There is a story of a bride going to visit a coal mine with her white dress on. She asked the miner leading her into the ground, "will I get dirty?' He replied, "I can tell you one thing. You won't come out looking like you did on the way down."
1 Kings 16 tells us about a king who is on the way down into the coal mine. In this case he, the husband, is the one who is about to be drenched with soot.
The sixty years of rebellious leaders before him were "trivial" (1 Kngs 16:31). Ahab went further and willingly married into a family of murderers and sexual prostitutes. 1 Kings 21:25 notes "there was no one who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up."
There is another sort of "stirring" mentioned in the New Testament--"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works." (Hebrews 10:24).
Before one considers a marriage it is important to contemplate what type of "stirring" the other person will do in the years to come. A sober analysis beforehand may bring a signal of trouble. The prophet Amos raised the question "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" Obviously no. If one is trying to stay clean while the other is making trips deep into the coal mine, it will follow that both will end up being dirty.
Had Ahab taken a lesson from the miner he would have known that one important thing--when you knowingly choose the wrong person you never come up looking like you did on the way down.
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