“The inheritance of my fathers.” That’s what Naboth called his vineyard in verse 3, and just to make sure we get the point, the author repeats the same phrase in verse 4. In short, what made his vineyard important to Naboth wasn’t its fertility or its beauty or its location. It was precious to him because it had belonged to his ancestors, for who knows how many generations.

Of course, King Ahab didn’t share such reverence for the past, and why should he? He was only the second generation of his family to sit on the throne of Israel – his father Omri had seized power in a military coup against Zimri, who had in turn overthrown the previous king, Elah. Oh, and Omri himself had had to fight a civil war against the people who followed a man named Tibni in order to consolidate his own power over Israel (I Kings 16:8-22). In short, what Ahab had inherited from his fathers was not land but revolution, the idea that brute force is a sufficient reason to justify taking whatever one wishes.

And so, while Naboth refused to sell “the inheritance of my fathers,” all Ahab heard was “I will not give you my vineyard” (I Kings 21:6). As a man of the world, a man of pragmatism, Ahab had no use for sentimentality – he had no reverence for anything. And so when he could not bribe Naboth to get what he wanted, he pouted and refused to eat (I Kings 21:4). And so his wife Jezebel conspired to have Naboth falsely accused as an enemy of the king, so that when he was executed for his treason, his property would revert to the state (I Kings 21:9-15). She simply applied Ahab’s brutal, materialistic worldview more consistently, and thus more ruthlessly than he himself dared to do.

But the important part of this story is neither Naboth’s admirable reverence for the past, nor Ahab and Jezebel’s disgusting violence. No, what really matters is God’s perspective, the fact that God takes as dim a view of murder and theft as He does of failing to honor one’s ancestors (Exodus 20:12-13, 15). Because Ahab not only committed murder but also joined Jeroboam in perverting the proper worship of God, Elijah prophesied that Ahab and all his family would be swept away, just as they had murdered Naboth (I Kings 21:21-22).

And that’s the sobering truth that any would-be revolutionary needs to hear – it’s more important to be on the right side of God than the “right side of history.” For any political or cultural movement that rejects God’s law will always end up being rejected itself.

I Kings 21:17-26 (NASB)

17 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,
18 “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it.
19 “And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Have you murdered, and also taken possession?”‘ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs shall lick up your blood, even yours.”‘”
20 And Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” And he answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD.
21 “Behold, I will bring evil upon you, and will utterly sweep you away, and will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel;
22 and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and because you have made Israel sin.
23 “And of Jezebel also has the LORD spoken, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.’
24 “The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs shall eat, and the one who dies in the field the birds of heaven shall eat.”
25 Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him.
26 And he acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the sons of Israel.