And of Jezebel also spoke the LORD, saying,
The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
All Commentaries on 1 Kings 21:23 Go To 1 Kings 21
Ephrem The Syrian
AD 373
And the Lord said to Elijah, “Get up, go down to meet King Ahab of Israel,” and so on. Now, when Jezebel invited Ahab to come and take hold of the vineyard whose owners had been stoned, Elijah went out to meet him, precisely when he did not expect him, and approached him in order to reveal the shameful action which they thought no one else knew about. He reproached the king openly for stealing the vineyard and killing the righteous Naboth. But one may say: Is not Jezebel the one who prepared the death of Naboth? Ahab simply did not accept that his request was rejected by Naboth; he did not want to treat him badly or take his vineyard by force. However, if he claims the vineyard, since the inheritance is due to the king after the heirs are dead, as the law prescribes, we maintain that if Ahab had not sinned at all, it would have been impossible that the justice that absolves those who are oppressed might have wronged him. Nor would the prophet, who reproved him according to the command of the just Judge and had already condemned him twice, [have wronged him].
And Elijah said to him, “Thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam.” To Jezebel too, the Lord said, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the boundaries of Jezreel.” Such are the judgments that Elijah pronounced against the king and the queen: he gives them to the dogs, and the house of Ahab to destruction.
