Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 2:44I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: (Ecclesiastes 2:4): “I made me great works; I builded houses; and I planted vineyards.” Ahab could have said the same; but what blessing did he get out of it all? The humble prophet Elijah, whom he persecuted, is in Heaven; but Ahab, alas! is not there. His father Omri built Samaria, and made it the capital of his kingdom, not being satisfied with Tirzah. Ahab also built new cities, but he seems to have preferred Jezreel as a place of residence. In 1 Kings 22:3939Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? (1 Kings 22:39) we read of “the ivory house which he built,” which was probably in Jezreel. He cast eyes upon the vineyard of a neighbor, Naboth by name, and, demanded it; offering to give him a better vineyard in exchange, or money if he wished. Naboth brought Jehovah’s name into the matter. It was not Ahab’s custom to think of Jehovah, still less to seek His guidance about his doings. Naboth said: “Jehovah forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee” (1 Kings 21:33And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. (1 Kings 21:3)). Let us be quite clear what was involved in this reply. Our God would not wish His servants to be disobliging and un-neighborly, but it was not such sentiments as these that guided Naboth in his refusal of the King’s demand. The land of Israel was unique in the earth.
It was Jehovah’s land in a very special sense (had He not a house there?), so much so that in Jeremiah 12:1414Thus saith the Lord against all mine evil neighbors, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. (Jeremiah 12:14) Jehovah speaks of the nations round about as “My evil neighbors.” The land had been distributed amongst the tribes by His direction, and every individual Israelite was responsible to regard himself as a tenant under his God. He was thus not at liberty to alienate his portion. If he became poor, he might sell it until the Jubilee. “The land shall not be sold forever for the land is Mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land” (Lev. 25:23-2423The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. 24And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. (Leviticus 25:23‑24)). Moreover, we gather from Num. 36 that even such a temporary sale must take place within the limits of the tribe, so that Jehovah’s original distribution might not be disturbed. Ahab had no fear of God before his eyes; the Word of God had no place in his heart; and the year of Jubilee meant nothing to him. Had Naboth yielded to the king, it is not at all likely that the property would ever be returned. Also, Ahab probably belonged to a different tribe. In Ezekiel 46:1818Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered every man from his possession. (Ezekiel 46:18) it is enacted that the prince who will rule for God in the holy land during the Millennial era must not take of the people’s inheritance by oppression, “that My people be not scattered every man from his possession.”
Naboth was thus a man of faith. His father valued what Jehovah had given him, and Naboth valued it also. He would die rather than surrender what really belonged to God. The Naboth spirit seems rare in our time. Divine principles which our fathers prized, and for which many suffered the loss of everything, are very lightly regarded by their children. The worthies of past years are even regarded as over-scrupulous. A little of the accommodating spirit of the Twentieth Century would have been to their advantage! To be spoken of as a “Puritan” is considered a great reproach today!
In the early days of the Nineteenth Century holy men with hearts aflame to learn the will of God, recovered for us priceless treasures of truth which ecclesiasticism had long obscured. Once more God’s saints (or at least a remnant of them) realized their union with Christ risen and glorified, and became detached in heart from things here. The blessed hope of His coming for His heavenly saints was disentangled from the judgments of God. The Church re-appeared to their soul’s vision in its true relationships. It is Christ’s body, to be in intimate association with Him in His glories, but meantime it is a vessel for the manifestation of His perfections here amongst men. It is God’s house, the temple of the Holy Spirit, in which He graciously dwells, and where He delights to work sovereignly for the blessing of the members of Christ. Dr. C. I. Scofield, in the introduction to his well-known Bible, refers with appreciation to the “intensity and breadth of interest in Bible study unprecedented in the history of the Christian Church.” Thus our “fathers” have handed down to us a priceless heritage; but do we value it? Have we sought to develop it further? Do we pour over the sacred page individually? Is it to us more to be desired than gold, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb? (Psa. 19:1010More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. (Psalm 19:10)). Also do we delight to read it collectively; or have we sunk so low that we need to be entertained? Conferences, Rallies, Lantern lectures, and Solos are poor substitutes for the quiet, reverent, conversational Bible Readings in which our “fathers” delighted, and from which they drew their strength. Have we, in contrast with Naboth, sold our inheritance for “a better vineyard,” or for money? Brethren, where are we? Have we really gone forth to Christ “without the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb. 13:1313Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Hebrews 13:13)); or have we merely exchanged a “Church” for a “Hall?”
Ahab returned home sulky after his talk with Naboth, and refused to eat. When Jezebel learned the cause, she moved promptly. She wrote letters to the Town Council, using the king’s name and the royal seal. Her orders were peculiarly diabolical. The elders and nobles were to proclaim a fast, set Naboth at the head of the gathering, and bring in two sons of Belial (i.e., sons of worthlessness) to charge him with having cursed God and the king. We understand this to mean that they were to imagine some divine displeasure against their city; at the fast the cause was to be inquired into, with Naboth presiding; he whom they thus professed to honor was to be denounced as the “Achan” of the place, and hurried off to execution (Josh. 7:2525And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. (Joshua 7:25)). The whole business seems too horrible for belief; yet such was the moral degradation of Israel that all this was done by queen and elders in God’s name! (Baal had for the time being gone into the shade). It will be remembered that two wicked men were hired by the religious chiefs of Jerusalem to falsely accuse the Lord Jesus, that they might have some appearance of justification for putting Him to death (Matt. 27:6060And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. (Matthew 27:60)).
Jezebel’s action in the case of Naboth was a dark foreshadowing of what Christendom’s Jezebel has frequently been guilty of. Time-serving rulers and governors have been all too willing to put to a cruel death choice saints of God at the bidding of the so-called “Church.” But God will remember all that has been done in Israel and in Christendom in the coming day of recompense. Innocent blood will yet be avenged (Rev. 18:2424And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. (Revelation 18:24)). “Thou hast seen it, for Thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with Thy hand” (Psa. 10:1414Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. (Psalm 10:14)).
When Ahab was told by Jezebel that Naboth was dead, he went to the vineyard to take possession of it. Jehovah acted swiftly. He bade Elijah go and confront him in the blood-stained plot. The wicked king quailed before the messenger of God. “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 Jehovah” (1 Kings 21:2020And 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. (1 Kings 21:20)). Ahab then had to listen to as fearful a sentence as was ever passed upon a sinner. It was in three parts. (1) “Behold, I will bring evil upon thee.” He personally must suffer. He came to a miserable end, as we know. (2) His whole family was to be destroyed, like the families of his evil predecessors Jeroboam and Baasha. He had wiped out Naboth’s family; God would wipe out his. (3) Jezebel was to be eaten by dogs. The fearful sentence concluded thus: “Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall cat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.” Hardened sinner though he was, Ahab was overwhelmed as he listened, and he rent his clothes, put sackcloth upon his flesh, and went softly. He knew that there was power in the words of God as uttered by Elijah. The God of all grace responded to Ahab’s humiliation, and the greater part of the sentence was postponed in its execution. Jehovah said to Elijah: “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 evil upon his house.” God took into account the evil influence under which he lived — “whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.” But he should never have married the woman, and he must be held accountable for her iniquities (ver. 19); for the man is the divinely appointed head of the woman, whatever kind of woman she may be (1 Cor. 11:33But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. (1 Corinthians 11:3)). Let none of us overlook this!