1 พงศ์กษัตริย์ 21:20 วิจารณ์

Ahab is still the unhappy subject of the sacred history; from the great affairs of his camp and kingdom this chapter leads us into his garden, and gives us an account of some ill things (and ill indeed they proved to him) relating to his domestic affairs. I. Ahab is sick for Naboth's vineyard (Kg1 21:1-4). II. Naboth dies by Jezebel's plot, that the vineyard may escheat to Ahab (Kg1 21:5-14). III. Ahab goes to take possession (Kg1 21:15-16). IV. Elijah meets him, and denounces the judgments of God against him for his injustice (Kg1 21:17-24). V. Upon his humiliation a reprieve is granted (Kg1 21:25-29).

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 21 In this chapter we have an account of Ahab's design to have Naboth's vineyard, for which he offered him another, or the value of that, but Naboth refusing to part with it, Ahab fell sick, Kg1 21:1, the reason of which being found out by Jezebel, she devised means to get Naboth put to death under the colour of justice for blasphemy, Kg1 21:5, and then bid Ahab go and take possession of the vineyard, where he was met by Elijah, who denounced the judgments of God upon him, and Jezebel, and all his family, for his injustice, Kg1 21:15, but he humbling himself, the evil threatened was deferred to the days of his son, Kg1 21:27.

Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat, and him that dieth in the field the fowls of the air shall eat. That is, they shall have no burial, see Kg1 14:11 hitherto are the words of the Lord by Elijah; next follow the remarks of the historian. hitherto are the words of the Lord by Elijah; next follow the remarks of the historian. 1 Kings 21:25 kg1 21:25 kg1 21:25 kg1 21:25But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord,.... Not of any of his predecessors, even those whose families had been destroyed, as his would be, Kg1 21:21. See Gill on Kg1 21:20. whom Jezebel his wife stirred up; to idolatry, revenge, and murder, and to whose will he was a slave, and is one instance of his being a captive to sin, and giving up himself to the power of it.

And the Lord said to Elijah, “Get up, go down to meet King Ahab of Israel,” and so on. Now, when Jezebel invited Ahab to come and take hold of the vineyard whose owners had been stoned, Elijah went out to meet him, precisely when he did not expect him, and approached him in order to reveal the shameful action which they thought no one else knew about. He reproached the king openly for stealing the vineyard and killing the righteous Naboth. But one may say: Is not Jezebel the one who prepared the death of Naboth? Ahab simply did not accept that his request was rejected by Naboth; he did not want to treat him badly or take his vineyard by force. However, if he claims the vineyard, since the inheritance is due to the king after the heirs are dead, as the law prescribes, we maintain that if Ahab had not sinned at all, it would have been impossible that the justice that absolves those who are oppressed might have wronged him. Nor would the prophet, who reproved him according to the command of the just Judge and had already condemned him twice, [have wronged him].And Elijah said to him, “Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam.” To Jezebel too, the Lord said, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the boundaries of Jezreel.” Such are the judgments that Elijah pronounced against the king and the queen: he gives them to the dogs, and the house of Ahab to destruction.

Ahab covets the vineyard of Naboth, and wishes to have it either by purchase or exchange, Kg1 21:1, Kg1 21:2. Naboth refuses to alienate it on any account, because it was his inheritance from his fathers, Kg1 21:3. Ahab becomes disconsolate, takes to his bed, and refuses to eat, Kg1 21:4. Jezebel, finding out the cause, promises to give him the vineyard, Kg1 21:5-7. She writes to the nobles of Jezreel to proclaim a fast, to accuse Naboth of blasphemy, carry him out, and stone him to death; which is accordingly done, Kg1 21:8-14. She then tells Ahab to go and take possession of the vineyard; he goes, and is met by Elijah, who denounces on him the heaviest judgments, Kg1 21:15-24. Ahab's abominable character, Kg1 21:25, Kg1 21:26. He humbles himself; and God promises not to bring the threatened public calamities in his days, but in the days of his son, Kg1 21:27-29.

Thou hast sold thyself to work evil - See a similar form of speech, Rom 7:14 (note). Thou hast totally abandoned thyself to the service of sin. Satan is become thy absolute master, and thou his undivided slave.

NABOTH REFUSES AHAB HIS VINEYARD. (Kg1 21:1-4) Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel--Ahab was desirous, from its contiguity to the palace, to possess it for a vegetable garden. He proposed to Naboth to give him a better in exchange, or to obtain it by purchase; but the owner declined to part with it. In persisting in his refusal, Naboth was not actuated by any feelings of disloyalty or disrespect to the king, but solely from a conscientious regard to the divine law, which, for important reasons, had prohibited the sale of a paternal inheritance [Lev 25:23; Num 36:7]; or if, through extreme poverty or debt, an assignation of it to another was unavoidable, the conveyance was made on the condition of its being redeemable at any time [Lev 25:25-27]; at all events, of its reverting at the jubilee to the owner [Lev 25:28]. In short, it could not be alienated from the family, and it was on this ground that Naboth (Kg1 21:3) refused to comply with the king's demand. It was not, therefore, any rudeness or disrespect that made Ahab heavy and displeased, but his sulky and pettish demeanor betrays a spirit of selfishness that could not brook to be disappointed of a favorite object, and that would have pushed him into lawless tyranny had he possessed any natural force of character.

thou hast sold thyself to work evil--that is, allowed sin to acquire the unchecked and habitual mastery over thee (Kg2 17:17; Rom 7:11).

Ahab answered, "Hast thou found me (met with me), O mine enemy?" (not, hast thou ever found me thine enemy? - Vulg., Luth.) i.e., dost thou come to meet me again, mine enemy? He calls Elijah his enemy, to take the sting from the prophet's threat as an utterance caused by personal enmity. But Elijah fearlessly replied, "I have found (thee), because thou sellest thyself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord." He then announced to him, in Kg1 21:21, Kg1 21:22, the extermination of his house, and to Jezebel, as the principal sinner, the most ignominious end (Kg1 21:23). הרע לעשׂות חתמכּר to sell one's self to do evil, i.e., to give one's self to evil so as to have no will of one's own, to make one's self the slave of evil (cf. Kg1 21:25, Kg2 17:17). The consequence of this is πεπρᾶσθαι ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν (Rom 7:14), sin exercising unlimited power over the man who gives himself up to it as a slave. For Kg1 21:21, Kg1 21:22, see Kg1 14:10-11; Kg1 15:29-30; Kg1 16:3, Kg1 16:12-13. The threat concerning Jezebel (Kg1 21:23) was literally fulfilled, according to Kg2 9:30. חל, written defectively for חיל, as in Sa2 20:15, is properly the open space by the town-wall, pomoerium. Instead of בּחל we have בּחלק in the repetition of this threat in Kg2 9:10, Kg2 9:36-37, and consequently Thenius and others propose to alter the חל here. But there is no necessity for this, as בּחלק, on the portion, i.e., the town-land, of Jezreel (not, in the field at Jezreel), is only a more general epithet denoting the locality, and חל is proved to be the original word by the lxx.