The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 504

diabolical result. We shall thus see how Ne.both, who wns murdered in the name of law and religion, was a m:1rtyr to law and religion. And let us considcr- 1. The piety of Nahoth. For it was his religion brought this doom upon his head. He had but to comply with the request of the king-and what loynl snbject would not wish to gratify the Lord's anointed ?-and all would have gone well. So far from being stoned, he woulcl have been honoured e.nd rewarded. And that request seemed so reasono.ble. There was no attempt at robbery or confiscation. The king o:tl'ered an ample equivalent; a better vineyard than it, or bars of silver which could buy a better. Was he not perverse and wrong-headed to let :i, scruple stand in the way? We should not have done so. No; but is not that precisely because we have not the steadfast piety of Naboth? There is no reason to think thn,t he was not loyal. Doubtless he would have been glad to ol,lige his king. Dut there were two considerations stood in the way. First, his duty to God; secondly, his duty to his forefathers o.nd to his posterity. His duty to God. For God's law said,'' The land shall not be sold for ever'' (Levit. xxv. 23); it lo.id down that every child of Israel should "cleave to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers" (Num. xxxvi. 7). And Ne.both knew this, and Ahab knew it. But to the latter the law was a dead letter; to the former it was a living reo.lity. To him there was no God but one, no will to be considered in comparison with His. If Naboth could but have consented to do as others had done (eh. xvi. 24), he would have kept his life. But he could not. He "did not fear loss, but sin." It was a crime against Jehovah, and he would not consent. Moreover it was-though perhaps this thought had comparatively little influence with him-a wrong to his ancestors and to his posterity. For generations past, ever since it was allotted to his first father, hnd that vineyard been in his family. It had been transmitted through a long line to him. It was his duty to transmit it intact to those who came after him, and he would do it. It was for these reasons-sentimental reasons some would call them-that Naboth died, because of his belief in a living God, and becallSe he kept His law, and especially the :first and fifth commandments of the Decalcgue. _ 2. The impiety of Ahab. Just as the action of N aboth arose out of his belief, so did that of Ahab spring out of his practical unbelief-an o.pt illustration of the close connexion between our faith and ow· practice. This crime had its beginning, its Jons et origo, in idolatry. It was because Ahab worshipped gods many and lords many that his allegiance to the Divine law was shaken. The law of Baal, he argued, did not forbid the alienation of land--why should the law of Jehovah? The root of this sin, therefore, like the root of all sin, was unbelief. And its blossom was a direct violation of the Decalogue. Out of the branch of the first command- ment sprang violations of the sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth. Just as Ne.both, the believer in the one true God, stands out conspicuously as a keeper of the ten words, so do all the other parties in the tragedy stand convicted of violating them. It was primarily the tenth commandment that Ahab set at nought. He had no right to set his heart upon that vineyard, which the great King had given to another. And a breach of law was the less excusable in his case, insomuch as he was the guardian of law and was acquainted with its provisions (Deut. xvii. 18). Of all men, he should have been the last to defy or disregard it. But it is only when we consider that when his subject, to whom he should have been an example, set him an example, and refused to participate in his sin, that then, so far from repenting and praying that the thought of his heart might be forgiven him, he mourns and repines that he was not allowed to consummate it-it is only when we consider this that we realize its true character. His was a sin against light and knowledge; e. sin against his helper nnd benefactor (eh. xx. 13, 28); a sin in spite of manifold warnings; a sin which led to blacker sin still. He coveted an evil covetousness to his house. That "love of money" was e. root of false witness, of foul murder. And in this estimate of Ahab's sin it is assumed that he neither knew nor sanctioned J ezebel's designs. If he gave her the royal seal with the least idea of the malignant purpose to which she would apply it, he was virtually an accessory before the fact, and so was guilty of murder and robbery. And even if he was ignorant of her intentions, still the  en. xxr. 1-29.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 615