Navot's Vineyard and Achav's Punishment/2

Navot's Vineyard and Achav's Punishment

Exegetical Approaches

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A Partner in Crime

Despite being absent from the actual proceedings, Achav completely supported Izevel's plot and was a full (though silent) partner in the crime.

Sources:Abarbanel, Metzudot,Metzudat David Melakhim I 21:19-20About R. David Altschuler modern scholars¹

"אֲנִי אֶתֵּן לְךָ אֶת כֶּרֶם נָבוֹת": How much did Achav know?

• According to Abarbanel and Metzudot, Izevel did not just tell her husband that she was to settle the matter of Navot's vineyard for him, but shared exactly how she planned to go about it as well.  Despite this knowledge, Achav did not stop her, sealing his guilt.
• R"E Samet,² in contrast, asserts that Achav and Izevel tacitly agreed not to include Achav in any plans.  Izevel was to intentionally keep him in the dark so that nothing could be traced back to him.³  Achav, however, was fully aware and supportive of the fact that a plot was being hatched,⁴ and thus no less guilty.

"וַתִּכְתֹּב סְפָרִים בְּשֵׁם אַחְאָב וַתַּחְתֹּם בְּחֹתָמוֹ" – According to Abarbanel and Metzudot, Izevel signed Achav's name with his full knowledge.  According to R"E Samet, she did so knowing that he would approve, but without his awareness.

Achav's recounting of the incident – Y. Bar-Maoz⁵ suggests that many of the differences between the two versions of the interaction between Navot and Achav can be understood if one views Achav's account as an intentional effort to misrepresent the episode so as to increase the ire of Izevel and push her into action against Navot:

• Omission of reason for refusal – Achav does not share that Navot refused to sell his land because it was a "נחלת אבות", thereby making it appear to Izevel that Navot was simply being unreasonable.
• וִיהִי לִי לְגַן יָרָק - Achav omits that he told Navot that he planned to destroy his vineyard so as to grow a vegetable garden, recognizing that outsiders might understand a farmer's reluctance to sell under such conditions.⁶  Achav did not want Izevel to feel the slightest sympathy for Navot's predicament.
• Change of order: vine or money – Achav varies the details so that it sounds as if he first offered Navot money, and only afterwards the superior vineyard.  In fact, though, he had begun negotiations with the higher offer (the vineyard).⁷  As this was an extremely high opening bid, it would have raised Izevel's suspicions that Achav found Navot's refusal reasonable (as otherwise he would have offered less).  Since Achav wanted to portray Navot as an uncooperative and difficult person, he changed the story.

According to this reading, Achav not only backed Izevel, but actively prodded his wife into action, leading her to believe that Navot was rebellious to the king and therefore deserving of punishment. Whether or not he was privy to the rest of her plot afterwards becomes irrelevant, as he was the one to instigate it regardless.

"הַמְצָאתַנִי אֹיְבִי וַיֹּאמֶר מָצָאתִי"

• Abarbanel reads this interaction as Achav's attempt to clear himself of blame (by claiming that he, as opposed to Izevel, was innocent)⁸ and Eliyahu's response that he'd been found out, since, despite his efforts to hide his role, Hashem knew that Izevel acted with his knowledge. 
• R"E Samet, in contrast, suggests that Achav's words are an admission of defeat, and his recognition that he had indeed been found out.

"יַעַן הִתְמַכֶּרְךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי י"י" – Abarbanel explains the phrase to mean "יען התנכרך‎,"⁹ - because you acted as if you did not know.  Achav's desire to not only sin, but to also remove himself from all responsibility, made him even more blame-worthy.

Eliyahu's rebuke – Abarbanel claims that despite the silence in the text, Eliyahu relayed Hashem's words "הֲרָצַחְתָּ וְגַם יָרָשְׁתָּ" and rebuked him for his role in the murder of Navot, and not just for his  idolatry. The chastisements of verses 21-26 are simply a summary of Achav's crimes throughout his reign, perhaps mentioned here when he is told that his dynasty is soon to end. Alternatively, Eliyahu is suggesting that idolatry often means immersing one's self in idolatrous culture and morality, which ends in episodes such as this.

Punished for Other Crimes

Achav was not being punished solely for the framing and murder of Navot, but for his other sins as well, most notably his idolatry.

Sources:MalbimMelakhim I 21:2-25About R. Meir Leibush Weiser¹⁰

"וַיַּתְעֵב מְאֹד לָלֶכֶת אַחֲרֵי הַגִּלֻּלִים" – Though Hashem's chastisement of Achav does indeed refer to the murder of Navot ("הֲרָצַחְתָּ וְגַם יָרָשְׁתָּ"), when Eliyahu rebukes the king, he never once mentions the murder and instead focuses on Achav's worship of foreign gods:

• "וַיַּתְעֵב...  לָלֶכֶת אַחֲרֵי הַגִּלֻּלִים" – These words contain an explicit reference to idolatry.
• "אֶל הַכַּעַס אֲשֶׁר הִכְעַסְתָּ וַתַּחֲטִא אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל" – Throughout Sefer Melakhim, this and similar phrases consistently refer to a king causing the nation to sin in idolatry.  Thus, here, too, Eliyahu is likely rebuking Achav, not for his leading the nation astray with regards to Navot, but for his swaying them to sin in Baal worship.
• "יַעַן הִתְמַכֶּרְךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי י"י" – TanchumaVaetchanan Appendix 2About the Tanchuma understands this to mean that Achav sold himself to idolatry. Support for this reading can be found in Melakhim II 17:17 where the same words are used and the idolatrous context is explicit.

This focus on idolatry suggests that though Achav's role in the murder of Navot was worthy of censure, without the accompanying sins of idolatry, he might not have been punished as severely.

Achav's desire for the vineyard: "וִיהִי לִי לְגַן יָרָק" – Malbim suggests that the verse shares that Achav wanted to make the vineyard into a "גַן יָרָק" to teach that his real desire was to use it as a place to worship idolatry.  He points to Yeshayahu 1:29 and Yeshayahu 66:17 as evidence that gardens were often homes to idol worship.  [As such, Achav's idolatry played a significant role in the story itself, explaining why specifically now he would be punished for it.]

Navot's refusal:" חָלִילָה לִּי מֵי"י מִתִּתִּי אֶת נַחֲלַת אֲבֹתַי לָךְ" – Malbim posits that Navot recognized Achav's intentions and thus subtly chastised him, hinting that while he himself was unwilling to abandon "נַחֲלַת אֲבֹתַי," Achav had no qualms about leaving the "inheritance of his fathers," i.e. Hashem and Torah.  In invoking Hashem's name (חָלִילָה לִּי מֵי"י), Navot expresses that selling a plot so that it could be used for idol worship would be a sin against Hashem.

"סַר וְזָעֵף עַל הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלָיו" – According to Malbim, Achav's sullen reaction was a response to Navot's rebuke (עַל הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלָיו) and not simply his failure to buy the vineyard.¹¹  Since he knew in his heart that Navot was right, and his worship of the Baal was wrong, the rebuke hit home.

Achav's recounting of the incident – According to Malbim, when Achav recounted the incident to Izevel, he omitted Navot's words: "חָלִילָה לִּי מֵי"י מִתִּתִּי אֶת נַחֲלַת אֲבֹתַי לָךְ", and the allusion to his forsaking of Hashem, since he was embarrassed to let Izevel know that such a rebuke bothered him.

The accusations: blaspheming god and king – Malbim maintains that despite Achav's reluctance to share Navot's chiding, Izevel discovered that Navot had denigrated Achav for his idolatrous tendencies. As such, she accused him of cursing both god (her idolatry) and the king.  In her eyes, Navot truly had rebelled against both the king (when he chastised him) and her gods (since he believed in Hashem and not the Baal).  The mock trial was necessary only due to lack of witnesses.

Willingness of collaborators – Malbim suggests that the nation was not so corrupt that it would allow / participate in a total judicial farce, even if orchestrated by the king.  The townspeople were willing to collaborate only because they believed that Navot had truly sinned. Izevel had told them that Achav had witnessed Navot's two-fold blasphemy,¹² but that it would be degrading for him, in his position as king, to have to testify about it in court.  As such, she asked that they testify in his stead.  The witnesses would only be lying in acting as if they (rather than Achav) were eyewitnesses; the truth of the accusation, though, was not in dispute.

Achav's role in the trial – According to this position, Achav did not participate at all in the trial and was totally unaware of it.   His crime was in his condoning and following Izevel's idolatrous practices, which were both in and of themselves worthy of punishment, and also the ultimate cause of Navot's death. After all, it was Achav' desire to worship idols which led to Navot's censure and refusal to sell his vineyard, and paved the way for Izevel, in her idolatrous zeal, to accuse Navot of blasphemy.

Responsible for Izevel

Though Achav played no role in the framing and death of Navot, in his dual role as king and husband, he was responsible for the actions of Izevel.

Sources:MalbimMelakhim I 21:2-25About R. Meir Leibush Weiser

יַעַן הִתְמַכֶּרְךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי י"י.

אֲשֶׁר הֵסַתָּה אֹתוֹ אִיזֶבֶל אִשְׁתּוֹ

¹ See, for example,  Yonah Bar-Maoz, "אחאב ונבות - עיונים בדרכי הצדק האלקי", Shema'atin 69 (1982): 15-19, R"E Samet, "עיונים בפרשת נבות - " מלכ"א כ"א", Megadim 10 (1990): 55-91.

² See article cited above.

³ The fact that Achav's signature was on the missive sent to the elders, however, would seem to implicate him.  R. Samet assumes that the elders were aware of what was going on and could be trusted not to reveal anything.  They understood that, despite his approval of the plan, for the public's eye he was to play no role in the trial, and not be connected to the charade in any way.

⁴ R. Samet points out that it is important to recognize that originally Achav himself had no plans of murder.  When he returned home to lie on his bed, he was frustrated and upset but not seeking to kill Navot for his refusal.    Only after Izevel began to plot did he allow is desires to overcome his morals.

⁵ See article cited above.

⁶ No one wants to see the fruits of their labors destroyed and then replaced by an inferior product.

⁷ As it is illogical to start with your higher bid and then make a lower offer, Yonah Bar Maoz suggests that Achav's offer "אתנה לך כסף מחיר זה" was not an alternative to the vineyard, but rather an addition to it.

⁸ He presents Achav as asking: "have you [really] found me guilty, my enemy? [After all, there is no proof that I played a role; it is just the fact that you are my enemy which has led to your suspicions.]"

⁹ See also R"Y Kara.

¹⁰ Malbim combines this approach with the one above which holds him responsible for the actions of his wife.

¹¹ Interestingly, he has the same reaction when he is chastised by the prophet for setting Ben Hadad free in Melakhim I 20:43.  These are the only two place in Tanakh where the phrase "סַר וְזָעֵף"appear.

¹² According to Malbim the phrase "וַתִּכְתֹּב סְפָרִים בְּשֵׁם אַחְאָב" does not mean that Izevel signed Achav's name on a missive in which he asked to frame Navot, but rather that in the letter, she presented Navot's actions "in Achav's name" i.e. via Achav's testimony, telling the people that he had witnessed Navot's blasphemy.