Women with a Story to Tell. Jezebel 4. An offer that cannot be refused.

 After the confrontation with Jezebel’s prophets of Ba’al and Asherah, Elijah fled the country. Jezebel put out an all-counts bulletin for her lackeys to find Elijah so she could kill him. Ahab continued in his wayward ways. 

 One day Ahab was gazing out his palace window (too much time on his hands) when he saw a nice plot of land not far away. He discovered that the vineyard, for it was a productive farm, was in the possession of a man named Naboth. So, Ahab made an offer to him for the land. After all, it is just a commodity and everything has its price, right? That questionable assumption clashes with the values of God as found in Leviticus 25. Unfortunately, that ‘strictly economic’ understanding of land is still common today in America, at least among European-Americans, but certainly not among Native Americans. 

 Ahab thought he was being fair. He offered either to trade another farm that was farther away but more attractive, or to buy Naboth’s plot outright for the going market price. Up to now it looks like Ahab is trying to strike a business deal, as if everyone does business the way he does. But, of course, he has threats on his side, and the power to carry them out.  

 Yet, Naboth refuses to part with the land, saying: “The LORD forbid that I should give you my ‘ancestral inheritance’” (I Kings 21: 3). 

 Now to someone who comes from a long line of farmers, on my mother’s side, that sounds like an honorable, if nostalgic position for Naboth o take. In the current economy, every week I get a couple of out-of-the-blue texts offering to make a deal for my farmland in southern Indiana. They usually read something like this: “Hi Michael, this is A—- with B—-. We’re a small team heading into the year reaching out near Mount Vernon. I wanted to ask you about your 60 acres and see if you’ve thought about letting it go?” Another agent promises that they would close with a reputable title company. That’s a pretty weak selling point; everybody closes with a title company! What is going on is that there is a run on farmland from speculators who hope that the value will increase if data centers are built in the midwest. Farmers working on family farms are not impressed; data centers pose real dangers to farmers.

 However, there is an even deeper meaning to Naboth’s refusal. Naboth uses a legal term for the kind of land he has inherited from his father: nachalat. This refers to the allotment that God told Moses and Joshua to make to the tribes (a region), then the clans in the tribes (a county-sized area) , and then to the families in the clans (specific farms and pastures). 

 Is this God’s business? Leviticus tells us: 

 “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants. Throughout the land that you hold, you shall provide for the redemption of the land” (Leviticus 25: 23-24). 

 The land is not Naboth’s to sell, it belongs to God. The lease is not even Nabath’s to rent; the land belongs to his ancestors and his descendants. Far be it from him to sell it for a pot of porridge and dispossess his family. 

 The second sentence of the verse refers to prescribed practices for someone in the family redeeming the land if a plot is lost for some reason such as having to pay a debt. If land had to be encumbered, one could only lease the land, and then only until the Jubilee Year (every 50th year). When that year came, every allotment of land was to be returned to the original family, clan, and tribe. 

 So, Naboth is right and God is his witness. Ahab went home and, like an immature rich kid, he sulked on his bed. Jezebel arrives and asks what the problem is. Like the spoiled brat he is, Ahab whines that he wants someone else’s land but that person won’t give it to him. 

 Jezebel is not an Israelite. She said, “Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth” (I Kings 21:7). 

 Jezebel does not care about YHWH’s laws and people’s rights. She does not know about God’s character, his sense of justice and righteousness. She acts like the rich and powerful everywhere; if you want something, just go and take it. Make them an offer they cannot refuse. 

 Jezebel wrote letters to the nobles in Naboth’s city, an ironic name for them since they turn out not to be very noble. In the letters, she wrote that the king instructed them to call a town meeting and be sure that Naboth was there. Then two scoundrels were to come and say: “Naboth cursed God and the king.”

So it was written, so it was done. The townspeople took Naboth outside and stoned him. 

 On hearing the news, Jezebel went back to Ahab and said, 

“Go, and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth…, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead” (I Kings 21: 15). 

 Naboth’s big offense against the government? He refused to see the world in capitalistic terms where possessions only have a monetary value. Ahab rose from his bed a happy man. He went down to Naboth’s vineyard to bask in the glory of his new possession. 

 However, God saw, as God sees everything. He arranged for Elijah to meet Ahab there. When Ahab saw him coming, he said: “Have you found me, O my enemy?” Elijah answered, 

“I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, I will bring disaster on you; I will consume you and cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel; and I will make your house (dynasty) like the house of Jeroboam … because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin” (I Kings 21: 20-22).

Jezebel elevated the Cult of Ba’al and Asherah to the state religion of Israel. Jezebel championed the economy of greed; if you want something, then go get it even if you have to threaten and harm people. Jezebel has twisted the worship of the one true God to her favor, she has destroyed decent society, and now she has brought down the government of Israel. 

 This woman has transgressed the most basic laws. You shall worship the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make an idol. You shall not steal. You shall not murder. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. The land is mine, says the Lord. You shall not sell your ancestral land in perpetuity. 

 Is there no end to this woman’s infiltrating influence? Actually, there is more to come.