1After these things, Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard which was in Jezreel, next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near my house; and I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money.”
3Naboth said to Ahab, “May Yahweh forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!”
4Ahab came into his house sullen and angry 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.” He laid himself down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. 5But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, “Why is your spirit so sad that you eat no bread?”
6He said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if it pleases you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ He answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”
7Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” 8So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. 9She wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 10Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death.”
11The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had instructed them in the letters which she had written and sent to them. 12They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 13The two men, the wicked fellows, came in and sat before him. The wicked fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king!” Then they carried him out of the city and stoned him to death with stones. 14Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned and is dead.”
15When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.”
16When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
17Yahweh’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18“Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. 19You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.”’”
20Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?”
He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in Yahweh’s sight. 21Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. 22I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Israel to sin.” 23Yahweh also spoke of Jezebel, saying, “The dogs will eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. 24The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the field.”
25But there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. 26He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel.
27When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his body, fasted, lay in sackcloth, and went about despondently.
28Yahweh’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29“See how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but I will bring the evil on his house in his son’s day.”
The Jezreel Valley is the triangular breadbasket of the Land of Israel, stretching about 20 miles on each of its three sides. Even its name means “God sows,” something that Hosea 1:11 and 2:21-23 uses for a play on words. While Jezreel was allotted to Issachar (Josh 19:18) in the lower Galilee region, it was not able to be taken until the time of Saul and David; and thus the valley is likely to be equated with “Horoshet HaGoim”—the Plowed Fields of the Gentiles, in this time, mainly the Egyptians (see Rainey and Notley, The Sacred Bridge, pp. 150-151). This fertile valley shares the name Jezreel with the town Jezreel, now known as Zerin (Arabic) or Tel Yizreel (Hebrew). Since Jezreel the city is not mentioned before the Israelite period, it seems likely to be founded by the Israelites. The Jezreel Valley is also known as the Esdraelon Valley in the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, and on the west side of the Valley is HarMegdon, more commonly known as Armageddon (Revelation 16:16).
Saul and the Israelite army camped at a spring near Jezreel against the Philistines (1 Sam 29:1). Under Solomon, Jezreel is part of the border of the fifth district of the kingdom (1 Kgs 4:12). Under Ahab (9th century b.c.), Jezreel had become the winter capital of the Israelite kingdom and we hear about Naboth’s vineyard in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab, King of Samaria, in 1 Kgs 21:1. The Usurper King Jehu had a famous chariot ride from Ramot Gilead (in Jordan) and then killed both kings of Israel and Judah as well as Jezebel who was thrown out of an upper story palace window (2 Kgs 9:32). Previously Elijah had run before Ahab’s chariot when he returned to his palace in Jezreel (1 Kgs 18:46). It may be that Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers took place near Jezreel as Luke 17:11-19 reports that he was passing “between Samaria and Galilee.” [footnote: See H.G.M. Williamson, “Jezreel in the Biblical Texts,” Tel Aviv 18 (1991):72-92; and subsequent reports in Tel Aviv.]
Tel Jezreel was excavated by David Ussishkin and John Woodhead, but unfortunately almost nothing was preserved for posterity. Thankfully, with the few stones left and the overview of the Jezreel and Harod Valleys, one can still be greatly helped in reimagining the Biblical stories.