000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

242 Proper 6 [11]/Year C
13). Land could not be sold “in perpetuity.” Land could be sold between
one jubilee year and another, but “it is a certain number of harvests that
are being sold” (Lev. 25:16); the land itself belongs to God, and the family
that originally owned it was to be restored to it. This was key to the
Torah’s antipoverty campaign.
Ahab and Jezebel violate Torah in their confiscation of Naboth’s vineyard.
Ahab has already introduced apostasy into Israel; now we see that
apostasy leads to social injustice. Naboth’s vineyard was “beside” Ahab’s
palace in Jezreel. Reflecting the values of a money-economy, Ahab offers
to give Naboth the vineyard’s “value in money” or swap it for “a better
vineyard” farther away (v. 2). Naboth’s refusal (v. 4) was in line with the
teachings of Torah, and he was sagely reluctant to deal with Ahab. Ahab
is “resentful and sullen” (v. 4), and Jezebel is incensed: “Do you now govern
Israel?” (v. 7). That is: “you’re the king; you can do what you please.”
So she cooks up a scheme to have Naboth charged with cursing God and
the king, as a result of which he is stoned to death (v. 13). One injustice is
compounded by another: murder. The “spilling of blood” was also taking
what was the Lord’s: “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human
shall that person’s blood be shed; for in his own image God made
humankind” (Gen. 9:6). God is the giver of life and life was understood
to be in the blood (Gen. 9:4); not even the blood of animals belonged to
human beings.
With Naboth conveniently out of the way, Ahab takes possession of his
vineyard (v. 16). Once more, God’s word comes to Elijah who receives a
commission to say to Ahab: “Thus says the LORD: Have you killed, and
also taken possession?” (v. 19). He is told to follow that remark with this
prophecy: “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs
will also lick up your blood” (v. 19). Ahab asks: “Have you found me, O
my enemy?” Elijah answers: “I have found you. Because you have sold
yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, I will bring disaster
on you” (vv. 20–21).
The themes of this story resonate throughout the Gospels’ accounts of
the ministry of Jesus: the unfairness of the wealthy and the royal, the haughtiness
of the powerful who can never have enough. See Luke’s parable of the
Rich Fool (12:13–21), who built bigger barns to hold his crops amid an
economy of scarcity. As the Torah makes clear, this is an offense not just
against other human beings but against God, to whom the land and its produce
belong and whose will is that no one is homeless and hungry.
Naboth steadfastly resists Ahab’s proposal and does so in the name of
the Lord (v. 3). He and Elijah are faithful to YHWH, to the Torah, and