Ahab & Naboth's Vineyard - 1 Kings 21:1-29

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Bible Stories

Rusty's Notes

1 Kings 19

• Jezebel (Ahab’s wife) swore to kill Elijah

• Elijah hid for his life
• The Lord appeared to Elijah and told him to anoint two kings and Elisha as prophet.
• Through these kings the Lord wiped out the rest of the Baal followers.

1 Kings 20

• Ahab, King of Israel in the north, went to battle but never completed God’s instructions so the prophets warned him of his future.

 
AHAB AND NABOTH’S VINEYARD
1 KINGS 21
1 Some time passed after these events. Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard; it was in Jezreel next to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria.

• Map
• Ahab’s winter palace.
• A vineyard, like an olive-orchard, is not just land that may have been in the family for a long time.
• It represents a high investment in many years of unfruitful care before it reaches maturity.

2 So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard so I can have it for a vegetable garden, since it is right next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place, or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.”

• Israel is sometimes portrayed in the OT as a vine under God's special care (e.g., Isa. 3:13-15; cf. Mark 12:1-12 and parallels; John 15:1-17).
• Ahab's desire to replace a vineyard with a vegetable garden is meant to be seen as symbolic of a deeper desire.
• This is a king who wants to make Israel like Egypt [see Deut. 11:10].

3 But Naboth said to Ahab, “As the Lord is my witness, I will never give my ancestors’ inheritance to you.”
4 So Ahab went to his palace resentful and angry because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had told him. He had said, “I will not give you my ancestors inheritance.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and didn’t eat any food.

• His couch in front of the buffet table.

5 Then his wife Jezebel came to him and said to him, “Why are you so upset that you refuse to eat?”
6 “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite,” he replied. “I told him, ‘Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you wish, I will give you a vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I won’t give you my vineyard!’ ”
7 Then his wife Jezebel said to him, “Now, exercise your royal power over Israel. Get up, eat some food, and be happy. For I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

• Jezebel believed that Ahab was the supreme authority in Israel, an opinion that he shared (cf. 20:42).
• They failed to acknowledge Yahweh's sovereignty over Israel.

8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. 9 In the letters, she wrote:
Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people. 10 Then seat two wicked men opposite him and have them testify against him, saying, “You have cursed God and the king!” Then take him out and stone him to death.

• Jezebel apparently knew something of the Mosaic Law.
• It required two witnesses in capital offense cases (Deut. 17:6-7).
• Cursing God was a capital offense (Lev. 24:16).
• Since the king was God's anointed authority, Jezebel in effect elevated cursing the king to a crime on the same level with cursing Yahweh.
• This was inappropriate but consistent with her concept of Israel's king.
• She formed her plot in conscious disobedience to God's revealed will.
• "Every legal system can become the tool of politicians, if the values of those responsible for it have been sufficiently corrupted."

11 The men of his city, the elders and nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them, just as it was written in the letters she had sent them. 12 They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people. 13 The two wicked men came in and sat opposite him. Then the wicked men testified against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones. 14 Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.”

• Jezebel evidently executed Naboth's sons at the same time.
• 2 Kings 9:25-26 - Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, “Pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember when you and I were riding side by side behind his father Ahab, and the Lord uttered this pronouncement against him: 26 ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘so will I repay you on this plot of land’—this is the Lord’s declaration.[1] .

15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite who refused to give it to you for silver, since Naboth isn’t alive, but dead.” 16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.

• When Ahab heard what his wife had done, he did not reprove her but took advantage of her actions and in doing so approved them.
• The most heinous act of Ahab came in the matter of Naboth.
• A king's primary responsibility was to render justice in the land [cf. 3:9].
• Ahab shockingly violated this requirement by stealing from a man he had murdered (through Jezebel)."

 
THE LORD’S JUDGMENT ON AHAB
17 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 18 “Get up and go to meet King Ahab of Israel, who is in Samaria. He’s in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it.

• Samaria was King Ahab’s capitol.
• Jezreel was his winter palace.

19 Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you murdered and also taken possession?’ Then tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, the dogs will also lick up your blood!’ ”

• Even though Jezebel was behind the murder of Naboth, God held her husband Ahab responsible for it, since he should have prevented it.
• Murdering someone and taking possession of his property was a capital offense under the Law of Moses (cf. 2 Sam. 11; 12:13).
• It would be a great shame for Ahab to have his blood flow in the streets of his winter capital: Jezreel.
• It would be an even greater disgrace to have it licked up by wild scavengers, as Naboth's blood had been.

20 Ahab said to Elijah, “So, my enemy, you’ve found me, have you?”
He replied, “I have found you because you devoted yourself to do what is evil in the Lord’s sight.

•  Elijah was Ahab's "enemy" because the prophet was God's representative whom the king had decided to oppose.
• Ahab had given himself over to do evil in that he had sacrificed his own life and future to obtain what he wanted.

21 This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on you and will eradicate your descendants:
I will wipe out all of Ahab’s males,
both slave and free, in Israel;
22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have angered me and caused Israel to sin. 23 The Lord also speaks of Jezebel: ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the plot of land at Jezreel:
24 Anyone who belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, the dogs will eat, and anyone who dies in the field, the birds will eat.”

•  As for Jezebel, wild dogs, which normally lived off the garbage in cities, would eat her.
• Furthermore, all of Ahab's descendants would experience dishonorable deaths

25 Still, there was no one like Ahab, who devoted himself to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight, because his wife Jezebel incited him. 26 He committed the most detestable acts by following idols as the Amorites had, whom the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.

•  The writer's assessment of Ahab was that he was the worst ruler in Israel yet.
• He was as bad as the Amorites whom God drove out because of their wickedness (cf. Lev. 18:25-30).
• Nevertheless, Ahab was a king over God's chosen people, though not of the Davidic line.

27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth over his body, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around subdued. 28 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? I will not bring the disaster during his lifetime, because he has humbled himself before me. I will bring the disaster on his house during his son’s lifetime.”[2]

• Ahab's genuine repentance, when he heard of his fate—from Israel's true King—resulted in God's relenting and lightening His sentence.
• Not Ahab but his son Joram (i.e., Jehoram) would die on Naboth's land in Jezreel (v. 19; 2 Kings 9:25-26).
• There is no indication here or elsewhere that Jezebel ever repented.

 

• The story of Naboth warns against the use of piety and legality to cloak injustice.
• It teaches that those who support the plots of a Jezebel, whether by silent acquiescence or overt complicity, share her crime.
• It is a resounding affirmation that injustice touches God, that 'as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me' (Matt. 25:40, 45), that in the cosmic order of things there is a power at work that makes for justice.
• And the story attests that there is awesome power in the conscience and protest of the individual servant of God.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Ki 9:25–26.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Ki 21:1–29.