1 Kings 21 Bible study: The inheritance of my fathers

Ahab offers a trade or a price: "I will give you for it a better vineyard than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money" (21:2). Naboth's answer isn't about price at all: "May the LORD forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!" (21:3) (tap forbid, inheritance). The Law had spoken of each family's inheritance. In a law about daughters who inherit land (Numbers 36:8), it said, "So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel move from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall all keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers" (Numbers 36:7), "that the children of Israel may each possess the inheritance of his fathers" (Numbers 36:8). In Hebrew, the inheritance of his fathers in Numbers 36:8 is Naboth's phrase, with his where Naboth says my. And of the land itself the LORD had said, "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine" (Leviticus 25:23). Naboth doesn't quote either law; he names the LORD, and the chapter lets his words stand.

1 Kings 21:10→leads toMatthew 26:59-60

Jezebel's letters said, "Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death" (21:10), and it was done (21:11-13). At the trial of Jesus, "the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death" (Matthew 26:59), and "at last two false witnesses came forward" (Matthew 26:60). The high priest said, "He has spoken blasphemy!" (Matthew 26:65), and they answered, "He is worthy of death!" (Matthew 26:66). No New Testament passage names Naboth, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some see the same pattern in both: men set to testify against someone, a charge of speaking against God, and a death decided before the testimony was given (21:9-10; Matthew 26:59). Others read each in its own setting: Naboth's charge was written in letters before anyone spoke it (21:9-10), so that a vineyard could be taken (21:15-16); the testimony against Jesus "didn’t agree with each other" (Mark 14:56), and the high priest's charge came after Jesus's own words about "the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power" (Matthew 26:64-65). Matthew is written in Greek, so no link between the two chapters' words is claimed.

נַחֲלָהnachalahsay na-kha-LAH

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "possession, property, inheritance". Strong's: "something inherited", and "generally an estate, patrimony or portion". Naboth says, "May the LORD forbid me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!" (21:3), and 21:4 gives his words again as the reason Ahab went home sullen: "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers" (21:4). In Hebrew both are nachalat avotai. The Law used the same pair of words: "that the children of Israel may each possess the inheritance of his fathers" (Numbers 36:8), where the Hebrew has his for my. When Ahab tells Jezebel what Naboth said, the word is gone: "I will not give you my vineyard" (21:6).