Later at spring, as a prophet prophesied to Ahab, Ben-Hadad came again, with all his army. They came to the valleys, declaring triumphantly that God was a "gods of hills" and that was why the Israelites were strong; and now that they were in the valleys, they would surely win the battle. But God wanted to prove that he was the God of everything and not only of the hills, so he helped Ahab defeat them there, too. Ahab then spared Ben-Hadad's life. This caused God to get angry at Ahab and say through a prophet (1 Kings 20:42)--"This is what the Lord says: 'You have set free a man that I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.'"
Ahab also once did a great sin that the Lord was very angry at, and it included a vineyard of Naboh the Jezreelite.
He wanted a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite, because it was in Jezreel and close to his palace. So Ahab said to Naboth (1 Kings 21:2), "Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth."
But Naboth was unwilling because "the Lord forbid" that he should give Ahab "the inheritance of his fathers". So Ahab was very angry and sulky, and when he was at home he wouldn't eat, and pouted on his bed. Then Jezebel came over and asked (1 Kings 21:5), "Why are you so sullen? Why won't you eat?" And Ahab explained to her the situation. Jezebeel told him to get up, and said that she would get him the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
So she wrote some letters in Ahab's name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city. It said:(1 Kings 21:9-10) "Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death."
So the elders and nobles did as she told him to, and Naboth died a bitter, meaningless death.
Then Jezebel declared to Ahab that Naboth was "no longer alive, but dead" and Ahab got up and took possession of Nahab's vineyard. The Lord was very angry at Ahab for this, and said to Elijah the Tishbite, a prophet--(1 Kings 21:18)"Go down to meet Ahab the king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth's vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. Say to him, "This is what the Lord says: 'have you not murdered a man and seized his property?' Then say to him, 'This is what the Lord says, in the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood - yes, yours!'"
King Ahab said to Elijah, when he met him (1 Kings 21:20), "So you have found me, my enemy!"
Elijah replied, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. 'I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel - slave or free. I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, becauase you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.' And also concerning Jezebel the Lord says: 'Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.' Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country."
At hearing this, Ahab grew afraid, and humbled himself by tearing his clothes, putting on sackcloth, and fasting. He 'lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.' The Lord felt compassionate, and said to Elijah, "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."
According to the Bible, for three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. But in the third year, when Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to see Ahab (who was now his father-in-law, since Jehoshaphat had married Athaliah, his daughter), Ahab said, "Let's go retake Ramoth Gilead from the king of Aram! Will you go with me?" Jehoshaphat replied, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses." For this, he would later be rebuked by the prophet Jehu. But he added: "First seek the counsel of the Lord."
King Ahab called together the prophets—"about four hundred men"—and asked them, "Shall I go to attack Ramoth Gilead or not?" And they said, "Go." These prophets were not really prophets, but simply did their "job" by saying things that they thought would make the king happy - not what the Lord really said. King Jehoshaphat saw that the 400 prophets were not to be trusted, and asked to see a real prophet of the Lord, saying, "Is there not a prophet of the Lord here...?" King Ahab said that there was Micaiah son of Imlah, but "...he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad." Jehoshaphat wanted to see him, so Ahab called him. Meanwhile, Zedekiah son of Kenaanah, one of the 400 prophets, had made iron horns and he cried, "This is what the Lord says: 'With these you will gore the Arameans until they are destroyed.'" All the other prophets said the same thing. Even the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah said to him, "Let your word agree with theirs..."
When Micaiah came, he said, "Attack, and be victorious (win)." But Ahab probably saw that Micaiah was not being serious, and he said, "...tell me nothing but the truth..." So Micaiah said that he saw the Lord sitting on his throne in heaven, and that the Lord had put a "lying spirit" in the mouths of all the prophets, because they did not love the truth and had chosen to speak out of their own hearts. At this, one of the prophets, Zedekiah son of Kenaanah was so enraged he went to Micaiah and slapped him in the face, saying sarcastically, "Which way did the spirit from the Lord go when he went from me to speak (talk) to you?" (1 Kings 22:24, NIV) Micaiah replied, "You will find out...[when] you go to hide in an inner room." King Ahab put Micaiah in prison and went to battle in disguise, thinking that this way nobody would know who he was and so Micaiah's prophecy would not be fulfilled (come true). But one of the soldiers shot him by mistake, and he had a deep wound and died in his chariot, watching the battle sadly. As in the prophecy of Elijah, the dogs licked up his blood. After him, his sons succeeded as king, Ahaziah and Jehoram.
Eppertshausen
Eppertshausen is a municipality in the Darmstadt-Dieburg Rural District in the state of Hesse, Germany.
Eppertshausen is located in the "Rhine-Main area" 15 km northeast of Darmstadt. The whole area of the village is 13.11 km large and it lies 130 – 190 m above sea level. It is a plain area with a few hills.
About 35 to 20 million years ago in the age of tertiary the whole region was lying under sea level. At that time it was covered by an ocean which was warm and not very deep. Lots of sediments sank to its bottom. Then the region rose again and the water left, leaving soil which is mostly sandy and poor.
The neighbours of Eppertshausen are:
Eppertshausen has 5,829 inhabitants (2008).
The climate of the town is mild. There is less rain than in other parts of Germany.
Some local people are speaking a regional type (dialect) of the German language with a certain tone and special words. It is a Hessian dialect (German: "Hessisch") spoken in the south of Hesse. This language type is related to other dialects in the south of Germany. In former times mostly every place had its own special dialect, sometimes hard to understand for people of other parts of Germany. Today the dialect speakers are a minority and the majority of them does not speak the real dialect. They rather speak a kind of regular German with a certain pronunciation.
Eppertshausen is an early place where people lived. In the time of the 7th to the 9th century new places to live got name endings like "-hausen".