Ambrose (339-397 A.D.) “On Naboth”: Part III. Calculations of the Kingdom and Calculations of Jezebel—”You have found me out”

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Click here for Part I and Part II.

More calculations…yet with the response of Scripture

[43.] But perhaps you will say what you are commonly in the habit of saying:

“We ought not to give to someone, whom God has cursed because He wishes him to be poor.”

But the poor are not cursed, inasmuch as it is written

“Blessed are the poor, '

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3; Luke 6:20).

It is not of the poor but of the rich that Scripture says:

“The one who controls the price of grain will be cursed” (Prov. 11:26).

Furthermore, you should not look to what each person deserves.

Mercy is not wont to judge on the basis of merit but to meet needs;

Not to examine as to uprightness but to help the poor.

For it is written:

“Blessed is the one who considers the needy and poor person” (Ps 41:1).

Who is it that understands?

The one who is compassionate with him, who realizes that he is a companion given him by nature.

Who recognizes that the Lord made both the rich and the poor (Prov 22:2)?

Who knows that he will hallow his income if he gives a small portion of it to the poor?

Since you have the means to be gracious, then, do not delay and say:

“Tomorrow I will give” (Prov 3:28), lest you lose the opportunity to give.

Delay is dangerous when it touches upon another person’s well-being; it could turn out that, while you hesitate, he will die.

Better to make haste before death, lest perchance avarice hinder you tomorrow and your good intentions come to nothing.

From the rich man’s calculations to the “avarice” of Jezebel

[44.] But why do I say that you should not delay your generosity?

It is more a matter of not hastening to robbery.

It is more a matter of not extorting what you desire.

It is more a matter of not seeking someone else’s property;

of ignoring what has been denied you;

of patiently accepting what has been excused;

of not listening to that Jezebel—avarice—when she appeals, as it were, to the uncontrollable flow (fluxum) of your vanity:

“I myself will get for you” (I Ki 21:7) the property that you desire.

“You are sad because you wish to consider the measure of justice, so that you do not snatch away another’s property.”

“I have my rights.”

“I have my laws.”

“I shall bring false charges (Calumniabor), so that I may despoil him.”

“And the life shall be beaten out of him, so that I may seize the poor man’s possession.”

For what else is described in that narrative but the avarice of the rich, which is a vain and uncontrolled flow (fluxus), like a river, which carries everything away and brings to naught what might have been good?

“This Jezebel…is many”

[46.] This Jezebel does not exist alone; she is many.

Nor does she belong to one age, but to a multitude of ages.

She says to all, as she said to her husband Ahab:

“Arise, eat bread and return to yourself.

I myself will get for you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite”(I Ki 21:7).

Jezebel’s calculations…

[47.] “And she wrote a letter in Ahab’s name, sealed it with his ring and sent the letter to the elders and those freemen who were staying with Naboth.

In the letter it was written:

“Proclaim a fast.

Set up Naboth at the head of the people and set up two men, sons of iniquity (filios Belial/diaboli), against him, to bear false witness against him and to say:

‘He has cursed God and the king.’

Then lead him out and stone him” (I Ki 21:7-10).

The false fast; the true fast

[48.] How clearly is the behavior of the rich expressed!

They are grieved if they do not seize others’ property.

They refuse food.

They fast—not to atone for a sin but to commit a crime.

You may see them coming to church then, dutiful, humble, constant, in order to merit obtaining the successful outcome of their wickedness.

But God says to them:

“This is not the fast that I have chosen, not even if you should bend your neck like a circle and spread out ashes and sackcloth.

Not thus will you call an acceptable fast.

Such is not the fast that I have chosen, says the Lord.

But undo every tie of injustice.

Loose the bonds of contracts made under duress.

Set free the broken and break every unjust obligation.

Break your bread for the hungry and bring the needy and homeless into your house.

If you see someone who is naked, clothe him, and do not despise your own kin.

Then will your morning light arise to you.

And timely will your health arise.

And righteousness will go before you.

And the majesty of God will encompass you.

Then will you cry out, and God will hear you.

Even as you speak he will say:

‘Behold, I am here’” (Is 58:5-9).

In the flesh? Or by the Spirit?

[49.] Do you hear, O rich man, what the Lord God is saying?

And you come to church—not to give something to the poor person;

but to take it away.

You fast—not so that what you would pay for in your banqueting might profit the needy;

but in order to despoil the needy.

What do you want for yourself with book and paper and seal and contract and legal obligation?

Did you not hear:

“Undo every tie of injustice;

Loose the bonds of contracts made under duress;

Set free the broken; and

Break every unjust obligation?”

You offer me account books;

but I rehearse to you the law of God.

You write with ink:

but I repeat to you the oracles of the prophets written by the Spirit of God.

You compose false testimonies;

but I demand the testimony of your conscience, which is your judge and from which you will be unable to escape or turn away.

Its testimony you will be unable to reject on the day when God will reveal the secrets of men.

You say:

“I will tear down my barns;”

But the Lord says:

“Allow instead whatever is in your barns to be assigned to the poor.

Allow these storerooms to benefit the needy.”

You say:

“I will build bigger ones;

And there I will gather everything that I have grown;”

But the Lord says:

“Break your bread for the hungry.”

You say:

“I will take away the poor man’s house;”

But the Lord says that you should

“bring the needy and homeless into your house.”‍ ‍

How, O rich man, can you wish for God to hear you,

when you think that God ought not to be heard?

If the rich person’s will is not respected, a pretext is established:

It is considered an insult to God, if the rich person’s request is not granted.

False witnesses brought forth…from within the religious system

[50.] “He has cursed,” it says, “God and the king” (I Ki 21:13).

Obviously the persons are equal, and so the affront is equal!

“He has cursed (maledixit),” it says, “God and the king.”

Lest the term “curse” be offensive to the rich man and he be hurt by the very sound of the word, “bless” is used in place of “curse.”

[Ambrose is here following the text of the Latin vulgate, which actually says that he has “blessed” (benedixit) instead of “cursed” (maledixit): “Benedixisti Deum et regem”]

Susanna was assailed by two witnesses (cf. Sus 13:34).

The Synagogue found two witnesses to hurl falsehoods at Christ (cf. Mt 26:60–61);

And the poor man is slain on account of two witnesses.

“And so they led Naboth out and stoned him” (I Ki 21:13).

Would that he would even have been permitted to die among his own!

The rich man even begrudges the poor man his grave.

False accusations; False mourning

[51.] “And it happened,” it says,

“when Ahab had heard that Naboth was dead, that he rent his garments and covered himself with sackcloth.

And after this it happened that Ahab arose and went down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it” (I Ki 21:16).

The rich are enraged and bring false accusations in order to wreak harm if they do not get what they want.

But when they have wrought harm with their false accusations, they pretend to be downcast.

Yet sad and grieving, as it were, not interiorly but exteriorly, they go out to the place where they have plundered property and make it their own by wicked means.

The false sentence of man; The true sentence by God

[52.] The divine righteousness is stirred by this and with appropriate severity condemns the avaricious man in these words:

“You have slain, and you have taken possession of the inheritance;

Therefore, in the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth,

dogs shall lick up your blood,

and prostitutes shall bathe in your blood”(I Ki 21:19).

[Note: The latter phrase, “and prostitutes shall bathe in your blood” does not appear in either the Latin Vulgate or our English Bibles (whose translations mainly derive from the Hebrew Masoretic Text); however, it is present in the Old Latin Text (Vetus Latina), which is a direct Latin translation of the Greek Septuagint/LXX: αἱ πόρναι ἐλούσαντο ἐν τῷ αἵματι. And it is thus from here that Ambrose takes this added phrase as well as further Scriptural quotations in this treatise.]

How righteous, how severe a sentence—that he would be prevented, by the horror of his own death—from being separated from the harsh death that he inflicted on another!

God sees the poor man unburied [Naboth] and therefore decrees that the rich man [Abab] shall lie unentombed; so that, when dead, he may wash away the disgrace of his iniquity, although he thought that even the dead should not be spared.

And so his corpse, moistened with the gore of his wound, manifested the cruelty of his life in the way that he died.

When the poor man endured these things, the rich man was reproved;

When the rich man followed after him, the poor man was vindicated.

The “plunder of the rich” as the “burial place of spiritual wickedness”

[53.] But what does it mean that “prostitutes bathed in his blood” except perhaps that there appeared to be a certain meretricious wickedness or bloody excess in the king’s savageness;

For he was so given to excess that he longed for herbs—so bloody that he would kill a man for herbs?

A punishment, fitting for his avarice (avaritia ),

destroyed the avaricious man (avarum).

And finally the dogs and the birds of the sky ate up Jezebel herself, in order to show that the plunder of the rich becomes the burial place of spiritual wickedness.

Flee “that savage Jezebel—avarice!”

[54.] Flee, then, O rich man, a death of this kind.

But you will flee a death of that kind, if you flee a crime of that kind.

Do not be an Ahab, in that you desire your neighbor’s property.

Do not let that savage Jezebel—avarice—live in you.

It is she who urges you on to bloody deeds;

who does not restrain your desires, but encourages them;

who makes you sad even when you possess what you have desired;

who strips you naked when you are rich.

Who is rich? And who is poor?

[55.] For everyone who has an abundance considers himself the poorer when he thinks that he is lacking whatever others possess.

The one, whose desires the world itself does not contain, is in need of the whole world;

“but the whole world of riches belongs to him who is faithful” (Prov 17:6).

[As above, Ambrose is again quoting from the LXX, which adds to the verse in Prov 17:6 ("Children's children are the crown of old men; and their fathers are the glory of children”) the following lines: “But to the faithful man the whole world of wealth belongs, while to the unfaithful man not even a penny.”]

He flees from the whole world who, in consideration of his conscience, fears to be discovered. And therefore, although according to its symbolic value it is a rich person talking to a poor person, according to the narrative, it is Ahab saying to Elijah:

“You have found me out, my enemy” (I Ki 21:20a).

How wretched the conscience that was saddened when it was made manifest.

“Found out”

[56.] And Elijah said to him:

“I have found you out;

for you did evil in the sight of the Lord” (I Ki 21:20b).

Ahab was the very king of Samaria and Elijah was poor and in need of bread; he would have lacked sustenance if ravens had not provided him with food (cf. I Ki 17:6).

So downcast was the sinner’s conscience that he was not uplifted even by his haughty royal power; and it is as if he were common and base when he says,

“‘You have found me out, my enemy;’

And have discovered in me what I believed was hidden.”

“Nothing that is hidden in my mind is closed to you:

‘You have found me out.’

“My wounds are clear to you.”

“My captive condition is evident.”

A sinner is found out when his wickedness is made manifest;

But the righteous person says:

“You have tried me with fire

and no wickedness has been found in me” (Ps 17:3).

When Adam hid he was found out (cf. Gen. 3:8–9);

but Moses’ grave was never found (cf. Deut. 34:6).

Ahab was found;

but Elijah has not been found (cf. II Ki 2:11).

And the wisdom of God has said,

“The wicked seek me

and shall not find me” (Prov. 1:28).

And so in the Gospel, too, Jesus was sought and was not found (cf John 6:15, 8:21).

Crime, therefore, makes manifest its author. Hence the Tishbite also says:

“I have found you out,

for you did evil in the sight of the Lord;”

For the Lord hands over those who are guilty of crime; but the innocent He does not hand over to the power of their enemies. 26:4

Finally, Saul sought the holy David and was unable to find him (cf. I Sam 23:15; 24:4, 26:4); but the holy David found King Saul, for whom he was not searching, because the Lord handed him over to his power (cf. I Sam. 24:10).

Wealth, then, is captive, but poverty is free.

Riches that enslave us in a “whirlpool” of avarice; or which become a point of resistance when given as “alms”

[57.] O rich, you serve in a wretched slavery indeed;

when you serve error;

when you serve covetousness;

when you serve an avarice that cannot be satisfied.

An insatiable whirlpool is the more violent when it swallows up things that have been thrown into it. And, like an overflowing well, it is polluted with mud and wastes away the ground, which will produce nothing.

This very example is an appropriate warning for you.

For if you draw nothing from a well, it is easily ruined by stagnant inactivity and base neglect; but movement clarifies its appearance and makes it sweet to drink.

Likewise, a heap of riches that lies in a gritty pile is bright when it is used; but inactivity makes it useless.

Draw something out from this well, then,

“Water puts out a burning fire

and alms-giving (elemosyna) will resist sins” (Sir. 3:30);

but standing water quickly produces worms.

Do not let your treasure stand and do not let your fire stand. It will stand in you unless you resist such a thing with your works of mercy.

Consider, O rich man, how many blazes you are in. Yours is the voice of the one who says:

“Father Abraham, tell Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue” (Luke 16:24).

Giving and receiving

[58.] Whatever you have contributed to the poor, therefore, is profitable to you;

Whatever you have have made less is gain to you.

You feed yourself with the food that you have given to the poor; for the one who is merciful to the poor is fed himself (cf. Prov 11:24-26); and there is fruit already in these things.

Mercy is sown on the earth and germinates in heaven;

It is planted in the poor and sprouts forth in God’s presence.

“Do not say,” God declares, “tomorrow I will give.”

How does He, Who does not allow you to say:

“Tomorrow I will give”

allow you to say:

“I will not give”?

It is not anything of yours that you are bestowing on the poor.

Rather, you are giving back something of His. For you alone are usurping what was given in common for the use of all.

The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich; but there are fewer who do not use what is theirs than who do use it.

You are giving back something that is owed, then, and not bestowing something that is not owed. Hence Scripture says to you:

“Incline your soul to the poor;

Give back what is owed;

and answer him with peaceable words in gentleness” (Sir. 4:8).

Projections of nobility

[59.] Why are you proud, O rich man?

Why do you say to the poor man,

“Do not touch me”?

Were you not conceived in the womb and born from the womb, just as the poor man was born?

Why do you boast of your noble heritage?

You are accustomed to reckoning the pedigree of your hounds as if they were wealthy men;

You are accustomed to talking up the nobility of your horses as if they were consuls:

“This one came from that sire and was born of that mare;”

“This one boasts such and such a grandsire, that one is distinguished by reason of such and such great-grandsires.”

But none of that helps him to race; the prize is given not for nobility but for racing. Once defeated he is the more disgraceful, and his nobility is jeopardized as well.

Beware, then, O rich man, lest the merits of your forebears be called into question on your account, lest perchance it also be said to them:

Why did you designate such a person as your heir?

Why did you choose him?

The standing of an heir has nothing to do with gold-fretted ceilings or porphyry decorations.

[Note: Porphyry was a rare, deep purple volcanic stone associated with imperial power and immense wealth.]

The praiseworthy element there has to do, not with men, but with metal; for which men are punished.

Gold is sought for by the needy and denied to the needy. They toil in search of it; they toil to find what they cannot possess.

Wealth: A blessing or a stumbling block?

… A different kind of commendation

[60.] Yet I marvel, O rich men, why you consider yourselves praiseworthy on its account, when gold is more a stumbling block than a mark of esteem, for

“gold is also a stumbling block.

And woe to those who pursue it” (Sir 31:7).

Blessed, therefore, is the rich person

who has been found without blemish,

who has not gone after gold,

and has not placed his hope in treasuries of money” (Sir 31:8).

But, as if he could not be known, he desires that such a person be shown him.

“Who is this one?’ he says,

“and we shall praise him” (Sir. 31:9).

For he did something that we should admire as new rather than recognize as commonplace. And so he who can be “approved” (probatus) with regard to riches:

He it is who is truly “perfect and worthy of glory”;

“he who,” it says, “could have transgressed and did not transgress;

could have done evil and did not do it” (Sir 31:10).

Therefore he commends gold to you, in which there is so much inducement to sin—not as a thing favorable to human beings, but as a punishment for them.

[For Part IV, click here.]