CHAPTER XXI _Ahab covets the vineyard of Naboth, and wishes to have it either_ _by purchase or exchange_, 1, 2. _Naboth refuses to alienate it on any account, because it was his_ _inheritance from his fathers_, 3. _Ahab becomes disconsolate, takes to his bed, and refuses to eat_, 4. _Jezebel,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:2. _GIVE ME THY VINEYARD_] The request of Ahab seems at first view fair and honourable. Naboth's vineyard was nigh to the palace of Ahab, and he wished to add it to his own for a _kitchen_ _garden_, or perhaps a _grass-plat_, גן ירק gan yarak; and he offers to give him either a bet... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:4. _HE LAID HIM DOWN UPON HIS BED_] Poor soul! he was lord over ten-twelfths of the land, and became miserable because he could not get a poor man's vineyard added to all that he possessed! It is a true saying, "That soul in which God dwells not, has no happiness: and he who has God... [ Continue Reading ]
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_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:8. _SHE WROTE LETTERS IN AHAB'S NAME_] She counterfeited his authority by his own consent; and he lent his signet to stamp that authority.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:9. _PROCLAIM A FAST_] Intimate that there is some great calamity coming upon the nation, because of some evil tolerated in it. _SET NABOTH ON HIGH_] Bring him to a public trial.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:13. _AND STONED HIM WITH STONES_] As they pretended to find him guilty of treason against God and the king, it is likely they destroyed the whole of his _family_; and then the king seized on his grounds as confiscated, or as _escheated_ to the king, without any heir at law. That his... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:15. _ARISE, TAKE POSSESSION_] By what _rites_ or in what _forms_ this was done, we do not know.... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:19. _IN THE PLACE WHERE DOGS LICKED, C._] It is in vain to look for a _literal fulfillment_ of this prediction. Thus it would have been fulfilled, but the humiliation of Ahab induced the merciful God to say, _I will not bring the evil in his days, but in_ _the days of his son_, 1 K... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:20. _THOU HAST SOLD THYSELF TO WORK EVIL_] See a similar form of speech, Romans 7:14. Thou hast totally abandoned thyself to the service of sin. Satan is become thy _absolute master_, and thou his _undivided slave_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _THE DOGS SHALL EAT JEZEBEL_] This was most literally fulfilled; see 2 Kings 9:36. The carcasses of poor _Hindoos_, and of persons who have received public punishment, are thrown into the _rivers_, and floating to the side, are devoured by _dogs, vultures_, and _crows_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _DID SELL HIMSELF TO WORK WICKEDNESS_] He hired himself to the devil for this very purpose, that he might _work_ wickedness. This was to be his _employment_, and at this he _laboured_. _IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD, WHOM JEZEBEL HIS WIFE STIRRED UP._] A good wife is from the Lord; a bad wife... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:27. _HE RENT HIS CLOTHES_] He was penetrated with sorrow, and that evidently unfeigned. _PUT SACKCLOTH UPON HIS FLESH_] He humbled himself before God and man. _AND FASTED_] He afflicted his body for his soul's benefit. _LAY IN SACKCLOTH_] Gave the fullest proof that his repentanc... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 1 Kings 21:29. _SEEST THOU HOW AHAB HUMBLETH HIMSELF_] He did abase himself; he did _truly repent him of his sins_, and it was such a repentance as was genuine in the _sight of God: He humbleth himself_ _BEFORE ME_. The _penitent_ heart ever meets the _merciful_ eye of God; repentance is high... [ Continue Reading ]