1 Kings 21 — WBMS

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21Forsooth after these words, in that time, the vinery [or vine] of Naboth of Jezreel, that was in Jezreel, was beside the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria.^{Verse 2}Therefore Ahab spake to Naboth, and said, Give thou to me thy vineyard, that I make to me thereof a garden of worts, for it is nigh to me, and nigh mine house; and I shall give to thee a better vinery [or vineyard] for it; either if thou guessest it more profitable to thee, I shall give thee the price of silver, as much as it is worth.^{Verse 3}To whom Naboth answered, The Lord be merciful to me, that I give not to thee the heritage of my fathers.^{Verse 4}Therefore Ahab came into his house, having indignation, and gnashing on the word which Naboth of Jezreel had spoken to him, and said, I shall not give to thee the heritage of my fathers. And Ahab casted down himself into his bed, and turned away his face to the wall, and ate not bread.^{Verse 5}And Jezebel, his wife, entered to him, and said to him, What is this thing, whereof thy soul is made sorry? and why eatest thou not bread?^{Verse 6}Which answered to her, I spake to Naboth of Jezreel, and I said to him, Give thy vineyard to me for money taken, either if it pleaseth thee, I shall give to thee a better vinery [or vineyard] for it. And he said, I shall not give to thee my vineyard.^{Verse 7}Therefore Jezebel, his wife, said to him, Thou art of great authority, and thou governest well [the realm of] Israel; rise thou, and eat bread, and be thou patient, either comforted; I shall give to thee the vinery [or vineyard] of Naboth of Jezreel.^{Verse 8}Therefore she wrote letters in the name of Ahab, and sealed those [or them] with the ring of him; and she sent to the greater men in birth, and to the best men, that were in the city of Naboth, and dwelled with him.^{Verse 9}And this was the sentence of the letters; Preach ye fasting, and make ye Naboth to sit among the first men of the people;^{Verse 10}and send ye privily two men, the sons of Belial, against him, and say they false witnessing, Naboth hath blessed God, and the king⁺, that is, hath cursed; and lead ye out him, and stone ye him, and die he so.^{Verse 11}Therefore his citizens, the greater men in birth, and the best men that dwelled with him in the city, did as Jezebel had commanded [to them], and as it was written in the letters, which she had sent to them.^{Verse 12}They preached fasting, and made Naboth to sit among the first men of the people;^{Verse 13}and when two men, sons of the devil, were brought, they made them to sit against him, and they, that is, as men of the devil, said false witnessing against him before all the multitude, Naboth blessed God, and the king, that is, Naboth hath cursed God, and the king; for which thing they led him without the city, and killed him with stones.^{Verse 14}And they sent to Jezebel, and said, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.^{Verse 15}Forsooth it was done, when Jezebel had heard Naboth stoned and dead, she spake to Ahab, Rise thou, take in possession the vinery [or vineyard] of Naboth of Jezreel, which would not assent to thee, and give it for [the] money taken; for Naboth liveth not, but is dead.^{Verse 16}And when Ahab had heard this, that is, Naboth to be dead, he rose, and went down into the vinery [or vineyard] of Naboth of Jezreel, to have it into possession.^{Verse 17}Therefore the word of the Lord was made to Elijah of Tishbe, and said,^{Verse 18}Rise thou, go down into the coming of Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria; lo! he goeth down to the vinery [or vineyard] of Naboth, that he have it in possession.^{Verse 19}And thou shalt speak to him, and say, The Lord saith these things, Thou hast slain Naboth, furthermore and thou hast taken his vineyard in possession; and after these things thou shalt add, [These things saith the Lord], In this place, wherein dogs licked the blood of Naboth, they shall lick also thy blood.^{Verse 20}And Ahab said to Elijah, Whether thou hast found me thine enemy? And Elijah said, I have found thee so, for thou art sold to the devil that thou shouldest do evil in the sight of the Lord.^{Verse 21}Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in upon thee evil, and I shall cut away thine hinder things, and I shall slay of Ahab a pisser to the wall, and the imprisoned, and the last in Israel;^{Verse 22}and I shall give thine house to be as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah; for thou didest evil to excite [or stir] me to wrathfulness, and madest Israel to do sin.^{Verse 23}But also the Lord spake of Jezebel, and said, Dogs shall eat Jezebel in the field of Jezreel;^{Verse 24}if Ahab shall die in the city, dogs shall eat him; soothly if he shall die in the field, birds of the air shall eat him.^{Verse 25}Therefore none other was such as Ahab, that was sold to do evil in the sight of the Lord; for Jezebel his wife excited [or stirred] him thereto;^{Verse 26}and he was made abominable, in so much that he followed the idols that Amorites made, which men the Lord wasted from before the face of the sons of Israel.^{Verse 27}Therefore when Ahab had heard these words, he rent his cloth, and covered his flesh with an hair-shirt, and he fasted, and slept in a sackcloth, and went with the head cast down.^{Verse 28}And the word of the Lord was made to Elijah of Tishbe, and said,^{Verse 29}Whether thou hast not seen Ahab made low before me? Therefore for he is made low for the cause of me, I shall not bring in evil in his days, but in the days of his son I shall bring in evil to his house.

Commentary

Introduction

Ahab covets the vineyard of Naboth, and wishes to have it either by purchase or exchange, Kg1 21:1, Kg1 21:2. Naboth refuses to alienate it on any account, because it was his inheritance from his fathers, Kg1 21:3. Ahab becomes disconsolate, takes to his bed, and refuses to eat, Kg1 21:4. Jezebel, finding out the cause, promises to give him the vineyard, Kg1 21:5-7. 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, Kg1 21:8-14. 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, Kg1 21:15-24. Ahab's abominable character, Kg1 21:25, Kg1 21:26. He humbles himself; and God promises not to bring the threatened public calamities in his days, but in the days of his son, Kg1 21:27-29.

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.

Give me thy vineyard - The request of Ahab seems at first view fair and honorable. Naboth's vineyard was nigh to the palace of Ahab, and he wished to add it to his own for a kitchen garden, or perhaps a grass-plat, גן ירק gan yarak; and he offers to give him either a better vineyard for it, or to give him its worth in money. Naboth rejects the proposal with horror: The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee. No man could finally alienate any part of the parental inheritance; it might be sold or mortgaged till the jubilee, but at that time it must revert to its original owner, if not redeemed before; for this God had particularly enjoined Lev 25:14-17, Lev 25:25-28 : therefore Naboth properly said, Kg1 21:3, The Lord forbid it me, to give the inheritance of my fathers. Ahab most evidently wished him to alienate it finally, and this is what God's law had expressly forbidden; therefore he could not, consistently with his duty to God, indulge Ahab; and it was high iniquity in Ahab to tempt him to do it; and to covet it showed the depravity of Ahab's soul. But we see farther that, despotic as those kings were, they dared not seize on the inheritance of any man. This would have been a flagrant breach of the law and constitution of the country; and this indeed would have been inconsistent with the character which they sustained, viz., the Lord's vicegerents. The Jewish kings had no authority either to alter the old laws, or to make new ones. "The Hindoos," says Mr. Ward, "are as strongly attached to their homesteads as the Jews were. Though the heads of the family be employed in a distant part of the country, and though the homesteads may be almost in ruins, they cling still to the family inheritance with a fondness bordering on superstition.

He laid him down upon his bed - Poor soul! he was lord over ten-twelfths of the land, and became miserable because he could not get a poor man's vineyard added to all that he possessed! It is a true saying, "That soul in which God dwells not, has no happiness: and he who has God has a satisfying portion." Every privation and cross makes an unholy soul unhappy; and privations and crosses it must ever meet with, therefore: - "Where'er it goes is hell; itself is hell!"

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.

She wrote letters in Ahab's name - She counterfeited his authority by his own consent; and he lent his signet to stamp that authority.

Proclaim a fast - Intimate that there is some great calamity coming upon the nation, because of some evil tolerated in it. Set Naboth on high - Bring him to a public trial.

Set two men - For life could not be attainted but on the evidence of two witnesses at least. Sons of Belial - Men who will not scruple to tell lies and take a false oath. Thou didst blaspheme God and the king - Thou art an atheist and a rebel. Thou hast spoken words injurious to the perfections and nature of God; and thou hast spoken words against the crown and dignity of the king. The words literally are, Naboth hath Blessed Clod and the king; or, as Parkhurst contends, "Thou hast blessed the false gods and Molech," ברכת אלהים ומלך 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 12:6; Deu 17:2-7. The first meaning appears the most simple. Many think that the word ברך barach signifies both to bless and curse; and so it is interpreted in most Lexicons: it is passing strange that out of the same word proceedeth blessing and cursing; and to give such opposite and self-destructive meanings to any word is very dangerous. Parkhurst denies that it ever has the meaning of cursing, and examines all the texts where it is said to occur with this meaning; and shows that blessing, not cursing, is to be understood in all those places: see him under ברך, sec. vi.

And stoned him with stones - As they pretended to find him guilty of treason against God and the king, it is likely they destroyed the whole of his family; and then the king seized on his grounds as confiscated, or as escheated to the king, without any heir at law. That his family was destroyed appears strongly intimated, Kg2 9:26; Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, And the Blood of His Sons, saith the Lord.

Arise, take possession - By what rites or in what forms this was done, we do not know.

Go down to meet Ahab - This was the next day after the murder, as we learn from the above quotation, Kg2 9:26.

In the place where dogs licked, etc. - It is in vain to look for a literal fulfillment of this prediction. Thus it would have been fulfilled, but the humiliation of Ahab induced the merciful God to say, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in the days of his son, Kg1 21:29. Now dogs did lick the blood of Ahab; but it was at the pool of Samaria, where his chariot and his armor were washed, after he had received his death wound at Ramoth-gilead; but some think this was the place where Naboth was stoned: see Kg1 22:38. And how literally the prediction concerning his son was fulfilled, see Kg2 9:25, where we find that the body of Jehoram his son, just then slain by an arrow that had passed through his heart, was thrown into the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; and there, doubtless, the dogs licked his blood, if they did not even devour his body. There is a similar idea of the propriety of punishment overtaking the culprit in the place where he had committed the crime, expressed by Orestes to Aegisthus, Soph. Elect. 1495. - Χωρει δ' ενθαπερ κατεκτανες Πατερα τον αμον, ὡς εν ταυτῳ θανῃς. - Go where thou slew'st my father, That in the self-same place thou too may'st die.

Thou hast sold thyself to work evil - See a similar form of speech, Rom 7:14 (note). Thou hast totally abandoned thyself to the service of sin. Satan is become thy absolute master, and thou his undivided slave.

The dogs shall eat Jezebel - This was most literally fulfilled; see Kg2 9:36. The carcasses of poor Hindoos, and of persons who have received public punishment, are thrown into the rivers, and floating to the side, are devoured by dogs, vultures, and crows.

Did sell himself to work wickedness - He hired himself to the devil for this very purpose, that he might work wickedness. This was to be his employment, and at this he labored. In the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up - A good wife is from the Lord; a bad wife is from the devil: Jezebel was of this kind; and she has had many successors.

He rent his clothes - He was penetrated with sorrow, and that evidently unfeigned. Put sackcloth upon his flesh - He humbled himself before God and man. And fasted - He afflicted his body for his soul's benefit. Lay in sackcloth - Gave the fullest proof that his repentance was real. And went softly - Walked barefooted; so the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The Vulgate has demisso capite, "with his head hanging down." Houbigant translates went groaning. Jarchi says that the word אט at, used here, signifies to be unshod. This is its most likely sense. All these things prove that Ahab's repentance was genuine; and God's approbation of it puts it out of doubt. The slow and measured pace which always accompanies deep and reflective sorrow is also alluded to by Aeschylus, where the Chorus are thus shortly addressed on the defeat of Xerxes. - Aesch. Pers. 1073. Γοασθ' ἁβροβαται "With light and noiseless step lament."

Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself - He did abase himself; he did truly repent him of his sins, and it was such a repentance as was genuine in the sight of God: He humbleth himself Before Me. The penitent heart ever meets the merciful eye of God; repentance is highly esteemed by the Father of compassion, even where it is comparatively shallow and short-lived. Any measure of godly sorrow has a proportionate measure of God's regard; where it is deep and lasting, the heart of God is set upon it. He that mourns shall be comforted; thus hath God spoken, and though repentance for our past sins can purchase no favor, yet without it God will not grant us his salvation.

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