The Bible presents to us various figures from whom we can find comfort in times of injustice. One of them, a man who was severely wronged by a king and queen of Israel, will help us find comfort in the fact that God sees all that happens to us.
His name is Naboth.
Who is Naboth and what can we learn from the Bible's account regarding him?
Let's talk about that.
A man who protected his inheritance
Naboth's account is recorded in 1 Kings 21. At this time, Israel had the wicked Ahab as king, joined by his wicked wife Jezebel.
Naboth owned a piece of land located "next to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria" (see 1 Kings 21:1). Ahab wanted Naboth's plot of land so he could turn it into a garden of sorts, and told Naboth that he was willing to pay for it.
Naboth refused Ahab's request, saying:
"The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!" (see 1 Kings 21:3)
Naboth's firm response sent weak King Ahab home, disappointed. In fact, so disappointed that he lay down on his bed facing "away" and wouldn't eat any food.
A plot to kill innocent Naboth
Jezebel, wicked as she was, quickly hatched a plot to kill Naboth so that she could seize his land and give it to her husband.
"And she wrote letters in Ahab's name, sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who were dwelling in the city with Naboth. She wrote in the letters, saying,
"Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth with high honor among the people; and seat two men, scoundrels, before him to bear witness against him, saying, "You have blasphemed God and the king." Then take him out, and stone him, that he may die."" (see 1 Kings 21:8-10)
Ahab, who like a child deprived of his candy sulked in his bed, received help from his wicked wife so that he could acquire what he ought not desire (see Exodus 20:17).
Jezebel's plot was to accuse Naboth of something he didn't do, so that he could be stoned to death. And once Naboth was dead, Ahab got what he wanted:
"So it was, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab got up and went down to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." (see 1 Kings 21:16)
God saw what happened to Naboth
Naboth was killed simply because wicked people wanted what belonged to him -- and not just any people, but the king and queen of Israel.
This thing, of course, displeased the Lord very badly. God Himself condemned Ahab for what he had done:
"Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: "Have you murdered and also taken possession?"' And you shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours."'"" (see 1 Kings 21:17-19)
God condemned Ahab's wickedness, in that he coveted, killed, and took possession of his victim's land. Later on we read in 1 Kings 22:37-38 about Ahab's death:
"So [Ahab] died, and was brought to Samaria. And they buried the king in Samaria. Then someone washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood while the harlots bathed, according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken."
God knew what happened, and didn't let such injustice slip.
What does Naboth teach us? Here are two things we can learn from him:
1) We must stand up for what is ours in Christ
Of course this does not mean we should be stingy hoarders. What this means is that we must never ever let go of our inheritance in the Lord.
Many of us Christians today easily let go of our inheritance, trading it for some temporal pleasure and comfort. We do not stand up and rise as God's children, we don't fight for the salvation of our families, we stop praying for the will of God to happen in our nation and wherever we are.
We must take hold of our inheritance in Christ and never let it go.
2) Injustice may happen to us, but God sees it all
God saw the injustice done to Naboth and didn't let it slip. No injustice can ever be hidden from God's eyes, and we can rest our hopes on that.
We might feel angry at God for allowing bad people to do bad things to us, but the truth is that God is good, and that He's not our enemy. He's watching us closely and is taking note of all that happens to us.
He will always ensure that justice will be served according to His way.
