e, while the Queen of Israel kept four hundred in the groves
consecrated to Ashtaroth. "But the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite was
hard by the palace of Ahab, King of Samaria."

The King of Israel desired the vineyard of Naboth, either to enlarge his
grounds or to add to their beauty and variety. Yet, despotic and
unprincipled as he was, the laws of possession were so fixed, the rights
of property so established, that, on the refusal of Naboth to sell his
inheritance, he dared not use violence; and he sank into sullen
despondency.

It has ever been characteristic of wives like Jezebel to maintain their
ascendency by arts and blandishments, and by ministering to every
corrupt propensity of their husbands. With the watchfulness of a devoted
wife, she saw the vexation of her husband.

"Why is thy countenance so sad?"

"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 that."

Naboth had said, God forbid that I should give the inheritance of my
fathers unto thee.

The faithful Israelite may have recoiled from the thought of its passing
into the hands of the unholy worshippers of Baal and Ashtaroth and being
polluted by their orgies. But Ahab did not give the denial in its full
force. He represents Naboth as simply refusing. "I will not give thee my
vineyard."

We seem to see the actors before us, in the spirited, yet simple
narration, as it proceeds. Ahab, heavy, sullen, morose--with clouded
brow and furrowed cheek. Jezebel, with her flashing eye, her queenly
gait, her haughty aspect, and all the workings of pride and craft and
ambition expressed in her faded but still striking features. With what
utter contempt would she look upon the husband who sank into despondency
because he had not the skill to devise, or the will to perpetrate, the
iniquity which would insure the attainment of his desires!

"Dost thou govern Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be
merry. _I_ will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

And a darker plot, or one more artfully devised, has seldom been
unravelled among all the iniquitous intrigues of courts and statesmen.
Naboth was doubtless a true worshipper; and for once Jezebel professed
all honour to the laws of Jehovah. He was arraigned and tried by the
laws of Moses--long trampled upon and disused. And all the solemnities
of rel