The Vineyard of Naboth - Murder of Naboth - The Divine Message by Elijah - Ahab's Repentance.

(1 Kings 21)

IT is significant that the words describing Ahab's state of mind on returning from Jezreel to Samaria after his

unsuccessful negotiation with Naboth for his vineyard, are precisely the same as those formerly used in regard to the

impression made on him by the prophet's message (1 Kings 20:43). On both occasions he "was much [and rebelliously]

excited and angry." The identity of terms indicates identity of feelings. The same self-a s s ertion, independence of God,

and want of submissiveness which had led to his release of, and covenant with, Ben-hadad, and inspired feelings of

rebellion and anger on hearing the Divine message, now prompted his resentment of Naboth's conduct.

The summer palace of Jezreel was the favorite retreat of King Ahab and Jezebel. The present somewhat marshy plain

of Esdraelon, the almost bare mountains of Gilboa, and the miserable village which now occupies the site of Jezreel,

and overlooks the ruins of Bethshan, can afford no adequate idea of what the place was in the days of Ahab and Jezebel

and of their immediate successors. Then the mountains of Gilboa were richly wooded, and sweet springs brought

freshness to the air and luxurious beauty to the vegetation of Jezreel, even as they carried fertility down into the great

plain beneath, which in the summer light shimmered and trembled like a sea of golden corn. At the northern declivity

of Gilboa, where it descends, steep and rocky, on a knoll about 500 feet high, stood Jezreel. Protected from the fierce

southern sun by the delicious shade of Gilboa, that rises up behind, it looked - as suited to a summer-residence in the

East - northwards, across the plain to the mountains of Galilee, to Tabor, and in the distance to snow-capped Hermon.

The height descended into the valley of Jezreel, where a sweet spring rippled, and close by gathered into a pool.

Eastwards, you would look down on Bethshan, and, across the deep depression of the Jordan valley, to the mountains

on t he other side, on which rested the blue and purple light. To the west you might sweep those fifteen miles to Mount

Carmel, and perchance the westerly breeze might carry up the plain the fresh scent of the sea. Such was the Jezreel of

Ahab and Jezebel - the nearest, the safest, the sweetest summer-retreat from Samaria.

On the east and south-east, where the hot limestone rock shelves into the valley beneath, are to this day wine-presses.

They mark the neighborhood of where the vineyards of Jezreel must have been, among them that of Naboth. Right

above was the royal palace, narrowed and cramped within the city walls, of which indeed it seems to have formed part.

Manifestly it would be object of desire to acquire the land nearest to the palace, with the view o f converting it into a

garden. What such a garden might bear, and what sweet outlook on it could be enjoyed from the windows of the palace,

may be judged from the lemon -groves still existing in the near neighborhood. But Naboth, the owner of the coveted

piece of land, could not be tempted to part with it by the king's offer of either a better vineyard or an equivalent in

money. It was the ancestral possession of the family of Naboth, and piety towards God combined with reverence for the

memory of his fathers to forbid the unholy bargain. It is a healthy sign to find such stern assertion of principle so

fearlessly uttered. Israel could not be wholly sunken in corruption and idolatry, so long as it numbered among its

peasant-proprietors men like Naboth, nor could the service of Jehovah have left its households when even in Jezreel a

burgher could appeal from the demands of an Ahab to the authority and law of his God. And it affords happy evidence

of what the legislation of the Pentateuch had secured for Israel, that even in the worst times an Ahab dared not, like a

heathen monarch, lay hands on Naboth, nor force him to surrender the inheritance of his fathers.

It is another mark of that self-willed and uncontrolled frame of mind which had determined the bearin g of Ahab

towards Ben-hadad, and then towards the prophet sent to rebuke him, that he could not brook the refusal of Naboth. It

was utter and childish petulance, as well as unbridled selfishness, to act as he did on his return to Samaria. He turned

his face to the wall and refused to eat bread. In Samaria at least all was submissive to his will - thanks to the strong

hand of Jezebel. But, outside her sway, he was always encountered and opposed by Jehovah: now by His prophets, then

by His worshippers. Here was a power which he dared not resist, yet to which he would not submit. But Jezebel shared

neither the feelings nor the scruples of her husband. She dared what she would, and she would what she dared. She now

spoke to the king as a strong unscrupulous woma n to a weak and unprincipled man. She must have known what had

prompted the refusal of Naboth - although it deserves notice that, in his account of what had passed, the king had

studiously omitted all reference to it (ver. 6). Similarly, Ahab must have known that when Jezebel demanded the royal

signet, with which official documents coming directly from the king were stamped, she must have had in view some