It May Be Better to Call Ash Wednesday as Ahab's Wednesday
It's no doubt that Ash Wednesday is today and it falls on the same day as Valentine's Day. There's something think about how two hypocritical times of the year fall on the same date this 2018. Is it another sign of the times? Most likely as the world isn't getting any better at all. It would be time to talk about the hypocrisy of Ash Wednesday and why it might be better to call it "Ahab's Wednesday".
We can find in Scripture the use of sackcloth and ashes as a sign of mourning and repentance. Some of the great heroes of the Old Testament used it such as Tamar (2 Samuel 13:19), Mordecai (Esther 4:1), Job (Job 2:8) and Daniel (Daniel 9:3). Tamar threw ashes in mourning after her paternal half-brother Amnon raped her out of lust. Mordecai was in mourning because of Haman's decree. But do you know it can also be just for show? One such example is Ahab the most wicked king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. For there was none like unto him from the kings to do such wickedness.
1 Kings 21:25-29 brings us to Ahab's fake repentance. Although God reduced the punishment of Ahab for a time being but we can read how this repentance was fake. 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 19 records for us the event of Jehoshaphat's ungodly alliance with Ahab. You can see that Ahab was still trusting false prophets. Some commentators have argued upon whether these were some new batch of Baalite prophets to replace those that were rightfully executed in 1 Kings 18 or they were of the calf worship prophets. Regardless, those prophets were not of God which Jehoshaphat did wisely (for a while) to ask for a prophet of the LORD. It didn't matter what kind of false prophets they were because the whole issue is that they couldn't be trusted one bit.
The obvious hard heart of Ahab can be seen in his encounter with Jehoshaphat. They were both going to reclaim Ramoth-Gilead from the Syrians. Now a prophet of the LORD came and Miciaiah's use of sarcasm was obvious. Ahab was angry at the warning. Jehoshaphat was foolish to still go with Ahab into war. Would have Ahab truly repented then he would have heeded Micaiah's warning. However, we have a hardened Ahab before the LORD. False prophets become the judgment of people who hate the truth. God willed the false prophets to lie to Ahab so His will be done to judge such a satanic monarch. Ahab would have lived if only he had listened to Micaiah's sarcasm. It was a clear warning yet Ahab disregarded it. It cost him is very life dying in his sins and is burning in Hell at this very moment.
That's also the problem of Ash Wednesday. How many times has it been that the purpose of the ashes were supposed to remind people the are sinners and that from dust they came and from dust they will return to? The problem is how often the Lenten season is really a license and hypocrisy though not taught directly or blatantly stated. How often it would be to have people who are in their best behavior during Lent (aside from Christmas) but return back to living like devils when Lent is over? How many times do they claim to reflect on their sins but they're still living like devils while believing they're so righteous? Isn't that just like Ahab's ashes on his head?
See also:
We can find in Scripture the use of sackcloth and ashes as a sign of mourning and repentance. Some of the great heroes of the Old Testament used it such as Tamar (2 Samuel 13:19), Mordecai (Esther 4:1), Job (Job 2:8) and Daniel (Daniel 9:3). Tamar threw ashes in mourning after her paternal half-brother Amnon raped her out of lust. Mordecai was in mourning because of Haman's decree. But do you know it can also be just for show? One such example is Ahab the most wicked king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. For there was none like unto him from the kings to do such wickedness.
1 Kings 21:25-29 brings us to Ahab's fake repentance. Although God reduced the punishment of Ahab for a time being but we can read how this repentance was fake. 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 19 records for us the event of Jehoshaphat's ungodly alliance with Ahab. You can see that Ahab was still trusting false prophets. Some commentators have argued upon whether these were some new batch of Baalite prophets to replace those that were rightfully executed in 1 Kings 18 or they were of the calf worship prophets. Regardless, those prophets were not of God which Jehoshaphat did wisely (for a while) to ask for a prophet of the LORD. It didn't matter what kind of false prophets they were because the whole issue is that they couldn't be trusted one bit.
The obvious hard heart of Ahab can be seen in his encounter with Jehoshaphat. They were both going to reclaim Ramoth-Gilead from the Syrians. Now a prophet of the LORD came and Miciaiah's use of sarcasm was obvious. Ahab was angry at the warning. Jehoshaphat was foolish to still go with Ahab into war. Would have Ahab truly repented then he would have heeded Micaiah's warning. However, we have a hardened Ahab before the LORD. False prophets become the judgment of people who hate the truth. God willed the false prophets to lie to Ahab so His will be done to judge such a satanic monarch. Ahab would have lived if only he had listened to Micaiah's sarcasm. It was a clear warning yet Ahab disregarded it. It cost him is very life dying in his sins and is burning in Hell at this very moment.
That's also the problem of Ash Wednesday. How many times has it been that the purpose of the ashes were supposed to remind people the are sinners and that from dust they came and from dust they will return to? The problem is how often the Lenten season is really a license and hypocrisy though not taught directly or blatantly stated. How often it would be to have people who are in their best behavior during Lent (aside from Christmas) but return back to living like devils when Lent is over? How many times do they claim to reflect on their sins but they're still living like devils while believing they're so righteous? Isn't that just like Ahab's ashes on his head?
See also: