Naboth’s Vineyard

“In his son’s days will I bring evil upon his house”

On reading 1 Kings 21 - thinking of those settlers taking Palestinian land

Reading in the Book of Kings

I learn of Naboth and his vineyard.

Ahab, Samarian ruler at the time,

Was covetous of Naboth’s land.

Proximate location, fertile, prime.

 *

Ahab made an offer

Naboth turned it down.

The land’s my soul he said,

Not for sale, not fungible

My God rejects your bread.

 *

Ahab, frustrated and depressed

Complained to Jezebel, who

Ambitious for herself as for her man

Invites the farmer to come and dine

A set-up to execute her plan.

*

Seated at the table and breaking bread

Naboth was served with calumny and curse

Charges of blasphemy and crime

Sufficient to have him stoned to death,

A martyr in his time.

*

The land is yours said Jezebel

Not so fast Ahab, said the Lord,

A crime has been committed in My Name.

Dispossession and occupation

Are a foul transgression, My Name defamed.

* 

And the Lord said, “In the place where dogs

Licked up Naboth’s blood, 

Dogs will lick up yours” and more:

“Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall”

Divine Justice, canine law.

*

Ahab in disgrace, tore his clothes

And groveled in humility.

Having put the proud king in his place,

God suspended wiping out his seed

Deferred it for a generation, saving face.

*

Settlers, soldiers, politicians, agents of the State

Choose your chapter as you will, choose your verse

But the parable of Naboth and his vineyard

And the fate of Ahab and his fixer, Jezebel

Cannot escape your gaze.

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hm 24 december 2019