_AHAB IS DENIED NABOTH'S VINEYARD; JEZEBEL CAUSETH NABOTH TO BE STONED: ELIJAH DENOUNCETH GOD'S JUDGMENTS AGAINST AHAB AND JEZEBEL._ _Before Christ 899._ _1 KINGS 20:1. NABOTH,_ &C.— _Naboth the Jezreelite who dwelt in Jezreel had a vineyard in Samaria, hard by the palace of king Ahab._ See Essay... [ Continue Reading ]
AHAB SPAKE UNTO NABOTH, &C.— The account of Ahab's coveting Naboth's vineyard is immediately set after his treatment of Ben-hadad, to shew his extreme great wickedness in sparing _him,_ as Saul did Agag king of the Amalekites, and killing _Naboth_ that he might get possession of his vineyard; for th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD FORBID IT ME, &C.— Ahab's request was inconsistent with the law, Leviticus 25:28 and therefore shewed an unbounded avarice, if not impiety in the king; for as, by means of the incorporation of the religious and civil societies which was the consequence of a theocracy, religious matters came... [ Continue Reading ]
DOST THOU NOW GOVERN THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL— _In truth the king has very excellent authority in Israel!_ Houb.... [ Continue Reading ]
PROCLAIM A FAST— It was always usual; upon the approach of any great calamity, or the apprehension of any national judgment, to _proclaim a fast._ Jez_e_bel orders such a fast to be observed, the better to conceal her design against Naboth: for by this means she intimated to the people, that they ha... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU DIDST BLASPHEME GOD AND THE KING— It was death by the law of Moses to blaspheme God; Leviticus 24:16 and by custom it was death to revile the king, Exodus 22:28. Now, in order to make sure work, the witnesses, as they were instructed, accused Naboth of both these crimes, that the people might b... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS SAITH THE LORD, IN THE PLACE WHERE DOGS LICKED, &C.— Instead of מקום _mekom, the place,_ some would render it, _the manner;_ and so the sense of the passage will be, _"In the same manner as dogs licked Naboth's blood, even so shall they lick thy blood, even thine."_ Houbigant renders it _wheree... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU FOUND ME, O MINE ENEMY?— _Why art thou come to me, O mine enemy? Elijah answered, I am therefore come unto thee, because thou hast sold thyself,_ &c. The word _sold,_ which is used by St. Paul, Romans 7:14 signifies the total giving up of one's self into the hand or power of another, and i... [ Continue Reading ]
AHAB—WENT SOFTLY— _Went groaning._ Houbigant; who observes, that the Hebrew word אט _at,_ is from the Arabic _to groan,_ as a camel when wearied, or falling under its burden. Though Ahab thus assumed the external garb of a penitent, we do not find him produce any of the fruits of sincere repentance;... [ Continue Reading ]