1 Kings 21:5

JEZEBEL'S PLOT FOR THE MURDER OF NABOTH AND HIS SONS

"But Jezebel his wife came unto him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thy heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, and that dwelt with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: and set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst curse God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him to death."

"Naboth answered, I will not give thee my vineyard" (1 Kings 21:6). Ahab here lied against Naboth, because he omitted the reason why Naboth would not sell his vineyard. Ahab most certainly did know what Jezebel had in mind, because we have here a glimpse of her modus operandi when she murdered the priests of Jehovah. She did it in the king's name, and by using his signet, or seal. The use of royal seals is very old, and the king's seal was often engraved on a gold ring. And, in the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan, this writer has seen the gold ring of Alexander the Great, with which he sealed royal documents.

"Dost thou not govern the kingdom of Israel?" (1 Kings 21:7). There is obviously contempt on Jezebel's part in such words as these. She no doubt despised her weakling husband.

"And she wrote ... proclaim a fast" (1 Kings 21:9). "The purpose of this was to cast a religious mantle over the whole diabolical procedure."[7] The evil leaders of Jezreel, following Jezebel's orders to the letter were pretending that their city was under some great cloud of guilt, due to some citizen's having committed some capital crime. Their procedure mimicked the behavior of Joshua following the sin of Achan, in which event, the guilt of the people could not be lifted until Achan was identified and stoned to death, along with all the members of his family (Joshua 7).

"Set Naboth on high among the people" (1 Kings 21:9). This is somewhat misleading, because it sounds as if they were to honor Naboth, but that is not what was meant. "It was a command to bring him before a court, or general assembly, for a public trial."[8]

"Set two men before him, base fellows, and let them bear witness against him" (1 Kings 21:10). How remarkable it is that Jezebel here betrayed a rather thorough knowledge of the Law of Moses, which specifically required that at least two witnesses be required for the condemnation of anyone accused of crime (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6,19:15).

"Saying, that, Thou didst curse God and the king" (1 Kings 21:10). Oh yes, and Jezebel knew exactly what kind of a crime was punishable by death (See Leviticus 24:15).

"And take him out, and stone him to death?" (1 Kings 21:10). Furthermore Jezebel was thoroughly familiar with the Divinely-prescribed penalty for such a crime. Furthermore, she knew all about the instructions for such an execution, how it was to be by stoning and outside the camp or the city (Leviticus 24:14). It is hundreds of examples just like this (throughout the entire O.T., and which we have cited in our commentaries) which effectively refute the nonsense advocated by the critical community regarding a late date for the Pentateuch. Jezebel evidently was familiar with all five of the Books of Moses in the mid-ninth century before Christ.

We treasure the significant word of Hammond, who wrote, "Even Jezebel bears witness to the Pentateuch."[9]

"Thou didst curse God and the king" (1 Kings 21:10). The Hebrew text here has "bless God and the king," and Snaith explains why "The word BLESSED was deliberately substituted for CURSED, because Jewish writers considered it sinful even to write the word CURSE or BLASPHEME; and our English versions have properly changed the word back again to CURSED."[10]