"Sweet Wife"
One time a brother made a interesting comment as he
talked about Ahab and his "sweet wife" Jezebel. "Sweet wife"
was used as irony in his lesson. Irony is a figure of speech, where one says the
opposite of what one means. Figurative language is used to get attention and to
stress a point. And indeed, calling Jezebel, Ahab’s "sweet wife"
certainly get’s one attention and conveys the truth about that truly wicked
woman. Now a good wife can be a real blessing of the Lord, Proverbs 18:22,
"Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the
LORD." And again we read in Proverbs 31:30 "Favour is
deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be
praised." Now it is truly wonderful to have a "sweet wife"
(as some of us have been so blessed) but then again, one could get a
"Jezebel" for a wife, and such would be very unpleasant! Consider
Proverbs 19:13, "A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the
contentions of a wife are a continual dropping." Just as water dripping
at a faucet gets on your nerves and is annoying, so are the contentions of a
wife. And a wicked wife life Jezebel would get on the nerves of any man who was
trying to do right. Yes, irony can be an effective tool in communicating truth.