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not give up the inheritance of his fathers; and he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. But Jezebel his wife came in to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? And the king said, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, saying, 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. He stated it falsely; he said, I may not do it. 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. This Jezebel was a heathen princess, and Ahab had broken the law of God by marrying her; and we shall soon see the evil of improper matrimonial connexions. She says to the king, her husband, It is not becoming thy dignity and power as a monarch, to lay to heart the denial of a subject. Hast thou set thine eye upon the vineyard? Show thyself an absolute prince, and seize upon it by force. Fear not; I will procure it for thee. Ahab wanted neither wit nor

wickedness; but, compared with Jezebel, he was a mere novice. So Jezebel wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal; which could not be done, probably, without the king's consent. Perhaps, it was the same seal, wherewith, before this event, she had sealed the death-warrants of the Lord's prophets. And this audacious woman sent the letters, thus royally sealed, unto the elders, and to the nobles, that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people; 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. As if done with a pious design, this artful woman proclaimed a fast, and ordered Naboth to be set on high, that every body might see him, and hear what was alleged against him. These suborned witnesses, called sons of Belial, were men of no conscience, ready to swear any thing for reward. Jezebel had joined both God and the king in the accusation, because if he had

blasphemed God, he would have been put to death, but his estate not forfeited; but if he had blasphemed God and the king, his estate would also be confiscated. And it is very strange, and melancholy, that the men of Naboth's own city, even the elders and the nobles, either through envy of Naboth, or fear of the queen, did as Jezebel had ordered them in her letters. They proclaimed the fast; they set Naboth, their neighbour, on high; they suborned the two children of Belial, as they are aptly named; and the men of Belial witnessed against innocent Naboth; and he was condemned. Then they carried

him forth out of the city, that the city might not be polluted, and stoned him with stones, that he died. Naboth had blasphemed neither God, nor the king. But these perjured men wished to ingratiate themselves with queen Jezebel, and perhaps envied so conscientious a man as Naboth, who worshipped Jehovah, as they worshipped Baal. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. And when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead; with a remorseless pleasure, that she had obtained it without pay, she 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. And when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose up, and without any crimination of the queen, or self-accusation, as we learn, he rode down in great pomp to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

But judgment will overtake the guilty. Now the Lord called unto Elijah, the prophet, saying, 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. And speak thou this to him, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And then prophesy this unto him. Thus saith the Lord, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab, consciencesmitten Ahab, said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? Ambitious and covetous men are prone to think all their enemies, who oppose, or do not sanction, their wicked schemes. And Elijah answered, I have

found thee; because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord. And, behold, the Lord will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. 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. Now there was none like unto this Ahab, who did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. He also did very abominably in following idols. And when Ahab heard the denunciation of holy Elijah, he rent his clothes, as was the Eastern custom in affliction, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in the hard, chafing sackcloth, and went softly, or barefoot, as mourners were wont to do. And therefore, the Lord said to Elijah, 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. It appears that Ahab's repentance was very superficial, as he did not put away his idols, nor restore the vineyard; and therefore the just judgment of God was only delayed in its catastrophe, until the day of his wicked son, who never had even the temporary penitence of his father.

For, in about three years after, we read, that the idolatrous Ahab, king of Israel, sought an artful alliance with the pious Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, whose son had married Ahab's daughter, to go up to battle against Ramoth in Gilead, in Syria. And the king of Judah said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. And the two kings joined affinity, forces to forces, and horses to horses, to go up.

Before they went up to battle, the two kings, sitting each on his throne, and decorated in their royal robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria, had all the prophets to prophesy before them. And Ahab's four hundred false prophets, who were seduced by a lying spirit, said unto Ahab, Go up, and prosper. But Jehoshaphat's one true prophet, whom Ahab hated, because

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he had never flattered him, prophesied in a vision. He saw the men of Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep without a shepherd; as men without a master. And for this prophecy of evil, king Ahab had him confined in a prison, and fed with the bread and the water of affliction, until his return in peace should falsify his augury. And the true prophet called upon the people, every one of them, to hearken, that if Ahab returned at all in peace, the Lord had not spoken by him.

Now after the two allied kings had gone up to Ramoth in Gilead, to war against it; the king of Israel said to the king of Judah, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. Thus king Ahab, being deceived by a lying spirit, disguised himself, and went into the battle. And thus king Jehoshaphat, having on the royal robes, and commanding the army, being taken for king Ahab, came very near being killed. For the Syrian king had commanded the thirty and two captains over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. But although the king of Israel, by his disguise, escaped captivity, or destruction, by the Syrian army; yet it appears, that the imprisoned prophet, eating his bread and water of affliction, at home, in his lonely cell, had spoken truly. For, moved no doubt by the invisible hand of God, a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote king Ahab between the joints of the harness; wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host, for I am wounded. And although the battle increased after this, yet did they stay up the king in his chariot against the Syrians, hiding his disaster, until he died at even. And the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. And one washed his chariot, and his armour, in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, according unto the word of the Lord. Thus was the prophecy of Elijah accomplished, In the manner that, as it should be rendered, not the place where, dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

But we have not yet done with that hairy man, whose loins were girt with a girdle of leather; that holy prophet of the Lord, Elijah the Tishbite. There remains another, and yet another, part of his prophecy to be fulfilled. And what became of the wicked Jezebel, who stirred up Ahab to his wickedness? and of whom it was prophesied, that the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel? This prediction was yet to prove a true one. For, we read, in another book of Scripture, that about fifteen years after, as we compute; and when Jehu, the captain, and furious chariot-driver, was anointed king of Israel, he was commanded to go, and to smite the wicked house of Ahab, that the blood of the murdered prophets, and the blood of Naboth, might be avenged at the hand of Jezebel. For this purpose, king Jehu went up and made desperate battle against the two kings, the son and grandson of the late king Ahab, and conquered and slew them, as it had been foretold. And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, the wicked queen-mother, Jezebel, heard of it. And instead of clothing herself in mourning, and praying for mercy, she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window; thinking perhaps that her sex would secure her, or her majesty daunt him. And as king Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, hoping probably to intimidate him, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? Who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs; that is, chamberlains or pages. And he said Throw her down. So they threw her down; perhaps. glad to be revenged upon their haughty and blood-thirsty mistress; or through fear, to court the clemency of Jehu toward themselves. So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses; and he trode her under foot. And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her; for she is a king's daughter. And they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. So hated and loathed was she, that no one cared to bury her, as had been foretold; and the dogs so mangled her body, that one could not say, This is Jezebel. Thus was the

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