A Lesson from Naboth’s Vineyard
King Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard because of its location next to his palace. So, he asked Naboth to trade for it, but Naboth refused (1 Kings 21:3). This threw Ahab into a tizzy because he didn’t get what he wanted, and he began pouting. When Jezebel found out, she devised a scheme to falsely accuse Naboth of blasphemy. Naboth was stoned to death, and Ahab got his vineyard.
There’s no doubt that Ahab and Jezebel’s behavior was abominable, but do we act any different when we don’t get what we want? While many do not go to the same extreme as Jezebel did by having someone murdered, they will falsely accuse others of impropriety when they don’t get their way, and even try to create divisions. This behavior is childish and sinful. It originates in selfish desires to have one’s way instead of “submitting to one another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:21).
Ahab’s attitude originated in wanting to have something that wasn’t his to have. God commanded through Moses, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17). When we don’t get what we want, how do we respond? Do we seek to impose our will on others? Do we run away and hide cutting ourselves off from everyone? Do we throw a fit and complain until we get what we want? Or, do we recognize that everything belongs to God, and it is not ours to command? Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein.”
God bless you, and I love you.
Kevin Cauley