Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

After these things - This and the twentieth chapter are transposed in the Septuagint; this preceding the account of the Syrian war with Ben-hadad. Josephus gives the history in the same order.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

A vineyard … in Jezreel - The name Jezreel is applied in Scripture, not merely to the town 1 Kings 18:46, but also to the valley or plain which lies below it, between Mount Gilboa and Little Hermon (2 Samuel 2:9; 2 Kings 9:10; Hosea 1:5; etc.).

The palace of Ahab at Jezreel was on the eastern side of the city, looking toward the Jordan down the valley above described. It abutted on the town wall 2 Kings 9:30-31. Immediately below it was a dry moat. Beyond, in the valley, either adjoining the moat, or at any rate at no great distance, was the plot of ground belonging to Naboth 2 Kings 9:21.

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

AHAB'S ROBBERY AND JUDICIAL MURDER OF NABOTH;

AHAB'S OFFER TO BUY; AND NABOTH'S REFUSAL TO SELL

"Now it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the place of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house; and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it: or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, Jehovah forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him; for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread."

"None of the crimes of Ahab left any deeper brand upon him than this judicial murder and robbery of Naboth."[1]

"A vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria" (1 Kings 21:1). The Septuagint (LXX) omits the words "which was in Jezreel," and, upon this, Barlow has based an interesting argument attempting to prove that the palace of Ahab which was joined by Naboth's vineyard was probably the palace in Samaria, not the one in Jezreel.[2] Such an opinion is apparently founded upon efforts to conform the fulfillment of the prophecy of the dogs licking the blood of Ahab with its fulfillment at the pool in Samaria, but, as we shall see, there is no necessity for such efforts. The Lord himself tells us why there were variations in the fulfillment.

"Because it is near my house" (1 Kings 21:2). Ahab did not covet the whole world, just that part of it which adjoined his estate! Of course, nothing less than the whole world would satisfy that kind of covetousness; and even then, as did Alexander the Great is said to have done, the nature of covetousness is such that one would sit down and cry that there is no more to take!

"Give me thy vineyard" (1 Kings 21:2). Samuel had prophesied that, when Israel got that king they all wanted, he would "take their fields and their vineyards" (1 Samuel 8:14). Ahab gave them a demonstration of what that prophecy meant!

"Jehovah forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee" (1 Kings 21:3). "Naboth was not actuated by any feelings of disloyalty or disrespect for King Ahab, but from a conscientious regard for Divine law."[3]; Leviticus 25:23 forbade the selling of one's inheritance, "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity." "No inheritance of the children of Israel shall move from tribe to tribe ... Everyone shall cleave to the inheritance of his fathers" (Numbers 36:7ff).

It should be observed that these prohibitions came not from the so-called Priestly Code (P) nor from some mythical Deuteronomist (D), but from the Books of Moses, being therefore a part of the Mosaic covenant. "Ahab's proposal to Naboth would have relegated him and his family to the status of royal dependents"[4] of the godless Ahab. "The property was not Naboth's to sell; the inheritance was his father's and his son's as well as his, and it was INALIENABLE under Israelite law."[5]

"The sin of discontent is its own punishment. It comes not from conditions, but from the mind. Paul was contented in a prison; Ahab was discontented in a palace. Discontent is heaviness of the heart and rottenness of the bones."[6]

"Ahab laid him down upon his bed, turned away his face, and would eat no bread" (1 Kings 21:4). What a royal pout was this! Ahab here demonstrated the selfish, peevish, and cry-baby attitude of this weak and incompetent king. God pity any people whose ruler behaves like a spoiled brat! Jezebel saw in this situation her opportunity for applying the principles of government, as she had learned them in Sidon where her father was king. So she took charge and promptly showed Ahab how the pagans did it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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 See Gill on Hosea 1:5 or "who was in Jezreel"; that is Naboth, for the vineyard was in Samaria, 1 Kings 21:18.

hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria; that being the metropolis of the kingdom of Israel, is put for it, who, besides his palace in Samaria, had another in Jezreel; which, according to Bunting^F25Travels, &c. p. 164. , were sixteen miles distant from each other.

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary

CONTENTS

The history of Ahab still continues a melancholy, because a sinful history; to the end. Here he is presented to us as coveting his neighbor's vineyard. By Jezebel's stratagem he succeeds. Elijah is sent to him with an awful message from God.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

1 Kings 21:1 And it came to pass after these things, [that] Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which [was] in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

Ver. 1. And it came to pass after these things.] After the two victories over the Syrians; not before, as Josephus will have it.

Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard.] But better he had not, as it proved; for it took away the life of the owner thereof. Many a man’s wealth is his undoing; as it befell the Templars, after whose possessions Philip king of France sorely longed, and wrought their extirpation.

Hard by the palace of Ahab.] And so in his eye: hence his covetousness - called by St John the lust of the eye [1 John 2:16] - concerning which Ambrose hath written an excellent Treatise, well worth the reading of all rich men. Into this palace it is probable that wounded Joram was carried to be cured, [2 Kings 8:29] and that through a window thereof Jezebel was cast down. [2 Kings 9:30]

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

1 KINGS CHAPTER 21

Ahab coveteth to buy Naboth’s vineyard; which is denied him, and he is grieved, 1 Kings 21:1-4. Jezebel writeth letters against Naboth; he is condemned of blasphemy, and stoned, 1 Kings 21:5-14. Ahab possesseth the vineyard, 1 Kings 21:15,16. Elijah denounceth judgment against Ahab and Jezebel, 1 Kings 21:17-26. He repenting, God deferreth the judgment, 1 Kings 21:27-29.

In Jezreel; where one of Ahab’s palaces was, as the other was in Samaria.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

NABOTH’S SHAMEFUL EXECUTION, 1 Kings 21:1-16.

1.The Jezreelite — He was so identified with the place where the inheritance of his fathers lay that he was naturally called the Jezreelite.

Hard by the palace of Ahab — Its location so near the palace enhanced its value, and made it as much an object for Na-both to retain as for Ahab to acquire. Ahab seems to have divided his residence between Samaria and Jezreel, part of the time dwelling at one place and part of the time at the other. See note on 1 Kings 18:45.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Who was. Hebrew, Chaldean, &c., place this after vineyard, and read which, referring it to the ground; which we might naturally suppose would be the place of Naboth's nativity, as it was his parental estate, 4 Kings ix. 21. Josephus calls the place Azari, and says it was a field contiguous to the king's palace. Septuagint Greek: alo, "threshing-floor."

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

Naboth ... had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel. Ahab proposed to Naboth to give him a better in exchange, or to obtain it by purchase; but the owner declined to part with it; and in persisting in his refusal, Naboth was not actuated by any feelings of disloyalty or disrespect to the king, but solely from a conscientious regard to the divine law, which, for important reasons, had prohibited the sale of a paternal inheritance, or if, through extreme poverty or debt, an assignation of it to another was unavoidable, the conveyance was made on the condition of its being redeemable at any time-at all events, of its reverting at the jubilee to the owner (see the notes at Leviticus 25:23-28; Numbers 36:8).

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(1) Which was in Jezreel.—The LXX. omits these words, and makes the vineyard to be “hard by the threshing-floor of Ahab, king of Samaria”—the word being the same as that rendered “void place” in 1 Kings 22:10—apparently near the palace of Ahab in Samaria, not in Jezreel. The Vulgate renders “who was” instead of “which was” in Jezreel. The question of the position of the vineyard, apparently the scene of Naboth’s murder, is difficult. The “plot of ground” of Naboth, referred to in 2 Kings 9:25-26—not, however, called “a vineyard”—is clearly at Jezreel. where, as a native of the place, Naboth would be likely to hold land. But the vineyard may have been an outlying property near Samaria, which Ahab might naturally suppose Naboth, even for that reason, likely to sell. In favour of this supposition—which is, perhaps, on the whole the more probable—is the very emphatic prediction of 1 Kings 21:19, which in 1 Kings 22:38 is declared to have been fulfilled at the pool of Samaria. Moreover, the whole action of the chapter, as far as Ahab is concerned, seems to have been at Samaria; and, indeed, if we take 1 Kings 21:18 literally, this is actually declared to be the case. On the other side, however, we have the reading of the text, the more obvious interpretation of the words “his city” in 1 Kings 21:8; 1 Kings 21:11; and the reference to the prophecy of Elijah, in connection with the casting of the body of Jehoram into the plot of ground at Jezreel (2 Kings 9:25-26). It is, perhaps, impossible to clear up the discrepancy entirely with our present knowledge.

(2–4) And Ahab spake.—The whole history is singularly true to nature. At first, as the desire of Ahab was natural, so his offer was courteous and liberal. The refusal of Naboth—evidently grounded on the illegality, as well as the natural dislike, of alienation of “the inheritance of his fathers” (see Leviticus 25:13-28; Numbers 36:7), and therefore not only allowable, but right—has nevertheless about it a certain tone of harshness, perhaps of unnecessary discourtesy, implying condemnation, as well as rejection, of the offer of the king. It is characteristic of the weak and petulant nature of Ahab, that he neither recognises the legality and justice of Naboth’s action, nor dares to resent the curt defiance of his refusal. Like a spoilt child, he comes back sullen and angry, throws himself on his bed, and will eat no bread. All that he has is as nothing, while the little plot of ground is refused; as to Haman all was worthless, while Mordecai the Jew sat in the king’s gate (Esther 5:13). This temper of sullen, childish discontent is the natural seedplot of crime, under the instigation of more determined wickedness.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A. M. 3105. B.C. 899. after

20:35-43; 2 Chronicles 28:22; Ezra 9:13,14; Isaiah 9:13; Jeremiah 5:3

Jezreel

18:45; Joshua 19:18; Judges 6:33; 1 Samuel 29:1; Hosea 1:4,5