#488 Their Fruits

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.

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.

17 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

18 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.

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. 1 Kings 21 KJV

So I was curious about a vineyard and it is a lot of work, toil, a labor of love as much as necessity. This is not even the reason that Naboth refuses the king though. It goes back to the Mosaic Laws of Leviticus and Numbers, paternal or tribal property and it's inability to pass tribe to tribe. It could be rented, but not permanently sold and would return to the original owner at anytime someone was able to redeem from family or kinsman. At the year of jubilee, there was no more usury or extension, no squatters or "possession being 9/10 of the law." In that year, which occurred every 50 years, the land was returned to the owner, so you had to understand that in leasing, you needed to know how far out you were from the next Jubilee.

Naboth doesn't want to make this deal, and it is no disrespect, he is well within his right to cherish his inheritance. Ahab wants an herb garden though and it's conveniently next to his own property, it's just not fair. Life is hard, and so he pouts, probably hoping someone will take notice, "sweetie what's wrong?" Fortunately he is married to a problem solver, "don't you worry your pretty head, I will get you that field." Thirty pieces of silver, I know my way around the law, I can use it to my advantage, nothing should be withheld from the king. Send a letter to those that govern in that area, have two men (for the law requires at least two witnesses) say that he has blasphemed God and the king. God, for that is Who according to the law is above all kings, and the king for that is the rule we wanted and God has ordained. He does not bear the sword in vane. We must respect those who have rule over us, but they must respect God, should be the keepers and attenders of His law. It does not place kings above the law, but Jezebel has a much different view of royalty and it's entitlements. She will abuse power and the public trust, for in order to manipulate the law, one must lie and plot against the Spirit and the truth to hang the innocent by the letter. They do it, they bring him to sit in a seat of high respect, where everyone can see him, and then his accusers come in, it is already under the pretense of  a holy matter, the people are fasting as in the days of Jonah, but it is all a sham. It is a moral outrage, and why would these two men make it up, they have no visible reason to lie, so they must be telling the truth. This is why we are having to fast, it is our civic duty to deal with the one who has brought such shame into this court, let's stone him. So they stone him.

Go get your property Ahab, Naboth is dead, and it's not your fault, you didn't call all these plays, and besides, the whole thing could have been avoided if he would just let you have your herb garden. I'm skipping down to my house on the lake, walking out on my new dock, launching my kayak from my yard, instead of having to strap it to my car, I mean that was getting ridiculous, especially with my shoulder issues. Oh no, what are you doing here? Elijah, buzz kill, the enemy of all fun and kingly pursuits, boy am I glad to see you. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't sold your soul to the devil, if you would have been happy with your boundaries, which exceed most men in this world. You deserve to receive what the one who didn't deserve received. You have only listened to your own side, your wife has been set against reason, justice and all Godliness, and you let it go on. There is yet another stain on your kingdom, after the Word of God has been spoken, revealed to you, you have been rescued from your enemies and now Elijah has returned again, and that is never good. This time he humbles himself, this time he doesn't go to Jezebel, he rents his clothes and goes to sack cloth. His kingdom will not continue but his life will be saved in repentance. His son shall bare the iniquity.

12 A worthless person, a wicked man,
goes about with crooked speech,
13 winks with his eyes, signals[c] with his feet,
points with his finger,
14 with perverted heart devises evil,
continually sowing discord;
15 therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.


16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers. Proverbs 6:12-19