According to 1 Kings 21:1–16, Naboth owned a vineyard that was close to Ahab's palace in Jezreel. Ahab asked Naboth if he could buy the vineyard so that he could use it as a vegetable (or herb) garden.[2][3] Naboth refused because the land was ancestral inheritance.[4] Some theorize that Naboth was also fearful of disobeying the Mosaic law which forbade the permanent selling of land.[5]
Jezebel resolved the issue[2] by writing a letter, under Ahab's name, to the elders and nobles of Jezreel. In the letter, the elders and nobles were instructed to organize a religious fast and exalt Naboth and bring forth two witnesses to (falsely) accuse Naboth of cursing God and the king. Afterwards, they were to stone Naboth to death outside the city. Commentators observe that these instructions deliberately adhered to the Biblical guidelines of criminal justice so that the public would not suspect foul play.[6] That said, Jezebel explicitly calls the two witnesses "sons of Belial", which may be descriptive of their willingness to do anything to get paid.[7]
The conspiracy succeeded, with Naboth's corpse being licked by stray dogs.[8]
Emil G. Hirsch points out that "It seems from II Kings ix. 26 that Naboth's sons perished with their father, probably being killed soon afterward by order of Jezebel in order that they might not claim the vineyard as their inheritance."[3] The executions also had precedent in the execution of Achan's family, as recorded in the Book of Joshua, which Jezebel was most likely inspired by.[8] After Naboth and his sons were executed, Jezebel told Ahab that he could possess the vineyard.[2]
Johannes Pedersen said that "The story teaches us that the king is bound to respect the proprietary rights of families..."[9] According to rabbinic literature, Naboth's soul was the lying spirit that was permitted to deceive Ahab to his death.[10] Naboth's death was further avenged after Jehu fatally shot Ahab's son Jehoram in the back with an arrow and threw his body in Naboth's former vineyard. Jezebel met a similar fate after she was thrown off a building, with her corpse devoured by dogs. According to the Bible, all of this was prophesized by prophet Elijah, who fiercely condemned Naboth's execution.[11]
Interpretations
Archaeological exploration conducted by the University of Haifa and the University of Evansville discovered an ancient winery in the vicinity of an Iron Age IIB (900–700 B.C.E.) military enclosure at the foot of Tel Jezreel.[1] While not definitely identifying the site as the location for the story of Naboth, archaeologist Dr. Norma Franklin, of the University of Haifa said that the vineyard appears to have been established sometime prior to 300 BCE, which would not be inconsistent with the time frame for Naboth. Franklin further noted, "Owning a vineyard would make him wealthy since wine was an important commodity. I reckon that since he was from the aristocracy he probably lived in Samaria and had more than one vineyard. This would give a slightly different picture than the Bible, which implies, though does not state explicitly, that he was a poor man being abused by the wealthy king."[4]
Based on the dates of Ahab's death, which occurred three years after Naboth's death,[12] it is presumed that Naboth died on 855-856BC.[13][page needed]
Francis Andersen observed that "Commentators have seen in the episode a clash of Israelite and Canaanite ideas of kingship, of citizenship, and of property."[9]
Jewish medieval scholars sometimes used Elijah's words to Ahab "You have killed and also taken possession" ("הֲרָצַחְתָּ וְגַם יָרָשְׁתָּ") or the expression "Naboth's vineyard" to hint at double injustice (or crime committed with indecency, as opposed to "simply committed" crime). The Talmud also sees here a link to the prohibition of mixtures of milk and meat in Jewish law.[citation needed]
Roger Williams, the founder of the American colony of Rhode Island and the co-founder of the First Baptist Church in America, wrote about Naboth's story in The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience as an example of how God disfavored Christians from using government force in religious matters, such as the religious decrees by Jezebel and Ahab. Williams believed using force in the name of religion would lead to political persecution contrary to the Bible.[14]
In popular culture
There are a number of artistic, dramatic, musical and literary works that are based on, or inspired by, the story of Naboth and his vineyard. These are less common now than was once the case, as the use of the expression as a cultural reference appears to have declined.
Elijah confronting Ahab and Jezebel in Naboth's Vineyard, (1875) by Sir Frank Dicksee, a gold medal winner from the Royal Academy.[17] The original is untraced since having been sold at auction in 1919 from the collection of Sir Merton Russell-Cotes; the British Museum holds a black & white print.[18]
Naboth (1886, in book form 1891), by Rudyard Kipling; Kipling sympathises with Ahab, and treats Naboth as being unreasonable in refusing his demands.[21]
Naboth's Vineyard, (1968) a madrigal for three voices, forming the first part of a trilogy by the English composer Alexander Goehr.[30]
La vigne de Naboth: pièce en cinq actes et un épilogue, (1981) by the Belgian composer André Laporte.[31]
Naboth's Vineyard, (1983) a work for recorders, cello and harpsichord by the English composer Malcolm Lipkin.[32]
Custodian – An Ex Parte Oratorio, (2018) a protest oratorio for an a cappella choir by the Israeli composer Uri Agnon combining the stories of Naboth's Vineyard and the eviction of the Palestinian Sumreen family from their home in Silwan.[33]
Theatre
‘’Faust: Part Two, Act One’’ Faust re-enacts the story and Mephisto cites it
Naboth's Vineyard; a stage piece, (1925) a play in three acts by the English novelist and playwright Clemence Dane.[34]
Eating, (1979)[36] a retelling of the story of Naboth, focusing on the gluttony of Ahab, by the Israeli playwright Yaakov Shabtai.[37]
Ballet
Naboth's Vineyard (1953), a ballet by the Austrian-born American composer Eric Zeisl,[38] although it has not been produced or choreographed in full.[39]
Leviathan, (2014) a drama film directed by the Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev, partly based on the story of Marvin Heemeyer, and partly on the Biblical stories of Job and Naboth's Vineyard.
Politics
The Confederation of Canada,
celebrated July 1, 1867, was largely motivated by Canadians' fear that the United States would annex and absorb these northern British colonies. "An indication of just how seriously John A. Macdonald
(Canada's First Prime Minister) took this mood is contained in a letter he wrote shortly before leaving England.... 'I sail in four days for Canada with the act uniting all British America in my pocket. A brilliant future would certainly await us were it not for those wretched Yankees who hunger & thirst for Naboth's field - War will come some day between England & the United States.'"[41]
^James P. Byrd, The challenges of Roger Williams: religious liberty, violent persecution, and the Bible (Mercer University Press, 2002)[1] (accessed on Google Books on July 20, 2009)
^John A. : the man who made us : the life and times of John A. Macdonald by Gwyn, Richard J. (2008) p.433 Gwyn, Richard J. (28 October 2008). the life and times of John A. Macdonald. Random House of Canada. ISBN978-0-679-31476-9. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
Adams, Jay E. (1982). "Property rights and functional tenure in Mesopotamian rural communities". Societies and languages of the ancient Near East: Studies in honour of Igor Michailovitch Diakonoff. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips. pp. 1–14. ISBN978-0-85668-205-6. OCLC10099036.
Amit, Yairah (2019). "Formation and Significance in the Story of Naboth's Vineyard (1 Kgs 21)". Ben Porat Yosef. pp. 229–242.
Andersen, F. I. (1966). The socio-juridical background of the Naboth incident. Journal of Biblical Literature, 85(1), 46-57.
Beach, E. F. (2005). The Jezebel letters: Religion and politics in ninth-century Israel. Fortress Press.
Becking, Bob (2000). "No More Grapes from the Vineyard? A Plea for a Historical Critical Approach in the Study of the Old Testament". In Lemaire, André; Sæbø, M. (eds.). Congress volume: Oslo 1998. Leiden: Brill. pp. 123–141. doi:10.1163/9789004276055_010. ISBN978-90-04-11598-9. OCLC43656986.
Ben-Barak, T. (1986). "The Case of Naboth in the Light of Documents from Mesopotamia A New Perspective". Proceedings of the ninth world congress of Jewish studies. Div. A: The Period of the Bible. pp. 15–20.
Ben-Barak, Z. (1981). Meribaal and the system of land grants in ancient Israel. Biblica, 62(1), 73-91.
Boer, R. (2013). "Review of Philippe Guillaume, Land, Credit and Crisis: Agrarian Finance in the Hebrew Bible. BibleWorld. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing, 2012". The Bible and Critical Theory. 9 (1).
Bosman, Hendrik Jan (1991). ""Such a thing is not done in Israel": The judicial system of ancient Israel". In Bosman, H. L.; Gous, I. G. P.; Spangenberg, I. J. J. (eds.). Plutocrats and Paupers: Wealth and Poverty in the Old Testament. Pretoria, South Africa: J.L. van Schaik. pp. 190–205. ISBN978-0-627-01778-0.
Farisani, E. B. (2005). "A sociological reading of the confrontation between Ahab and Elijah in 1 Kings 21: 1-29". Old Testament Essays. 18 (1): 47–60. hdl:10520/EJC85674.
Farisani, E.; Farisani, D. (2004). "The abuse of the administration of justice in 1 Kings 21: 1-29 and its significance for our South African context". Old Testament Essays. 17 (3): 389–403. hdl:10520/EJC85643.
Franklin, N., Ebeling, J. R., Guillaume, P., & Appler, D. (2017). Have we found Naboth's vineyard at Jezreel? Biblical archaeology review, 43(6), 49-54.
Garsiel, Moshe (2015). "The Significance of Repetitions and Comparisons for Understanding Characters, Points of view and Messages in the Story of Naboth's Vineyard". Beit Mikra: Journal for the Study of the Bible and Its World. ס (א). Jerusalem: Bialik Institute: 37–64. JSTOR24430216.
Gora, Kennedy. (2008). Postcolonial readings of 1 Kings 21: 1-29 within the context of the struggle for land in Zimbabwe: from colonialism to liberalism to liberation, to the present (Doctoral dissertation).
Huizenga, Kirk. (2013). Exegetical analysis 1 Kings 21:1-16. Phoenix Seminary. Phoenix, Arizona. via Academia
Isager, Signe, and Bilde, Per. (1990). Kings and gods in the Seleucid empire. A question of landed property in Asia Minor. Religion and religious practice in the Seleucid kingdom, 79-90.
Jobling, David; Davies, P. R. (1991). "Text and the World – An Unbridgeable Gap? A Response to Carroll, Hoglund and Smith". In Davies, P.R.; Eskenazi, T.C.; Richards, K.H.; Halligan, J.M.; Hunt, A. (eds.). Second Temple Studies: Persian period. JSOT Supplement Series. Sheffield Academic Press. pp. 175–182. ISBN978-1-85075-315-5.
Kitz, A. M. (2015). Naboth's vineyard after Mari and Amarna. Journal of Biblical Literature, 134(3), 529-545.
Knauf, Ernst Axel (21 July 2011). "Inside the Walls of Nehemiah's Jerusalem: Naboth's Vineyard". The Fire Signals of Lachish. Penn State University Press. pp. 185–194. doi:10.1515/9781575066295-014. ISBN978-1-57506-629-5.
Kruger, P. A. (2003). "Ahab's "slowly" walking about: another look at 1 Kings 21:27b". SS. Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages. 29 (2): 133–142. hdl:10520/EJC101276.
Love, Mark (1990). "Blessed Are the Meek: The Land and Economic Justice". Leaven. 1 (2): 6ff.
Nzimande, Makhosazana K. (2008). "Reconfiguring Jezebel: A postcolonial Imbokodo1 reading of the story of Naboth'S vineyard (I Kings 21:1–16)". In West, Gerald O.; de Wit, Hans J. H. (eds.). African and European readers of the Bible in dialogue: In quest of a shared meaning. Leiden Boston: Brill. pp. 223–258. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004166561.i-434.92. ISBN978-90-04-16656-1. OCLC714879958.
Marie, Rowanne Sarojini (2004). Land, power and justice in South Africa in dialogue with the biblical story of Naboth's vineyard (Doctoral dissertation). hdl:10413/2142.
Martinachard, R. (1991). "The vineyard of Naboth, Current research on the theology and ethics of 1-Kings-21". Études Théologiques et Religieuses. 66 (1): 1–16.
Magdalene, F. Rachel (2014). "Trying the Crime of Abuse of Royal Authority in the Divine Courtroom and the Incident of Naboth's Vineyard". In Mermelstein, Ari; Holtz, Shalom E. (eds.). The divine courtroom in comparative perspective. Leiden Boston: Brill. pp. 167–245. doi:10.1163/9789004281646_011. ISBN978-90-04-28163-9. OCLC893333654.
Mtshiselwa, Ndikho (2014). "A Re-Reading of 1 Kings 21:1-29 and Jehu's revolution in Dialogue with Farisani and Nzimande: Negotiating socio-economic redress in South Africa". Old Testament Essays. 27 (1): 205–230. hdl:10520/EJC152824.
Paczári, A. (2017). "He looked for justice, but behold, oppression": Socio-economic and political aspects of viticulture and viniculture in the Judean and Israelite kingdoms (Doctoral dissertation).
Pani, Giancarlo (2018). "The tyrannical king and poor Naboth: A never-ending story". La Civiltà Cattolica, English Edition. 2 (11): 1–13.
Poggioli, Renato (1975). "Naboth's Vineyard: The pastoral view of the social order". The Oaten Flute: Essays on Pastoral Poetry and the Pastoral Ideal. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 194–219. doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674421585.c12. ISBN978-0-674-42157-8. ISBN0-674-62950-7
Russell, Stephen C. (2014). "The Hierarchy of Estates in Land and Naboth's Vineyard". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 38 (4). SAGE Publications: 453–469. doi:10.1177/0309089214536489. ISSN0309-0892. S2CID145293433.
Russell, Stephen C. (2014). "Ideologies of Attachment in the Story of Naboth's Vineyard". Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture. 44 (1). SAGE Publications: 29–39. doi:10.1177/0146107913514201. ISSN0146-1079. S2CID145216138.
Russell, Stephen C. (2016). "Space, Land, Territory, and the Study of the Bible". Brill Research Perspectives in Biblical Interpretation. 1 (4). Brill: 1–64. doi:10.1163/24057657-12340004. ISSN2405-7649.
Sarna, Nahum M. (1997). "Naboth's vineyard revisited (1 Kings 21)". In Greenberg, Moshe (ed.). Tehillah le-Moshe: Biblical and Judaic studies in honor of Moshe Greenberg. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns / Penn State University Press. pp. 119–126. doi:10.1515/9781575065052-016. ISBN978-1-57506-505-2. OCLC747412013.
Sarna, Nahum M. (2000). "Naboth's vineyard revisited (1 Kings 21)". Studies in biblical interpretation. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. pp. 271–280. ISBN0-8276-0689-3. OCLC43114277.
Scheffler, E. (2017). "Royal care for the poor in Israel's first history: the royal law Deuteronomian 17:14-20), Hannah's song (1 Samuel 2: 1-10), Samuel's warning (1 Samuel 8: 10-18), David's attitude (2 Samuel 24: 10-24) and Ahab and Naboth (1 Kings 21) in intertext". Scriptura: Journal for Contextual Hermeneutics in Southern Africa. 116 (2): 160–174. hdl:10520/EJC-d63298edc.
Silver, Morris (1983). "The Market for Factors of Production: Commercial Loans, Slavery, and Land Consolidation". Prophets and markets. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. pp. 65–81. doi:10.1007/978-94-009-7418-0_6. ISBN978-94-009-7420-3.
Vengeyi, O. (2014). Land as an inalienable asset: lessons from 1 Kings 21: 1-29. University of Zimbabwe Publications.
Vitório, J. (2005). "Monarquia e profetismo: duas instituições em conflito; 1 Rs 21, 1-29-a vinha de Nabot". Estudos bíblicos (in Spanish) (88): 84–95.
Wallis, Louis (1942). "Land and Mishpat". The Bible is human: A study in secular history. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. pp. 267–270. doi:10.7312/wall93136-022. ISBN978-0-231-93136-6.
White, M. (1994). "Naboth's vineyard and Jehu's coup: the legitimation of a dynastic extermination". Vetus Testamentum. 44 (1): 66–76. doi:10.1163/156853394X00060.
Williamson, H. G. M. (2007). The Stories about Naboth the Jezreelite: A Source, Composition, and Redaction Investigation of 1 Kings 21 and Passages in 2 Kings 9.
Yafé, Felipe C. (1989). The case of Naboth's vineyard (1 Kings 21): An historical, sociological and literary study (PhD dissertation). The Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
Yee, G. A. (2016). "Coveting the Vineyard: An Asian American reading of 1 Kings 21". In Brenner-Idan, A.; Lee, A. C. C. (eds.). Samuel, Kings and Chronicles I. Texts @ Contexts. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN978-0-567-67117-2.