1 Kings 21:24
Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.
The verse belongs to the incident of Naboth's vineyard while Elijah was still a prophet in Israel. Naboth the Jezreelite owned a vineyard hard by the king's palace, which Ahab set his heart on possessing for a garden of herbs because it was near his house. He proposed to buy it for money or to give a better vineyard in exchange, and when wicked Ahab seized it Elijah met that flagrant evil with stern rebuke, prophesying the doom of Ahab and the doom of all his house. It reveals Ahab's dominant covetous, selfish trait that disastrously influenced the fortunes of the kingdom under his successors.
Ahab was naturally covetous, following the dictates of his evil heart until fully controlled by the spirit of selfishness. He was unable to brook refusal of his wishes and felt that the things he desired should by right be his. The evil influence Jezebel had exercised over him from the first continued into the later years of his life and strengthened and sustained him in wrongdoing. She stirred him up to sell himself to work wickedness, and this bore fruit in deeds of shame and violence seldom equaled, through which she led Israel into sin.
The verse gives the prophet's fearful message and prophecy of doom to the guilty king concerning Ahab himself and all his house, line and descendants. His house will be destroyed, utterly destroyed, by disgraceful death. Those of his house who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field or countryside will be eaten by birds.
The sentence was judgment for Ahab's wickedness, evil, and provocation of God and for leading Israel to sin. Ahab's humility delayed the judgment on his house until his son's days. Although Ahab had very great authority and position, God was above him and God's sovereignty is supreme. Therefore no one entrusted with the publishing work, whatever his position or responsibility, can safely gather control into finite human hands and drive measures through by stubborn human judgment without seeking God's will, way and counsel as indispensable. To lay hands on this great instrumentality to place a human mold and superscription upon it endangers the soul and brings disaster to the work, and all that is required is to deal justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God, and labor conscientiously in the work entrusted to him.