1 Kings 21:1
And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard in Jezreel lying immediately beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria, and this nearness sets the scene for Ahab's desire to possess it. The episode belongs to the later years of Ahab's life, while Elijah was still a prophet in Israel, and it begins the record of Jezebel's evil influence bearing fruit in deeds of shame and violence seldom equaled. Naboth valued the vineyard because it had belonged to his ancestors.
Because the vineyard lay near his house, Ahab set his heart on possessing it for a garden of herbs, proposing either to buy it for money or to give a better vineyard in exchange. His desire sprang from a natural and dominant covetousness and complete control by selfishness. Strengthened and sustained in wrongdoing by Jezebel his wife who stirred him up, he sold himself to work wickedness and followed his evil heart.
He could brook no refusal of his wishes, feeling that what he desired should by right be his, so Naboth's refusal crossed his will and left him sick with frustration. Acting on that desire, he had Naboth killed and seized the vineyard, a deed of shame and violence illustrating selfishness and violence in the pursuit of land for a selfish purpose. Elijah rebuked Ahab for seizing the vineyard by prophesying doom for him and his house.
Ahab's dominant covetousness and selfishness disastrously affected the kingdom under his successors. The account exposes the grave injustice of rulers using their authority to let the guilty go unpunished.