The Slippery Slope

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: "Get up and go to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria. You'll find him in Naboth's vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. Tell him, 'This is what the Lord says: Have you murdered and also taken possession? ' Then tell him, 'This is what the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked Naboth's blood, the dogs will also lick your blood! '" Ahab said to Elijah, "So, you have caught me, my enemy." He replied, "I have caught you because you devoted yourself to do what is evil in the Lord's sight.” – 1 Kings 21:17-20 HCSB

Ahab started small. He envied a vineyard that Naboth owned. That’s it: simple envy. This envy grew to greed. When he asked Naboth to sell his birthright (something that was actually against the law[1]), Naboth rightly refused. King Ahab, rather than resigning himself to this decision, went home and pouted.

Queen Jezebel, his Phoenician wife, arranged for two false witnesses to perjure themselves, accusing Naboth of cursing both God and the King. Naboth was dragged out of the city and stoned to death, after which Ahab took possession of the coveted land.

Examine this carefully. Envy led to greed which led to coveting (a violation of the Tenth command). This led to bearing false witness (a violation of the Ninth command), to murder (a violation of the Sixth command), and to theft (a violation of the Eighth command). Small wonder that James said, “For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil.”[2] He went on to warn “What is the source of the wars and the fights among you? Don't they come from the cravings that are at war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don't receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on your desires for pleasure.”[3]

Many tend to flirt with sin. They see how close to the edge they can come without getting burnt. However, the tzaddikim must avoid even the smallest of sins, for who knows where they may lead? As The Ethics of the Fathers 4:2 puts it, “One sin will lead to another.”

A single pebble weighs almost nothing. Put enough pebbles in a bucket and it is a tremendous burden. Add yet more and it may become an avalanche of cataclysmic proportions. Similarly, a small sin repeated often enough can grow into a habit that will lead us into greater sins.

On the other hand, the same principle can apply for good. A single kind act may, with proper encouragement, also become a habit. The thing is to be intentional about the development of one’s yetzer hatov and the suppression of one’s yetzer hara.[4]

[1] Leviticus 25:23-24
[2] James 3:16 HCSB
[3] James 4:1-3 HCSB
[4] Romans 13:12-14