
Text -- 1 Kings 21:1 (NET)




Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics



collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
JFB -> 1Ki 21:1-3
JFB: 1Ki 21:1-3 - -- Ahab was desirous, from its contiguity to the palace, to possess it for a vegetable garden. He proposed to Naboth to give him a better in exchange, or...
Ahab was desirous, from its contiguity to the palace, to possess it for a vegetable garden. He proposed to Naboth to give him a better in exchange, or to obtain it by purchase; but the owner declined to part with it. In persisting in his refusal, Naboth was not actuated by any feelings of disloyalty or disrespect to the king, but solely from a conscientious regard to the divine law, which, for important reasons, had prohibited the sale of a paternal inheritance [Lev 25:23; Num 36:7]; or if, through extreme poverty or debt, an assignation of it to another was unavoidable, the conveyance was made on the condition of its being redeemable at any time [Lev 25:25-27]; at all events, of its reverting at the jubilee to the owner [Lev 25:28]. In short, it could not be alienated from the family, and it was on this ground that Naboth (1Ki 21:3) refused to comply with the king's demand. It was not, therefore, any rudeness or disrespect that made Ahab heavy and displeased, but his sulky and pettish demeanor betrays a spirit of selfishness that could not brook to be disappointed of a favorite object, and that would have pushed him into lawless tyranny had he possessed any natural force of character.
Clarke -> 1Ki 21:1
Clarke: 1Ki 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. J...
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.
TSK -> 1Ki 21:1
TSK: 1Ki 21:1 - -- am 3105, bc 899
after : 1Ki 20:35-43; 2Ch 28:22; Ezr 9:13, Ezr 9:14; Isa 9:13; Jer 5:3
Jezreel : 1Ki 18:45; Jos 19:18; Jdg 6:33; 1Sa 29:1; Hos 1:4, Ho...

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> 1Ki 21:1
Barnes: 1Ki 21:1 - -- A vineyard ... in Jezreel - The name Jezreel is applied in Scripture, not merely to the town 1Ki 18:46, but also to the valley or plain which l...
A vineyard ... in Jezreel - The name Jezreel is applied in Scripture, not merely to the town 1Ki 18:46, but also to the valley or plain which lies below it, between Mount Gilboa and Little Hermon (2Sa 2:9; 2Ki 9:10; Hos 1:5; etc.).
The palace of Ahab at Jezreel was on the eastern side of the city, looking toward the Jordan down the valley above described. It abutted on the town wall 2Ki 9:30-31. Immediately below it was a dry moat. Beyond, in the valley, either adjoining the moat, or at any rate at no great distance, was the plot of ground belonging to Naboth 2Ki 9:21.
Poole -> 1Ki 21:1
In Jezreel where one of Ahab’ s palaces was, as the other was in Samaria.
PBC -> 1Ki 21:1
PBC: 1Ki 21:1 - -- Ahab was a very wicked king of Israel and had done many things to provoke God to holy wrath. He crowned his wicked deeds by causing the unjust death o...
Ahab was a very wicked king of Israel and had done many things to provoke God to holy wrath. He crowned his wicked deeds by causing the unjust death of righteous Naboth, so that the wicked monarch could have his vineyard. The Lord sent His prophet, Elijah, to pronounce judgment on Ahab. He told him that the dogs would lick his blood in the same place where they had licked Naboth’s blood.
Time passed and Ahab, like many wicked men, may have thought that God had forgotten His judgment. Ahab prepared to go to battle against Syria and he asked the King of Judah, Jehoshaphat, to go to battle with him. Jehoshaphat wanted to inquire from the prophets of the Lord as to whether or not they should go to battle. Four hundred prophets told them to go on and they would have victory. Jehoshaphat was not satisfied and they called for the only one who proved to be a true prophet, Micaiah. Micaiah told them of a very strange vision that the Lord had allowed him to see. Some lying spirits had been allowed by the Lord to go and influence those false prophets so that they would lie about the situation. This does not make God a liar, nor does it make Him the author of a lie. The father of lies is the Devil, as one can learn from Joh 8:1-59. It does mean that God used the lying spirits and the lying prophets to get Ahab to go to battle. God had determined that Ahab would fall in battle that day.
Look at God’s awesome control of events as Ahab did fall in battle. The wicked king had taken every precaution to protect himself. He had disguised himself so as not to be a prominent target. However, "a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness." Now, dear friends, that man drew a bow at a venture as far as he was concerned. He did not even aim. He shot an arrow in the air. Look, however, at God’s complete and minute control of this event. God controlled the archer’s nerve impulses and muscular contractions, the angle of elevation of the bow, the direction and velocity of the wind, the direction and speed of Ahab’s chariot, and a myriad of minute details! Is our God truly awesome or is He not? The arrow went into the only place where it could have penetrated Ahab’s armor and struck its target. Ahab died when, where, and how God had determined that he would. God used lying spirits, sin, and sinful men to carry out his purposes, but He cannot be charged with their sin.
See PBtop: GOD IS SOVEREIGN
Haydock -> 1Ki 21:1
Haydock: 1Ki 21:1 - -- Who was. Hebrew, Chaldean, &c., place this after vineyard, and read which, referring it to the ground; which we might naturally suppose would be...
Who was. Hebrew, Chaldean, &c., place this after vineyard, and read which, referring it to the ground; which we might naturally suppose would be the place of Naboth's nativity, as it was his parental estate, 4 Kings ix. 21. Josephus calls the place Azari, and says it was a field contiguous to the king's palace. Septuagint Greek: alo, "threshing-floor."
Gill -> 1Ki 21:1
Gill: 1Ki 21:1 - -- And it came to pass, after these things,.... After the two battles with the king of Syria, in which Ahab was victorious, and after he had let Benhadad...
And it came to pass, after these things,.... After the two battles with the king of Syria, in which Ahab was victorious, and after he had let Benhadad, a blasphemer, and injurious to him, go free:
that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel; of which place See Gill on Hos 1:5 or "who was in Jezreel"; that is Naboth, for the vineyard was in Samaria, 1Ki 21:18.
hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria; that being the metropolis of the kingdom of Israel, is put for it, who, besides his palace in Samaria, had another in Jezreel; which, according to Bunting y, were sixteen miles distant from each other.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> 1Ki 21:1-29
TSK Synopsis: 1Ki 21:1-29 - --1 Ahab being denied Naboth's vineyard, is grieved.5 Jezebel writing letters against Naboth, he is condemned of blasphemy.15 Ahab take possession of th...
MHCC -> 1Ki 21:1-4
MHCC: 1Ki 21:1-4 - --Naboth, perhaps, had been pleased that he had a vineyard situated so near the palace, but the situation proved fatal to him; many a man's possessions ...
Matthew Henry -> 1Ki 21:1-4
Matthew Henry: 1Ki 21:1-4 - -- Here is, 1. Ahab coveting his neighbour's vineyard, which unhappily lay near his palace and conveniently for a kitchen-garden. Perhaps Naboth had be...
Keil-Delitzsch -> 1Ki 21:1-15
Keil-Delitzsch: 1Ki 21:1-15 - --
After these events Ahab was seized with such a desire for a vineyard which was situated near his palace at Jezreel, that when Naboth, the owner of t...
Constable -> 1Ki 16:29--22:41; 1Ki 21:1-16
Constable: 1Ki 16:29--22:41 - --1. Ahab's evil reign in Israel 16:29-22:40
Ahab ruled Israel from Samaria for 22 years (874-853 ...
