---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse 1 Kings 21:1. After these things — This and the twentieth chapter are transposed in the Septuagint; this preceding the account of the Syrian war wit"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/1-kings/21"
---

Verse [1 Kings 21:1](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/1). ***After these things*** — This and the twentieth chapter are transposed in the *Septuagint*; this preceding the account of the Syrian war with Ben-hadad. *Josephus* gives the history in the same order.

Verse [1 Kings 21:2](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/2). ***Give me thy vineyard*** — The request of Ahab seems at first view fair and honourable. Naboth's vineyard was nigh to the palace of Ahab, and he wished to add it to his own for a *kitchen* *garden*, or perhaps a *grass-plat*, גן ירק gan yarak; and he offers to give him either a better vineyard for it, or to give him its worth in money. Naboth rejects the proposal with horror: *The* *Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my* *fathers to thee*. No man could *finally alienate* any part of the parental inheritance; it might be sold or mortgaged till the *jubilee*, but at that time it must revert to its original owner, if not redeemed before; for this God had particularly enjoined [Leviticus 25:14-17](../../../kjv/leviticus/25/14-17); [Leviticus 25:25-28](../../../kjv/leviticus/25/25-28): therefore Naboth properly said, [1 Kings 21:3](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/3), *The Lord forbid it me, to give the inheritance of my fathers*. Ahab most evidently wished him to *alienate* it *finally*, and this is what God's law had expressly forbidden; therefore he could not, consistently with his duty to God, indulge Ahab; and it was high iniquity in Ahab to tempt him to do it; and to covet it showed the depravity of Ahab's soul. But we see farther that, despotic as those kings were, they dared not seize on the inheritance of any man. This would have been a flagrant breach of the *law* and *constitution* of the country; and this indeed would have been inconsistent with the character which they sustained, viz., the *Lord's vicegerents*. The Jewish kings had no authority either to *alter* the old laws, or to *make new ones*. "The Hindoos," says Mr. *Ward*, "are as strongly attached to their *homesteads* as the Jews were. Though the heads of the family be employed in a distant part of the country, and though the *homesteads* may be almost in ruins, they cling still to the *family inheritance* with a fondness bordering on superstition."

Verse [1 Kings 21:4](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/4). ***He laid him down upon his bed*** — Poor soul! he was lord over ten-twelfths of the land, and became miserable because he could not get a poor man's vineyard added to all that he possessed! It is a true saying, "That soul in which God dwells not, has no happiness: and he who has God has a satisfying portion." Every privation and cross makes an unholy soul unhappy; and privations and crosses it must ever meet with, therefore: -
"*Where'er* it goes is *hell*; *itself* is hell!"

Verse [1 Kings 21:7](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/7). ***Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?*** — Naboth, not Ahab, is king. If *he* have authority to *refuse*, and *thou* have no power to *take*, he is the greater man of the two. This is the vital language of *despotism* and *tyranny*.

Verse [1 Kings 21:8](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/8). ***She wrote letters in Ahab's name*** — She counterfeited his authority by his own consent; and he lent his signet to stamp that authority.

Verse [1 Kings 21:9](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/9). ***Proclaim a fast*** — Intimate that there is some great calamity coming upon the nation, because of some evil tolerated in it.
***Set Naboth on high*** — Bring him to a public trial.

Verse [1 Kings 21:10](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/10). ***Set two men*** — For life could not be attainted but on the evidence of two witnesses at least.
***Sons of Belial*** — Men who will not scruple to tell lies and take a false oath.
***Thou didst blaspheme God and the king.*** — Thou art an *atheist* and a *rebel*. Thou hast spoken words injurious to the perfections and nature of God; and thou hast spoken words against the crown and dignity of the king. The words literally are, *Naboth hath BLESSED* *God and the king*; or, as Parkhurst contends, "Thou hast blessed the false gods and Molech," ברכת אלהים ומלך And though Jezebel was herself an abominable idolatress; yet, as the law of Moses still continued in force, she seems to have been wicked enough to have destroyed Naboth, upon the false accusation of *blessing the* *heathen Aleim* and *Molech*, which subjected him to death by [Deuteronomy 12:6](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/12/6); [Deuteronomy 17:2-7](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/17/2-7). The first meaning appears the most simple.
Many think that the word ברך *barach* signifies both to *bless* and *curse*; and so it is interpreted in most Lexicons: it is passing strange that out of the same word proceedeth *blessing* and *cursing*; and to give such opposite and self-destructive meanings to any word is very dangerous. Parkhurst denies that it ever has the meaning of *cursing*, and examines all the texts where it is said to occur with this meaning; and shows that *blessing*, not *cursing*, is to be understood in all those places: see him under ברך, sec. vi.

Verse [1 Kings 21:13](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/13). ***And stoned him with stones*** — As they pretended to find him guilty of treason against God and the king, it is likely they destroyed the whole of his *family*; and then the king seized on his grounds as confiscated, or as *escheated* to the king, without any heir at law. That his *family* was destroyed appears strongly intimated, [2 Kings 9:26](../../../kjv/2-kings/9/26); *Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, AND THE BLOOD* *OF HIS SONS, saith the Lord*.

Verse [1 Kings 21:15](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/15). ***Arise, take possession*** — By what *rites* or in what *forms* this was done, we do not know.

Verse [1 Kings 21:18](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/18). ***Go down to meet Ahab*** — This was the next day after the murder, as we learn from the above quotation, [2 Kings 9:26](../../../kjv/2-kings/9/26).

Verse [1 Kings 21:19](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/19). ***In the place where dogs licked, c.*** — It is in vain to look for a *literal fulfillment* of this prediction. Thus it would have been fulfilled, but the humiliation of Ahab induced the merciful God to say, *I will not bring the evil in his days, but in* *the days of his son*, [1 Kings 21:29](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/29). Now dogs did lick the blood of Ahab but it was at the pool of Samaria, where his chariot and his armour were washed, after he had received his death wound at Ramoth-gilead; but some think this was the place where Naboth was stoned: see [1 Kings 22:38](../../../kjv/1-kings/22/38). And how literally the prediction concerning *his son* was fulfilled, see [2 Kings 9:25](../../../kjv/2-kings/9/25), where we find that the body of Jehoram his son, just then slain by an arrow that had passed through his heart, was thrown *into the portion of the* *field of Naboth the Jezreelite*; and there, doubtless, the dogs licked his blood, if they did not even devour his body. There is a similar idea of the propriety of punishment overtaking the culprit in the place where he had committed the crime, expressed by *Orestes* to *AEgisthus*, SOPH. *Elect*. 1495.
______ Χωρει δ ' ενθαπερ κατεκτανες
Πατερα τον αμον, ὡς εν ταυτῳ θανῃς.

______ Go where thou slew'st my father,
That in the self-same place thou too may'st die.

Verse [1 Kings 21:20](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/20). ***Thou hast sold thyself to work evil*** — See a similar form of speech, [Romans 7:14](../../../kjv/romans/7/14). Thou hast totally abandoned thyself to the service of sin. Satan is become thy *absolute master*, and thou his *undivided slave*.

Verse 23. ***The dogs shall eat Jezebel*** — This was most literally fulfilled; see [2 Kings 9:36](../../../kjv/2-kings/9/36). The carcasses of poor *Hindoos*, and of persons who have received public punishment, are thrown into the *rivers*, and floating to the side, are devoured by *dogs, vultures*, and *crows*.

Verse 25. ***Did sell himself to work wickedness*** — He hired himself to the devil for this very purpose, that he might *work* wickedness. This was to be his *employment*, and at this he *laboured*.
***In the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.*** — A good wife is from the Lord; a bad wife is from the devil: Jezebel was of this kind; and she has had many successors.

Verse [1 Kings 21:27](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/27). ***He rent his clothes*** — He was penetrated with sorrow, and that evidently unfeigned.
***Put sackcloth upon his flesh*** — He humbled himself before God and man.
***And fasted*** — He afflicted his body for his soul's benefit.
***Lay in sackcloth*** — Gave the fullest proof that his repentance was real.
***And went softly.*** — *Walked barefooted*; so the *Chaldee, Syriac*, and *Arabic*. The *Vulgate* has *demisso capite*, "with his head hanging down." *Houbigant* translates *went groaning*. *Jarchi* says that the word אט *at*, used here, signifies *to be unshod*. This is its most likely sense. All these things prove that Ahab's repentance was genuine; and God's approbation of it puts it out of doubt. The *slow* and *measured pace* which always accompanies deep and reflective sorrow is also alluded to by AEschylus, where the *Chorus* are thus shortly addressed on the defeat of Xerxes. - AESCH. *Pers*. 1073.
Γοασθ ' ἁβροβαται

"With light and noiseless step lament."

Verse [1 Kings 21:29](../../../kjv/1-kings/21/29). ***Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself*** — He did abase himself; he did *truly repent him of his sins*, and it was such a repentance as was genuine in the *sight of God: He humbleth himself* *BEFORE ME*.
The *penitent* heart ever meets the *merciful* eye of God; repentance is highly esteemed by the Father of compassion, even where it is comparatively shallow and short-lived. Any measure of godly sorrow has a proportionate measure of God's regard; where it is deep and lasting, the heart of God is set upon it. He that mourns shall be comforted; thus hath God spoken, and though repentance for our past sins can *purchase* no favour, yet without it God will not grant us his salvation.

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