Ahab: the king who wouldn't listen

David Faith continues a series on Israel’s kings by examining Ahab as a model of a hardened heart, stressing that worldly success does not equal God’s approval. He traces Israel’s slide into idolatry from Solomon to Jeroboam and shows Ahab’s reign marked by marrying Jezebel, promoting Baal worship, and provoking God. Through episodes including the drought announced by Elijah, Mount Carmel, victories over Syria, sparing Ben-Hadad, and Naboth’s vineyard, he outlines seven symptoms of a hardened heart: blaming God, valuing what God opposes, twisting God’s favor for self-interest, accepting blessings while resenting God’s rule, stopping at remorse rather than repentance, hating God’s truth, and ignoring warnings to destruction. Ahab briefly humbles himself and receives delayed judgment, illustrating God’s readiness to forgive, then returns to rebellion and dies in battle.