1 Kings 21:16

1Ki 21:16 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.

Ver. 16. Ahab rose up to go down] But better sit still than rise and fall. Josephus saith that he leaped for joy of the good news, and forthwith went to take possession. And yet Ambrose, Sulpitius, and some Greek copies have it that Ahab, hearing it, rent his clothes and put on sackcloth. This is not so likely.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ahab rose up to go down--from Samaria to Jezreel.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(16) When Ahab heard.—It is characteristic of Ahab that he takes care to ask no question about Naboth’s death, desirous “to be innocent of the knowledge,” and yet tacitly to “applaud the deed.” The guilt is Jezebel’s; the fruit, his own. In the LXX. there is here a curious and striking insertion: “he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth,” representing Ahab as struck with momentary horror, and then, after thus salving his conscience, still resolving to carry out his desire for the coveted vineyard. The picture is equally true to nature, especially to such a nature as his. But the insertion has little authority, and is probably a mistaken interpolation from 1Ki_21:27.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead] Here the LXX. adds ‘he rent his garments and covered himself with sackcloth’. This clause must be entirely out of place. Josephus gives us a detail far more in harmony with Ahab’s character. He says (Ant. viii. 13, 8) ‘And Ahab was pleased with what had been done, and sprang up from his bed, and went to see Naboth’s vineyard’. There was certainly no time lost by him. His entry on the possession seems to have been made the very next day after Naboth’s death. We learn afterwards (2Ki_9:26) that Jehu and Bidkar rode with Ahab at the time, and so appalling was the curse which Elijah pronounced on the wretched king that it was imprinted on Jehu’s memory and he could quote it many years afterwards, apparently in its very words.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy?.... So he reckoned him, because he dealt faithfully with him, and reproved him for his sins, and denounced the judgments of God upon him for them:

and he answered, I have found thee; as a thief, a robber and plunderer, in another's vineyard; he had found out his sin in murdering Naboth, and unjustly possessing his vineyard, which was revealed to him by the Lord; and now was come as his enemy, as he called him, as being against him, his adversary, not that he hated his person, but his ways and works:

because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord; had given up himself wholly to his lusts, was abandoned to them, and as much under the power of them as a man is that has sold himself to another to be his slave; and which he served openly, publicly in the sight of the omniscient God, and in defiance of him. Abarbinel gives another sense of the word we render "sold thyself", that he "made himself strange", as if he was ignorant, and did not know what Jezebel had done; whereas he knew fully the whole truth of the matter, and that Naboth was killed through her contrivance, and by her management purposely; and so he did evil in the sight of that God that knows all things, pretending he was ignorant when he was not, and this Elijah found out by divine revelation; so the word is used in Gen 42:6, but the former sense is best, as appears from Kg1 21:25.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To take possession of it - The goods of traitors appear to have been forfeited to the crown by the Jewish law as they still are almost universally throughout the East. Compare 2Sa 16:4.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Of it, on the title of confiscation, as Naboth had been condemned for high treason; (see 2 Kings ix. 7.; Menochius) or because there was no heir left, ver. 10. Some assert, that Naboth was Achab’s uncle. But this wants proof. (Calmet) --- Achab only waited one day, and the Elias met him to denounce to him a similar fate after he was dead, 4 Kings ix. 26. Septuagint have, "he tore this garments, and put on sackcloth; and it came to pass afterwards, that Achab arose," &c. This addition would intimate that the king pretended to be sorry. They repeat the same thing, ver. 27., "he had put on sackcloth, on the day when he slew Naboth, and went along cast down." It is probable that Achab might assume this garb, to make people suppose that he had no hand in the death of Naboth; but this was all hypocrisy, and Elias boldly accused him of guilt. Thou hast slain, &c., ver. 19. (Haydock) --- He knew, at least, of his wife’s machinations. (Salien)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab arose up According to the LXX, his first act was to rend his clothes and put on sackcloth. Afterwards "he rose up," etc. to go down The "Great Plain, on the margin of which Jezreel stands, is at a much lower level than Samaria, which is in the mountain district of Ephraim" to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. "Behind him probably in the back part of his chariot ride his two pages, Jehu and Bidkar," (2Ki_9:26) Stanley. But the expression "riding in pairs after Ahab" (A.V "rode together after") does not make it certain that they were in the same chariot. Indeed, they may have been on horseback. This was apparently (2Ki_9:26) on the day after the murder.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But when Ahab went down to Jezreel to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, Elijah came to meet him by the command of God, with the word of the Lord, "Hast thou murdered and also taken possession?" The question served to sharpen his conscience, since Ahab was obliged to admit the fact. בּשׁמרון אשׁר means "who lives at Samaria," for when Elijah came to meet him, Ahab was in Jezreel, Elijah then said to him still further: "Thus saith the Lord: In the place where the dogs have licked the blood of Naboth, will they also lick thine, yea, thy blood." אתּה גּם serves as an emphatic repetition of the suffix (cf. Ges. 121, 3). This threat was only so far fulfilled upon Ahab, from the compassion of God, and in consequence of his humbling himself under the divine judgment (Kg1 21:27-29), that dogs licked his blood at Samaria when the carriage was washed in which he had died (Kg1 22:38); but it was literally fulfilled in the case of his son Joram, whose corpse was cast into Naboth's piece of ground (Kg2 9:25-26).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)