When King Ahab approached the vineyard owner with an offer
of buying the vineyard from him, Naboth refused. The basis for his refusal was given as
obedience to God who had instructed him not to sell. The king went back to the palace, ‘sullen,
angry and sulking’ according to the Bible.
He felt that he had the right to this property when really it belonged
to someone else. His right of
entitlement put into place the strangest set of circumstances. Upon, seeing his bad mood, his wife Jezebel stated,
‘Is this how you act as king over Israel?
Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard…’ 1 Kings
21:7. She sets up a scenario of
entrapment enlisting others to spread rumors about the property owner. At her hand and with her plan, the owner was
stoned to death. The story goes on that
eventually God punished her by taking her life on the very land that she manipulated
circumstances in their favor.
Although the property owner was stoned to death, we cannot
lose perspective of how he lived his life. He was given the vineyard as an inheritance
from his father, but viewed it completely different. He had every right to sell what was given to
him but he understood that the Lord owned everything. He had a heart towards God and realized that
He was giver and taker of everything he possessed on earth. He allowed God the freedom to do whatever He wished
with whatever he owned. In sharp
contrast was the greedy couple who felt entitled to anything they wanted due to
their position in the land. They got
what they wanted but then had to pay the consequences for their manipulation of
circumstances.
God may allow our manipulation of details to bring us what
we want but we will eventually pay the price of disobedience. When we approach life with complete trust in
God and His provisions we will see everything as His and nothing as ours. We will realize that while we may be
entrusted with certain things God has the final say over its place in our life.
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