Introduction

What do you have in your life that isn't for sale at any price? Some family heirloom perhaps - an item with such sentimental value that you simply will not part with it no matter what the offer? What if someone proposed to give you ten thousand times the market value to part with your most cherished item? What if they proposed to give you a hundred thousand times its value? Would your commitment to the item waver?

I once heard someone quip: "Everything I have is for sale if the price is right." Perhaps all of us would agree with such a statement regarding most or our possessions, but do we have anything that, to us, is truly priceless - something that we will never part with, under any circumstances, no matter what the offer?

There are some strikingly tragic examples in the Scripture of exchanges that took place for items that should have been priceless to their owners but proved less so.

	Eve sold a paradise home for a bite of fruit.(1)
	Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of beans.(2)
	King Saul sold his kingdom for some forbidden spoils of war.(3)
	The so-called "rich fool" sold his soul for a new storage warehouse full of possessions he soon lost.(4)

In each of these cases, the owner of something priceless parted with his or her possession, only to find later that it could never be regained under any circumstance. Isn't that what makes an item truly priceless - the fact that it is a one of a kind and can never be replaced once it is lost?

Jesus spoke of such a priceless item when He said, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?"⁽⁵⁾

In this message we're going to put the spotlight on two men who each faced a decision amounted to the selling his most precious possession - his soul. One of them, a certain king, went ahead with the transaction. He sold his soul and got a vegetable garden in exchange. The other man, a peasant, stubbornly refused the transaction. The first man's name was Ahab. The second was Naboth. Their story is told in I Kings 21 and we'll look at it this morning in our ongoing study from the life of Elijah.

Elijah's ministry was winding down as we saw last time. Elisha was anointed to take his place as a prophet to Israel. Elijah and his young apprentice appear to drop out of public view for something like six years after the calling of Elisha. We aren't told where they went or what they did during this time, but in the meantime Israel continued her moral decline. Ahab and his wicked queen Jezebel remained on the throne in Samaria and were slowed in their excess only when threatened by an ancient enemy from the north, Syria. After some intimidation of Ahab and some impossible demands for total surrender, Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, mobilized his army and attacked Israel.

There were two tremendous battles and they are described in I Kings 20. I invite you to read about them in your own study. Each time God intervened on behalf of Israel, giving victory against overwhelming odds.

You would think after such an evident God-caused victory, Ahab would have listened to God. He didn't. He remained unmoved in his rebellion and wickedness, unwilling to learn anything from the flow of events around him. It is in that attitude we find him this morning. His stubbornness was about to cost him his kingdom and his life. It all came to head over a little plot of ground called simply "Naboth's Vineyard."

We'll begin in I Kings 21...

(Read v. 1-2)

That seems like an innocent enough beginning. The king proposes a swap with a landowner near the palace. He wants to trade for or purchase outright a tiny piece of land to grow vegetables for his table that would be handy to his kitchen. He offers the owner, Naboth, a fair price in either money or land.

(Read v. 3)

There is something you need to know at this point lest you misunderstand Naboth's response and think it was stubbornness or disrespect that motivated his decline of the King's offer. God's law forbade an Israelite to sell his family inheritance to anyone outside his own tribe. Numbers 36:7 laid it down:

"No inheritance of the sons of Israel shall be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall each hold to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers."

What Ahab was asking of Naboth was illegal. It was against the law of God. Naboth declined the offer, as any godly person should have. It has always been a Biblical principle that God's authority is greater than any king's authority. In essence Naboth said, "I'm sorry your Highness, I cannot do it because God forbids it."

(Read v. 4)

Rather than understand Naboth's position and admire his steadfast dedication to God, Ahab went away sullen and angry. He didn't show up at the royal dinner table that night and when they looked for him they found him pouting in his bedchamber like a spoiled child.

While the servants might have been put off by such behavior, Jezebel was not.

(Read v. 5-7)

"You are the king of Israel and you let some little peasant get in the way of your plans? I'll take care of Naboth for you!"

Surely Ahab knew what that meant. This woman's penchant for murder was well known to him. All he had to do was sit tight and she would take care of it for him.

(Read v. 8)

Note that Ahab doesn't say anything to stop her in this. In so doing he becomes her accomplice.

(Read v. 9-10)

Jezebel's plan is very simple. Yet when you look more closely, you'll see that it was cunningly cleaver and diabolically designed to make a mockery of the law of the Jews. Remember that it was a prophet of the Jewish law who killed her 450 prophets of Baal. Don't think that she has forgotten that. She is interested in more than a vegetable garden here. This will be her chance to strike a blow in retaliation.

In several instances among God's ancient people, when there was some sin in the camp, God would withhold his blessings or put the people under a curse until the sinner was dealt with. When the people became aware of it they would proclaim a fast and call a solemn assembly to discover the identity of the wrongdoer. Once found, the offender was to be stoned to death. The story of Achan back in the book of Joshua was one such case.

Jezebel knew just enough of this part of the Jewish scriptures to be able to manipulate its representatives to do her bidding. She told the elders of Jezreel to proclaim such a fast and rig the proceedings so that Naboth was singled out for execution, even though he had done nothing wrong. Once he was dead, if no relative stepped forward to claim his property (and who would under such circumstances) the king could step in and claim it for himself.

(Read v. 11)

Look at the corruption in the line of command. These elders and nobles, fearing Jezebel themselves, became the hands that carried out her plans without the slightest hesitation. You know if people would not obey evil rulers when ordered to sin, those rulers could not corrupt a nation. There is a place for civil disobedience when a ruler calls upon a citizen to do something immoral.

(Read v. 12-13)

Stop for a moment and consider this man Naboth. Many today would call him a fool for what he did. Think of it. What a waste! Had he simply complied with the polite request of the king to trade or sell the vineyard, his untimely death would never have happened. Hadn't the King offered to pay a fair price for the land? Indeed, he even offered Naboth more than it was worth in that he said he would give him a better vineyard in its place. Who could say it wasn't fair? Far from being stoned to death, had Naboth but consented, he would have been honored and rewarded. Who knows? Ahab might have even named the garden in his honor. But Naboth's commitment to the Law of God wasn't for sale at any price and that kind of dedication was as foreign to their society then as it seems to be to ours now.

Can't you just imagine Naboth's neighbors talking about it? They're clucking their tongues and speaking in condescending tones, "What a useless waste of life over some ancient, outdated scruple. Why throw away your life on some outmoded law of God?"

That same sort of condescension is heard often today. When a person of God does the right thing, his neighbors, and sometimes sadly enough, even his Christian brothers and sisters, far from understanding him and commending him for his courage and conviction, wonder why in the world he would be willing to suffer rather than set aside the law of God.

I suggest to you that Naboth was simply living by a principle that would later be verbalized by Jesus Christ Himself:

"Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."⁽⁶⁾

Those "ancient scruples" and "outmoded laws" happened to be the law of the Creator of the universe. To Naboth, just as with the godly man or woman today, there isn't any question about what is to be done when there is a request to set aside God's law. You simply do not do it - king or no king - good offer or bad - comfort or inconvenience - life or death. That is just the way it is.

Let me give you a living, breathing example...

Here is a Christian woman who is married to an unbeliever who is a real jerk. He mistreats her. He's lazy. He mocks her. He laughs at her service to God. His habits embarrass her and he doesn't care a bit. But as far as she knows, he has never betrayed her physically. She cannot divorce Him according to the word of God, so she sticks it out and suffers in silence. All her friends say she is stupid. What a fool! Why waste your life on such a worthless person? Leave the bum! He doesn't deserve you. He's a jerk! Divorce him. He has it coming. Don't waste your life. Surely God doesn't want you to throw your life away on him! But her Bible says,

"Be faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life."

"If you love Me you will keep My commandments."

So she sticks it out, praying against all odds that he will surrender to God.

Do you think such a one is foolish? If so, then you really need to re-examine your faith in the word of God. Why are you lining up with Ahab and not Naboth?

Folks, I weary of the suggestion that I hear from time to time among Christians that if the suffering and inconvenience is bad enough, we have a ticket to disobey God. We don't! As Peter and the other Apostles said when told to stop preaching Jesus in Jerusalem on threat of penalty of death: "We must obey God rather than men."⁽⁷⁾ Yes, it is sometimes possible to purchase an easier life here by disobedience but I ask you, what will such momentary relief be worth in eternity?

Before we get to Ahab's judgment, let's look at the root of his sin. What we're dealing with here is covetousness. Ahab coveted Naboth's land. With a little imagination I can see him peering through the lattice of a window in the palace, looking down on Naboth's grapevines, imagining just how good it would be to possess it. He'd tear out those miserable vines - they were perhaps an eyesore anyway - and sow the whole area in succulent vegetables with walkways between, perhaps a fountain or two to enhance the beauty. Then maybe in the cool of the evening he would go for a stroll arm in arm with his queen and perhaps hand pick the greens for his salad that night. What a delightful place it would be when he possessed it! He could make so much more of it than Naboth ever did! But those seemingly innocent thoughts led to the murder of Naboth.

It's no coincidence, by the way, that the New Testament writer James, in James 4:2, linked coveting with murder. He said,

"You lust and you do not have, so you commit murder."

We covet when we want something very badly which belongs to someone else and can never rightly be ours. The tenth commandment of the Law of Moses said, "Thou shalt not covet..." The New Testament repeats the prohibition in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10:

"Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, not adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves nor the covetous...shall inherit the kingdom of God."

Ahab's desire for Naboth's vineyard was wrong on two counts. It was illicit and it was excessive.

It was illicit because God's law forbade him to possess land belonging to the member of a different tribe. Any time our desire is for something that God has forbidden, it has become sinful coveting and needs to be stopped right away.

For instance, to strongly desire someone else's spouse would be coveting. To strongly desire a single person when you are married is also coveting, along with strongly desiring a married person when we're single.

Anytime that our desire is for something God has forbidden, it is sinful coveting.

But Ahab's desire to possess Naboth's vineyard was also sinful because it was excessive.

(Re-read v. 4)

Anytime desire for something brings that kind of response in us it is sinful coveting, because the desire has gotten out of bounds. We have become so wrapped up in our desire that it has consumed us, enslaved us, and mastered us.

I remember a lady once, a new Christian in fact, who lived in a small trailer with her husband and children. She wanted a larger place - and you can't fault her for that - her teenage son was sleeping in the living room on the couch because his sister took the only bedroom besides that of his parents.

One day this lady went to a rally of a very prominent multi-level sales company. You would recognize the name if I spoke it. There she was told that she could have whatever her heart could desire if she would only believe in herself. On top of that, this woman was told that God wanted her to have all the desires of her heart and that if she did not have what she wanted, it was because her faith was deficient.

She was instructed, after she had enrolled in the company for a tidy sum, to tape a picture of the kind of house she wanted on her refrigerator so that she wouldn't forget her goal. This she did. She also bought various motivational tapes designed to strengthen her faith in herself. Each morning she would spend her breakfast time looking at the picture and dreaming about the house, imagining that she already possessed it.

A few weeks went by but her sales didn't go like she was led to expect. In response to her slow sales she was told that her faith was weak. She must try harder, believe it could be done, and spend more time envisioning herself in that house. So she did. She would look at it every morning. She would drag her husband all over town, talking to real estate agents, looking at houses that were far beyond their means. Weekends were spent looking through house plans. She became obsessed with that house. There was very little time when she wasn't either trying to sell goods or dreaming about that house. Surely she would be effective. Her upline continued to assure her.

But sales did not pick up like she was told they would. In fact, as she exhausted her contacts among her friends, she even dropped below her initial sales level. She began to be depressed. Her relationship with her husband was getting sour because as she wasn't making the money she needed to buy the house. She unconsciously put pressure on him to earn more. His income was fairly fixed, so he resented her pressure and her discontent.

To make the long story short, today, as far as I know, she has neither her house nor her husband. Her children know the devastation of living in a broken home. And the worst of it: She has deserted the Lord.

In Ahab's case, his coveting led to murder. In this woman's case, her coveting led to divorce and apostasy.

Satan, the destroyer, has planted snares all around us to trip us up. He takes desires that might not be wrong in themselves and fans their flame until they become excessive. Such coveting leads to destruction of lives and homes. Anytime that a desire you or I have becomes either illicit or excessive then we need to realize we are coveting and it needs to stop because it has the potential of destruction in it.

Let's quickly finish our story.

(Read v. 17-19)

We need to realize the danger we are courting when we consent, like Ahab here, to those seemingly harmless inward desires that become coveting and lust and resentment. God says they are wrong even though they may not show up initially on the outside. Nobody but God sees when we spend too much time thinking about someone else's spouse, or something else equally forbidden to us.

Are you coveting right now? Beware! The sale of a soul may be in progress. If you don't stop it, it will eventually run its course and destroy you.

(Read v. 20)

What a contrast between the decisions of these two men, Naboth and Ahab! Naboth, when confronted with the choice of obeying God and suffering here concluded, "Not for sale at any price." Ahab, when confronted with the choice of obeying God or gratifying his own covetous desires said, "Got to have it no matter what the price."

Each man stands today as a representative for two very different types of life choice. Which one most adequately describes your choices?

(Read v. 21-25)

Conclusion

On the night of November 16, 1930, Mrs. Henrietta Garrett, a lonely 81-year-old widow, died in her home in Philadelphia. Unwittingly, she started the most incredible inheritance battle in history.

Mrs. Garrett failed to leave a will, or at least none was found, to her $17 million estate. She had shrewdly handled her financial affairs since the death of her husband in 1895, but somehow she neglected the will.

Although Mrs. Garret had only one known relative at the time of her death, a second cousin, and less than a dozen friends, attempt to prove relationship to her and claim all or part of her estate has since been made by more than 26,000 persons from 47 states and 29 foreign countries, represented by more than 3.000 lawyers.

In their frantic and covetous desire to grab what is not theirs, these alleged "relatives" have committed perjury, faked family records, changed there names, altered data in church Bibles, and concocted absurd stories of illegitimacy. As a result, twelve have been fined, ten have received jail sentences for fraud, two have committed suicide and three have been murdered.

Ahab's tribe is alive and well on planet earth today! Their motto is "Got to have it no matter what the price." They'll do whatever it takes to get where they want to go. A few of them succeed in getting what they want - for awhile. In the process they sell their very souls.

I suggest to you that Naboth's tribe is also alive and well on planet earth today. They're surely not in the majority, but they do exist - people who say it when it is appropriate, either in their words or in their actions: "Not for sale at any price."

1. Genesis 3 [Back]
2. Genesis 25:30-34 [Back]
3. 1 Samuel 15 [Back]
4. Luke 12:15-20 [Back]
5. Mark 8:36 [Back]
6. Matthew 10:28 [Back]
7. Acts 5:29 [Back]