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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>1 Kings 21 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/1_kings/21.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_kings/21.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/1_kings/21-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../1_kings/">1 Kings</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_kings/20.htm" title="1 Kings 20">◄</a> 1 Kings 21 <a href="../1_kings/22.htm" title="1 Kings 22">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld">XXI.</span><p>The narrative of this chapter, clearly drawn once more from the prophetic record of Elijah’s life and mission, returns to the same vividness of style and lofty spiritual teaching perceptible in 1 Kings 18, 19. It describes the turning-point of Ahab’s probation, which, like the great crisis of David’s history, is an act of unrighteous tyranny, so common in Eastern despotism, that it would hardly be recorded by an ordinary historian. So in the prophetic writings moral evils, especially profligacy and bloodshed and oppression of the weak, are denounced at least not less severely, and even more frequently, than religious unfaithfulness. The whole description is strikingly illustrative of Ahab’s character, in its essential weakness and subservience, more fatal in high place of authority than resolute wickedness. It might be painted in the well-known description of Felix by Tacitus, as “swaying the power of a king with the temper of a slave” (<span class= "ital">jus regium, servili ingenio exercuit</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-1.htm">1 Kings 21:1</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass after these things, <i>that</i> Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which <i>was</i> in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.</div>(1) <span class= "bld">Which was in Jezreel.</span>—The LXX. omits these words, and makes the vineyard to be “hard by the threshing-floor of Ahab, king of Samaria”—the word being the same as that rendered “void place” in <a href="/1_kings/22-10.htm" title="And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.">1Kings 22:10</a>—apparently near the palace of Ahab in Samaria, not in Jezreel. The Vulgate renders “who was” instead of “which was” in Jezreel. The question of the position of the vineyard, apparently the scene of Naboth’s murder, is difficult. The “plot of ground” of Naboth, referred to in <a href="/context/2_kings/9-25.htm" title="Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden on him;">2Kings 9:25-26</a>—not, however, called “a vineyard”—is clearly at Jezreel. where, as a native of the place, Naboth would be likely to hold land. But the vineyard may have been an outlying property near Samaria, which Ahab might naturally suppose Naboth, even for that reason, likely to sell. In favour of this supposition—which is, perhaps, on the whole the more probable—is the very emphatic prediction of <a href="/1_kings/21-19.htm" title="And you shall speak to him, saying, Thus said the LORD, Have you killed, and also taken possession? And you shall speak to him, saying, Thus said the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your blood, even yours.">1Kings 21:19</a>, which in <a href="/1_kings/22-38.htm" title="And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armor; according to the word of the LORD which he spoke.">1Kings 22:38</a> is declared to have been fulfilled at the pool of Samaria. Moreover, the whole action of the chapter, as far as Ahab is concerned, seems to have been at Samaria; and, indeed, if we take <a href="/1_kings/21-18.htm" title="Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he is gone down to possess it.">1Kings 21:18</a> literally, this is actually declared to be the case. On the other side, however, we have the reading of the text, the more obvious interpretation of the words “his city” in <a href="/1_kings/21-8.htm" title="So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.">1Kings 21:8</a>; <a href="/1_kings/21-11.htm" title="And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them.">1Kings 21:11</a>; and the reference to the prophecy of Elijah, in connection with the casting of the body of Jehoram into the plot of ground at Jezreel (<a href="/context/2_kings/9-25.htm" title="Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden on him;">2Kings 9:25-26</a>). It is, perhaps, impossible to clear up the discrepancy entirely with our present knowledge.<p>(2–4) <span class= "bld">And Ahab spake.</span>—The whole history is singularly true to nature. At first, as the desire of Ahab was natural, so his offer was courteous and liberal. The refusal of Naboth—evidently grounded on the illegality, as well as the natural dislike, of alienation of “the inheritance of his fathers” (see <a href="/context/leviticus/25-13.htm" title="In the year of this jubilee you shall return every man to his possession.">Leviticus 25:13-28</a>; <a href="/numbers/36-7.htm" title="So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.">Numbers 36:7</a>), and therefore not only allowable, but right—has nevertheless about it a certain tone of harshness, perhaps of unnecessary discourtesy, implying condemnation, as well as rejection, of the offer of the king. It is characteristic of the weak and petulant nature of Ahab, that he neither recognises the legality and justice of Naboth’s action, nor dares to resent the curt defiance of his refusal. Like a spoilt child, he comes back sullen and angry, throws himself on his bed, and will eat no bread. All that he has is as nothing, while the little plot of ground is refused; as to Haman all was worthless, while Mordecai the Jew sat in the king’s gate (<a href="/esther/5-13.htm" title="Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.">Esther 5:13</a>). This temper of sullen, childish discontent is the natural seedplot of crime, under the instigation of more determined wickedness.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-7.htm">1 Kings 21:7</a></div><div class="verse">And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, <i>and</i> eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Dost thou now.</span>—The scorn of Jezebel is, like the impatience of Lady Macbeth, expressed in a striking boldness of emphasis. First comes the bitter irony of the question, “Dost thou govern the kingdom of Israel, and yet suffer a subject to cross thy will?” expressing her scornful wonder at one who “lets I dare not, wait upon 1 would.” Then in the invitation, “eat bread, and let thine heart be merry,” there seems the same half-contemptuous recognition of a self-indulgent weakness of nature, which may be traced in Elijah’s words in <a href="/1_kings/18-41.htm" title="And Elijah said to Ahab, Get you up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.">1Kings 18:41</a>, “Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” Ahab is fit only to desire and to revel; it is for bolder spirits to act for good or for evil.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-8.htm">1 Kings 21:8</a></div><div class="verse">So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed <i>them</i> with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that <i>were</i> in his city, dwelling with Naboth.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Sealed them with his seal</span>—with the name, or token, of the king, engraved on stone, and impressed (see <a href="/job/38-14.htm" title="It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.">Job 38:14</a>) on a lump of clay attached to the letter. The sealing (as the modern sense of “signature” implies) was the pledge of authenticity and authority. (See <a href="/genesis/38-18.htm" title="And he said, What pledge shall I give you? And she said, Your signet, and your bracelets, and your staff that is in your hand. And he gave it her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him.">Genesis 38:18</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/9-38.htm" title="And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal to it.">Nehemiah 9:38</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/10-1.htm" title="Now those that sealed were, Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah,">Nehemiah 10:1</a>; <a href="/esther/3-10.htm" title="And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.">Esther 3:10</a>; <a href="/esther/3-12.htm" title="Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded to the king's lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring.">Esther 3:12</a>, <a href="/daniel/6-17.htm" title="And a stone was brought, and laid on the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.">Daniel 6:17</a>, &c.) The use of the seal—ordinarily worn or carried on the person—implies Ahab’s knowledge that something is being done in his name, into which he takes care not to inquire.<p><span class= "bld">In his city.</span>—This would be most naturally interpreted as Jezreel; but if Naboth dwelt or sojourned at Samaria, it may be Samaria. Jezebel naturally desires that neither Ahab nor she herself, though close at hand, should appear in the matter; but gives the necessary authority in writing, because without it the deed could not be done.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-9.htm">1 Kings 21:9</a></div><div class="verse">And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people:</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Proclaim a fast.</span>—This might be only to cover all that was to be so foully done with a cloak of religious observance, or, perhaps more probably, to imply that some secret sin had been committed, which would draw down vengeance on the whole city, and so to prepare for the false accusation. There is a like ambiguity as to the explanation of the command, “set Naboth on high,” as either an exaltation of pretended honour, or the “lifting up his head” (<a href="/genesis/40-20.htm" title="And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast to all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants.">Genesis 40:20</a>) for accusation. It may be noted that the whole scheme implies a return of the people to at least the outward observance of the Law of the Lord.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-10.htm">1 Kings 21:10</a></div><div class="verse">And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And <i>then</i> carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Two men</span>—in accordance with <a href="/numbers/35-30.htm" title="Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.">Numbers 35:30</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/17-6.htm" title="At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.">Deuteronomy 17:6</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Sons of Belial.</span>—See <a href="/judges/19-22.htm" title="Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into your house, that we may know him.">Judges 19:22</a>; <a href="/judges/20-13.htm" title="Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers the children of Israel.">Judges 20:13</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/1-16.htm" title="Count not your handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken till now.">1Samuel 1:16</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/2-12.htm" title="Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.">1Samuel 2:12</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/10-27.htm" title="But the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought no presents. But he held his peace.">1Samuel 10:27</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/25-17.htm" title="Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.">1Samuel 25:17</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/25-25.htm" title="Let not my lord, I pray you, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I your handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom you did send.">1Samuel 25:25</a>; <a href="/1_samuel/30-22.htm" title="Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.">1Samuel 30:22</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/16-7.htm" title="And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, you bloody man, and you man of Belial:">2Samuel 16:7</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/20-1.htm" title="And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.">2Samuel 20:1</a>, &c.; properly, “children of lawlessness, or worthlessness.”<p><span class= "bld">Blaspheme.</span>—The word is the same used in <a href="/job/1-5.htm" title="And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.">Job 1:5</a>; <a href="/job/1-11.htm" title="But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.">Job 1:11</a>; <a href="/job/2-5.htm" title="But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.">Job 2:5</a>, there rendered “curse.” It properly signifies “to bless;” thence, to “part from with blessing;” finally to part from, or “disown.” It is, rather, therefore, “to renounce” than “to blaspheme.” The punishment, however, was stoning, as for positive blasphemy. (See <a href="/leviticus/24-16.htm" title="And he that blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemes the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.">Leviticus 24:16</a>; <a href="/context/deuteronomy/13-9.htm" title="But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.">Deuteronomy 13:9-10</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-11.htm">1 Kings 21:11</a></div><div class="verse">And the men of his city, <i>even</i> the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, <i>and</i> as it <i>was</i> written in the letters which she had sent unto them.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">And the men of his city . . . did.</span>—The pains taken in the invention of this foul plot, and the ready acquiescence of the rulers of the city in carrying it out, are characteristic of the baser forms of organised Eastern despotism—not venturing to take life by simple violence without some cause apparently shown, and yet always able to poison the springs of justice, and do murder under form of law. In Israel, where the king was held to be but a vicegerent of God, subject, in theory, under the old constitution or “manner of the kingdom” (<a href="/1_samuel/10-25.htm" title="Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.">1Samuel 10:25</a>), to the supreme law, the need of clothing crime with legal form would be especially felt.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-13.htm">1 Kings 21:13</a></div><div class="verse">And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, <i>even</i> against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Carried him forth</span>—as usual, in order to avoid polluting the city with blood—possibly to his own ground, the coveted vineyard itself.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-15.htm">1 Kings 21:15</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Take possession.</span>—Naboth’s sons (see <a href="/2_kings/9-26.htm" title="Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, said the LORD; and I will requite you in this plat, said the LORD. Now therefore take and cast him into the plat of ground, according to the word of the LORD.">2Kings 9:26</a>) were murdered with him, so that there was none to claim the inheritance. Even had this not been so, the property of executed traitors would naturally fall to the king, although no enactment to this effect is found in the Law.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-16.htm">1 Kings 21:16</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">When Ahab heard.</span>—It is characteristic of Ahab that he takes care to ask no question about Naboth’s death, desirous “to be innocent of the knowledge,” and yet tacitly to “applaud the deed.” The guilt is Jezebel’s; the fruit, his own. In the LXX. there is here a curious and striking insertion: “he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth,” representing Ahab as struck with momentary horror, and then, after thus salving his conscience, still resolving to carry out his desire for the coveted vineyard. The picture is equally true to nature, especially to such a nature as his. But the insertion has little authority, and is probably a mistaken interpolation from <a href="/1_kings/21-27.htm" title="And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.">1Kings 21:27</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-17.htm">1 Kings 21:17</a></div><div class="verse">And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,</div>(17) <span class= "bld">Elijah.</span>—We have heard nothing of him since the call of Elisha, as though he had once more retired to solitude. In the mere political service of the preceding chapter, important in the eyes of the world, he takes no part; but emerges now for the higher moral duty of rebuking crime, and avenging innocent blood, in what Eastern tyranny would deem a very trivial matter. Ahab’s address to him seems to imply wonder at his unusual appearance among men.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-18.htm">1 Kings 21:18</a></div><div class="verse">Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which <i>is</i> in Samaria: behold, <i>he is</i> in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Which is in Samaria.</span>—These words are almost unmeaning, unless they literally signify that Ahab was then in Samaria, not in Jezreel. To interpret them as simply part of Ahab’s title, or as signifying the country, not the town of Samaria, is to explain them away.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-19.htm">1 Kings 21:19</a></div><div class="verse">And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?—</span>The stern, indignant brevity of the accusation, at once shaming the subterfuge by which Ahab shifts his guilt to Jezebel, and unmasking the real object of the whole crime, leaves the king speechless as to defence, unable to stay the sentence which at once follows. The marked particularity and emphasis of that sentence, “In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick <span class= "ital">thy blood, even thine,</span>” preclude all explanations, which would seek its fulfilment in the fate of Jehoram (<a href="/2_kings/9-25.htm" title="Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, when I and you rode together after Ahab his father, the LORD laid this burden on him;">2Kings 9:25</a>); nor can such explanations be justified by reference to <a href="/1_kings/21-29.htm" title="See you how Ahab humbles himself before me? because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil on his house.">1Kings 21:29</a>, for it is not this part of the sentence which is deferred by Ahab’s repentance. (See Note on <a href="/1_kings/22-38.htm" title="And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armor; according to the word of the LORD which he spoke.">1Kings 22:38</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-20.htm">1 Kings 21:20</a></div><div class="verse">And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found <i>thee</i>: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?—</span>The cry is partly of dismay, partly of excuse. Ahab, having no word of defence to utter, endeavours to attribute Elijah’s rebuke and condemnation to simple enmity, much as in <a href="/1_kings/18-17.htm" title="And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, Are you he that troubles Israel?">1Kings 18:17</a> he cries out “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” The crushing answer is that the prophet came not because he was an enemy, but because Ahab had “sold himself”—had become a slave instead of a king—under the lust of desire and the temptation of Jezebel.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-21.htm">1 Kings 21:21</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,</div>(21-24) <span class= "bld">Behold, I will bring evil.</span>—Distinct from that message of personal judgment is the doom of utter destruction pronounced on the dynasty of Omri—the same in substance, and almost in word, as that already pronounced in <a href="/context/1_kings/14-10.htm" title="Therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that urinates against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man takes away dung, till it be all gone.">1Kings 14:10-11</a>; <a href="/context/1_kings/16-3.htm" title="Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.">1Kings 16:3-4</a>. It is, indeed, called forth by the last sin of Ahab, but the ground assigned for it (<a href="/1_kings/21-22.htm" title="And will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.">1Kings 21:22</a>) extends to the whole course of idolatry and apostasy, “making Israel to sin.” It is only this more general sentence which is postponed by the repentance of Ahab (<a href="/1_kings/21-29.htm" title="See you how Ahab humbles himself before me? because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil on his house.">1Kings 21:29</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-25.htm">1 Kings 21:25</a></div><div class="verse">But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">The dogs shall eat Jezebel.</span>—In all his address to Ahab, Elijah has, as yet, disdained to name the instigator, on whom the coward king, no doubt, threw his guilt. Ahab stands revealed as the true culprit before God, without a shred of subterfuge to veil his ultimate responsibility. Now, briefly and sternly, the prophet notices the bolder criminal, pronouncing against her a doom of shame and horror, seldom falling upon a woman, but rightly visiting one who had forsworn the pity and modesty of her sex. In the “ditch” (see margin) outside the walls, where the refuse of the city gathers the half-wild dogs—the scavengers of Eastern cities—her dead body is to be thrown as offal, and to be torn and devoured.<p>This verse and the next are evidently the reflection of the compiler, catching its inspiration from the words of Elijah in <a href="/1_kings/21-20.htm" title="And Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found you: because you have sold yourself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.">1Kings 21:20</a>. There is in them <span class= "bld">a </span>tone not only of condemnation, but of contempt, for a king most unkingly—thus selling himself to a half-unwilling course of crime, against the warnings of conscience, not disbelieved but neglected, for the sake of a paltry desire—thus moreover, grovelling under the open dominion of a woman, which, to an Eastern mind, familiar enough with female intrigues, but not with female imperiousness, would seem especially monstrous.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-26.htm">1 Kings 21:26</a></div><div class="verse">And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all <i>things</i> as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.</div>(26) <span class= "bld">As did the Amorites.</span>—The reference is probably not only to the idolatry and worship of false gods, but to the nameless abominations always connected with such worship.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-27.htm">1 Kings 21:27</a></div><div class="verse">And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">And went softly.</span>—The translation seems correct; the meaning is variously conjectured. The LXX. (in some MSS.) has “bent down” in sorrow; the Vulgate similarly “with head bent down;” the Eastern versions and Josephus, “barefooted,” which seems far the most probable meaning.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/1_kings/21-29.htm">1 Kings 21:29</a></div><div class="verse">Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: <i>but</i> in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.</div>(29) <span class= "bld">How Ahab humbleth himself.</span>—As there is something entirely characteristic of Ahab’s impressible nature in this burst of penitence; so in the acceptance of it there is a remarkable illustration of the Divine mercy. The repentance might seem not only to come too late, but to be the mere offspring of fear—more sensible of the shame of discovery than of the shamefulness of sin. Man’s judgment would despise it; God sees in its imperfection some germs of promise, and His partial remission of penalty shows it to be not disregarded in His sight. Ahab himself is still to suffer the predicted doom; but he is to die in honour, and the utter destruction waits, till Jehoram shall fill up the measure of iniquity.<p><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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