And it came to pass after these things, [that] Naboth the Jizreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jizreel, by the side of the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
A king wanted a vineyard next to his palace, and the man who owned it would not sell. What follows shows how a small wish, left unchecked, grew into robbery and murder, and why one ordinary man said no.
Just before this, Ahab had spared a wicked foreign king whom God's justice had condemned. One writer sets that scene beside this one.
This Ahab could call a wicked foreign king "brother" and spare him, though divine justice had doomed that king to destruction. Now, for the sake of gardening and enlarging the grounds around his palace, he sets out to murder a true brother. Though he was king, his neighbour Naboth fearlessly refuses his offer.
The vineyard lay right beside the palace, where the king could see it. His first move looked like an honest business offer.
The king saw it and coveted it for himself. It was near to his house, and he wanted it for a vegetable garden. So he tried to get it from Naboth, either by a swap or by buying it. On the surface this was fair and honest. But Ahab knew, or should have known, that he could get it only by pushing Naboth to break the law of God.
Ahab was already known for worshipping Baal. Another writer puts this new appetite in the same class.
Fresh circumstances show us the king's moral condition. Covetousness overruns his heart, an eager greed for something God had not given him. Now this is idolatry just as much as the worship of Baal is (Col. 3:5). Ahab, dominated by the enemy, has simply passed from one form of idolatry to another.
Under the law an Israelite could sell the harvests of his land. He could never sell the land itself, because God owned it.
To make an exchange, or even to take the value of the land in money, would mean that Ahab would take full and final possession of his neighbour's vineyard. Now an Israelite who feared God could not accept such terms. When he sold his land, he sold only its harvests, since the year of jubilee would restore his property to him (Lev. 25:15)… In reality the land, the ground itself, did not belong to the people, but to the Lord: "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land" (Lev. 25:23-24).
Some have called Naboth stubborn. One writer answers that charge.
This was not obstinacy on Naboth's part, as some have supposed; nor was it a stubborn refusal to give up his legal rights just to do his king a favour. He was contending not for his own rights, but for God's, and for the rights of those who would come after him. Standing on his own rights hardly suits a man who owes everything to God's free grace. The law made merciful provision for a man who had fallen into extreme poverty. He could sell the land, but only until the year of jubilee, when it went back to the original owner or his heirs. Naboth could not plead poverty, so he had no excuse to sell his vineyard, even to the king.
Naboth's stand rested on faith. One writer asks whether that faith is still found.
Naboth was a man of faith. His father valued what the Lord had given him, and Naboth valued it too. He would die rather than surrender what really belonged to God. The Naboth spirit seems rare in our time. Their children think very little of the divine principles their fathers prized — principles for which many of them lost everything.
The scene looks like a private matter between two men. It was never private.
Ahab lay on his bed, irritated by Naboth's refusal to sell his vineyard. The wicked Jezebel was working out how to destroy Naboth. All the while, God was watching. The sinner may leave Him out of all his thoughts, but the day of reckoning will come just as surely.
- Nearness. The vineyard lay beside the palace. What Ahab could see, Ahab wanted.
- Wanting. Greed for what God had not given him is idolatry in a new form. Ahab traded one god for another.
- Owning. The land belonged to the Lord, so no one could sell it outright. Israelites sold harvests, not ground, and the jubilee gave the land back.
- Refusing. Naboth's "no" defended God's rights and the rights of those who came after him, not his own comfort. Writers note that this spirit is rare.
- Watching. The whole scheme unfolded under God's eye. The day of reckoning comes just the same.
And Ahab spoke to Naboth saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, for it is near, by the side of my house; and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; if it seem good to thee, I will give thee its value in money.
Ahab's offer sounds like ordinary business. A king wants the vineyard next door, and offers either a better plot or a fair price. Yet Naboth refused, and the chapter ends in murder. Why was a simple sale impossible, and what does the neat offer reveal about the king's heart?
On the surface nothing looks wrong with a swap or a sale. One writer points to what Ahab must have known all along:
The king saw the vineyard and coveted it for himself. It was near his house, and he wanted it for a garden of herbs. So he tried to get it from Naboth, either by exchange or by purchase. Outwardly this was fair and honest; but Ahab knew, or should have known, that he could not have it except by getting Naboth to break the law of God. Naboth valued obedience to the Word above the king's favour and his own advantage.
The king who had worshipped Baal now craves a neighbour's field. One writer puts the two sins in the same class:
Fresh circumstances show us the king's moral condition. Covetousness overruns his heart, an eager greed for something God had not given him. Now this is idolatry just as much as the worship of Baal is (Col. 3:5). Ahab, dominated by the enemy, has simply passed from one form of idolatry to another.
Both halves of Ahab's offer — the better vineyard and the cash — asked for something a faithful Israelite had no power to grant. The reason lies in how God had arranged the ownership of the land:
To make an exchange, or even to give the value of the land in money, would mean that Ahab took full and final possession of his neighbour's vineyard. Now an Israelite who feared God could not accept such terms. When he sold his land, he sold only its harvests. His possession would come back to him in the year of jubilee, so its price matched the number of years the buyer would gather its produce (Lev. 25:15)… In reality the land, the ground itself, did not belong to the people, but to the Lord: "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me."
Some read Naboth's refusal as mere stubbornness. One writer answers them:
This was not obstinacy on Naboth's part, as some have supposed; nor was it a stubborn refusal to give up his legal rights in order to do his king a favour. He was contending, not for his own rights (which hardly suits a man who owes everything to God's free grace), but for God's, and for the rights of those who would come after him. The law mercifully allowed a man who had fallen into extreme poverty to sell his land, but only until the year of jubilee, when it went back to the original owner or his heirs. Naboth could not plead poverty, so he had no excuse to sell his vineyard, even to the king.
Ahab did not want a vineyard. He wanted vegetables next to his house. One writer weighs what that swap gives up:
He cherished his inheritance. The wicked scheming of the hateful Jezebel cost him his life, yet he would not give up what he called "the inheritance of my fathers." Ahab would have turned this into "a garden of herbs"; herbs are for the use of men; the vineyard is what "makes glad the heart of God and man." Today modernism, humanism and other cults produced by human minds are weakening our appreciation of the heavenly calling. So let us hold fast to the inheritance. Its source is the eternal heart of God, and it has come down to us at the cost of martyrs' blood.
Commentators apply Naboth's stand to God's people now:
The enemy of God's people would rob us of the portion God has given us if he could. But he cannot touch the inheritance we have "in Christ" and the inheritance kept for us in heaven.
One writer finds Naboth's spirit rare today:
Naboth was a man of faith. His father valued what the Lord had given him, and Naboth valued it too. He would die rather than surrender what really belonged to God. The Naboth spirit seems rare in our time. Their children think little of the divine principles our fathers prized, and for which many suffered the loss of everything.
- Inheritance, not property — the vineyard came to Naboth from his fathers, and the ground itself belonged to the Lord.
- Inheritance refuses a price — a swap or a cash payment would have handed Ahab the land for good. No God-fearing Israelite could agree to that.
- Inheritance held for God — Naboth defended God's rights and his heirs' rights, not a bargain of his own.
- Inheritance downgraded — Ahab would trade a vineyard for a herb garden. Herbs serve men; the vineyard gladdens the heart of God and man.
- Inheritance still contested — the enemy cannot touch what God has given His people in Christ. Naboth held his ground at the cost of his life.
And Naboth said to Ahab, Jehovah forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee!
Ahab's offer looks generous — a better vineyard, or the money instead. Naboth's flat refusal can read like a small man being difficult with his king. But the verse turns on one phrase: "the inheritance of my fathers." Those words were not Naboth's to bargain away, and everything that follows grows from that.
Naboth was not guarding a family heirloom out of sentiment. Israel's land laws made an outright sale impossible. The ground had an owner above every Israelite who farmed it.
An exchange, or even a cash payment, would give Ahab full and final possession of his neighbour's vineyard. Now an Israelite who feared God could not accept such conditions. When he sold his land, he sold only its harvests. His land came back to him in the year of jubilee, so its price matched the number of years the buyer would harvest its produce. … In reality the land, the ground itself, did not belong to the people, but to the Lord: "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me."
Some have read Naboth's answer as a subject being awkward with his king. One writer rejects that, and names whose interests Naboth had in view.
Ahab's offer sounded fair. It was not, because Naboth had no honest way to say yes.
On the surface this was fair and honest. But Ahab knew, or should have known, that he could only get it by getting Naboth to break the law of God. Naboth valued obedience to the Word above the king's favour and above his own advantage.
Ahab is known for worshipping Baal. The sin on display here belongs to the same family.
Covetousness overruns his heart — eager greed for something God had not given him. Now this is idolatry just as much as the worship of Baal is. Ahab, dominated by the enemy, has simply passed from one form of idolatry to another.
That greed hits a wall it cannot move. Rossier names what stood in the king's way.
Ahab is sullen because what he wants is out of his reach. He is vexed at a will that puts an obstacle in his way, one he cannot make give way. In the end, it is the will of God.
Naboth's words were not cheap. He said them to a man who could have him killed, and did.
Naboth was therefore a man of faith. His father valued what the Lord had given him, and Naboth valued it too. He would die rather than surrender what really belonged to God. The Naboth spirit seems rare in our time. Our fathers prized divine principles, and many of them lost everything for those principles. Their children treat them lightly.
Ahab wanted to turn a vineyard into vegetables. One writer draws out the downgrade hidden in that swap, and applies it to what believers hold today.
Ahab would have made this into "a garden of herbs." Herbs are for the use of men; the vineyard is what "makes glad the heart of God and man." In a day when movements produced by the minds of men are weakening our appreciation of the heavenly calling, let us hold fast to the inheritance which has its source in the eternal heart of God and has come down to us at the cost of martyrs' blood.
Naboth dies and Ahab walks into the vineyard. The story does not end there.
Naboth had been stoned, and Ahab was now free to take possession. He went down, and his feet at last stood in Naboth's vineyard. But just as he was about to lay his hand on the possession he had coveted, Elijah the Tishbite met him. From the prophet's terrifying words he had to learn that there truly is a God who judges the earth.
- Owner — The vineyard was never Naboth's to sell. God said the land was His, and Israel held it as strangers and sojourners with Him.
- Obedience — His refusal was not stubbornness but conscience. He was defending God's rights, and the rights of those coming after him.
- Idolatry — Ahab craved what God had not given him. That craving is idolatry, his Baal worship in another form.
- Cost — Naboth would die rather than hand over what belonged to God, and he did.
- Outcome — Ahab got the ground and met Elijah standing in it, learning that there is a God who judges the earth.