00:00There was a vineyard nestled against the wall of the palace at Jezreel,
00:05old vines on stone terraces, a winepress hewn from the rock, a fig tree in the corner.
00:12It belonged to a man named Naboth, and before him to Naboth's father, and before that to his grandfather.
00:21Ever since the day Joshua divided the land by tribe and by family,
00:26and Naboth's family received that plot of ground as an inheritance from the Lord.
00:33Ahab saw it from his window every morning,
00:36and a man who sees the same thing from his window every morning eventually comes to desire it.
00:43He went there in person, an act that was in itself an honor.
00:54Naboth.
00:56Give me your vineyard so I can make it a garden of herbs. It lies right by my house.
01:01I will give you a better vineyard for it, or, if you prefer, I will pay you its worth in
01:05silver.
01:10The Lord forbid it, my king, that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.
01:17I am offering you more than it is worth.
01:20It is not a matter of worth, my lord. It is a matter of whose it is.
01:25The land is the lord's. He gave it to my family.
01:28I cannot sell what is not mine to give.
01:30It was not stubbornness. It was the law, the very law Ahab had sworn to uphold.
01:38The king returned to the palace, petulant as a child.
01:42He lay down on his bed, turned his face to the wall, and refused to eat.
01:54Jezebel entered and saw the king of Israel with his back to the world.
01:59There was no compassion in her eyes.
02:01There was contempt.
02:08What is this?
02:12A farmer says no to the king, and the king lies down and will not eat.
02:17Get up. Eat. Be glad.
02:24I will give you the vineyard of Nabot.
02:29How?
02:31That is not a question for a king.
02:35She wrote that very night.
02:37Or rather, she dictated, and the scribe wrote,
02:41and she pressed Ahab's ring into the soft clay without Ahab being in the room.
02:48To the elders and nobles of Jerira.
02:50Thanks for another news.
02:51Bye.
