King Ahab had a grand garden, and he wanted to make it bigger; but the next piece of ground belonged to a poor man named Naboth. Ahab asked Naboth to sell him his ground; but Naboth said it had come to him from his father, and must go to his son, and he could not sell it. Then Ahab coveted, and lay on his bed and would not eat—caring for nothing but the bit of ground he could not get.
Now Ahab had a cruel, wicked wife; and when she saw her husband grieving about Naboth's ground she was determined to get it for him. So she had two very bad men set on to say that poor Naboth had been wicked, and must be put to death.
They bore false witness against him, and broke the Ninth Commandment when they did so; and then, worst of all, this poor innocent man was really put to death for the crime he had never done—and that was murder, which breaks the Sixth Commandment. Then Jezebel called Ahab, and told him he might go and take possession of the ground that he wanted: there was nobody to hinder him. But he never had any pleasure in it.
When he went to it, there stood God's great Prophet Elijah, ready to meet him. And Elijah told him how very angry God was with him and with Jezebel, and that they should be terribly punished for their cruel behavior to this innocent man. Then Ahab was sorry, and wept and grieved for the cruel thing that had been done; but all his sorrow could not bring Naboth back to life again. And oh! how grieved he must have been that he had not kept his wishes in order!—for almost all our faults begin in a wish.
QUESTIONS.
1. Who is the king we hear of to-day? 2. Who is the bad queen? 3. Who is the poor man? 4. What did Ahab want? 5. Why should not Naboth let Ahab have the ground? 6. How did Ahab behave when he could not get the ground? 7. Who said he should have it? 8. How did Jezebel get Naboth put to death? 9. Who met Ahab? 10. What did Elijah tell him? 11. What had Ahab done wrong? 12. What Commandment tells you not to covet? 13. What is coveting? 14. What Commandment tells us not to tell untrue things of other people? 15. Say the Ninth Commandment. 16. What Commandment was broken by putting Naboth to death? 17. How many Commandments were broken?