6 minute read
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.
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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.
But not so Ahab. He should have been pleased to have had God-honouring people like Naboth in his kingdom. In fact, had Ahab been a God-fearing man himself he would not have made such a request for he would have known God’s law concerning the sale of property. But to Ahab such things as obeying God were regarded as trivial.
His reaction was to go home angry and sullen, go into his bedroom and lay on his bed refusing to eat and sulked! Here was Ahab, the king of Israel, sulking because he could not get his own way! With such a display of childish immaturity Ahab revealed his complete unworthiness to occupy the position of king. He was a man of weak character and of very little conviction or principles. It didn’t concern him whether the nation served Baal or Jehovah (the true God), just so long as things went his way and he got what he wanted.
His wife, however, was quite different. She had plenty of principle and convictions, but they were all bad! She was full of unbridled evil and treachery and, as a servant of Satan, she was totally opposed to the true God. She was the driving force behind Ahab’s rebellious ways, stopping at nothing to achieve her ambitions.
When she learned the reason for Ahab’s sullenness, she responded, “What’s the matter with you? Stop this nonsense and get up and eat. Aren’t you the king around here? I’ll get Naboth’s vineyard for you!” And with that she went to Ahab’s writing desk and wrote some letters in Ahab’s name and sent them to the leaders of the city where Naboth lived. In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat
Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify that he has cursed both God and the king.
Then take him out and stone him to death”.
And that is just what happened. Naboth was falsely accused and put to death because of an evil, treacherous woman. It reminds us of what happened to the Lord Jesus when the religious leaders actually looked for false witnesses so that they could put Him to death (Matthew 26:59). But His death was not just an ordinary death, and He was not just an ordinary man. He was God the Son who had taken on human form in order to become our substitute. In His death He took our place and paid the price for our sin. The Bible tells us that “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
As soon as the evil Jezebel heard that Naboth was dead she said to Ahab, “Go and take possession of that vineyard you want because Naboth is no longer alive. He’s dead!”
Perhaps we could have expected Ahab to have been somewhat shocked by the deceitful, murderous way his wife had procured the vineyard, but it didn’t faze him at all. It didn’t concern him in the least that an innocent man had died so that he could get what he wanted. He just went right on down to take possession of the dead man’s property.
But he had forgotten one all important factor. The evil deed perpetrated by Ahab and his conniving wife had not escaped the attention of the true God. Elijah was a prophet and had been a faithful, courageous and obedient servant of God for many years. He had a close relationship with God, honoured His Word and was uncompromising in his faith. And God sent him with a message to Ahab.
Meanwhile Ahab was enjoying his illegally acquired property, no doubt planning its new layout as a vegetable garden. What vegetables would he plant and where? Would he have a water fountain over there? What should he put in this corner? But suddenly, in the midst of his deliberations, his face turned white for coming in through the gate was the man he feared most and wanted to avoid – Elijah himself. “So, you have found me, my enemy!” he exclaimed. Ahab still had a vestige of a conscience. He knew that what he had done was wrong. But, like so many people in our day, he thought he could get away with it.
“Yes, I have found you,” answered Elijah, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Beside the crime committed in the murder of Naboth, Ahab and Jezebel had turned the nation away from God and provoked Him to anger. Then Elijah delivered a message of judgment. Ahab would have no male descendants. Those already living in the city would finish up being eaten by dogs and the birds of the air would devour the dead bodies of those who died in the country. As for Ahab, God was about to bring disaster upon him as well. Jezebel would end her days on earth by also being eaten by dogs.
And so the lives of Ahab and Jezebel and those associated with their evil deeds did not end well in this world. (1 Kings chapter 22 is the record of a battle in which Ahab was killed, despite disguising himself so that he would not be recognised. 2 Kings 9:30-37 is the record of Jezebel’s sad end just as Elijah prophesied it would be). But as bad as their end in this world may have been, it was nothing compared to the eternal judgment awaiting them afterwards in the life to come. God has decreed that He “will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden/secret thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
Jesus has taken the judgment for all who turn to Him in genuine repentance and receive Him as Lord and Saviour. But if we reject Him we will suffer the judgment our sins deserve. Jesus is the ONLY way we can be saved. He has plainly said,
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me” (John 14:6). -- Editor 18
