Again God told Elijah to "go"(v. 18; cf. 17:3, 9; 18:1; 19:15). As a faithful servant, he went to confront the king again.226Ahab was not in Samaria then (v. 18) but in Jezreel (v. 19). The mention of Samaria was evidently an ironical reference to Ahab's capital. Murdering someone and taking possession of his property was a capital offense under the Law of Moses (cf. 2 Sam. 11; 12:13). It would be a great shame for Ahab to have his blood flow in the streets of his winter capital. It would be an even greater disgrace to have it licked up by wild scavengers as Naboth's blood had been (v. 19; cf. Gal. 6:7). God did not punish him exactly this way because Ahab repented (vv. 27-29; cf. 2 Kings 9:25-26).
Elijah was Ahab's enemy because the prophet was God's representative whom the king had decided to oppose (v. 20). Ahab had sold himself (v. 20) in that he had sacrificed his own life and future to obtain what he wanted (cf. Saul). The wages God would pay him for this would be trouble and death (cf. Rom. 6:23). God would remove all human support from Ahab and would sweep him away like so much filth (v. 21). He would also cut off his dynasty for the same reasons He terminated Jeroboam and Baasha's houses (v. 22). As for Jezebel, wild dogs that normally lived off the garbage in the city would eat her (v. 23). Furthermore all of Ahab's descendants would experience ignoble deaths (v. 24; cf. 14:11; 16:4).
The writer's assessment of Ahab was that he was the worst ruler in Israel yet (v. 25; cf. 16:30). He was as bad as the Canaanites whom God drove out because of their wickedness (v. 26; cf. Lev. 18:25-30). Nevertheless he was a king over God's chosen people.
Ahab's genuine repentance when he heard his fate from Israel's true King resulted in God lightening his sentence (vv. 27-29). Not he but his son Joram (i.e., Jehoram) would bleed on Naboth's land in Jezreel (v. 19; 2 Kings 9:25-26). There is no indication here or elsewhere that Jezebel ever repented.
"The story of Naboth warns against the use of piety and legality to cloak injustice. It teaches that those who support the plots of a Jezebel, whether by silent acquiescence or overt complicity, share her crime. It is a resounding affirmation that injustice touches God, that as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me' (Matt. 25:40, 45), that in the cosmic order of things there is a power at work that makes for justice. And the story attests that there is awesome power in the conscience and protest of the individual servant of God."227
