Naboth’s Armory
February 17, 2010 | Posted by Doug
"But Naboth said to Ahab, ‘The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance." -I Kings 21:3
| Reading: I Kings 21:1-7
Bloomberg said to the Northwest Bronx, “Give me your armory, so that I may have it for a shopping mall, for it’s been sitting empty and it’s in my city, and I will give you lots of jobs and new stores and a movie theater. But the Northwest Bronx said to Bloomberg, “We will not give you our armory, unless you give us living wage jobs.” So Bloomberg went home resentful and sullen because of what the Northwest Bronx had sid to him, for they had said, “We will not give you our Armory.” He told the newspapers that the politicians and people of the Northwest Bronx were crazy.
Why is it that the rich always believe everything is their birthright, as long as they have the resources to pay for it? This has been going on since before Ahab, it’s a wonder that there are any resources in the world left that are not owned by rich people.
Naboth reminds us that this is an issue of both justice and relationship to God. “God forbid that I should give away my ancestral land,” he said. He probably could have negotiated a good price for his land. But he understood that God has created the resources of the world to serve local needs and not to be investment opportunities for the rich.