Matthew Henry Commentary 1 Kings 16:29-34

"And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made the Asherah; and Ahab did yet more to provoke Jehovah, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof with the loss of Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun." — 1 Kings 16:29-34 (ASV)

Ahab did evil above all who reigned before him, and did it with a particular enmity both against Jehovah and Israel. He was not satisfied with breaking the second commandment by image-worship; he broke the first by worshipping other gods, for making light of lesser sins makes way for greater. Marriages with daring offenders also embolden people in wickedness and hurry them on to the greatest excesses.

One of Ahab's subjects, following his example of presumption, ventured to build Jericho. Like Achan, he meddled with the accursed thing and turned to his own use that which was devoted to God's honour. He began to build in defiance of the curse (itself devoted to God's honour), and he also began to build in defiance of the curse that was well known in Israel. But no one who hardened his heart against God ever prospered. Let the reading of this chapter cause us to mark the dreadful end of all the workers of iniquity.

And what does the history of all ungodly people provide, whatever their rank or situation, other than sad examples of the same?