Chapter XI.
Naboth is stoned to death based on false testimony from two witnesses; Ahab initially pretends to be sad, but then takes possession of his land. God pronounces judgment against Ahab, especially for the blood of Naboth, and also mentions punishment for Jezebel.
46. He blessed God, he said, and the king (3 Kings 21:10), namely an equal person, so that he would be equal in insult. He blessed, he said, God and the king. May the name of the rich not offend, and may it be harmed by the very sound of speech, blessing is called instead of curse. Two witnesses of injustice are sought. With two witnesses, Susanna is desired: two witnesses, and the Synagogue finds them, who would throw false accusations against Christ: with two witnesses, the poor man is killed. So they brought Naboth outside the city and stoned him. (Ibid., 13). I wish he could have died on his own land! The rich man envies the poor man's burial.
47. And it happened, he said, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth. And it happened after these things, that Ahab went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to possess it (Ibid., 16). The rich become angry and slander in order to harm, if they do not obtain what they desire. However, when they have harmed through slander, they pretend to be sorry: yet they go forth sad and mournful, not in their hearts but in their appearance, and they seize the place of the property they have seized by their unfairness.
48. Divine justice is moved by this and condemns the greedy with worthy severity, saying: 'You have killed and taken possession of the inheritance? For this reason, in the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, they will lick up your blood; and the prostitutes will wash themselves in your blood' (Ibid., 19). How just, how severe is this sentence, that the bitterness of death that he inflicted on another should be dissolved by the horror of his own death! God looks upon the unburied poor and therefore decrees that the rich should lie unburied; and so that the dead may suffer the torment of their own wickedness, he who did not think to spare the dead. Thus, the body soaked in the blood of his own wound revealed the cruelty of his life. When the poor endured these things, the rich were accused; when the rich received them, the poor were justified.
49. But what does it mean that the prostitutes washed themselves in his blood? Unless, perhaps, it is to reveal that there was a kind of prostitution in that ferociousness of the king's treachery, or a bloody luxury, who was so indulgent that he desired a vegetable dish; so bloodthirsty that he would kill a man over a vegetable dish? Worthy punishment consumes the greedy, worthy punishment consumes greed. Finally, even Jezebel herself was eaten by dogs and the birds of the air, in order to show that the spiritual wickedness becomes the prey of the rich burial. Therefore, flee, rich man, from such an end. But you will flee from such an end if you flee from such a disgrace. Do not be like Ahab, desiring a neighboring possession. Do not let that fatal greed of Jezebel dwell in you, which persuades you with bloodshed. It does not recall your desires, but impels them; it makes you even sadder when you possess what you desired; it makes you naked when you have riches.