(Read 1 Kings 21)
NABOTH was a man who feared God, and as he had a little piece of ground in the land that the Lord called “His land,” he would not sell it to anyone who was the Lord’s enemy. God had told His people that the land was His; that they were strangers in it, and sojourners with Him, and that they must not sell it “forever” (Lev. 25:2323The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. (Leviticus 25:23)); that was, they were not to part with it for it never to come back to them. It was God’s will that every fifty years the “trumpet of jubilee” should be sounded, and that then every man should possess again all the land that bonged to his fathers before him, even if he had sold it to someone else. Of course, if anyone wanted to buy, they would not want to give so much for it, if they knew that, when the year of jubilee came, they would have to give it up again; but the person selling it was not to mind that. He was not to sell the land, except for it to come back to be his again at God’s appointed time (Lev. 25:10, 1310And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. (Leviticus 25:10)
13In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession. (Leviticus 25:13)). Well, this good man, Naboth, had a vineyard which King Ahab wanted to buy of him. It was near the king’s palace and he wanted to turn it into a garden of herbs for himself. He was willing to pay Naboth for it. He would either give him a better vineyard for it, or as much as it was worth in money; but he must have it, and he would want to keep it. Naboth was not a man who would disobey the king, or disoblige him, unless there was some good reason for it. The word of God says— “Honor the King” (1 Peter 2:1717Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (1 Peter 2:17)). Only in the very same verse it says, “Fear God,” and that is put first. The Lord would have us to be subject to the powers that are over us, and obey them in everything except when to do so would be to disobey God, and then we have to say, “We must obey God rather than men.” So Naboth would not give up to Ahab “the inheritance of his fathers,” and Ahab was very much vexed with him. He went down to his house sad and angry. He was a wicked man to want one of his people to act contrary to God’s word; but he had a wife who was, if possible, still more wicked than himself. Her name was Jezebel, and she soon formed a plan for getting Naboth’s vineyard for her husband. The good and obedient servant of the Lord should die! And she gets a number of other people to help her in her wicked plot, so that within a few days Naboth is actually stoned to death, and Ahab goes down to take possession of the piece of ground he coveted.
But God looked down from heaven and saw that wickedness, and sent His servant Elijah to meet Ahab in the garden he thought he could now call his own. In the picture you see the two men meeting God’s servant and His enemy. The rightful owner of the place is dead, and no longer stands in Ahab’s way. He has got rid of him, but finds he cannot get rid of his God, and he has to hear from Elijah how the judgment of God will follow him and reach him. He has sold himself “to work evil in the sight of the Lord”: has made Israel to sin by his idolatry; and now he has added to all his other wickedness this murder of God’s faithful tenant. It is true he has not done it himself, but he has been altogether a party to it, and in God’s sight he is guilty of the deed. So now he learns from the prophet that, not only every man of his family shall be cut off and die, but even as to himself, in the very same place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there they should lick his blood also! His sin had found him out. He had found it pretty easy to have it all his own way so far. His wife would not hold back from any wickedness, so as to get what she wanted; and she had found men, too, who were wicked enough to falsely accuse Naboth of a crime he was entirely innocent of, so as to have him stoned under the cloak of zeal for the honor of God and the king. But there was One who could see through all the hypocrisy, and to Him they must answer for what they had done.
Dear reader, it is solemn to reflect that sin is not done with when it is committed. God may appear to take no notice at the time of what is done. In the gospel of John we read of Jesus in the presence of some whose hearts were full of evil thoughts. He stooped down and wrote on the ground, “as though He heard them not;” but He did hear, and when His time came He answered in such a way as they did not expect. Cain thought he had done something for himself when he had put his “righteous” brother out of the way; but he had very soon to hear a voice calling him to account, “Where is Abel thy brother? What hast thou done?” And he was compelled to answer, and to hear his own sentence. Even before that, Adam and Eve had sinned, when God had, as it were, left them alone; and then, when they heard God near to them, they tried to hide, but it was no use. A voice called to him, “Adam, where art thou?” and he was obliged to answer and to come forth into the very presence of God! And so with every sin committed ever since. You may have done that which you know to be wrong, under the shades of the darkest night, but “the darkness hideth not from Thee.” And though for now He may “keep silence,” (Psa. 1:21), He has not forgotten it, and some day you will have to hear what God has to say to you about that matter. Above all, there is the crime of putting Christ to death, for which this world will have to answer to God. He was hated without a cause as Naboth was, and false witnesses were hired to accuse Him of blasphemy, as in Naboth’s case. So He was condemned and crucified, and entombed, and men thought they had quite got rid of Him. “But God raised Him from the dead” (Acts 13:3030But God raised him from the dead: (Acts 13:30)), and He declares to all men that He has “appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness,” by that very same Man whom wicked men “once pierced and slew.” (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)). Now, I solemnly put it to you, my dear reader, whether you are old or young, do you belong to that world which God is going to judge for the rejection of His Son? You either belong to the Father as one who loves His Son, or you belong to the world that hates both the Father and the Son (John 15:2424If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. (John 15:24)). All that belongs to the world is “not of the Father” (1 John 2:1616For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (1 John 2:16)), and all that belong to Christ are “not of the world.” (John 17:14,1614I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:14)
16They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:16)). Do consider which side you are upon. And if you have not “received” the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, you are rejecting Him with the world, and God will hold you guilty of His death. Did Cain have to answer to God for what he had done to Abel? Did Ahab have to hear God’s judgment upon him for the murder of Naboth? What will you hear from God presently, if you are found by Him to be a part of that world which cast out “His dear Son?” And what will you answer?
W. Ty.