Ahab

The historical account of the details of the evil Ahab, king of Israel, and his equally evil wife, Jezebel is not a brief one in Scripture, spanning 209 verses from 1 KINGS 16:29-22:40. The record includes some of the most fascinating passages and miracles in the Old Testament, such as God commanding ravens to feed Elijah, Elijah’s encounter with the widow and her son, Elijah’s victory over the priests of Baal at Mount Carmel, God’s revelation to Elijah in a “still small voice,” and the murder of Naboth. In chapter 16 of the novel, Peleg tells Ishmael that Ahab is “a grand, ungodly, god-like man, Captain Ahab; doesn’t speak much; but, when he does speak, then you may well listen. Mark ye, be forewarned; Ahab’s above the common; Ahab’s been in colleges, as well as ‘mong the cannibals; been used to deeper wonders than the waves; fixed his fiery lance in mightier stranger foes than whales. His lance! aye, the keenest and the surest that out of all our isle! Oh! he ain’t Captain Bildad; no, and he ain’t Captain Peleg; he’s Ahab, boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest, was a crowned king!’ Ishmael responds: “And a very vile one. When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they not lick his blood?” 1 KINGS 22:38 records that after Ahab died, “…the dogs licked up his blood…”