1And it happened after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard that was in Jezreel near the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard that I may have it as a garden of greens, for it is close to my house, and let me give you in its stead a better vineyard, or should it be good in your eyes, let me give you silver as its price.” 3And Naboth said to Ahab, “The LORD forbid that I should give away the estate of my fathers.” 4And Ahab came to his house sullen and morose over this thing that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him and said, “I will not give away the estate of my fathers.” And he lay down on his couch and turned away his face and ate no food. 5And Jezebel his wife came to him and said, “What is this? You are sullen in spirit and eat no food.” 6And he spoke to her, “When I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you wish, I shall give you a vineyard in its stead,’ he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” 7And Jezebel his wife said to him, “You, now, must act like a king over Israel! Rise, eat food, and be of good cheer. I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” 8And she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal and sent the letters to the elders and the notables who were in his town, who dwelled with Naboth. 9And she wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people. 10And seat two worthless fellows opposite him, that they may bear witness against him, saying, ‘You have cursed God and king.’ And take him out and stone him to death.” 11And the men of his town, the elders and the notables, who dwelled in his town, did as Jezebel had sent to them as was written in the letters that she had sent them, 12“Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people.” 13And the two worthless fellows came and sat opposite him, and the worthless fellows bore witness against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed God and king.” And they took him outside the town and stoned him to death. 14And they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned and he is dead.” 15And it happened when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Rise, take hold of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, who refused to give it to you for silver, for Naboth is not alive, for he is dead.” 16And when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take hold of it. 17And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, 18“Rise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria. Look, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take hold of it. 19And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: Have you murdered and also taken hold?’ And you shall speak to him saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: Where the dogs licked Naboth’s blood they will lick your blood, too.’” 20And Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” And he said, “I have found you. Inasmuch as you have given yourself over to doing evil in the eyes of the LORD, 21I am about to bring evil upon you, and I will root you out, and I will cut off every pisser against the wall of Ahab’s, and ruler and helper in Israel. 22And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah for the vexation with which you have vexed Me, leading Israel to offend.” 23And for Jezebel, too, the word of the LORD came, saying, “The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the flatland of Jezreel. 24Ahab’s dead in the town the dogs shall devour, and the dead in the field the fowl of the heavens shall devour.” 25Surely there was none like Ahab, who gave himself over to doing evil in the eyes of the LORD, as Jezebel his wife had enticed him to do. 26And he acted most loathsomely to go after foul idols, as all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD had dispossessed before the Israelites. 27And it happened when Ahab heard these words that he rent his garments and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay down in the sackcloth and walked meekly. 28And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29“Have you seen that Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days. In his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.”
CHAPTER 21 NOTES
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1. And it happened after these things. As elsewhere, this vague temporal formula introduces a new narrative unit.
2. Give me your vineyard. The verb “give” sometimes means “to sell,” as Ahab’s subsequent words here make clear.
a better vineyard . . . silver as its price. Ahab initially offers fair value for the vineyard. The alternative of a better vineyard, stated first, is the more attractive because Naboth will still possess real estate (and a favorable possession), which was a prime consideration in Israelite society.
3. The LORD forbid that I should give away the estate of my fathers. Naboth is thinking in traditional tribal terms rather than in those of a fluid economy in which property is fungible for value. Hanging on to inherited land is conceived as a sacred obligation.
4. sullen and morose. This phrase is pointedly picked up from the last sentence of the previous episode.
And he lay down on his couch and turned away his face and ate no food. Ahab, who in the preceding episode had shown martial resolution against Ben-Hadad’s threats, now acts like a petulant adolescent. He has a child’s fixation on the desired object he can’t have, but it does not occur to him to wield royal power in order to seize it.
6. Give me your vineyard for silver. In his repetition of his own words to Jezebel, he pointedly switches the order, representing himself as having made the lesser offer first.
I will not give you my vineyard. This seeming repetition is a drastic recasting of Naboth’s actual words: there is no pious “The Lord forbid” and no mention of the sacred obligation to retain the estate of his fathers. In this version, for Jezebel’s benefit, Naboth sounds merely obstinate.
7. act like a king. The literal sense of the Hebrew is “act [or do] kingship.”
I myself will give you the vineyard of Naboth. She is careful not to explain the means by which she will effect this transaction.
8. she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal. She in effect usurps his royal power, “acting like a king” instead of him.
who were in his town, who dwelled with Naboth. The seeming redundancy underlines the idea that his own neighbors, alongside of whom he had always lived, will be complicit in betraying him.
9. Proclaim a fast. A common function of an ad hoc communal fast was to supplicate God when some ill had befallen the community because of an offense committed within the community. In all likelihood, the occasion of the fast, which would have been a reason for assembling the community, sets the stage for exposing the purported crime committed by Naboth.
10. seat two worthless fellows opposite him. Her written instructions, fully accepted by the elders, are candid about using scoundrels willing to perjure themselves in a false accusation against Naboth.
13. the worthless fellows bore witness against Naboth. Unlike the altered repetitions in Ahab’s report of his interchange with Naboth, every item of Jezebel’s murderous instructions is precisely carried out.
15. for Naboth is not alive, for he is dead. Her repetition at this point of what was first her written instructions, then the narrative report of their implementation, entirely omits reference to the stoning to death or to the false accusation that led to the stoning. The redundancy of her statement to Ahab is dramatically apt: she tells her fearful husband he is no longer alive, he’s actually dead, so you have nothing to worry about and can seize the vineyard.
19. Have you murdered and also taken hold? The Hebrew evinces the power of compressed statement: haratsaḥta wegam yarashta is just three words. Though Ahab was unaware of Jezebel’s scheme, these words of denunciation name him directly as the murderer.
Where the dogs licked Naboth’s blood. We learn not only that Naboth was stoned to death on a false accusation but also that his body was left in the open to be desecrated by scavengers.
20. Inasmuch as you have given yourself over to doing evil. Ahab’s previously condemned transgressions were all cultic. Now an act of moral turpitude is excoriated, and it will be this that dooms his royal line.
21. I will cut off every pisser against the wall. This coarse epithet for males is reserved for curses.
ruler and helper. The Hebrew term is somewhat obscure, but it appears to refer to political leadership. Compare Deuteronomy 32:36.
23. flatland. The received text reads ḥel, “rampart,” not a likely place for the devouring of Jezebel’s body, but many Hebrew manuscripts show ḥeleq (one additional consonant), which means something like “cultivated field.”
26. he acted most loathsomely to go after foul idols. Here the chief reason for the condemnation of Ahab shifts back from ethical to cultic infraction.
29. I will not bring the evil in his days. This postponement of retribution proves to be rather qualified. In the event, Ahab does not die peacefully in his bed, as one might infer from these words, but, after the passage of some time, he is killed in battle, after which the dogs lick his blood, in keeping with the terms of the initial prophetic curse.