1 Kings 21:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Kings 21:2
And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Give
תְּנָהte.nah-
H5414
to give · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
vineyard
כַּרְמְךָ֜kar.me.Kha
H3754
a garden or vineyard · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
garden
לְגַןle.gan-
H1588
a garden (as fenced) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
herbs
יָרָ֗קya.Rak
H3419
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
near
קָרוֹב֙ka.rOv
H7138
near (in place · adjective, masculine singular absolute
unto
אֵ֣צֶל'E.tzel
H681
a side · noun, common both genders singular construct
house
בֵּיתִ֔יbei.Ti
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
give
וְאֶתְּנָ֤הve.'e.te.Nah
H5414
to give · conjunction + verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
better
ט֣וֹבTov
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
vineyard
כֶּ֖רֶםKe.rem
H3754
a garden or vineyard · noun, common masculine singular absolute
good
טוֹבṭôwb
H2896
good (as an adjective) in the widest sense
thee
בְּעֵינֶ֔יךָbe.'ei.Nei.kha
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
give
אֶתְּנָה'e.te.nah-
H5414
to give · verb, qal infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
worth
מְחִ֥ירme.Chir
H4242
price · noun, common masculine singular construct
money
כֶ֖סֶףKhe.sef
H3701
silver (from its pale color) · noun, common masculine singular construct
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 Samuel 8:14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
1 Timothy 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and per…
James 1:14-15 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she…
Genesis 16:6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled fr…
Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,…
Deuteronomy 5:21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidser…
Deuteronomy 11:10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wa…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 21:1-4
Here is, 1. Ahab coveting his neighbour's vineyard, which unhappily lay near his palace and conveniently for a kitchen-garden. Perhaps Naboth had been pleased that he had a vineyard which lay so advantageously for a prospect of the royal gardens, or the vending of its productions to the royal family; but the situation of it proved fatal to him. If he had had no vineyard, or it had lain obscure in some remote place, he would have preserved his life. But many a man's possessions have been his snare, and his neighbourhood to greatness has been of pernicious consequence. Ahab sets his eye and heart on this vineyard, Kg1 21:2. It will be a pretty addition to his demesne, a convenient out-let to h…
Give me thy vineyard - The request of Ahab seems at first view fair and honorable. Naboth's vineyard was nigh to the palace of Ahab, and he wished to add it to his own for a kitchen garden, or perhaps a grass-plat, גן ירק gan yarak; and he offers to give him either a better vineyard for it, or to give him its worth in money. Naboth rejects the proposal with horror: The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee. No man could finally alienate any part of the parental inheritance; it might be sold or mortgaged till the jubilee, but at that time it must revert to its original owner, if not redeemed before; for this God had particularly enjoined Lev 25:14-17, Lev…
And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs,.... For a kitchen garden to produce eatables of the vegetable kind for his household, or for a flower garden; and perhaps for both, as Kimchi observes, it being customary to have such in court yards, or behind the house; perhaps he might take his notion of an herb garden from his neighbours the Syrians, who were very diligent and laborious in cultivating their gardens, as Pliny (z); hence
"multa Syrorum olera'',
the many herbs of the Syrians, became a proverb with the Greeks:
because it is near unto mine house; lay very convenient for him:
and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than…
The Church Fathers
What Ahab said to Naboth, that is, that he would have given him the price of his vineyard or [another vineyard], was a lie. But Naboth did not sell his inheritance, first of all because he knew that [Ahab] would not have given him another vineyard in exchange and would not have kept his promise; second, because the Law forbade that an inheritance could be sold from one person to another; third, because the inheritance of the promised land, which they had received through the mediation of Joshua, was for them as precious as the kingdom of heaven is for us, and Naboth did not want to be deprived of that divine gift.
And he said to me, 'And I will have a vegetable garden.' This, therefore, was all madness, this was all madness, that the space should be sought for cheap vegetables. Therefore, you do not desire to possess it as something useful, but you want to exclude others. Your concern for the spoils of the poor is greater than for your own profits. You consider it an injury to you if a poor person has anything that can be valued as worthy of a wealthy possession. You consider it a loss to you, whatever is someone else's. What delights you in the expenses of nature? The world was created for all, yet few rich individuals attempt to defend it for themselves. For it is not only earthly possessions that are claimed, but even the heavens, the air, the sea, are claimed for the use of a few wealthy individuals.
Therefore let us hear what he says: Give me, he says. What other voice does a needy person have? What other voice does one demanding public assistance have, if not Give me, that is, give me, because I am in need: give me, because I cannot have any other means of living: give me, because I do not have bread for sustenance, money for drink, resources for food, substance for clothing: give me, because the Lord has given you what you should give, but has not given to me: give me, because unless you give, I will not be able to have: give me, because it is written: Give alms. How low, how base is this! They do not have the sentiment of humility, but the fire of greed. And in this very abjection, what impudence! 'Give me,' he says, 'your vineyard.' He confesses the desire to obtain what is undeserved.
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.…
Garden — Gardens in the East, as the Hebrew word indicates, are enclosures on the outskirts of towns, planted with various trees and shrubs. From the allusions in the Bible we learn that they were surrounded…
Gardens — Mentioned in Scripture, of Eden (Gen. 2:8, 9); Ahab’s garden of herbs (1 Kings 21:2); the royal garden (2 Kings 21:18); the royal garden at Susa (Esther 1:5); the garden of Joseph of Arimathea (John…
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).
Gardens · Kinds of, mentioned in scripture: Herbs — Kinds of, mentioned in scripture: Herbs
Herbs, & C · Cultivated in gardens — Cultivated in gardens
Indictments · .Naboth on the charge of blasphemy — .Naboth on the charge of blasphemy
Money · Silver used as — Silver used as
Naboth · of Jezebel — of Jezebel
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).
After these events Ahab was seized with such a desire for a vineyard which was situated near his palace at Jezreel, that when Naboth, the owner of the vineyard, refused to part with his paternal inheritance, he became thoroughly dejected, until his wife Jezebel paved the way for the forcible seizure of the desired possession by the shameful execution of Naboth (Kg1 21:1-15). But when Ahab was preparing to take possession of the vineyard, Elijah came to meet him with the announcement, that both he and his wife would be visited by the Lord with a bloody death for this murder and robbery, and that his idolatry would be punished with the extermination of all his house (Kg1 21:16-26). Ahab was so…
Naboth refused Ahab’s generous offer to buy or exchange land for his vineyard. While he may have desired to sell, Naboth noted that the law said that inherited property should stay in the family or tribe that originally owned it (Lev 25:23-28; Num 36:7-9). Unlike the kings of the surrounding nations, who could seize whatever property they wished (1 Sam 8:11-17), Ahab was bound by Israel’s law.
Rashi on 1 Kings 21:2
The worth of this one. This vineyard.1Achov did not attempt to take this vineyard by force because he was afraid of a popular rebellion if he were to act unjustly.—Radak
