And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly.
Elijah has just told Ahab God's sentence for the murder of Naboth, and the king answers with sackcloth and fasting. Is this real repentance, and what does God do with a sorrow that may be only skin-deep?
The Picture of a Mourner
Every detail in the verse paints mourning. Older translations say Ahab "went softly" where the ESV has "went about dejectedly." One writer takes that slow walk as the step of a man in a house of grief:
H. L. RossierWhat does Ahab do? He humbles himself. He goes about afflicted, mourning, and fasting (vv. 27-29). He lies down in the sackcloth he has put on his flesh. He "went softly," as one does in a funeral home. Where is his pride and his merry heart, and even his sadness of the wrong kind and his bad temper? Nothing remains but endless mourning as he faces a fate he cannot escape.
God Notices the Smallest Movement
What startles the reader is not Ahab's sackcloth but God's answer to it. Even Elijah may have thought less of it than God did:
Truth & TestimonyGod knows the end from the beginning. What is most striking in this story is that He was not indifferent to Ahab's humbling of himself. That humbling was only brief and shallow, but God, as far as is righteous, took account of it. Elijah was, perhaps, not inclined to think much of it... How much the grace of God surpasses our thoughts!
The same readiness shows in what God then did with the sentence:
J. N. DarbyThe king's heart bows before the word of the Lord, and God puts off the judgment until the days of his son. Here is new proof of His patience. He is always ready to accept and respond to any movement of man's heart towards Himself.
Delayed Judgment Is Not a Saved Soul
It is easy to read God's answer as full forgiveness. One writer draws a sharp line:
J. N. DarbyThis had nothing to do with the saving of his soul. As far as this history tells us, he died in his sins. But God forgave him as to that particular judgment on the earth.
The judgment itself was not cancelled. It would fall on Ahab's house in his son's days.
Fear of Judgment Is Not Repentance
So how deep did this sorrow go? One writer draws the line between the look of repentance and the real thing:
The Christian's FriendThere may be a semblance of repentance which is not, after all, a real work of the Spirit of God. Fear of coming judgment often moves the natural man to dress himself in sackcloth and ashes for a season. But if the conscience is not reached, and if there is no repentance towards God, all such feelings soon pass away. They are like the morning dew when the sun rises. God is never deceived.
Worse, mercy can harden instead of soften:
Samuel RidoutNature can take warnings and steer its course to escape the worst of judgment, without being softened into true repentance at all... An Ahab might walk softly for many years and put off the evil day of reckoning about his murder of Naboth. But Ahab with all his soft walking was Ahab still, unrepentant and hardened. The very goodness of God in sparing him did not melt him to repentance. It only encouraged him to go on in his turning away from God.
How Much Weight to Give It
Commentators differ on the value of Ahab's act. Another writer weighs it more kindly, and blames much on Ahab's marriage:
W. W. FeredayThis verse suggests that his whole course might have been different if his wife had been an Abigail instead of Jezebel... This was excellent, and the Lord so far relented towards him that He at least put the judgment off. No man's weakness of character excuses his wickedness. Still, God in His pity does take account of the influences that surround us all.
Summary
- Sentence. Elijah's word shook Ahab into sorrow. He tore his clothes, fasted, and walked like a mourner.
- Notice. God did not overlook it. He takes account of the smallest turn of a man's heart towards Himself.
- Mercy. God put off the judgment. It would fall on Ahab's house in his son's days instead.
- Limit. This forgiveness touched God's rule over the earth, not the saving of Ahab's soul. So far as the record shows, he died in his sins.
- Warning. Fear of judgment can dress a man in sackcloth for a season. But where the conscience is untouched, the feeling fades and the spared time only hardens.