1 Kings 21:17-24

Divine Retaliation.

We have just seen Naboth martyred because of his fidelity to law; we have seen him murdered by men who in the name of law violated all the laws of God and man.

Now the dispensation under which these men lived promised a present recompense, a temporal reward, to obedience, and it denounced temporal punishment against "every transgression and disobedience." We may imagine, consequently, how this tragedy would strike the men of that age. They would see in it a direct failure of justice. They would ask whether there was a God that judgeth in the earth. They would look, and especially the God-fearing amongst them, in utter perplexity and distress on this conspicuous instance of the triumph of force and wrong. "What is the Almighty," they would be tempted to ask," that we should serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto him?" ( Job 21:15 .) They would be tempted to think that "in keeping of his commandments there was no reward; yes, even tempted to say in their hearts, "There is no God" ( Psalms 53:1 ).

It would have been strange, therefore, if such a red-handed, cold-blooded murder had passed unnoticed and unavenged; if the dogs had been left to feast on the remains of Naboth, and Ahab had been suffered to enter on his vineyard without protest. But this was not to be. The men of Jezreel had not seen the last act in the tragedy. They must learn that "no reckoning is brought in the midst of the meal; the end pays for all;" they must be taught to count no man happy before his death. They must be reminded that there is a prophet in Israel, and a God of Israel who will by no means clear the guilty. And so Elijah, the great restorer of the law, stands forth to avenge the death of Naboth, the law-keeper, at the hands of law-breakers.

"Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, which he refused to give thee for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead. Did the king stop. to ask how this death had been brought about? Did he know the shameful crime that had been committed in his name, and under his palace walls? He must have known something of it, if not all. Even if he thought it prudent to ask no questions, still he would remember the significant promise of 1 Kings 21:7 ; he would have some suspicions of the purpose for which the royal seal was required; and it would be clear to him, even if he did not know the exact circumstances, that somehow Jezebel had compassed Naboth's death. It was clear to him that this vineyard was bought at the price of blood.

But he will not let such considerations as these hinder his enjoyment of it. All he thinks of or cares for is this, that the vineyard is his and he can enter upon it at once. He will enter upon it at once. His chariot shall bear him to the spot. He will view his new property that day; he will begin his garden of herbs forthwith.

The citizens of Jezreel, the "elders," and "children of Belial" amongst them, see the royal chariot crossing the plain, breasting the hill, entering the city. They know full well what is its destination. There is hardly a child in the city but guesses the king's errand. It causes them no surprise when the chariot and its escort pass on to the vineyard of Naboth. But they shall learn, and through them all Israel shall learn, that there is a just God in heaven, and that even the king is responsible to a Higher Power; and they shall know that God Himself is against the evildoer, and shall render to every man according to his works ( Proverbs 24:12 ; Matthew 16:27 ; 2 Timothy 4:14 ).

For who is this that strides up to the king as he stands in the coveted vineyard, and shapes his projects concerning it? It is a prophet—the dress proves that; a glance shows that it is the dreaded, mysterious prophet Elijah. "Behold Elijah" ( 1 Kings 18:8 , 1 Kings 18:11 ) is on their lips. Whence has he come? Since the day of Carmel he has been hidden from their view. They had often wondered why he had so suddenly disappeared; whether he was still alive; whether the Spirit had cast him upon some mountain or into some valley ( 2 Kings 2:16 ); whether he was hiding among foreigners as he had done before. And now he is amongst them again. And Jehu and Bidkar at least ( 2 Kings 9:25 ), and probably others with them, presently understand the reason of his sudden reappearance. "Hast thou killed," he thunders forth, "and also taken possession?" They see the guilty look on Ahab's face; they note his ashy paleness; they observe how he trembles helplessly from head to foot. Then they hear the terrible doom—and their ears tingle, as Elijah's impassioned words fall upon them—"Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Jezebel shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine." They hear, and Ahab hears, that for him a death as cruel and shameful as Naboth's is reserved; that, king though he is, he shall come to the dogs at the last. But more: they presently learn that for his children, born in the purple and delicately nurtured, there remains a reckoning; that their blood must be shed, their bodies torn of beasts, like those of Naboth's sons. Nor shall proud Jezebel, the prime mover in this murder, escape. In the open space before the city wall the dogs which devoured the flesh of Naboth shall feast upon her dead body. All this was spoken in the broad day, before king and retinue, by a prophet whose words had never fallen to the ground. The king is found out ; he is taken red-handed in the blossoms of his sin, Yesterday the crime, today the sentence. We may compare the feelings of that group standing in the vineyard with those of that surging crowd who saw Robespierre standing under the guillotine to which he had consigned so many. hundreds of Frenchmen. "Aye, Robespierre, there is a God." We may imagine how they stood for a while transfixed to the spot; how, when Elijah had hurled his words at the king, he strode away and left them to rankle in his mind. But the thing was not done in a corner, and it could not be kept secret. As the chariot returns to Samaria the townsman in the street, the peasant in the field, perceive that something untoward has happened. The news of Elijah's reappearance spreads like wildfire; his scathing words are passed from lip to lip; every town and hamlet soon knows that Naboth is avenged; it knows that with what measure king and queen meted to him it shall be measured to them again.

The lessons which this public manifestation of the righteous judgment of God had for the men of that age, and some of which it has still, may be briefly stated in the words of Scripture. Among them are these:

1. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good" ( Proverbs 15:3 ); God doth know, and there is knowledge in the Most High ( Psalms 73:11 ; cf. Psalms 11:4 ).

2 . "Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth" ( Psalms 58:11 ). "Thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand" ( Psalms 10:14 ).

3. "Be sure your sin will find you out" ( Numbers 32:23 ).

4. "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished" ( Proverbs 11:21 ).

5. "I will come near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord" ( Malachi 3:5 ).

6. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed" ( Genesis 9:6 ).

7. "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth, for tooth, hand or hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe" ( Exodus 21:23-25 ). "God loves to punish by retaliation" (Hall),