Naboth's Truth (II); I Kings 21

Things work just as Jezebel has planned. She seems to have taken care of every detail, doesn't she? The hostess with the mostest. Every detail, we will soon enough learn, except for God. But for now we marvel at her skill, thoroughness, and absolute ruthlessness. They proclaim the fast and call the assembly. Some commentators see the "fast" proclaimed as an indication that "big news" is planned. That is, people know that something important is going on because the leaders proclaim the fast. But the irony of so doing is almost palpable. You proclaim a fast because you want to secure God's favor. So, under the guise of a religious action, the people will carry out an unjust action. Perhaps they don't even know what they are doing--that they are simply a pawn of the plans of Jezebel. Perhaps the nobles think, in fact, that the fast is to remove the famine (ch. 17) or for other good reason. When Naboth is accused, then, they are in the proper "religious state" to consider the seriousness of the allegation.

Then we see, as John Gray (I & II Kings) has argued, how "the punctilio with which the destruction of Naboth was contrived is grimly sadistic" (p. 441). The interesting thing about Naboth's "trial," such as it is, is that things are done according to the Biblical requirement. Two witnesses come forward against Naboth. Listen to Deuteronomy:

"On the evidence of two or three witnesses the death sentence shall be executed; a person must not be put to death on the evidence of only one witness" (17:6; see also 19:15).

Then, the allegation must be of a capital crime. "Naboth has cursed God and the king" would satisfy this requirement. It is both an expression of blasphemy and treason. Our legal system today doesn't recognize treason as a capital offense, but it was no long ago that treason was considered worse than murder. When King Lear learns that his daughter Regan has publicly dishonored him, he says, "They could not, would not, would not do 't; 'tis worse than murder." Thus, when Naboth is duly accused and duly accused of a capital crime, he really has little he can say in his defense.

The punishment is carried out with brutal swiftness and finality. In the same verse where he is accused, we have reference to his execution. "So they took him outside the city, and stoned him to death" (21:13). No judge. No jury. No appeals process. No federal habeas corpus trial. No appeal to the King--which of course would be fruitless. No last meal. Just right to death. But, note that the death is also done according to Biblical principles.

"And speak to the people of Israel, saying: Anyone who curses God shall bear the sin. One who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death; the whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as citizens, when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to death" (Lev. 24:15-16).

When you do everything so biblically, what can go wrong?

IV. God Has the Last Word

The apparent brutal finality of what happens to Naboth is matched by the rapidity with which Jezebel tells the "good news" to her husband. "Go, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead" (21:15). In these words we can almost hear a reverse echo of the story of the prodigal son, who was not dead, but living, was lost and became found. Ahab also acts with alacrity. "As soon as Ahab heard" the news, he went to the vineyard to take possession of it. She surely knows how to snap him out of his spell.

In many instances in family relations it is the woman who remains in the dark. She is the one who has raised the kids, supported her husband and done countless good works in the community. But often husbands keep from wives the details of financial workings, where assets are placed, how business is run, etc. I think one of the dominant realities I have discovered in America is that women, in general, are not as comfortable handling money as men. Often they are afraid of it; they don't know where it is; they don't have any idea how to get the most out of it, etc. But in this story the tables are turned. Ahab seems to be the child, curled up in the corner, while his wife is the one who knows process, who knows how to get things done. She gives the word, and Ahab acts. It must have been a great comfort to Ahab to have such a wife to do one's "dirty work."

Yet, as we see, and as the story led us to expect, the final word of the story isn't given when Naboth is stoned to death. God and God's prophet still haven't weighed in on the matter. The prophetic word to Ahab is almost as violent as the way that Naboth was treated:

"Thus says the Lord: have you killed, and also taken possession?....Thus says the Lord: In the palce where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your own blood" (21:19).

Things become a little more complex than this because Ahab will repent, and God says that, as a result, this judgment will happen to his son (21:29). Nevertheless, the literal fulfilment is not long in coming--Ahab dies in the next chapter and the text notes how dogs licked his blood off his chariot by the pool of Samaria (22:38). Sic transit gloria mundi. It is only the word of the Lord that is both the last word, and is the word that lasts forever.

What a story.

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