“So Ahab went into his house
sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had
spoken to him; for he had said, ‘I will not give you the inheritance of my
fathers.’ And he lay down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat
no food.”
Have you ever considered the tenth commandment? “You
shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s
wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey,
nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
(Exodus 10:17) I have heard it said
that this is the only commandment that cannot be proven in a court of law. This is true because it is a condition of our
heart. God knows our hearts and He knows
how our hearts can control us. He
includes this in His Holy Law to protect us from ourselves. Covetousness is a dangerous sin that drives
us to other sins.
Ahab wanted Naboth’s garden.
It was conveniently next to the palace.
Seeking to buy a property is not a sin.
The woman in Proverbs 31 is praised for such diligence, “She considers a field and buys it; from her
profits she plants a vineyard.” (Proverbs 31:16) The difference here, though, is according to
Numbers 36:7 and Ezekiel 46:18, God did not want his people to sell their
property, except in dire situations, even then it would be leased or returned
in the year of Jubilee. The point being
that God gave them the land and they were to keep it within the tribe,
generation after generation. Ahab knew
the law, or should have known it, yet he tempts Naboth to sin in the sale of
his land, “But Naboth said to Ahab, ‘The
LORD forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!’” (1
Kings 21:3)
Naboth was presented with a choice we often see in our own
lives: will you obey God or obey
man? Naboth obeys God. Why Ahab becomes so distraught over Naboth’s
response can only be explained by obsessive covetousness. Good grief!
Ahab has the palace and all the perks of a king, what is this little
piece of land? Yet Ahab spirals downward
and becomes useless, he ceases to carry out his duties as a king.
“Discontent is a sin that is its own punishment and
makes men torment themselves; it makes the spirit sad, the body sick, and all
the enjoyments sour; it is the heaviness of the heart and the rottenness of the
bones. It is a sin that is its own parent. It arises not from the
condition, but from the mind. As we find Paul contented in a prison, so Ahab
discontent in a palace. He had all the delights of Canaan, that pleasant land,
at command the wealth of a kingdom, the pleasures of a court, and the honours
and powers of a throne; and yet all this avails him nothing without Naboth’s
vineyard. Inordinate desires expose men to continual vexations, and those that
are disposed to fret, be they ever so happy, will always find something or
other to fret at.” (Matthew Henry)
Oh that the story would have ended here. But what follows ranks near the top in the
saddest stories in Scripture. Jezebel,
that cursed woman, as Jehu calls her in 2 Kings 9:34, sets out to solve Ahab’s
problem. Not by getting Ahab to snap out
of it over such a small matter, but to engage elders and nobles to call for a
fast under the pretense of a pending judgment from God, seating Naboth at high
honor, and then to bear false witness against Naboth that he blasphemed God and
the king. Both actions Naboth is falsely
accused of are punishable by death.
These men must have been perfectly lost to all that is honest and
honorable. Jezebel’s letter “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.” (Matthew Henry)
It is awful to see the power of the law used to murder the innocent who
should be protected by the law.
Apparently it was not just Naboth that was killed, but 2 Kings 9:26
indicates that Naboth’s sons were also killed.
It is astounding, the wickedness of the wicked. Ahab’s coveting – breaking the tenth
commandment – of Naboth’s garden brought about such villany: bearing false testimony against Naboth
(breaking the ninth commandment), murdering Naboth and his sons (breaking the
sixth commandment), and stealing his land (breaking the eighth
commandment). When Ahab hears that Naboth is dead, he goes
to take possession of the garden. It is
at the very time when Ahab takes possession that God sent Elijah to try and
condemn Ahab. The judgment is pronounced
which puts Ahab into mourning. Ahab
never gets to take possession of that which he gained by fraud.
Beware of breaking the tenth commandment. Are
you inordinately obsessed with obtaining some material item? Do you feel bodily sick that you do not have
it? Keep in mind, every form of
advertising (television, internet, billboard, magazines) are all constructed to
bring discontent with our present situation.
It is designed to tell us we are what we have and what we have is not
good enough, not easy enough, not connected enough, not networked enough, or it
is just plain obsolete.
Does some other type of discontent have a grip on you? Are you jealous over a co-worker’s promotion
instead of celebrating with them? Are
you jealous over someone else’s ministry?
Are you depressed and unable to function in your responsibilities? Can you always find something to fret at?
Maybe you cannot see the abundance of blessing God has
bestowed upon you. Pray that God’s
desires be your desires. Pray that God
help you see how wonderful He is and how wonderfully He has blessed you. Flee from the people who say you just need to
follow your heart to be happy. Scripture
says “The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can
overcome and be obedient to the tenth commandment, and therefore the other commandments. God’s law is perfect and holy, and He gave it
to us for our own protection.
“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things
as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake
you.’” (Hebrews 13:5) We have Jesus
and His gift of salvation. Praise
God! Is that enough for you? It was enough for Paul in prison.
May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment