Ahab's request sounds reasonable: Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or... the worth of it in money (v. 2). By the standards of the market, a fair offer. Some readers notice that Deuteronomy 11:10 uses a garden of herbs of the land of Egypt, in contrast with the land God gave; the study offers that echo cautiously. The king wants to turn an Israelite family's vineyard into a royal vegetable plot.

The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. Naboth speaks the language of the Law: The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me (Leviticus 25:23), and every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers (Numbers 36:7). The land was a trust from the LORD, not a commodity. Naboth swears by the LORD in Baal-loving Ahab's court. His refusal is not stubbornness but faithfulness.

Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased — the same words as 20:43, after the prophet's rebuke. He laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. The king of Israel sulks like a child refused a toy. He does not take the vineyard by force; he knows, it seems, that Naboth is within his rights. But he will not accept the limit with a good grace. Covetousness, forbidden in the tenth commandment (Exodus 20:17), shows itself here not first in violence but in self-pity.

When Jezebel asks why, Ahab tells her: he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard (v. 6). The narrator has already given Naboth's real words: I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers (v. 4). In Ahab's retelling, the reason rooted in the LORD's law disappears; it becomes a mere refusal. Many readers note the shift. Leaving out the reason made Naboth sound merely obstinate — and left Jezebel no law to reckon with.

Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Jezebel's question carries a view of kingship from her own background: a king takes what he wants. Israel's law pictured a different king, one who would read therein all the days of his life, That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren (Deuteronomy 17:19-20). Samuel had warned that kings would take your fields, and your vineyards (1 Samuel 8:14). In this verse, the warning comes true.

Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. She promises to give what is not hers. Verse 25 will say that Ahab was one whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. Yet the narrator never lets Ahab hide behind her: he let her take his seal, asked no questions, and went down to possess the land. Proverbs 29:12 observes, If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.

She wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal (v. 8), to the elders and nobles of Naboth's city. Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people (v. 9) — a fast suggested that some calamity or guilt lay on the town, and Naboth would be seated where all could see him accused. The sons of Belial are worthless men; Belial is usually taken to mean worthlessness. The charge: Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. The Hebrew verb is literally bless, used as a euphemism for cursing, as also in Job 1:5; Exodus 22:28 forbade cursing God or the ruler.

The Law required two witnesses, or three witnesses before anyone was put to death (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). Jezebel uses that very safeguard as the instrument of murder: two false witnesses make it look lawful. The men of his city... did as Jezebel had sent unto them (v. 11). No elder refused. They carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died (v. 13). 2 Kings 9:26 later speaks of the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, so it seems his heirs died too, leaving no claimant to the land.

Naboth is stoned, and is dead (v. 14). Jezebel tells Ahab, Arise, take possession (v. 15), and he goes down at once (v. 16). Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite (v. 17): Ahab is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it (v. 18). Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? Ahab threw no stone and signed no letter with his own hand, yet the LORD says thou hast killed. Taking the profit of a crime and asking no questions makes one a partner in it. God saw what was done in the elders' hall.

In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. 22:38 records that dogs licked Ahab's blood at the pool of Samaria, while Naboth died at Jezreel. Readers explain this in more than one way: some take the words loosely, of dogs licking his blood as they had Naboth's; others note that 21:29 postpones the evil to Ahab's son, and that 2 Kings 9:25-26 has the body of Joram, Ahab's son, cast into the portion of the field of Naboth. The study presents these readings without forcing one.

Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? (v. 20). Ahab calls the prophet his enemy, as before he called him the troubler of Israel (18:17). Elijah answers, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. The sentence follows (vv. 21-24): the house of Ahab cut off like the houses of Jeroboam and Baasha, and The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel (v. 23). 2 Kings 9:36 recalls this as In the portion of Jezreel; the two Hebrew words differ by a letter, and some ancient versions read portion here too.

But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. The narrator pauses to give his verdict on the whole reign: he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites (v. 26). To sell oneself is to give oneself over as a slave; Paul uses similar language of the power of sin, I am carnal, sold under sin (Romans 7:14). Jezebel stirred him up, but the choice and the verdict were his own.

When Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. The king who refused to eat for a vineyard now fasts in grief. Went softly may mean walking quietly or slowly, as a mourner. The text does not say how deep this humbling went, or how long it lasted; the next chapter shows Ahab still hating God's prophet (22:8). Joel 2:13 says, rend your heart, and not your garments; Ahab at least rent his garments.

This is the most surprising verse in Ahab's story. The man of whom it was said there was none like unto Ahab (v. 25) bows before the word of the LORD. Scripture has other such reversals: Manasseh, worst of Judah's kings, humbled himself greatly in his affliction and was heard (2 Chronicles 33:12-13), and Nineveh repented at Jonah's word (Jonah 3:5-10). No one is so far gone that humbling before God is pointless.

Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? The LORD Himself draws Elijah's attention to it, as if to say, Do not miss this. Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days. The mercy is real, and the study notes it honestly. God takes account even of a partial and imperfect turning. Ezekiel 18:23 asks, Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

But in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house. Readers rightly ask whether this is fair to the son. Scripture elsewhere insists that The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father (Ezekiel 18:20). The text that follows shows Ahab's sons themselves doing evil (22:52; 2 Kings 3:2), so that the judgment falls on a house that continued in its father's ways. The postponement was mercy to Ahab, not a transfer of guilt to the innocent. The study notes the question and this answer without claiming it removes every difficulty.