Sermon: Naboth’s Vineyard – You can’t buy integrity
Story: A young man went on a week’s silent retreat.
Midway through the week, in the early afternoon on the Wednesday, he was feeling hungry and so decided to sneak down to the shops when he thought no one was looking
Unfortunately as he started to go out of the gate of the monastery, he bumped into the Abbott who said: “My son, where are you going”
The young man was quick with his reply: “The Holy Spirit told me to go down to the shops today”
The Abbott looked at the young man and nodded his head
“Very well, my son” he replied “But I hope you and the Holy Spirit know that it is half day closing”
We claim to be Christians but sometimes we way we act denies our faith
Because as Christians we are called to be different.
St Paul tells us in I Cor. 2:12-16 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
In our reading today we have three different attitudes to life
1. That of Naboth
2. That of Jezebel and
3. That of Ahab
Our OT reading opens with a seemingly harmless question from King Ahab
"Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money. (1 Kings 21:2)
And the response to that question shows the three different attitudes of Naboth, Jezebel and Ahab
Introduction
It looks harmless to us in today’s society.
We buy and sell property trying to get the best price we can for it.
But we have to consider the request Ahab made to Naboth in its historical context
Jewish property law in the 9th Century BC basically said that no one had the right to sell their ancestral family land, because in the final analysis they didn’t own it.
Put in other words – the whole land of Israel belonged to God and those who lived and worked on the land were essentially God’s tenants, not owner occupiers.
You can find the key statutes of the Law on the land in the book of Numbers and in Leviticus.
For example we read in Leviticus 25:23
23 " ’The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.(Lev. 25:23);
We read similar sentiments in the book of Numbers – Numbers 36:7 says
7 No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefathers. (Num. 36:7).
Which brings us to the three different attitudes
1. The attitude of Naboth
Naboth was a man steeped in the Old Testament.
He would have been brought up to learn large passages of the Hebrew Bible, because people in those days generally could not read
And he was a man who very evidently took his faith seriously
In other words, he was a God fearer 24/7
Naboth therefore had a serious problem – whether to obey God or obey the king of Israel.
Because in those days – the King was the law.
The King had despotic powers of life and death
But Naboth’s commitment to God was more than his commitment to the King
And in the end it cost him his life.
Perhaps Naboth is one of the people that the writer of the book of Hebrews refers to when he said in Hebrews 11:
“32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned[f]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. (Heb 11:32-37)
2. The attitude of Jezebel
Jezebel was a Phoenician princess, who married King Ahab to become Queen in Israel.
She had no allegiance to the God of Israel, bringing instead her false god of Baal.
We read this about Jezebel in 1 Kings 16:31-34
31 Ahab …..also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.
Jezebel listened to the “voice of human reason”
Her husband was the King and we’ll show Naboth a thing or two
For Jezebel – the end justified the means – and the means included killing Naboth
Because she had no fear of true God – who expects us to be righteous.
Might is therefore right!
Finally we have
3. The attitude of Ahab
Ahab is a weak character.
He has been brought up to know the ways of God, but he only respects them when it suits him
Perhaps he never realised that Jezebel would murder a man to get his vineyard.
But like a spoilt brat – he wanted his own way
It was only when Elijah the prophet, who he hated but respected as a man of God told him that God would punish him, that he realised the enormity of the sin that he had allowed Jezebel to commit in his name.
We read of Elijah’s encounter with Ahab:
20 Ahab said to Elijah, "So you have found me, my enemy!"
"I have found you," Elijah answered, "because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. 21 ’I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. 22 I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.’
Ahab however has one redeeming feature – that we read at the end of the story
His repentance was genuine when Elijah pronounced judgement on him
27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.
28 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: 29 "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son."
Story: I watched a film on Tuesday night and one of the character’s Patrick Janes said this:
“All people die but very few people ever feel sorry.”
We see in two short verses the complex nature of King Ahab:
25 (There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. 26 He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.)
27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly.
Conclusion
We all listen to voices in our lives.
Significant people will influence our lives
And from these people we will develop our attitudes.
That is why it is important to get the right people round us.
That is why St Paul tells Christians that they should not marry non believers, because the non believers can pull us down.
(It is a different matter if you were an unbeliever when you got married- there St Paul tells us to stay with our husband or wife if they are willing)
And Ahab was a classic case – marrying a woman who did not fear God.
I would like to leave us with a question
What attitude do we CULTIVATE in our daily lives – not just in Church.
Do we recognise a bit of Ahab in all of us.
How we want the things of God and the nice things of life?
How does our Christian faith affect the way we do business.
I am sure Ahab never really wanted Naboth killed
He just wanted the vineyard and he turned a blind eye to the means that Jezebel got it for him.
The encouraging message from this story is that however low you get - it is never too late to repent.
Even some of the Nuremberg War Criminals – like Joachim von Ribbentrop, repented and found their way back to God before their execution in 1946.
And that is the Christian message of hope
The door to God is always open, all it requires is that we turn back to God
There is no one who is beyond the pale.
