📖 Biblical Definition
Naboth the Jezreelite owned an ancestral vineyard adjacent to King Ahab’s palace. Ahab coveted it; Naboth refused to sell, citing Mosaic law: "The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee" (1 Kings 21:3). Ahab sulked. Jezebel his wife arranged a sham trial with two false witnesses, had Naboth charged with blaspheming God and the king, and stoned to death along with his sons (2 Kings 9:26). Ahab seized the vineyard. The LORD sent Elijah to meet him there: "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood" (1 Kings 21:19) — which came to pass at Jezreel for both Ahab and Jezebel. The blood of the murdered righteous always speaks.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Naboth — a Jezreelite martyred for refusing to sell his ancestral vineyard.
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Naboth's refusal was no stubbornness but obedience to the Mosaic law forbidding the permanent alienation of family inheritance. Jezebel arranged a sham fast, suborned witnesses to charge him with blasphemy and treason, and had him stoned outside the city. Elijah pronounced doom on Ahab's house at the very vineyard.
📖 Key Scripture
1 Kings 21:3 — "The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee."
1 Kings 21:13 — "Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth... and stoned him."
1 Kings 21:19 — "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood."
2 Kings 9:26 — "Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Treated as minor character; the inheritance principle and the judicial murder pattern are missed.
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Naboth died for the principle that the inheritance of the fathers is not for sale to power. His refusal was rooted in Leviticus 25, not in stubbornness.
The judicial murder of Naboth is the template for every state-engineered killing: a sham religious pretext, hired witnesses, the appearance of due process, and the seizure of property at the end. God repaid it on the very ground where it was shed.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew Navoth — meaning uncertain, perhaps from nub, 'to bear fruit.'
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Usage
"Some inheritances are not for sale, even to a king."
"The judicial murder of Naboth is the template; every age has its Jezebels."
"Where the blood of the righteous falls, the dogs of judgment will eventually drink."