1 Kings 21:7

_AND JEZEBEL HIS WIFE SAID UNTO HIM, DOST THOU NOW GOVERN THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL? ARISE, AND EAT BREAD, AND LET THINE HEART BE MERRY: I WILL GIVE THEE THE VINEYARD OF NABOTH THE JEZREELITE._ Dost thus now govern the kingdom of Israel? - a sarcastic taunt: 'A pretty king then art! Canst thou use thy power, and take what thy heart is set upon?' Ahab seems not to have contemplated acquiring the much-wished-for plot of ground by injustice and cruelty. He never dreamed of the desperate expedient of realizing his desires by the method which Jezebel devised-at least he did not hint at such a thing; while her unscrupulous mind at once and unhesitatingly determined on the truly Oriental, despotic plan of getting rid of Naboth by murder. ARISE ... I WILL GIVE THEE THE VINEYARD. - No sooner does Jezebel learn the sense of her husband's distress than, after upbraiding him for his pusillanimity, and...

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 21:7. _DOST THOU NOW GOVERN THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL?_] Naboth, not Ahab, is king. If _he_ have authority to _refuse_, and _thou_ have no power to _take_, he is the greater man of the two. This is the vital language of _despotism_ and _tyranny_....

The meaning is, “Art thou king, and yet sufferest thyself to be thwarted in this way by a mere subject? I, the queen, the weak woman, will give thee the vineyard, if thou, the king, the strong man, wilt do nothing.”...

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 JEZEBEL HIS WIFE SAID UNTO HIM, DOST THOU NOW GOVERN THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL?.... Art thou not king of Israel? canst thou not do as thou pleasest? hast thou not power to oblige a subject to obey thy commands, and especially in such a trifling matter as parting with a vineyard, and that upon the most reasonable terms? thou hast too much demeaned thyself as a king; thou oughtest to have exerted thy kingly power and authority, and demanded it from him; the Targum is, "thou now shalt prosper in thy kingdom over Israel;'' thy reign now is prosperous, and like to continue so, having obtained two such victories over thine enemies, and therefore should not be dejected with such a trifling thing as this: ARISE, AND EAT BREAD, AND LET THINE HEART BE MERRY: the kingdom being in such a flourishing state; and let not this affair give thee any trouble or uneasiness; I will take care of that, leav...

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...

DOST. ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6....

_Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?_ There is not expressed here any sign of a question in the original, but there can be no doubt that this is the force of the words. The Hebrew order is -Thou now governest, &c." the pronoun being emphatically expressed. So that the sense is - _Thou_art king, art thou not? why then let such a matter trouble thee or stand in the way of thy will." The proposal of some to take the words as imperative, -Thou, do thou use thy sovereignty, &c." is opposed to what follows. For Jezebel does not urge Ahab to act the despot's part, but plays it for him. _I will give thee_, &c. The -I" in this clause is emphatically expressed, just as -thou" in the preceding one....