1Ki 21:5<\/span><\/p>\n Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n A cure for the dumps<\/strong><\/p>\n The witty Sydney Smith once said, Never give way to melancholy, for if you do, it will encroach upon you like an overflowing river and overwhelm you. He added he had given twenty-four precautions to a lady of melancholy disposition to keep her from being sad. One of the things he recommended was to keep a bright fire in her room. Another of Sydney Smiths remedies for low spirits was to think over all the pleasant things you can remember. A third receipt was, always to keep a box of sugar-plums on the mantelpiece. Some of you would object to a sugar-plum when you go to a friends house, but at any rate, it would please the giver for you to accept it, and for myself I may say that it would give me pleasure to receive it. Another remedy for despondency prescribed by the humorous Canon was, to always have the kettle simmering on the hob. These of course are little things, but they have their influence. These fits of sadness and melancholy make good things appear bad, and they so disturb the balance of our reason as to cause us to imagine that even loving friends dislike us. Shakespeare puts into the mouth of the masterpiece of his creative genius, Hamlet, this excellent description of the feelings of people, who are in the dumps:–This goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a barren promontory; while that most excellent canopy, the air, look you; that great overhanging sky, that majestic roof, fretted with golden fire,–why! it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. When the lumbermen are floating great logs of wood down the river St. Lawrence, past the city of Quebec, from the interior of Canada–those great logs which are brought to Liverpool and along our canals and railways to be cut up in the saw-mills–it sometimes happens that one of these great logs from being in the river for more than one season, gets its millions of pores filled with water, when it becomes what is called water-logged. The log then sinks, through the water having got into its heart. Likewise, there are men and women who, while they are being carried along the stream of life, get so saturated with its cares and troubles that they sink; they are trouble-logged, and <\/strong>sometimes they die of what is called a broken heart. I think it is in our power to prevent people getting trouble-logged and sinking helplessly in the Slough of Despond. Cervantes, the finest writer of humour that Spain has produced, whose works raised a smile on peoples faces when they read or heard about them, was one of the saddest of men, his features having the marks of perpetual gloom upon them. Moliere, the greatest master of humorous writing in France, looked as <\/strong>if his face had been made ugly with disappointment and grief; while Foote, one of our most comic English writers and actors died of a broken heart. We all get at times into this hypochondriac way–We all get into the dumps at times, feeling as if there were no God. The victims of this mental disease of low spirits go through the world as if they were forsaken orphans, without a penny or a friend. There is the instance of Ahab, who had everything that a despotic king could desire, but he was not satisfied. In many cases our troubles and disappointments arise from our own fault. This seems to have been the case with Jacob. Few Scripture characters had more trouble or were oftener sad than Jacob, who said that all the days of his life had been evil, and that his children would bring down his grey hairs in sorrow to the grave. In modern times, few men have excited more morbid and undeserved sympathy than the poet, Lord Byron, who was often in the dumps. He inherited a passionate and proud nature, but his greatest trouble seems to have been his unfortunate club.foot, which he could neither hide nor put out of remembrance. This and his dissipation made his nature gloomy. Hear his words–<\/p>\n Melancholy<\/p>\n Sits on me as a cloud along the sky, And man–and is an everlasting mist.<\/p>\n Why should we punish ourselves because we cannot have what others have, and which instead of being a blessing might prove a curse? Why should we torment ourselves because somebody else has obtained what we wanted? Addison has <\/strong>beautifully described in an allegory the foolish way in which people are disappointed because their life is one of obscurity. He says, There was one day a drop of rain fell from a cloud into the ocean, and the drop of water bitterly complained and was sad of heart because it thought it was annihilated in the mighty expanse of the sea. But it dropped down into the open mouth of an oyster, where, in process of time, it was transformed and became a pearl, which at the present day is the ornament of the crown of the Persian monarch. This little fable teaches us not to repine at our lot. Though you may be feeble and humble as compared with other people, though you may not be beautiful or wealthy, and think yours is a disappointed lot, yet, like that drop of water, our God is preparing you to be an adornment of heaven. Do not therefore be cast down, or let your heart be grieved by any discouragement of birth or fortune in this life. (W. Birch.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Nemesis of a selfish life-<\/strong><\/p>\n A <\/em>man who lives entirely for himself becomes at last obnoxious to himself. I believe it is the very law of God that self-centeredness ends in self-nauseousness. There is no weariness like the weariness of a man who is wearied of himself, and that is the awful Nemesis which follows the selfish life. (J. H. Jowett.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The tyranny of self<\/strong><\/p>\n There can be no real happiness in the heart, where self is enthroned. If you would have peace, you must seize, bind, and never again let loose, for self is the cruellest tyrant, the deepest shadow, and the blackest blot that darkens life. To be rid of the despot, you must begin by placing others first in all your thoughts and actions; at this the coward drops his head; he hates another to be first. Next, give him no thought or consideration at all, and though at this neglect he cry out piteously, heed him not, for now is the time to bind him hard and fast with the cords of forgetfulness; then cast him far behind, and be careful to allow neither the call of pain nor pleasure to entice you into loosening one jot or tittle of his bonds, or, once set free, the monster will rise again, hydra-headed, and, towering above all else, enfold and crush you within his clutches, until you are no more free, but a slave, bound hand and foot, in the deadly meshes of over-mastering self. (Great Thoughts.<\/em>)<\/p>\n But Jezebel his wife came unto him, and said, why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread<\/strong>?] She perceived he was low spirited, and supposed he had met with something that had ruffled him, and made him so uneasy that he could not eat his food; and she desired to know what it was, that she might relieve him if possible.<\/p>\n Naboth Murdered by Jezebel.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 899.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? 6 And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another<\/I> vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. 7 And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and<\/I> eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them<\/I> with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were<\/I> in his city, dwelling with Naboth. 9 And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: 10 And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then<\/I> carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. 11 And the men of his city, even<\/I> the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and<\/I> as it was<\/I> written in the letters which she had sent unto them. 12 They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 13 And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even<\/I> against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died. 14 Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. 15 And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, 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. 16 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.<\/P> Nothing but mischief is to be expected when Jezebel enters into the story–that cursed woman,<\/I> 2 Kings ix. 34<\/I><\/span>.<\/P> I. Under pretence of comforting her afflicted husband, she feeds his pride and passion, and blows the coals of his corruptions. It became her to take notice of his grief and to enquire into the cause of it, v.<\/I><\/span> 5<\/span>. Those have forgotten both the duty and affection of the conjugal relation that interest not themselves in each other’s troubles. He told her what troubled him (v.<\/I><\/span> 6<\/span>), yet invidiously concealed Naboth’s reason for his refusal, representing it as peevish, when it was conscientious–I will not give it thee,<\/I> whereas he said, I may not.<\/I> What! says Jezebel (v.<\/I><\/span> 7<\/span>), Dost thou govern Israel? Arise, and eat bread.<\/I> She does well to persuade him to shake off his melancholy, and not to sink under his burden, to be easy and cheerful; whatever was his grief, grieving would not redress it, but pleasantness would alleviate it. Her plea is, Dost thou now govern Israel?<\/I> This is capable of a good sense: “Does it become so great a prince as thou art to cast thyself down for so small a matter? Thou shamest thyself, and profanest thy crown; it is below thee to take notice of so inconsiderable a thing. Art thou fit to govern Israel, who hast no better a government of thy own passions? Or hast thou so rich a kingdom at command and canst not thou be without this one vineyard?” We should learn to quiet ourselves, under our crosses, with the thoughts of the mercies we enjoy, especially our hopes of the kingdom. But she meant it in a bad sense: “Dost thou govern Israel,<\/I> and shall any subject thou hast deny thee any thing thou hast a mind to? Art thou a king? It is below thee to buy and pay, much more to beg and pray; use thy prerogative, and take by force what thou canst not compass by fair means; instead of resenting the affront thus, revenge it. If thou knowest not how to support the dignity of a king, let me alone to do it; give me but leave to make use of thy name, and I will soon give thee the vineyard of Naboth;<\/I> right or wrong, it shall be thy own shortly, and cost thee nothing.” Unhappy princes those are, and hurried apace towards their ruin, who have those about them that stir them up to acts of tyranny and teach them how to abuse their power.<\/P> II. In order to gratify him, she projects and compasses the death of Naboth. No less than his blood will serve to atone for the affront he has given to Ahab, which she thirsts after the more greedily because of his adherence to the law of the God of Israel.<\/P> 1. Had she aimed only at his land, her false witnesses might have sworn him out of that by a forged deed (she could not have set up so weak a title but the elders of Jezreel would have adjudged it good); but the adulteress will hunt for the precious life,<\/I> Prov. vi. 26<\/I><\/span>. Revenge is sweet. Naboth must die, and die as a malefactor, to gratify it.<\/P> (1.) Never were more wicked orders given by any prince than those which Jezebel sent to the magistrates of Jezreel, v.<\/I><\/span> 8-10<\/span>. She borrows the privy-seal, but the king shall not know what she will do with it. It is probable this was not the first time he had lent it to her, but that with it she had signed warrants for the slaying of the prophets. She makes use of the king’s name, knowing the thing would please him when it was done, yet fearing he might scruple at the manner of doing it; in short, she commands them, upon their allegiance, to put Naboth to death, without giving them any reason for so doing. Had she sent witnesses to inform against him, the judges (who must go secundum allegata et probata–according to allegations and proofs<\/I>) might have been imposed upon, and their sentence might have been rather their unhappiness than their crime; but to oblige them to find the witnesses, sons of Belial, to suborn them themselves, and then to give judgment upon a testimony which they knew to be false, was such an impudent defiance to every thing that is just and sacred as we hope cannot be paralleled in any story. She must have looked upon the elders of Jezreel as men perfectly lost to every thing that is honest and honourable when she expected these orders should be obeyed. But she will put them in a way how to do it, having as much of the serpent’s subtlety as she had of his poison. [1.] It must be done under colour of religion: “Proclaim a fast;<\/I> signify to your city that you are apprehensive of some dreadful judgment coming upon you, which you must endeavour to avert, not only by prayer, but by finding out and by putting away the accursed thing; pretend to be afraid that there is some great offender among you undiscovered, for whose sake God is angry with your city; charge the people, if they know of any such, on that solemn occasion to inform against him, as they regard the welfare of the city; and at last let Naboth be fastened upon as the suspected person, probably because he does not join with his neighbours in their worship. This may serve for a pretence to set him on high among the people,<\/I> to call him to the bar. Let proclamation be made that, if any one can inform the court against the prisoner, and prove him to be the Achan, they shall be heard; and then let the witnesses appear to give evidence against him.” Note, There is no wickedness so vile, so horrid, but religion has sometimes been made a cloak and cover for it. We must not think at all the worse of fasting and praying for their having been sometimes thus abused, but much the worse of those wicked designs that have at any time been carried on under the shelter of them. [2.] It must be done under colour of justice<\/I> too, and with the formalities of a legal process. Had she sent to them to hire some of their banditti, some desperate ruffians, to assassinate him, to stab him as he went along the streets in the night, the deed would have been bad enough; but to destroy him by a course of law, to use that power for the murdering of the innocent which ought to be their protection, was such a violent perversion of justice and judgment<\/I> as was truly monstrous, yet such as we are directed not to marvel at,<\/I> Eccl. v. 8<\/I><\/span>. The crime they must lay to his charge was blaspheming God and the king–<\/I> a complicated blasphemy. Surely she could not think to put a blasphemous sense upon the answer he had given to Ahab, as if denying him his vineyard were blaspheming the king, and giving the divine law for the reason were blaspheming God. No, she pretends not any ground at all for the charge: though there was no colour of truth in it, the witnesses must swear it, and Naboth must not be permitted to speak for himself, or cross-examine the witnesses, but immediately, under pretence of a universal detestation of the crime, they must carry him out and stone him.<\/I> His blaspheming God would be the forfeiture of his life, but not of his estate, and therefore he is also charged with treason, in blaspheming the king,<\/I> for which his estate was to be confiscated, that so Ahab might have his vineyard.<\/P> (2.) Never were wicked orders more wickedly obeyed than these were by the magistrates of Jezreel. They did not so much as dispute the command nor make any objections against it, though so palpably unjust, but punctually observed all the particulars of it, either because they feared Jezebel’s cruelty or because they hated Naboth’s piety, or both: They did as it was written in the letters<\/I> (1Ki 21:11<\/span>; 1Ki 21:12<\/span>), neither made any difficulty of it, nor met with any difficulty in it, but cleverly carried on the villany. They stoned Naboth to death (v.<\/I><\/span> 13<\/span>), and, as it should seem, his sons with him, or after him; for, when God came to make inquisition for blood, we find this article in the account (2 Kings ix. 26<\/span>), I have seen the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons.<\/I> Perhaps they were secretly murdered, that they might not claim their father’s estate nor complain of the wrong done him.<\/P> 2. Let us take occasion from this sad story, (1.) To stand amazed at the wickedness of the wicked, and the power of Satan in the children of disobedience. What a holy indignation may we be filled with to see wickedness in the place of judgment!<\/I> Eccl. iii. 16<\/I><\/span>. (2.) To lament the hard case of oppressed innocency, and to mingle our tears with the tears of the oppressed that have no comforter,<\/I> while on the side of the oppressors there is power,<\/I> Eccl. iv. 1<\/I><\/span>. (3.) To commit the keeping of our lives and comforts to God, for innocency itself will not always be our security. (4.) To rejoice in the belief of a judgment to come, in which such wrong judgments as these will be called over. Now we see that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked<\/I> (Eccl. viii. 14<\/span>), but all will be set to rights in the great day.<\/P> III. Naboth being taken off, Ahab takes possession of his vineyard. 1. The elders of Jezreel sent notice to Jezebel very unconcernedly, sent it to her as a piece of agreeable news, Naboth is stoned and is dead,<\/I> v.<\/span> 14<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. Here let us observe that, as obsequious as the elders of Jezreel were to Jezebel’s orders which she sent from Samaria for the murder of Naboth, so obsequious were the elders of Samaria afterwards to Jehu’s orders which he sent from Jezreel for the murder of Ahab’s seventy sons, only that was not done by course of law, 2Ki 10:6<\/span>; 2Ki 10:7<\/span>. Those tyrants that by their wicked orders debauch the consciences of their inferior magistrates may perhaps find at last the wheel return upon them, and that those who will not stick to do one cruel thing for them will be as ready to do another cruel thing against them. 2. Jezebel, jocund enough that her plot succeeded so well, brings notice to Ahab that Naboth is not alive, but dead;<\/I> therefore, says she, Arise, take possession of his vineyard,<\/I> v.<\/span> 15<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. He might have taken possession by one of his officers, but so pleased is he with this accession to his estate that he will make a journey to Jezreel himself to enter upon it; and it should seem he went in state too, as if he had obtained some mighty victory, for Jehu remembers long after that he and Bidkar attended him at this time, 2 Kings ix. 25<\/span>. If Naboth’s sons were all put to death, Ahab thought himself entitled to the estate, ob defectum sanguinis<\/I>—in default of heirs<\/I> (as our law expresses it); if not, yet, Naboth dying as a criminal, he claimed it ob delictum criminis<\/I>—as forfeited by his crime.<\/I> Or, if neither would make him a good title, the absolute power of Jezebel would give it to him, and who would dare to oppose her will? Might often prevails against right, and wonderful is the divine patience that suffers it to do so. God is certainly of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,<\/I> and yet for a time keeps silence when the wicked devours the man that is more righteous than he,<\/I> Hab. i. 13<\/I><\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Murder of Naboth, Verses 5-16<\/p>\n Out of Ahab’s childish pouting occurred one of the most dastardly deeds recorded in the Old Testament. The wicked Jezebel came to the front to secure the vineyard for her husband by hook and crook, with no concern for honesty and righteousness. In her own country it was an unheard of thing that a king could not have whatever he wanted, even to the trampling on the rights of a subject. The king’s right was always supreme. To Jezebel’s mind one did not rule unless he bore absolute power over all others.<\/p>\n When Jezebel learned that Ahab was taken to his bed and refusing to eat she went to find out the reason. Ahab told her it was because Naboth had refused his vineyard to the king. She mocked Ahab by asking whether he was indeed the ruler of Israel. But she encouraged him, urging him to let it not dishearten him, but to arise, take food, and enjoy himself. She would get the vineyard of Naboth for him. Ahab does not seem to have concerned himself with Jezebel’s methods for getting the vineyard. That awful woman took the king’s parchment and pen, wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealing them with his seal, and sent them to the chief men of Jezreel.<\/p>\n Jezebel evidently did not divulge the intent of her instructions to the elders and nobles of Jezreel to destroy Naboth. She told them how it should be done. They should proclaim a fast, as though to mourn some terrible sin of the town, and to put Naboth in the high seat as the culprit. They were to secure the services of two men of Belial to make false accusations against the good man. A “son of Belial” was a worthless and wicked person, ne’er-do-well town bum. The word has been wrongly capitalized in the English versions. It is not a proper name.<\/p>\n Naboth was to be accused of uttering blasphemy against both God and the king, a crime sufficiently grave as to demand the extreme penalty under Israelite law, death by stoning. There is no evidence that the town fathers questioned their instructions, nor did they recoil from carrying them out. They may have felt-obligated to the king for his having made their little town notable by locating his palace there. Or they may have simply feared the king more than they feared the Lord. They surely must have known Naboth was a good, honest citizen innocent of the trumped-up charges against him.<\/p>\n So Naboth was made the villain of the fast, being set up on high before all the people. Then the false witnesses made their appearance and sat before Naboth to make their accusation. They comprised the two or three witnesses required by the law (De 17:6). So Naboth was suddenly brought down from his high seat to be stoned to death for high crimes, so a wicked seductress and her knave husband could steal his vineyard.<\/p>\n By blaspheming God Naboth would have forfeited his right to possess the land, putting himself outside the vale of Israel and considered to be “cut off from his people.” Since the king had supposedly also been blasphemed he could confiscate the possession of the offender. That there be no question of Ahab’s succeeding to possession of the vineyard Naboth’s sons were stoned to death along with him (see 2Ki 9:26<\/span>). Both Jezebel and Ahab treated the deed with cold indifference so far as the innocent Naboth was concerned. The ungodly queen sent gloating word to her toady husband to arise and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, for he is now dead. Ahab promptly prepared to go down and finalize the confiscation.<\/p>\n Jezebel did not know, or had no appreciation of, God’s warning in the law of Moses, by which the kingdom was to be governed. Else she would have known that God said, “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time. For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste” (De 32:35).<\/p>\n 1Ki 21:5 But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?<\/p>\n Ver. 5. But Jezebel his wife came to him.<\/strong> ] This was well enough. Woman was first given to man for a comforter; but if sometimes for a counsellor, yet not at all for a controller, as this wicked woman took upon her to be.<\/p>\n Jezebel: 1Ki 21:25, 1Ki 16:31, 1Ki 18:4, 1Ki 19:2, Gen 3:6 <\/p>\n Why is thy spirit: 2Sa 13:4, Neh 2:2, Est 4:5 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: 1Ki 19:1 – Ahab 2Ki 3:2 – and like Jam 3:6 – a world<\/p>\n But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? 1Ki 21:5 Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? A cure for the dumps The witty Sydney Smith once said, Never give way to melancholy, for if you do, … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 21:5”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Which will not let the sunbeams through, nor yet
Descend in rain and end; but spreads itself
Twixt heaven and earth, like envy between man<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"