838 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, give me thy vineyard for money,.... Sell it him at his own price: or else, if it please thee; if he liked it better: I will give thee another vineyard for it; as good, or better; and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard; he represents this answer as surly and ill...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Jezebel his wife said unto him, dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?.... Art thou not king of Israel? canst thou not do as thou pleasest? hast thou not power to oblige a subject to obey thy commands, and especially in such a trifling matter as parting with a vineyard, and that upon the most reasonable terms? thou hast too much demeaned...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal,.... He giving her leave, no doubt, to take his seal; though she might not communicate her scheme to him, lest he should object to it: and sent the letters unto the elders, and to the nobles that were in his city dwelling with Naboth: to the chief magistrates of the city of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And she wrote in the letters, saying, proclaim a fast,.... Pretending fears of some dreadful calamity coming upon the nation, and therefore fasting and humiliation were necessary to avert it, and it would be right to inquire what crimes were committed by men among them, and punish them for them; and intimated to them that Naboth should be chosen...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him,.... Worthless wretches, that have cast off the yoke of the law, as Belial signifies, lawless abandoned creatures, that have no conscience of anything; "knights of the post", as we call them, that will swear anything; these were to be set before Naboth, right against him to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the men of the city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them,.... That Jezebel should contrive so execrable a scheme, and that there should be such sons of Belial among the common people to swear to such falsehoods, need not seem strange; but that the elders and nobles of the city,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They proclaimed a fast,.... Or called a court, [See comments on 1 Kings 21:9]. and set Naboth on high among the people; placed him at the bar as a criminal, [See comments on 1 Kings 21:9], though Josephus (c) thinks he was set on an high place in the court, because he was of an illustrious birth. (c) Antiqu. l. 3. c. 13. sect. 8.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him,.... Which position showed that they were his accusers, and had a charge against him; it being usual for the accusers and accused to be set face to face, as it was the manner of the Romans in later times, Acts 25:16. Josephus says (d) there were "three" men to accuse him; but the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. Not only stoned, but stoned to death. This message was sent to her from the magistrates of Jezreel; for though the letters came in Ahab's name, they might be privately informed that this was a scheme of Jezebel's; besides, they knew she had the sway at court, and especially that the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab,.... To whom she communicated the news as soon as possible: arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead; some think that Naboth was a near relation to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead,.... Of which he was informed by Jezebel: that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it; if it was in Jezreel, that was sixteen miles from Samaria, and lay lower than that, in a valley, and therefore he is said to go down to it; and which he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the prophet,.... Where he now was, when this word came to him, is not certain; nor what he had been employed in for some time past, since we hear nothing of him since the unction of Elisha, other prophets of lesser note being employed in messages to Ahab from time to time; perhaps Elijah, while Ahab was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria,.... Whose seat was there, his palace where he dwelt; and Benjamin of Tudela says (g), that in his time might be discerned in Samaria the palace of Ahab king of Israel, that is, some traces of it; some connect the last clause with Israel, as if the sense was, that Ahab was king over...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed, and also taken possession?.... Killed in order to possess, and now taken possession upon the murder; some versions, as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic, read without an interrogation, "thou hast killed and hath taken possession", so Joseph Kimchi and Ben Melech; charging him...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy?.... So he reckoned him, because he dealt faithfully with him, and reproved him for his sins, and denounced the judgments of God upon him for them: and he answered, I have found thee; as a thief, a robber and plunderer, in another's vineyard; he had found out his sin in murdering Naboth,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Behold, I will bring evil upon thee,.... Upon his own person, by cutting him off with a violent death, though his family was so numerous, having no less than seventy sons: and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left Israel; [See comments on 1 Kings 14:10].
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah,.... Two of his predecessors, whose families were utterly destroyed, 1 Kings 15:29, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin: not only by his worship of the calves, but of the idols of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And of Jezebel also spake the Lord,.... To Elijah, and by him: saying, the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel or in the inheritance or portion of Jezreel, as the Targum; Jarchi interprets it, the valley of Jezreel; the fulfilment of this see in 2 Kings 9:30.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat, and him that dieth in the field the fowls of the air shall eat. That is, they shall have no burial, see 1 Kings 14:11 hitherto are the words of the Lord by Elijah; next follow the remarks of the historian.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord,.... Not of any of his predecessors, even those whose families had been destroyed, as his would be, 1 Kings 21:21. [See comments on 1 Kings 21:20]. whom Jezebel his wife stirred up; to idolatry, revenge, and murder, and to whose will he was a...