The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 497

CHAPTER XXI.-1-29. weakness, he was certainly a prince of some enterprize. Cb. x.xii. 39 speaks of the THE STORY OF NA.BOTH. THE DOOM OF "cities " which be built. And the palace of AHAB'S HOUSE. His PENITENCE.-Ver. I.- Jezreel would seem to have been erected by And it ea.me to pass after these things him. This vineyard wa.s to be oue of his [These words are omitted in the Vat. LXX., improvements.] which, a.a before remarked, transposes ells. Ver. 3.-And Na.both said to Ahab, The xx. and :ni. Seeintroduotory note, eh. xx.], Lord forbid it me [Reb. Par be ·it to me that Na.both [" Fro.it," "produce" (Gesen). from Jehovah. These words reveal to us, first, Wordsworth sees in him a typtl of Christ, that Ne.both wo.s a. worshipper of the Lord cast ont of the vineyard (Matt. xxi. 39) and -otherwise he would hardly have need tho e!Bin] the Jezreelite [The Alex. LXX. here, so.ored name, and that to Aho.b, with whom and throughout the chapter, reads o 'Iapa- the servants of the true God ho.d found but ,,X,nu;. Josephus (Ant. viii. 13. 8) says eco.nt favour; and, secondly, tbo.t he looked tbo.t Na.both was of illustrious family] upon the o.lieno.tioi: of his pa.trimony as RD had a vineyard, 1rh1ch was 1n Jezreel act displeasing to the Lord, a.nd as violating [See note on eh. xviii. 46], hard by the the law of Moses (Levit. u:v. 23 sqq. ; palace [LXX. threshing-_fl,oor. Stanley Num. xxxvi. 7 sqq.) We have instances of (Diet.Bib. vol. ii. p. 454), arguing from this the so.le of land to the king in 2 So.m. xxiv. word, would rejeot the Hebrew text of this 24--but tbe.t we.a by 11, Jebusite-o.nd in oh. no.rrutive, which places both the vineyard xvi. 24], that I should give the inherit- and the plot of ground (2 Kings ix. 25, 26) ance of my !a.there unto thee. [" The in Jozreel, and would looa.te the vineyard preservation of the i1~m was for every on the hill of Se.maria., in the" void place " of eh. xxii. 10] of Ahab k1ng of Bama.rta. covene.nt-keeping Isra.eliie e, ma.tter not [It is olear from these Inst words that Jezreel merely of piety towo.rds hie family o.nd bis ho.d not replaced Samaria as the oe.pite.l. It tribe, . . . but a religious duty" (Diibr). wo.s a " palace " only that Ahe.b had there. It is clear, however, tho.t the restraints of the No doubt the beauty of the situation had old Mosaic law began to be irksome in that led to its purohe.se or erection. As Jezreel latitudino.rio.u o.ge. Many of its provisions is only twenty-five miles disto.nt from were already rega.rded as obsolete.] Samaria, it is obvious that it might be Ver. 4.-And Ahab came into h1s house readily visited by the court.] [At So.mo.ria, as we ga.tbcr from vcrs. 18, 14, Ver. 2.-And Ahab spa.ke unto Naboth, say- 16, &c.] heavy and displeased [I:Ieb. s-11llen ing, Give me thy vineyard [The prediction and angry ; same words as in eh. xx. 43. of So.muel (1 Sam. viii.14) is-being realized], Ewe.Id thinks that we have here a clea.r re- tho.t I may have it fora.go.rden of herbs [as ference to that passage] because of the in Dent. xi. 10; Prov. xv. 17], because it word which Na.both the Jezreelite had 1B near unto [H~b. beside] my house: and spoken to him : for [Heb. and] he had I will give thee for it a better vineyard said, I wm not give thee the inheritance of than it: or [Heb. omits or], U lt seem good my fa.there. And he laid him down to thee [Heb. if good in thine eyes], I will upon h1s bed [Rawlinson understands this give thee the worth of lt 1n money. [Heb. to mean the couch on which tho Orionto.!11 I will give to thee siiver, the price of it. Bee. recline at meals. Anil i1~1;> is used with note on eh. xx. 39, Whllkver Ahib's moro.l this meaning in Esther i. 6 Ezek. xxiii. 50:3 THE l?IRST BOOK OF KINGS. [ Cll, llL 1-29,