Grapes, Property, False accusations & Murder: Naboth's Vineyard

 

Sunday Oct 12^th 2025

What God Asks of Leadership; 1 Kings 21

Remember the context! Ahab, 7^th King of Israel, marries a Phoenician princess, who brings the worship of Ba’al and its related evils, temple prostitution and child sacrifice and others, into Israel. The leadership of the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel has failed for the most part, and that trend continues.

What God expects of the godly leader is very clear – to be fair and just, to care for the poor and needy, and to be kind to strangers, because, Israel, you yourselves were once aliens in a foreign land ie in Egypt…

But leaders are unable to get past money, power, and sex. True then, true now.  Might be one, or 2 or all 3. Not much progress on our part. Technological progress? Indeed. Anything that makes Corporate $. But in its good use for everyone? Kinda detached from morality. New York City just sued Meta, Tik Tok et al, as entities that harm our children. Or look at how the Amazon basin has been ‘developed’ and exploited. Or look at undeveloped places in the Asia Pacific basin where rare earths are being mined and the folk there are being cheated out of both land and a fair-profit share. Corporations are almost always making money, and always at someone’s expense. Here, pharmaceutical products are overpriced, poorly regulated.  Always profitable, but at the patient’s expense. Some of us did this, some of us have allowed this, some of us are not very aware of this, some of us are still trying to make a difference. We need to see it for what it is and start trying to fix it! It will not be easy. Dealing with sinfuness rarely is.

In this section, Ahab wants a Vineyard. We are not told why. It may have been a neat piece of property. Or it might have had an exceptional Vineyard on it ie really good wine! Either way, Ahab makes overtures but is rebuffed. He sulks. His wife has a different take on it. Why sulk? Aren’t you King? I’ll get it for you.

She takes his seal. We don’t know if he knows this or not. But letters go out to Nobles and Ministers and the like. So, in effect the King says, organize a Fast, a civil event, and put Naboth in charge of it (set him on high!). then get 2 ‘base fellows’ one transl. calls them ‘scoundrels’ but you get the idea; go find a couple of low life’s who will do your dirty work for you for a price; let them bring a false charge against Naboth alleging that ‘Naboth cursed God and the King!’ Ha! He has mocked God and intends harm against the King! Therefore he intends harm against the nation! Take him out and stone him!

It goes according to plan, and Naboth is set up, falsely accused and murdered. The King has been part of the lie. He just pretended not to know about it. And Jezebel says to the King, go, take your Vineyard, Naboth is dead.

But then comes Elijah. God has sent him. Prophets do not act on their own initiative. They are not independent agents acting on their own accord. They are messengers. Theirs is the true calling. I am not sure about this notion that ‘pastors’ tend to use as a ‘calling.’ I have always seen that John Wesley was right in that a pastoral calling = a house to house ministry. To me, if you don’t visit from house to house, you’re just a preacher. A talker. Most anyone can do that if they read up. The house to house ministry tells you what the real issues are, as opposed to your view on what’s current in society.

But prophets warn, call for justice, for repentance, and more often then not, challenge abusive authority.  A very high-risk undertaking. So, when have ‘pastors’ been called to be prophets? And I do not mean taking political sides. Somehow, independent pastors are always called to low- risk money making enterprises. Interesting, no? As for corporate pastors, they follow the denominational line, which is always low risk. But there have been good exceptions in the history of the church.

But the true prophetic call requires a response that may be both spoken and acted out to the agent doing the wrong action ie to cease and desist, you are now called to accountability. This is the case with Ahab. You have killed and taken possession! Remember now the earlier warning that the dogs would lick the blood of Ahab and of Jezebel? More so, Elijah says ‘you have sold yourself…’  ie Ahab is now driven by impulses that are evil, and they have only one source, of which Ba’al is nothing more than a minion. Now Elijah says, God says ‘I will do 1. 2. 3. 4  thus and such to you and your house….for you have caused Israel to sin..

Note the editorial comment in vs 25 on Ahab! However, Ahab is struck by what Elijah says, and he repents. Is it enough? No, it is not; Evil has been done; murder has been committed. As I said earlier, forgiveness does not remove accountability. Answerability to God is always there. It must be satisfied. Forgiveness and grace are not freebies, license to do stuff and then repent. You have to go back and make amends. We play these games when criminals dress up in suits and ties to appear in court. To what end? They have never dressed in such manner at all in their lives! Sad reflection of what we perceive to be how accountability and forgiveness can be manipulated in the court of public opinion. Ie image cultivation! But he looked so innocent! Right, you should have seen him in action…..

But God says, since Ahab has humbled himself, I will not bring judgement upon him in his days, but it will fall upon his house. Down the road, Ahab goes into battle because his court prophets tell him what he wants to hear. But he dies in the battle.  His son Jehoram gets to be King (he’s not a good king!) but gets killed by an arrow in the back, and his body is thrown into what was once Naboth’s Vineyard.

You see, just as the power of grace and mercy and love is God’s freely given gift to us, much is asked of those to whom much is given. And God’s expectations of grace and mercy shown to us and therefore shown by us to others must be upheld. When it is not, there is a judgement that comes. Sometimes in this life, sometimes it seems not to, but that is because it has fallen upon the family itself. There is no getting around this. I guess it means that the apple never falls far from the tree and that can be either for good or bad. We must make it good, for we all will reap what we sow. Same thing. Not meant to be vindictive. Kind of a warning.

Remember God’s self -description to Moses in Exodus 34:ff when Moses asked to see God and God said you cannot see my face and live. In the description that follows God says ‘The Lord, The Lord God, ….does not forget to punish the guilty (ie who has done harm and avoided justice!) and this runs down the line – from children to children’s children’s children, to 3^rd and 4^th generations. Reminds me of what folk have very often referred to as karma! But the Bible is strange in many ways, not seemingly in synch with much of what we have been taught about it, from a singular dominant perspective. (think Jim Wallis’ False White Gospel, pub. 2024!)

But this is one of the reasons why Christians have to be careful to distinguish themselves from Jews. The Old Testament is Judaism, the Old Covenant. The New Testament is Christianity, the New Covenant. There is continuity, but there is also progression, and in that sense, there is a difference. It begins with a shared heritage, but then it moves on. It’s how the 10 Commandments ended up as 2, when Jesus spoke about this. Israel struggled to discover its God given identity. It still struggles now. But the ‘people of God’ identity has changed. It began in Judaism, but no longer stays there. Hence the struggle for the reader of the Bible to equate the God of The Old Testament with the Father of Jesus.

There is always forgiveness. But there is also accountability, always. Hence Jesus says, many may say Lord, Lord, but my answer will be I never knew you. And again, many are called, but few are chosen. Not that different after all. Just said differently. And it speaks of a lifestyle that has simple but consistently unworldly ways. 

Think of the notion of reincarnation. why did people look at John the Baptist and see in him Elijah come again,  and why did even Jesus refer to such a possibility? More than meets the eye on many things, as we go forward. Keep them in mind. We will deal with all of these things when we get to Jesus.

The saddest example is seen in Israel itself, which has lost its way and continues on without the leadership of God, relying on its own leadership. The consequences have brought no blessing to anyone in the region. And with all of our support for Israel, we have not taken sufficient care of our own house, which now stands in utter disorder, like so much of our world.

We must heed the prophetic call to be otherwise. Go in peace, take care, and be safe. And may the God of peace who raised Christ Jesus walk with you, each step pf the way. Warmly, G.