Commentaria in III Regum
Chapter Twenty-one. Synopsis of the Chapter
Achab asks a vineyard of Naboth; he refuses: whence Jezabel has him stoned by false witnesses as a blasphemer, and hands his field over to Achab. Wherefore, verse 17, God sends Elias to announce destruction to Achab and Jezabel, and that dogs shall lick their blood in the field of Naboth. On hearing which, Achab does penance, verse 27; wherefore God transfers to his son the punishment threatened to him.
1. And after these things, at that time, Naboth the Jezrahelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezrahel, hard by the palace of Achab king of Samaria. 2. And Achab spoke to Naboth, saying: Give me thy vineyard, that I may make me a garden of herbs, because it is near, and adjoining to my house, and I will give thee for it a better vineyard: or if it be more convenient to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. 3. And Naboth answered him: The Lord be merciful unto me, that I should not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. 4. And Achab came into his house, angry and fretting, because of the word that Naboth the Jezrahelite had spoken to him, saying: I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And casting himself upon his bed, he turned away his face to the wall, and would eat no bread. 5. And Jezabel his wife came in to him, and said to him: What is the matter that thy soul is grieved? and why dost thou eat no bread? 6. And he answered her: I spoke to Naboth the Jezrahelite, and said to him: Give me thy vineyard, and take money for it; or, if it please thee, I will give thee a better vineyard for it. And he said: I will not give thee my vineyard. 7. And Jezabel his wife said to him: Thou art of great authority indeed, and well dost thou govern the kingdom of Israel. Arise, and eat bread, and be of good cheer, I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite. 8. So she wrote letters in Achab’s name, and sealed them with his ring, and sent them to the ancients and nobles that were in his city, and dwelt with Naboth. 9. And this was the tenor of the letter: Proclaim a fast, and make Naboth sit among the chief of the people, 10. and suborn two men, the sons of Belial, against him, and let them bear witness: That he hath blasphemed God and the king: and then carry him out, and stone him, and so let him die. 11. And his citizens, the ancients and nobles, who dwelt with him in the city, did as Jezabel had commanded them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them: 12. they proclaimed a fast, and made Naboth sit among the chief of the people. 13. And the two men, the sons of the devil, being brought in, made them sit over against him; and they, as being men of the devil, bore witness against him before the multitude: Naboth hath blasphemed God and the king: for which cause they brought him forth out of the city, and stoned him to death. 14. And they sent to Jezabel, saying: Naboth is stoned, and is dead. 15. And it came to pass, when Jezabel heard that Naboth was stoned, and dead, that she said to Achab: Arise, and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite, who would not consent to thee, nor give it thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. 16. And when Achab heard this, to wit, that Naboth was dead, he arose, and went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite, to take possession of it. 17. And the word of the Lord came to Elias the Thesbite, saying: 18. Arise, and go down to meet Achab king of Israel, who is in Samaria: behold he is going down to the vineyard of Naboth, to take possession of it; 19. and thou shalt speak to him, saying: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast slain, and moreover hast taken possession. And after this thou shalt add: Thus saith the Lord: In this place, wherein the dogs have licked the blood of Naboth, they shall lick thy blood also. 20. And Achab said to Elias: Hast thou found me, O my enemy? And he said: I have found thee, because thou art sold to do evil in the sight of the Lord. 21. Behold I will bring evil upon thee, and I will cut down thy posterity, and will kill of Achab every male, both him that is shut up, and the meanest in Israel. 22. And I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasa the son of Ahias: because thou hast done to provoke me to anger, and hast made Israel to sin. 23. And of Jezabel also the Lord spoke: The dogs shall eat Jezabel in the field of Jezrahel. 24. If Achab die in the city, the dogs shall eat him: but if he die in the field, the birds of the air shall eat him. 25. So there was not another like to Achab, who was sold to do evil in the sight of the Lord: for his wife Jezabel stirred him up, 26. and he became abominable, so that he followed the idols, which the Amorrhites had made, whom the Lord consumed from before the face of the children of Israel. 27. And when Achab had heard these words, he rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and slept in sackcloth, and walked with his head cast down. 28. And the word of the Lord came to Elias the Thesbite, saying: 29. Hast thou not seen Achab humbled before me? Therefore because he hath humbled himself for my sake, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in the days of his son I will bring the evil upon his house.
1. NABOTH HAD A VINEYARD.—This “Naboth” was an upright man, as is plain from what follows. Whence Naboth is the same as fruit of prophecy, or of speech, says Pagninus from Jerome. His vineyard, because it was near him, Achab coveted: for the avarice and cupidity of the rich is insatiable; on which subject St. Ambrose wrote a notable treatise on this chapter, On Naboth, in which he sharply censures avaricious and rapacious rich men, such as Achab was; whence in chapter 2: “O rich man,” he says, “you know not how poor you are, how needy you seem to yourself, who call yourself rich; the more you have, the more you require; and although you have acquired, yet you still want. Avarice is inflamed by gain, not satisfied. Cupidity has as it were certain steps, and the more it ascends, the more it hastens to higher things, whence the fall is heavier for one about to fall.”
And after some intervening: “Finally, divine Scripture teaches us how wretchedly he is in want, how abjectly he begs. Achab was king in Israel, and Naboth poor. The one abounded in the wealth of a kingdom, the other possessed a turf of narrow soil: the poor man coveted nothing of the rich man’s possessions, the king seemed to himself to lack, because a poor neighbour had a vineyard. Who then seems poor to you? he who is content with his own, or he who covets another’s? One certainly seems poor in property, the other is poor in desire.”
2. GIVE ME THY VINEYARD.—St. Ambrose presses these words excellently in chapter 3 already mentioned: “What other voice,” he says, “is that of one publicly asking alms, than: Give me, that is: Give me, because I am in need? give me, because I can have no other means of living; give me, because I have no bread for food, no coin for drink, no means for sustenance, no substance for clothing; give me, because the Lord has given thee wherewith to bestow, to me He has not given; give me; unless thou give, I shall not be able to have; give me, because it is written: Give alms. How abject this, how mean.”