After these things, Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.”
Naboth said to Ahab, “May Yahweh forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!”
Ahab came into his house sullen and angry because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, “Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?”
He said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ He answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’ ”
Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. She wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death.”
The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had instructed them in the letters which she had written and sent to them. They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. The two men, the wicked fellows, came in and sat before him. The wicked fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king!” Then they carried him out of the city and stoned him to death with stones. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned, and is dead.”
When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned, and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.”
When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
Yahweh’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?” ’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.” ’ ”
Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in Yahweh’s sight.
Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Israel to sin.” Yahweh also spoke of Jezebel, saying, “The dogs will eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the field.”
But there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel. When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
Yahweh’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “See how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but I will bring the evil on his house in his son’s day.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 19, 23, 25, 27, 29 Or, at this time.
Or, at this time.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–29 1Ki 21:1 And it came to pass after these…
1Ki 21:1 And it came to pass after these things, [that] Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which [was] in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
Ver. 1. And it came to pass after these things.] After the two victories over the Syrians; not before, as Josephus will have it.
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Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard.] But better he had not, as it proved; for it took away the life of the owner thereof. Many a man’s wealth is his undoing; as it befell the Templars, after whose possessions Philip king of France sorely longed, and wrought their extirpation.
Hard by the palace of Ahab.] And so in his eye: hence his covetousness - called by St John the lust of the eye {1Jn 2:16} - concerning which Ambrose hath written an excellent Treatise, well worth the reading of all rich men. Into this palace it is probable that wounded Joram was carried to be cured, {2Ki 8:29} and that through a window thereof Jezebel was cast down. {2Ki 9:30}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29 In Jezreel; where one of Ahab’s palaces was, as…
In Jezreel; where one of Ahab’s palaces was, as the other was in Samaria.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 17 Here is, 1. Ahab coveting his neighbour's vineyard, which…
Here is, 1. Ahab coveting his neighbour's vineyard, which unhappily lay near his palace and conveniently for a kitchen-garden. Perhaps Naboth had been pleased that he had a vineyard which lay so advantageously for a prospect of the royal gardens, or the vending of its productions to the royal family; but the situation of it proved fatal to him. If he had had no vineyard, or it had lain obscure in some remote place, he would have preserved his life. But many a man's possessions have been his snare, and his neighbourhood to greatness has been of pernicious consequence. Ahab sets his eye and heart on this vineyard, Kg1 21:2. It will be a pretty addition to his demesne, a convenient out-let to his palace; and nothing will serve him but it must be his own. He is welcome to the fruits of it, welcome to walk in it; Naboth perhaps would have made him a lease of it for his life, to please him; but nothing will please him unless he have an absolute property in it, he and his heirs for ever. Yet he is not such a tyrant as to take it by force, but fairly proposes either to give Naboth the full value of it in money or a better vineyard in exchange. He had tamely quitted the great advantages God had given him of enlarging his dominion for the honour of his kingdom, by his victory over the Syrians, and now is eager to enlarge his garden, only for the convenience of his house, as if to be penny wise would atone for being pound foolish. To desire a convenience to his estate was not evil (there would be no buying if there were no desire of what is bought; the virtuous woman considers a field and buys it); but to desire any thing inordinately, though we would compass it by lawful means, is a fruit of selfishness, as if we must engross all the conveniences, and none must live, or live comfortably, by us, contrary to the law of contentment, and the letter of the tenth commandment, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house. 2. The repulse he met with in this desire. Naboth would by no means part with it (Kg1 21:3): The Lord forbid it me; and the Lord did forbid it, else he would not have been so rude and uncivil to his prince as not to gratify him in so small a matter. Canaan was in a peculiar manner God's land; the Israelites were his tenants; and this was one of the conditions of their leases, that they should not alienate (no, not to one another) any part of that which fell to their lot, unless in case of extreme necessity, and then only till the year of jubilee, Lev 25:28. Now Naboth foresaw that, if his vineyard were sold to the crown, it would never return to his heirs, no, not in the jubilee. He would gladly oblige the king, but he must obey God rather than men, and therefore in this matter desires to be excused. Ahab knew the law, or should have known it, and therefore did ill to ask that which his subject could not grant without sin. Some conceive that Naboth looked upon his earthly inheritance as an earnest of his lot in the heavenly Canaan, and therefore would not part with the former, lest it should amount to a forfeiture of the latter. He seems to have been a conscientious man, who would rather hazard the king's displeasure than offend God, and probably was one of the 7000 that had not bowed the knee to Baal, for which, it may be, Ahab owed him a grudge. 3. Ahab's great discontent and uneasiness hereupon. He was as before (Kg1 20:43) heavy and displeased (v. 4), grew melancholy upon it, threw himself upon his bed, would not eat nor admit company to come to him. He could by no means digest the affront. His proud spirit aggravated the indignity Naboth did him in denying him, as a thing not to be suffered. He cursed the squeamishness of Naboth's conscience, which he pretended to consult the peace of, and secretly meditated revenge. Nor could he bear the disappointment; it cut him to the heart to be crossed in his desires, and he was perfectly sick for vexation. Note, (1.) Discontent is a sin that is its own punishment and makes men torment themselves; it makes the spirit sad, the body sick, and all the enjoyments sour; it is the heaviness of the heart and the rottenness of the bones. (2.) It is a sin that is its own parent. It arises not from the condition, but from the mind. As we find Paul contented in a prison, so Ahab discontent in a palace. He had all the delights of Canaan, that pleasant land, at command the wealth of a kingdom, the pleasures of a court, and the honours and powers of a throne; and yet all this avails him nothing without Naboth's vineyard. Inordinate desires expose men to continual vexations, and those that are disposed to fret, be they ever so happy, will always find something or other to fret at.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–23 And it came to pass, after these things,.... After…
And it came to pass, after these things,.... After the two battles with the king of Syria, in which Ahab was victorious, and after he had let Benhadad, a blasphemer, and injurious to him, go free:
that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel; of which place See Gill on Hos 1:5 or "who was in Jezreel"; that is Naboth, for the vineyard was in Samaria, Kg1 21:18.
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hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria; that being the metropolis of the kingdom of Israel, is put for it, who, besides his palace in Samaria, had another in Jezreel; which, according to Bunting (y), were sixteen miles distant from each other.
(y) Travels, &c. p. 164.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 7, 9, 10, 13, 19, 20, 23, 24, 27, 29 Ahab covets Naboth's vineyard, ver. 1-4. Jezebel procures Naboth…
Ahab covets Naboth's vineyard, ver. 1-4. Jezebel procures Naboth to be stoned, ver. 5-14. Ahab goes to take possession, ver. 15, 16 Elijah meets him, and denounces the judgment of God, ver. 17-24. Upon his humiliation a reprieve is granted, ver. 25-29.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 27, 29 Ahab covets the vineyard of Naboth, and wishes to…
CHAPTER XXI
Ahab covets the vineyard of Naboth, and wishes to have it either
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by purchase or exchange, 1, 2.
Naboth refuses to alienate it on any account, because it was his
inheritance from his fathers, 3.
Ahab becomes disconsolate, takes to his bed, and refuses to eat,
4.
Jezebel, finding out the cause, promises to give him the
vineyard, 5-7.
She writes to the nobles of Jezreel to proclaim a fast, to
accuse Naboth of blasphemy, carry him out, and stone him to
death; which is accordingly done, 8-14.
She then tells Ahab to go and take possession of the vineyard;
he goes, and is met by Elijah, who denounces on him the
heaviest judgments, 15-24.
Ahab's abominable character, 25, 26.
He humbles himself; and God promises not to bring the threatened
public calamities in his days, but in the days of his son,
27-29.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXI
Verse 1. After these things] This and the twentieth chapter are transposed in the Septuagint; this preceding the account of the Syrian war with Ben-hadad. Josephus gives the history in the same order.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 29 1Ki 21:1-3. Which was in Jezreel — Where one…
1Ki 21:1-3. Which was in Jezreel — Where one of Ahab’s palaces was, as the other was in Samaria. That I may have it for a garden of herbs — For a flower-garden, as some understand it. Ahab made a fair proposal for it, but the law was against Naboth’s alienating his vineyard from his family and tribe. The Lord forbid it me, &c. — For God had expressly, and for divers weighty reasons, forbidden the alienation of lands from the tribes and families to which they were allotted. And although these might have been alienated until the jubilee, yet he durst not sell it to the king for that time: because, he supposed, if once it came into the king’s hand, neither he nor his posterity could ever recover it; and so he should both offend God, and wrong his posterity.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29 A vineyard ... in Jezreel - The name Jezreel…
A vineyard ... in Jezreel - The name Jezreel is applied in Scripture, not merely to the town 1Ki 18:46, but also to the valley or plain which lies below it, between Mount Gilboa and Little Hermon (2Sa 2:9; 2Ki 9:10; Hos 1:5; etc.).
The palace of Ahab at Jezreel was on the eastern side of the city, looking toward the Jordan down the valley above described. It abutted on the town wall 2Ki 9:30-31. Immediately below it was a dry moat. Beyond, in the valley, either adjoining the moat, or at any rate at no great distance, was the plot of ground belonging to Naboth 2Ki 9:21.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29 Who was. Hebrew, Chaldean, &c., place this after vineyard,…
Who was. Hebrew, Chaldean, &c., place this after vineyard, and read which, referring it to the ground; which we might naturally suppose would be the place of Naboth’s nativity, as it was his parental estate, 4 Kings ix. 21. Josephus calls the place Azari, and says it was a field contiguous to the king’s palace. Septuagint Greek: alo, "threshing-floor."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 B.—The proceedings of Ahab against Naboth
B.—The proceedings of Ahab against Naboth
1Ki_21:1-29
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1And it came to pass after these things,1 that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And 2Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house:2 and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or,3 if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. 3And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord [Jehovah] forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. 4And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased, because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.4 5But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? 6And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money;, or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.5 7And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. 8So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters6 unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his7 city, dwelling with Naboth. 9And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: 10and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. 11And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. 12They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 13And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died. 14Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. 15And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. 16And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead,8 that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
17And the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is [dwelleth9] in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. 19And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah], Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah], In the place10 where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.11 20And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord 21[Jehovah]. Behold, I will bring12 evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, 22and will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. 23And of Jezebel also spake the Lord [Jehovah], saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. 24Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.
25But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord [Jehovah], whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. 26And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord [Jehovah] cast out before the children of Israel. 27And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. 28And the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest 29thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.
Exegetical and Critical
1Ki_21:1. And it came to pass after these things, &c. The Sept. places this whole chapter before the twentieth, and Thenius holds this to be its original place. Ewald says, rightly: “The transposition resulted simply to unite more closely the similar narrations in chaps. 20 and 22 and inversely chaps. 17–19, 21. The expression in 1Ki_21:4, as a climax to 1Ki_20:43, refers back rather palpably to the latter passage.” Naboth’s affair must have happened then after the two victories over the Syrians, because Elijah’s severe sentence proclaiming the fall of the house of Ahab, which was occasioned by them, could not have immediately preceded those victories. The connecting thought with chap. 20 is this: As Ahab, in consequence of victory twice won, found tranquillity and peace externally, he was contemplating the extension and the beautifying of the garden of his summer palace at Jezreel (vide on 1Ki_18:46). Sanctius: post victos hostes ad delicias comparandas animum adjecit.
1Ki_21:2-6. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, &c. 1Ki_21:3, literally: Far is it for me from Jehovah that I, &c. This expression presupposes two things, viz.: that Naboth was a worshipper of Jehovah and did not bow his knee to Baal, and that he belonged to those who had remained faithful (Ahab does not mention the name “Jehovah”) and that also he held the alienation of his vineyard to be a sin against Jehovah, a transgression of a command of Jehovah. This command must have been that respecting the inalienability of the inheritance which was apportioned to each tribe and to each family, and could not, even by marriage, go into other hands, and which, even if it were sold on account of impoverishment or otherwise on account of distress, would revert to it again, without price, in the year of Jubilee (Num_36:1-13; Lev_25:10-28). According to Eze_46:18, the prince himself could not force any one out of his property. This Mosaic law is connected most intimately with the stability of the Theocracy; it secured its material foundation (cf. Symb. des Mosais. Kult., II. s. 604); and if it were not always strictly observed and enforced, the main thought pervading it nevertheless struck out strong roots in the consciousness of the people, and the preservation of the נַחֲלָה was for every covenant-keeping Israelite a matter not merely of piety towards his family and his tribe, not merely a prudential, worldly affair, but a religious, sacred duty. No consideration would induce Naboth to violate this, neither greater gain (for Ahab offered him a better vineyard or wished to pay him well), nor the royal authority and the fear of the royal displeasure, especially when, as here, not need, but a royal whim only, was concerned. Hence it is almost laughable when with J. D. Michaelis Naboth’s answer is explained as “uncivil in the extreme,” or when others say that it was a piece of “obstinacy;” for in that case Joseph’s reply to Potiphar’s wife (Gen_39:9) was uncivil and obstinate. For סַר (1Ki_21:4), see on 1Ki_20:43 : He turned away his face, the Vulg. adds ad parietem, which 2Ki_20:2, has: Seb. Schmidt: more tristium, qui conversationem, colloquium et conspectum hominum fugiunt et declinant.
1Ki_21:7-8. And Jezebel his wife said, &c. The words יִשְׂרָאֶל—אַתָּה are usually translated imperatively: “Thou! exert now the royal authority over Israel” (de Wette), i. e., act as king, use the power which belongs to thee as king of Israel, or, “Thou exercisest authority now over Israel” (Philippson), i. e., now must thou show thyself to be king over Israel. On the other hand, as Thenius properly remarks, the collocation of the words is to be observed (Thou comes first), and also the connection (Jezebel says: I will give thee). This antithesis compels us to understand the words as ironical, and with the Sept., the Vulg., and the Syriac, to regard them as a question: Dost thou now exercise authority over Israel? Dost thou as king permit thyself to ask such a thing of one of thy subjects? I will give thee the vineyard, since thou trustest not thyself to act as man and king.—The letters (1Ki_21:8) Jezebel furnished with the royal seal, i. e., she affixed the seal to (not sealed up). “Probably the seal had on it the name of the king, which, instead of the signature, was by the seal stamped upon the document, as is the case now in Egypt and Persia, amongst Turks and Arabs; cf. Paulsen, die Regier. der Morgenland. s. 295” (Keil); Est_8:12. Jezebel certainly received the seal (seal-ring, Dan_6:18) from Ahab himself, who allowed her the free use of it. From 1Ki_21:8, it is manifest that Ahab and Jezebel were then in Samaria, their residence, properly speaking. The elders and nobles constituted without doubt the city tribunal (Deu_16:18), “which must have had then, according to our chapter, in cases easily to be decided the jus vitœ” (Thenius); cf. on Mat_5:21. The addition: dwelling with Naboth, shows that they were his fellow-townsmen.
1Ki_21:9. Proclaim a fast, as was customary in the event of national calamities (Joe_1:14), after grievous defeats (Jdg_20:26; 1Sa_31:13), after great sins(1Sa_7:6; Joe_2:12), or for the turning away of apprehended misfortune (2Ch_20:2; 2Ch_20:4); it is always the sign of penitence. Obviously it stands here in a definite relation to the offence charged, and it was not merely to furnish occasion for the procedure against Naboth (Thenius), but rather “to publish the fact that a grievous fault was resting upon the city, which must be expiated.” The stamp of truth would thus thereby be impressed, in the eyes of the entire city, upon the crime with which Naboth was charged (Keil). Naboth was to be set on high in the assemblage, “so that the public indignation might be the more vividly expressed, if one who was worthy of such distinction, on account of his God-fearing sentiment, should be convicted of being such a grievous sinner” (Thenius). This is certainly better than the view advanced by Grotius: ne odio damnasse crederentur, quern ipsi honoraverant, or the explanation of Seb. Schmidt: producite eum ante universum populum in judicium ad causam dicendam.
1Ki_21:10-14. Two men… before him, &c. According to Deu_17:6; Deu_19:15, every crime punishable by death must be testified to by at least two witnesses, who also must at the stoning make the beginning. נֶגְדּוֹ not contra (Vulg.), but coram, in conspectu.—Thou didst blasphemeבָּרַךְ means properly to bless; then, because at a departure one utters a benediction, generally to say farewell, is to leave, so Job_1:5; Job_2:5 : to bless God, to give God a departure, to turn one’s self from Him. If now Naboth, by this expression, was guilty of a capital crime, it must of necessity be that which the law ordained in the death-punishment (cf. Lev. 24:14sq.). Blasphemy against the king is placed beside blasphemy against God, because the king represents God and rules in His name; crime against majesty involves death (2Sa_16:9). Jezebel does not use the name יהוה but the more general indefinite אלהיה.
1Ki_21:15-16. Take possession of the vineyard, &c. The immediate seizure of the property appears here as something which, in consequence of the execution of Naboth, is understood to be according to usage and right. The Rabbins remark, that which indeed the Mosaic law does not expressly ordain, the property of an offender against majesty falls to the king, who was, in so far, its inheritor (יָרַשׁ means also to inherit, Gen_21:10; Jer_49:1). According to 2Ki_9:26, Naboth’s sons also were put to death, the heirs proper, besides, were no longer living.
1Ki_21:17-19. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah, &c. From רֵר in 1Ki_21:18 we are to conclude that Elijah was, at that time, in a mountain-district. Ahab’s crime is set before him in the form of a question, which was more fitted to awaken his conscience than a bare affirmation. When the guilt of the crime is charged upon Ahab, and not upon Jezebel who was the agent in the matter, it is like Gen_3:9, where God brings Adam and not Eve to account.—According to 1Ki_22:38, the dogs licked the blood of Ahab, not at Jezreel, the place where Naboth was put to death, but at Samaria. In order to reconcile both passages, either בְּמִקוֹם אֲשֶׁר have been translated by pro eo quod (Grotius, Maurer, De “Wette: “for that”), or it has been supposed that the prophecy, inasmuch as Ahab repented (1Ki_21:27), was fulfilled but partially in him, and fully in his son (2Ki_9:25) (Calmet, Keil, Gerlach and others). Thenius believes that there is a contradiction here which does not admit of any reconciliation, no matter what the explanation be. But how thoughtless the author of our books must have been, if in two chapters alongside of each other, on the same leaf as it were, he had admitted “direct” contradictions inadvertently. The place where Naboth’s and Ahab’s blood were licked up by dogs was “before or outside the city,” i. e., the place where supposed or real criminals were executed (cf. 1Ki_21:13; Lev_24:14; Act_7:56; Heb_13:12 sq.). The prophetic word means: As thou hast unrighteously put Naboth to death, as a criminal, without the city, so shalt thou, righteously, in the same place, outside thy city (residence), be put to death, i. e., as a criminal. In this the prophecy found its fulfilment, in the similarity of the disgraceful death, not in the similarity of the special locality. Consequently here the entirely general מָקוֹם stands, and not, as in 2 Kings 11:25 sq. the special חֶלְקַת שְׂדֵה נָבוֹת.
1Ki_21:20. Hast thou found me, &c. Luther follows the inaccurate translation of the Vulg.: num invenisti me inimicum tibi? Thenius: “מצא is here in its most proper signification: to overtake (seizing me), (1Sa_31:3; Job_11:7; Jer_10:8), used especially of the punishing hand (1Sa_23:17; Isa_10:10; Psa_21:9), consequently: Hast thou overtaken me, mine enemy? As a defiant question, and entirely suited to, mine enemy: thinkest thou that thou hast now got me down? To this the reply is wholy suited: Yes, I have got thee!” Von Gerlach justly remarks: “Struck at by the address of Elijah, Ahab seeks to justify himself by attributing personal enmity upon the prophet’s part towards himself.” Michaelis wholly wrong: Hast thou found me in an act which I cannot excuse? or Vatablus: Hast thou found something against me which thou canst censure, thou who art always against me?—הִתְמַכֵּר must be taken here in a wholly general sense, as in 1Ki_21:25 (cf. 2Ki_17:17; Rom_7:14); to abandon one’s self without will to evil; to make one’s self a slave of sin; “the feebleness is therein expressed also, by virtue of which he was the tool of others” (Gerlach). The Sept. add arbitrarily, μάτην, which Thenius holds to be original, and then translates: on account of thy pretended selling of thyself to do, &c. i.e., thou shalt become conscious that thou hast fully received the price of sin; very forced. The τοῦ παροργίσαι σὐτὸν of the Sept. after יהוה is also an arbitrary addition.
1Ki_21:21-24. Behold, I will bring evil, &c. Upon 1Ki_21:21-24, see above on 1Ki_14:10, sq. and also 16:3sq. It is the standing avenging sentence for the dynasties of apostate kings, repeated also in 1Ki_22:38 and 2Ki_9:8 sq. 36. The divine punishment falls upon Ahab and his house not alone on account of the crime committed against Naboth, but also, and chiefly, on account of the idolatry existing and promoted during his reign, with which, indeed, that crime was closely connected. The בְּהֵל in 1Ki_21:23 is translated in the Septuag, rightly here as in 2Sa_20:15, by ἐν τῷ κροτειχίσματι, by which a space immediately close to the walls, and belonging to the city-terrain, is. to be understood. Jezebel also was to be devoured by dogs before, i. e. outside the city. When for בְהֵלֶק יִזְרָעֱאל ,בְּחֵל יִוְּרְעֱאל occurs in 2Ki_9:10; 2Ki_9:36-37, not another but the same place is designated, viz. in the space, i. e., in the city-terrain of Jezreel. Thenius very unnecessarily would have the reading in our passage בְּהֵל. Jezebel, according to 2Ki_9:33, was thrown out of a window and trodden by horses, but was not devoured by dogs in “the court of the palace.” This happened rather before the city-walls.
1Ki_21:25-26. There was none like unto, &c. The 25th and 26th verses are a parenthesis by which the relator desires once more to bring out the reason for the miserable destruction of the house of Ahab, and why every effort to wash Ahab clean, and to make of him “a good man of the best disposition” (Michaelis) seemed useless. רַק does not mean here: yea, assuredly (De Wette); “it has here its usual meaning, but it does not stand, as is often the case, immediately before the word to which it is related; translate: besides how Ahab (Ahab excepted), there was none (as he), &c.” (Thenius).—The Amorites are mentioned instead of the Canaanites generally, as in Gen_15:16; Jos_24:15; Amo_2:9, because they were the most powerful tribe of Canaan. Ahab had abandoned himself entirely to the idolatry on account of which Jehovah had driven the Canaanites from their land, and had given it to the Israelites (1Ki_16:33).
1Ki_21:27-29. When Ahab heard those words, &c. The rending of the clothes, putting on sackcloth and fasting, are the usual signs of mourning and penitence (Winer, R.-W.-B., II. s. 631. Ahab slept in his sackcloth. אַט does not mean barefoot (Jarchi and others), not demisso capite, or slowly (Keil), but quietly, softly (Isa_8:6).—The complete ruin was not to overtake Ahab during his lifetime, but “he was referred back to the threatening of the law, according to which, the misdeeds of the fathers were not to be borne in the children, who did not cease from them longer than to the third or fourth generation” (Menken).
Historical and Ethical
1. The procedure against Naboth constitutes a turning-point in the history of Ahab, in so far as it called forth the prediction of the destruction of himself and of his house. Although it concerned but our contemporaneous people, it has nevertheless a general theocratico-historical significance in this, that a moral corruption was therein brought to light, which had seized the head and the members of the kingdom, and was the consequence of the apostasy from the God of Israel and from His law. It was a crying proof that all the evidence of divine power and grace and fidelity and long-suffering had produced no fruit. That too was the point of time when it was necessary for the prophet to appear again, of whom Sirach says (Sir_48:10), “who wast ordained for reproofs in their times to pacify the wrath of the Lord’s judgment before it break forth into fury.… and to restore the tribes of Jacob.” It devolved upon him whose destination and calling it was essentially to exercise the prophetic avenging office, to bear witness agajnst apostasy, and to proclaim the judgments of God—upon him it devolved, before all things, by virtue of his position in the history of the kingdom of God (see above), to announce to the king who, with his wife, had formally introduced the apostasy, and in his procedure against Naboth had shown himself incorrigible, the final sentence of God against him and his whole house. The word of Jehovah came hence also to him, and he issued forth again from his retirement “as a fire, and his word burned like a torch” (Sir_48:1). He first places before the king, his crime against Naboth, and proceeds then to the announcement of his punishment for his conduct generally. The whole narration culminates in this announcement. The new criticism does not question the historical reality of the affair with Naboth: “the dressing up,” however, belongs to the author of the history of Elijah (Thenius, Ewald). Under this clothing (drapery) nothing else can be meant than the paragraph from 1Ki_21:17-24, which is, however, the main thing. If this be explained as unhistorical, for which no reason is at hand, the point of the whole narrative is taken away, and the high meaning disappears from the event which it has for the history of Ahab, and indirectly for the history of the kingdom of Israel generally. It becomes an isolated, ordinary, Oriental murder-tale, and ceases to be a turning-point in the history of the theocracy.
2. We are able to understand for the first time, rightly and completely, the royal couple from the present narrative. If Ahab has shown himself, thus far, to be a weak man, destitute of any religious and moral firmness, and subject to every evil influence, here this is the case so conspicuously that from feebleness and want of character he becomes a common criminal. He did not know how to devote the time of peace, after the severe pressure caused by the Syrians, to anything except to be thinking of the enlargement and beautifying of his pleasure-garden—a sign that all the great experiences of his life, even the last sharp threatening at the releasing of Ben-hadad, had made no permanent impression upon him. The refusal of Naboth to cede to him his vineyard makes him angry, and excites him; but he has not force enough to make use of his mettle, and so he be-takes himself to his bed, will not eat, nor see any person, and behaves like a spoiled, ill-mannered child, which has been refused a toy. It was necessary for his wife to supply him with spirit, and to remind him that he must be a man and king. He does not interfere himself, but allows her to arrange the matter, and gives her the insignia of his royal authority, unconcerned how she may use it, or, as it almost seems, he enters into her criminal designs. When the infamous transaction was done, and she told him of it, he was not shocked; he was rather visibly pleased and satisfied (Josephus has it: “he sprang up from his bed with delight”), and he made haste to take possession of the property stolen and stained with blood. This blood-guiltiness rested upon him, so that the prophet could, with all propriety, call him both a murderer and a thief. In respect of Queen Jezebel, who has hitherto been portrayed only on the side of her wild fanaticism for the unchaste Baal and Astarte worship, she shows herself here in her complete moral depravity. We discover in her no trace of the feebleness and want of energy which characterized her husband. Josephus well calls her a γύναιον δραστήριόν τε καὶ τολμηρόν. Her deepest traits were pride and a desire for dominion, to gratify which she shrank back from no instrumentality. Under the show and pretext of serving her husband and fulfilling his wishes, she knew how to govern him and to appropriate to herself the royal authority. She did not look at the monarchy according to the Israelitish sense, as the institution which was designed to carry out the law and will of Jehovah, but as the absolute authority over the property and lives (Gut und Blut) of the subjects. Every refusal to fulfil a royal wish, though it had been grounded in the divine law, was, in her eyes, lese-majesty, yes, as blasphemy against God, because she wished the king to be considered not as the servant, but as the representative of Deity. Right and justice, for the administering of which the monarchy exists, are to her mere forms, and she misapplies the legal organs of justice to carry out injustice. A religious solemnity must be the cloak of her lust of robbery and murder, and the people be deceived by perjured witnesses. Jezebel does all this in cold blood and with calm deliberation; yes, she congratulates herself upon it, and informs her husband of the fact with self-satisfaction, as if she had done something deserving praise and thanks. This was the royal couple at that time at the head of the people and of the kingdom. If ever at any time, certainly here, the Turkish proverb finds its application: “The fish stinks first at the head.”
3. The elders and nobles constituting the city tribunal at Jezreel are a worthy pendent to the royal couple. Without hesitation they carry out quickly and punctiliously the received order, and they hasten to give the queen the news of it, in order to show themselves loyal and obedient subjects. The fear and the pleasure of men are the motives for their way of acting; there is no trace of the fear of God and of conscientiousness amongst them. They knew the tyranny and the severity of the queen, and they did not dare to thwart her; they were afraid that by resistance they might lose the residence and suffer loss, or be punished in limb and body. It seems that they, as the presiding officers of the residence, gladly embraced the opportunity to please the powerful, dreaded queen, and to show their unconditional submission, in the hope of being praised and rewarded for it. Perhaps, owing to the sojourn of the court there, they had become habituated to unrighteous expectations of the sort, and that fawning and servility were no longer new to them. Certainly their whole course presupposes thorough corruption in public affairs, a natural consequence of the religious confusion which must have entered in during a reign when “the covenant of Jehovah” was forsaken, his law trodden under foot, and the infamous Baal and Astarte worship was introduced and patronized. For there is no more authentic sign of the decay of a kingdom than when law is deliberately debased, and murder, under the show of right, and with deference to the usual forms of law, is done by those to whom the duty of public justice is intrusted. Deliberate judicial murder is the most infamous of all, and can only take place where absolute ungodliness has broken all moral bonds, and a putrefaction has begun. Jezebel would never have dared to order such a process had she not known the people, and regarded them as capable of everything. The circumstances here were such as Micah, in 1Ki_7:2 et sq., has portrayed. When we consider that the elders who composed the local tribunal were not royal officials, but inhabitants of the place, chosen by their fellow-townsmen, and that they, one and all, as one man, perpetrated the crime, we learn how deeply the people, who had freely placed such men at their head, were sunken, and had become devoid of all fear of God. The blindness with which the false verdict was accepted, and the brutality with which it was carried out, doubtless in a tumultuous fashion, is an additional proof of what we have stated.
4. The meeting of Elijah and of Ahab in Naboth’s vineyard is very characteristic of the personal qualities of each. Both reappear here, such as we find them in the earlier interview in 1Ki_18:7 et sq. As there, so here, Elijah comes forth suddenly from his retirement. Like the lightning which descends from on high and strikes, he met the king, walking and enjoying himself in the stolen vineyard. Nothing was further from his thoughts than an encounter with the earnest, severe preacher of repentance, and of hearing from him the thunder-words of the Divine judgment. As there, Ahab at first blustered, and saluted the prophet with the words: “Art thou here, troubler of Israel?” so here he addresses him angrily: “Hast thou found me, mine enemy?—thou who art always in my way.” But as then, so also now, the prophet did not allow himself to be imposed upon and frightened in the least. With firm words he announces the destruction of him and of his house; then the high-going man breaks down and becomes so dejected that he is bowed down and creeps along, and even sleeps in sackcloth. But the meeting is also significant in respect of the relation between the prophetic and the monarchical element. This relation is now represented in a manifold way, as that of two “self-appointed powers” who were in perpetual struggle with each other to gain the upper hand in the kingdom. But Elijah especially, the head and representative of the prophetic order, from whom proceeded the strife against the covenant-breaking monarchy, the most energetic and powerful of all the prophets, resolutely and sharply as he met the king, who called him his enemy, was in the greatest degree possible free from all hierarchical efforts. No one in all Israel cared less than he about having anything to do with outward power and authority. He did not, like Jeroboam, in the time of Solomon and of Rehoboam, place himself at the head of the discontented; he did not intrigue against the secular power, and mingle in political affairs; he did not live at the residence or at court; but in retirement, from which he issued only from time to time, when it was needful to resist the base misuse of the royal authority, which did not fear to revolutionize even the foundations of the people of Israel. He was not “an enemy” of the monarchy, but an enemy of the idolatry which was destroying both the monarchy and the national being.
5. Ahab’s penitence was regarded by the older theologians as hypocritical, so that even yet all false penitence is called, proverbially, “Ahab’s penitence.” But, according to 1Ki_21:29, it was not a sham, but an actual humiliation, which was graciously recognized by God as such. Vatablus justly says: “Hœc pœnitentia fuit vera, sed temporaria.” Owing to the feebleness of his character, which made him readily susceptible to every influence, and the rapid change of his purposes, it was very comprehensible that the word of the prophet, piercing bone and marrow, threatening him and his house with destruction, which had never yet deceived him, made an affecting impression upon him. Such a wholesome terror had never hitherto overtaken him, and might well have been able to lead him to a thorough change from his past ways. But he had no abiding conversion of heart to the living God, as the course of the history shows. As the threatened punishment did not follow immediately, he thought he had been able to ward it off by his penitential discipline, and, according to his constantly attested fickleness, he fell back again into his earlier way of life. The first thing which he should have done, had his repentance been true, to repair somehow a wrong done, he did not do, but, on the contrary, began war anew.
Homiletical and Practical
1Ki_21:1-29. The proceeding against Naboth: (a) How it was done (1Ki_21:1-16); (b) its consequences (1Ki_21:17-29)
1Ki_21:1-16).—Wirth: The unrighteous acquisition of Naboth’s vineyard, (a) King Ahab; (b) Queen Jezebel; (c) the elders of Jezreel; (d) Naboth.—Würt Summ.:. Here we see how the children of this world use their rank; how they ruin others for the sake of their possessions, and seize upon them; they try to make them sell against their will, and wrest their property from them; if this fail, they use every false device, accuse him as an evil-doer before the authorities, and, by means of false witnesses, lead him on to misfortune, until he is compelled to sacrifice his little property to save himself, or becomes so ill that he dies of grief, and thus they obtain his property. But the Spirit denounces woe to such men (Isa_5:8). Every man should guard against such sin, but especially those in power. Let them never seize upon the property of their subjects. V. 1.—Starke: It is not well to have godless neighbors, especially if they are powerful, for, loving injustice, they think nothing of over-reaching their neighbors. One should pray for industrious, pious and honest neighbors.
1Ki_21:2-4. Naboth’s vineyard, (a) The greed of Ahab (1Ki_21:2); (b) the denial of Naboth (1Ki_21:3); (c) the consequence of the denial upon Ahab (1Ki_21:4).
1Ki_21:2. Great lords often have fancies, which cost them more time and money than do their chief and holiest duties. Thus Ahab thought more of the enlargement and adornment of his garden, than of the good of his subjects. The desire for things which serve for pleasure is often a temptation to grievous sin. Therefore says the Scripture: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods, nor anything that is his. Let the needy be thy first care, not thine own pleasures. It is a great gain to be godly and contented. Watch over thine heart, for desires apparently lawful, if not resisted and denied, may lead to ruin.
1Ki_21:3. The men, are rare who, for God and conscience sake, will not yield to entreaties and offers, the granting of which would be advantageous to them, whilst the refusal would be accompanied with injury, and perhaps peril to themselves. Where fear of God and true devoutness exist, there also you will ever find that piety which holds in love and veneration everything which serves as a remembrance of parents and all other benefactors.
1Ki_21:4. Richter: Godless people regard the care taken by the pious to observe reverently the divine law, as so much useless scrupulousness.—Calw. Bib: Even so, in our day, does the worldling look with an evil eye upon the Christian who, for the sake of the divine word, refuses to yield to his wishes; for either he recognizes no divine authority, or exalts his own above it. The children of this world, whose aims and designs are wholly material, will often fret and grieve for days when they are compelled to give up a temporal gain, or a promised enjoyment, whilst the condition of their souls never causes them the slightest grief.—Wirth: The high and mighty ones of this world often think that all other people are placed here, simply to yield obedience to their whims. They cannot comprehend that all men are not to be bought with gold, and woe to that inferior whose refusal destroys their darling plans. Every man not rooted and grounded in God, becomes ever more and more grasping; in his vain purse-pride he thinks all the world must yield to his will, and hates bitterly him who independently and resolutely upholds his rights against him.
1Ki_21:5-16. The condemnation of Naboth. (a) Ordered by Jezebel; (b) carried out by the city ordinance; (c) joyfully received by Ahab.—The apparently fortunate but really unfortunate and accursed marriage of Ahab and Jezebel. (a) She seeks the sorrowful man, shares his grief, and seeks to comfort him, as is the province of a wife; but instead of pointing him to the true Comforter, and leading his heart to higher and better thing, she strengthens him in his grasping desire after others’ property, and leads him on still further, (b) She reminds him that he is the lord and master, and recognizes him as such, as a wife should; but, at the same moment, she assumes the dominion, and the weak man lets her manage and rule, as if she were the man and he the woman. (c) She rejoices to accomplish an ardent wish of her husband’s, and to make him a worthy present, as every faithful spouse should strive to do; but it is a blood-stained and stolen gift, obtained with deceit and falsehood, and Ahab delights in it. Thus both husband and wife, who together should be blest after God’s ordinance, together walk on to ruin and destruction.—Jo. Lange: As a righteous spouse in the court of a great lord is as a sun, giving light throughout the land and doing much good work by her example, in the same proportion is an unholy woman mischievous. The example of Naboth shows what is the event where such an one rules, and its evil influence in a country.—The quality (=being) of tyranny. (a) It regards sovereignty simply as unlimited might and power over the property and life of subjects; then the name of king means the power to do whatsoever a man wills, without regard to God or man; they reverse the divinely ordained “subjection” (Rom_13:1), and live in rebellion against God. (b) They upset justice, and convert the servants of the law, whose place it is to punish evil, into instruments of unrighteousness; they love darkness and hate the light, for they work the works of darkness (Psa_64:7). It dissembles and plays its own game with religious solemnity, and converts an oath itself into a means for its worst designs. The proceeding against Naboth is a combination of the heaviest crimes, for by it are trodden under foot the three divine commands: Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. How thankful should we be that we dwell in a land where mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other, where righteousness looks down from heaven (Psa_85:10-12).
1Ki_21:11-14. The elders and nobles of Jezreel. (a) Their conduct (they obey blindly, but God must be obeyed rather than man; power is not of man, but the minister of God, Rom_13:4, and before the commandment: “Honor the king,” stands that other, Fear God, 1Pe_2:17). (b) Their motives (fear of and subserviency to man, time serving and sycophancy, fruit of their desertion of the living God and of his holy word.—Evil masters can ever find evil servants, who do their will from ambition or covetousness.—Calw. Bib: Woe, where such things befall! and shame! that in the fairest lands, as in the plains of Jezreel, are often the worst men to be found.—Godlessness and corruption in courts is a poison, which extends throughout the whole body politic, even to the lowest rank; no example is so powerful upon all classes of society. How many gross, how many refined sins are committed out of sheer complaisance to high personages, whose favor men wish to seek or preserve. Woe to those lords who find such ready tools in their servants, who will be accomplices in their misdoings, and palliate, or even laud and praise all their perverse dealings; they undermine the throne more than open enemies. The judgment and condemnation of Naboth, compared with that of our Lord. There, as in this instance, offended pride, followed by hatred, accusation of blasphemy and riot; false witnesses and vile judges; and a blind, infuriated populace crying out: Crucify, crucify!
1Ki_21:17-29. Krummacher: The mission of Elijah. (a) Its intention; (b) its aim; (c) its immediate results.—Bender: Elijah and Ahab in the vineyard of Naboth. (a) The sin of the king; (b) the judgment of God.—Wirth: Ahab in the vineyard of Naboth. (a) The approach of Elijah; (b) the announcement of the sentence; (c) the repentance of Ahab.
1Ki_21:17. Deceive not yourself, God is not mocked. What a man sows, that shall he reap (Gal_6:7). Menken: But though much unrighteousness and wickedness goes apparently without further evil results, and without the chastisements of the just Judge in heaven, yet still all will be demanded; and at the Divine judgment-seat everything will be discovered, and everything to the uttermost farthing accounted for.—The blood of Naboth, which Ahab thought had been swallowed up by the earth, cried to heaven, and found there judgment and vengeance. Like a lightning-flash comes the word from heaven into the dark soul of Ahab, and made him feel that no net of human evil can be woven thickly enough to conceal the crime which it veils from the All-seeing Eye.
1Ki_21:18-19. It is no easy matter to say to the face of a royal robber, “Thou hast stolen,” and to a royal adulterer, “It is not right that thou shouldst have thy brother’s wife.” Where to-day are the prophets who thus use the sword of the Spirit? Thou hast slain.—Menken: Observe, that evil which thou couldst hinder, and didst not, and from which thou shouldst have shrunk, and for which thou didst neither exhibit horror, nor didst punish—all shall, in future, be laid to thy account, as if thou hadst committed it in thine own person. Therefore warns the apostle: Neither be partaker of other men’s sins (2 Tim. 5:22).
1Ki_21:20. Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Calw. B: One can readily imagine that the hard impenitent, meeting the pious preacher and soul-director, regards the high-principled, soul-saving address of the prophet as evidence of personal enmity, and replies with personal enmity. He is not thine enemy who finds thee out, charging thee with thine unrecognized sins, with thy God-forgetting life, until thou dost think and tremble—not thine enemy, the disturber of thy peace and rest, but thy true friend, who leads thee through the narrow gates of repentance, to the way where alone true joy is to be found.—I have found thee. This word of sentence must be heard by all, even by those who have come before no human tribunal—often in this world, certainly at the last day, “for the Lord will bring to light,” &c. (1Co_4:5), and cause every man to find according to his ways (Job_34:11). But there is also a sentence of mercy, which pursues the sinner and seeks him until it finds him (Luke 15). Well for all who have thus been caught and found and can say: “Unter allen frohen Stunden, die im Leben ich empfunden.” &c. He who will not be sought out by mercy, will be found by justice.
1Ki_21:20-29.—Krummacher: The penitence of Ahab. (a) What called it forth; (b) what was its nature; (c) what were its consequences.
1Ki_21:21-26. The predicted judgments of God upon Ahab and his house. (a) Its cause; (b) its accomplishment (1Ki_22:38; 2 Kings 9, 10).“Buying for money” amongst sins. What is to be understood by this? How one can be made bought and made free (Joh_8:33 sq.; 1Co_6:20; 1Co_7:23; Rom_7:14). It is a great misfortune when one man can be bought by another as a chattel or merchandise, but a still greater one if he allows himself to be bought with a price to sin against the Lord. One may be, like Ahab, lord and king, and yet a purchased slave.
1Ki_21:25. His wife stirred him up. Menken: Woe to the man who, through the power which love gives him over the heart of another, by means of which he might become a ministering angel, is to him as a misleading fiend. How many fires of ruinous passion, of anger, of discord, of unrighteousness and of hatred, might and should be quenched and extinguished by the power of love—the power of one heart over another—and especially by the mildness and gentleness peculiar to woman: and yet so often, by this means, they are kindled and fanned. This belongs to the catalogue of unconfessed sins of many men, and especially of many women.—What gave Ahab’s repentance its worth, and wherein it was defective. (a) It was not merely ostensible, feigned; it was a wholesome dread and fear of the judgment of God which came upon him, causing him to fear and tremble; he bowed beneath the mighty hand of God, and was not ashamed to confess this outwardly, but laid aside crown and purple, and put on sackcloth, unheeding if he thus exposed himself to the scorn of the courtiers and idol worshippers. Therefore the Lord looked in mercy upon his repentance. Would that, in our day, many would go even as far as Ahab did in this case. (b) It bore no further fruits. He retained the stolen vineyard, he desisted not from idol worship, he allowed full sway to Jezebel. Everything in his house, at his court, and in his kingdom, remained as of old. He did not hunger and thirst after righteousness. Fleeting impressions and emotions are not true repentance. The tree which brings forth no fruits, is and remains a corrupt tree (Mat_3:8). How wholly different the repentance of David (Psalms 51).—How many go to confession before the communion, bow the knee, and confess their sins before God and man, without being inwardly bowed down and humiliated, to bring forth fruits meet for repentance (Joe_2:13; Isa_58:5).—Richter: Since God looks with pardoning mercy upon an outward humble abasement, how much more upon a righteous repentance. Therefore pray: Lord, grant true penitence and grief.—Krummacher: Ahab was, and is, an example to warn us how it is possible that notwithstanding the most remarkable visitations of God, the strong est incentives, the liveliest emotions, and in spite of a certain sort of repentance and wonderful granting of prayer, a man may still, at the very last, be lost.
Footnotes:
[1]1Ki_21:1.—[The Vat. Sept., which, as before noted, transposes chaps, 20. and 21., omits in consequence the mark of time at the beginning of 1Ki_21:1. The Alex. Sept., which follows the Heb. in that matter, designates Naboth as an Israelite instead of a Jezreelite, throughout the chapter.
[2]1Ki_21:2.—[The Sept. omits the reason for Ahab’s coveting the vineyard.
[3]1Ki_21:2.—[Several MSS., followed by most of the VV., supply the word or and read ואם.
[4]1Ki_21:4.—[The Vat. Sept. gives a mere epitome of this ver.; the Alex, follows the Heb.
[5]1Ki_21:6.—[The Sept. instead of vineyard here introduce from 1Ki_21:4 “the inheritance of my fathers.” As this phrase explains Naboth’s reason (see Exeg. Com.) for refusing Ahab, the addition is not likely to be right.
[6]1Ki_21:8.—The k’tib הַסְּפָרִים is to be unhesitatingly preferred to the k’ri ספרים. [The k’ri is the reading of many MSS., but the k’tib reappears in the next ver. and 1Ki_21:11 unquestioned.
[7]1Ki_21:8.—[The Chald. and Syr. omit this pronoun, which certainly does not seem necessary in itself; but, from its repetition in 1Ki_21:11, doubtless belongs here also.
[8]1Ki_21:16.—[The Sept. here curiously interpolates the statement, “he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth. And it came to pass after this that Ahab,” &c. Ahab seems to have felt no need of such decent hypocrisy.
[9]1Ki_21:18.—[Our author in his translation supplies the ellipsis by the verb dwelleth rather than is, since the reference must be to his dwelling-place, and at this moment he was in Jezreel.
[10]1Ki_21:19.—[The Sept. considerably modifies this prophetic denunciation: “In everyplace where the sows and the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, there shall the dogs lick thy blood, and harlots wash in thy blood.”
[11]1Ki_21:19.—[ גַּס־אַתָּה an emphatic repetition of the pron. suff, literally and well expressed in the A.V.
[12]1Ki_21:21.—[The k’ri gives the full form מֵבִיא here, and אָבִיא ver.29, of this verb, in which there appears to be a peculiar tendency of the א to fall away.—F. G.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 27 turned away his face--either to conceal from his attendants…
turned away his face--either to conceal from his attendants the vexation of spirit he felt, or, by the affectation of great sorrow, rouse them to devise some means of gratifying his wishes.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 28 NABOTH’S SHAMEFUL EXECUTION, 1Ki_21:1-16.
NABOTH’S SHAMEFUL EXECUTION, 1Ki_21:1-16.
1. The Jezreelite — He was so identified with the place where the inheritance of his fathers lay that he was naturally called the Jezreelite.
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Hard by the palace of Ahab — Its location so near the palace enhanced its value, and made it as much an object for Na-both to retain as for Ahab to acquire. Ahab seems to have divided his residence between Samaria and Jezreel, part of the time dwelling at one place and part of the time at the other. See note on 1Ki_18:45.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29 Ch. 1Ki_21:1-16. Naboth the Jezreelite is stoned to death…
Ch. 1Ki_21:1-16. Naboth the Jezreelite is stoned to death and Ahab takes possession of his vineyard (Not in Chronicles)
1. This chapter is placed by the LXX. before the preceding, and numbered 20. Josephus also adopts that order of the events. In consequence, the LXX. omits the words ‘after these things’ in 1Ki_21:1.
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The LXX. (Alex.) calls Naboth ‘an Israelite’. This of course he was. But Jezreel יזרעאל may easily, especially in ms., be mistaken for Israel ישׂראל. Both versions of the LXX. make the vineyard to be not near the palace, but near the threshingfloor of Ahab.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 29 (1) Which was in Jezreel.—The LXX. omits these words,…
(1) Which was in Jezreel.—The LXX. omits these words, and makes the vineyard to be “hard by the threshing-floor of Ahab, king of Samaria”—the word being the same as that rendered “void place” in 1Ki_22:10—apparently near the palace of Ahab in Samaria, not in Jezreel. The Vulgate renders “who was” instead of “which was” in Jezreel. The question of the position of the vineyard, apparently the scene of Naboth’s murder, is difficult. The “plot of ground” of Naboth, referred to in 2Ki_9:25-26—not, however, called “a vineyard”—is clearly at Jezreel. where, as a native of the place, Naboth would be likely to hold land. But the vineyard may have been an outlying property near Samaria, which Ahab might naturally suppose Naboth, even for that reason, likely to sell. In favour of this supposition—which is, perhaps, on the whole the more probable—is the very emphatic prediction of 1Ki_21:19, which in 1Ki_22:38 is declared to have been fulfilled at the pool of Samaria. Moreover, the whole action of the chapter, as far as Ahab is concerned, seems to have been at Samaria; and, indeed, if we take 1Ki_21:18 literally, this is actually declared to be the case. On the other side, however, we have the reading of the text, the more obvious interpretation of the words “his city” in 1Ki_21:8; 1Ki_21:11; and the reference to the prophecy of Elijah, in connection with the casting of the body of Jehoram into the plot of ground at Jezreel (2Ki_9:25-26). It is, perhaps, impossible to clear up the discrepancy entirely with our present knowledge.
(2–4) And Ahab spake.—The whole history is singularly true to nature. At first, as the desire of Ahab was natural, so his offer was courteous and liberal. The refusal of Naboth—evidently grounded on the illegality, as well as the natural dislike, of alienation of “the inheritance of his fathers” (see Lev_25:13-28; Num_36:7), and therefore not only allowable, but right—has nevertheless about it a certain tone of harshness, perhaps of unnecessary discourtesy, implying condemnation, as well as rejection, of the offer of the king. It is characteristic of the weak and petulant nature of Ahab, that he neither recognises the legality and justice of Naboth’s action, nor dares to resent the curt defiance of his refusal. Like a spoilt child, he comes back sullen and angry, throws himself on his bed, and will eat no bread. All that he has is as nothing, while the little plot of ground is refused; as to Haman all was worthless, while Mordecai the Jew sat in the king’s gate (Est_5:13). This temper of sullen, childish discontent is the natural seedplot of crime, under the instigation of more determined wickedness.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–29 And it came to pass after these things These…
THE STORY OF NABOTH. THE DOOM OF AHAB"S HOUSE. HIS PENITENCE.
And it came to pass after these things These words are omitted in the Vat. LXX, which, as before remarked, transposes chs. 20. and 21. See introductory note, ch. 20., that Naboth "Fruit," "produce" (Gesen). Wordsworth sees in him a type of Christ, cast out of the vineyard (Mat_21:39) and slain the Jezreelite The Alex. LXX here, and throughout the chapter, reads oJ Ijsra. hlithv. Josephus (Ant. 8:13. 8) says that Naboth was of illustrious family had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, (See note on 1Ki_18:46) hard by the palace LXX threshing-floor. Stanley (Dict. Bib. vol. 2. p. 454), arguing from this word, would reject the Hebrew text of this narrative, which places both the vineyard and the plot of ground (2Ki_9:25, 2Ki_9:26) in Jezreel, and would locate the vineyard on the hill of Samaria, in the "void place" of 1Ki_22:10 of Ahab king of Samaria. It is clear from these last words that Jezreel had not replaced Samaria as the capital. It was a "palace" only that Ahab had there. No doubt the beauty of the situation had led to its purchase or erection. As Jezreel is only twenty-five miles distant from Samaria, it is obvious that it might be readily visited by the court.
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Vers. 1-15.
The Martyrdom of Naboth.
History tells of few crimes of its kind more flagitious, more cruel and cold-blooded than this. Here we see that spectacle which one of the ancients said was dear to the gods a just man suffering shameful wrongs with dignity and patience: we see a man because of his fidelity to God and His law judicially done to death by the representative of God, by the authority appointed to execute the Law.
And just as the crime has few parallels, so has the history few equals in point of graphic force and quiet pathos. It is like one of those sketches by the hand of a master, which set us wondering to see how much effect can be produced, and how much meaning conveyed, by a few broad lines and touches. We see in the first place the king, from his palace lattices, or from his garden slopes, casting hungry, envious eyes on the rich vineyard of his neighbour. He must have it at any cost. The residence is incomplete without it. We then hear him making overtures to the sturdy owner. There is a smile upon his face. His words are smoother than butter. Nothing could be fairer, as it seems at first, than his proposals. Surely Naboth will do well to sell or exchange on such liberal terms as these. But we find him straightway shrinking in pious horror from the idea. There is nothing to soften or modify his blunt and abrupt refusal. He cannot, he will not, do this thing and sin against God. We see a cloud of vexation gather on the king"s brow. He is foiled. The project on which he has set his heart he cannot realize. With a mortified scowl, a look in which suppressed rage and bitter disappointment are equally blended, he terminates the interview and hurries to his palace, while Naboth, strong in the consciousness of right, but not without misgivings as to the issue, goes to tell his story to his wife and children at home.
And now the scene changes. We are admitted to a room, a bedroom of the palace of Samaria. We see on an ivory couch, in an ivory house, (1Ki_22:29) or in a chamber celled with cedar, and painted with vermilion, (Jer_22:14) a man whose soul is so vexed and troubled that he can eat no bread, that he has a word for no one, but turns his face sullenly to the wall. Can this be the king of Israel? can this be Ahab, whose recent victories over the Syrians have rung through many lands? It is Ahab indeed. The great conqueror is a slave to himself. By his side there stands his dark, malignant, Phoenician consort. We hear his pitiful, almost childish, complaint, that he cannot have the vineyard he so much covets, and we straightway see a look of something like scorn upon her face. We hear her almost contemptuous rejoinder, "Art thou, then, so helpless, so utterly without resources, as to lie here and grieve like a spoilt child? Is it for nothing that thou art a king, or art thou king in name only? If thou art baffled, I am not. Arise, and eat bread. Banish dull care and give thyself up to feasting. I will give thee the vineyard of this wretched peasant.
The next tableau introduces us to another chamber of this same royal residence. The king may keep his bed if he will, but the queen is up and doing. The scribes are now writing at her command. She it is who dictates the words, who stamps the writings with the king"s seal. The scribe"s hand may well tremble as he pens the infamous decree, for the letter consigns Naboth to death; but she knows no fear, has no scruples. The letters are despatched, the royal posts carry their sealed orders to Jezreel, and the murderess sits down to eat and drink, and rises up to play.
Again the scene changes. We find ourselves in s village convocation. The elders of Jezreel, the officers of the royal borough, have proclaimed a fast. Their town has incurred the wrath of God, and they must find out and expiate the sin. Naboth is there. He fears this meeting bodes him no good, but he is compelled to attend. He finds himself, to his great surprise, set "at the head of the people." But who shall picture the astonishment and pain in this man"s face, when there rise up in that assembly, two miserable varlets who swear that he, Naboth, the humble servant of the Lord, the man who has honestly striven to keep the law, even against his king, has committed a horrible breach of law, has blasphemed God and the anointed of God. He thinks, perchance, at the first, that the charge is so utterly reckless and improbable, that none of these his neighbours, who know him so well, and have known him from his youth up, will entertain it for a moment. But he is speedily undeceived. He finds that he has not a chance with them, that all steel their faces and hearts against him. He perceives that there is a conspiracy against him. In vain he protests his innocence; in vain he appeals to his blameless life. His cries and those of his wife and children are alike unheeded. In a trice he is condemned to die the death of the blasphemer.
And now we find ourselves hurried along by a tumultuous crowd. We pass through the city gate, we reach the open space outside the walls. So far, Naboth has hardly realized that they are in earnest, so suddenly has the thing come upon him. Surely it is some grim jest that his neighbours play upon him. It cannot be that he is to die, to look for the last time on the faces of those he loves, on his native fields, on the blessed light of the sun. But if he has any lingering hopes of deliverance they are rapidly dispelled. He sees them making preparations for his execution. They are going to stone him on the spot. "O God in heaven!" he thinks, "is it for this I have kept Thy law? Is this agony and death the reward of mine integrity? Must I then die, when life is so sweet! Is there no power to rescue me out of the jaws of the lion? Has God forgotten me? or will He look on it and require. (2Ch_24:22) It is true the history says nothing of any such thoughts, of any prayers, appeals, entreaties, threatenings; but the history, it must be remembered, is but an outline, and that outline it is left for us to fill up. And we cannot doubt that Naboth had some such thoughts as these. But whatever they were, they were speedily brought to a close. "The king"s business required haste." Time for reflection would mean time for repentance. The witnesses speedily divest themselves of their abbas; they lay them down at the feet of the elders; they take up stones and rush upon him. At the first blow he quivers from head to foot with a great throb of pain, but blow follows fast upon blow; he sinks senseless; the blood streams from his wounds; the dear life is crushed out of him, and Naboth"s name and the names of his sons are added to those on the glory roll of the noble army of martyrs.
But it is now for us to ask what led to this shameful deed. There were five parties to this tragedy Naboth, the king, the queen, the elders, the witnesses. Let us see how each of these contributed, though in very different ways, to diabolical result. We shall thus see how Naboth, who was murdered in the name of law and religion, was a martyr to law and religion. And let us consider
1. The piety of Naboth. For it was his religion brought this doom upon his head. He had but to comply with the request of the king and what loyal subject would not wish to gratify the Lord"s anointed? and all would have gone well. So far from being stoned, he would have been honoured and rewarded. And that request seemed so reasonable. There was no attempt at robbery or confiscation. The king offered an ample equivalent; a better vineyard than it, or bars of silver which could buy a better. Was he not perverse and wrong headed to let a scruple stand in the way? We should not have done so. No; but is not that precisely because we have not the steadfast piety of Naboth? There is no reason to think that he was not loyal. Doubtless he would have been glad to oblige his king. But there were two considerations stood in the way. First, his duty to God; secondly, his duty to his forefathers and to his posterity. His duty to God. For God"s law said, "The land shall not be sold forever"; (Lev_25:2-3) it laid down that every child of Israel should "cleave to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers". (Num_36:7) And Naboth knew this, and Ahab knew it. But to the latter the law was a dead letter; to the former it was a living reality. To him there was no God but one, no will to be considered in comparison with His. If Naboth could but have consented to do as others had done, (1Ki_16:24) he would have kept his life. But he could not. He "did not fear loss, but sin." It was a crime against Jehovah, and he would not consent. Moreover it was though perhaps this thought had comparatively little influence with him a wrong to his ancestors and to his posterity. For generations past, ever since it was allotted to his first father, had that vineyard been in his family. It had been transmitted through a long line to him. It was his duty to transmit it intact to those who came after him, and he would do it. It was for these reasons sentimental reasons some would call them that Naboth died, because of his belief in a living God, and because he kept His law, and especially the first and fifth commandments of the Decalogue.
1. The impiety of Ahab. Just as the action of Naboth arose out of his belief, so did that of Ahab spring out of his practical unbelief an apt illustration of the close connexion between our faith and our practice. This crime had
2. its beginning, its fons et origo, in idolatry. It was because Ahab worshipped gods many and lords many that his allegiance to the Divine law was shaken. The law of Baal, he argued, did not forbid the alienation of land why should the law of Jehovah? The root of this sin, therefore, like the root of all sin, was unbelief. And its blossom was a direct violation of the Decalogue. Out of the breach of the first commandment sprang violations of the sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth. Just as Naboth, the believer in the one true God, stands out conspicuously as a keeper of the ten words, so do all the other parties in the tragedy stand convicted of violating them. It was primarily the tenth commandment that Ahab set at nought. He had no right to set his heart upon that vineyard, which the great King had given to another. And a breach of law was the less excusable in his ease, insomuch as he was the guardian of law and was acquainted with its provisions. (Deu_17:18) Of all men, he should have been the last to defy or disregard it. But it is only when we consider that when his subject, to whom he should have been an example, set him an example, and refused to participate in his sin, that then, so far from repenting and praying that the thought of his heart might be forgiven him, he mourns and repines that he was not allowed to consummate it it is only when we consider this that we realize its hue character. His was a sin against light and knowledge; a sin against his helper and benefactor; (1Ki_20:13, 1Ki_20:28) a sin in spite of manifold warnings; a sin which led to blacker sin still. He coveted an evil covetousness to his house. That "love of money" was a root of false witness, of foul murder. And in this estimate of Ahab"s sin it is assumed that he neither knew nor sanctioned Jezebel"s designs. If he gave her the royal seal with the least idea of the malignant purpose to which she would apply it, he was virtually an accessory before the fact, and so was guilty of murder and robbery. And even if he was ignorant of her intentions, still the readiness with which he reaped the fruits of her crime makes him a partaker in her sin. It is a common saying that the "receiver is as bad as the thief." And he must have known that "Jezebel could not give this vineyard with dry hands.
3. The depravity of Jezebel. Great as Ahab"s guilt was, it was altogether eclipsed by that of his wife. At her door lies the real sin of the murder. The hands that accomplished it were not so guilty as the heart that suggested it and the mind that planned it. Ahab broke the tenth, Jezebel the sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth commandments. Covetousness, false witness, murder, confiscation, she stands convicted of them all. But what lends its most hideous feature to her sin is the consideration that she, the sworn foe of the law of Jehovah, availed herself of its forms to compass Naboth"s death. Was ever such black-hearted ingenuity as hers? We can fancy her laughing in her sleeve at the crafty use she made of the hated system of the Jews. We can see her shaking her finger at Naboth and saying "Simple fool! thou hast stood out for the law; thou shalt have a surfeit of it this time." It is possible that she rejoiced at the base part to which she commits the elders of Jezreel. If they will cling to their austere and gloomy creed, she will make them carry out its provisions. To this shameful murderess it added zest to her sin that she scored a triumph against the followers and the law of the God of Israel. We must also observe the evident satisfaction, the malicious triumph, with which she hears of Naboth"s death. So far from feeling the least compunction, she hurries with the good news to her husband. Her part, so far as we know, is absolutely without a parallel of all the daughters of our first mother. What name is there so deservedly infamous as hers?
4. The corruption of the elders. We may readily acquit them of liking the task entailed upon them. They could not embark on that course of crime without many qualms of conscience and secret self upbraidings. But the name of Jezebel inspired so much terror that they dared not resist her will. Their sin was, first, that they feared man more than God. It was unbelief at bottom; they had more faith in the finger of the queen than in the arm of the Almighty. They argued, as the Turkish peasant does, that the queen was near and God was a long way off. It was, secondly, that they abused their office. In defiance of law (Exo_23:2, Exo_23:6; Deu_16:19) they wrested judgment and condemned the innocent, (Deu_27:19, Deu_27:25) and so they share with Jezebel the guilt of the murder. It is idle to plead the constraint put upon them, to say that they would have died had they resisted her; they should have died rather than slay the innocent. But for their complaisance, the queen might have been baffled. One might reasonably expect elders the "judges and officers" of the land (Deu_16:18) to answer, "We ought to obey God rather than man." History tells of many judges who have withstood the corrupt commands of their sovereign. During the Mohammedan rule in Spain one of the caliphs took forcible possession of a field belonging to one of his subjects. This man, as a forlorn hope, stated his grievance before the kadi, a man renowned for his integrity, and the kadi promised to bring his case before the king. Loading his mule with a sack of earth which he had taken from the stolen field, he strode into the presence of the prince, and asked him to be so good as to lift the sack of earth to his shoulders. The caliph tried to comply with his request, but the burden proved too heavy for him; he could not move, still less carry, it. "Wretched man!" cried the judge, "see what thou hast done. Thou canst not carry one mule"s burden of the earth of this field of which thou hast deprived thy subject. How, then, canst thou hope to sustain the whole field on thy shoulders in the dreadful day of judgment?" The appeal was successful; the prince made immediate restitution and rewarded the judge. But nothing of this kind did the elders of Jezreel. They only feared for their skins. They argued that one or the other must die, and if so it must be Naboth. And so he died, and they bore the stain of blood upon their souls.
5. The perjury of the witnesses. It is hardly correct to describe their sin as perjury. It was much more than that. It was actual murder also. As witnesses, they had to cast the first stone to take the principal part in the execution. Even without this they were guilty of murder, for it was upon their testimony that Naboth was condemned to die. They share with the elders, consequently, the guilt of violating the sixth and ninth commandments. But they were "sons of Belial" to begin with. They were not ministers of God; still less were they the "Lord"s anointed." And they were but instruments in the hand of others. The elders were the hand; the queen was the head.
It is clear, then, that Naboth"s death was a true martyrdom. He died a victim to his faith in God and his obedience to law. He was a witness (martuv), consequently, for God no less than Elijah or Elisha. Like Elijah, he was a public vindicator of the law, and he sealed his witness with his blood. He died because he would not deny it; because others, its guardians and executors, violated and abused it.
But if any deny his right to be enrolled in the army of martyrs, it only needs to compare his end with that of the protomartyr Stephen, and indeed with that of our blessed Lord. The analogy could not well be closer.
1. The same passions and influences were at work in each case. It wasunbelief and pride and covetousness occasioned the death of Naboth. These were the forces arrayed against our Lord and against Stephen. Was there a coveted vineyard in one case? so there was in the other. (Luk_20:14, Luk_20:15)
2. The tribunals were equally corrupt. The Sanhedrim was the counterpartof the elders; the council of Jerusalem of that of Jezreel. (Matthew Act_6:12)
3. The princes of this world occasioned the death of Naboth; the princes ofthis world took counsel against the Christ, (Act_4:26, Act_4:27) and crucified the Lord of glory. (1Co_2:8)
4. The charge was the same in every case, viz., blasphemy. (Matthew Act_6:13) The variation is extremely slight: "God and the king" in one case; "against Moses and God" in another. (Act_6:11)
1. The charge was made in each instance by men who were conspicuouslylaw-breakers (Joh_17:19; Act_7:58) and it was made in the name of law. (Joh_19:7 Act_6:14)
2. The means used to compass the death were alike in every case, viz., false witness (Mat_26:59, Mat_26:60; Act_6:11)
3. Each of these three martyrs suffered without the gate (Act_7:58 Heb_13:12) Like Naboth, Stephen was stoned; like Naboth, our Lord would have been stoned if the Jews had had the power (Joh_18:31), and if the counsel of God had not willed otherwise. (Act_4:28)
4 . There is indeed one difference, and that is suggestive. The martyrs ofour religion prayed for their murderers (Luk_23:34; Act_7:60) the martyrs of Judaism could only cry, "The Lord look on it and require it". (2Ch_24:22) The blood of the covenant speaks better things than the blood of Naboth.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD. Vers. 1-4.
Covetousness.
Amongst the arguments used by Samuel to discourage the people of Israel from desiring a king, he said, "He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them." We have in the verses before us a notable example of the truth of this forecast, understanding covetousness in a bad sense.
I DESIRE, IN THE ABSTRACT, IS NOT COVETOUSNESS.
1. It is the principle of exchanges.
(1) If persons had no desire to possess anything beyond what they have acquired, there would be no motive to trade. Of the virtuous woman it is said, "She considereth a field and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard". (Pro_31:16)
(2) All commerce is founded upon the desire to make exchanges.
2. But commerce is fruitful in blessings.
(1) There are evils connected with trading, viz., where dishonest practices come into it. But these are intrusions; and they are denounced as "illegitimate" and "uncommercial.
(2) Genuine commerce gives profitable employment to thought and labour.
(3) It brings the countries and peoples of the wide world into correspondence. Thereby it enlarges our knowledge of those countries, their peoples and products, and other. wise stimulates science.
(4) It encourages philanthropy. Relief is afforded for distresses through famines, floods, fires, earthquakes; and religious missions are organized.
3. Desire, well directed, should be encouraged.
(1) To be absolutely without desire for things evil would be a happy state. Therefore this state should be earnestly desired.
(2) There is also the positive desire to be Christ like. This can scarcely be too vehement.
(3) Ahab does not seem to have signalized himself in either of these directions.
II ILLICIT DESIRE IS COVETOUSNESS.
1. We should not desire what God has forbidden.
(1) Herein Ahab was wrong in desiring the vineyard of Naboth. It was the "inheritance of his fathers," transmitted in the family of Naboth, from the days of Joshua, and it would have been unlawful for him to part with it. (Lev_25:23; Num_36:7)
(2) Ahab was wrong in tempting Naboth to trangress the commandment of the Lord. He should never have encouraged a desire, the gratification of which would involve such a consequence.
(3) It was a pious act in Naboth, who, doubtless in things lawful would be pleased to gratify the king, to have indignantly refused to gratify him here. The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee." He had his tenure from the Lord. He looked upon his earthly inheritance as a pledge of a heavenly.
2. This rule requires the study of God"s word.
(1) It is of the utmost moment to us to be acquainted with the will of God. This he has revealed in the Scriptures.
(2) In cases of transgression we cannot plead ignorance when we have the Bible in our hands. Neither can we shift now our responsibility on to our teachers.
(3) Do we make proper use of our Bibles? Do we study them? Do we read them prayerfully? We must not sell the moral inheritance we have received from the past.
III INORDINATE DESIRE IS COVETOUSNESS. Some things are lawful without limit. Such are the direct claims of God.
(1) The love of God. We may love Him with all our heart. We cannot love Him too much, or too much desire His love.
(2) The service of God. This, indeed, is another form of love; for love expresses itself in service. (Joh_14:15, Joh_14:23; Rom_13:10; Gal_5:14; 1Jn_5:3)
(3) The knowledge of God. To love and serve God perfectly we must have a perfect knowledge of Him according to our capacity. We cannot too ardently desire this knowledge.
(4) If Ahab had loved, served, and known God with perfect desire, he would have found such satisfaction as to have rendered it impossible for him to have sulked as he did because he could not obtain Naboth"s vineyard. When God is absent there is a restless void; nothing can satisfy an unholy spirit.
2. Other things are lawful in measure.
(1) Otherwise they would interfere with the direct claims of God. The creature must not be put into competition with the Creator. "Thou shalt have none other gods beside me.
(2) Desire for sensible and temporal things must not displace the desire for things spiritual and eternal. To love the inferior preferably to the superior is to deprave the affections.
(3) It would have been lawful for Ahab to have purchased a lease of the vineyard of Naboth at a fair price, leaving it in the power of Naboth to have redeemed it; and for it to revert to Naboth or his heirs in the jubilee. (Lev_25:23-28) But this desire to possess it, even under these conditions, could not be justified if a refusal should lead him to go home "heavy and displeased" and sicken with chagrin. Ahab"s discontent brought its own punishment. He was a king, yet discontented. Discontent is a disease of the soul rather than of the circumstances. J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND Vers. 1-24.
The Progress of Sin.
This chapter describes one of the blackest crimes which ever blotted the page of history. The description is so graphic that we seem eyewitnesses of the tragedy, and so suggestive that we can understand the motives and feelings of the principal actors. Naboth has been blamed sometimes for refusing what appeared a reasonable request that he would sell a piece of land to his rightful king at a fair price. It is evident, however, that he was not only acting within his right, but that he could not have assented to the proposal without breaking the Divine law given by Moses. The paternal inheritance might only be sold in extreme poverty, and then on the condition that it might be redeemed at any time; and, if not previously redeemed by purchase, it reverted to the original owner at the year of jubilee. (Lev_25:13-28) With Naboth it was not the dictate of churlishness, but of conscience, to refuse the proposal of the king. Nor was Ahab"s guilt the less because the crime was suggested by Jezebel He might be deficient in nerve and inventiveness, but he was not in iniquity. Let us trace him in this his hideous downfall, that none of us may be "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Our subject is the PROGRESS OF SIN. We see here
I POSSESSIONS LEADING TO COVETOUSNESS. His stately palace and park at Jezreel did not content him. With greedy eye he looked on this tiny plot of freehold, and resolved to have it. It is not in the power of material possessions to satisfy man. The rich man must be richer still; the large kingdom must extend itself yet further; the great business must crush the small competitors, etc. How often this leads to wrongs wrought on the poorer and weaker! "The love of money is the root of all evil." "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man"s life consisteth not in the abundance of things that he possesseth.
II COVETOUSNESS LEADING TO DISCONTENT. "He laid himself down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread." Disappointed of that which he coveted he could find no pleasure in that which he already possessed. Show how easily a discontented habit of mind may be formed, and how it embitters everything. Thankfulness, gladness, and hope are strangled by this serpent sin. The necessity of watching against the rise of this in our children.
III DISCONTENT LEADING TO EVIL COUNSEL (ver. 7). Ahab was just in the right condition to welcome anything bad. On an ordinary occasion he might have repelled this hideous suggestion. Satan watches his opportunity. His temptations are adapted to our age, our social position, our mood of mind. What would fail today may succeed tomorrow. What the youth would spurn the old man may welcome, etc. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." It is an evil thing to have a bad counsellor always near you. Let that thought guard us against unholy associates.
IV EVIL COUNSEL LEADING TO LIES (ver. 10). The fast was a hypocritical device to prepare the minds of the people for the death of Naboth. Its appointment presupposed that there was a grievous offence committed by some one, which the community was to mourn. Their suspicions would be ready to fasten on any man who was suddenly and boldly accused by two independent witnesses. The scheme was as subtle as it was sinful. Give examples of the use of deceit and lies in modern life for the purpose of making money, advancing social interests, etc. Show the sinfulness of this.
V LIES LEADING TO MURDER (ver. 18). Not only was Naboth killed, but his children also. (2Ki_9:26) Hence the property would revert to the king. It was a cold-blooded murder. Few worse are recorded in history. Seldom is this most heinous crime committed until the way has been paved for it, as here, by lesser sins. Exemplify this.
VI MURDER LEADING TO RETRIBUTION. Read Elijah"s bold and terrible denunciation of the crime on the very soil of the coveted vineyard (vers. 20-24). Retribution may linger long, but it comes at last. In the light of many a startling discovery we read the words, "Be sure your sin will find you out.
CONCLUSION. thou me from secret faults: keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins," etc. A.R.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART
Vers. 1-4.
First Steps in the Path of Crime.
I UNBRIDLED DESIRE.
1. The spirit in which Ahab came. He came down to Jezreel not to present a thank offering to God for recent deliverance, nor to inquire what might be done to meet the wishes or improve the condition of the people. Had he come thus, paths of usefulness would have opened up before him, and, instead of the dark memory of guilt, he would have left behind him blessing and praise. God and man were alike shut out, and self was set up as that which alone was to be regarded and served. Such spirit not only stands open to temptation; it invites it. Right aims shut out is half Satan"s victory.
1. How the temptation presented itself. He was about to make improvements upon the palace, and his eye fell on Naboth"s vineyard. This made into a garden of herbs would secure greater privacy and allow other improvements to be carried out. As he looked only upon his own things the advantages of the acquisition were magnified, the fire of desire was kindled
2. and fanned into even fiercer flame. A selfish spirit is ready to be set on fire by the slightest spark of evil suggestion. There was much in God"s recent goodness, much also in the necessities of Israel, to raise Ahab above so small a care. The spirit of selfish discontent, which "never is, but always to be, blest," makes thankfulness and service alike impossible. If it rule us we are already set in the way of sin. From the spot on which we stand a hundred dark paths branch out envies, jealousies, falsehood, dishonest dealing, mean lying artifices, thefts, murders. When tempted to set the heart on what we have not, let us come back into the midst of the good which God has given, and say that if He see it to be best for us, that will be given too.
1. How the object was pursued. All restraints were cast aside. Ahab"s offer (ver. 2) seems at first sight most generous. But it shut out of sight
1. the ties which bound Naboth to his inheritance, and
2. the duty he owed to God.
The Israelite could not alienate his lot even when pressed by direst necessity. It might be parted with for a time, but it returned again to its rightful owners at the year of jubilee. Ahab"s offer was a temptation to Naboth to think lightly of God"s arrangements and to despise his birthright.
II MISDIRECTED ANGER. "Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased," not with himself, but with Naboth. His anger was not against his sin, but against the man who had rebuked it. He might have stood and said, "I have sinned. I have abused my position. I have been caring for my own good, and not for theirs over whom God has set me." But he took the side of his sin against the truth. He that struck at that struck him. When God meets us as He then met Ahab, we must either return humbled and penitent into the right way, or withstand Him and pass into deeper darkness. U.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 17, 20, 25, 27 Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it…
1Ki_21:2-16
Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs.
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Ahabs garden of herbs
Walking in the garden, what do we see?
1. Covetousness. Gods brand is upon covetousness. Contentment is a Christian duty. Not sinful is the desire for comfort, for sufficiency; it is the inordinate desire that is sinful. Does the prosperity of another pain us? Do we desire for ourselves that which belongs to another? Then we are breaking the commandment--Thou shall not covet.
2. Covetousness disappointed. Ahab has met with an unexpected master. The band of sycophancy had been wont to obey him--to hasten at his word, to answer to the silent solicitation of his eye. But here is a man that denies him, who has a denial from the word of the Lord. Let us beware. This sin is under the special reprobation of God. It was the sin in Eden, and by which Eden was lost. It was the sin of Achan. It was the sin of Gehazi. It was the sin which has branded out of use among names the name of Judas. Was Ahab disappointed? Alas, for him!
3. We see his covetousness successful. He gets what he desires. Jezebel finds her husband, and learning the cause of his depression sneers with imperious scorn upon him. What is done by another for us is done by ourselves. Are we willing to profit by the dishonesty or hard dealing of others? Then you are not clean of their sin. Adam plucked not the fruit of the tree, though he did eat (Gen_3:6) of it; yet upon him as well as upon the woman came the curse of the Almighty. Jezebels sin was Ahabs; he winked at its enactment, and took of its guilt-gotten spoil. If we wittingly profit by others sins, we must share in their condetonation too.
4. Covetousness detected and doomed. Ahab walking in that vineyard--his at last--meets an hairy man, girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. It is Elijah the Tishbite. If there was one man in the whole world he had rather not have met it was Elijah. But there he is! his unquailing eye troubling him--detected king--to the deepest depths of his weak, wicked soul. Elijah is the king! Ahab cowers before him. He is found out. And the prophet, the truest, though sternest friend that he has ever had, Ahab esteems an enemy. Is the lighthouse on its wave-washed, rocky ledge the mariners enemy, because it tells through the black and stormy night of the wrecking perils that lurk around the shore? Because it tells of danger, shall it be hated and assailed with angry epithets by those who sail the sea? (G. T. Coster.)
Naboths vineyard and Ahabs covetousness
The visitor to Potsdam in Prussia, from the terrace of the palace of Sans-Souci sees near at hand a gigantic windmill, the most conspicuous object in the landscape. He wonders that the bold miller should have dared to build so near. But on inquiry he learns that the mill was there before the palace. In it several generations of the same family had ground their grist and gathered their wealth ere the attention of the Prussian kings was directed to the town as a place of residence. When palace after palace arose, and the king came to see, behold! here was this ugly windmill, beating the air almost on the very border of his splendid gardens. Then Frederic the Great did what Ahab did in this Bible story. He tried to buy the mill. And the miller answered almost exactly as Naboth answered. The king raised his offer again and again, and ended by getting angry. The miller met the royal threats by an appeal to the court judges in Berlin. The judges supported him against the king; the mill went on grinding its corn; and to this day its great fans are whirled by every passing breeze. The whole nation has come to regard the mill at Potsdam at a symbol of the peace and prosperity of the poor under Prussian institutions. It has recently come into the possession of the royal family, but only with the proud consent, at last, of the descendants of the original owners. The world has got ahead. So far as concerns men who bear public rule and are subjected to the judgment of society, Ahabs must now be sought in darkest Africa or in equally benighted regions. Would that the spirit of Ahab were equally remote from all of us in our private lives and characters! Many of us, perhaps all, are too covetous, grasping, childish, weak in yielding to sin, even as was Israels king.
I. The course of temptation. It may seem to the casual reader that there was nothing wrong in Ahabs desire, or in the way in which he sought to gain it. So far as its terms were concerned, he proposed a strictly honourable bargain. The offer was even generous. Naboth might choose a better vineyard, or have cash. No hardship was involved except in respect to Naboths principles and sentiments. But it was just here that the bargain failed as it deserved to. That Naboth merely loved the place would have been enough. Objects of affection are often beyond price. He did not want either the money or a better vineyard. The reason for his declining the bargain was deeper. Such a sale was an offence against the religious and statute law of Israel. It was carefully prescribed that inherited land should remain in the tribe where it was first owned. On this account a daughter to whom an inheritance fell was forbidden to marry outside her tribe. The theory was that the land all belonged to God, and that Be had parcelled it out as He wished it to remain. Now the king must have known this law; it is a stretch of charity to suppose that he did not. His proposal, therefore, showed a thorough lack of principle, a wicked contempt for the Mosaic code. Jezebel was virtually ruler of the realm. She said, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? . . . I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth. So Lady Macbeth drives her husband on to the murder of Duncan. She mocks his halting courage; she provides suggestion and plan; she does all except strike the murderous blow. She says to him at first--
He thats coming
Must be provided for; and you shall put
This nights great business into my despatch.
If we should fail, objects Macbeth.
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And well not fail,
she answers. And after it is done, and he refuses to return to put the evidence of guilt upon the sleeping and drugged servants, she exclaims--
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers.
Ahab is weaker than Macbeth, though not so wicked; but Jezebel and Lady Macbeth are not far apart. When woman goes into crime, she often plunges to the extreme quicker than man. Jezebel said, I will give thee Naboths vineyard. There are few events in a mans life that stand alone. Every special sin has its long preparation. The avalanche in Switzerland rushes down at last; but what of the melting snows all through the spring and summer, until every waterdrop has done its work and washed away the last pebble that supported the hanging mass of earth and ice? The lightning-flash is sudden; but what of the hidden electric forces that have been gathering in the atmosphere all through the heated months, so that at last the bolt must leap from the cloud to meet the discharge from the earth? So morally. Ahab started wrong, as he knew. It was not a question of one sin, but of sin. He would have his Zidonian wife, though it meant Baal-worship. His good resolutions failed one by one. When at last he coveted the vineyard, his evil genius was at hand as ever, and he let her go on to the end of the transaction. Through years he had been laying the fatal train that was to shatter his kingdom and seal his doom. Who can tell just what moment of an evil course will bring the sinner to his abyss? After the first step every step is a peril. Even quiet consent, passive yielding, is fatal. The only safety is in prompt, manly, uncompromising conversion--turning away from sin for ever.
II. Gods patience. Ahabs rebellion had been long and obstinate: an alien marriage; adopted idolatry; persecutions for conscience sake; open disobedience in war; and now covetousness, leading him to break the most sacred obligations, and add robbery and murder to the list of his crimes. He had had many warnings from God. This triple crime of impiety, robbery, and murder settled the matter. Gods word comes to Elijah, and Elijah comes to Ahab. The time had come for Ahab to receive a harder lesson than ever before. The prophet spoke Jehovahs decree, as Ahabs own signet had given authority to kill Naboth. As Naboth had died, so should Ahab die. As Naboths family had been cut off, so should Ahabs race disappear. The awful curse brought him to his senses and to his knees. He rent his clothes, put sackcloth upon his flesh, fasted, lay in sackcloth, and went softly. God is always patient. We sin; He pleads and waits. We go on grasping after what is not our own: let my will, not Thine, be done, is the prayer offered by every deed. God warns, instructs, shows us in a thousand ways that His will is right, and that it is in the very nature of things our destruction if we oppose it. He tempts us with every promise, and shows us the fair destiny awaiting those who love truth and are obedient to Him. At last some evil comes to us from our wrongdoing, and we are unfeignedly sorry; but it is more the sorrow of a frightened than of a truly penitent soul. But the Divine heart is yet patient. The story of Gods patience with Ahab is wonderful, but it is the story of His patience with most of us. We, too, are covetous to the last degree. My comfort, my pleasure, my wealth, my home, my loves, my will,--all these will I have, though at the expense of every other mans comfort, pleasure, wealth, home, loves, and will. And to this desperate covetousness of ours God matches His infinite self-sacrifice.
III. The curse upon Ahab fell at last. Sin must meet its doom. Brief and selfish repentance is not enough. If sin is not slain, it will slay. Gods patience after all has its conditions. Years pass by, Ahab still living. At last he undertakes a war, and is slain in battle. Whether soon or late, the soul that sinneth it shall die. It stands written that though the heavens pass away, the word of the Lord shall not pass away. It is the final verdict: He that seeketh his life shall lose it.
IV. What of Naboth and his sons? They were good men, so far as we are told, yet they died miserably. They were victims of injustice and cruelty, their very piety hastening their end and making them martyrs. Are we to conclude from this that what we have said concerning the doom of sin is untrue? Shall we draw the inference that the good and the bad are treated alike, so that there is no profit in godliness? It would be unfortunate to turn away from our lesson with this question unanswered. (G. E. Merrill.)
In Naboths vineyard
Ahab has received scant justice at the hands of the Biblical historians, and the popular estimate of his character is scarcely fair. We never think of him except as contrasted with Elijah, or as dominated by the fiendish Jezebel. Yet he had his good points. He was a courageous soldier, a capable rule, a far-seeing statesman. He never intended to renounce the worship of Jehovah--the names of his children are sufficient evidence of that. He thought it was possible to serve Jehovah and Baal, and perhaps those who denounce him most are not entirely guiltless of trying to serve two masters. If it had not been for the influence of his wife, he would have been a better man after what took place on Mount Carmel. But that was seven years ago, and in the meantime he had twice defeated a dangerous enemy and rolled back the tide of foreign invasion, tie had won for his kingdom peace and prosperity, and for himself considerable wealth. He was free now to establish his own house, to adorn his beautiful palace in Samaria, and his country house in Jezreel, eight miles away.
1. Notice the danger of undisciplined d sire. This chapter enforces, in concrete form, the exhortation of our Lord, Take heed and beware of covetousness. It was a subject on which He had a great deal to say, and His warning was never more needed than now. This passion for getting, this longing for a little more than we have, this worship of Mammon--it is not peculiar to millionaires. Poor men sometimes forget that a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
2. Notice the peril of self-deception. There is many a man who lacks the pluck to do a wrong thing himself, but is willing to acquiesce if others do it. He is willing enough to reap the benefits of wrong-doing, and to shirk his share of the responsibility. It is notorious that a committee, or a limited company, will do what an individual would shrink from doing, and each member tries to thrust the responsibility for it on others. A professional man will sometimes do, according to professional etiquette, what he would scorn to do as an individual. A tradesman, otherwise honest, will stoop to the tricks of the trade. How easy it is to delude oneself by thinking that, because there is no actual personal wrong-doing, there is therefore no responsibility. Ahab thought this thing had been taken out of his hands. Yet he was responsible, and he knew it. The fiction by which he deceived himself was exposed in a moment by the short, sharp words of Elijah. But notice the amazing cleverness of Jezebels scheme. When a wicked thing is cleverly done, half the world is disposed to condone its wickedness. Many a sinner deceives his own soul by calling a wicked thing smart. But when conscience wakes, it calls our sins by their right names! In this case, all the legal proprieties were observed. A letter was written in Ahabs name, sealed with the royal seal. Nobody suspected Jezebels part in the affair, except a few subservient nobles who could be trusted to keep their secret. It is not difficult to reconstruct the conversation: That churl Naboth, who refused to sell his little vineyard, has been found guilty of treason. He and his sons are dead, and the vineyard is yours--legally and inalienably yours--and yours for nothing! It was very clever! Ahab was willing to pay a fair price, but he saved money on that transaction, he got that vineyard cheap! But did he? It is possible to buy a thing at the lowest market price, and yet pay very dear for it! That which a man gets by tampering with his own conscience is dear, whatever the selling price. The money price one ]pays for a thing is not always the measure of what it costs. Here is a man who is congratulating himself on a particularly smart bargain; but what if he has paid down for it his own good name and his peace of mind and the welfare of his family! Is it worth the price? And whether a man gain a kitchen garden or the whole world, what does it profit him if he lose his own soul? So Ahab rose up to go down to his vineyard. He rode in state the journey of eight miles to Jezreel. Two young cavalry officers rode behind. One of them, Jehu, had good reason afterwards to remember all that happened that fateful day! All the way, Ahab was congratulating himself that he had such a clever wife, and thinking what a pleasure this would be to his children afterwards! He could not entirely silence his misgivings. He could not forget that to gain his ends he had wronged a true-hearted man, a neighbour and a subject. Wronged was the word which his lips formed. The word in his thoughts was killed. Conscience will call things by their right names! But he told himself, if he had done a shady thing, or allowed it to be done, it was really in the interests of his wife and family. Self-deceit will carry us great lengths! How many a rogue has silenced his conscience in the interests of his family! (A. Moorhouse, M. A.)
Naboths vineyard
It has been pointed out many times that of all the Ten Commandments it is the last one which is the most searching because the most spiritual and the nearest to the new law of the Sermon on the Mount. I say this was a searching, spiritual commandment, for it dealt with the inward soul of a man, his private thoughts and feelings and desires. For these, says the Tenth Commandment--and not merely for your actual deeds--you are answerable to God. Thou shalt not covet.
1. Gods way is to strike sin in the germ: to kill, as it were, the very bacillus of the disease. Man loves to dally with evil suggestion, to play with unclean thoughts, to toy with unchaste or dishonourable desires; to entertain these while outwardly he is respectable and honoured by society. There is something to him fascinating in this bargain, by which he consents to outward respectability at the price of inward licence. But as verily as the uncleanness of the water bears evidence that the spring has been fouled, an evil life is born from an evil heart. That is the source of the mischief.
2. Ahab played with fire. He had wronged Naboth already in his heart; it was a little thing that he should go further and wrong him in fact. There are sinners and sinners. There is a covetousness that hides defeat in assumed smiles, with deadly malice and envy smouldering within. And there is a covetousness less formidable and more contemptible, that pouts and fumes and frets and sulks. The latter kind was Ahabs.
3. I think it very likely that Ahab was not meditating any serious misconduct; but he was preparing his own heart, drying it of all true manly feeling, so that it was like prepared tinder for any spark of temptation. There are hundreds of our fellowmen and women outwardly respectable and innocent as yet of gross sin who are in danger just because their heart is in a similar condition. A chance spark, a whispered suggestion, a rash impulse will suffice to precipitate a course of action which can only bring ruin and overwhelming shame. The heart is dry to the roots; no sap of honour, and manly feeling, and love of justice penetrates and invigorates them. They have allowed their hearts to wither.
4. Now while Ahab s heart lies there like so much prepared tinder, enter the temptress, with a due supply of sparks cunningly contrived for the purpose of an explosion. And Jezebel his wife said unto him. The most deadly weapons are made of the finest steel. Jezebels character was strong, firm, unmalleable; a diamond heart, cold, passionless, cruel, hard as steel, sharp as a daggers edge. The words had not left Ahabs lips a moment before her plan was made. Treachery and murder came as natural to her as breathing Lady Macbeth only did the deed of death when her husbands courage failed Jezebel did not dream of entrusting the task to her husband, for whom she had probably a very just contempt. She herself laid the train and fired it that was to send Naboth into eternity and give the vineyard to Ahab.
5. So the little sin of covetousness has found its reward. The coveted object is obtained--Ahab was in the hands of evil. He had placed himself there; and, like every man or woman who consents to sin, he was no longer his own master. If he had been a giant instead of the weak creature he was he could not have stayed the course of this crime. (C. S. Horne, M. A.)
Naboths vineyard
1. We sometimes hear that Ahab was a covetous man: are we quite sure that the charge is just and that it can be substantiated? Do we not sometimes too narrowly interpret the word covetousness? It is generally at least limited to money. But the term covetous may apply to a much larger set of circumstances, and describe quite another set of impulses and desires. We may even be covetous of personal appearance; of popular fame, such as is enjoyed by other men; we may be covetous in every direction which implies the gratification of our own wishes; and yet with regard to the mere matter of money we may be almost liberal. Sometimes when covetousness takes this other turn we describe it by the narrower word envy; we say we envy the personal appearance of some, we envy the greatness and the public standing of others. But under all this envy is covetousness. Envy is in a sense but a symptom: covetousness is the vital and devouring disease. Under this interpretation of the term, therefore, it is not unfit or unjust to describe Ahab as a covetous man. Look at his dissatisfaction with circumstances. He wishes to have a garden of herbs. That is all! The great Alexander could not rest in his palace at Babylon because he could not get ivy to grow in his garden. What was Babylon, or all Assyria, in view of the fact that this childish king could not cause ivy to grow in the palace gardens? Ahab lived in the very narrowest kind of circumstances; as a little man, he lived in little things, and because those things were not all to his mind it was impossible for him to be restful or noble or really good. Once let the mind become dissatisfied with some trifling circumstance, and that fly spoils the whole pot of ointment. Once get the notion that the house is too small, and then morning, noon, and night you never see a picture that is in it, or acknowledge the comfort of one corner in all the little habitation: the one thing that is present in the mind throughout all the weary hours is that the house is too small. If we live in circumstances, we shall be the sport of events; we shall be without dignity, without calmness, without reality and solidity of character; let us, therefore, betake ourselves into inner thoughts, into spirituality of life, into the souls true character, into the very sanctuary of God: there we shall have truth and light and peace.
2. Then notice in Ahab a childish servility to circumstances (1Ki_21:4). Yet he was the King of Israel in Samaria! He was in reality a man who could give law, whose very look was a commandment, and the uplifting of his hand could move an army. Now we see him surely at his least. So we do, but not at his worst. All this must have an explanation. We cannot imagine that the man is so simply childish and foolish as this incident alone would describe him. Behind all this childishness there is an explanation. What is it? We find it in 1Ki_21:25 :--But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. That explains the whole mystery. But this is an affair which does not take place in the open market or in the open daylight. But the compact is made in darkness, in silence, in out-of-the-way places. Now we understand King Ahab better. We thought him but little, frivolous of mind, childish and petty, without a man s worthy ambition; but now we see that all this was but symptomatic, an outward sign, pointing, when rightly followed, to an inward and mortal corruption.
3. Now let us look at the case of Naboth and the position which he occupied in this matter. Naboth possessed the vineyard Ahab is said to have coveted. Naboth said, The Lord forbid (1Ki_21:3). He made a religious question of it. Why did he invoke the Eternal Name, and stand back as if an offence had been offered to his faith? The terms were commercial, the terms were not unreasonable, the approach was courteous, the ground given for the approach was not an unnatural ground,--why did Naboth stand back as if his religion had been shocked? The answer is in Num_36:7. Ahab was taught that there was a man in Samaria who valued the inheritance which had been handed down to him. Have we no inheritance handed down to us--no book of revelation, no day of rest, no flag of liberty, no password of common trust? So Ahab lay down upon his bed, turned away his face, and would eat no bread. But there is a way of accomplishing mean desires. Take heart! there is a way of possessing oneself of almost whatever one desires. There is always some Merlin who will bring every Uther-Pendragon what he longs to have; there is always some Lady Macbeth who will show the thane how to become king. There is always a way to be bad! The gate of hell stands wide open, or if apparently half-closed a touch will make it fly back, and the road is broad that leadeth to destruction. Jezebel said she would find the,garden or vineyard for her husband. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The story of Naboths vineyard
1. There is a strange fascination in sin. This man looks at this thing; turns it over in his mind; says how nice it would be; and at last the thing gets entire hold of him. He ought at first to have said, No, that is beyond my power; that is forbidden. Instead, he plays with the thing, and nurses it, and it becomes his master. And just as a bird might be seen trying to escape, and yet is chained to the spot, the secret is discovered after a while in the approach of the serpent, sure and slow, with its eyes fixed on its prey, and held by its cruel glance; so it is with sin: there is a fascination in it. You look at it, you get your eyes fixed upon its eyes; you can break away if you have the will to do it, and the good sense, by Gods providence, to do it; if you have not felt the full force of its fascination. But if you loiter where its influence can be felt more and more on you, presently it becomes your master, and you go to the evil thing, and bring the stain on your soul. Is it not so? The doctor, though he may carry his life in his band, must go where the small-pox or deadly fevers are raging, but the man who has no work and no cure for the evil is a madman, and not a hero, if he goes needlessly into an atmosphere laden with infection. It is the old soldier who has been in many a battle, and carries the scars of many an engagement, who shelters himself till the moment comes for the decisive charge. He is not afraid of lying down. It is the raw recruit, who has never smelt powder, and who has never had a scratch on him, who dare not be suspected of being afraid. And believe me, young men, it is not a courageous thing to go needlessly into danger of a moral character.
2. Yes, there is this fascination in man, but see what it brings us to, and the degradation it brings with it. He, laid him down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. Poor fellow! Yes, but that is what sin always does to men; it eats the heart out of their manliness. If a man wants to be strong to meet sorrow he must keep himself well in hand, and, by the grace of God, learn to control his appetites and desires, so that circumstances and possessions and pleasures shall always be his servants, never his master. I have seen in this city an old man beggared in a day, by no fault of his own, but through the wrong-doing and the misfortunes of others; a man who had maintained a stainless character, and a prominent position in all good works; and I saw him, not whining because he had lost his money, and asking all the world to come and see how sorely he had been dealt with, but bravely shaking off from himself the ruins of his fallen fortunes, and going out to win another fortune in his old age, if that were Gods will, or to do without one, if that were Gods will; but keeping a good conscience and a brave heart, and a face with the light of-God upon it, so that he could look any brother-man in the face with self-respect. And I tell you the man who is to be ready to do that sort of thing, and go through that sort of experience, is not the man who has always been wanting the softest bed and the warmest corner, the easiest path and the best dinner, whose one great thought is, how can I make myself as comfortable as possible in the world. No, the man who is to be brave to meet his own misfortunes when they come--and to all they will come, sooner or later--is the man who has not been continually thinking about himself, but who has let his heart go out to his fellow-men and towards the great Father, God, who tells us we ought to consider all men as our brothers. II you want to have the manliness taken out of your heart live for selfish aims and objects.
3. And then see, too, another way in which sin degrades a man; how it overturns all his mental conceptions, and even darkens and destroys the sensitiveness of his conscience. Ahab is lying there on his divan, and Jezebel comes to him. One can almost fancy one sees him and her together, and she is saying to him, What is the matter? And he tells her this doleful story, how he wanted the vineyard, and could not get it. Jezebels lip turns with scorn as she looks down at him, and says, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Are you lying here because you cannot get that nice toy? What is the good of being king if you are going to take No for an answer, if you cannot have your own way. Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry; I will give thee the vineyard of:Naboth the Jezreelite. When Jezebel said that Ahab knew she meant mischief. If he had been a true man and a true king, he would have said to her, Though you are queen, it is at your peril if you touch a hair of his head; he is within the rights of this land. Dare not touch him, for every subjects rights and safety are sacred in my eyes. But the poor, mean-spirited wretch, degraded by his own follies, lies there, and lets his wife go and contrive the wickedness for which he has not the wit or courage. And all the time. I have no doubt, like other men in similar positions, Ahab was making to himself all kinds of excuses: Well, I dont know what she is going to do; perhaps she is only going to offer him a little more money, or appeal to his respect for the king. At all events, it is not my business; I have not asked her to interfere, and so I shall not trouble about it. I shall let her do just what she will. Yes, that let alone policy which is so popular in many quarters, was admirably illustrated by Ahab on this occasion And I have no doubt that to a certain extent that kind of reasoning was sufficient to drug his conscience to sleep, at least for the time being. And there are constantly men who are acting on that principle. Men used to say, Oh, certainly I never bribed any elector; but when an election was coming on they would pay five hundred pounds to the credit of their agent, and ask no questions about it. There are men to-day in London who would say, Of course I did not sell three pennorth of gin over a counter to a poor, bloated, degraded woman. No, but they take three times as much rent for a house because it has got a licorice than they could get if it hadnt any. Men say, I did not tell that lie, or set that slander in circulation. No, but they suggested it quite delicately, and hoping it would go no further, and so the carrion scent was awakened, and all followed that they thought might be expected to follow. Many of these people fancy that Gods eyes are closed, or that God does not know what is going on in the world, and that in some way or other they have been able to cheat the Omniscient! They cannot feel, and are not aware of the true nature of the life they are living and the deeds they are doing. Just as the slaves when they were flogged, after the first few blows felt very little, because the nerves of the back had been lacerated; so the consciences of these men have been cut, lashed, and injured till their sensitiveness is gone out of them, and men have lost the faculty of quickly detecting wrong, and knowing what is right. Can there possibly be a deeper degradation for a man? She came back to Ahab and said, Naboth is dead. So the conscience of Ahab will let him at once rise with new eagerness to go and take possession of his treasure. Away he goes from the palace, promising himself many a pleasant hour in the cool shade of the vineyard. Yes, yes, there is disappointment in sin. God does not let men get the good out of it that they thought. God does not let them enjoy it as keenly as they expected. And this is one of the great proofs of Gods love, that He will not let men sin easily and comfortably. We sometimes say it is hard work to get to heaven. That is true enough. But we may almost say it is as hard work for many men to get to hell. If they will be lost they have to break through many a barrier which the love of God built in their way; and not till they have forced their way through these barriers can they be cast into the outer darkness, which they rush to encounter. How good it is that God will not let men sin easily Some Elijah will stand in the gateway of the vineyard. Here is a man who has gone away from home; perhaps he is a young man, and in the very midst of some sinful revelry, where the air is thick with curses, where the atmosphere is as the atmosphere of hell, suddenly, as though the heavens parted, and the breath of heavens own atmosphere were thrust into the midst of that vile scene, there comes to him a thought of his mother, of the pure blessed home that he left years ago. No law of association will account for that. There was nothing in the associations of the place to make him think that thought at that time, but the exact opposite. Surely the blessed Spirit of God sent that thought just there in order that that man might meet his Elijah at the gate of the vineyard. Another man is trying to get away from the impressions of his better days. As he passes hurriedly along, perhaps on a Sabbath day like this, some door opens, and some wave of sound comes out from the worshipping congregation. Memories are at once set at work to carry him back to his purer days. God has sent some Elijah to meet him at the gate of the vineyard. Oh, blessed be God, for the love that will not let us slip easily into hell! And then one cannot help seeing the doom of sin. There is a sort of awful dramatic propriety about this doom: In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood. (T. B. Stephenson, D. D. , LL. D.)
Voices from Naboths vineyard
There are many voices addressed to us from:Naboths vineyard.
I. Beware of covetousness. That vineyard has its counterpart in the case and conduct of many still. Covetousness may assume a thousand camelon hues and phases, but these all resolve themselves into a sinful craving after something other than what we have. Covetousness of means--a grasping after more material wealth; the race for riches. Covetousness of place--aspiring after other positions in life than those which Providence has assigned us;--not because they are better--but because they are other than our present God-appointed lot--invested with an imaginary superiority. And the singular and sad thing is, that such inordinate longings are most frequently manifested, as with Ahab, in the case of those who have least cause to indulge them. The covetous eye cast on the neighbours vineyard is, strange to say, more the sin of the affluent than of the needy,--of the owner of the lordly mansion than of the humble cottage. The man with his clay floor, and thatched roof, and rude wooden rafters, though standing far more in need of increase to his comfort, is often (is generally) more contented and satisfied by far than he whose cup is full. The old story, which every schoolboy knows, is a faithful picture of human nature. It was Alexander, not defeated, but victorious--Alexander, not the lord of one kingdom, but the sovereign of the world, who wept unsatisfied tears. How many there are, surrounded with all possible affluence and comfort, who put a life-thorn in their side by some similar chase after a denied good, some similar fretting about a denied trifle. They have abundance; the horn of plenty has poured its contents into their lap. But a neighbour possesses something which they fancy they might have also. Like Haman, though their history has been a golden dream of prosperity;--advancement and honour such as the brightest visions of youth could never have pictured,--yet all this avails them nothing, so long as they see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the kings gate! Seek to suppress these unworthy envious longings. For which things sake, says the apostle (and among these things is covetousness), the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. Covetousness, God makes a synonym for idolatry. He classes the covetous in the same category with the worshippers of stocks and stones. Be content with such things as ye have.
II. Keep out of the way of temptation. If Ahab, knowing his own weakness and besetting sin, had put a restraint on his covetous eye, and not allowed.it to stray on his neighbours forbidden property, it would have saved a black page in his history, and the responsibilities of a heinous crime. Let us beware of tampering with evil. If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. Avoid it, says the wise man, speaking of this path of temptation, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. Each has his own strong temptation,--the fragile part of his nature,--his besetting sin.. That sin should be specially watched, muzzled, curbed;--that gate of temptation specially padlocked and sentinelled. One guilty dereliction of duty,--one unhappy abandonment of principle,--one inconsistent, thoughtless word or deed,--may be the progenitor of unnumbered evils. How many have bartered their peace of conscience for veriest trifles:--sold a richer inheritance than Esaus birthright for a mess of earthly pottage! And once the first fatal step is taken, it cannot be so easily undone. Once the blot on fair character is made, the stain is not so easily erased.
III. Be sure your sin will find you out. Ahab and Jezebel, as we have seen, had managed to a wish their accursed plot. The wheels of crime had moved softly along without one rut or impediment in the way. The two murderers paced their blood-stained inheritance without fear of challenge or discovery.:Naboth was in that silent land where no voice of protest can be heard against high-handed inquity. But there was a God in heaven who maketh inquisition for blood, and who remembered them. Their time for retribution did come at last, although years of gracious forbearance were suffered to intervene. And are the principles of Gods moral government different now? It is true, indeed, that the present economy deals not so exclusively as the old in temporal retribution. Sinners now have before them the surer and more terrible recompense and vengeance of a world to come. But not unfrequently here also, retribution still follows, and sooner or later overtakes, the defiant transgressor. Conscience, like another stern Elijah in the vineyard of Naboth, will confront the transgressor and utter a withering doom. How many such an Elijah stands a rebuker within the gates of modem vineyards, purchased by the reward of iniquity! How many such an Elijah stands a ghostly sentinel by the door of that house whose stones have been hewn and polished and piled by illicit gain! How many an Elijah mounts on the back of the modem chariot, horsed and harnessed, pillowed and cushioned and liveried with the amassings of successful roguery! How many an Elijah stands in the midst of banquet-hall and drawing-room scowling down on some murderer of domestic peace and innocence, who has intruded into vineyards more sacred than Naboths,--trampled virtue under foot, and left the broken, bleeding vine, to trail its shattered tendrils unpitied on the ground! And even should conscience itself, in this world be defied and overborne; at all events in the world to come, sin must be discovered; retribution (long evaded here) will at last exact its uttermost farthing. The most awful picture of a state of eternal punishment is that of sinners surrendered to the mastery of their own special transgression; these sins, like the fabled furies, following them, in unrelenting pursuit, from hall to hall and from cavern to cavern in the regions of unending woe;--and they, at last, hunted down, wearied, breathless, with the unavailing effort to escape the tormentors, crouching in wild despair, and exclaiming, like Ahab to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
.
Our desires may undo us
1. There is no more striking illustration of this proverb than that supplied in the sacred story of King Ahab and Naboth of Jezreel. It is a curse of undisciplined desire that it never has enough. It has been asked, When is a man rich enough? and it has been answered, When he has a little more than he has. A little more just to make an even sum, to secure this profitable investment, to finish this building, to make a complete ring-fence around this property, to gratify this harmless fad or to please some friends taste--just a little more, and I shall be content, and then I will rest and be thankful. But undisciplined desire never comes to the resting-place, because such desire always increases with every new accession.
2. Undisciplined desire is never reasonable. All considerations of fairness and justice, of right and wrong, of doing to others what we would they should do to us, must give way to this masterful desire.
3. But a man with a great passion of desire seldom hesitates long to use any means, however unlawful, to gain his object. He either clears the path himself, or, is too weak and cowardly to work with his own hands, he finds some strong and unscrupulous instrument.
4. But when such a man as Ahab gains his hearts desire, is he satisfied with his possessions? Said Jezebel, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Did he find the vineyard as large as it had appeared through the halo of his glowing hopes? Would it really make a satisfactory garden of herbs? Most of us have learned that there are two ways of looking through a telescope. One removes a near object far away, but it hides the blemishes; the other brings the object near, but it reveals all the blemishes. Possession exposes everything. And if the desire has been unreasonable and passionate, and especially if the conscience of the possessor is aroused to condemn the means used, there is left only a miserable sense of disappointment. When men use unlawful means to gain their desires, they must face all the consequences. In what beautiful contrast appears the testimony of St. Paul! I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content . . . In all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me. (Thomas Wilde.)
Mastery of self
Sir Richard Grenville said of Thomas Stukeley, He was a knight who wanted but one step to greatness, and that was, that in his excessive hurry to rule other people, he forgot to rule himself. The true victor is he who leads his own captivity captive, is master of his own heart by giving it over to the Master Himself. Until the kingdom that has been divided is united, how can it conquer its foes?
The discontented man
A contented man may have enough, but a discontented man never can; his heart is like the Slough of Despond into which thousands of waggon loads of the best material were cast, and yet the slough did swallow up all, and was none the better. Discontent is a bottomless bog into which if one world were cast it would quiver and heave for another. A discontented man dooms himself to the direst form of poverty, yea, he makes himself so great a pauper that the revenues of empires could not enrich him. Are you impatient in your present position? Believe me that, as George Herbert said of revenues in times gone by, He that cannot live on twenty pounds a year cannot live on forty; so may I say: he who is not contented in his present position will not be contented in another though it bring him double possessions. When the vulture of dissatisfaction has once fixed its talons in the breast it will not cease to tear at your vitals. (C H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 "The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the…
NABOTHS VINEYARD
1Ki_21:1-29
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"The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment."
- Job_20:5
"If weakness may excuse,
What murderer, what traitor, parricide,
Incestuous, sacrilegious, but may plead it?
All wickedness is weakness."
- Samson Agonistes.
The chief glory of the institution of prophecy was that it rightly estimated the supremacy of the moral law. The prophets saw that the enforcement of one precept of righteousness involved more true religion than hundreds of pages of Levitic ritual. It is the temptation of priests and Pharisees to sink into formalism; to warp the conceptions of the Almighty into that of a Deity who is jealous about inconceivable pettinesses of ceremonial; to think that the Eternal cares about niceties of rubric, rules of ablutions, varieties of nomenclature or organization. In their solicitude about these nullities they often forget, as they did in the days of Christ, the weightier matters of the law, mercy, judgment, and truth. When religion has been dwarfed into these inanities the men who deem themselves its only orthodox votaries, and scorn all others as "lax" and "latitudinarian," are not only ready to persecute every genuine teacher of righteousness, but even to murder the Christ Himself. They come to think that falsehood and cruelty cease to be criminal when practiced in the cause of religious intolerance.
Against all such dwarfing perversion of the conceptions of the essential service which man owes to God the prophets were called forth to be in age after age the energetic remonstrants. It is true that they also had their own special temptations; they, too, might become the slaves of shibboleths; they might sink into a sort of automatic or mechanical form of prophecy which contented itself with the wearing of garbs and the repetition of formulae long after they had become evacuated of their meaning. {Zec_13:4} They might distort the message "Thus saith Jehovah" to serve their own ends. They might yield to the temptations both of individual and of corporate ambition. They might assume the hairy garb and rough locks of Elijah for the sake of the awe they inspired while their heart "was not but for their own covetousness." {Jer_22:17} They might abuse their prestige to promote their own party or their own interests. They were assailed by the same perils to which in after days so many monks, hermits, and religious societies succumbed. Many a man became a nominal prophet, as many a man became a monk, because the office secured to him a maintenance-
"Twas not for nothing the good bellyful, The warm serge and the rope that goes all round, And day long blessed idleness besides";
and also because it surrounded him with a halo of imaginary sanctity. The monks, we know, by their turbulence and partisanship, became the terror of the fourth century after Christ, and no men more emphatically denounce their mendicancy and their impostures than the very fathers who, like St. Jerome and St. Augustine, were most enamored of their ideal. As for the hermits, if one of them securely established a reputation for abnormal austerities he became in his way as powerful as a king. In the stories even of such a man as St. Martin of Tours we detect now and then a gleam of hauteur, of which traces are not lacking in the stories of these nameless or famous prophets in the Book of Kings.
No human institution, even if it be avowedly religious, is safe from the perilous seductions of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Perpetually
"The old order changeth, giving place to new, And God fulfils Himself in many ways Lest one good custom should corrupt the world."
Mendicant brotherhoods and ascetic communities were soon able by legal fictions, to revel in opulence, to steep themselves in luxury, and yet to wield a religious authority which princes envied. When we read what the Benedictines and the Minorites and the Carthusians often became we are the less surprised to find that even the Schools of the Prophets, while Elijah and Elisha yet lived, could abdicate as a body their best functions, and deceiving and deceived could learn to answer erring kings according to their idols.
But the greatest and truest prophets rose superior to the influences which tended to debase the vulgar herd of their followers in days when prophecy grew into an institution and the world became content to side with a church which gave it no trouble and mainly spoke in its own tones. True prophecy cannot be made a matter of education or "tamed out of its splendid passion." The greatest prophets, like Amos and Isaiah, did not come out of the Schools of the Prophets. Inspiration cannot be cultivated, or trained to grow up a wall. "Much learning," says Heraclitus very profoundly, "does not teach; but the Sibyl with maddening lips, uttering things unbeautified, unperfumed, and unadorned, reaches through myriads of years because of God." The man whom God has summoned forth to speak the true word or do the heroic deed, at the cost of all hatred, or of death itself, has normally to protest not only against priests, but against his fellow-prophets also when they immorally acquiesced in oppression and wrong which custom sanctioned. {see Jer_23:20-40} It was by such true prophets that the Hebrews and through them the world were taught the ideal of righteousness. Their greatest service was to uphold against idolatry, formalism, and worldliness, the simple standard of the moral law.
It was owing to such teaching that the Israelites formed a true judgment of Ahabs culpability. The act which was held to have outweighed all his other crimes, and to have precipitated his final doom, was an isolated act of high-handed injustice to an ordinary citizen.
Ahab was a builder. He had built cities and palaces, and was specially attached to his palace at Jezreel, which he wished to make the most delightful of summer residences. It was unique in its splendor as the first palace inlaid with ivory. The nation had heard of Solomons ivory throne, but never till this time of an "ivory palace." But a palace is nothing without pleasant gardens. The neighborhood of Jezreel, as is still shown by the ancient winepresses cut out of the rock in the neighborhood of its ruins, was enriched by vineyards, and one of these vineyards adjoining the palace belonged to a citizen named Naboth. It happened that no other ground would so well have served the purpose of Ahab to make a garden near his palace, and he made Naboth a fair offer for it. I will give you, he said, "a better vineyard for it, or I will pay you its full value in ingots of silver."
Naboth, however, was perfectly within his rights in rejecting the offer. It was the inheritance of his fathers, and considerations nothing short of sacred-considerations which then or afterwards found a place in the written statutes of the nation-made it wrong in his judgment to sell it. He sturdily refused the offer of the king. His case was different from that of the Jebusite prince Araunah, who had sold his threshing-floor to David, and that of Shemer, who sold the Hill of Samaria to Omri. {1Ki_16:24}
A sensible man would have accepted the inevitable, and done the best he could to find a garden elsewhere. But Ahab, who could not bear to be thwarted, came into his house "heavy and displeased." Like an overgrown, sullen boy he flung himself on his divan, turned his face to the wall, and would not eat.
News came to Jezebel in her seraglio of her lords ill-humor, and she came to ask him, "What mutiny in his spirit made him decline to take food?"
He told her the sturdy refusal of Naboth, and she broke into a scornful laugh. "Are you King of Israel?" she asked. "Why this is playing at kinghood! It is not the way we do things in Tyre. Arise, eat bread, be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."
Did he admire the mannish spirit of the Syrian princess, or did he secretly shrink from it? At any rate he let Jezebel take her own course. With intrepid insolence she at once wrote a letter in Ahabs name from Samaria, and sent it sealed with his signet to the elders of Jezreel. She ordered them to proclaim a fast as though to avert some public calamity, and-with a touch of dreadful malice as though to aggravate the horror of his ruin-to exalt Naboth to a conspicuous position in the assembly. They were to get hold of two "sons of worthlessness," professional perjurers, and to accuse Naboth of blasphemy against God and the king. His mode of refusing the vineyard might give some colorable pretext to the charge. On the testimony of those two false witnesses Naboth must be condemned, and then they must drag him outside the city to the pool or tank with his sons and stone them all.
Everything was done by the subservient elders of Jezreel exactly as she had directed. Their dawning readiness to carry out her vile commands, the deadliest incidental proof of the corruption which she and her crew of: alien idolaters had wrought in Israel. On that very evening Jezebel received the message, "Naboth is stoned and is dead." By the savage law of those days his innocent sons were involved in his overthrow, {2Ki_9:26} and his property, left without heirs, reverted by confiscation to the crown, {2Sa_16:4} "Arise," said the triumphant sorceress, "and take possession of the vineyard you wished for. I have given it to you as I promised. Its owner and his sons have died the deaths of blasphemers, and lie crushed under the stones outside Jezreel."
Caring only for the gratification of his wish, heedless of the means employed, hastily and joyously at early dawn the king arose to seize the coveted vineyard. The dark deed had been done at night, the king was alert with the morning light. He rode in his chariot from Samaria to Jezreel, which is but seven miles distant, and he rode in something of military state, for in separate chariots, or else riding in the same chariot, behind him were two war-like youths, Jehu and Bidkar, who were destined to remember the events of that day, and to refer to them four years afterwards, when one had become king and the other his chief commander. {2Ki_9:25; 2Ki_9:36}
But the kings joy was short-lived!
News of the black crime had come to Elijah, probably in his lonely retreat in some cave at Carmel. He was a man who, though he flamed out on great occasions like a meteor portending ruin to the guilty, yet lived in general a hidden life. Six years had elapsed since the calling of Elisha, and we have not once been reminded of his existence. But now he was instantly inspired to protest against the atrocious act of robbery and oppression, and to denounce upon it an awful retribution which not even Baal-worship had called forth.
Ahab was at the summit of his hopes. He was about to complete his summer palace and to grasp the fruits of the crime which he had allowed the wife to commit. But at the gate of Naboths vineyard stood the swart figure of the Prophet in his hairy garb. We can imagine the revulsion of feeling which drove the blood to the kings heart as he instantly felt that he had sinned in vain. The advantage of his crime was snatched from him at the instant of fruition. Half in anger, half in anguish, he cried, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?"
"I have found thee," said the Prophet, speaking in Jehovahs name. "Thou hast sold thyself to work evil before me, and I will requite it and extinguish thee before me. Surely the Lord saw yester night the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons. Thy dynasty shall be cut off to the last man, like that of Jeroboam, like that of Baasha. Where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick thine. The harlots shall wash themselves in the water which thy blood has stained. Him that dieth of thee in the city the dogs shall eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the vultures rend, and the dogs shall eat Jezebel also in the moat of Jezreel."
It is the duty of prophets to stand before kings and not he ashamed. So had Abraham stood before Nimrod, and Moses before Pharaoh, and Samuel before Saul, and Nathan before David, and Iddo before Jeroboam. So was Isaiah to stand hereafter before Ahaz, and Jeremiah before Jehoiachin, and John the Baptist before Herod, and Paul before Nero. Nor has it been at all otherwise in modern days. So did St. Ignatius confront Trajan, and St. Ambrose brave the Empress Justina, and St. Martin the Usurper Maximus, and St. Chrysostom the fierce Eudoxia, and St. Basil the heretic Valens, and St. Columban the savage Thierry, and St. Dunstan our half-barbarous Edgar. So, too, in later days, Savonarola could speak the bare bold truth to Lorenzo the Magnificent, and Knox to Mary Queen of Scots, and Bishop Ken to Charles II. But never was any king confronted by so awful a denunciation of doom. Probably the moment that Elijah had uttered it he disappeared; but could not a swift arrow have reached him from Jehus or Bidkars bow? We know how they remembered two reigns later the thunder of those awful words, but they would hardly have disobeyed the mandate of their king had he bidden them to seize or slay the Prophet. Nothing was further from their thoughts. Elijah had become to Ahab the incarnation of his own awakened conscience, and it spoke to him in the thunders of Sinai. He quailed before the tremendous imprecation. We may well doubt whether he even so much as entered again the vineyard of Naboth; never certainly could he have enjoyed it. He had indeed sold himself to do evil, and, as always happens to such colossal criminals, he had sold himself for naught-as Achan did for a buried robe and a useless ingot, and Judas for the thirty pieces of silver which he could only dash down on the Temple floor. Ahab turned away from the vineyard, which might well seem to him haunted by the ghosts of his murdered victims and its clusters full of blood. He rent his clothes, and clad himself in sackcloth and slept in sackcloth, and went about barefooted with slow steps and bent brow, a stricken man. Thenceforward as long as he lived he kept in penitence and humiliation the anniversary of Naboths death, as James IV of Scotland kept the anniversary of the death of the father against whom he had rebelled.
This penitence, though it does not seem to have been lasting, was not wholly in vain. Elijah received a Divine intimation that, because the king troubled himself, the threatened evil should in part be postponed to the days of his sons. The sun of the unfortunate and miserable dynasty set in blood. But though it is recorded that, incited by his Tyrian wife, he did very abominably in worshipping "idol-blocks," and following the ways of the old Canaanite inhabitants of the land, none of his crimes left a deeper brand upon his memory than the judicial seizure of the vineyard which he had coveted and the judicial murder of Naboth and his sons.
How adamantine, how irreversible is the law of retribution! With what normal and natural development, apart from every arbitrary infliction, is the irrevocable prophecy fulfilled: "Be sure your sin will find you out."
"Yea, he loved cursing, and it came unto him; Yea, he delighted not in blessing, and it is far from him Yea, he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, And it came into his bowels like water, like oil into his bones." {Psa_109:17-18}
Ahab had to be taught by adversity since he refused the lesson of prosperity.
"Daughter of Jove, relentless power,
Thou tamer of the human breast,
Whose iron scourge and torturing hour
The bad affright, afflict the best,
Bound in thine adamantine chain
The proud are taught to taste of pain,
And purple tyrants vainly groan
With woes unfelt before, unpitied and alone."
But as for Elijah himself, he once more vanished into the solitude of his own life, and we do; not hear of him again till four years later, when he sent to Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, the message of his doom.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 17 1Ki_21:1. Naboth the Jezreelite—Naboth’ נָבוֹת, fruits, according to Gesenius;…
AHAB AND THE VINEYARD OF NABOTH
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
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1Ki_21:1. Naboth the Jezreelite—Naboth’ נָבוֹת, fruits, according to Gesenius; but pre-eminence, according to Fürst. He was an Israelite resident in the town of Jezreel (the Alex. Sept. follows the Hebrew, and designates him an Israelite throughout the whole chapter) owning a plot of ground (2Ki_9:25-26) situate on the eastern slope of the hill of Jezreel, as well, also, as the vineyard, whose location is uncertain. Vineyard in Jezreel—a town in the tribe of Issachar (Jos_19:18), where the kings of Israel had a palace (1Ki_18:45). Hard by the palace of Ahab—The Sept. reads instead, “bard by the threshing floor of Ahab, king of Samaria.” The dispute as to location of the vineyard turns upon the question whether “the palace” here referred to was the king’s residence at Jezreel or at Samaria. Note, however, that the words in 1Ki_21:4—Ahab came into his house, &c.—are identical with those in chap. 1Ki_20:43, where the further explanation points to Samaria as his home. Further, in 1Ki_21:8, we find that Jezebel sends her letters to Jezreel, as if she were resident in some other place; and that the elders of Jezreel send her tidings (1Ki_21:14) of Naboth’s death, which would certainly have been superfluous if she were at the time resident in Jezreel. So probably the vineyard was hard by the palace in Samaria, and the king came to Naboth at Jezreel to ask this possession of its owner.
1Ki_21:3. Naboth said, the Lord forbid it me—Lit., Be it to me far from Jehovah (לִּי מֵיְהָוֹה) that I, &c., indicating both the personal loyalty of his faith in Jehovah, and his religious purpose not to sell God’s heritage to an idolatrous king.
1Ki_21:5. Why is thy spirit sad?—See for סָרָה note on chap. 1Ki_20:43—resentful.
1Ki_21:7. Dost thou now govern Israel?—Either an ironical taunt. or a rallying call; for the words are usually translated imperatively: “Thou! exert thy royal sway over Israel!”
1Ki_21:8. She wrote letters—This is the solitary instance recorded in the Bible of a woman being able to write. Female education in the East then, as now, rendered it extremely exceptional for a woman to possess such a qualification. Sent the letters (lit. the letter) unto the elders and nobles that, in his city, dwelt with Naboth—a statement which affirms both that Jezreel was the native city of Naboth, and his usual abode. These elders and nobles were his fellow-townsmen.
1Ki_21:9. Proclaim a fast—An observance only proper on occasions of great distress and national calamities (Jdg_20:26; 1Sa_7:6; Joe_1:14; Joe_2:12). This would impart an appearance of gravity to the frivolous but foul procedure.
1Ki_21:10. Thou didst blaspheme God and the king—בֵּרַכְתָּ אֱלֹהִים וָמֶלֶךְ. The word בָּרַךְ means to bless, reverence, adore. “Thou hast blessed Elohim [not using the name JEHOVAH] and the king.” Keil accepts the words as meaning, Thou hast blessed—i.e., bid farewell to, taken thy leave of God and the king; because at departure one utters a benediction [cf. Deu_13:11; Lev_24:14 sq.; and 2Sa_16:9].
1Ki_21:11. Did as Jezebel had sent unto them—Shows their absolute moral degradation and slavish submission before the tyranny of this woman.
1Ki_21:15. Arise, take possession … for Naboth is not alive, but dead—His possessions became confiscated, falling into the king’s hands (cf. 2Sa_16:4; Deu_13:16).
1Ki_21:16. Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard—From Samaria to Jezreel.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_21:1-16
THE OVERMASTERING POWER OF A COVETOUS SPIRIT
I. That a covetous spirit is unsatisfied with the most ample possessions (1Ki_21:1-3). About twenty-five miles from Samaria Ahab had his summer palace, his vast park and favourite hunting seat at Jezreel—the Windsor of England, and Fontainebleau of France. After his successful wars with Syria, he gives himself to luxury and pleasure, and employs himself in enlarging and beautifying his summer residence. Not content with what he already possesses, he covets what belongs to his subjects, as the people who demanded a king were forewarned would be the case (1Sa_8:14). More particularly is he anxious to possess a vineyard owned by one Naboth, of an illustrious family, and to add it to the royal demesnes. But Naboth refuses to part with his property, and confirms his refusal in the name of Jehovah. It is the curse of covetousness to be never satisfied. As a ship may be overladen with gold and silver even unto sinking, and yet have compass and sides enough to hold ten times more, so covetous men, though they have enough to sink them, yet have they never enough to satisfy them. “This kyte-footed corruption, wherever it domineers, blasts and banishes all nobleness of spirit, natural affection, humanity, reason, discretion, manliness, mutual entertainment, intercourse of kindness and love; so that, for any fair dealing, a man had as good converse with a cannibal as with a truly covetous caitiff.”
II. That a covetous spirit gives way to unmanly and helpless distress when it cannot have all it wishes (1Ki_21:4). Like a spoilt child, because he cannot have his toy, Ahab punishes himself by yielding to a fit of fretfulness and sour temper that completely prostrated him. Avarice, like every other evil passion, leads to moral pauperism. “Had covetous men, as the fable goes of Briareus, each of them one hundred hands,” writes Dryden, “they would all of them be employed in grasping and gathering, and hardly one of them in giving or laying out; a thing in itself so monstrous that no thing in nature besides it is like it, except it be death and the grave, the only things I know which are always carrying off the spoils of the world, and never making restitution.” Covetousness has been well called “the great sepulchre of all other passions.” The covetous monarch, surrounded with the luxuries and wealth of a kingdom, blubbers and frets because he does not own a paltry herb garden.
“Some, o’er enamoured of their bags, run mad,
Groan under gold, yet weep for want of bread.”
Young.
III. That a covetous spirit is utterly unscrupulous as to the means by which its wishes are gratified (1Ki_21:5-14).
1. It is at the mercy of the vilest agents. Jezebel knew how to take advantage of the weak moments of her weak husband, and, unhappily, had at her beck the agents who were ready to carry out any diabolical plot she might invent. “Big and black though the villany appear, the wicked queen resolved that Naboth should be executed for treason, and then his property, with the coveted vineyard included, would all revert to the crown as a criminal’s possessions. While her poor fool of a husband, therefore, is sleeping off his wounded pride, she, never accustomed to stand upon trifles, commits the fourfold crimes of forgery, false-witness, perjury, and murder. We are shocked when we read of the massacre of Glencoe in the very midst of the open-handed hospitality of the children of the mountains. Our whole soul shudders at the story of that Russian soldier who, during the Crimean war, solicited in his dying agonies a cup of cold water from an English officer, and then pointed his pistol right at his benefactor’s heart. And with kindred feelings we read of the horrible contradiction before us—an unoffending follower of God compelled to surrender his life, a victim to the machinations of a heathen queen, screening, but only in reality aggravating, her wickedness under the thin disguise of a new-born religious zeal.”
2. It weakly sanctions deeds it has not itself the courage to do or prevent. Ahab must have known about the execution and its alleged cause; and he knew Jezebel well enough to know that she would not hesitate at any means by which her ends could be gained. Naboth stood between him and his avaricious purpose; and he cared not how the obstacle was removed. The sufferings of Naboth and his sons, who perished with their father (2Ki_9:26), caused the king no uneasiness. A covetous spirit is essentially mean, cowardly, heartless.
IV. That a covetous spirit eagerly clutches its prize, little caring how it has been acquired, and little dreaming what a curse it may bring (1Ki_21:15-16). Without wasting a pang of regret upon the cruel fate of his harmless victims, Ahab drives with all speed to Jezreel, and jauntily enters into possession of the confiscated estate. “He walks round and round; he admires trellis and cluster, and branches hanging over the wall. He plans improvement here and enlargement there, by way of preparing for the flower-garden he has in view. And now he turns to leave, when, just at the very moment, let us indulge the fancy, he is plucking a bunch of the dead man’s grapes as a gift for Jezebel, there confronts him—like an apparition from the other world, like the ghost of Naboth, like Banquo in another scene—one he has not seen for more than seven years, never since they parted that night of the rushing storm at the gate of Jezreel—one he had thought Jezebel had either effectually frightened, or who had gone back to his mountains, or down to his grave; and yet there he is! still with the long shaggy locks, the sheep-skin mantle, the dark knitted brows, and the thunder peal about to issue from those awful lips.” (Howat.) It is ELIJAH! and from his mouth the trembling Ahab receives his doom—the overthrow and ruin of his house. A covetous man may gain his unholy ends, but he gains also disappointment, misery, remorse. What is wealth, when peace of mind and the hope of the heavenly inheritance are gone?
LESSONS:—
1. The demands of covetousness are insatiable.
2. A covetous spirit is easily tempted to commit the worst crimes.
3. Covetousness prepares the instrument of its own torment.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_21:1-16. Naboth’s vineyard. In this narrative we have an exhibition of the following topics:—I. Covetousness. Ahab saw Naboth’s garden; its situation, and in all likelihood its condition, made it desirable in his eyes. He offered Naboth a price for it which he declined, because it was unlawful and dishonourable to sell it. This ought to have satisfied Ahab, but it did not; he was annoyed and vexed at being refused, and willingly allowed his unscrupulous wife to resort to any means to secure for him his coveted prize. How many are led away by covetousness; resorting to illegal means to gain the object of their desire. David conceived an inordinate desire for Uriah’s wife, and planned the death of her husband that his desire might be gratified. II. Manly independence. Naboth said to Ahab: “The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my father unto thee.” It was a great temptation to Naboth to yield to the expressed wish of the king; he might gain favour, and be remembered by the king in many ways to his temporal advantage. Many yield to temptations of this kind; they will do almost anything to gain the favour or the kindly notice of the wealthy or the influential in society. But Naboth was no sneak. He would not satisfy right to the pleasure even of the king, and told him so. It is well for men to cultivate kindliness and obliging manners, but not at the expense of their own self-respect and manly independence. III. Despotism. As soon as Jezebel made the proposal to murder Naboth, it was readily executed. It does not appear as if there was any protest against it, either on the ground of illegality or unrighteousness. There was no fear of any legal consequences. The will of the queen was supreme, and there would be no desire to resist it. Such deeds as the murder of Naboth fill the annals of despotism. IV. Divine retribution. The death of Naboth was duly announced to Ahab, and he arose to go to take possession of the coveted vineyard. He little thought that the whole proceedings were watched by another King—that the blood of Naboth had ascended into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, crying for vengeance. He thought not of these things; but God marked his sin, and sent Elijah to charge him with it, and to declare unto him God’s vengeance. Even so the sinner may indulge in his sinful course, never thinking that there is an all-seeing eye resting upon him.—The Study and Pulpit.
—Voices from Naboth’s vineyard I. One of these is—Beware of covetousness. That vineyard has its counterpart in the case and conduct of many still. Covetousness may assume a thousand chameleon hues and phases, but these all resolve themselves into a sinful craving after something other than what we have. Covetousness of means: a grasping after material wealth, the race for riches. Covetousness of place: aspiring after other positions in life than those which Providence has assigned to us, not because they are better, but because they are other than our God-appointed lot, invested with an imaginary superiority. And the singular and sad thing is, that such inordinate longings are most frequently manifested, as with Ahab, in the case of those who have least cause to indulge them. How many there are surrounded with all possible affluence and comfort, who put a life thorn in their side by some similar chase after a denied good, some similar fretting about a denied, trifle. Be assured that carping discontent will grow, if you feed it, till it comes to eat out the kernel of life’s happiness; a discontented manhood or womanhood culminating in that saddest of conditions, a peevish old age. II. Another of the voices is, Keep out of the way of temptation. If Ahab, knowing his weakness and besetting sin, had put a restraint upon his covetous eye, and not allowed it to stray upon his neighbour’s forbidden property, it would have saved a black page in his history, and the responsibility of a heinous crime. If Achan had not cast his eye on the goodly Babylonish garment, the shekels of silver and the wedge of gold, he would have saved Israel a bloody discomfiture and himself a fearful end. Each has his own strong temptation—his besetting sin. That sin should be specially watched, muzzled, curbed; that gate of temptation specially padlocked and sentinelled. III. Another voice is, Be sure your sin will find you out. Ahab and Jezebel, as we have seen, had managed to a wish their accursed plot. The wheels of crime had moved softly along without one rut or impediment in the way. The two murderers paced their blood-stained inheritance without fear of challenge or discovery. Their time for retribution did come at last, although years of gracious forbearance were suffered to intervene. And are the principles of God’s moral government different now?—Macduff.
1Ki_21:1-4. An undisciplined nature. I. Fancies it may gain possession of whatever it covets. II. Cannot understand the motives of those who refuse to gratify its desires. III. Easily overwhelmed with disappointment and chagrin.
1Ki_21:1. Naboth had a fair vineyard; it had been better for him to have had none: his vineyard yielded him the bitter grapes of death. Why do we call those goods, which are many times the bane of the owner? Naboth’s vineyard lay near to the court of Jezebel: it had been better for him had it been planted in the wilderness. It was now the perpetual object of an evil eye, and stirred those desires which could neither be well desired, nor satisfied: eminency is still joined with peril, obscurity with peace. There can be no worse annoyance to an inheritance, than the greatness of an evil neighbour.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_21:2. Great lords often have fancies which cost them more time and money than do their chief and holiest duties. Thus Ahab thought more of the enlargement and adornment of his garden than of the good of his subjects. The desire for things which serve for pleasure is often a temptation to grievous sin. Therefore says the Scripture: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods, nor anything that is his.” Let the needy be thy first care, not thine own pleasure. It is a great gain to be godly and contented. Watch over thine heart, for desires apparently lawful, if not resisted and denied, may lead to ruin.—Lange.
1Ki_21:3. True courage the fruit of righteousness. 1 Regards worldly possessions as a sacred trust.
2. Witnesses for God in the midst of prevalent idolatry.
3. Dares to oppose the wishes of an unrighteous king.
—Naboth shows, by the very first words of his reply, that he is a worshipper of Jehovah, not of Baal; and that he does not fear to confess his faith before the idolatrous king. He also indicates by the form of his asseveration that he considers it would be wrong for him to comply with the king’s request. It is plain, therefore, that we have not here a mere refusal arising out of a spirit of sturdy independence, or one based upon sentiment—the sentiment which attaches men to ancestral estates. Naboth objects to the king’s proposal as wrong. This is best explained by those passages of the law which forbid the alienation of landed property, and especially the transfer, of estates from one tribe to another (Lev_25:23-28; Num_36:7).—Speaker’s Comm.
1Ki_21:4. Godless people regard the care taken by the pious to observe reverently the divine law as so much useless scrupulousness. Even so, in our day, does the worldling look with an evil eye upon the Christian who, for the sake of the Divine Word, refuses to yield to his wishes, for either he recognizes no divine authority, or exalts his own above it. The children of this world, whose aims and designs are wholly material, will often fret and grieve for days when they are compelled to give up a temporal gain, or a promised enjoyment, whilst the condition of their souls never causes them the slightest grief. The high and mighty ones of this world often think that all other people are placed here simply to yield obedience to their whims. They cannot comprehend that all men are not to be bought with gold, and woe to that inferior whose refusal destroys their darling plans.—Lange.
—O the impotent passion and insatiable desires of covetousness! Ahab is lord and king of all the territories of Israel: Naboth is the owner of one poor vineyard. Ahab cannot enjoy Israel if Naboth enjoy his vineyard. Whether is the wealthier? I do not hear Naboth wish for anything of Ahab’s; 1 hear Ahab wishing, not without indignation of a repulse, for somewhat from Naboth. Riches and poverty are no more in the heart than in the hand: he is wealthy that is contented; he is poor that wanteth more.—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_21:5-16. The apparently fortunate, but really unfortunate and accursed, marriage of Ahab and Jezebel. I. She seeks the sorrowful man, shares his grief, and seeks to comfort him, as is the province of a wife; but, instead of pointing him to the true Comforter, and leading his heart to higher and better things, she strengthens him in his grasping desire after others’ property, and leads him on still further. II. She reminds him that he is the lord and master, and recognizes him as such, as a wife should; but, at the same moment, she assumes the dominion, and the weak man lets her manage and rule, as if she were the man and he the woman. III. She rejoices to accomplish an ardent wish of her husband’s, and to make him a worthy present, as every faithful spouse should strive to do; but it is a blood-stained and stolen gift, obtained with deceit and falsehood, and Ahab delights in it. Thus both husband and wife, who together should be blest after God’s ordinance, together walk on to ruin and destruction.—Lange.
1Ki_21:5-14. The terrible power of an impious queen. I. Knows how to take advantage of a weak and fretful husband (1Ki_21:5-7). II. Shrinks not from adopting the most diabolical means of accomplishing her designs (1Ki_21:8-10). III. Can command accomplices in carrying out any deed of villany (1Ki_21:11-12). IV. Is permitted to perpetrate the most horrible acts of cruelty and murder (1Ki_21:13-14).
1Ki_21:5-7. He that caused the disease sends him a physician. Satan knew of old how to make use of such helpers. Jezebel comes to Ahab’s bedside, and casts cold water in his face, and puts into him spirits of her own extracting. Ahab wanted neither wit nor wickedness; yet is he in both a very novice to this Sidonian dame. There needs no other devil than Jezebel, whether to project evil or work it. She chides the pusillanimity of her dejected husband, and persuades him his rule cannot be free unless it be licentious; that there should be no bounds to sovereignty but will. Already hath she contrived to have by fraud and force what was denied to entreaty. Nothing needs but the name, but the seal of Ahab: let her alone with the rest. How present are the wits of the weaker sex for the devising of wickedness!—Bp. Hall.
1Ki_21:9. But what damnable dissimulation was it in this devilish creature to do her feats under pretext of a fast! This was like that Italian device of a pocket stone bow which, held under a cloak, shoots needles with violence to pierce a man’s body, yet leaves a wound scarcely discernible; or, rather, that other, more detestable, of a pocket church-book with a pistol hid in the binding, which turning to such a page discharges—a plot to entrap him you hate, whilst you are at your devotions together, when there is less suspicion. If Jezebel proclaim a fast, let Naboth look to his life. The Jesuits enjoined a fast and set forth a sevenfold psalmody for the good success of the gunpowder plot; wherein, Rabshakeh-like, they would persuade the world that they come not up against us without the Lord!—Trapp.
1Ki_21:11-14. Evil masters can ever find evil servants, who do their will from ambition or covetousness. Woe, where such things befall! and shame, that in the fairest lands, as in the plains of Jezreel, are often the worst men to be found! Godlessness and corruption in courts is a poison which extends throughout the whole body politic, even to the lowest rank; no example is so powerful upon all classes of society. How many gross, how many refined, sins are committed out of sheer complaisance to high personages, whose favour men wish to seek or preserve! Woe to those lords who find such ready tools in their servants, who will be accomplices in their misdoings, and palliate, or even laud and praise, all their perverse dealings: they undermine the throne more than open enemies. The judgment and condemnation of Naboth compared with that of our Lord. There, as in this instance, offended pride, followed by hatred, accusation of blasphemy and riot; false witnesses and vile judges; and a blind, infuriated populace crying out, Crucify! Crucify!—Lange.
1Ki_21:15-16. Ill-gotten gains.
1. Will not bear examination as to the methods of their acquisition.
2. Are eagerly and gladly seized.
3. Never give the satisfaction expected.
4. Entail unspeakable anxiety and suffering.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 1Ki 21:2-3
1Ki 21:2-3
From this story we learn: (1) what a sacred thing property is; that a man’s possessions (if they be justly come by) belong to him, in the sight of God as well as in the sight of man, and that God will uphold and avenge the man’s right. Naboth loved his own land, and therefore he had a right to keep it. We may say that it was but a fancy of his, if he could have a better vineyard, or the worth of it in money. Remember, at least, that God respected that fancy of his, and justified it, and avenged it. When Elijah accused Ahab in God’s name, he put two counts in the indictment, for Ahab had committed two sins. "Hast thou killed and also taken possession?" Killing was one sin; taking possession was another. And so Ahab learned that God’s law stands for ever, though man’s law be broken or be forgotten by disuse. (2) We learn further that if we give way to our passions, we give way to the devil. Whenever any man gives way to selfishness and self-seeking, to a proud, covetous, envious, peevish temper, the devil is sure to whisper in his ear thoughts which will make him worse than he ever dreamt of being. Ahab knew that he was wrong; he dare not openly rob Naboth of his property; and he went to his house heavy of heart, and refused to eat; and while he was in such a temper as that the devil lost no time in sending an evil spirit to him. It was a woman whom he sent, Jezebel, Ahab’s own wife; she tempted him through his pride and self-conceit; she taunted him into sin. Ahab seems to have taken no part in the murder of Naboth, but by taking possession of his vineyard, and so profiting by the crime, he made himself a partaker in that crime, and had to hear the terrible sentence, "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick thy blood, even thine."
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C. Kingsley, Sermons for the Times, p. 164.
1Ki 21:10
Ahab is akin, both in his sin and his recovery, to the mass of mankind. He has neither sinned like Saul, nor will he mourn like David. He has been pusillanimous in his sin, and he will not be other than faint-hearted in his return to God. He moves, on the whole, in that middle sphere of moral life which is at best never heroic, and at worst something better than detestable, and which is, after all, the sphere of the mass of humankind.
I. Observe, first, that the repentance of Ahab, so far as it went, was a real repentance. (1) There is evidently in him a measure of that fear of God which is the beginning of true spiritual wisdom. (2) He does not attempt to palliate his sin. He is silent, not because he has nothing to acknowledge, but because he knows himself to be so simply and altogether wicked that he has nothing to say.
II. Wherein was Ahab’s penitence deficient? At what point does he cease to be an example and become a terrible warning?
There is nothing in Ahab’s subsequent conduct to show that he had attained to anything deeper than a fear of God’s judgments and an acknowledgment of his own guilt. He feared the consequences of sin, but that by loving God he hated sin itself is more than we can venture to suppose. For: (1) A true hatred of past sins will at all cost put them away and cut off the occasions which led to them. (2) The contrite sinner is concerned for the glory of God, which he has obscured. But with Ahab self was the centre still. He trembled at judgments which would light upon himself; and, on the same principle, he was unequal to sacrifices which were painful to self, however necessary to his Master’s honour.
III. The paramount influence upon Ahab’s mind came from without, and not from within, him. Jezebel stands behind him as an incarnation of the evil one. If Ahab ever struggled to maintain his fear of God, he soon sank vanquished by the more than human energy of his foe, to await his final reprobation.
H. P. Liddon, Oxford Lent Sermons; 1858, No. 10.
References: 1Ki 21:13.—J. M. Ashley, A Festival Year with Great Preachers, p. 30. 1Ki 21:19, 1Ki 21:20.—C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 317.
1Ki 21:20
In this story there are three things to be noticed:—
I. The cowardice of guilt. Ahab quailed before Elijah like a coward and a slave. A guilty conscience can make a coward even of a king.
II. Friends mistaken for enemies. Ahab called Elijah his enemy. He thought him his enemy because he did not encourage him in his sins, as others did, but reproved him and tried to turn him from them. There are people who take God for their Enemy, just as Ahab called Elijah by this name. Surely sin can never deceive us so completely as when it leads us to this horrible mistake.
III. Enemies disguised as friends. Ahab thought Jezebel his friend when she got him the vineyard he coveted. He thought the magistrates his friends who so basely put Naboth to death. He thought the prophets of Baal his friends who feasted at his table and flattered him with their smooth tongues. He thought them his friends, but they were his worst enemies. You may be sure he is a false friend who encourages you to act contrary to the wishes of your parents and to the wishes of your Father in heaven.
J. Stalker, The New Song, and Other Sermons for the Children’s Hour, p. 181.
I. We see here, in the first place, this broad principle.: pleasure won by sin is peace lost. While sin is yet tempting us it is loved; when sin is done, it is loathed. Naboth’s blood stains the leaves of Naboth’s garden. Elijah is always waiting at the gate of the ill-gotten possession.
II. Sin is blind to its true friends and its real foes. Elijah was the best friend Ahab had in the kingdom. Jezebel was the worst tempter that hell could have sent him. This is one of the certainest workings of evil desires in our own spirits, that they pervert to us all the relations of things, that they make us blind to all the truths of God’s universe. Sin, perverted and blinded, stumbles about in its darkness, and mistakes the friend for the foe and the foe for the friend. Sin makes us fancy that God Himself is our Enemy.
III. The sin that mistakes the friendly appeal for an enemy lays up for itself a terrible retribution. Elijah comes here and prophesies the fall of Ahab. The next peal, the next flash, fulfil the prediction. In Jezreel Ahab died; in Jezreel Jezebel died. If we will not listen to God’s message and turn at its gentle rebuke, then we gather up for ourselves an awful futurity of judgment.
A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, 1861, p. 265 (see also 1st series, p. 222).
Here we see God’s providential care even of such a person as Ahab, so utterly given up to all manner of wickedness. It is a very fearful picture, yet full of mercy and encouragement to true repentance.
I. In God’s dealings with Ahab we see a great law of His universal providence: not usually to leave sinners at ease in their sins. This is His great and unspeakable mercy to those who least seem to deserve it. Left to themselves, they must surely perish, but God does not leave them to themselves.
II. Neither need we doubt what His meaning is in so doing. He wills them to repent; He would not have them die. The untoward accidents, the unexpected turns, the strange and sudden failures, which happen to them, are so many checks from His fatherly hand, so many calls to a better mind.
III. Even Ahab’s small beginning of repentance is so far pleasing to Almighty God that in consideration of it He promises to bring the destruction of his house, not in Ahab’s days, but in his son’s days. Who knows how much greater mercy might have been shown him had his repentance continued and grown deeper? God finds us, as Elijah found Ahab, not as an Enemy, though His first sternness may well alarm such as we are, but as our true and only-sufficient Friend.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. viii., p. 158 (see also J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year: Sundays after Trinity, Part I., p. 383).
I. That which first of all blinded Ahab to the true character and extent of his responsibility for the death of Naboth was the force of desire. A single desire, long dwelt upon, cherished, and indulged, has a blinding power which cannot easily be exaggerated. Desire is not always wrong in its early stages, and so long as it is under control of principle it is a useful motive power in human life. But when it finds itself in conflict with the rights of other men and, above all, in conflict with the laws and with the rights of God, it must be suppressed, unless it is to lead to crime. When Naboth declined to sell or exchange his vineyard, Ahab should have ceased to desire it. Desire is to the human soul what gravitation is to the heavenly bodies. In St. Augustine’s memorable words, "Quocumque feror amove feror."
II. A second cause which may have blinded Ahab to the true character of his responsibility for the murder of Naboth was the ascendant influence and prominent agency of his queen, Jezebel. Ahab was bad and weak; Jezebel was worse and strong. Ahab could not have enjoyed the results of Jezebel’s achievement and decline the responsibility for it; yet no doubt he was more than willing to do this, more than willing to believe that matters had drifted somehow into other hands than his, and that the upshot, regrettable, no doubt, in one sense, but in another not altogether unwelcome, was beyond his control. False conscience constantly endeavours to divest itself of responsibility for what has been done through others, or for what others have been allowed by us to do.
III. The third screen which may have blinded Ahab to the real state of the case was the perfection of the legal form which had characterised the proceedings. The old religious forms had been respected; the constitutional authorities had put the law in motion. Nothing could have been so very far wrong when ancient rule and living administration combined to bring about a practical result, and Ahab might well let the matter rest and enjoy the vineyard of Naboth.
Law is a great and sacred thing; but when the machinery of law is tampered with, as was, no doubt, the case with Jezebel, its remaining force is the exact measure of its capacity for mischief and for wrong. Then, indeed, if ever, "summum jus summa injuria."
From this story let us carry away two lessons: (1) the first to keep all forms of desire well under control; (2) for us Christians, the event or the man who discovers us to ourselves should be held to be, not our enemy, but our friend.
H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxii., p. 113.
It is thus that sinners regard God’s messenger. He is their enemy. He may be discharging a solemn duty reluctantly, unwillingly, with great pain to himself and kindness in his heart; it matters not if he carries God’s message, if he speaks the truth, if he loves righteousness, he is regarded as an enemy by one who will not be saved.
I. God’s messengers to us are various. Sometimes He sends a man to us, addresses the sinner by a human voice, and confronts him face to face with the minister of righteousness. When the Christian pastor seeks to speak in God’s behalf to persons sunk in sin and to warn them, as they would escape from the wrath to come, to cleanse themselves while they can from that which is provoking God’s judgment every day, how often is he reminded in his own experience of Ahab’s speech to Elijah! "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" may be the language of the manner, if not of the lips.
II. But God’s messengers are not all men; and the chief power of the human messenger lies in his close connection with another, not of flesh and blood. The prophet was Ahab’s enemy just because he was in concert with an enemy. The real enemy was not he, but conscience. Once let a man break loose from God, once let him give himself up to his self-will, lead him where it may, and forthwith increasingly, at last utterly, he will find his conscience his foe.
III. If it seems strange that any one should count his own conscience as an enemy, is it not yet more wonderful that the same feeling should ever be shown towards the very Gospel of grace, towards the Saviour of sinners Himself? Yet there are multitudes of persons who pass through life regarding our Lord Jesus Christ as an Enemy. They are afraid of Him, and therefore they keep Him at a distance; they know that one day they will want Him, but they almost deliberately defer seeking Him till the late hour of a deathbed repentance.
IV. Human nature, and each several part of it, has an enemy; but it is just that one which counterfeits the voice and professes the interest of a friend. That one enemy is sin. If Ahab had said to Jezebel when she came to tempt him, "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" he would have had no cause to say it to Elijah when he came to judge.
C. J. Vaughan, Lessons of Life and Godliness, p. 186.
References: 1Ki 21:20.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xi., p. 18; J. Edmunds, Sixty Sermons, p. 326. 1Ki 21:20-25,—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 101.
1Ki 21:25
If the reign of Ahab had been written in any book save the Bible, far less heavy would be the thunder-clouds which gather round his name. Even the Bible gives a hint of better things: "The ivory houses that he made and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?" But it is the history of religion in Ahab and under Ahab that the Bible would teach us; and so the fairer side, which is the world’s side, only shows itself to render more oppressive the moral midnight which settles upon his name as one who sold himself, more than any other, to work evil in the sight of the Lord.
Notice:—
I. Ahab’s general conduct as revealing the essential character of his mind. The clue to the career of Ahab is to be found in the counter-influences of Jezebel and Elijah. Ahab was a man weakly wicked. Alike to evil and to good, he was led on by stronger wills than his own. In his ivory palace Jezebel bowed him to her false worship, and to a participation in her enormous crimes; but no sooner did he meet Elijah than the great prophet asserted over the unstable king all the majestic might of holiness. Ahab’s history demonstrates that there may be intense sinfulness before God without any deliberate design. From very weakness of character he sold his own soul.
II. Ahab’s repentance. At Elijah’s words of righteous wrath which accused him of the murder of Naboth, the king’s heart was for a while broken; for a moment he seems to have caught a glimpse of the greatness of his sin. The incompleteness of his repentance suggests the two main causes of the frequent incompleteness of repentance among ourselves: (1) the infirmity of will which so often leaves a man at the mercy of whoever will take the trouble to lead him, and (2) his repentance was partial, not comprehensive; it had reference to a portion of his sins, not the whole. He seems to have endeavoured to couple humiliation to the true God with the tacit retention of idol-worship.
Bishop Woodford, Oxford Lent Sermons, 1858, No. 9.
References: 1Ki 21:25.—R. Heber, Parish Sermons, vol. ii., p. 118; I. Williams, Characters of the Old Testament, p. 215; R. Twigg, Sermons, p. 117; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 417. 1Ki 21:29.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 22; H. Thompson, Concionalia: Outlines of Sermons for Parochial Use, vol. i., p. 371; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xv., p. 164. 1Ki 21—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 91. 1Ki 21—W. M. Taylor, Elijah the Prophet, p. 165; Parker, vol. viii., p. 51. 1Ki 22:1-41.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. v., p. 22.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv1, 20 1 Kings
1 Kings
ROYAL MURDERERS
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1Ki 21:1 - 1Ki 21:16.
There are three types of character in this story, all bad, but in different ways. Ahab is wicked and weak; Jezebel, wicked and strong; the elders of Jezreel, wicked and subservient. Amongst them they commit a great crime, which was the last drop in the full cup of the king’s sins, and brought down God’s judgment on him and his house.
I. We have to look at the weakly wicked Ahab. His wish for Naboth’s vineyard was a mere selfish whim. He was willing to give more for it than it was worth. It suited his convenience for a kitchen-garden. In the true spirit of an Eastern despot, he expected everything to yield to his caprice, and did not think that a subject had any rights. What business has a poor man with sentiment? Naboth is to go, and a handful of silver will set all right. Samuel’s warning of what a king would be and do was fulfilled. This highhanded interference with private rights was what Israel’s revolt had led to. The sturdy Naboth was influenced not only by love for the bit of land which his fathers had cultivated for more years than Ahab had reigned days, but by obedience to the law of God; and he was not afraid to show himself a Jehovah worshipper, by his solemn appeal to ‘the Lord,’ as well as by the fact of his refusal. The brusque, flat refusal shows that some independence was left in the nation.
The weak rage and childish sulking of Ahab are very characteristic of a feeble and selfish nature, accustomed to be humoured and not thwarted. These fits of temper seem to have been common with him; for he was in one at the end of the preceding chapter, as he is now. The ‘bed’ on which he flung himself is probably the couch for reclining on at table, and, if so, the picture of his passion is still more vivid. Instead of partaking of the meal, he turns his face to the wall, and refuses food. ‘No meat will down with him for want of a salad, because wanting Naboth’s vineyard for a garden of herbs.’ As he lies there, like a spoiled child, all because he could not get his own way, he may serve for an example of the misery of unbridled selfishness and unregulated desires. An acre or two of land was a small matter to get into such a state about, and there are few things that are worth a wise or a strong man’s being so troubled. Hezekiah might ‘turn his face to the wall’ in the extremity of sickness and earnestness of prayer; but Ahab in doing it is only a poor, feeble creature who has weakly set his heart on what is not his, and weakly whimpers because he cannot have it.
To be thus at the mercy of our own ravenous desires, and so utterly miserable when they are thwarted, is unworthy of manhood, and is sure to bring many a bitter moment; for there are more disappointments than gratifications in store for such a one. We may learn from Ahab, too, the certainty that weakness will darken into wickedness. Such a mood as his always brings some Jezebel or other to suggest evil ways of succeeding. In this wicked world there are more temptations to sin than helps to virtue, and the weak man will soon fall into some of the abundant traps laid for him. Unless we have learned to say ‘No’ with much emphasis, because we are ‘strong in the Lord,’ we shall fall. ‘This did not I because of the fear of the Lord.’ To be weak is to be miserable, and any sin may come from it.
II. Jezebel is a type of a different sort of wickedness. She is wicked and strong. Notice how she takes the upper hand at once, in her abrupt question, not without a spice of scorn; and note how Ahab answers, bemoaning himself, putting in the forefront his fair proposal, and making Naboth’s refusal ruder than it really had been, by suppressing its reason. Then out flashes the imperious will of this masterful princess, who had come from a land where royalty was all-powerful, and who had no restraints of conscience. She darts a half-contemptuous question at Ahab, to stir him to action; for nothing moves a weak man so much as the fear of being thought weak. ‘Dost thou govern?’ implies, ‘If thou dost, thou mayest trample on a subject.’ It should mean, ‘If thou dost, thou must jealously guard the subject’s rights.’ What a proud consciousness of her power speaks in that ‘I will give thee the vineyard’! It is like Lady Macbeth’s ‘Give me the dagger!’ No more is said. She can keep her own counsel, and Ahab suspects that some violence is to be used, which he had better not know. So, again, his weakness leads him astray. He does not wish to hear what he is willing should be done, if only he has not to do it. So feeble men hoodwink conscience by conniving at evils which they dare not perpetrate, and then enjoying their fruits, and saying, ‘Thou canst not say I did it.’
Jezebel had Ahab’s signet, the badge of authority, which she probably got from him for her unspoken purpose. Her letter to the elders of Jezreel speaks out, with cynical disregard of decency, the whole ugly conspiracy. It is direct, horribly plain, and imperative. There is a perfect nest of sins hissing and coiled together in it. Hypocrisy calling religion in to attest a lie, subornation of evidence, contempt for the poor tools who are to perjure themselves, consciousness that such work will only be done by worthless men, cool lying, ferocity, and murder,-these are a pretty company to crowd into half a dozen lines. Most detestable of all is the plain speaking which shows her hardened audacity and conscious defiance of all right. To name sin by its true name, and then to do it without a quiver, is a depth of evil reached by few men, and perhaps fewer women.
The plot gives a colour of legality, which is probably often unobserved by readers. Naboth was to be accused of treason: ‘renouncing God and the king’; and that was, according to the law of Moses, a charge which, if proved, merited capital punishment. But it is Satan accusing sin for Jezebel, the Baal worshipper, who had done her best to root out the name of Jehovah, to accuse Naboth of departing from God. Much highhanded oppression must have gone before such outspoken contempt of justice; and, if Ahab represents the fatal connection of weakness and wickedness, Jezebel is an instance of the fatal audacity with which a strong character may come, by long indulgence in self-willed gratification of its own desires, to trample down all obstacles and go crashing through all laws, human and divine. The climax of sin is to see a deed to be sinful, and to do it all the same. Such a pre-eminence in evil is not reached at a bound, but it can be reached; and every indulgence in passion, and every gratifying of desire against which conscience protests, is a step toward it. Therefore, if we shrink from such a goal, let us turn away from the paths that lead to it. ‘No mortal man is supremely foul all at once.’ Therefore resist the beginnings of evil. Elijah was strong by natural temperament, and so was Jezebel. But the strength of the prophet was hallowed by obedience, and, like some great river, poured blessings where it flowed. Jezebel’s strength was lawless, and foamed itself away in fury, like some devastating torrent that spreads ruin whithersoever it bursts out. ‘Be strong’ is good advice, but it needs the supplement, ‘Let all your deeds be done in charity,’ and the foundation,’ Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.’
III. The last set of actors in this pitiful tragedy are the subserviently wicked elders. The narrative sets their slavish compliance in a strong light. It puts emphasis on the tie between them and Naboth, in that they ‘dwelt in his city,’ and so should have had neighbourly feeling. It lays stress on their cowardly motive and their complete execution of orders, both by reiterating that they acted ‘as Jezebel had sent’ and ‘as it was written,’ and by taking the letter clause by clause, in the narrative of the shameful parody of justice which they acted. It suggests both their eagerness to do her pleasure, and her impatient waiting, in her palace, by the message sent in hot haste as soon as the brave peasant proprietor was dead. ‘It is ill sitting at Rome and striving with the Pope,’ as the proverb has it. No doubt these cowards were afraid for their own necks, and were too near the royal tigress to venture disobedience. But their swift, unremonstrating, and complete obedience indicates the depth of degradation and corruption to which they and the nation had sunk, and the terror exercised by their upstart king and his Sidonian wife.
Cowardice is always contemptible, and wickedness is always odious; but when the two come together, and a man has no other reason for his sin than ‘I was afraid,’ each makes the other blacker. Israel had cast off the fear of the Lord, which would have preserved it from the ignoble terror of men, and the consequence was that it trembled before an angry, unscrupulous woman. It had revolted from Rehoboam and his foolish bluster about whips and scorpions, and the consequence was a worse slavery. If we fear God, we need have no other fear. The sun puts out a fire. If we rebel against Him, we do not become free, but fall under a heavy yoke. It is never prudent to do wrong. The worst consequences of resistance to powerful evil are easier to bear than those of compliance, though it may seem the safer. Better be lying dead beneath a heap of stones, like the sturdy Naboth, who could say ‘No’ to a king, than be one of his stoners, who killed their innocent neighbour to pleasure Jezebel!
Her indecent triumph at the success of the plot, and her utter callousness, are expressed in her words to Ahab, in which the main point is the taking possession of the vineyard. The death of its owner is told with exultation, as being nothing but the sweeping aside of an obstacle. Ahab asks no questions as to how this opportune clearing away of hindrance came about. He knew, no doubt, well enough that there had been foul play; but that does not matter to him, and such a trifle as murder does not slacken his glad haste to get his new toy. There was other red on the vines than their clustering grapes, as he soon found out, when Elijah’s grim figure, like an embodied conscience, met him there. Whoever reaches out to grasp a fancied good by breaking God’s law, may get his good, but he will get more than he expected along with it,-even an accusing voice that prophesies evil. Elijah strides among the leafy vines in the field bought by crime. Ahab meant to make it a garden of pot-herbs. ‘Surely the bitter wormwood of divine revenge grew abundantly therein.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Naboth's Vineyard
Naboth's Vineyard
1. After these things] The LXX places this chapter after 1 Kings 19, and so prevents the separation of 1 Kings 20, 22, which are closely connected.
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Jezreel] in the plain of Esdraelon.
3. The inheritance of my fathers] cp. Lev_25:23; Num_36:7, Num_36:8.
8. Unto the elders.. nobles] The administration of justice rested with the chief men of each locality: cp. Deu_19:12; Deu_21:2.
9. Proclaim a fast] perhaps intended as a public act of humiliation for Naboth's alleged crime (cp. 1Sa_7:6), but in any case calculated to draw the people together. Set Naboth on high] perhaps equivalent to placing him at the bar of justice, but Josephus takes it to mean that he was given a position of honour as being of illustrious family.
10. Set two men] The testimony of two witnesses is required by the law in Deu_17:6. Sons of Belial] RM 'sons of worthlessness': cp. Deu_13:13; 1Sa_2:12. Blaspheme] RV 'curse': cp. Exo_22:28; Lev_24:16; Carry him out] Jezebel had no doubt that the evidence of the perjured witnesses would be accepted.
15. Take possession] Presumably the property of one who was executed as a criminal passed to the crown.
18. Behold.. vineyard] The details of the meeting between the king and the prophet are given somewhat differently in 2Ki_9:26.
19. In the place, etc.] Naboth must have been executed just outside Jezreel (1Ki_21:13), but the fulfilment of the prediction respecting Ahab took place at Samaria (1Ki_22:38) on the other hand, the dead body of Ahab's son Jehoram was actually cast 'into the portion of the field of Naboth': see 2Ki_9:25.
23. The dogs.. Jezebel] For the fulfilment of the prediction see 2Ki_9:36, 2Ki_9:37. The wall] 2Ki_9:10 has 'the portion' (i.e. the district).
26. Amorites] here used for the heathen inhabitants of Canaan generally: see on Gen_10:16; Jos_24:18.
27. Went softly] i.e. went quietly, as one who was humbled and penitent.
29. I will not bring, etc.] The judgment incurred by Solomon had been postponed (1Ki_11:12) for his father's sake. In Ahab's case the threatened penalty was mitigated in consideration of his repentance.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 21Naboth’s Vineyard
CHAPTER 21Naboth’s Vineyard
1. Naboth’s refusal (1Ki 21:1-4)
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2. Jezebel’s wicked deed (1Ki 21:5-16)
3. Elijah pronounces divine judgment (1Ki 21:17-24)
4. Ahab’s wickedness and confession (1Ki 21:25-27)
5. The LORD’s mercy (1Ki 21:28-29)
No comment is needed on the story of Naboth’s vineyard. Jezebel, the wicked, and Ahab’s submission to her was his ruination. On her Satanic suggestion one of the most wicked deeds recorded in Bible history is done. Naboth is murdered to obtain his vineyard. The measure of Ahab’s apostasy and wickedness is now filled to overflowing. For the wicked king the tidings of Naboth’s death were welcome tidings. No inquiry follows, but in self-satisfaction he goes to take possession of the beautified vineyard of Naboth. But his enjoyment, as it is always with the enjoyment of sin, did not last very long. No sooner had the innocent blood been spilt, than Jehovah, who saw and knew the foul deed, sent Elijah with the final message of doom and judgment for the guilty pair. Ahab was still in the vineyard. His eyes still feasted on the beautiful scene before him. His thoughts were occupied with the pleasures of sin when suddenly Elijah appeared. “I have found thee,” were the prophet’s first utterances. “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Then follows the sentence already indicated in the words of the disguised prophet in the previous chapter. “I will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Abijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked Me to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.” How literally this sentence was carried out we shall find in the subsequent history. But Ahab having humbled himself hears a merciful message from Elijah’s lips. “Because he humbled himself before Me, I will not bring evil in his days, but in his son’s days will I bring evil upon his house.” How merciful the Lord is to all who humble themselves!
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 15 The Murder of Naboth
The Murder of Naboth
v. 1. And it came to pass after these things, when the Lord had given Ahab such rich evidences of His bounteous blessing in defeating the dreaded enemy twice, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria, in its immediate neighborhood, so that it was always before the king’s eyes.
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v. 2. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard that I may have it for a garden of herbs, a vegetable garden, because it is near unto my house; and I will give thee for It a better vineyard than it; or if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of It in money. This sounded innocent enough, but it conflicted with one of the fundamental laws of the Lord’s people.
v. 3. And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. The Lord had plainly commanded that the children of Israel were not to dispose of the property allotted to them, and even such lands as were sold on account of poverty reverted to the original owners in the year of jubilee, Num 36:1-13; Lev 25:10-28; Exo 34:9. The only consideration in this case was the whim of the king; he had set his heart upon that garden and would be satisfied with nothing else.
v. 4. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased, in a peevish and angry mood, because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, I ’will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, staring fixedly at the wall, and would eat no bread. It was a childish and despicable manner of showing his displeasure over the refusal of Naboth, indicating, at the same time, that Ahab, with all his wickedness, lacked the energy to carry out his designs.
v. 5. But Jezebel, his wife, came to him and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad that thou eatest no bread?
v. 6. And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money, or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it; and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.
v. 7. And Jezebel, his wife, said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? It is a question charged with the deepest irony: Thou, dost thou now exercise authority over Israel? He was a fine king to be lying in bed over such a matter; he was a fine ruler even to think of asking any of his subjects for something he desired. Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry; I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. Since he did not dare to act the man and the king, in her opinion, she would see to it that he obtained his heart’s desire.
v. 8. So she, taking the matter in her own hands and assuming an authority which was not hers, wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, which she probably coolly took from him for her purpose, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, the local magistrates, Deu 16:18, dwelling with Naboth, and therefore presumably acquainted with his whole Life.
v. 9. And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, such as were customary in cases of a national calamity,and set Naboth on high among the people, indicating before the entire city that he was under accusation and had brought a heavy guilt upon the whole community;
v. 10. and set two men, Sons of Belial, worthless rascals, before him, the show of justice being maintained throughout, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king, for the king represented God and ruled in His name. And then carry him out and stone him that he may die, for that was the punishment set upon blasphemy, Deu 13:11; Deu 17:5; Lev 24:14.
v. 11. And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, probably out of slavish fear of the tyranny of Jezebel, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.
v. 12. They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.
v. 13. And there came in two men, children of Belial, conscienceless scoundrels, and sat before him, as his accusers; and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.
v. 14. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned and is dead. All of which shows that the corruption of the royal court was found in all states of society at that time. The magistrates of Jezreel were just as much guilty of murder as Jezebel, who was a tyrant seeking the blood of the just. Naboth must be considered a martyr in a noble cause, who gave up his life for the sake of God’s Word.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 8, 11, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27 Now some time later
Now some time later
This phrase marks the beginning of a new part of the story and indicates that these events happened later, not that Naboth owned the vineyard later. If your language has a way marking the beginning of a new part of a story, you could consider using it here. AT: "Now this is what happened later" (See: Introduction of a New Event)
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Naboth the Jezreelite
This is the name of a man from Jezreel. (See: How to Translate Names)
king of Samaria
"Samaria" was the capital city of the kingdom of Israel and here represents the entire nation. AT: "king of Israel" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
Jezreel
vineyard
palace
Ahab
king
Samaria
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 13, 17, 25, 27 21:1-16 The writer includes another incident in which king…
21:1-16 The writer includes another incident in which king Ahab responded in an angry and sullen manner (20:43; 21:4).
21:1 In addition to his palace in the capital city, Ahab had a second palace in Jezreel. Excavations at Jezreel have unearthed a sizeable palace there. • Samaria, which sometimes refers to the capital city, here indicates the whole northern kingdom.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.