The First Book of Kings
Chapter Twenty-One
Ahab and the Vineyard of Naboth
To Hear a Talk based on the Text below:
Ahab and the Vineyard of Naboth
1-Kings ch. 21
(ca.26 minutes)
Talk includes points not mentioned in the text.
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1 Kings 21 (New King James
Version)
1 And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a
vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
The Sages (Sanhedrin 48;b) said that
Naboth
was the son of a brother of Omri
father of Ahab, i.e. Ahab and
Naboth were cousins. Ahab had a
palace in Samaria (1-Kings 22:39) which was further to the south in addition to
the one in Jezreel
spoken of here. It could be that the palace in
Jezreel
was an inheritance from Omri.
It was the private property of Ahab as distinct from that belonging to the
monarchy per se. This would solve the legal problem concerning the rights of a
king. Legally (1-Samuel ch.8) if the king for the purpose of his monarchy needs
the property of someone else he may take it but has to compensate whoever he
takes it from.
Cf.
[Ezekiel 46:18] MOREOVER THE PRINCE SHALL NOT TAKE OF THE PEOPLE'S INHERITANCE
BY OPPRESSION, TO THRUST THEM OUT OF THEIR POSSESSION; BUT HE SHALL GIVE HIS
SONS INHERITANCE OUT OF HIS OWN POSSESSION: THAT MY PEOPLE BE NOT SCATTERED
EVERY MAN FROM HIS POSSESSION.
The verse says that the vineyard "was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria". Jezreel probably refers to a city in the territory of Issachar in the Valley of Jezreel.
Ahab was king over all Israel, not just over Samaria. Perhaps the verse emphasizes the connection of Ahab with Samaria since that was where his capital was
and it was that area where he could as king have shown a genuine interest in real estate and not elsewhere.
In the attached map "Sebaste" is the site of the ancient city of Samaria.
The Valley of Jezreel is the Plain of Esdraelon (Megiddo) and the city of Jezreel was probably somewhere in its
eastern section near the foothills of Mount Gilboa.
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2 So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for
a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house; and for it I will give
you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its
worth in money.
3 But Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of
my fathers to you!
"The inheritance of my fathers" refers
to inherited properties that had been distributed when the Israelites first
conquered the Land of Canaan. There were special laws and traditions concerning
these lands:
[Leviticus 25:23] THE LAND SHALL NOT BE
SOLD FOR EVER: FOR THE LAND IS MINE, FOR YE ARE STRANGERS AND SOJOURNERS WITH
ME.
[Leviticus 25:24] AND IN ALL THE LAND OF YOUR POSSESSION YE SHALL GRANT A
REDEMPTION FOR THE LAND.
[Leviticus 25:25] IF THY BROTHER BE WAXEN POOR, AND HATH SOLD AWAY SOME OF HIS
POSSESSION, AND IF ANY OF HIS KIN COME TO REDEEM IT, THEN SHALL HE REDEEM THAT
WHICH HIS BROTHER SOLD.
[Leviticus 25:26] AND IF THE MAN HAVE NONE TO REDEEM IT, AND HIMSELF BE ABLE TO
REDEEM IT;
[Leviticus 25:27] THEN LET HIM COUNT THE YEARS OF THE SALE THEREOF, AND RESTORE
THE OVERPLUS
UNTO THE MAN TO WHOM HE SOLD IT; THAT HE MAY RETURN UNTO HIS POSSESSION.
[Leviticus 25:28] BUT IF HE BE NOT ABLE
TO RESTORE IT TO HIM, THEN THAT WHICH IS SOLD SHALL REMAIN IN THE HAND OF HIM
THAT HATH BOUGHT IT UNTIL THE YEAR OF
JUBILE:
AND IN THE JUBILE
IT SHALL GO OUT, AND HE SHALL RETURN UNTO HIS POSSESSION.
Maimonides
(Laws of Shemittah
and Yovel
11.1.3) explains that it was forbidden to sell such lands unless the money was
desperatedly.
Otherwise the land was meant to be kept in the family. The fact that
Naboth
and Ahab were close kin may have further complicated the issue since it could
have lead to a conflict of rights at the Time of Jubilee when ancestral lands
were to be returned! Ahab or his successors could then have found some excuse
to claim that the land was supposed to have been their inheritance in the first
place.
4 So Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased 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. And he lay down on his bed, and turned away his
face, and would eat no food.
5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, Why is your spirit so
sullen that you eat no food?
6 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. And he answered, I will not give you my vineyard.
7 Then Jezebel his wife said to him, You now exercise authority over Israel!
Arise, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of
Naboth the Jezreelite.
The woman was taking over. Ahab let her
though he was unaware of what exactly she would do.
8 And she wrote letters in Ahabs name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the
letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth.
Ahab was not aware of what Jezebel was
doing.
9 She wrote in the letters, saying,
Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth with high honor among the people;
Jezebel was acting on behalf of her
husband, King Ahab, who was not aware of what she was doing. Nevertheless he
knew she was doing something.
Ahab was king of the Kingdom of Israel meaning the northern Ten Tribes.
He was limited in his powers and in some ways was more like a US President than
a Middle Eastern despot.
See:
Manasseh in Rabbinical Sources
"Presidents and Not Kings"
http://britam.org/manasseh/menasseh.html#Presidents
The Kings of the northern
Kingdom also had reason to be constantly concerned with the legitimacy of their
rulership
and whether or not their subject would obey them.
Nabot
was within his rights to refuse Ahab but still the fact that Ahab had been
refused reflected on his ability to rule in general.
# Proclaim a fast # Yehudah
Kiel in Daat
Mikra
points out that it was the custom to proclaim a fast in the event of a happening
that threatened the public peace and welfare of the kingdom. On the other hand
in a footnote Rabbi Yoseph
Kimchi
(father of the Radak)
is quoted as saying that the word "Tsom"
that we understand to mean "fast" originally meant public meeting and this may
have been the intention in the case of
Nabot.
10 and seat two men, scoundrels, before him to bear witness against him, saying,
You have blasphemed God and the king. Then take him out, and stone him, that he
may die.
This shows the complexity of the
situation at that time. Many of the people including the Royal Family worshipped
idols. They also feared the Almighty and punished whosoever should take HIS Name
in vain.
11 So the men of his city, the elders and nobles who were inhabitants of his
city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, as it was written in the letters which
she had sent to them.
12 They proclaimed a fast, and seated Naboth with high honor among the people.
13 And two men, scoundrels, came in and sat before him; and the scoundrels
witnessed against him, against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying,
Naboth has blasphemed God and the king! Then they took him outside the city and
stoned him with stones, so that he died.
14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth has been stoned and is dead.
15 And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was
dead, that 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.
16 So it was, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab got up and went
down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.
17 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he
is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it.
19 You shall speak to him, saying, Thus says the LORD: Have you murdered and
also taken possession? And you shall speak to him, saying, Thus says the LORD:
In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood,
even yours.
20 So Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy?
And he answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in
the sight of the LORD:
Ahab knew what Jezebel had done. He had
not protested but rather acquiesced and allowed himself to benefit from the
deed.
21 Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and
will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free.
22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like
the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you
have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin.
The sin involved not only the idolatry
and other bad practices that Ahab and Jezebel had encouraged but also the death
of Nabot.
The death of Nabot
had been occasioned by an accusation of taking the name of the Almighty in vain.
He had been put to death because of it. Not only Ahab and Jezebel but also the
leaders of the people had had a hand in this matter. It made them difficult of
the very thing Nabot
had been accused of. The Honor of God had been offended, at least in the eyes
of the people!
23 And concerning Jezebel the LORD also spoke, saying, The dogs shall eat
Jezebel by the wall[a] of Jezreel.
24 The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the
birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field.
25 But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight
of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up.
Ahab gave himself over to do evil with
great dedication. His wife was the catalyst that enabled him to do this. A woman
often fulfils the will of her husband and enables him to realize himself. The
problem is that a man has several potentialities. A wife should be a help-meet
and enable her husband to bring into reality his better aspects. Jezebel did the
opposite.
When a crime is committed
the French say, "Cherche
la femme!"
The English say, "Behind
every great man stands a woman!"
Husbands say, "Behind every
great man stands an astonished mother-in-law!"
26 And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the
Amorites had done, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
We may learn two points from this verse:
a) The Israelites worshipped the idols of the Canaanites (Amorites) who were in
the Land before them.
b) The Canaanites had been driven out. In the Books of Joshua and Judges we
received the impression that over much of the Land the Canaanites remained and
that the Israelites intermixed with them. Here we see that at least in the
central area the Canaanites had been moved out. They had however stayed long
enough to infuse the Hebrews with their own values and superstitions.
When the Lost Ten Tribes went into Exile they were to take this mixture of
Hebrew and Canaanite practice with them.
27 So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put
sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning.
28 And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
29 See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself
before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I
will bring the calamity on his house.
See how great is the power of
Repentance!!
Scripture tells us that # there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do
wickedness # (1-Kings 21:25) yet by humbling himself he was able to alleviate
the disaster that had been prophesied against him. None of us (I hope) have been
guilty of sins as great as those of Ahab. There is hope for all of us. Now we
live and we have a chance. God is waiting for us. Let us return to HIM while we
can.
Footnotes:
1 Kings 21:23 Following Masoretic
Text and Septuagint; some Hebrew manuscripts,
Syriac,
Targum,
and Vulgate read plot of ground (compare 2 Kings 9:36).
Continued in Ch. Twenty-Two
