"Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite." (1 Kings 21:1a) When the author says "some time later" he's referring to the things that happened in the previous chapter in which King Ahab made a treaty with the king of Syria (against the Lord's command) and a prophet pronounced a coming judgment upon Ahab.
"The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. Ahab said to Naboth, 'Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.'" (1 Kings 21:1b-2) We will sometimes find the northern kingdom of Israel referred to as "Samaria" since that was its capital city after Ahab's father, King Omri, relocated it from Tirzah.
Ahab is proposing a real estate transaction; he is not demanding that Naboth hand his vineyard over to him. But there is still something wrong with his request, which we'll discuss shortly, and Naboth refuses his offer. "But Naboth replied, 'The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.'" (1 Kings 21:3) The Lord allowed the Israelites to sell parcels of land to each other but since the Lord allotted certain territories to each tribe when they entered the promised land, they were not to sell any of their land to people outside of their own tribe. The selling was only to be done in cases of financial hardship and to their nearest relative who was able to purchase it. The selling was temporary as well; it was to be returned to the original owner in the year of Jubilee. Leviticus 25 discusses these types of transactions in detail.
In addition, in Numbers 36 the Lord issues commands regarding inheritances in which a man has daughters but no sons. The daughters who inherit his land must marry men within their own tribe so that no land allotted to one tribe ends up belonging to another tribe. King Ahab and Naboth are evidently from two different tribes and they are not kinsmen and Naboth has no financial need to sell his vineyard. Naboth is right to refuse to sell his vineyard to the king. Many scholars propose that Naboth is of the tribe of Issachar, since his hometown of Jezreel lay within that territory, and that Ahab is of the tribe of Manasseh.
"So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, 'I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.' He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, 'Why are you so sullen? Why won't you eat?' He answered her, 'Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, 'Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.' But he said, 'I will not give you my vineyard.'" (1 Kings 21:4-6) Ahab is lying in bed pouting like a spoiled child. Jezebel finds his behavior exasperating. "Jezebel his wife said, 'Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I'll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.'" (1 Kings 21:7)
If you have ever seen a marriage where the husband is weak and the wife is strong, you'll have noted a weird mother/son dynamic going on. That's what we see in today's portion of Scripture in regard to the marriage between Ahab and Jezebel. Ahab is a weak man. Jezebel is a strong woman. As a a result, Ahab behaves like a man-child and Jezebel takes control of situations he doesn't want to deal with, talking down to him like a mother scolding a petulant little boy. She promises to take charge of Ahab's problem and he skips happily away without any concern as to how she intends to take charge of it.
Jezebel does more than "wear the pants" in this family; she figuratively wears the crown even though it's literally on her husband's head. Next we find her being bold enough to write letters in her husband's name. She knows he will not mind (indeed he is glad to have her handling his business) and she has probably been in the habit of signing his name to letters and orders before now, either at his request or on her own volition. "So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city with him. In those letters she wrote: 'Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.'" (1 Kings 21:8-10)
"So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth's city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, 'Naboth has cursed both God and the king.' So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. Then they sent word to Jezebel: 'Naboth has been stoned to death.'" (1 Kings 21:11-14) It was important that there be two accusers, for the law stated that capital punishment could not be carried out on the word of only one witness. (Deuteronomy 17:6) The law also stated that anyone who cursed the Lord was to be stoned to death by the people. (Leviticus 24:15-16) Two witnesses claim they heard Naboth cursing the Lord. They claim he cursed the king as well, which I assume indicates a threat against him. Plotting against the king's life would constitute treason, a capital offense. The people seize Naboth and stone him to death.
The elders and nobles send a message to Jezebel---not to Ahab---that the deed is done. This demonstrates their awareness that she is the power behind the throne. She does not have the legal authority to issue orders in her own name, which is why she signed Ahab's name, but it seems clear that the officials know the orders actually came from her. She receives the message and takes the news to her husband. "As soon as 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 that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.' When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth's vineyard." (1 Kings 21:15-16)
Ahab is lounging about the palace while Jezebel does the dirty work. Like an obedient little boy, at her command he goes and lays claim to the land she procured for him at the expense of another man's life. When we arrive at 2 Kings 9:26 we will learn that more than one man's life was lost in 1 Kings 21, for that verse makes a statement about Ahab being responsible for "the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons". This has led many scholars to conclude that Naboth and all of his heirs were put to death so no one could challenge Ahab's claim to the vineyard.
At the end of Chapter 21 we found a prophet warning Ahab that his life would soon be required of him. Ahab is a weak man and he is a wicked man. He was too weak to kill an enemy king while that man was in his custody, although he knew the Lord wanted this enemy eradicated and the enemy army defeated too soundly to come back against Israel. Ahab is also too weak to personally carry out many of his wicked desires, so he allows Jezebel to do wicked things in his name, which makes them co-conspirators. I don't know whether he knew the precise details of how Jezebel went about getting Naboth killed but there is no doubt he knew she was behind the killing. She promised to get him Naboth's vineyard and suddenly the godly man Naboth ends up stoned to death for blaspheming the Lord. A person wouldn't have to be very bright at all to put two and two together in this case. Ahab already knew Jezebel was capable of violence due to her treatment of the Lord's prophets; when she said she'd take care of Naboth I believe Ahab knew blood would be spilled. He knew it but he didn't care. Jezebel had his approval to handle the matter however she wished.
Both King Ahab and Queen Jezebel will come to a bad end as the judgment of the Lord for their sinful deeds.
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