Ahab, apparently, had built for himself a second home in Jezreel (1 Kings 18:45-46). Jezreel is located north of Israel’s capital in Samaria. This geographical location is very fertile and plush. It’s made up with vineyards, which produce grapes for wine production, and the rocky areas serve as winepresses. Vineyards were very precious to Israel and Scripture is replete with references to vineyards, grapes and wine.
Naboth inherited a vineyard located near Ahab’s palace (1 Kings 21:1). Ahab had an offer for Naboth: “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” (1 Kings 21:2). Ahab wanted to either make a trade for Naboth’s vineyard, or buy it outright.
Notice that Ahab wanted to turn Naboth’s vineyard into a garden of herbs (21:2a). The Hebrew phrase for “garden of herbs” is only found in two places in Scripture, here in 1 Kings 21, and in Deuteronomy 11:10. Deuteronomy 11:10 states: “For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs.” The land of Canaan wasn’t like Egypt. On the contrary, Canaan was a land of hills and valleys, a land which the Lord cared for (Deut. 11:11-12). But that’s not what Ahab wanted. He desired to uproot Naboth’s vineyard and replace it with what Egypt produced.
Naboth said, “The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee” (1 Kings 21:3). Naboth wasn’t about to sell or trade his vineyard. According to the Law of Moses, Naboth wasn’t in any need to sell it (Lev. 25:23-28; Num. 36:7-9). That vineyard was precious to Naboth. It had been passed down to him from his ancestors, and if things went as planned, he would give it to his sons. Ahab may have been able to give him a larger, more fertile vineyard, but in Naboth’s mind there wasn’t a better vineyard than the one he received from his family.
Ahab went home dejected. Here was a man who had everything as a king, but couldn’t have one vineyard. Jezebel, Ahab’s Phoenician wife, wasn’t hearing of it. “No king should have to submit to any law! And nobody should refuse a king’s offer.” If Naboth wasn’t willing to make a deal, then Jezebel would take the vineyard by force. She concocted a plan and had Naboth and his sons killed (1 Kings 21:4-15). 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 (1 Kings 21:16).
What can we take away from this biblical narrative? First, we must be committed to what we have been given. The apostle Paul wrote, “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you–guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us” (2 Tim. 1:14 NIV). We are to guard the truth of God’s Word which has been entrusted to us. Furthermore, we are to commit what we have been given to others (2 Tim. 2:2). Second, we have to be willing have faith in the midst of apostasy. Naboth was committed, but he was also courageous. It will never be easy to stand for what you believe in the face of pressure.
To Naboth there was nothing more precious than what he had been given. Beloved, let us never trade or sell what we have been given through Jesus Christ. It is more precious than silver and gold.