keep your hands to yourself

So Ahab went into his house
sullen and displeased because of the word
which Naboth the Jezreelite
had spoken to him;
for he had said,
“I will not give you
the inheritance of my fathers.”
And he lay down on his bed,
and turned away his face,
and would eat no food.
1 Kings 21:4 NKJV

Here, Ahab the King of Israel had his eye
on a nice piece of land.

He must have peered out at it
from his palace window,
as it was right next door...
his neighbor, Naboth's vineyard.

Somehow, as king, I guess, Ahab had decided
that all things were up for grabs...
or at least negotiation.
So he asked Naboth to give him the land,
Or, if it seems good to you,
I will give you its worth in money. (v2)

But Naboth boldly told the king that
his land is not for sale,
as it was an inheritance from his fathers.

So Ahab went home,
like a little boy...
turned his face to the wall,
and his back to the world
and sulked in his bed.

Seriously?

This, behavior of a king?
I was surprised by that.
then I thought, surely this to be the end of it.
But Jezebel, his wife saw him pouting...
and would have none of it.

She told him to cheer up,
for he had authority over all of Israel.
And then assured him that she would get
this vineyard for him.

Unfortunately, Jezebel was not known
to conduct herself in the most forthright way.

For in the king's name,
and with the king's seal
she wrote letters to the elders of the city
to have Naboth publicly accused of wrong,
in order that he be taken from the city
and stoned to death.

These all trumped up, false charges.
And the elders followed through.

So it was, when Ahab heard
that Naboth was dead,
that Ahab got up and went down
to take possession of the vineyard
​of Naboth the Jezreelite.
1 Kings 21:16

That was it I guess.
Easy enough.
If you want something
that someone else owns,
and they won't hand it over...
find somexway to pry it
from their cold, dead hands.

Sounds like a serious game
of tug of war for a toy
on the playground
gone horrifically wrong.

Or, wait...
What was it my mom taught me?
Something about manners...
sharing, respect, honesty;
to keep my hands to myself,
and to treat others
as I would want to be treated

Poor Naboth.
If he had only known
the evil lurking within these two...
Ahab and Jezebel.
What a pair!

But soon they would receive
what they had been handing out.
For God had grown weary
of their evil ways.

They would be treated
as they treated others.
And sadly, so will their descendants.

Word of God,
train me, today...
to be kind toward my neighbors,
truly treateing them as I want to be treated,
to keep my hands to myself,
and pull back the reigns on my feelings
tgat spral into jealousy.

Lord
thank You for all You provide.
You know all I need.
Help me not to covet what others have,
to be grateful for what you have given
and to be genuinely happy
for the blessings of others.