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1 Kings 21

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Ahab Covets Naboth's Vineyard 1–7

1
And 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. ​
2
And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. ​
3
And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. ​
4
And 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 thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. ​
5
But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?
6
And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.
7
And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. ​

Jezebel Plots Naboth's Death 8–16

8
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. ​
9
And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: ​
10
And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. ​
11
And 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.
12
They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.
13
And 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. ​
14
Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.
15
And 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 thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. ​
16
And 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.

Elijah Pronounces Judgment 17–26

17
And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
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Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.
19
And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. ​
20
And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. ​
21
Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, ​
22
And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. ​
23
And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. ​
24
Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.
25
But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. ​
26
And 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.

Ahab Humbles Himself 27–29

27
And 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. ​
28
And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
29
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Kings 21

Verse 1

Naboth the Jezreelite — Jezreel lay in the border of Issachar (Josh 19:18), and Ahab had a house there, since after Carmel he 'rode, and went to Jezreel' (18:45). 'Palace' is heykal, a word that also names the temple. The chapter opens 'after these things', straight after Ahab went home from the Syrian war 'heavy and displeased' (20:43).

Verse 2

Give me thy vineyard — Ahab names a garden of herbs, the phrase of Deut 11:10, and gives the reason that it 'is near unto my house'. The commandment says, 'neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field' (Deut 5:21). His offer is a better vineyard or its price in money, but Samuel had warned that a king 'will take your fields, and your vineyards' (1 Sam 8:14).

Verse 3

the inheritance of my fathers — Chalilah, far be it, and nachalah, the family's portion of the land. The LORD had said, 'The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine' (Lev 25:23), and the inheritance was not to pass from tribe to tribe (Num 36:7). Ezekiel adds that the prince 'shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression' (Ezek 46:18).

Verse 4

heavy and displeased — The two words come together only here and in 20:43, where Ahab went home in the same state after the prophet's verdict on his sparing of Benhadad. This time the cause is Naboth's answer. He lies on his bed with his face turned away and refuses food, which Jezebel then calls him to take (v.7).

Verse 7

Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? — Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal of the Zidonians (16:31), answers Ahab's refusal of food with a promise: 'I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth'. 'Give' is the word Ahab used in v.2, and what Naboth would not give (v.15) she undertakes to supply by other means.

Verse 8

sealed them with his seal — The letters go out in Ahab's name, sealed with his signet, a mark that made a royal writing binding (Esther 8:8). They go to 'the elders and … the nobles' who lived in Naboth's own city. David too had once used a letter to arrange a man's death (2 Sam 11:14–15).

Verse 9

Proclaim a fast — A public fast with the elders gathered was called in times of distress (Joel 1:14). The letter borrows that form and sets Naboth 'on high', literally at the head of the people, with the two witnesses to follow (v.10).

Verse 10

sons of Belial — Beliyya'al, worthless; Deut 13:13 calls those who lead a city to other gods 'children of Belial'. Two witnesses are what the law required (Deut 19:15). The charge, 'blaspheme God and the king' (Ex 22:28; Lev 24:16), is written with barak, to bless, used here for its opposite, as in Job 2:9, 'curse God, and die'.

Verse 13

the men of Belial witnessed against him — The letter is carried out in its order, with the two witnesses in the presence of the people and Naboth taken out of the city and stoned. The ninth commandment forbids exactly this (Ex 20:16). 2 Kgs 9:26 records the LORD's own account: 'the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons'.

Verse 15

take possession — Yarash, to take as heir, the verb of possessing the land (Deut 11:10). Jezebel's message is that Naboth 'is not alive, but dead'. The LORD uses the same verb against Ahab in v.19: 'Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?'

Verse 19

Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? — Ratsach, to kill, is the verb of 'Thou shalt not kill' (Ex 20:13). The dogs 'licked up his blood' at the pool of Samaria, 'according unto the word of the LORD which he spake' (22:38), and Jehu has Ahab's son Joram cast into Naboth's plot of ground 'according to the word of the LORD' (2 Kgs 9:25–26).

Verse 20

thou hast sold thyself to work evil — Makar, to sell; the account repeats it of Ahab in v.25, and 2 Kgs 17:17 says it of Israel as a nation. Paul uses the same figure, 'sold under sin' (Rom 7:14). 'O mine enemy' answers Ahab's earlier word to Elijah, 'Art thou he that troubleth Israel?' (18:17).

Verse 21

him that pisseth against the wall — The idiom for every male, used in the sentence on Jeroboam's house (14:10), in the killing of Baasha's (16:11), and now in the sentence on Ahab's. It is carried out when Jehu slays 'all that remained unto Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the LORD, which he spake to Elijah' (2 Kgs 10:17).

Verse 22

like the house of Jeroboam … and like the house of Baasha — The third house given this sentence (14:10; 16:3). 'Provocation' and 'provoked' share the Hebrew root ka'as, the words of 15:30, and 'made Israel to sin' is also the charge there. The sentence is repeated to Jehu when he is anointed (2 Kgs 9:7–9).

Verse 23

The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel — Fulfilled when she is thrown from the window and 'some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall' (2 Kgs 9:33), and the dogs eat her. Jehu then says, 'This is the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite' (2 Kgs 9:36).

Verse 25

none like unto Ahab — The verdict restates 16:30 and 16:33. The cause is named: 'whom Jezebel his wife stirred up'. Verse 26 adds that he followed idols 'according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel'.

Verse 27

put sackcloth upon his flesh — Ahab rends his clothes, wears sackcloth against his skin, fasts (the same root as the 'fast' of v.9) and 'went softly' (at, gently, a word the KJV also uses in Gen 33:14 and 2 Sam 18:5). Benhadad's servants wore sackcloth in 20:31 to ask Ahab for mercy; here Ahab wears it himself.

Verse 29

Ahab humbleth himself before me — Kana, to be brought low. The LORD names it himself to Elijah and delays the evil, as he did when Rehoboam and Judah 'humbled themselves' (2 Chr 12:7) and when Josiah did (2 Kgs 22:19). The evil falls 'in his son's days': Jehu kills Joram in Naboth's field (2 Kgs 9:24–26).