1 Kings chapter 21

This study is a deep dive into the Bible verses about Jezebel and Ahab. We start in I Kings where she is spoken about DIRECTLY first. The thing about Jezebel is that there is a spirit that is referred to as a Jezebel Spirit and the thing about Ahab is, there is a spirit named after him too. These two will often work together and are known by society as Narcissist and Enabler/co-dependant or Psychopath and Enabler/co-dependant…. basically a Jezebel Spirit causes a person to have characteristic and traits that are listed in the descriptions of the disorders covered in the dark triad /cluster B. The Ahab spirit causes a person to become co-dependant and to enable the Jezebel spirit. This study will also include clinic descriptions of narcisism , co-dependancy and enabling along with the Bibles descriptions of the same traits. This study will be a few post long…stopping when the subject is covered.

21 ¹And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

This vineyard was close to the palace, located in an ideal location to serve the palace.

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.

³ And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.

On the surface it seems harmless enough to ask the owner to buy this vineyard, but looking a bit deeper, Ahab…. the king who was fully aware of the Law of God governing inheritance was asking Naboth to commit a sin by selling his son’s inheritance to him, something forbidden. God expects his leaders, especially the King, to uphold the Law and to encourage others to do so as well…. so what Ahab was doing here was evil and sinful…just by asking. Naboth held to the Law and denied Ahab. This shows that Naboth was a man who loved God and followed the Law. He didn’t haggle with Ahab for more money, he didn’t ask for a better vineyard…. he said No, because it was forbidden in the law and that was enough of a reason for Naboth to deny Ahab.

⁴ And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

Here we see Ahab having a tantrum over being denied what he wanted.

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 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 eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

Ahab was upset because his offer was rejected in favor of God’s law….he wanted what he wanted and God’s law was stopping him by being upheld by Naboth. Here he was the King and he couldn’t just take what he wanted because even as King, God’s Law is the authority. So, Jezebel works him up by asking him if he governs Israel leading him to believe it is his right to take what he wants. Jezebel does not follow God, she follows Idols and was born into a family that worshiped idols, but Ahab was raised with the Law and grew up this way, he knew better.

⁸ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.

She hatched a plan to obtain that vineyard, and that plan was to murder a man of God and take it from him. It was not beyond her to use the Law as a weapon against Naboth, the very Law that Naboth was trying to live by when he denied Ahab the ownership of his vineyard.

⁹ And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people:

So she wrote letters to the elders pretending to be King Ahab and told them to proclaim a fast and to bring Naboth in front of the courts to answer for an accusation against him. This shows she knew how to use the system to do harm to Naboth and how to manipulate the elders into murdering Naboth.

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 carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.

¹¹ And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was 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 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.

Jezebel then sent two scoundrels to the courts to testify against Naboth. The thing he was being accused of was so bad, Jezebel knew the anger of the people would be against Naboth for the accusation alone. Two witnesses with the same story was enough for this court. They were so angry about what Naboth was alleged to have said, they didn’t stop to even consider that they were being lied to.

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.

From these text it appears that Jezebel is ruling…. but God didn’t call or annoint her to do this, he called Ahab. Look at what Jezebel said here when she told Ahab that Naboth was dead… she mentioned that he refused to sell the vineyard to him for money, like it was some justification for having the man framed and then murdered. This is the Jezebel/Ahab agreement, she is keeping his conscious from feeling convicted for his part in murdering Naboth by suggessting Ahab was entitled.

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.

¹⁷ And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

¹⁸ Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.

¹⁹ And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

Here is where the Ahab is confronted by Elijah, send by God….and notice that Ahab is directly accused of killing Naboth and stealing the vineyard. Ahab knew the Law… and he knew he couldn’t just take this vineyard…so he manipulated Jezebel into doing his dirty work, knowing full well she had no constraints or bothered conscious to do so. They worked in consort with one another to this end, and both are guilty. I don’t think Ahab thought that he would be held accountable since, technically, he did take direct action to murder Naboth. I believe however that God saw that Ahab knew in his heart that his sad tantrum about being denied would propel Jezebel into action and that she would be his heavy.

²⁰ And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.

²¹ Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,

²² And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.

He made Israel to sin… because he had no regard for the Law of God and was driven by greed.

²³ And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.

²⁴ Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.

²⁵ But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

That verse shows how these two worked together and how Ahab is being partnered with Jezebel in her crimes and sins against the Children of Israel… and I wonder if Ahab thought because he wasn’t the one doing it or even asking that it be done, that he would be guiltless. Like a co-dependent who knows what their partners do to provide the luxury they love, but they think it’s still ok because they aren’t doing anything.

²⁶ And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.

²⁷ And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.

Ahab comes under conviction when he is confronted by the man of God and find out that he isn’t going to be guiltless, he knows now that everything that Jezebel did to Naboth is also on his hands. This causes him to repent. Now Jezebel would never repent, she would double down and continue her own methods of dealing with things.

²⁸ And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

²⁹ Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.

Ahab repented… because Ahab has a conscious. He had found a way to get what he wanted and not trigger his conscious to convict him because he could rationalize that he himself had not murdered Naboth or written the letters, it was Jezebel. When he found out that this was not so, he humbled himself, knowing how grave the sin was and repented. Jezebel reacted differently…there was no repentence, just raging and anger, death treats and attempts at seduction.