Naboth's Vineyard and God's Divine Justice: Part One

Ahab wanted a vineyard and promised a fair deal, but Naboth refused because it was his inheritance. That single refusal exposes a whole theology of leadership: some people see legacy as holy, others see it as a commodity. We walk through 1 Kings 21 and the chilling chain reaction that follows, from Jezebel’s false witnesses to Elijah’s blunt question, “have you killed and also taken possession?” If you care about biblical ethics, spiritual authority, or how power bends language to justify sin, this story refuses to stay in the past.

We also trace how God’s word echoes forward into 2 Kings 9, where Jehu is anointed and the prophecy is repeated word for word. The details matter: the timing shifts, the messenger changes, and the delivery is delegated, but the message does not move an inch. Along the way we talk about divine judgment, repentance that delays consequences without erasing them, and why Scripture can be both merciful and relentless at the same time.

Then we bring it down to leadership you can actually use. Leading people eventually turns into leading leaders, and that means delegation, clear intent, and an ego check when others do it differently than you would. If you’ve struggled to let go, train others, or trust the process, this conversation gives you language for the tension and a framework rooted in the Old Testament narrative of Ahab, Jezebel, Elijah, Elisha, and Jehu. 

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Transcript

Deacon Whipple Sets The Tone

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey friends, this is Deacon Ahab P. Whipple telling you all to mind your manners, watch your language, and be good boys. Now, friends, we know that masculinity is pretty much synonymous with carnality, because my wife Jessie said it was, and she's never wrong. But she got to telling me how crude these guys boned and seed up are on this bofolio podcast one of the ladies in her women's group was complaining about. But she said that they even used one of them four-letter words, one of them mommy washed her mouth out with soap words while talking about church affairs. But since she wasn't happy about it, that made me so mad I had to put on my khakis and loafers and come tell you about it myself. Friends, there's just no kind of place for that kind of talk. Why, I haven't seen her that riled up since our Yorkie pottied in the potpourri. And seeing her like that got me more emotional than when I'm at the end of one of my solos at church. Anyway, I forgot where I was going with all that. Oh yeah, them woof-you'll guys aren't nice and upset Miss Jesse. Remember, this is Deacon Ahab P. Whipple reminding you that when you obey your wife, you're obeying the Lord.

Naboth’s Vineyard And Ahab’s Greed

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Had a story pop up two or three times in last couple months of my Bible reading and all that, and Bones and I were talking about it, and I think we came to the mutual agreement. There's some significance here. So we have actually talked about this in one of our previous episodes. Just going to rehash the story here. Ahab had just received a word from a prophet, and he was unhappy about it. As he's mulling over this word that he got from this prophet, he sees this dude, uh Naboth the Jezreelite. He has a vineyard in Jezreel, right beside Ahab's palace. Over He's the king of Samaria, king of Israel. And he wants him to give us his vineyard. He says, Man, I'll pay you. Man, it'd be good for me. I'll even give you a better vineyard. I think this is one of the important things about it. But Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. He viewed the vineyard as an inheritance. Ahab viewed it as an asset. Right. He viewed it as a piece of property. Naboth viewed it as heritage, as an inheritance. I hear the the the the I hear value and worth in the world. Yes. Ahab Ahab viewed it as one more thing to possess, another toy. And he ain't even going to use it for his rifle purpose. It's a vineyard. He wants to turn it into a vegetable garden. And so he says, No. Ahab is this is all in 1 Kings 21. Jezebel get she she wants she wants to know why Ahab is so downtrodden, why his face is so sullen. He says, Naboth won't won't sell me his vineyard. She said, Are you not the king? And she basically gets some false witnesses to come up against Naboth. Says he cursed the king. You know, he says, Cursed God and the king. Has them put to death, and they take hold of the vineyard. Now, this goes down to verse 17 and 1 Kings 21. 1 Kings. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down and meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone to take possession. And you shall say to him, Thus says the Lord, have you killed and also taken possession? And you shall say to him, Thus says the Lord, in the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick your own blood. Ahab says to Elijah, Have you found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that was e to do what is evil inside of the Lord. Behold, I will bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up and cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free in Israel. And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasha, son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you have made Israel to sin, and of Jezebel, the Lord said, The dog shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel, and anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city, the dog shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country, the birds of the heavens shall eat. Ahab was one of the most evil kings that ever been. And then it says in verse 27, And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about dejectedly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite and said, Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days, but in his son's days, and I will bring disaster upon his house.

Elijah’s Warning And Ahab’s Humbling

SPEAKER_01 5:55

A little uh little abuse of power and authority. Yeah. So one of the interesting things that happens here is two chapters before this, you have the experience with Elijah in the cave. Okay. And after he, you know, sees the things passed before him that God caused, but were not of God, and he hears the still small voice, and and he has his reckoning with the Lord, it says, The Lord said to him in 1 Kings 19, this is verse 15. The Lord said to him, Go return your way in the wilderness of Damascus, and when you arrive, you shall anoint Haziel to be king over Syria, and Jehu, son of Nimshe, you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel, of Abel Meholah, you shall anoint to be prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazel shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. That's before the whole Nabah thing even happened. Ahab dies, we've we've covered that. And guess what? The dogs lick up the blood. He he goes back, and where does he die? Right in this right in that same vineyard.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

In the vineyard.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

And the dogs, what do they do? They lick up the blood. Lick up the blood. Here's what happens though. You have Ahab dies. There is another king, his son, named Joram.

SPEAKER_02 7:48

Now, Joram's doing just like Pops.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

He's another evil king. In addition, they have, I believe, Ahab's daughter. You can read this a couple chapters ahead over in 2 Kings 10, 2 Kings 11. There's this girl named Atalia, or Athaliah, however you want to say it, however it's you know pronounced. She marries Ahaziah, who was a wicked king of Judah. So if you're familiar with the story of uh Joash, that was her grandson, and so there's a whole bunch of things that get ready to go down. But but you've really had this period where things have kind of marinated. Out of all the people, you really don't see, you know, Elisha or Elijah never anoints Jehu.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Never does.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

I don't even think he anoints Hezeel. I think it might be Elisha that does that. So out of the one that he does, he does anoint Elisha, but the other two, no. So if you skip forward to 2 Kings, you know Elijah's been taken into heaven, right at the beginning of 2 Kings. Says Elisha the prophet called this is uh 2 Kings 9 verse 1. Then Elisha prop the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, this is one of his servants, one of those with whom he's associated with, and said to him, Tie up your garments, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. And when you arrive, look there for Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshe. When when you go in and have him rise from among his fellows, and lead him to an inner chamber, then take the flask of oil and pour it on his

A Commission And The Power To Delegate

SPEAKER_01 10:03

head, and say, Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel. Then open the door and flee, and do not linger. The commission was Elijah's. I just I've always found this interesting. The commission is Elijah's. Elijah anoints Elisha, and Elisha don't even personally do this.

SPEAKER_02 10:29

He commissions it, he he delegates.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

I'm just gonna say this too. If if you're in charge, if uh the good Lord is so fit, or whoever you work for is saw fit to put you in charge, learn to delegate. It'll make things easier. Just saying. You don't have to do it all. And you're talking you're listening to a guy who one of my one of my flaws is I want to do it all because I know it's done right. Lord's been dealing with me about that quite often here in the last five or six years. Can't do it all. Got gotta raise up leaders, got to delegate. So there's that little leadership nugget there. So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth Gilead, and when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were in council, and he said, I have a word for you, O commander. And Jehu said to which of us all? And he said, To you, O commander. So he arose and went into the house, and the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of the Lord over Israel, and you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants, the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free in Israel. And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, son of Ahijah, and the dog shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her. That is verbatim, exactly what Elijah told Ahab. Right. Then he opened the door and fled. Gotta go. Here's another little nugget in this story before we get to discussing it too much. Oh, I got a word. I got a word. I got a word. Yeah, when what if the word doesn't even need you to be there? There there's no variation in the word that was spoken over in 1 Kings 19. Or actually 1 Kings 21. There there's no variation in 1 Kings 21 and 2 Kings 9. It's the exact same verbatim word given by two different people. You know, in today's modern times, there's a lot of people, well, you know, Elijah said that. I'm not sure about this Elijah guy, it really didn't come to pass. You know, the word is certain. The timing, God knows.

unknown 13:28

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Even Jesus talking about his own return. Oh, well no. The father knows. I don't.

Jehu Anointed And The Word Repeats

SPEAKER_01 13:36

So, verse 14. Thus Jehu, the son of Jehosaphat, the son of Nimshe, conspired against Joram. Now Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramath Gilead against Hezeel, king of Syria. But King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hezeel, king of Syria. So Jehu said, If this is your decision, then let no one slip out of the city and go and tell the news in Jezreel. Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come down to visit Joram. You know, they're kind of related now by marriage. Now the watchman was standing in the tower of Jezreel, he saw the company of Jehu as he came and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horseman and send to meet them and let them say, Is it peace? So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me. And the watchman reported, saying, The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back. Nothing like good messengers, man. Then he sent, he knew what was up, and I ain't getting caught up in this. Then he sent out a second horseman who came at them and said, Thus says the king, is it peace? And Jehu answered, What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me. And again, the watchman reported, he reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu, son of Nimshe, for he drives seriously. Joram said, Make ready and make re and they made ready his chariot. Then Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu, and met him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. Here we go. Here we go. And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, Is it peace, Jehu? He answered and said, What peace can there be so long as the whorings and sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many? When you start talking about the whorings and sorceries of somebody's mother, you're definitely not seeking peace, bud.

unknown 15:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Then Jorah. We done come to the scripture equivalent of the Yomama.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Yo mama.

Judgment Arrives Back At The Vineyard

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yeah, up in the vineyard.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah.

unknown 15:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

The the abonical translation would be then Jehu proceeded to play the Dustins. And there was a fight on bus eleven. Y'all don't know about Plasky County Bus 11 back in the day. Then Joram reigned about and fled and said to Ahaziah, Treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew his bow at full strength and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart and he sank in his chariot. Jehu said to Bidkar, his aide, Take him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember, when you and I rode side by side behind behind Ahab his father, how the Lord made this pronouncement against him. As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the s and the blood of his sons, declares the Lord, I will repay you on this plot of ground. Now therefore take him up and throw him on the plot of ground in accordance with the word of the Lord. And when Ahaziah, the king of Judah, saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth Hagan. And Jehu pursued him and said, Shoot him also, and they shot him. And the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is by Iblim. And he fled to Megiddo and died there. His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and they buried him in the tomb where his uh with his fathers in the city of David. And talks about little rain change.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Well, you go over here in verse 30. Jehu's on a roll.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

This continues into the next chapter. We're not going to go there. This continues into the next chapter. When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. She painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window. And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, Is it peace? You is is it peace, Eusimri, murder of your master? And then he lifted up his face to the window and said, Who is on my side? Who? Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. He said, Throw her down. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, and they trampled on her. Then he went in and ate and drank, and he said, See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter. But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than her skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. When they came back and told him, he said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, in the territory of Jezreel the dog shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field of the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel. In the next chapter, it says Ahab has seventy sons. He kills them all. He's taking this thing literally. And then he finds all the prophets of Baal. And then he goes and has every one of them killed. The house

Jezebel’s End And Jehu’s Purge

SPEAKER_01 19:20

of Baal torn down, and in good old military fashion, has it turned into a latrine. George S. Patton would be proud. So man, this Jehu. Here's an interesting thing. The vineyard just really stuck out at me this time reading around. The vineyard of Naboth. It is the site of a great wrong. It's a wrong that's so severe and so atrocious that divine judgment is pronounced. It is the place, even though Ahab repents to a degree, it just delays the inevitable. Interesting thing though, there's a couple couple things about Jehu. Jehu is going to record as not a perfect man. He's not. Everybody that wants their leaders to be perfect, I highly encourage you to read some of these stories here. You're not going to find an old testament leader that's perfect. It's also going to have their flaws. And we have this idea as Christians that because we did have the perfect leader walk the earth 2,000 years ago, that everybody else that you know ascribes to be a Christian is going to be a perfect leader. That ain't the case.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Elisha and Jehu keep calling that Naboth's Vineyard. Even though it's been taken from him, they keep calling it Naboth's Vineyard, which I think is very interesting because what it tells me is that you may have something taken from you.

Legacy Stolen Then Renamed For The World

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Because the gifts of God are without repentance. As I was reading through this, he texted me the other day. I started looking at Naboth, a vineyard, a vegetable garden. Naboth's names mean his name means fruit. That's what name means. And this is his inheritance. Another word for inheritance in the scripture is legacy. This is his legacy. But we're talking about a vineyard, which is used for grapes, which are used for wine, which typically uh symbolizes uh fruit of the spirit or the spirit. Um but the vegetable garden can symbolize fruits of the earth or fruits of the world. So now we have the enemy is trying to take away someone's legacy and use what God has purposed for spiritual fruit to be used in the spirit, used for his purpose, and somebody has taken it now, wants to use it for the purpose of worldly things. And it ain't happening. That sounds like a lot of the modern churches. Amen. Had a conversation with a friend of mine today, and it blessed my heart. Uh her son uh is, I believe, is an alignment apprentice, I believe is what he's doing. And anyway, recently got sent out east. I hope she don't get mad at me for telling the story. Uh anyway, got sent out east uh as a result of all these storms here recently, and came home the other day, and of course, his mother asked him how'd it go? Do you know to do right? Because he was kind of nervous about going out there, he's being an apprentice. Uh, just kind of his first real call out and everything. And so, how'd it go? Did everything go okay? He's like, Well, mom says, I can't believe all the gay pride flags we've seen on all the churches out there.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Of course, now what was interesting, out of all the stuff that he was going through and was worried about uh having to do uh according to his job and everything, that's what he keyed in on, and that's what he noticed. And his mother was kind of proud of him, and I was too really uh, that that's what bothered him. The gay pride flags on all the churches, um, which I can attest to having just come back from out east in in May, that's they're out there, they're big, especially among the Methodist uh churches. Um, they're out there. Yep. So we do have this uh this kind of spirit happening where people are trying to steal Naboth's vineyard and uh convert it to uh a place where people can sow the fruits of the world. And uh this story tells me that uh that's not gonna happen for very long. No. Uh God's faithful in his word, and he's he's gonna bring about uh he's gonna bring about judgment uh on that, I do believe. So anyway, that's just kind of what I saw as I was reading it over the last day or two. Um you see God's faithfulness, you see guys' judgment. There's a lot of other things to be seen in this too. Uh, I like what you saw. We're talking about leadership

Leading Leaders Without Ego

SPEAKER_00 25:26

and delegating. Anybody who leads men or leads people, uh, at some point is going to be expected to lead leaders. Yes. And if you that can be a very hard transition because part of a big part of leading leaders is that delegation and taking your hands off of a lot of things and allowing those leaders, those subordinate leaders, to do things that you would have normally done. And if they don't do things the way you would have normally done, that can be even harder, letting them develop in their own leadership styles and everything else. Um, but anyway, that's a different rabbit hole.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Yeah. Well, one thing about the leaders, though, just saying because you, you know, you've been there, I've been there, and it's a big ego hit. You you gotta set that aside. Uh when you've developed the leaders and you've delegated, you gotta try first of all, you gotta communicate effectively. They gotta know the commander's intent. But once they do, you're entrusting them with something knowing full well that failure is a possibility. In addition, I do love this, but man, it makes me nervous from time to time. Yep. You gotta understand they might not do it exactly like you. No, no, and you go, uh-oh. That's not how I would have done it, which is the ego. Now, what I've been pleasantly surprised in some of the guys that I've helped train over the years and in what we do, they do it better. Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

And that's and I was like, man, there is nothing more satisfying than another leader coming up to you and saying, Hey, that guy over there, that that one of yours? Yeah. I mean, that guy is that guy's that guy's straight. He's he's uh he's a good one. Uh, because that lets you know you've done your job right.

SPEAKER_04 27:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Um, but everybody has to have the ability to develop their own leadership style. Um, some folks will develop it naturally, some folks have to be coached a little bit and taught a little bit. And some folks need a little bit more hands-on. Um, a good leader will know when that time is. But man, there's nothing greater than when someone else comes along and compliments one of the folks that you had a hand in training.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

Everybody, thanks for

Where To Find Us Next

SPEAKER_01 28:04

listening. We're going to continue this discussion about God's divine judgment, mapos vineyard, and leadership in our next episode. You can always check us out at wofoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcast Spotify or check us out on YouTube. Remember, if you're going to grow, you got a woefoo. Get in the word for yourself.