1 Kings 21:10

_AND SET TWO MEN, SONS OF BELIAL, BEFORE HIM, TO BEAR WITNESS AGAINST HIM, SAYING, THOU DIDST BLASPHEME GOD AND THE KING. AND THEN CARRY HIM OUT, AND STONE HIM, THAT HE MAY DIE._ God and the king. This order is always observed when God is spoken of as the supreme head or ruler of the theocracy, and the king his vicegerent (cf. 1 Chronicles 29:20)....

5-16 When, instead of a help meet, a man has an agent for Satan, in the form of an artful, unprincipled, yet beloved wife, fatal effects may be expected. Never were more wicked orders given by any prince, than those Jezebel sent to the rulers of Jezreel. Naboth must be murdered under colour of religion. There is no wickedness so vile, so horrid, but religion has sometimes been made a cover for it. Also, it must be done under colour of justice, and with the formalities of legal process. Let us, from this sad story, be amazed at the wickedness of the wicked, and the power of Satan in the children of disobedience. Let us commit the keeping of our lives and comforts to God, for innocence will not always be our security; and let us rejoice in the knowledge that all will be set to rights in the great day....

Verse 1 Kings 21:10. _SET TWO MEN_] For life could not be attainted but on the evidence of two witnesses at least. _SONS OF BELIAL_] Men who will not scruple to tell lies and take a false oath. _THOU DIDST BLASPHEME GOD AND THE KING._] Thou art an _atheist_ and a _rebel_. Thou hast spoken words injurious to the perfections and nature of God; and thou hast spoken words against the crown and dignity of the king. The words literally are, _Naboth hath BLESSED_ _God and the king_; or, as Parkhurst contends, "Thou hast blessed the false gods and Molech," ברכת אלהים ומלך And though Jezebel was herself an abominable idolatress; yet, as the law of Moses still continued in force, she seems to have been wicked enough to have destroyed Naboth, upon the false accusation of _blessing the_ _heathen Aleim_ and...

SONS OF BELIAL - i. e., “worthless persons” (Deuteronomy 13:13 note). Witnesses must be two in number according to the Law Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15. The word rendered “blaspheme” is that which commonly means “bless.” The opposite sense of “cursing,” seems, however, to be required here and in Job 1:5, Job 1:11;...

EXPOSITION THE STORY OF NABOTH. THE DOOM OF AHAB'S HOUSE. HIS PENITENCE.— 1 KINGS 21:1 AND IT CAME TO PASS AFTER THESE THINGS [These words are omitted in the Vat. LXX; which, as before remarked, transposes 1 Kings 20:1. and 21. See introductory note, 1 Kings 20:1.], THAT NABOTH ["Fruit," "produce" (Gesen). Wordsworth sees in him a type of Christ, cast out of the vineyard ...

AND SET TWO MEN, SONS OF BELIAL, BEFORE HIM, TO BEAR WITNESS AGAINST HIM,.... Worthless wretches, that have cast off the yoke of the law, as Belial signifies, lawless abandoned creatures, that have no conscience of anything; "knights of the post", as we call them, that will swear anything; these were to be set before Naboth, right against him to confront him, and accuse him to his face, and charge him with crimes next mentioned: SAYING, THOU DIDST BLASPHEME GOD AND THE KING: and so was guilty of death for the former, if not for both, and of confiscation of estate for the latter, which was the thing aimed at; and Jezebel was willing to make sure work of it, and therefore would have him accused of both: AND THEN CARRY HIM OUT, AND STONE HIM, THAT HE DIE; immediately, without requiring the witnesses to give proof of their charge, and without giving Naboth leave to answer for himself....

CHAPTER 21NABOTH'S VINEYARD _ 1. Naboth's refusal (1 Kings 21:1)_ 2. Jezebel's wicked deed (1 Kings 21:5) 3. Elijah pronounces divine judgment (1 Kings 21:17) 4. Ahab's wickedness and confession (1 Kings 21:25) 5. The LORD's mercy (1 Kings 21:28) No comment is needed on the story of Naboth's vineyard. Jezebel, the wicked, and Ahab's submission to her was his ruination. On her Satanic suggestion one of the most wicked deeds recorded in Bible history is done. Naboth is murdered to obtain his vi

THE STORY OF NABOTH. This is evidently not a part of the Elijah story of 1 Kings 17-19. There are certain differences of style; _e.g._ Ahab is described as king of Samaria (1); and Elijah does not, as in 1 Kings 17-19, occupy the central place. Nor does the story come in a very suitable place between 1 Kings 20 and 1 Kings 22, which have points in common. In the LXX it occurs before 1 Kings 20. It is probably, though not certainly, an independent narrative about Elijah. Ahab, as is usual. is not represented in the worst possible light; the great offender is Jezebel, who acts not as a Baal worshipper so much as a queen of Israel. Some critics (_e.g._ Burney) connect this passage with 2 Kings 9 f., the story of the destruction of the house of Omri by Jehu, where the mention of the burden laid on Ahab on that occasion demands the recital of thesecircumstances. Naboth refused to sell his vin...

TWO. Compare Deuteronomy 17:6. SONS OF BELIAL. Compare Deuteronomy 13:13. 1Sa 1:16. 1 Samuel 2:12, &c. BLASPHEME. The current Hebrew text reads "bless". In spite of this the Authorized Version and Revised Version render it "blaspheme". It is one of the emendations of the _Sopherim_ (App-18), and is correctly rendered "blaspheme", but should have had. marginal note of explanation....

_sons of Belial_ In Deuteronomy 13:13, the R.V. has translated this expression -base fellows", putting in the margin -sons of worthlessness". This is the sense everywhere in the O.T. and should have been in the text. In N.T. times -Belial" was personified (see 2 Corinthians 6:15), but there is no trace of this idea in the earlier Scriptures. The LXX. has υἱοὶ παρανόμων. The men were good-for-noughts, who would swear to anything for which they were paid. Josephus makes them three in number. _Thou didst blaspheme_[R.V. CURSE] _God and the king_ The verb in the original ברך is very frequently used of blessing, but it had the opposite sense also. The root idea appears to be -to say adieu to". This might be and most frequently was with a parting benediction; but it also m