King Ahab was beginning to feel very pleased with himself. He had just won a decisive battle against the Syrians and concluded a peace treaty with their king Benhadad. It was a treaty that the Syrians had no hesitation in breaking a few years later with much less satisfactory results for the wicked Ahab. There had been no more famines, and his kingdom was relatively prosperous. Best of all, he had seen nothing of his old adversary Elijah for a long time. He was beginning to hope that he could settle down again with his pagan wife, that vicious Queen Jezebel, without any more uncomfortable reminders that there was a God of Israel who could not be defied with impunity. For one of the distinguishing marks of the hardened unbeliever is his fixed conviction that, even if God is really there, he can with good luck succeed in flouting him without incurring serious consequences, at least for the time being. So he conveniently put the memory of the three years' famine and the demonstration of the true God on the top of the Mount Carmel at the back of his mind and hoped that wherever Elijah was, he would stay there and not come back.

In which pleasant frame of mind the wicked King Ahab took a short walk to view a property belonging to a neighbour of his. Adjacent to the gardens of his palace in Jezreel there was a vineyard, belonging to one of his subjects, Naboth the Jezreelite. Ahab wanted that vineyard for himself. It was not that he contemplated going into the vinery business; he was already doing very well living on the labours of his subjects, in addition to a very profitable commercial liaison with his father-in-law, King Ethbaal of the Phoenician merchant nation on the sea coast. He did, however, covet that vineyard so that he could destroy the vines and create an extension to his palace herb gardens. He knew that the Law of God given by Moses forbad the disposal or acquiring of family property and that it must remain inviolate through successive generations to prevent the emergence of rich and poor classes in Israel. After all, he must have reasoned, if he ever did think about the matter, which is in the highest degree unlikely, Moses had been dead a long time and no one gave much heed to those old principles in this modern age. Anyway he wanted the land and what was a king for if he could not have his own way with his subjects. So he went down to see Naboth the Jezreelite.

Now right here he encountered a problem. Naboth turned out to be a man of God, devout and perhaps a bit rigid in his loyalty to the laws of Moses, who replied, "The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance." It is true that the king had offered to buy it at a fair price, or to give him another vineyard in exchange. Whether he intended to fulfil that bargain once he got possession of the object of his desires is another matter. Rulers of peoples have notoriously short memories. But, attractive bargain or not, Naboth was not selling. And the reason for his not selling was his loyalty to the God of Israel. He had received the vineyard as a family inheritance from his own father and he must pass it on to his own son or sons should he have any. The sequel to the story implies that he had no sons at this time; perhaps he was not yet even married. At any rate, he would not sell.

Now the Authorised Version tells us that in consequence Ahab went home to his palace "heavy and displeased" and as is so often the case the Authorised Version translators failed to express the true meaning. What is really said is that Ahab went home to his palace sulky and morose, and that gives a much truer picture of his attitude. He had been accustomed for a long time to have his own way. His courtiers and servants fawned upon him and said yes to everything he said or wanted, and now that he had come up against someone who said no he was like a little child and he sulked. Not that Naboth cared one jot about that; he just got on with his vine-dressing.

But someone did take notice. The haughty Queen Jezebel came in and found Ahab stretched upon his bed, refusing to eat and generally manifesting a very anti-social attitude. Being his wife and not usually finding him like this she naturally wanted to know what was the matter. So he told her about the vineyard and Naboth's refusal to sell.

It is clear that Queen Jezebel was by far the most strong-minded of the two. Ahab would have got over his fit of the sulks in time and thought of something else he wanted and forgotten all about Naboth and his vineyard. But his wife was a different proposition. Who was this Naboth who dared to flout the wishes of the king? And he was a man of God into the bargain! She had already had enough trouble with Elijah, another man of God, and hoped now that she had induced him to leave the country. No one had seen him for a long time, and now here was another of the same pestilent breed talking about the laws of God as superior to the wishes of royalty. Something was going to be done about this and she was the one who was going to do it.

The iniquitous Queen Jezebel looked down disdainfully at her husband lying crying on the bed. "Do you govern the kingdom of Israel?" she queried scornfully. "Rise up, eat bread and be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite". And in her evil heart she already knew what she was going to do. So Ahab got up from his bed, and dressed himself properly, and went down to his throne room where his courtiers and attendants were sitting about with nothing much to do because their master had shut himself up and would see no one. He began again to attend to affairs of state and perhaps cherish a hope that his wife would succeed where he had failed. Knowing her nature he probably thought within himself that if so he would not enquire too closely into the means whereby she achieved so desirable a solution to the problem. Queen Jezebel was in her own apartments, busily writing letters to the elders and nobles of the royal city of Jezreel, and those elders and nobles must have been greatly dismayed and perturbed when they read the letters, for this is what she told them they must do.

"Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the assembly. Seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring a charge against him, saying 'You have cursed God and the king'. Then take him out, and stone him to death."

Now no one knows whether these elders and nobles were sincere worshippers of God and loyal so far as they were able to the Mosaic Covenant. Or whether they were worshippers of Baal and so apostates from the true faith, or men who retained faith in the God of Israel in their hearts but outwardly served Baal because it was the thing to do with the pagan Queen Jezebel ruling the land. Some of them may have been Naboth's friends and he himself may well have been greatly esteemed in the city. But all this was of no account against the Queen's commandment. So, even though some of them mourned, and almost certainly some of them did, they could do naught else but obey. Any disregard of her instructions would only lead to her vengeance and their own consequent death. To save their own lives, Naboth must die.

The people of the city were called together, and Naboth arrested and brought before his judges, withal protesting his innocence, and two worthless men bribed for the purpose stood up and testified that in their hearing he had blasphemed against God and cursed the king. These were heinous offences against the Mosaic Law and punishable by death by stoning. In that same law, the testimony of two witnesses, agreeing on all points, was necessary to obtain a conviction. It was but a little step to accept that testimony without the accused being allowed to proffer a defence and so Naboth was condemned and immediately taken out of the city and stoned to death. His body was left where it had fallen to be devoured by the scavenging dogs of the city. Although this episode stands alone in the histories of those days, there must have been many such cases of flagrant injustice and cruelty during the time that Jezebel was queen over Israel.

It is possible wicked king Ahab was not altogether easy in his mind as he went down to take possession of his newly-acquired vineyard. It was not that he was particularly concerned about the unjust death of Naboth; such things were always going on in Israel and he could not be expected to concern himself unduly about one individual case. But he could be, and perhaps was, concerned that the possession he had expected to be bought for money had been acquired at the price of blood. After all, it was not really his fault that Naboth had been unjustly accused and was dead. It was his wife who had concocted the plot and made all the arrangements without telling him. He could not really be held responsible for that. Now here was the vineyard without an owner and it was next door to his own property. It might as well be his as anybody's and anyway he was the king and in all the circumstances he had as much right to it, or even more, as anybody. In which self-justifying frame of mind he walked through the gateway into the vineyard and stopped short in his tracks. Standing facing him, and blocking further entry, was that giant of a man, goatskin clad, massive hands grasping a stout staff, burning eyes looking into his own with a fierce intensity he could not evade. The last man on earth he wanted to see, especially at this juncture. He closed his eyes momentarily and opened them again, just to make sure. But Elijah was still there, making no movement, saying no word…. just those eyes.

Desperately Ahab tried to remind himself that he was the king. He must brazen this out. If it was to be a battle of wits he must come out on top. Something of the old arrogance came back. He would have the first word. "Have you found me, O my enemy?" Swift as an arrow came the reply; those burning eyes never leaving the king's own eyes. "I have found you" There was a pause and then the voice of judgment. "Thus says the Lord. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, I will bring disaster on you. I will consume you and will cut off from Ahab, every male, bond or free in Israel and will make your house like the house of Jeroboam… because you have provoked me to anger and caused Israel to sin. Also, concerning Jezebel the Lord said, The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel. Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds shall eat."

Now see this wicked king Ahab. His face is pale and his knees shaking. Idolater that he is, he is yet of Israelite stock, and something within him from his ancestors tells him that the word is true and will surely be fulfilled. He waits, tense and silent.

Then Elijah was gone. Ahab did not see his movement nor where he went, but the way into the vineyard was open. Did Ahab the fearful go in to enjoy his new possession? He did not. He went home, silent and thoughtful, and presently he divested himself of his royal robes and put on sackcloth, and fasted, and thought more seriously than he had ever done since the day he took that evil woman Jezebel to be his wife. And the consequence of his thoughts and his fasting and his sackcloth was that he came a little nearer to repentance for his misdeeds and prostrated himself before the Lord. Just how sincere was that repentance only the Lord knew. Nevertheless He did not fail to respond immediately as He always does when there is the slightest indication of the sinner turning from the error of his way. So the Lord sent another word to Elijah to say that because of Ahab's seeming change of heart He would defer the destruction of his dynasty and his descendants until after his death. He was to be spared the anguish of that event. But notice here that the manner of his own death and that of his wife was not included in this concession. Perhaps the Lord in his wisdom knew that the repentance was not going to last. In fact it did not last, for less than three years later he went to war with Syria in the strength of and reliance upon Baal. When Micaiah, the prophet of the Lord reproved him and foretold his death he refused to believe and consigned Micaiah to prison. In the ensuing battle he was mortally wounded and died in his chariot, with his blood running out of his wounds. And when, later on, men washed the chariot the scavenging dogs licked up his blood and so the word of Elijah was fulfilled. But that strange man was nowhere to be found. Only the Lord knew where he was. And Israel had not yet seen the last of him. Another unbelieving King of Israel was to feel the whiplash of his tongue and realise to his cost that the God of Elijah, He is God.

(To be continued)

AOH