1 Kings 21 "The Vineyard and the Vegetable Garden" Do you understand what an insult it is for Ahab to ask Naboth if he can turn his vineyard into a vegetable garden? A vineyard takes years to develop. You carefully tend the vines over several years, and only when they are mature do they provide a bountiful crop. A good vineyard is hard work and difficult to replace, and can last for generations. A vegetable garden, on the other hand, comes and goes. It has no abiding value. Ahab is asking Naboth to give up the vineyard where his fathers had labored in order to turn it into a vegetable garden for Ahab's own personal convenience. There is only one other place where this phrase "vegetable garden" occurs: In Deuteronomy 11:10 God had told his people that the Promised Land was a land flowing with milk and honey not like the land of Egypt . . . where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, like a garden of vegetables, rather it was a land that the LORD your God cares for. Earlier we sang from Psalm 80 about how God had taken a vine from Egypt and planted it in the promised land. Israel is God's vine. He tends it and cares for it. But Ahab is not interested in caring for the vine. He is a boar from the forest, uprooting the vine and casting it out, so that he might have a vegetable garden. He is not thinking about the kingdom of God, he is interested merely in his own convenience. 1. Vexed and Sullen: the Heart of Idolatry (21:1-4) All this is clear from his response to the prophet at the end of chapter 20. Ahab heard the Word of the LORD that God would judge him and his people, and he went away vexed and sullen. The same phrase is used in verse 4, Ahab went into his house vexed and sullen because of what Naboth had said. The word of Naboth has the same effect as the word of the prophet. That should make us think rather highly of Naboth! Ahab has offered him a better vineyard, or a large cash payment for his vineyard. But Naboth replies, the LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. In order to understand what is going on here we need to understand both Ahab's request and Naboth's response. Naboth has this vineyard in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab (And the word for palace is also the word for temple-- as we saw with Solomon's house, the house of the king is supposed to mirror the house of his god.) It is highly unlikely that the vineyard is inside of the city walls. (City walls were usually put around the inner part of the city). Most likely, the vineyard was just outside the city, and came up to the city walls, so that Ahab's house overlooked it. Think of the symbolism here. Every day Ahab has to look out his window at this Israelite vineyard this symbol of the permanence of the blessing of Yahweh upon his people. And he wants to turn it into a vegetable garden a symbol of Egypt of transience. I doubt that Ahab was thinking of this, but the author of Kings probably was. Because the author of Kings no doubt had sung Psalm 80 many times, and those who heard the story of Ahab would remember how Ahab driven out the faithful Naboth and taken possession of his land, and turned the vineyard of Naboth into a vegetable garden. Ahab is the antichrist, who is leading an assault on the inheritance of Israel, turning the Promised Land into a waste land. So you can appreciate why Naboth rejects Ahab's offer. The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. Leviticus 25 had clearly said that the land was inalienable. Since the land belongs to God, and God had divided the land equitably between the tribes, it was forbidden to accumulate land for oneself. There was a theological principle at work here: since Israel is the Son of God, the promised seed, and since land and seed are inseparable, therefore the seed should not be deprived of the land. Ray Dillard put it this way: "Because the land represented the fruit of the nation's redemption, God commanded that it remain in the hands of the families to whom it was originally allotted. The land had been provided by God as part of his grace toward Israel; therefore, no one was to take the land of another away from him. The law provided that the land could be leased for a period, but that it could never be sold outright (Leviticus 25:13-15)." If an Israelite became poor, and needed to sell his land in order to live, he could do so, but on the fiftieth year the land would be returned to him. So why wouldn't Naboth be willing to part with the land temporarily? First, that assumes that Ahab was obeying God's law! There is no reason to believe that any king of Israel was faithful in enforcing the provisions of the Jubilee of the 50th year. 2 Chronicles 36:21 says that the exile was a gift to the land, Until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. Seventy sabbath-years would make up for 490 years of failing to keep the Sabbath year (which would suggest that Israel had never really practiced the Sabbath year or Jubilee year properly). So Naboth has no reason to believe that Ahab will ever let the vineyard return to him. Second, even if Ahab did return the land to him, there would be no vineyard there. He would give up a vineyard and get back a vegetable garden. In modern terms, that would be like giving up a golf course and getting back a landfill. In short, Naboth believes God's promises. God has said that Israel's inheritance is sacred and inalienable. He will not trade the gift of God for the gift of a king. Do you have the faith of Naboth? Are you willing to trust the promises of God in the face of the temptations of the world? Or do you respond to God's word like Ahab? He lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food. In modern terms, Ahab is suffering from depression. Sometimes (not all the time, but sometimes) depression is caused by sin. And you can understand why. When you refuse to listen to the Word of God, you are refusing your proper function. Your body and soul were designed to love and serve the living God. When you refuse to do that, it is not surprising that there can be physiological problems that result! And Jezebel, his wife, is concerned for her husband. Again, I must say that 1 Kings 20-21 is a marvelous counseling manual. When a wife sees that her husband is suffering, she sincerely wants to help him. Even this wicked woman, Jezebel, who is so vilified in scripture, has a soft side! She truly loves her husband and seeks his good. 2. "An Excellent Wife . . . Plants a Vineyard" (21:5-16) Proverbs 31 says that an excellent wife does her husband good, and not harm, all the days of her life. Verse 16 says, "she considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard." Jezebel is the antithesis of the excellent wife. Or perhaps better, she is the anti-wife. In the same way that Omri and Ahab are the Antichrist of Israel, because they imitate David and Solomon in so many ways, but with the opposite effect of drawing Israel away from God, so also is Jezebel the Antiwife. She is faithfully serving her husband, "doing him good all her days"-- and yet her faithful service is pointed in an evil direction. Jezebel is portrayed as the new Eve, offering the forbidden fruit of the vineyard to her husband; and even as Adam is held responsible for the fall of mankind, so also Ahab will be held responsible for the death of Naboth. Jezebel sent letters to the elders and leaders of Jezreel, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people. And set two worthless men (literally, two sons of Beliar this is the same phrase we encountered repeatedly in Samuel and Beliar is on its way to becoming a name for the devil) Set two worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him, saying 'You have cursed God and the king.' Then take him out and stone him to death. (Incidentally the word translated "cursed" is actually the word "blessed." Hebrew writers absolutely refused to write the phrase 'curse God' even if it clearly a quotation from someone else, because they had such a great respect for the third commandment: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain!" So if we translated it literally it would say, "You have blessed God and the king," Then take him out and stone him. The author relies on context to make it clear that "blessed" must really mean "cursed"!) And so the elders of Jezreel do as Jezebel says. And then Jezebel goes to her husband and tells him to take possession of the land, for Naboth is not alive, but dead. And so Ahab took possession of the vineyard of Naboth, symbolically destroying the vineyard of Israel and turning it into the vegetable garden of Egypt. But just as Abel's blood cried out to God for justice, after he had been killed by his brother, Cain, so now the blood of Naboth rises up to heaven crying out for vengeance. Hebrews 12:24 points out that the blood of Jesus speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. And just as the blood of Abel pointed to Jesus, so also does the blood of Naboth. Naboth is betrayed at a religious event (a fast), by false witnesses and corrupt judges, who take him outside the city where he is put to death. Being faithful to the Word of God does not mean that your life will go smoothly! Indeed, we are reminded again that in this world you will have trouble. But take heart, for I have overcome the world. Naboth does not die in vain. He has lost everything including the inheritance of his fathers but he is counted worthy to be named in holy Scripture as a faithful martyr. Like Abel, though dead, he still speaks: be faithful unto death, lest a worse fate befall you! There is a certain irony in the method that Jezebel chose to eliminate Naboth. The charges against Naboth come from Exodus 22 and Leviticus 24. He is accused and convicted of blasphemy, and therefore executed. If Jezebel was remotely interested in the Law of God, then what should be done to her? She is an idolater (a worshiper of Baal), a murderess (having killed the prophets of Yahweh), and a perverter of justice. But she is quite willing to manipulate the Law to her own end in order to eliminate Naboth. Politicians are good at this. Strict constructionists will start fudging with constitutional limits on presidential power, if the president happens to be a member of their own party. And liberals will argue from the letter of the constitution if it happens to coincide with their own agenda! But sadly the church is no different. It's easy to point to the failings of the mainline churches, running roughshod over their own confessions as they ordain homosexuals and denying the foundational doctrines of Christianity, but insisting on the minutiae of church order to force evangelicals to participate in the ordination of women. But the same problem lurks in our hearts. Because we want our way too! And we can sanctify it by pointing to a handful of scriptural texts to demonstrate that this is not just my way, it is God's way!! We tithe our mint, dill, and cumin in other words, we get picky about our own agenda of "faithfulness" in minor things but we forget "the weightier matters of the law: mercy, truth and faithfulness." The one who would pursue faithfulness to the word of God must start from a position of humility we must examine ourselves and ask whether we are devoted to mercy, truth and faithfulness. Whose kingdom are we seeking? 3. "Worldly Grief Produces Death" (21:17-29) Suddenly Elijah is back! Just as he appeared out of nowhere in chapter 17, and then vanished at the end of chapter 19, so also he appears again out of nowhere in 21:17 (and will vanish again at the end of the chapter). The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit! The narrative of Elijah's confrontation with Ahab is very compressed. Verse 18 starts with God telling Elijah to go meet Ahab, but by the time God finishes telling Elijah what to say, Ahab is listening to Elijah proclaiming the word of the LORD! This has the effect of identifying the word of the LORD and the word of Elijah you cannot tell where one starts and the other leaves off. In chapter 18 Ahab had been searching for Elijah. By chapter 21 Ahab seems to have figured out that he does not want to meet Elijah! And so his response to the prophet is, Have you found me, O my enemy? I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring disaster upon you. And there are three parts to the judgment against Ahab: 1) I will utterly burn you up, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. 2) and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you made Israel to sin. 3) And of Jezebel the LORD also said, 'The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls 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 of the heavens shall eat. Israel had been called to kill the Canaanites and take possession of their land, but when Ahab kills Israelites and takes possession of their land, it has become clear that Israel has reverted to Canaanitism. And so the house of Ahab will be treated the same way as Jeroboam and Baasha they will be utterly annihilated from the face of the earth. The author of Kings even tells us explicitly that Ahab was like the Canaanites: There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the people of Israel. Only then, after reminding us of how wicked Ahab was, does Kings tell us that Ahab repented! He tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. And the Word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son's days I will bring the disaster on his house. From the sequel in chapter 22 it is clear that Ahab's repentance was not genuine. To put it in Paul's language: there is a sorrow, a grief that does not lead to true repentance. "Worldly grief produces death" (2 Cor 7:10) But God accepts it anyway. Why? Because God is merciful. He wishes to teach us that he will show mercy to those who ask. And those who rebel against God's mercy are shown to be even greater fools! Also, there will come a day in Judah's history when God will do the same thing in Josiah's day, when God once again show mercy temporarily because of the repentance of his anointed king. God listens to the voice of his anointed. If God listened to the contrived voice of Ahab the most wicked of all kings, then surely God will hear the petitions of his beloved Son who intercedes for us! This episode also reminds us that Ahab is the anti-Christ, in the similarities to the story of David and Bathsheba. David had killed a man in order to obtain Bathsheba, and he was confronted by the prophet Nathan, who told him that judgment would fall upon his house; and though David repented, that did not prevent the judgment that came. Further, what David did is "evil in the eyes of Yahweh" precisely the language of 11:25. As Nathan put it, "Why have you despised the word of Yahweh to do what is evil in his sight." Or as Elijah put it, "Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh" What's more, Ahab and David both repent! The key difference is the heart. Man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. When the Word of the LORD came to Ahab, his outward actions parallel the actions of David humbling himself, fasting and wearing sackcloth but his heart is still false. And now in Jesus Christ, the Word of the LORD has come to you. Disaster is coming upon the houses of the nations. What will you do?