Ahab took the vineyard of Naboth lawfully. However, he was punished for killing Naboth without trial (Zohar 1:192b).

It is not to the benefit of the wicked that they are shown favor in This World. It was not to Ahab’s benefit that he was shown favor in This World, as it is written: “Because he humbles himself before Me” (I Kings 21:29). The sins Ahab committed during the extra time he was granted on earth caused him to lose his share in the World to Come (Yoma 87a, Maharsha).

Who caused Ahab to be destroyed in This World and the World to Come together with his sons? His wife Jezebel (Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu Rabbah 10).

And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him” (I Kings 16:29 - 30). So begins the tragic narrative of Ahab.

It could have been better. This was a skilled warrior, an astute politician, a clever businessman, and a lover of Torah. Unfortunately, not every lover of Torah in history has felt compelled to practice all the mitzvot. The son of Omri was interested in the security and aggrandizement of Israel, but somewhere-amidst his alliance with Judah, his exchange of trade with the Tyrians, his building of a grand stable at Megiddo, his three wars against the persistent king of Damascus, Ben-Hadad, his union with Syria against the expansion-minded Assyrians- - he lost his way.

It is easy to blame Jezebel, another character whose name has been continually vilified through the pages of literature and history. But her destiny was more deserving. She had the king’s ear and his heart, and that proved to be a deadly combination. That she succeeded in her ungodly plan to annex Naboth’s vineyard to her husband’s own land and, at the same time, to destroy the poor farmer, underlines her venality. It doesn’t say a lot for Ahab, either, but at least he possessed enough shame, after being tongue-lashed by a furious Elijah, to return to his palace and put on a mourner’s sackcloth.

The counts against him: false prophets of Baal, a Phoenician wife, sinful behavior against his fellow man. Ahab didn’t have a chance to win favor in the Lord’s eyes. His fate sealed, the beleaguered king makes one more attempt to avenge himself in battle. Disguised as a foot soldier, he is killed by the Arameans and, as earlier predicted by Elijah, his blood is ingloriously licked up by dogs in Samaria.

Was there a white whale looming over the biblical Ahab? Certainly he was obsessed with the simultaneous occupation of proving and redeeming himself. That he failed, tragically, in his quest to right his ship of state earns not just our enmity but, like our study of Melville’s Ahab, our continuous intrigue with this enormously complex biblical personality. Page from the Amiens Picture Bible, the lower register showing Jezebel advising King Ahab, while the upper register shows Ahab speaking to Naboth about his vineyard. Leon, Spain, 1197.