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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 11, 13, 15 Hebrew, let thine heart be merry.
Hebrew, let thine heart be merry.
As though she said, Thou knowest not what it is to reign. Command and entreat not.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–16 1Ki 21:5 But Jezebel his wife came to him,…
1Ki 21:5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?
Ver. 5. But Jezebel his wife came to him.] This was well enough. Woman was first given to man for a comforter; but if sometimes for a counsellor, yet not at all for a controller, as this wicked woman took upon her to be.
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 vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? art…
Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? art thou fit to be king, that canst put up such affronts from thy subjects, and hast not the courage to use thy absolute power to dispose of them and theirs as seemeth good unto thee?
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 v5 Nothing but mischief is to be expected when Jezebel…
Nothing but mischief is to be expected when Jezebel enters into the story - that cursed woman, Kg2 9:34.
I. Under pretence of comforting her afflicted husband, she feeds his pride and passion, and blows the coals of his corruptions. It became her to take notice of his grief and to enquire into the cause of it, Kg1 21:5. Those have forgotten both the duty and affection of the conjugal relation that interest not themselves in each other's troubles. He told her what troubled him (Kg1 21:6), yet invidiously concealed Naboth's reason for his refusal, representing it as peevish, when it was conscientious - I will not give it thee, whereas he said, I may not. What! says Jezebel (Kg1 21:7), Dost thou govern Israel? Arise, and eat bread. She does well to persuade him to shake off his melancholy, and not to sink under his burden, to be easy and cheerful; whatever was his grief, grieving would not redress it, but pleasantness would alleviate it. Her plea is, Dost thou now govern Israel? This is capable of a good sense: "Does it become so great a prince as thou art to cast thyself down for so small a matter? Thou shamest thyself, and profanest thy crown; it is below thee to take notice of so inconsiderable a thing. Art thou fit to govern Israel, who hast no better a government of thy own passions? Or hast thou so rich a kingdom at command and canst not thou be without this one vineyard?" We should learn to quiet ourselves, under our crosses, with the thoughts of the mercies we enjoy, especially our hopes of the kingdom. But she meant it in a bad sense: "Dost thou govern Israel, and shall any subject thou hast deny thee any thing thou hast a mind to? Art thou a king? It is below thee to buy and pay, much more to beg and pray; use thy prerogative, and take by force what thou canst not compass by fair means; instead of resenting the affront thus, revenge it. If thou knowest not how to support the dignity of a king, let me alone to do it; give me but leave to make use of thy name, and I will soon give thee the vineyard of Naboth; right or wrong, it shall be thy own shortly, and cost thee nothing." Unhappy princes those are, and hurried apace towards their ruin, who have those about them that stir them up to acts of tyranny and teach them how to abuse their power.
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II. In order to gratify him, she projects and compasses the death of Naboth. No less than his blood will serve to atone for the affront he has given to Ahab, which she thirsts after the more greedily because of his adherence to the law of the God of Israel.
1. Had she aimed only at his land, her false witnesses might have sworn him out of that by a forged deed (she could not have set up so weak a title but the elders of Jezreel would have adjudged it good); but the adulteress will hunt for the precious life, Pro 6:26. Revenge is sweet. Naboth must die, and die as a malefactor, to gratify it.
(1.) Never were more wicked orders given by any prince than those which Jezebel sent to the magistrates of Jezreel, Kg1 21:8-10. She borrows the privy-seal, but the king shall not know what she will do with it. It is probable this was not the first time he had lent it to her, but that with it she had signed warrants for the slaying of the prophets. She makes use of the king's name, knowing the thing would please him when it was done, yet fearing he might scruple at the manner of doing it; in short, she commands them, upon their allegiance, to put Naboth to death, without giving them any reason for so doing. Had she sent witnesses to inform against him, the judges (who must go secundum allegata et probata - according to allegations and proofs) might have been imposed upon, and their sentence might have been rather their unhappiness than their crime; but to oblige them to find the witnesses, sons of Belial, to suborn them themselves, and then to give judgment upon a testimony which they knew to be false, was such an impudent defiance to every thing that is just and sacred as we hope cannot be paralleled in any story. She must have looked upon the elders of Jezreel as men perfectly lost to every thing that is honest and honourable when she expected these orders should be obeyed. But she will put them in a way how to do it, having as much of the serpent's subtlety as she had of his poison. [1.] It must be done under colour of religion: "Proclaim a fast; signify to your city that you are apprehensive of some dreadful judgment coming upon you, which you must endeavour to avert, not only by prayer, but by finding out and by putting away the accursed thing; pretend to be afraid that there is some great offender among you undiscovered, for whose sake God is angry with your city; charge the people, if they know of any such, on that solemn occasion to inform against him, as they regard the welfare of the city; and at last let Naboth be fastened upon as the suspected person, probably because he does not join with his neighbours in their worship. This may serve for a pretence to set him on high among the people, to call him to the bar. Let proclamation be made that, if any one can inform the court against the prisoner, and prove him to be the Achan, they shall be heard; and then let the witnesses appear to give evidence against him." Note, There is no wickedness so vile, so horrid, but religion has sometimes been made a cloak and cover for it. We must not think at all the worse of fasting and praying for their having been sometimes thus abused, but much the worse of those wicked designs that have at any time been carried on under the shelter of them. [2.] It must be done under colour of justice too, and with the formalities of a legal process. Had she sent to them to hire some of their danbitti, some desperate suffirans, to assassinate him, to stab him as he went along the streets in the night, the deed would have been bad enough; but to destroy him by a course of law, to use that power for the murdering of the innocent which ought to be their protection, was such a violent perversion of justice and judgment as was truly monstrous, yet such as we are directed not to marvel at, Ecc 5:8. The crime they must lay to his charge was blaspheming God and the king - a complicated blasphemy. Surely she could not think to put a blasphemous sense upon the answer he had given to Ahab, as if denying him his vineyard were blaspheming the king, and giving the divine law for the reason were blaspheming God. No, she pretends not any ground at all for the charge: though there was no colour of truth in it, the witnesses must swear it, and Naboth must not be permitted to speak for himself, or cross-examine the witnesses, but immediately, under pretence of a universal detestation of the crime, they must carry him out and stone him. His blaspheming God would be the forfeiture of his life, but not of his estate, and therefore he is also charged with treason, in blaspheming the king, for which his estate was to be confiscated, that so Ahab might have his vineyard.
(2.) Never were wicked orders more wickedly obeyed than these were by the magistrates of Jezreel. They did not so much as dispute the command nor make any objections against it, though so palpably unjust, but punctually observed all the particulars of it, either because they feared Jezebel's cruelty or because they hated Naboth's piety, or both: They did as it was written in the letters (Kg1 21:11, Kg1 21:12), neither made any difficulty of it, nor met with any difficulty in it, but cleverly carried on the villany. They stoned Naboth to death (Kg1 21:13), and, as it should seem, his sons with him, or after him; for, when God came to make inquisition for blood, we find this article in the account (Kg2 9:26), I have seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons. Perhaps they were secretly murdered, that they might not claim their father's estate nor complain of the wrong done him.
2. Let us take occasion from this sad story, (1.) To stand amazed at the wickedness of the wicked, and the power of Satan in the children of disobedience. What a holy indignation may we be filled with to see wickedness in the place of judgment! Ecc 3:16. (2.) To lament the hard case of oppressed innocency, and to mingle our tears with the tears of the oppressed that have no comforter, while on the side of the oppressors there is power, Ecc 4:1. (3.) To commit the keeping of our lives and comforts to God, for innocency itself will not always be our security. (4.) To rejoice in the belief of a judgment to come, in which such wrong judgments as these will be called over. Now we see that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked (Ecc 8:14), but all will be set to rights in the great day.
III. Naboth being taken off, Ahab takes possession of his vineyard. 1. The elders of Jezreel sent notice to Jezebel very unconcernedly, sent it to her as a piece of agreeable news, Naboth is stoned and is dead, Kg1 21:14. Here let us observe that, as obsequious as the elders of Jezreel were to Jezebel's orders which she sent from Samaria for the murder of Naboth, so obsequious were the elders of Samaria afterwards to Jehu's orders which he sent from Jezreel for the murder of Ahab's seventy sons, only that was not done by course of law, Kg2 10:6, Kg2 10:7. Those tyrants that by their wicked orders debauch the consciences of their inferior magistrates may perhaps find at last the wheel return upon them, and that those who will not stick to do one cruel thing for them will be as ready to do another cruel thing against them. 2. Jezebel, jocund enough that her plot succeeded so well, brings notice to Ahab that Naboth is not alive, but dead; therefore, says she, Arise, take possession of his vineyard, Kg1 21:15. He might have taken possession by one of his officers, but so pleased is he with this accession to his estate that he will make a journey to Jezreel himself to enter upon it; and it should seem he went in state too, as if he had obtained some mighty victory, for Jehu remembers long after that he and Bidkar attended him at this time, Kg2 9:25. If Naboth's sons were all put to death, Ahab thought himself entitled to the estate, ob defectum sanguinis - in default of heirs (as our law expresses it); if not, yet, Naboth dying as a criminal, he claimed it ob delictum criminis - as forfeited by his crime. Or, if neither would make him a good title, the absolute power of Jezebel would give it to him, and who would dare to oppose her will? Might often prevails against right, and wonderful is the divine patience that suffers it to do so. God is certainly of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and yet for a time keeps silence when the wicked devours the man that is more righteous than he, Hab 1:13.
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 vv5–16 And Jezebel his wife said unto him, dost thou…
And Jezebel his wife said unto him, dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?.... Art thou not king of Israel? canst thou not do as thou pleasest? hast thou not power to oblige a subject to obey thy commands, and especially in such a trifling matter as parting with a vineyard, and that upon the most reasonable terms? thou hast too much demeaned thyself as a king; thou oughtest to have exerted thy kingly power and authority, and demanded it from him; the Targum is,
"thou now shalt prosper in thy kingdom over Israel;''
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thy reign now is prosperous, and like to continue so, having obtained two such victories over thine enemies, and therefore should not be dejected with such a trifling thing as this:
arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: the kingdom being in such a flourishing state; and let not this affair give thee any trouble or uneasiness; I will take care of that, leave it with me:
I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite: without paying any money, or giving another vineyard in exchange for it.
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 vv7, 9, 10, 13 Dost thou govern - Art thou fit to be…
Dost thou govern - Art thou fit to be king, that hast not courage to use thy power.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15 Verse 7. Dost thou now govern the kingdom of…
Verse 7. Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?] Naboth, not Ahab, is king. If he have authority to refuse, and thou have no power to take, he is the greater man of the two. This is the vital language of despotism and tyranny.
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 vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 1Ki 21:7. Jezebel said, Dost thou now govern the…
1Ki 21:7. Jezebel said, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? — Art thou fit to be a king who canst put up with such affronts from thy subjects, and hast not courage to dispose of them and theirs as seemeth good unto thee? I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth — Trouble thyself no further about it, but leave the matter to me; I will manage it to thy satisfaction, and the vineyard shall be thine, and shall cost thee nothing. Unhappy are those princes, and hurried apace toward their ruin, who have those about them who excite them to acts of tyranny, and teach them how to abuse their power!
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 vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16 The meaning is, “Art thou king, and yet sufferest…
The meaning is, “Art thou king, and yet sufferest thyself to be thwarted in this way by a mere subject? I, the queen, the weak woman, will give thee the vineyard, if thou, the king, the strong man, wilt do nothing.”
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 vv7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16 Israel. Hebrew simply, "Now thou wilt make the kingdom…
Israel. Hebrew simply, "Now thou wilt make the kingdom of Israel." (Calmet) --- Protestants, "Dost thou now govern the?" &c. (Haydock) --- Thou art a fit person indeed to establish a kingdom! Ought not a king to take what he has a mind to? Syriac, "Are you fit to reign?" Arabic, "You do not deserve to govern." (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Dost thou now act the king over Israel, in this manner?" (Haydock)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16 JEZEBEL CAUSES NABOTH TO BE STONED. (Kg1 21:5-16)
JEZEBEL CAUSES NABOTH TO BE STONED. (Kg1 21:5-16)
Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?--This is not so much a question as an exclamation--a sarcastic taunt; "A pretty king thou art! Canst not thou use thy power and take what thy heart is set upon?"
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arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard--After upbraiding Ahab for his pusillanimity and bidding him act as a king, Jezebel tells him to trouble himself no more about such a trifle; she would guarantee the possession of the vineyard.
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 vv7, 8, 9, 10, 15 7. Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel…
7. Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel — Some take these words, not as a question, or as spoken in irony, but as a command or summons for the king to exercise his royal power, thus: Do thou now govern; that is, exercise now thy sovereign power, and show that thou, not thy subjects, rulest in Israel. But it best suits the connexion to take the words as an ironical exclamation, designed to reproach and censure the imbecile conduct of Ahab: Thou dost now marvellously wield the sovereignty over Israel! That is, thou, surely, art become now a mighty king to be thus set at naught! A powerful ruler to be thus sent to bed disheartened by an obstinate subject!
I will give thee the vineyard — “I, the wife, since thou hast not the courage to act as a man and a king.” — Thenius.
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 vv6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16 6. I will not give thee my vineyard] For…
6. I will not give thee my vineyard] For the last two words the LXX. has ‘the inheritance of my fathers.’ Of course it is to be understood that Ahab would lay before Jezebel the motive, from which Naboth had refused his king’s request. But the narrative is much more in character with the rest of Ahab’s behaviour, if he at first makes mention only of the blank refusal. The ground for holding firm to his inheritance would most likely have found an echo in many an Israelite’s heart. We see that Jezebel gives no hint to any one of the true cause for wishing to put Naboth out of the way. Had she done so, she must have mentioned the reason for his scruple, and the elders of Jezreel though they had forgotten the laws of Jehovah, would, for all that, not have cared to give publicity to Naboth’s answer.
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 vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16 (7) Dost thou now.—The scorn of Jezebel is, like…
(7) Dost thou now.—The scorn of Jezebel is, like the impatience of Lady Macbeth, expressed in a striking boldness of emphasis. First comes the bitter irony of the question, “Dost thou govern the kingdom of Israel, and yet suffer a subject to cross thy will?” expressing her scornful wonder at one who “lets I dare not, wait upon 1 would.” Then in the invitation, “eat bread, and let thine heart be merry,” there seems the same half-contemptuous recognition of a self-indulgent weakness of nature, which may be traced in Elijah’s words in 1Ki_18:41, “Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” Ahab is fit only to desire and to revel; it is for bolder spirits to act for good or for evil.
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 vv5–16 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said…
But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad same word as in ver. 4, that thou eatest no bread?
It would seem that the queen missed him from the banqueting hall he can hardly, therefore, have lain down on one of the divans or couches therein and went to his bedroom to inquire the reason.
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Vers. 5-14.
A Sinful Nation.
Time was when the Hebrew nation was great and respected, "a praise in the earth" for kings wise and honourable, for magistrates upright and noble, and for a people faithful and true. But how completely is all this changed! A more pitiable picture of national depravity could scarcely be drawn than that presented in the text. Here we have
I AN INIQUITOUS PALACE.
1. The king is utterly unprincipled.
(1) See him "heavy and displeased," sick with rage and chagrin, lying in bed in a sulk, his face turned away, refusing to eat. And what for? What dreadful calamity has befallen him? Simply that he could not have the vineyard of Naboth for a garden of herbs!
(2) But, to make things worse, he could not have it without inducing Naboth to transgress God"s law. (see Lev_25:28) Naboth had too much respect for the law to yield. Ahab was really sulking against God I
(3) What model king is this I How could he expect his subjects to be law-abiding when he showed them this example? What a royal soul to take it thus to heart that in addition to his kingdom he cannot have this vineyard!
2. His queen is a cursed woman.
(1) Such is the style in which she is described by Jehu. (2Ki_9:34) She seems never to have failed in any incident of her life to justify this description.
(2) Now she promises to give Ahab the vineyard of Naboth. Thus she encouraged his evil humour, instead of pointing out to him, as she should have done, his folly.
(3) She will accomplish this by an act of cruel and treacherous despotism scarcely to be paralleled in history (vers. 8-10). She makes her pliant husband her accomplice, using, with his consent, his seal of state, as probably she had done before when she destroyed the prophets of the Lord, (1Ki_18:4) to give authority to the missive of death. She engaged in this business all the more readily because Naboth appears to have been one of the "seven thousand" who would not bend to Baal.
II AN UNSCRUPULOUS MAGISTRACY.
1. Their servility is horrible.
(1) Not voice of any noble or elder in Jezreel is raised in protest against the order from the palace to have Naboth murdered. With eyes wide open for the sons of Belial are not found for them; they have themselves to procure these wretches they proceed to give effect to the dreadful tragedy.
(2) What motive can influence them? They are afraid of Jezebel. They knew her power over Ahab, and they knew the cruelty and vindictiveness of her nature was nerved by more than masculine resolution.
(3) But where was their fear of God?
2. It is aggravated by treachery.
(1) Naboth was one of their number. Is not this suggested in the words, "the elders and nobles that were in the city, dwelling with Naboth! Then is there no voice of neighbourly friendship to speak for Naboth? No voice is raised.
(2) If one voice found courage surely others would take courage, and it might be found in the sequel that the sense of justice would be represented by such numbers and influence that even Jezebel might hesitate to reek vengeance upon them. But not a voice was raised.
3. The treachery is aggravated by hypocrisy.
(1) The tragedy opens with a fast. This is proclaimed ostensibly to avert from the nation the judgments of God supposed to have been provoked by the crimes of Naboth. How much more fitting had it been proclaimed to avert the judgment provoked by the crimes of Naboth"s murderers!
(2) The accusation is, "Thou didst blaspheme God and the King", (lmw tkrb), which by some is rendered, "Thou hast blessed the false gods and Molech." Parkhurst says, "The Lexicons have absurdly, and contrary to the authority of the ancient versions, given to this verb (rb) the sense of cursing in the six following passages: 1Ki_21:10, 1Ki_21:13; Job_1:5, 11 2:5, 9. As to the two first, the LXX render in both cases by eulogew, and so the Vulgate by bendico, to bless. And though Jezebel was herself an abominable idolatress, yet, as the law of Moses still continued in force, she seems to have been wicked enough to have destroyed Naboth upon the false accusation of blessing the heathen Aleim and Molech, which subjected him to death by Deu_13:6 Deu_17:2-7.
(3) What abominable cruelties have been perpetrated under the name of religion!
III A DEMORALIZED PEOPLE.
1. Sons of Belial are at hand.
(1) There seems to have been no difficulty in procuring men so lost to truth and mercy that they will readily swear away the life of a good citizen. Nor is this to be wondered at when the whole magistracy are sons of Belial, no better than those they suborned. Jezebel saw no difficulty in procuring such. The nobles and elders of Jezreel found none.
(2) The sons of Belial no doubt were paid for their services. The "consideration" is not mentioned. What will not some men stoop to for gain! What will they hazard in eternity! And for what a trifle!
2. No voice is raised for justice.
(1) Naboth has no hearing in his defence. The sentence given, he is hurried away to be stoned to death.
(2) His family are sacrificed along with him. (see 2Ki_9:26) This was on the principle that the family of Achan had to suffer with him. (Jos_7:24) But how different are the cases!
(3) Unless the family of Naboth had perished with him, the vineyard would not have fallen to the crown. This would be an objection to Jezebel hiring sons of Belial to assassinate Naboth, for Naboth"s heirs would still have to be disposed of. Melancholy is the condition of the nation in which right is sacrificed to might. "Sin is reproach to any people. J.A.M.
Vers. 5-14.
Sin"s friendships, and what they lead to.
I THE SINFUL FIND MANY HELPERS. Ahab seems to have done all that he was able or cared to do. He had tempted Naboth and failed, and the matter seemed to have come to an end. But where Ahab stops, Satan"s servants meet him and carry on the work. Jezebel prevails on him to tell the story, and the elders of Jezreel and its sons of Belial are ready to do their part also, to give him his desire and steep his soul in crime. The man who is casting away means and character and health and eternal life will find friends to take the part of his worse against his better self, and agents enough to aid him in accomplishing his sinful will. It is vain to think of arresting a career of vice merely by change of place. Satan has his servants everywhere.
II THE MISUSE OF INFLUENCE. There is much that may be admired in Jezebel"s conduct. However false she was to others, she was true to her own. With tenderness, which lends a peculiar grace to a strong, regal nature like hers, she approaches the moody monarch. Under the warm sunshine of loving sympathy the bands which bind the burden to his soul melt away. It is laid down and exposed to view. But however good the impulses which incite the wicked to action, their feet take to the paths of sin.
1. Her sympathy becomes fierce championship of wrong. There is love for Ahab, but no consideration for Naboth, and no regard to the voice of justice and of God. How much human love today is after the pattern of Jezebel"s narrow, selfish, unjust! The home is everything; the world outside has no claims, sometimes not even rights! Others are regarded with pleasure as they favour those we love; with aversion and hatred so soon as they oppose them, or even stand in their way. Homes are meant to be training schools for God"s sons and daughters, where they may learn to be patient, forbearing, less exacting, able to make allowances for difference of disposition and of judgment, and so pass out able to do a brother"s, sister"s part in the great world around them. But Jezebel"s affection frustrates God"s plan and arms the home against the world it was meant to serve.
2. She goads him on to greater sin. She blames him not for setting his heart so upon a trifle, but for letting the matter rest where it did. She reminds him of his might and Naboth"s weakness: "Dost thou now govern?" etc. How often does the sympathy of the wicked daringly recommend what the heart had feared to think, and this too with reproaches of weakness, of wrongs and slights left unavenged! Instead of quenching the fire of hate, they fan it into fiercer flame.
3. She bears him onward into crime (vers. 7-10). Ahab"s very weakness would have prevented him shedding Naboth"s blood, but her subtle brain and indomitable will supply what is needful to steep his soul in guilt. How many dark stains have been in this very way fixed upon the page of history! How much genius and talent have thus served, and are serving now, the devil"s purpose!
III THE EVIL WROUGHT BY TIME SERVERS (vers. 11-15). There is nothing to relieve the baseness of the elders and nobles of Jezreel. They were not impelled by misguided affection to avenge a fancied wrong. They could not even plead ignorance. They were behind the scenes and arranged for the trial. It was murder of the deepest dye murder done under the guise of zeal for the offended majesty of God. They had one of the grandest opportunities of shielding innocence and rebuking wickedness in high places. They had only to say they could not lend themselves to such a deed. But these do not stand alone. The greatest crimes in history have Been wrought in this very way. Is there no place today over which "Jezreel" might well be written? Are there no men and no causes frowned upon, not because that in themselves they deserve such treatment, but Because they are not in favour, and it will not pay to befriend them? Are there none who will use their influence in favour of a good cause when it is safe to do so, but who will be looked for in vain when it sorely needs to be befriended? There may be no crime wrought now in this land such as was then done in Israel; But should the time come, these are the men who will do as the elders and nobles did then. The spirit is the same, and in the like circumstances it will bear the same fruit. 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 vv5, 7 Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest…
1Ki_21:5
Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?
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A cure for the dumps
The witty Sydney Smith once said, Never give way to melancholy, for if you do, it will encroach upon you like an overflowing river and overwhelm you. He added he had given twenty-four precautions to a lady of melancholy disposition to keep her from being sad. One of the things he recommended was to keep a bright fire in her room. Another of Sydney Smiths remedies for low spirits was to think over all the pleasant things you can remember. A third receipt was, always to keep a box of sugar-plums on the mantelpiece. Some of you would object to a sugar-plum when you go to a friends house, but at any rate, it would please the giver for you to accept it, and for myself I may say that it would give me pleasure to receive it. Another remedy for despondency prescribed by the humorous Canon was, to always have the kettle simmering on the hob. These of course are little things, but they have their influence. These fits of sadness and melancholy make good things appear bad, and they so disturb the balance of our reason as to cause us to imagine that even loving friends dislike us. Shakespeare puts into the mouth of the masterpiece of his creative genius, Hamlet, this excellent description of the feelings of people, who are in the dumps:--This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a barren promontory; while that most excellent canopy, the air, look you; that great overhanging sky, that majestic roof, fretted with golden fire,--why! it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. When the lumbermen are floating great logs of wood down the river St. Lawrence, past the city of Quebec, from the interior of Canada--those great logs which are brought to Liverpool and along our canals and railways to be cut up in the saw-mills--it sometimes happens that one of these great logs from being in the river for more than one season, gets its millions of pores filled with water, when it becomes what is called water-logged. The log then sinks, through the water having got into its heart. Likewise, there are men and women who, while they are being carried along the stream of life, get so saturated with its cares and troubles that they sink; they are trouble-logged, and sometimes they die of what is called a broken heart. I think it is in our power to prevent people getting trouble-logged and sinking helplessly in the Slough of Despond. Cervantes, the finest writer of humour that Spain has produced, whose works raised a smile on peoples faces when they read or heard about them, was one of the saddest of men, his features having the marks of perpetual gloom upon them. Moliere, the greatest master of humorous writing in France, looked as if his face had been made ugly with disappointment and grief; while Foote, one of our most comic English writers and actors died of a broken heart. We all get at times into this hypochondriac way--We all get into the dumps at times, feeling as if there were no God. The victims of this mental disease of low spirits go through the world as if they were forsaken orphans, without a penny or a friend. There is the instance of Ahab, who had everything that a despotic king could desire, but he was not satisfied. In many cases our troubles and disappointments arise from our own fault. This seems to have been the case with Jacob. Few Scripture characters had more trouble or were oftener sad than Jacob, who said that all the days of his life had been evil, and that his children would bring down his grey hairs in sorrow to the grave. In modern times, few men have excited more morbid and undeserved sympathy than the poet, Lord Byron, who was often in the dumps. He inherited a passionate and proud nature, but his greatest trouble seems to have been his unfortunate club.foot, which he could neither hide nor put out of remembrance. This and his dissipation made his nature gloomy. Hear his words--
Melancholy
Sits on me as a cloud along the sky,
Which will not let the sunbeams through, nor yet
Descend in rain and end; but spreads itself
Twixt heaven and earth, like envy between man
And man--and is an everlasting mist.
Why should we punish ourselves because we cannot have what others have, and which instead of being a blessing might prove a curse? Why should we torment ourselves because somebody else has obtained what we wanted? Addison has beautifully described in an allegory the foolish way in which people are disappointed because their life is one of obscurity. He says, There was one day a drop of rain fell from a cloud into the ocean, and the drop of water bitterly complained and was sad of heart because it thought it was annihilated in the mighty expanse of the sea. But it dropped down into the open mouth of an oyster, where, in process of time, it was transformed and became a pearl, which at the present day is the ornament of the crown of the Persian monarch. This little fable teaches us not to repine at our lot. Though you may be feeble and humble as compared with other people, though you may not be beautiful or wealthy, and think yours is a disappointed lot, yet, like that drop of water, our God is preparing you to be an adornment of heaven. Do not therefore be cast down, or let your heart be grieved by any discouragement of birth or fortune in this life. (W. Birch.)
Nemesis of a selfish life-
A man who lives entirely for himself becomes at last obnoxious to himself. I believe it is the very law of God that self-centeredness ends in self-nauseousness. There is no weariness like the weariness of a man who is wearied of himself, and that is the awful Nemesis which follows the selfish life. (J. H. Jowett.)
The tyranny of self
There can be no real happiness in the heart, where self is enthroned. If you would have peace, you must seize, bind, and never again let loose, for self is the cruellest tyrant, the deepest shadow, and the blackest blot that darkens life. To be rid of the despot, you must begin by placing others first in all your thoughts and actions; at this the coward drops his head; he hates another to be first. Next, give him no thought or consideration at all, and though at this neglect he cry out piteously, heed him not, for now is the time to bind him hard and fast with the cords of forgetfulness; then cast him far behind, and be careful to allow neither the call of pain nor pleasure to entice you into loosening one jot or tittle of his bonds, or, once set free, the monster will rise again, hydra-headed, and, towering above all else, enfold and crush you within his clutches, until you are no more free, but a slave, bound hand and foot, in the deadly meshes of over-mastering self. (Great Thoughts.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v15 The Prophecy of Ahab’s Doom
The Prophecy of Ahab’s Doom
v. 15. And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned and was dead, his sons having been forced to share his fate, 2Ki 9:26, that Jezebel said to Ahab, who had persisted in his stubborn, childish behavior, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite which he refused to give thee for money; for Na-both is not alive, but dead.
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v. 16. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. Although he had not personally conducted the case against Naboth, and probably did not know what means Jezebel actually employed to get possession of his vineyard, yet he was fully as guilty as she, for he had known that she had contrived to get Naboth out of the way, by fair means or foul.
v. 17. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, who now appears on the scene once more, saying,
v. 18. Arise, go down, namely, from the mountain district in which he was then staying, to meet Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.
v. 19. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed and also taken possession? The question was not put to cause a confession of guilt, but to accuse the king outright of murder and of robbery. He had probably tried to quiet his conscience with the excuse that the property of a blasphemer who had suffered the penalty of death was taken over by the crown. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. His was to be a similar disgraceful death, that of a criminal.
v. 20. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? The implication was that Elijah was always endeavoring to oppose the king and to thwart his purposes. And he, with all the frank fearlessness of God’s messenger, answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Ahab had so abandoned himself to wickedness that he had become its slave.
v. 21. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, the sentence of doom upon the families of apostate kings, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, all the male descendants of the king; even the minors were included in the curse. Cf 1Ki 14:10.
v. 22. And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah, whose families were eradicated by divine decree, 1Ki 15:29; 1Ki 16:3-11, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked Me to anger and made Israel to sin.
v. 23. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Cf 2Ki 9:10-36.
v. 24. 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; they would, by the Lord’s curse, he denied even an honorable burial.
v. 25. But there was none like unto Ahab, a note inserted by the historian, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel, his wife, stirred up, their union being an unusually striking example of warning against the evil of mixed marriages.
v. 26. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel, the reference being to all the Canaanitish nations.
v. 27. And 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, all signs of deep mourning and penitence. For a while at least his sorrow was sincere.
v. 28. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
v. 29. Seest thou 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. Thus the punishment was deferred, and the misdeeds of the father were borne by the children, who followed him in his evil ways. It is a terrible thing to despise and reject the goodness and the severity of God, for the end is bound to be death, everlasting destruction.
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 vv5, 8, 11, 15 Why is your heart so sad
Why is your heart so sad
Here "heart" refers to the entire person and his emotions. AT: "Why are you so sad" (See: Synecdoche)
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Do you not still rule the kingdom of Israel?
Jezebel uses this negative rhetorical question to rebuke Ahab. It can be translated as a positive statement. AT: "You still rule the kingdom of Israel!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
let your heart be happy
Here "heart" refers to the entire person and his emotions. AT: "be happy" or "cheer up" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
Jezebel
heart
rule
kingdom of Israel
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 vv7, 8, 10, 13 21:7 I’ll get you Naboth’s vineyard! With her ruthless…
21:7 I’ll get you Naboth’s vineyard! With her ruthless disposition and actions, Jezebel displayed her cultural upbringing; Canaanite kings did as they pleased (21:8-10, 15, 25; see 19:1-2; 2 Kgs 9:30-31).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.