, bre
Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paul Lanier,
Robin van Ettin, kaylab Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller, Rabbi Edward Abramson,
and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
(34:54):
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 Egstein, please rate and leave a review.
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