Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” The people of God during the time of Ahab experienced this so dramatically. The disobedience of Hiel stirs up the covenant faithfulness of God. The horrid consequences of sin begged for God to come to their aid. The depths of sin show the need for God to send his Word. The events of this text prepared God’s people for further revelation through the man he would send, Elijah, who will act “according to the word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:5). God’s faithfulness to his covenant is stirred up to visibly express itself, so that Elijah the prophet is raised up.
34 In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.