Naboth's Vineyard

The Inheritance

And it came to pass after these things, [that] Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which [was] in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it [is] near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; [or], if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad (resentment; stubborn; rebellious; backslidden), that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee [another] vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, [and] eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

1 Kings 21:1-7

Naboth is one the greatest Biblical examples of a true son of God, and his inheritance is a very big deal. The devil is exceedingly jealous of the sons of God. We have been given something very special that men dead in their sins do not have and the devil is consumed with trying to get it.

First he’ll offer the sell out and if that doesn’t work, he’ll offer the trade off.

Like the mafioso he is, he cannot handle flourishing sons of God rejecting him, so, in his lunatic arrogance, he moves through witchcraft – conspiracy and accusation and goes for the vineyard.

“Naboth” means: fruit. Going deeper into the root of who Naboth is, we find the foundation of this man: to germinate; to make to flourish; to utter; bring forth fruit; make cheerful; increase. This is our inheritance. In full agreement with our Father, we live His Word, receiving His righteous goodness and profound ability and faithfulness to fulfill His great promise of sonship – we sons are becoming transformed into the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do it by His Spirit, reading and reading His Word, through prayer, in the depths of worship, holding onto His intimate utterances as our life-raft through the raging storms, in faith. Jesus, the Word, has germinated within us. And the increase comes. The peace. The fulfillment of the joy of life. The oneness with our Father in the knowledge of Him and His kingdom, our home.

The special place of Naboth’s vineyard, “Jezreel”, means: God will sow, from the roots: God and conceive seed. Jezreel is a wonderful place of conception. It’s where the vineyard grows because God sowed it. And then He gives it over, leaving it to us as our inheritance, like He did in the beginning with the Garden of Eden. Our Father is the beautiful Husbandman.

When you worship the Lord and pray and study deep into His Word, the Lord begins to plant His seed in you. The ground of your heart is plowed as you say, Yes to Him. Even His ways that are difficult to see or understand. Like Noah lived.

The Lord has a thriving kingdom in heaven. And we not only have access, but we’re meant to live there while we also live on earth. What was profound about Noah, was that the Lord spoke something to him no one had ever seen. And Noah believed him. What if the Lord has many things like rain? What if His Kingdom is packed full of mysteries that He gave us keys to?

Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare [it]? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.

Isaiah 48:6-7

Do we turn the key and unlock them? New Agers try to. Mystics try to. Christians largely don’t. We’re just fine, thank you very much, with our prescribed Sunday dose of Christianity. We take our pill once a week and think that is enough to kill the parasite.

Know this. There is an army being formed in heavenly places. I wholeheartedly suggest you find a way to access it and join in the preparation. Yes, you can remain earthbound and be content with what you have on earth. The Lord will bless your works on this side of the Jordan. But you can also enter into the Spirit and know your home. You can begin to climb His holy mountain now. If you’re not, you could be missing out. There are thoughts of the Lord He wants to speak to you. He wants to breathe life into that Word you’re reading. When He does…

You begin to see everything differently. A deeper renovation takes place within you. When the news says one thing, your spirit says another. When the enemy attacks in an area of your life, your heart finds gratitude for what it has and does not dwell on what it doesn’t have because you’ve already counted the cost. You are becoming one spirit with Jesus and your vineyard has begun to grow and thrive as you bear His holy fruit of righteousness.

Our inheritance is beautiful life in the vineyard. It’s the life our Father gives, not by the striving of the flesh or according to the mindset of man. It’s a place that just has blessing on it, no matter what because the Lord is doing it. And Naboth is in total agreement with the working of the Holy Spirit and is becoming one spirit with Jesus there.

Father would sow the seed and being in agreement with the Lord, Naboth would utter it which made him flourish and increase, causing him to be cheerful! This fruit manifested in every area, including the natural blessing (he lived next to the king’s house) as well as the fruit of the Spirit he bore of his person; receiving and believing who he was in the Lord.

Naboth was not captive to the workings of the flesh and darkness - depression, pride, insecurity, rejection or abandonment. He didn’t have “issues.” He was whole. It was his inheritance in the Lord and he knew it and he increased because of it. No wonder he wouldn’t give it up no matter what price was offered. He was incorruptible, unwilling to be bought off, unwilling to trade for something easier. Naboth told the devil, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.

And it cost him his life. It just literally cost him everything.

Naboth’s vineyard almost resembles the home of the free and the brave, a flourishing land of fruit sown by the blessing of the Lord. And it almost resembles the Western Church within its borders.

But the devil is always, always overplaying his hand. For it was out of Naboth’s martyrdom sacrifice that the kingdom of Baal was torn down from Israel, because it was largely for the vindication of Naboth’s vineyard that the Lord raised up Jehu.

The Agenda

Before we look at Jezebel’s part in Naboth’s story, let’s see what Ahab wanted to do with the inheritance of this son of God. The scripture says that he wanted to make it a vegetable garden. This sounds okay, until you dig into the words and see the real motive.

The word vegetable is “herb” which means: yellowish green (of sickly vegetation). And it comes from the root: to spit. What a shocking thing. Who would have thought such a thing if it weren’t right there in the very Word of God? To spit? That’s what the devil thinks about the beauty of the fruitful place of the intimate inheritance of life and abundant working of the Holy Spirit in a son of God.

He conspires to take, to uproot liberty and peace and joy. His great plan is to enslave, and to kill. And still holding a grudge against his loss in the Garden of Eden, he spies out the fruitful land of Belief and Faith in the people of Jesus Christ. He never ever wants that garden to grow again. He spits on the beauty of who the Lord makes us as His alone.

He wants to transform the fruit of righteousness into sickness. His heart is revealed.

Now, Jezebel’s heart is revealed. She’s going to give Ahab something that’s not hers to give, and without one iota of consciousness. Watch closely her disregard for life. See her injustice. In her heart she’s already justified her iniquity, so that to her, it is not iniquity at all, but rather it is merely her due. She is queen after all and she is married to the king. This, in her mind, gives her the right to steal and to kill and to cheat and to lie. She'll show the sons of God who’s in charge now. She has thoroughly become the elitist her father was.

For Jezebel, it’s an authority issue. Jezebel loves to exercise and abuse authority while she submits to no one. One with the spirit of her god Baal, she furiously reigns as master and owner, only she puts on the appearance of innocence while she does it. See how.

The Takeover

So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed [them] with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that [were] in his city, dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And [then] carry him out, and stone him, that he may die. And the men of his city, [even] the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, [and] as it [was] written in the letters which she had sent unto them. They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, [even] against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead (emphasis mine).

1 Kings 21:8-14

Jezebel does not gather an army and storm Naboth’s home. She is constantly working hard to maintain a clean reputation. So she calculatingly manipulates others to sow her seeds of poison and division. She devises a campaign of false accusation and false doctrine.

Jezebel lies. She points fingers and accuses. But she’s innocent, remember? She uses her husband’s name and seal, as if the letters are from him. She knows she doesn’t carry true authority. And who is it that she manipulates? The leaders. She conspires to lay the guilt on the elders and nobles (pure from the shining power of fire.)

The inheritance of heritage and the blessing of many generations is not that easy for the devil to take down alone. It requires the leadership to be complicit. To bring down a flourishing beautiful nation, it requires some senators and some congressmen to jump on board… the media, judges and religious voices.

And if you want to bring down the Church, it requires prophets, pastors and teachers behind the pulpit to weigh in. The doctrines of men and demons must become mainstream. You need to broadcast the message everywhere, from every denomination. Teach it often enough until it becomes commonly accepted as truth. The devil lives in the second heaven! (By teaching this untruth, we Christians have unwittingly profaned Jesus’s holy place, the inner court. The temple is made after the fashion of the heavens. The devil's domain is under the darkness of the first heaven – the outer court, the place of sin and burning, which is trampled under foot and removed, and therefore is not measured in the book of Revelation.) The fallen angels are the sons of God! (No. To you the authority has been given to become sons. To which of the angels did He ever say, you are My son? ) We will always sin! (Consider yourselves indeed dead to sin. Do not let sin reign in your body. Don’t obey sin. It has no authority over you.) Jezebel’s doctrine has been tolerated for far too long and her poisonous meat has put many into the sickbed and death. Her false humility always sounds so humble…

Use “holiness” … Proclaim a fast.

And don’t forget flattery. … set Naboth on high among the people.

You know, Jezebel could have hired an assassin and had the whole thing done quickly and quietly too. But no. She wants public humiliation and shame. She prefers that the entire household suffer disgrace. It’s hard to wrap your head around the deep darkness of Jezebel. She’s a witch. She will publicly shame a righteous man and his household with slanders -- the whispers of witchcraft -- and it is believed by all because she has manipulated the leaders to be the ones to promote the deception.

New Bible Dictionary suggests that Naboth’s entire household was killed. This may be true because otherwise, his sons could have laid claim to the vineyard and the new generation would have refused the king like their father. No. Jezebel wants to uproot a heritage. While we go around uprooting this infirmity and that generational curse, be sure the devil is working to uproot the inheritance of your Father -- your very heritage.

Jezebel doesn’t want you to know your potential as a son. She doesn’t want you to believe you are the righteousness of Christ. She doesn’t want you to fulfill your holy kingship or priesthood. She alone wants to be king! She doesn’t even want you to believe your Father loves you. She doesn’t want you to believe you’ve really been forgiven.

She wants you to question your salvation, your power in the Holy Spirit, your anointing and your holiness. She wants you to embrace a sin-consciousness. She wants you to own your shame.

She doesn't want you to discover the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. She doesn’t want you to journey into the heavens. She doesn’t want you to believe you can. She doesn’t want you to see -- or even want to see!

Instead, she’ll raise up the giants. She’ll have you searching the skies for the fallen angels who mingle with men, as if fallen angels can somehow procreate. They can only possess a vessel. Fallen angels do not have penises. They do not emit sperm. They mingle with men by possessing their souls and oppressing them into great darkness. You have been lied to from pulpits.

You are the sons of God! Jezebel is stealing your vineyard! She’s taking your inheritance! Ahab is spitting on your generational blessing!

She’s removed the cross demanding we all appease unbelief. She’s removed hell. She’s removed truth.

She is arrogant enough to teach that a good Father does not discipline. A good God would never allow judgment. She is banking on our dusty Bibles. Our complacency to press into the Spirit. Our complacency to cast down vain imaginations -- the true spiritual warfare which begins with our own minds!

Why in the world would you believe for one second that your every thought is right? Have you made it your practice to take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus? Or do you just let your mind think anything it wants to think? Jezebel tells you that you cannot take your thoughts captive. She has left mind-over-matter to the Tibetan monks. New Age understands some things more than Christians. They took it, so we stay away from it. We do not harness our thoughts.

Unless you’ve diligently made it an integral part of your life to possess your own soul by warring for your mind and casting down vain imaginations, you should not teach every little thing you think in your head.

Bring me a prophet who has been diligent in obedience to pick up his weapons that are not carnal, but mighty in God. Let me hear his voice. Brothers and sisters, we are prophesying from our own opinions!

The Lord plants the seed of truth and we agree with Him by uttering it. We use our mouths. The mouth rules the mind. The tongue holds the power. We cast down the negative thought by saying it out loud, I cast down that vain imagination; I take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus. Do it a hundred times a day for a year, or two, or three, or seven, or twenty. Do it until. Our minds can be renewed; they can be sound and anointed.

Sons of God have the mind of Christ. They have come to His holy mountain which cannot be touched with natural hands. They are discovering the wonders of His Kingdom. They are ministering to Jesus in the heavens and are coming to know their Father.

Sons of God also know themselves. They have become one Spirit with Jesus. They believe for transformation into His completeness. They believe for wholeness. They believe in the power of God to save anybody, in any situation, anywhere - whether it’s a church or a nation.

This is Naboth’s vineyard. This is our inheritance. This is what Jezebel has been trying to steal from us and you know what… ? She has been getting away with it.

She abuses authority. She manipulates with flattery, false accusation and public humiliation. She kills innocence. She pollutes the purest leaders who have burned with the fire of the Holy Spirit and she does it all under the cover of holiness.

With Naboth, Jezebel accomplished her agenda.

Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.

And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it (emphasis mine).

1 Kings 21:14-16

We should all mourn the loss of Naboth and his vineyard! He was one of us! The takeover is complete. Ahab has taken possession. The devil stole the utterance, the agreement, the increase, and the joy from a son of God and he took it for his own!

“Watchdog” ministries love to call everybody false prophets and teachers. They, of course, are the ones to be trusted with the real truth. When Words of the Lord do not come into fruition, the slanders and accusations against holy men of God are strewn effortlessly from angry, cynical lips of self-righteous men who have propped themselves up as watchmen. But I remember those watchmen the Shulamite ran into when she was trying to find her Beloved.

The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

Song of Solomon 5:7

My brothers and sisters, we need to understand that the devil works hard to dispossess our inheritance. The devil warfares against Words of the Lord and sometimes steals them. Then the inspired voice that brought the Word is accused as false.

I know a prophet who was dying of cancer. When we spoke on the phone shortly before he died, he said to me, “I have unfulfilled Words of the Lord; I’m not supposed to die!” I know this is a really sensitive subject and I definitely do not claim to have full understanding, but I have come to believe that not every Word of the Lord that does not come to pass is because the man or woman who brought the Word is a false prophet or teacher.

We know it happens all the time with natural inheritances. Someone vies and manipulates and many times steals what a loved one bequeathed to us. We understand it with the natural, but maybe not so much with the spiritual.

This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

1 Timothy 1:18-19

Sometimes the Word of our inheritance is fought over. Sometimes, for many different reasons, we relinquish it. Maybe we were bought off. Maybe we traded it in. We know the Word tries us. But we would rather accuse a fellow brother who brought an unfulfilled Word than we would a devil conniving and afflicting and deceiving to steal that Word. The enemy of the sons of God works really hard to take what is ours. It seems that sometimes he’s successful. I’m going to leave it there and not try to go any further with this subject because I don’t have full understanding and the truth is, even when we lose, we win. Death lost its sting. We will live eternity in heaven with our Savior, reconciled to our Father, and there’s not one thing the devil can do about that.

So, now for the accountability of the stolen inheritance of Naboth.

The following scripture is illuminating because of who the Lord holds accountable for the works of Jezebel. It’s Ahab. Yes, she’ll have to answer to our Father for what she’s done to our brother, but the Lord indicts Ahab first and pronounces judgment on his entire household.

And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which [is] in Samaria: behold, [he is] in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.

And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found [thee]: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked [me] to anger, and made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up (emphasis mine.)

I Kings 21:17-25

“Hast thou killed?” The Lord is holding His king accountable. He has to deal with the head. Ahab, who just laid on his bed sulking. He didn’t put his hand to the stones that were thrown toward Naboth. He didn’t write any letters devising any scheme. He lay there in tolerance and complacency allowing his wife to commit murder. And maybe it was because he was going to get something out of it. But by doing so, Ahab is now judged by God a murderer and a thief. He sold himself. He surrendered to the control of Baal and Jezebel. He never took a stand for righteousness to deny them. Instead, his silence was his voice of agreement, making him complicit, surrendering himself to the flesh and the witchcraft with whom he was joined.

And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: [but] in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house.

1 Kings 21:27-29

Ahab didn’t argue. He knew he was guilty, no matter how innocent he may have tried to make himself feel. He had righteous blood on his hands. And he knew the Lord knew it.

But how incredibly merciful is our Father. Look at how He responds to even the most sinful of men. Humility moves Him. The Lord shows Ahab great mercy to extend his life, but because He is holy and just, He does fulfill His Word and He raises up a mighty man to do it. This man will tear down the altars of evil that defiled the Lord’s people through Ahab and Jezebel. Our Father will always bring vengeance when inheritance is stolen from His people, He just may do it in a new generation.

(Slightly altered excerpt from the book, Jezebel.)