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, modern scholars

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.

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 Weiser¹

"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.²  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,³ 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 be 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.

¹ Malbim combines this approach with the one above which holds him responsible for the actions of his wife.

² 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.

³ 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.