Kings 21:1-3 Land Invasion is Denial of Life

1 Kings 21:1-3 Land Invasion is Denial of Life

Ahab said to Naboth , “Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house..”(V.2)

Along with Isaiah 5:8 and Micah 2;2, this story is a reminder that offenses against the heritage of the defenseless are offenses against God. Ahab’s offer seems fair enough. He gives Naboth a choice of a better vineyard or a fair market price for the property. Ahab wants to acquire the property in order to plant a vegetable garden because it is adjacent to his seasonal residence. He already has a palace in Samaria and one in Jezreel, but now he covets additional property.

The proposed conversion of the vineyard into a vegetable garden, is ominous. It signals that there may be more at stake than a private real estate transaction. Indeed, this story is especially poignant when one recalls that the promised land is regarded as an inheritance given by the Lord (Ex. 15:17,32:13,Lev. 25.2)

Powerful denies the right to live of the weak.

It is not merely for sentimental reasons that Naboth wants to hold on to his inheritance; it is a religious obligation for him to do so, and it would literally be profanation for him simply to trade it away- Lev.25:23. It is his right to hold his inheritance since his identity, faith and spirituality are related with his inherited land. To alienate and dispossess the land is unimaginable to Naboth. No one in Ancient Israel owned the land; land belonged to Yahweh who gave it to Israel as a gift. Land was for those in the past, the present as well as for those in the future. Land in this understanding belonged to forefathers, to those in the present as well as to the coming generations. Many scholars argue that in many texts in the Old Testament this land is called the inheritance of the fathers. It was that property that was handed down from generation to generation as symbolized by the family tomb. According to this tradition land which was given by Yahweh was inalienable. It could not be sold or given up. Land could only be held in the form of patrimony which could not pass out of the family. It was protected by legislation and theologically justified as well as sanctioned. Therefore the dispossession of one’s family land was considered as a terrible calamity. The dispossession created dislocations and disturbances in all the sectors of Ancient Israel life.

The Land Invasions and the Land Grabbing.

The powerful could do whatever they deemed necessary with the poor and the weak. In such a situation some were reduced to poverty, dependence and others to death. The concept and tradition of the God who owns the land and gives is clouded. The concept of the absolute power of the King was taking shape in Israel. Jezebel, Ahab’s wife enquires of him whether he was not King over Israel, suggesting that he had absolute power and nothing could be withheld from him whatsoever. The Naboth narrative demonstrates a paradigm shift and departure by the ruling class from the traditional social structure to the state of affairs that gave the State advantages over the peasants. The argument that Naboth could not succumb to Ahab’s demand of his family land communicates to the reader a fundamental conflict which was raging between the State and the peasantry for a long time. This suggests that Naboth was a representative of those whose land was grabbed or confiscated by the state. The protest by Elijah could be understood as a demonstration that the state of affairs had reached unacceptable proportions

The land as the basis of human livelihood cannot be separated from issues of the socio-economic, power, justice and empowerment; issues of abuse of power, injustice, disempowerment and alienation as well as dispossession. The land issue trajectory is very much enshrined and entangled within these issues. They are inseparable, intermingled, and interwoven together, so that it makes it difficult to study each one of them independent of the other. Land struggles of Adivasis, land displacement due to mega ‘developmental’ projects, war refugees etc has to be discussed as a theological issue because land belongs to God and nobody could invade or grab the land of the powerless and weak.

Prayer-God of earth, we remember the displaced, refuges, landless millions. Give the vision of Elijah so that we may resist these kinds of sinful powers. Amen.

Thought for the day- Accumulation, grabbing and invasion are against the God’s ownership of land and resources.