Sermon Notes, April 3

INTRODUCTION
Ahab�s sin begins in idolatry. But his sin is not a �private�Esin, nor is it confined to a �religious�Earea of life. In 1 Kings, as in all the prophets, idolatry always leads to social oppression and injustice. The sin of Ahab foreshadows the later oppressions of Manasseh and other kings of Judah, oppression that led to the Babylonian exile.

THE TEXT
�And it came to pass after these things that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. So Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, �Give me your vineyard. . . .�� (1 Kings 21:1-29).

STRUCTURE
There are two main sections in 1 Kings 21. In the first 16 verses, the chapter focuses on Naboth�s vineyard:
A. Ahab and Naboth, vv 1-4 (no food)
B. Ahab and Jezebel, vv 4-7 (food)
C. Jezebel�s letters, vv 8-10 (fast)
C�E Jezebel�s instructions carried out, vv 11-14 (fast)
B�E Ahab and Jezebel, v 15 (take possession)
A�E Ahab takes Naboth�s vineyard, v 16 (vineyard: food)

In the second half of the story, the characters change, and we are back to a confrontation between Elijah and Ahab:

A. Yahweh and Elijah, vv 17-19
B. Elijah and Ahab, v 20-22
C. Narrator�s assessment of Ahab, vv 23-26
B�E Ahab�s repentance, vv 27
A�E Yahweh and Elijah, vv 28-29 (word of Yahweh came)

One of the curious things about this structure is the way that it leaves the story of Naboth more or less unresolved, since Naboth is not mentioned after vv. 18-19. When the narrator condemns Ahab and his house in vv. 25-26, the issue is not murder but idolatry.

NABOTH AND HIS VINEYARD
Naboth�s vineyard is in Jezreel, where Ahab has a �palace�E(vv. 1-3). The word for �palace�Eis the same as the word for �temple,�Eand hints at the idolatrous roots of Ahab�s demands. Ahab wants to turn the vineyard, a product of generations of labor, into a �garden of vegetables.�E Israel is a vineyard (Psalm 80; Isaiah 5), and the only other place where the OT uses the phrase �vegetable garden�Eis Deuteronomy 11:10, which refers to the land of Egypt. Symbolically, Ahab�s intention is to turn Israel into Egypt. Ahab wants to �drive out�ENaboth and �take possession�E(vv. 19, 26), as Israel once did to the Canaanites. Naboth�s response is that of a faithful Israelite. He objects that the land is an inheritance, and that as such it is unalienable (Leviticus 25). He recognizes it would be �profanation to Yahweh�Eif he were to sell his vineyard for mere convenience.

While Ahab pouts on his bed, Jezebel intervenes. Though Jezebel hatches the conspiracy, Ahab is the one held responsible for the blood of Naboth (v. 19). If Jezebel is a new Eve offering fruit to her husband, Ahab as Adam is still held responsible. The corruption is wide-ranging: Jezebel doesn�t hire the �sons of Belial�Eherself, but instead requests the �elders and nobles�E(v. 8) to arrange things. These are the very men who will later pass judgment on Naboth. Further, they turn a religious event, a fast, into an occasion for false accusation and judicial murder. The blood of Naboth is like the blood of Abel shed by a new Cain, crying out for vengeance. But it�s a pointer also to the blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, the blood of Jesus who suffered outside the city. Jesus told the story of vineyard tenants who killed the owner�s son, indicating that the Pharisees of His day were the Ahabs and Jezebels of first-century Israel.

PROPHETIC CONFRONTATION
Elijah appears once again to confront the king, and the chapter widens out from Ahab�s treatment of Naboth to Ahab�s idolatry. Elijah is told to �arise, go down to meet King Ahab,�Ea command reminiscent of Yahweh�s commission to Moses to confront Pharaoh. Ahab is killing innocents in Israel, as Pharaoh once did.

Elijah�s oracle is written in an unusual fashion. Verse 19 begins with Yahweh instructing Elijah about what to say, but at the beginning of verse 20, Ahab is responding to it. Within the verse, the scene has changed, as if we�re watching a film where one character begins a speech but the scene fades into another where a different speaker takes up the remainder of the speech. Verses 20-21 are words from Yahweh, but the �I�Eis Elijah. This literary technique not only emphasizes the authority of the prophet�s word �Ethe prophet and Yahweh are identified �Ebut also suggests that Elijah himself will be the one who brings judgment against Ahab and his house.

There appears to be a difficulty in verse 19. The text says that dogs will lick Ahab�s blood in the same location as they licked up Naboth�s. But the next chapter shows that Ahab died in Samaria, and that his blood spilled there (22:38). A contradiction? No. A number of members of Ahab�s house are killed in Jezreel �EJoram, Ahaziah, and Jezebel; they are all of Ahab�s blood, which the dogs lap up. The Lord�s judgment is eye-for-eye, evil for evil (vv. 20-21), blood for blood, lick for lick. Ahab�s house is going to end as did Jeroboam�s and Baasha�s.

Ahab is full of surprises. He removes his royal robes, donning sackcloth, fasting, sleeping in sackcloth, and being despondent (v. 27; note the chiasm). At the center is another refusal of food. We are not told much about Ahab�s heart; the Lord responds to the outward signs of humility, as He did in the case of Nineveh (cf. Jonah 3). Yet, the only thing that Ahab can hope for at this point is a delay, not a cancellation of the sentence. The Lord says He will not bring judgment in Ahab�s time, but it will come. In this, Ahab�s story foreshadows the later history of the Davidic kingdom. Josiah�s much more thorough repentance does nothing more than buy Judah a little time.

Catechism for Little Saints

What did Ahab want to make from Naboth�s vineyard?
To plant a vegetable garden.

How is Naboth like Jesus?
He is falsely accused and killed by a someone who wants to get control of the vineyard of Israel. Like Jesus, he was killed outside a city.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 08:04 AM

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