“NABOTH MURDERED!” (Read in your Bible 1 Kings 21:1-25) Ahab was an evil king who reigned for 22 years over the northern kingdom of Israel. There had been some bad kings before him, but Ahab was the worst, going out of his way to disobey and rebel against God. We are told about him, “Ahab, son of Omri, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him” (1 Kings 16:30). He further rebelled against God by marrying a woman who was even more evil than he was – Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. Together they made a dangerously corrupt pair as, among other evils, they introduced the immoral, heathenistic false religious system of Baal worship into the nation.
A man called Naboth owned a vineyard (a garden for growing grapes) close to the palace of King Ahab. For some time Ahab had been thinking about Naboth’s property and one day he decided to do a deal with Naboth, so he went to see him. “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it’s worth”. It sounded a pretty fair deal, but there was one outstanding difference between Ahab and Naboth: Naboth feared and honoured God. The Hebrew people were strictly forbidden by God to sell their land permanently outside the whanau (Leviticus 25:23, Numbers 36:7). Naboth’s reply to Ahab was, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers”. Naboth chose to obey God rather than to please the king. Honouring God was far more important to him.
16
