1 Kings 21:18

_ARISE, GO DOWN TO MEET AHAB KING OF ISRAEL, WHICH IS IN SAMARIA: BEHOLD, HE IS IN THE VINEYARD OF NABOTH, WHITHER HE IS GONE DOWN TO POSSESS IT._ Go down to meet Ahab ... in the vineyard of Naboth. The place of meeting commanded a full view of the memorable scene of Elijah's controversy with the priests of Baal, and it was associated with the memory of other great transactions in Israelitish history. The demeanour and the language of Elijah were deeply striking and impressive, all the more from the solemn lessons of religion he had been taught in his seclusion at Horeb (see this well illustrated by Maurice, 'Prophets and Kings,' p. 136)....

17-29 Blessed Paul complains that he was sold under sin, Romans 7:14, as a poor captive against his will; but Ahab was willing, he sold himself to sin; of choice, and as his own act and deed, he loved the dominion of sin. Jezebel his wife stirred him up to do wickedly. Ahab is reproved, and his sin set before his eyes, by Elijah. That man's condition is very miserable, who has made the word of God his enemy; and very desperate, who reckons the ministers of that word his enemies, because they tell him the truth. Ahab put on the garb and guise of a penitent, yet his heart was unhumbled and unchanged. Ahab's repentance was only what might be seen of men; it was outward only. Let this encourage all that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe the holy gospel, that if a pretending partial penitent shall go to his house reprieved, doubtless, a sincere believing penitent shall go to his house jus...

Verse 1 Kings 21:18. _GO DOWN TO MEET AHAB_] This was the next day after the murder, as we learn from the above quotation, 2 Kings 9:26....

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 ...

ARISE, GO DOWN TO MEET AHAB KING OF ISRAEL, WHICH IS IN SAMARIA,.... Whose seat was there, his palace where he dwelt; and Benjamin of Tudela says g, that in his time might be discerned in Samaria the palace of Ahab king of Israel, that is, some traces of it; some connect the last clause with Israel, as if the sense was, that Ahab was king over those tribes of Israel, of which Samaria was the head: BEHOLD, [HE IS] IN THE VINEYARD OF NABOTH: or "will be" by the time thou gettest thither; though the Arabic version is, he is "now" in the vineyard of Naboth: WHITHER HE IS GONE DOWN TO POSSESS IT; as if it was his legal inheritance. g Itinerar. p. 38....

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...

Elijah meets Ahab and tells him God's sentence. Ahab repents and the punishment is deferred (Not in Chronicles) 18. _which_is [R.V. DWELLETH] _in Samaria_ This change is necessary for consistency in the narrative. There is no verb in the original, as will be seen from the italics of A. V. The verbs describing the action first of Ahab and then of Elijah, shew that both had _gone down_, the one from Samaria, and the other, perhaps, from Carmel, to the city of Jezreel, which lay on lower ground than either. _to possess it_ R.V. TO TAKE POSSESSION OF IT. Thus it is shewn that the expression is the same as in 1 Kings 21:15-16; 1 Kings 21:19....

C. THE CONDEMNATION BY ELIJAH 21:17-24 TRANSLATION (17) And the word of the LORD came unto Elijah the Tishbite, saying, (18) Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth which he has gone down to possess. (19) And speak onto him saying, Thus says the LORD: Have you murdered; and also taken possession? Then you speak unto him, saying, Thus says the LORD: In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall also lick your blood. (20) And Ahab said unto Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. (21) Behold I am about to bring against you evil, and it will consume after you, and I will cut off to Ahab male descendants, even the one shut up and the one left in Israel. (22) And I will make your house like the house of Jer...

NABOTH'S VINEYARD 1. After these things] The LXX places this chapter after 1 Kings 19, and so prevents the separation of 1 Kings 20:22, which are closely connected. JEZREEL] in the plain of Esdraelon....