Naboth ( he, נבות) was a citizen of Jezreel. According to the Book of Kings in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

so that her husband

Ahab Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bib ...

could possess his vineyard.

Narrative

1 Kings 21:1-16 states that Naboth owned a vineyard, in proximity to King Ahab's palace in the city of Jezreel. Because of this, Ahab desired to acquire the vineyard so that he could use it for a vegetable (or herb) garden. Isaacs, Jacob. "The Murder of Naboth", Chabad.org.
/ref>Hirsch, Emil G. and Seligsohn, M., "Naboth", ''Jewish Encyclopedia''
/ref> Since he inherited the land from his ancestors, Naboth refused to sell it to Ahab. According to the Mosaic law, the law forbade the permanent selling of land. Zaimov, Stoyan. "Archaeologist Discovers Proof for Biblical Vineyard of Naboth", ''The Christian Post'', July 13, 2017
/ref> Frustrated at not being able to procure the vineyard, Ahab returned to his palace and went to bed without eating anything. His wife, Jezebel, after learning the reason for his being upset, asked mockingly, "Are you not the king?" She then said that she would obtain the vineyard for him. To do so, she sent a letter, under Ahab's name, to the elders and nobles of Naboth's city, instructing them to entrap Naboth by inviting him to a religious feast, where he would be 'exalted'. Two witnesses, referred to as "scoundrels" by Jezebel, were then to be called forth to (falsely) accuse Naboth of cursing God and the king. After that, they would take him outside the city and stone him to death. The use of two witnesses in this conspiracy was most likely done to convince the elders and nobles that they were participating in a legal entrapment against a guilty person, instead of a criminal conspiracy as the testimonies of two witnesses were enough to impose the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

on the accused. The conspiracy succeeded, with Naboth's corpse being licked by dogs outside of the city.

Emil G. Hirsch Emil Gustav Hirsch (May 22, 1851 – January 7, 1923) was a Luxembourgish-born Jewish American biblical scholar, Reform rabbi, contributing editor to numerous articles of ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1906), anfounding member of the NAACP Bio ...

points out that "It seems from II Kings ix. 26 that Naboth's sons perished with their father, probably being killed soon afterward by order of Jezebel in order that they might not claim the vineyard as their inheritance." After Naboth was executed, the Queen told Ahab to take possession of the vineyard. As punishment for this incident, the prophet

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...

visited Ahab and prophesied his death and the extermination of the Omride line. Elijah also prophesied the death of Jezebel. Ahab humbled himself at Elijah's words, and God spared the king accordingly, instead postponing the prophesied destruction of Ahab's house to his son's reign.Dospěl, Marek. "Naboth’s Vineyard Unearthed at Tel Jezreel?", ''Bible History Daily'', Biblical Archaeology Society, November 6, 2017
/ref> Johannes Pedersen said that "The story teaches us that the king is bound to respect the proprietary rights of families..." According to Rabbanic Literature, Naboth's soul was the lying spirit that was permitted to deceive Ahab to his death. Elijah's prophecy on the doom of Ahab's house was fulfilled when Jehu executed Ahab's son Jehoram by shooting him in the back with an arrow, and had his body thrown into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, as punishment for his parents' sin in illegally stealing Naboth's land. Jezebel met a similar fate after she was thrown off a building, with her corpse devoured by dogs.

Interpretations

Archaeological exploration conducted by the University of Haifa and the University of Evansville discovered an ancient winery in the vicinity of an Iron Age IIB (900–700 B.C.E.) military enclosure at the foot of Tel Jezreel. While not definitely identifying the site as the location for the story of Naboth, archaeologist Dr. Norma Franklin, of the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...

said that the vineyard appears to have been established sometime prior to 300 BCE, which would not be inconsistent with the time frame for Naboth. Franklin further noted, "Owning a vineyard would make him wealthy since wine was an important commodity. I reckon that since he was from the aristocracy he probably lived in Samaria and had more than one vineyard. This would give a slightly different picture than the Bible, which implies, though does not state explicitly, that he was a poor man being abused by the wealthy king." Francis Andersen observed that "Commentators have seen in the episode a clash of Israelite and Canaanite ideas of kingship, of citizenship, and of property."Andersen, Francis I. “The Socio-Juridical Background of the Naboth Incident.” ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', vol. 85, no. 1, 1966, pp. 46–57. JSTOR
/ref> Jewish medieval scholars sometimes used Elijah's words to Ahab "You have killed and also taken possession" ("הֲרָצַחְתָּ וְגַם יָרָשְׁתָּ") or the expression "Naboth's vineyard" to hint at double injustice (or crime committed with indecency, as opposed to "simply committed" crime). The

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

also sees here a link to the prohibition of mixtures of milk and meat in Jewish law.

Roger Williams Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantatio ...

, the founder of the American colony of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

and the co-founder of the

First Baptist Church in America The First Baptist Church in America is the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, also known as the First Baptist Meetinghouse. It is the oldest Baptist church congregation in the United States, founded in 1638 by Roger Williams in Pro ...

, wrote about Naboth's story in ''

The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience ''The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience, Discussed in a Conference between Truth and Peace'' is a 1644 book about government force written by Roger Williams, the founder of Providence Plantations in New England and the co-found ...

'' as an example of how God disfavored Christians from using government force in religious matters, such as the religious decrees by Jezebel and Ahab. Williams believed using force in the name of religion would lead to political persecution contrary to the Bible.

In popular culture

There are a number of artistic, dramatic, musical and literary works that are based on, or inspired by, the story of Naboth and his vineyard. These are less common now than was once the case, as the use of the expression as a cultural reference appears to have declined.

Art

The 17th century

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, acces ...

in the late Gothic church of Sint Michiel, Roeselare in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

depicts the story of Naboth's Vineyard. ''Naboth in his Vineyard'', (1856) an oil painting by James Smetham held by

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

. ''Elijah confronting Ahab and Jezebel in Naboth’s Vineyard'', (1875) by Sir

Frank Dicksee Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee (27 November 1853 – 17 October 1928) was an English Victorian painter and illustrator, best known for his pictures of dramatic literary, historical, and legendary scenes. He also was a noted painter of portra ...

, a gold medal winner from the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

. The original is untraced since having been sold at auction in 1919 from the collection of Sir

Merton Russell-Cotes Sir Merton Russell-Cotes ( Wolverhampton 8 May 1835 – 27 January 1921 Bournemouth) was Mayor of Bournemouth, England, 1894–95. During his Mayoralty, Meyrick Park, two free libraries, and the first two schools of art in the borough ...

; the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

holds a black & white print. ''King Ahab's Coveting – Naboth Refuses Ahab his Vineyard'', (1879) and ''Jezebel Promises Ahab to Obtain it by False Witness'', (1879) both by

Thomas Matthews Rooke Thomas Matthews Rooke (1842, London – 1942, London) was a British watercolourist. He worked as a designer, as an assistant to other artists, and was commissioned by John Ruskin to make architectural drawings. Life Ruskin hired Rooke from Mo ...

(Sir

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...

's studio assistant), and held by the

Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum The Russell-Cotes Museum (formally, the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum) is an art gallery and museum in Bournemouth, England. A Grade II* listed building originally known as East Cliff Hall, it is located on the top of the East Cliff, next ...

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

Novels and short stories

''Naboth'' (1886, in book form 1891), by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

; Kipling sympathises with Ahab, and treats Naboth as being unreasonable in refusing his demands. ''Naboth's Vineyard. A novel'' (1891), by E Œ Somerville and

Martin Ross Violet Florence Martin (11 June 1862 – 21 December 1915) was an Irish author who co-wrote a series of novels with cousin Edith Somerville under the pen name of Martin Ross ( Somerville and Ross) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth cen ...

(

Somerville and Ross Somerville and Ross (Edith Somerville and Violet Florence Martin, writing under the name Martin Ross) were an Anglo-Irish writing team, perhaps most famous for their series of books that were made into the TV series ''The Irish R.M.''. The tele ...

). ''Naboth’s Vineyard'' (1928), a short horror story by the English novelist EF Benson. ''Naboth's Vineyard'' (1928), a detective short story by Melville Davisson Post.

Poetry

''Naboth's Vineyard: Or, The Innocent Traytor'', (1679) a mock-Biblical verse satire by the Jacobite peer John Caryll whilst imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

. ''The Garden Plot'', (1709) a

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

by the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-196 ...

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Du ...

. ''Naboth, the Jezreelite'', (1844) a dramatic poem by Anne Flinders (the daughter of the explorer

Matthew Flinders Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British navigator and cartographer who led the first inshore circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then called New Holland. He is also credited as being the first person to ut ...

and the mother of the Egyptologist

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...

Music

''Naboth'', (1702) an oratorio by Domenico Filippo Bottari. ''Sinfonia a quattro No 11 in D minor ("Naboth")'', (1729) a symphony by the Italian

composer

Antonio Caldara Antonio Caldara (ca 1670 – 28 December 1736) was an Italian Baroque composer. Life Caldara was born in Venice (exact date unknown), the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, ...

. ''Naboth's Weinbert'', (1781) an oratorio by Romano Reutter. ''Naboth's Vineyard'', (1968) a madrigal for three voices, forming the first part of a trilogy by the English composer

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; born 10 August 1932) is an English composer and academic. Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and composer Walter Goehr, a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In his early twenties he emerged as a centra ...

. ''La vigne de Naboth: pièce en cinq actes et un épilogue'', (1981) by the Belgian composer André Laporte. ''Naboth's Vineyard'', (1983) a work for recorders, cello and harpsichord by the English composer

Malcolm Lipkin Malcolm Lipkin (2 May 1932 – 2 June 2017) was an English composer. Early life and career Malcolm Leyland Lipkin was born in Liverpool. While a schoolboy at Liverpool College, he studied the piano privately with Gordon Green from 1944 to ...

. ''Custodian – An Ex Parte Oratorio'', (2018) a protest oratorio for an a cappella choir by the Israeli composer Uri Agnon combining the stories of Naboth's Vineyard and the eviction of the Palestinian Sumreen family from their home in

Silwan Silwan or Siloam ( ar, سلوان, translit=Silwan; gr, Σιλωὰμ, translit=Siloam; he, כְּפַר הַשִּׁילוֹחַ, translit=''Kfar ha-Shiloaḥ'') is a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, on the outskir ...

Theatre

''Naboth's Vineyard; a stage piece'', (1925) a play in three acts by the English novelist and playwright

Clemence Dane Clemence Dane CBE is the pseudonym of Winifred Ashton (21 February 1888 – 28 March 1965), an English novelist and playwright. Life and career After completing her education, Dane went to Switzerland to work as a French tutor, but returned h ...

. ''La Vigne de Nabot'', (lost date) a piece of black theatre (a form of puppetry making use of shadows) by the French puppeteer Georges Lafaye (puppeteer). ''Eating'', (1979) a retelling of the story of Naboth, focusing on the gluttony of Ahab, by the Israeli playwright

Yaakov Shabtai Yaakov Shabtai ( he, יעקב שבתאי; March 8, 1934 – August 4, 1981) was an Israeli novelist, playwright, and translator. Biography Shabtai was born in 1934 in Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine. In 1957, after completing military service, he ...

Ballet

''Naboth's Vineyard'' (1953), a ballet by the Austrian-born American composer

Eric Zeisl Erich Zeisl (May 18, 1905 – February 18, 1959) (often spelled Eric) was an Austrian-born American composer. Life and music Born to a middle class Jewish family in Vienna, then capital of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Zeisl was the son of Kamilla ...

, although it has not been produced or choreographed in full.

Film

Sins of Jezebel ''Sins of Jezebel'' is a 1953 American historical drama film produced by Sigmund Neufeld and directed by Reginald Le Borg. It stars Paulette Goddard as Jezebel, the biblical queen of the northern kingdom of Israel during the 9th century BC. The fi ...

'', (1953) a drama film directed by the Austrian-born American director

Reginald Le Borg Reginald Le Borg (11 December 1902 – 25 March 1989) was an Austrian film director. He was born in Vienna, Austria with the surname Groebel and directed 68 films between 1936 and 1974. Le Borg made a series of low-budget horror films at U ...

; Ludwig Donath played Naboth. ''

Leviathan Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...

'', (2014) a drama film directed by the Russian filmmaker

Andrey Zvyagintsev Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev (russian: Андре́й Петро́вич Звя́гинцев, p=ˈzvʲæɡʲɪntsɨf; born 6 February 1964) is a Russian film director and screenwriter. His film '' The Return'' (2003) won him a Golden Lion at ...

, partly based on the story of

Marvin Heemeyer Marvin John Heemeyer (October 28, 1951 – June 4, 2004) was an American automobile muffler repair shop owner who, following a dispute with town officials, demolished numerous buildings with a modified bulldozer in Granby, Colorado, on June 4, ...

, and partly on the Biblical stories of Job and Naboth's Vineyard.

Politics

''Naboth’s Vineyard'', (1870) a speech by the

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...

strongly opposing President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union A ...

’s proposed annexation of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

(then called San Domingo). Lt Gen Sir William Butler undertook a visit of South Africa in 1907 and reported his findings as ''From Naboth’s Vineyard''.