Naboth

The owner of a vineyard located near King Ahab's palace in Jezreel who refused the king's offer to purchase the vineyard (1 Ki 21-16). Naboth cited as reason for his refusal was simple; "The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors" (v3). This may have been a genuine expression of filial faithfulness; land ownership was a gift of God and, therefore, a matter of covenantal commitment. H. L. Ellison's suggestion that—hiding behind the mask of such piety—Naboth thought himself "obviously quite a big man in Jezreel" and "liked to show that he was as good a man as the king" (The Prophets of Israel. From Ahijah to Hosea) is tantalizing but the narrative is too sparse on the evidence needed to support it. Be it as it may, Naboth's reply deeply depressed the king. The latter's wife, Jezebel, saw no reason to fuzz over such a small thing and duly arranged for Naboth to be murdered on the false charge of blesphemy (vv7-14). When Ahab arrived at the vineyard to sieze it for himself, he was met by Elijah who served him notice:

'This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?'

'This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood𔃀yes, yours!' . . . [because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord] I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free" (vv19-21).

Ahab lived on to rule out his days as king but Elijah's prophecy of doom found its fulfilment when Jehu killed his son Joram (and had his body thrown into the land that once belonged to Naboth, 2 Ki) and Jezebel ("they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot. . . . But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands" (2 Ki 9:33-37).

Had the ancient chroniclers not recorded the story of Naboth for us, his story would have remained one of the countless cases of apparently meaningless but always callous story of unjust loss that has been the plight of the poor and oppressed everywhere. Sceptics like to say "history is written by the victors." The Bible says a resounding "No," and this story reminds us that justice will prevail in the end; God will ensure that, even if we hear no hint of it in any specific case in the here and now.

Naboth lived about the middle of the 9th Cent BC; Ahab reigned from 875/4-853 BC (paralled, in Judah, by Jehoshaphat (r.870-849/8 BC)).

Further Reading & Resources:

Walter Brueggemann, What Naboth Teaches Us Today, Part 1. churchanew.org. (Continue to Part 2 from the article.)
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Philippe Guillaume, Naboth's Vineyard (1 Kgs 21). Bible Odyssey.
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Bruce Wells, "Inheritance Laws in Ancient Israel. Bible Odyssey.
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