INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 21 In this chapter we have an account of Ahab's design to have Naboth's vineyard, for which he offered him another, or the value of that, but Naboth refusing to part with it, Ahab fell sick, 1 Kings 21:1, the reason of which being found out by Jezebel, she devised means to g... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, AFTER THESE THINGS,.... After the two battles with the king of Syria, in which Ahab was victorious, and after he had let Benhadad, a blasphemer, and injurious to him, go free: [THAT] NABOTH THE JEZREELITE HAD A VINEYARD, WHICH WAS IN JEZREEL; of which place Hosea 1:5 or "who wa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AHAB SPAKE UNTO NABOTH, SAYING, GIVE ME THY VINEYARD, THAT I MAY HAVE IT FOR A GARDEN OF HERBS,.... For a kitchen garden to produce eatables of the vegetable kind for his household, or for a flower garden; and perhaps for both, as Kimchi observes, it being customary to have such in court yards,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NABOTH SAID TO AHAB, THE LORD FORBID IT ME THAT I SHOULD GIVE THE INHERITANCE OF MY FATHERS UNTO THEE. The inheritances of families were not to be alienated to another family, or tribe, nor even to be sold, unless in extreme poverty, and then to return at the year of jubilee, Leviticus 25:23. No... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AHAB CAME INTO HIS HOUSE HEAVY AND DISPLEASED,.... Just in the same humour he was after the prophet had delivered his message to him, 1 Kings 20:43, where the same words are used as here: BECAUSE OF THE WORD WHICH NABOTH THE JEZREELITE HAD SPOKEN TO HIM, FOR HE HAD SAID, I WILL NOT GIVE THEE TH... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT JEZEBEL HIS WIFE CAME UNTO HIM, AND SAID, WHY IS THY SPIRIT SO SAD, THAT THOU EATEST NO BREAD?] She perceived he was low spirited, and supposed he had met with something that had ruffled him, and made him so uneasy that he could not eat his food; and she desired to know what it was, that she mig... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, BECAUSE I SPAKE UNTO NABOTH THE JEZREELITE, AND SAID UNTO HIM, GIVE ME THY VINEYARD FOR MONEY,.... Sell it him at his own price: OR ELSE, IF IT PLEASE THEE; if he liked it better: I WILL GIVE THEE ANOTHER VINEYARD FOR IT; AS GOOD, OR BETTER; AND HE ANSWERED, I WILL NOT GIVE THEE MY VI... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JEZEBEL HIS WIFE SAID UNTO HIM, DOST THOU NOW GOVERN THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL?.... Art thou not king of Israel? canst thou not do as thou pleasest? hast thou not power to oblige a subject to obey thy commands, and especially in such a trifling matter as parting with a vineyard, and that upon the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
SO SHE WROTE LETTERS IN AHAB'S NAME, AND SEALED THEM WITH HIS SEAL,.... He giving her leave, no doubt, to take his seal; though she might not communicate her scheme to him, lest he should object to it: AND SENT THE LETTERS UNTO THE ELDERS, AND TO THE NOBLES THAT WERE IN HIS CITY DWELLING WITH NABOT... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHE WROTE IN THE LETTERS, SAYING, PROCLAIM A FAST,.... Pretending fears of some dreadful calamity coming upon the nation, and therefore fasting and humiliation were necessary to avert it, and it would be right to inquire what crimes were committed by men among them, and punish them for them; and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SET TWO MEN, SONS OF BELIAL, BEFORE HIM, TO BEAR WITNESS AGAINST HIM,.... Worthless wretches, that have cast off the yoke of the law, as Belial signifies, lawless abandoned creatures, that have no conscience of anything; "knights of the post", as we call them, that will swear anything; these wer... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MEN OF THE CITY, EVEN THE ELDERS AND THE NOBLES WHO WERE THE INHABITANTS IN HIS CITY, DID AS JEZEBEL HAD SENT UNTO THEM,.... That Jezebel should contrive so execrable a scheme, and that there should be such sons of Belial among the common people to swear to such falsehoods, need not seem str... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY PROCLAIMED A FAST,.... Or called a court, 1 Kings 21:9. AND SET NABOTH ON HIGH AMONG THE PEOPLE; placed him at the bar as a criminal, 1 Kings 21:9, though Josephus c thinks he was set on an high place in the court, because he was of an illustrious birth. c Antiqu. l. 3. c. 13. sect. 8.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE CAME IN TWO MEN, CHILDREN OF BELIAL, AND SAT BEFORE HIM,.... Which position showed that they were his accusers, and had a charge against him; it being usual for the accusers and accused to be set face to face, as it was the manner of the Romans in later times, Acts 25:16. Josephus says d t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THEY SENT TO JEZEBEL, SAYING, NABOTH IS STONED, AND IS DEAD. Not only stoned, but stoned to death. This message was sent to her from the magistrates of Jezreel; for though the letters came in Ahab's name, they might be privately informed that this was a scheme of Jezebel's; besides, they knew s... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS WHEN JEZEBEL HEARD THAT NABOTH WAS STONED, AND WAS DEAD, THAT JEZEBEL SAID TO AHAB,.... To whom she communicated the news as soon as possible: ARISE, TAKE POSSESSION OF THE VINEYARD OF NABOTH THE JEZREELITE, WHICH HE REFUSED TO GIVE THEE FOR MONEY, FOR NABOTH IS NOT ALIVE, BUT D... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN AHAB HEARD THAT NABOTH WAS DEAD,.... Of which he was informed by Jezebel: THAT AHAB ROSE UP TO GO DOWN TO THE VINEYARD OF NABOTH THE JEZREELITE, TO TAKE POSSESSION OF IT; if it was in Jezreel, that was sixteen miles from Samaria, and lay lower than that, in a valley, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO ELIJAH THE PROPHET,.... Where he now was, when this word came to him, is not certain; nor what he had been employed in for some time past, since we hear nothing of him since the unction of Elisha, other prophets of lesser note being employed in messages to Ahab from... [ Continue Reading ]
ARISE, GO DOWN TO MEET AHAB KING OF ISRAEL, WHICH IS IN SAMARIA,.... Whose seat was there, his palace where he dwelt; and Benjamin of Tudela says g, that in his time might be discerned in Samaria the palace of Ahab king of Israel, that is, some traces of it; some connect the last clause with Israel,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT SPEAK UNTO HIM, SAYING, THUS SAITH THE LORD, HAST THOU KILLED, AND ALSO TAKEN POSSESSION?.... Killed in order to possess, and now taken possession upon the murder; some versions, as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic, read without an interrogation, "thou hast killed and hath taken possessio... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AHAB SAID TO ELIJAH, HAST THOU FOUND ME, O MINE ENEMY?.... So he reckoned him, because he dealt faithfully with him, and reproved him for his sins, and denounced the judgments of God upon him for them: AND HE ANSWERED, I HAVE FOUND THEE; as a thief, a robber and plunderer, in another's vineyard... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I WILL BRING EVIL UPON THEE,.... Upon his own person, by cutting him off with a violent death, though his family was so numerous, having no less than seventy sons: AND WILL CUT OFF FROM AHAB HIM THAT PISSETH AGAINST THE WALL, AND HIM THAT IS SHUT UP AND LEFT ISRAEL; 1 Kings 14:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WILL MAKE THINE HOUSE LIKE THE HOUSE OF JEROBOAM THE SON OF NEBAT, AND LIKE THE HOUSE OF BAASHA THE SON OF AHIJAH,.... Two of his predecessors, whose families were utterly destroyed, 1 Kings 15:29, FOR THE PROVOCATION WHEREWITH THOU HAST PROVOKED ME TO ANGER, AND MADE ISRAEL TO SIN: not only by... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OF JEZEBEL ALSO SPAKE THE LORD,.... To Elijah, and by him: SAYING, THE DOGS SHALL EAT JEZEBEL BY THE WALL OF JEZREEL or in the inheritance or portion of Jezreel, as the Targum; Jarchi interprets it, the valley of Jezreel; the fulfilment of this see in 2 Kings 9:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIM THAT DIETH OF AHAB IN THE CITY THE DOGS SHALL EAT, AND HIM THAT DIETH IN THE FIELD THE FOWLS OF THE AIR SHALL EAT. That is, they shall have no burial, see 1 Kings 14:11 hitherto are the words of the Lord by Elijah; next follow the remarks of the historian.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THERE WAS NONE LIKE UNTO AHAB, WHICH DID SELL HIMSELF TO WORK WICKEDNESS IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD,.... Not of any of his predecessors, even those whose families had been destroyed, as his would be, 1 Kings 21:21. 1 Kings 21:20. WHOM JEZEBEL HIS WIFE STIRRED UP; to idolatry, revenge, and murder... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE DID VERY ABOMINABLY IN FOLLOWING IDOLS,.... Which were abominable to the Lord; "dunghill gods", as the Tigurine version: ACCORDING TO ALL THINGS AS DID THE AMORITES, WHOM THE LORD CAST OUT BEFORE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; meaning the seven nations that formerly inhabited Canaan, but were drive... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 27 AND IT CAME TO PASS WHEN AHAB HEARD THESE WORDS,.... Delivered in 1 Kings 21:21, THAT HE RENT HIS CLOTHES, AND PUT SACKCLOTH UPON, HIS FLESH, tore off his clothes, and stripped himself of all, even of his very shirt, and put sackcloth on his bare flesh, a coarse cloth made of hair, and such... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME TO ELIJAH THE TISHBITE,.... After he was gone from Ahab, and Ahab had been some time in this humble posture; the Targum calls it the word of prophecy, and so it was, as the next verse shows: saying: as follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEST THOU HOW AHAB HUMBLETH HIMSELF BEFORE ME?.... Which yet was but an external humiliation, to be seen only with bodily eyes, as were all his actions and postures, before observed. Some Jewish writers i think his repentance was true and perfect, and his conversion thorough and real: they tell us... [ Continue Reading ]