to rise (in various applications · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
down
רֵ֗דRed
H3381
to descend (literally · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
meet
קִרְאָהqirʼâh
H7125
an encountering
Ahab
אַחְאָ֥ב'ach.'Av
H256
Achab · proper noun, a man's name
king
מֶֽלֶךְMe.lekh-
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
Samaria
בְּשֹׁמְר֑וֹןbe.sho.me.Ron
H8111
Shomeron · preposition + proper noun, a place name
vineyard
בְּכֶ֣רֶםbe.Khe.rem
H3754
a garden or vineyard · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Naboth
נָב֔וֹתna.Vot
H5022
Naboth · proper noun, a man's name
down
יָ֥רַדYa.rad
H3381
to descend (literally · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
possess
לְרִשְׁתּֽוֹle.rish.To
H3423
to occupy (by driving out previous tenants · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 13:32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are…
2 Chronicles 22:9 And he sought Ahaziah: and they caught him, (for he was hid in Samaria,) and brought him to Jehu: and when they had slain him, they buried h…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 21:17–end
In these verses we may observe,
I. The very bad character that is given of Ahab (Kg1 21:25, Kg1 21:26), which comes in here to justify God in the heavy sentence passed upon him, and to show that though it was passed upon occasion of his sin in the matter of Naboth (which David's sin in the matter of Uriah did too much resemble), yet God would not have punished him so severely if he had not been guilty of many other sins, especially idolatry; whereas David, except in that one matter, did that which was right. But, as to Ahab, there was none like him, so ingenious and industrious in sin, and that made a trade of it. He sold himself to work wickedness, that is, he made himself a perfect slave t…
ELIJAH DENOUNCES JUDGMENTS AGAINST AHAB AND JEZEBEL. (Kg1 21:17-29)
Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?--While Ahab was in the act of surveying his ill-gotten possession, Elijah, by divine commission, stood before him. The appearance of the prophet, at such a time, was ominous of evil, but his language was much more so (compare Eze 45:8; Eze 46:16-18). Instead of shrinking with horror from the atrocious crime, Ahab eagerly hastened to his newly acquired property.
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 21:18
Go down to meet Ahab - This was the next day after the murder, as we learn from the above quotation, Kg2 9:26.
John Gill on 1 Kings 21:18
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 those tribes of Israel, of which Samaria was the head:
behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth: or "will be" by the time thou gettest thither; though the Arabic version is, he is "now" in the vineyard of Naboth:
whither he is gone down to possess it; as if it was his legal inheritance.
(g) Itinerar. p. 38.
The Church Fathers
And the Lord said to Elijah, "Get up, go down to meet King Ahab of Israel," and so on. Now, when Jezebel invited Ahab to come and take hold of the vineyard whose owners had been stoned, Elijah went out to meet him, precisely when he did not expect him, and approached him in order to reveal the shameful action which they thought no one else knew about. He reproached the king openly for stealing the vineyard and killing the righteous Naboth. But one may say: Is not Jezebel the one who prepared the death of Naboth? Ahab simply did not accept that his request was rejected by Naboth; he did not want to treat him badly or take his vineyard by force. However, if he claims the vineyard, since the inheritance is due to the king after the heirs are dead, as the law prescribes, we maintain that if Ahab had not sinned at all, it would have been impossible that the justice that absolves those who are oppressed might have wronged him. Nor would the prophet, who reproved him according to the command of the just Judge and had already condemned him twice, [have wronged him].And Elijah said to him, "Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam." To Jezebel too, the Lord said, "The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the boundaries of Jezreel." Such are the judgments that Elijah pronounced against the king and the queen: he gives them to the dogs, and the house of Ahab to destruction.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Boaz — Alacrity. (1.) The husband of Ruth, a wealthy Bethlehemite. By the “levirate law” the duty devolved on him of marrying Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4:1-13). He was a kinsman of Mahlon, her first husband.…
Naboth — Fruits, “the Jezreelite,” was the owner of a portion of ground on the eastern slope of the hill of Jezreel (2 Kings 9:25, 26). This small “plat of ground” seems to have been all he possessed. It was…
Stoning — A form of punishment (Lev. 20:2; 24:14; Deut. 13:10; 17:5; 22:21) prescribed for certain offences. Of Achan (Josh. 7:25), Naboth (1 Kings 21), Stephen (Acts 7:59), Paul (Acts 14:19; 2 Cor. 11:25).
Kings · Punished for transgressing the divine law — Punished for transgressing the divine law
Naboth · of Jezebel — of Jezebel
Prophets · Were sent to: Denounce the wickedness of kings — Were sent to: Denounce the wickedness of kings
Usurpation · .In or — .In or
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 21:16-19
But when Ahab went down to Jezreel to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, Elijah came to meet him by the command of God, with the word of the Lord, "Hast thou murdered and also taken possession?" The question served to sharpen his conscience, since Ahab was obliged to admit the fact. בּשׁמרון אשׁר means "who lives at Samaria," for when Elijah came to meet him, Ahab was in Jezreel, Elijah then said to him still further: "Thus saith the Lord: In the place where the dogs have licked the blood of Naboth, will they also lick thine, yea, thy blood." אתּה גּם serves as an emphatic repetition of the suffix (cf. Ges. 121, 3). This threat was only so far fulfilled upon Ahab, from the compassion…
Elijah delivered the Lord’s sentence against Ahab just as he was about to take possession of the vineyard. Because Ahab was responsible for the death of Naboth and the seizing of his field, Ahab and his family would be destroyed. The prophecy concerning Ahab’s children would be fulfilled in Jehu’s purging of Baal worshipers from Israel (2 Kgs 9:30-37; 10:1-11).
Rashi on 1 Kings 21:15
Get up and take possession. Some of our Sages say that the property of those executed by the king [belong] to the king. And some of them say3Some are of the opinion that even those executed by the king do not lose their right of having their property inherited by their closest of kin. Therefore they suggest that Achov was the son of, etc. that he was the son of his father’s brother. He killed him and his children and was therefore the legal heir to inherit his property.4See Maseches Sanhedrin 48b.
