1Ki 21:1-14 | Clarke | STEP | Ahab covets the vineyard of Naboth, and wishes to have it either by purchase or exchange, , . Naboth refuses to alienate it on any account, because it was his inheritance from his fathers, . Ahab becomes disconsolate, takes to his bed, and refuses to eat, . Jezebel, finding out the cause, promises to give him the vineyard, . 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, . 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, . Ahab's abominable character, , . He humbles himself; and God promises not to bring the threatened public calamities in his days, but in the days of his son, . 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.

1 Kings 21:1-14

Introduction

Ahab covets the vineyard of Naboth, and wishes to have it either by purchase or exchange, 1Kgs 21:1, 1Kgs 21:2. Naboth refuses to alienate it on any account, because it was his inheritance from his fathers, 1Kgs 21:3. Ahab becomes disconsolate, takes to his bed, and refuses to eat, 1Kgs 21:4. Jezebel, finding out the cause, promises to give him the vineyard, 1Kgs 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, 1Kgs 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, 1Kgs 21:15-24. Ahab's abominable character, 1Kgs 21:25, 1Kgs 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, 1Kgs 21:27-29.

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. Verse 2

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, 1Kgs 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. Verse 4

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!" 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. Verse 8

She wrote letters in Ahab's name - She counterfeited his authority by his own consent; and he lent his signet to stamp that authority. Verse 9

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. Verse 10

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. Verse 13

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, 2Kgs 9:26; Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, And the Blood of His Sons, saith the Lord.