CHAPTER 21

(899 B.C.)

NABOTH REFUSES TO SELL HIS VINEYARD TO AHAB

¹And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a Vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. (The entirety of this Chapter concerns this Vineyard. Naboths Vineyard is a Type of the spiritual inheritance that every Child of God has. As his Vineyard bordered Ahabs palace, so our spiritual inheritance [Vineyard] borders the world.)

²And Ahab spoke unto Naboth, saying, Give me your Vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to you, I will give you the worth of it in money. (The same pressure that was applied by Ahab against Naboth to sell his Vineyard will be applied to us by the forces of darkness to compromise our convictions. As this battle was to the death, so will the battle that we fight be unto the death. We have but one of two choices: 1. We can refuse Satan any part in that which God has given us; or, 2. We can sell out to Ahab the world.

The first one will bring physical death but spiritual life. The second one will bring physical life but spiritual death.

Satan professes to have better vineyards. He lies. If he has better vineyards, why does he want yours?)

³And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto you. (As Naboths Vineyard was given unto him by the Lord of Glory, likewise, our Vineyard of Salvation is given to us by the Lord of Glory.

Actually, the Law of Moses forbade the sale of ancestral rights, except in extreme destitution and, even then, the property would always return to the original owners in the Year of Jubilee [Lev. 25:23-25; Num. 36:7].)

⁴And Ahab came into his house heavy 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 laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread (pouting).

JEZEBEL HAS NABOTH KILLED

⁵But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is your spirit so sad, that you eat no bread?

⁶And he said unto her, Because I spoke unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me your Vineyard for money, or else, if it please you, I will give you another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give you my Vineyard.

⁷And Jezebel his wife said unto 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 (I will give it to you; you dont need to buy it).

⁸So she wrote letters in Ahabs name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.

⁹And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people (a place of honor):

¹⁰And set two men, sons of Belial (worthless), before him, to bear witness against him, saying, You did blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. (They first pretended to honor him, and now they claim to have found this great fault in him; so he must be stoned to death.)

¹¹And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.

¹²They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.

¹³And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died (it was all a planned farce from the very beginning).

¹⁴Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.

¹⁵And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was 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.

¹⁶And 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 (this was the day after the murder).

ELIJAH PRONOUNCES JUDGMENT ON AHAB AND JEZEBEL

¹⁷And the Word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

¹⁸Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the Vineyard of Naboth, where he is gone down to possess it.

¹⁹And you shall speak unto him, saying, Thus says the LORD, Have you killed, and also taken possession? And you shall speak unto him, saying, Thus says the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your blood, even yours (Jesus said, With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again [Mat. 7:2]).

²⁰And Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found you: because you have sold yourself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. (This Chapter opens with Ahab refusing to listen to Gods loving Voice, which is spoken to him so plainly in the remarkable victory given to him over the Syrians, but willingly listening to Jezebels cruel voice prompting him to commit perhaps the blackest of his black crimes.)

²¹Behold, I will bring evil upon you, and will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him who urinates against the wall, and him who is shut up and left in Israel,

²²And will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith you have provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin (Ahab and Jezebel led Israel ever deeper into sin).

²³And of Jezebel also spoke the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel (retribution should overtake her near the scene of her latest crime [II Ki. 9:36]; by this, the just judgment of God would be made the more conspicuous).

²⁴Him who dies of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him who dies in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

²⁵But there was none like unto Ahab, whom did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up (Ahab was the most wicked king of Israel thus far; and, in fact, this program of ever-increasing wickedness continued until the whole nation had to be destroyed).

²⁶And 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.

AHABS REPENTANCE

²⁷And 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. (It seems that this mans Repentance was sincere at least for a time. God would not have spoken to a halfhearted repentance.)

²⁸And the Word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

²⁹Do you see how Ahab humbles himself before Me? because he humbles himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his sons days will I bring the evil upon his house. (There is no threat of punishment against the innocent instead of the guilty, as might at first sight appear. For, in the first place, God knew well what the son would be, and, in the second place, if the son had departed from his fathers sins, he would have been spared, as well [Ezek. 18:14]; judgment was deferred to give the house of Ahab another chance, but, regrettably, to no avail!)