Ambrose (339-397 A.D.) “On Naboth”: A “story” that is “repeated every day.” Part I. The price of our penury; The price of our luxury (Text + video lecture by Mako Nagasawa)

A background writing on the life of Ambrose and his election as Bishop of Milan amidst the Nicene and Arian controversies of the late 4th century can be found here.

And a very helpful overview lecture by Mako Nagasawa, the current director of the Anastasis Center in Boston, is here.

[Reading Time of Part I: 14 minutes]

The Text

English text of the treatise, “On Naboth.”

Latin text: De Nabuthae

Ambrose of Milan, “On Naboth”

From ancient history to modern times: Patterns repeated “every day”

[1.] The story of Naboth is an old one, but it is repeated every day.

Who among the rich does not daily covet others’ goods?

Who among the wealthy does not make every effort to drive the poor person out from his little plot and turn the needy out from the boundaries of his ancestral fields?

Who is satisfied with what is his?

What rich person’s thoughts are not preoccupied with his neighbor’s possessions?

It is not one Ahab who was born, therefore, but—what is worse—Ahab is born everyday, and never does he die as far as this world is concerned. For each one who dies there are many others who rise up; there are more who steal property than wholose it.

It is not one poor man, Naboth, who was slain.

Every day Naboth is struck down;

Every day the poor man is slain.

Seized by this fear, the human race is now departing its lands. Carrying his little one, the poor man sets out with his children; his wife follows in tears, as if she were accompanying her husband to his grave.

Yet she who mourns over the corpses of her family weeps less because she [at least] has her spouse’s tomb even if she has lost his protection; even if she no longer has children, she at least does not weep over them as exiles; she does not lament what is worse than death—the empty stomachs of her tender offspring.

Does nature make a distinction between rich and poor?

At our birth? Or death?

[2.] How far, O rich, do you extend your mad greed?

“Shall you alone dwell upon the earth” (Is 5:8).

Why do you cast out the companion whom nature has given you and claim for yourself nature’s possession?

The earth was established in common for all, rich and poor.

Why do you alone, O rich, demand special treatment?

Nature, which begets everyone poor, knows no wealthy; for we are not born with clothing or begotten with gold and silver.

“Naked” it brings us into the light, wanting food, clothing and drink, and “naked” the earth receives us whom it brought forth, not knowing how to compass our possessions in the tomb (Job 1:21).

The narrow sod is equally spacious for poor and rich, and the earth, which did not contain the desires of the rich person when he was alive, now contains him entirely. Nature, then, knows no distinction when we are born, and it knows none when we die. It creates all alike, and all alike it encloses in the bowels of the tomb.

What differences can be seen among the dead?

Open up the earth and, if you are able, discern who is rich. Then clear away the rubbish and, if you recognize the poor person, show who he is apart, perhaps, from this one fact alone—that more things perish with the rich.

The benefit of riches to yourself and your heirs?

[3.] The silk raiment and wrappings woven with gold in which the body of the rich person is clothed are losses to the living and of no help to the dead.

You are anointed, O rich man, and you stink.

You ruin the beauty that belongs to others and acquire none for yourself.

You leave behind heirs who fight among themselves.

To your heirs, who fear to diminish or violate what has been left them, you leave behind an inherited responsibility rather than an open-ended benefit.

If your heirs are frugal, they maintain it; if they are spendthrifts, they use it up. And so you either condemn your good heirs to constant anxiety or leave behind bad ones; wherefore let them condemn your deeds.

“Know thyself” and know how riches affect you

[4.] But why do you think that, as long as you are alive, you abound in all things?

O rich man, you do not know how poor you are, how needy you seem to yourself—you who call yourself rich.

The more you have the more you require, and whatever you get hold of, you are still in need.

Avarice is inflamed by money, not extinguished.

Greediness has, as it were, certain steps, and as a person mounts them he hastens on to heights whence grave ruin awaits his downfall.

Such a person was better off when he had less. In view of his possessions his requirements were modest, but with an increase of income there came a growth in greed.

He does not want to be small in his wishes or poor in his desires. And so two intolerable situations are joined together:

He increases the ambitious, longing characteristic of a rich person without laying aside an attitude of begging.

Hence divine Scripture teaches us how wretchedly he is in need and how abjectly he begs.

Who is the “poor man”?

[5.] There was a king in Israel named Ahab and a poor man named Naboth.

The former abounded in the wealth of a kingdom, while the latter possessed a tiny plot of land. The poor man coveted none of the rich man’s possessions, but the king seemed to himself to be lacking something because the poor man, who was his neighbor, had a vineyard.

Who, then, seems to you to be the poor man?

The one who is content with what is his or the one who covets another’s property?

Certainly the one seems to be poor in terms of goods, the other in terms of desire. A rich disposition knows not how to want, and abundant goods cannot satisfy an avaricious man’s yearnings.

Hence the rich man is covetous in his envy of another’s property and complains of poverty.

The Biblical Narrative

[6.] But let us now consider the words of Scripture:

“And this came about,”it says after these words,

“There was a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite in Jezreel next to the house of Ahab, king of Samaria.

And Ahab spoke to Naboth and said,

“Give me your vineyard and I shall make it a herb garden, because it is near my house, and I shall give you another vineyard in its place.

But, if you prefer, I shall give you money for the vineyard, and I shall make it a herb garden.

And Naboth said to Ahab,

“God forbid that I should give you my ancestral property.”

And his spirit was troubled, and he slept on his bed, covered his face and ate no bread” (I Ki 21:1–3).

Elijah (a “poor man”) as a counterexample to Ahab (“the rich man”)

[7.] The divine Scripture had related beforehand that Elisha, although he was poor, left his oxen and ran after Elijah; he slew them, gave of them to the people, and clung to the prophet (cf. I Ki 19:19–21).

The previous words, then, were intended as a condemnation of the rich man whose story is told in the person of the king. For, although he possessed good things from God, as did Ahab, to whom the Lord both gave a kingdom and at the prophet Elijah’s prayer granted rain (cf. I Kings 17–18), he violated the divine commands.

Why does “the rich man” ask possessions of a “poor man”?

[8.] Let us pay attention, then, to what he says.

“Give me,” he says.

What else does someone say who is in need?

What else does someone say who is asking for public assistance than ‘Give me’?

In other words:

‘Give me because I am in need.’

‘Give me because I have no bread to eat, no money for something to drink, nothing to pay for a meal, no material for clothing.’

‘Give me because the Lord has given you, and not me, the means with which you should be generous.’

‘Give me because, if you do not, I shall have nothing.’

‘Give me because Scripture says

“Give alms” (eleēmosýnē, literally, ‘do works of mercy’ [éleos], Luke 11:41).

How abject, how vile is all of this!

There is no sense of humility here, but rather the fire of covetousness. And in this very degradation what impudence!

“Give me,” he says, “your vineyard.”

He confesses that it is another’s in order to ask for what is not rightfully his.

From covetousness to exclusion

[9.] “And I shall give you,” he says, “another vineyard in its place.”

The rich person scorns what belongs to him as if it were vile, and he covets someone else’s property as if it were the most precious of things.

[10.] “But, if you prefer, I shall give you money.”

Quickly he corrects his error by offering money for the vineyard. For he who desires to occupy everything with his own possessions wishes the other person to possess nothing.

[11.] “And I shall make it a herb garden.”

All this madness, all this uproar, then, was in order to find space for paltry herbs. It is not, therefore, that you desire to possess something useful for yourself so much as it is that you want to exclude others.

Your concern is more to despoil the poor than to increase your own wealth. You consider it to your detriment if a poor person has anything that is thought worthy of a rich person’s possession.

You believe that whatever belongs to anyone else is your loss.

Why does harm done to nature give you pleasure?

The world was created for all, but you few rich try to keep it for yourselves. For not merely landed property but the heavens themselves, the air, the sea are claimed for the use of a few wealthy persons.

This air, which you include in your widespread possessions—how many people can it provide for!

Do the angels have portions allotted in the heavens to correspond with the divisions that you make on earth?

From exclusion to isolation: The counter to nature

[12.] The prophet cries out,

“Woe to those who join house to house and field to field

They add field to field,

Till there is no place

Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land! (Is 5:8).”

And he reproaches them for their sterile avarice. For they flee the companionship of human beings and therefore exclude their neighbors. But they cannot flee because, when they have excluded some, others in turn take their place.

And when they have driven out these, still others inevitably take up residence nearby. They cannot live by themselves on the earth.

Birds associate with birds, and accordingly the skies are often darkened with the flight of a vast multitude; cattle are joined to cattle and fish to fish; it leads not to loss but to lively interaction when they strive for a large company, and they seek a kind of protection through the solace of great numbers.

You alone, O man, exclude your fellow!

You enclose wild animals and construct dwellings for beasts, but you destroy those of human beings.

You allow the sea onto your estates so that its creatures may not be wanting, but you extend the boundaries of your property so that you will have no neighbors.

How the poor man responded: Words to “emulate”

[13.] We have heard the words of the rich man, who sought what belonged to someone else.

Now let us hear the words of the poor man who defended what belonged to him.

“God forbid that I should give you my ancestral property.”

It is as if he thought that the rich man’s money would somehow contaminate him.

It is as if he had said:

‘“Let your money go with you to perdition” (Acts 8:20),

but I cannot sell my ancestral property.’

Here is something to emulate, O rich man, if you are wise:

You should not sell your field for a night with a prostitute;

You should not sell away your lawful rights to pay for revelry or to purchase luxuries;

You should not put up your house for a wager at a game of dice, lest you lose the property acquired by your forebears.

How King Ahab responded and why he was “troubled in spirit”

[14.] When he heard this, the avaricious king was troubled in spirit, and he slept on his bed, covered his face and did not eat his bread.

The rich are in mourning if they have been unable to seize others’ property.

If a poor person has not been swayed by their wealth, they cannot conceal the depths of their bitterness. The rich, however, want to sleep, so to cover their face;

lest they see anything on earth that belongs to someone else;

lest they notice anything in this world that is not theirs;

lest they hear that a neighbor possesses something near them;

lest they hear a poor person contradicting them.

Such are the souls to whom the prophet says:

“Rich women, arise!” (Is 32:9).

More for me; none for thee…yet what are its fruits?

[15.] “And he did not eat his bread,” it says, because he sought someone else’s. For the rich, who prosper on plunder and meet their expenses with plunder, prefer to eat someone else’s bread rather than their own.

Or at the very least he did not eat his bread since he wished to punish himself with death because something was being denied him.

[16.] Compare now the attitude of the poor person. He has nothing, and he cannot fast voluntarily except to God; he cannot fast except out of necessity.

You, however, seize everything from the poor.

You remove everything.

You leave nothing;

but it is you, O rich, who endure the suffering of the poor.

They fast if they do not have—you, when you do have.

You, therefore, exact suffering from yourselves, before you inflict it on the poor.

You, therefore, undergo the distress of wretched poverty, as a result of your desire.

The poor, to be sure, do not have what they could use;

But you neither use it yourselves nor permit others to use it.

You mine gold from the earth and conceal it again.

How many lives do you bury in that gold!

What will be the effect of those treasures, which you have so diligently stored up, upon your family?

[17.] For whom are those things kept? when you read of the avaricious rich person:

“He stores up treasures and knows not for whom he gathers them” (Ps 39:6)?

The idle heir looks forward to your death, while the disdainful heir complains that you will die too late; he hates increasing his inheritance and is eager to spend it.

What, therefore, could be more wretched than losing the gratitude of the one for whom you are toiling?

On his account you endure bitter hunger every day and fear daily losses to your table.

On his account you carry out daily fasts.

A personal example of a miserly man

[18.] I myself know of a rich man who, in setting out for the country, was in the habit of counting out the rather small loaves that he had brought from the city, so that from the number of loaves one could estimate how many days he was going to be in the country.

He did not want to open his granary, which was sealed up, lest his stores be diminished. One loaf—hardly enough to feed the miser—was assigned for each day.

I also found out from trustworthy evidence that, if an egg was added to this, he would complain that a chicken had been killed.

I write this so that you may know that God’s justice, which avenges the tears of the poor by your fasting, is vindicatory.

The price of our penury; the price of our luxury

[19.] How religious your fasting would be if you assigned the costs of the banqueting you have foregone to the poor!

More acceptable was “that rich man” from whose table the “poor man Lazarus,” in his desire to fill himself, collected what had fallen (cf. Luke 16:21); but even his table was paid for by the blood of many poor people; and the cups that he drank dripped with the gore of the many whom he had driven to the gallows.

[20.] How many die so that pleasures may be prepared for you!

Deadly is your greed, deadly your luxury.

One man tumbled from a rooftop when he was readying large storerooms for your grain.

Another fell from the top of a tall tree while searching for the sorts of grapes to bring down for the proper wines to be served at your banqueting.

Another drowned in the sea in his anxiety that a fish or an oyster might be lacking to your table.

Another froze to death in the winter as he made an effort to look for rabbits or to set snares for birds.

Another was beaten to death before your eyes if he happened to do something displeasing, and he spattered your banquet with the blood that he shed.

It was a rich man, finally, who commanded the head of a poor prophet to be brought to him at table, since he could find no other way of rewarding a dancer except by ordering the death of a poor man (cf. Mt 14:6–11).