The Gospel According to Naboth

Read I Kings 21.  It’s the account of Naboth’s Vineyard.  I read this a few weeks back and God shed some light on it for me.

This is not about a greedy king and a stubborn (foolish?) neighbor.  Ahab wanted Naboth’s Vineyard. Naboth said no, and here’s why.  The law actually prohibited the selling of your inheritance except for provision for widows, I believe.  If a piece of land got sold, it was returned to the inheriting family in the Year of Jubilee.  Everything was set back to its original state in that year. 

In this passage, there was one who was disobeying the law (Ahab) and one who was obeying the law (Naboth).  Naboth’s obedience ended up costing him his life.   This sounds strangely like Jesus. Our pastor said, “Jesus is the only person, who for His perfect obedience, received the promise of death.”

Ahab tempted Naboth with promises he didn’t have a right to make.  Naboth, by God’s law, couldn’t accept if he wanted to (could not is past tense for “may not”…what would that word be? Mould not?)  In Jesus’ temptation, the devil promised things to Jesus that weren’t the devil’s place to give.  And Christ, by the Law, could not (i.e., may not, or was not allowed to) accept!  “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve,” was Christ’s final answer – quoting the Law for the third time – to the devil.

What a sobering foreshadowing of Christ in Naboth.  It’s beautiful that God is always pointing to the cross!  I also found it ironic that in both cases, while the law was their reason for obedience, it also became the reason for their deaths.  By the law, in the mouths of two or three witnesses, blasphemy could be established and this is what happened to both Naboth and Jesus.  Witnesses were called against both of them and it looked like the law had done justice, but the testimony was false.  Naboth died as a result of Ahab’s sin and Christ died because of mine.

There’s more.  Elijah is sent to pronounce judgment on Ahab.  Remarkably, Ahab repents and God delays the judgment.  The scriptures say Ahab went around in sackcloth and ashes and lay in sackcloth and went about “dejectedly.”  Strange word for repentance.  Sounds more like he was sorry for getting caught.  It’s probably a truer picture of our repentance than we care to admit.  And yet, less than perfect repentance is still met by God, who inclines Himself towards the humble.

Naboth.  Type of Christ.  Ahab.  Type of me and you.  What a true witness of Redemption…our need and His provision!

I’ll never read I Kings 21 or look at Naboth and Ahab the same again.