1 Kings 21 Jezebel at work

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
1 Kings 21:7 Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”

8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. 9 In those letters she wrote:

“Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 10 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.”
11 So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. 12 They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 13 Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. 14 Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.”

15 As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.” 16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.​

False witnesses.... two of them.... it's not supposed to happen naturally.... but it could be arranged.

This is from enduringword.com.

She wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles: This shows that Ahab was in agreement with what Jezebel did and had to know something of her plot.

“She involved Ahab by the use of his seal on the directives to the local magistrates. The use of the king’s royal, dynastic, administrative or even personal seal to gain his authority would require Ahab’s collusion.” (Wiseman)

Alexander Maclaren noted three types of dangerous characters in this chapter: (1) Ahab, who was wicked and weak. (2) Jezebel, who was wicked and strong. (3) The Elders of Jezreel, who were wicked and subservient.​

Proclaim a fast: The idea was that some evil or calamity came upon Israel, and a scapegoat had to be found for the evil. Jezebel intended that Naboth be revealed as the scapegoat.

Seat Naboth with high honor among the people: This was a treacherous plan; first, to set Naboth in a high place of honor, and then to destroy him with lies from the mouths of scoundrels.

Naboth has blasphemed God and the king: Jesus was charged with similar crimes, accused of offending both God and Caesar. Naboth, just like Jesus, was completely innocent of such accusations and was murdered without cause. The stoning of Naboth over a piece of land for a vegetable garden shows the brutal and amoral character of Jezebel and Ahab.

2 Kings 9:26 indicates that the crime was even worse than this, connecting the murder of Naboth with the blood of his sons. It is likely that the entire family of Naboth was murdered, so no heirs were left to claim his property.

Boy, they were evil. It's important to remember here... the land was given to them by God.

This is from the workingpreacher.org site.

Our modern twenty-first century sensibilities prevent us from easily grasping the concept of buying land, just as it would be hard to explain the profession of a modern real estate agent to the ancient Israeli. Land was rarely bought and sold, and when it was done, it was only done to people within the kin. Even the royal land of Samaria was sold to a kinsman (see 1 Kings 16:24). Land was a gift from God, a symbol of provision and conquest. In a time with limited mechanisms to store wealth, land was the income, resource, home, bank account and retirement plan of the people.​

Naboth hadn't done anything except protect the land God gave his family. But fake news and lying witnesses will win this battle.... betcha God wins the war tho.

:coffee:
 
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