“And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth saying, give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, Adonai forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed and turned away his face and would eat no bread. But Jezebel his wife came to him and said unto him, why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite and said unto him, give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters saying, proclaim a fast and set Naboth on high among the people: and set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him saying, thou didst blaspheme YAHVEH and the king. And then carry him out and stone him that he may die. And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. They proclaimed a fast and set Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men, children of Belial and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people saying, Naboth did blaspheme YAHVEH and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city and stoned him with stones that he died. Then they sent to Jezebel saying, Naboth is stoned and is dead. And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. And the Word of Adonai came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him saying, thus saith Adonai, hast thou killed and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him saying, thus saith Adonai, in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered; I have found thee; because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of Adonai. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee and will take away thy posterity and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall and him that is shut up and left in Israel” (1 Kings 21: 1-21)

How often, instead of singing “Have Thine Own Way, Adonai” to YAHVEH, do we sing “Have Mine Own Way” to ourselves? How often do we sell out to the world and sell out to sin? How often do we ignore the fact that Yeshua bought us with His blood and live as if we are our own to do with as we please? How often do we sell out, thereby doing tremendous harm to others and to ourselves? Ahab sold out when he took possession of Naboth’s vineyard. Now, Ahab’s request sounds reasonable to us. He had a summer palace at Jezreel beside which Naboth owned a vineyard. Ahab looked the vineyard over and figured that it would be a good place to plant a vegetable garden, so he made an offer to Naboth, which he figured the owner could not refuse, especially since it was the king who was making the offer. “Give me your vineyard… I give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money,” Ahab proposed. Naboth refused what appears to us to be a fair offer because he had to refuse. The vineyard was family land and Hebrew law required that family land remain in the family. It was part of the family’s future and was not to be discarded. Ahab knew Naboth was right, so he went back to the palace and sulked. Enter Jezebel, who figured that if the king was indeed king, he ought to be able to get what he wanted and not have to pout about it. So she told Ahab she would get the vineyard for him, which she did. She had Naboth murdered through more or less legal means and Ahab took possession of the property. The king was surveying his new, ill-begotten, prized possession when
Elijah came to him. Ahab knew that he had been caught: “Have you found me, O my enemy?” Elijah’s response brings us to the heart of the matter: “I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of Adonai, I will bring disaster on you.” Ahab had sold himself. The ways in which Ahab had sold himself are ways in which we are also tempted to sell ourselves. Will we sell out in these same ways?

1.) Will we sell out by rejecting traditional values? When Ahab asked Naboth to sell his vineyard, Naboth refused out of allegiance to the traditional religious values of his society. He knew of the long-standing tradition that ancestral land was to be held in perpetuity and he honoured the tradition. The king, who was supposed to represent YAHVEH in the covenant community of Israel, failed to respect those traditions. “Traditional values” is a loaded term because of the way it gets tossed about in political discussions. But I am talking about Christian and Messianic values, whether or not they are traditionally “Christian or Messianic.” How would we concisely summarize those values, those principles of attitude and behaviour that emerge from being Christian or Messianic believer? Here is one effort: Those values comprise utter devotion to YAHVEH in HaMashiach, which devotion issues in feelings of compassion and actions of concern for people, no matter what the cost to ourselves. That is the heart of our Christian and Messianic value system: YAHVEH first, people second and us self last. We sell out when we reject that value system by putting us self first, by mistreating people and by failing to submit ourselves to YAHVEH.

2.) Will we sell out by practicing a philosophy of possessions over people? There is throughout this story a callous disregard for the rights and lives of others. First, Ahab did not care for the family rights of Naboth. We care and talk a lot in this world about individual and group rights and well we should. But the greatest foundation for basic human rights is not in nation’s political principles but rather in the heart of YAHVEH as revealed in the Word of YAHVEH. Our Elohim has created us with free wills and with liberty of conscience. People’s rights matter. We sell out when we violate their rights or allow their rights to be violated. They are human beings, made and loved by YAHVEH Almighty. Second, Jezebel and her cohorts on the Jezreel town council destroyed the reputation of Naboth. He was placed in a position of honour only to have his name besmirched by two liars who accused him of cursing YAHVEH and the king. We rob people of something precious when we rob them of their good name. Christian and Messianic people sell out when we engage in even idle defamatory talk about other people. We should not malign others even when we know the talk to be true. How much more should we not malign others when we don’t know if the talk is true or when we know it to be false? Third, Jezebel and her cohorts destroyed the life of Naboth. He had already lost something precious when he lost his reputation; then he lost his life. What happened was nothing short of murder. I would remind you, though, of Yeshua’s
Words in the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder… But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire” (Matthew 5:21-22). We sell out when we show a callous disregard for life in the ways we treat others. Fourth, Jezebel and her cohorts destroyed Naboth’s future. Not mentioned in the text above, but referred to in a later passage is the fact that Naboth’s sons were also killed (2 Kings 9:26), so his family’s claim to the land was destroyed. In Hebrew thought, a man lived on through the lives of his children, so in a very real way Naboth’s future was destroyed. We sell out when we harm the future prospects of people by the ways we treat them. Fifth, Ahab was indifferent toward the fate of Naboth. When Jezebel reported Naboth’s death, Ahab did not ask what had happened; he just got up and took over Naboth’s land. We sell out when we are indifferent and uncaring toward the fate of others. Now why did all of this happen? Why were Naboth’s rights so callously disregarded? Why were his reputation, his life and his future destroyed? It all happened because someone wanted what someone else had! The situation was made all the worse because to get that property, those in power abused those who were weaker. We sell out in an unspeakably awful, un-Christian and un-Messianic way when we put possessions ahead of people and abuse them for the sake of personal profit.

3.) Will we sell out by silently participating in the sins and abuses of others? Technically, Jezebel was the guilty party in this horrible story of theft, murder and abuse. Ahab was equally guilty, though, because he was a silent partner in what happened to Naboth. Certainly, Ahab could have prevented the entire episode had he faced the truth and admitted Naboth’s responsibility and right to hold on to his land; but he did not. And he did not question the way in which Naboth had died. He cared only about the fact that he would profit by the innocent man’s untimely demise. We sell out when we silently participate in the sins and abuses committed by others. For many of us however, guilt by acquiescence is a much larger problem. How many acts of wrongdoing could we head off it we were to stand up and say, “This is wrong and it will not be”? How much societal wrong could we stop? How much corporate evil could we halt? How much human pain could we prevent? How much abuse could we stop in our society if we were to refuse to profit from other people’s losses? But often we participate by our silence because of the benefit we think we gain the challenge before us is to avoid selling out. We can avoid that by being true to our relationship to YAHVEH through HaMashiach, which in turn causes us to be true to our relationship to other people. We can avoid it by putting YAHVEH and others ahead of ourselves so that we are motivated not by gaining personal profit but by doing YAHVEH’s will. Then will our song be “Have Thine Own Way Adonai,” rather than “Have Mine Own Way.”

Love in Yeshua
Be blessed and stay blessed!
Have a joyful day and remember to thank Yahweh יהוה for it!