A Game of Inches

1 Kings 21:1-20

1 King Ahab had a palace in Jezreel, and near the palace was a vineyard owned by a man named Naboth. 2 One day Ahab said to Naboth, "Since your vineyard is so convenient to the palace, I would like to buy it to use as a vegetable garden. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange, or if you prefer, I will pay you for it." 3 But Naboth replied, "The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance that was passed down by my ancestors." 4 So Ahab went home angry and sullen because of Naboth's answer. The king went to bed with his face to the wall and refused to eat! 5 "What in the world is the matter?" his wife, Jezebel, asked him. "What has made you so upset that you are not eating?" 6 "I asked Naboth to sell me his vineyard or to trade it, and he refused!" Ahab told her. 7 "Are you the king of Israel or not?" Jezebel asked. "Get up and eat and don't worry about it. I'll get you Naboth's vineyard!"

Here we have what seems like an innocent offer. Ahab, the king comes to Naboth, a guy who owns a vineyard and says, “You know, you’re land is really conveniently located near my palace. What do you say I give you a better vineyard in exchange for it, or I will pay you for it.

To us, this sounds like a reasonable offer...

It sounds reasonable because there are cultural elements at play we don’t understand. What happens if Naboth sells or trades his Vineyard:

-He gets a better Vineyard or a large sum of money.

-If takes the money, it is soon gone. If he chooses to trade, because of Jewish property laws like Jubilee, in 50 years (maybe less), he has to give the Vineyard back to the King.

-He does not get his Vineyard back in Jubilee because he has surrendered his land to the King.

He may benefit greatly in the moment, but further down the road, he would have robbed himself, his family and his family’s future from their Godly inheritance. You see if you are an Israelite living at this time in Israel’s history, your land is the inheritance from God. It is the gift God has given you and that gift represents a future promise from God. It represents a hope beyond this life. That gift of land tells you, your family, your friends, that there is a promise from God that he will take care of you, even after

you have left this life.

What we see in Naboth is a man who so values his God, that he refuses to compromise even in the small things. If we pause to be honest with ourselves, would we see this kind of intense love for God? Are we working to protect the inheritance that God has put in our hearts? You see, Jesus is our inheritance. Are we protecting our relationship with him?

I don’t think most of us sell out everything in a moment. I think the devil knows we are too smart for that. I don’t see very many people randomly convert to Buddhism...

In other words, we don’t sell the whole Vineyard at once. Rather, we sell it off a little at time. We don’t sell out all at once, but we make little compromises. We don’t sell our whole Vineyard but we give it away one inch at a time.

INTEGRITY IS SACRIFICED DAILY ON THE ALTAR OF CONVENIENCE.