1 Kings 21:15
And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.
While Elijah was still a prophet in Israel, Ahab set his heart on possessing the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite beside the palace to have it for a garden of herbs, proposing to buy it for money or to give a better vineyard in exchange. After Naboth refused to sell, Jezebel arranged for him to be falsely accused and stoned to death, then told Ahab to arise and take possession of the vineyard because Naboth was not alive but dead. The killing was treated as the means to seize the property Naboth had refused to sell, and the incident illustrates coveting another person's land and using violence to seize it.
The verse belongs to the account of Ahab's covetousness and selfishness, encouraged by Jezebel, in which his desire to possess what he wanted led to Naboth's death and the taking of his vineyard. That covetousness was the dominant trait that disastrously influenced the fortunes of the kingdom under his successors. Ahab heedlessly and blindly followed Jezebel's counsel and went down to take possession of the coveted property obtained through her plot. He acted from covetousness, caring not by what means she had accomplished it, and disregarding the injustice and its consequences.
The verse shows the evil influence Jezebel had exercised over Ahab from the first continuing during the later years of his life and bearing fruit in deeds of shame and violence seldom equaled. He sold himself to work wickedness, with his wife stirring him up. The seizure was one of the flagrant evils of a time when idolatry supported by Ahab and the heathen Jezebel had seduced the nation. It was met by Elijah as God's instrument for the overthrow of gigantic evils, whose voice prophesied the doom of Ahab and the doom of all his house.
The same incident is paralleled by the English-speaking people's selfish pursuit of land from the Boers. Naboth's death was the result of rulers using their power to serve a selfish purpose. The case shows the grave duty of those who make and enforce laws to establish the facts and punish the guilty with impartial justice.