Value For Value?

Before I get to today’s commentary, I have something I want to talk to you about.

I got a very nice email from long time listener Jeffrey today. One of his comments was that he has been listening to another narrated Bible that his church was using, but that now that they are done with that, he is back listening to the LSFAB. And he said, “So I’m glad to have you back.”

Well, Jeffrey, it’s nice to have you join us again. Thanks for remembering us!

Jeffrey is going to be sending a monthly financial gift, too. I really appreciate that! And it brings up a subject that I have been thinking about.

It’s been years since I have mentioned donations on any of my podcasts, but not because I don’t need the help. I do. The amount of time I can give to producing shows is severely limited by the fact that I need to earn a living. Jeff had some really good ideas on content that he would like to hear from Lifespring! Media, and I told him I just couldn’t do it, given the limitations I have on time.

Maybe it’s time to bring it up again. If you, dear listener, would be willing to participate in a value-for-value effort, I would be most appreciative. What is value-for-value? Simply put, it’s you deciding how much value you think I bring to your life by producing the LSFAB. If you listen every day, on a normal week you are receiving a minimum of 50 minutes of Bible reading and commentary. In a year’s time, that’s over forty hours. How much is that worth to you? What does that bring to your life? Is that worth a weekly or a monthly donation?

I would love to hear what you think about this. Write to me at st***@*************ia.com. Tell me your honest thoughts. There is much more I could do if enough of you truly gave value-for-value. So send me a quick email and let me know your thoughts.

Commentary

You might be wondering why Naboth refused to let King Ahab buy his land.

Remember that Israel and Judah are the divided kingdom of God’s chosen people. Ahab, as you may remember, is king of Israel. Both of these kingdoms are part of the promised land, Canaan. When God rescued them from Pharoah’s Egypt, He promised Moses that He would take them to a land that would be theirs. That’s why it was called the Promised Land.

When the twelve tribes arrived there after their forty years of wandering in the desert, each tribe was given a part of the land, and each part was then divided among the families of the tribes. And each family portion was given as a permanent possession. Actually, it wasn’t a possession, but more like a lease, because God retained actual ownership. In Leviticus 23 God tells the people: The land must not be permanently sold because the land is mine. You are just immigrants and foreign guests of mine.

Allowance was made in this agreement for a family to temporarily sell their portion of land if they were to fall on hard times, financially. But in the year of Jubilee (which was every seven years), the land was to go back to the original family.

So, King Ahab got it in his mind that he wanted Naboth’s land. Remember that Ahab is not a good man. He turned his back on God and he worshipped other Gods, and he paid no heed to God’s Law. In making this offer to Naboth, he is asking Naboth to do something that a godly man would never do unless he was in dire straits. Obviously, Naboth had no need to sell, and he evidently didn’t trust that Ahab would give back the land in the year of Jubilee.

So Ahab pouts, and Jezebel, his wife (who in 2 Kings 9:34 is called “that cursed woman”) has Naboth murdered so that Ahab can take the land without even paying for it.

We will see the consequences of this evil when we read 2 Kings.