4/20/52

Scripture - I Kings 21: 1-16

Text - I Kings 21: 3 “The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.”

How hateful is a tyrant! When one who has gotten into the seat of power uses that power for his own ends, or to satisfy his own determination alone, he brings unhappiness to all who are overruled by his ruthlessness, and really deprives himself of true happiness as well.

There is a great inspiration in the character of one who will stand up to a tyrant and, despite danger, speak the truth. It is not alone the delight that some take in knowing that the powerful one can be “told off.” But, more fundamental, there is the deep-rooted knowledge that righteousness must be exalted.

The courage of Naboth in standing against a king is something for which one must be grateful. Ahab, the ruler, was a ruthless sort of despot. And his queen, Jezebel, was worse. The fact that, eventually, they came to a bad end does not minimize the hardship some of their misrule imposed on certain of their subjects while they were in the saddle.

For his kingly convenience and personal satisfaction, Ahab decided that he needed a certain piece of ground not far from his palace. It was a vineyard, owned and cultivated by one Naboth, whose family had had the place for a long time. Ahab wanted the place for a vegetable garden - a “garden of herbs”. Here he could have some of the things raised which suited his fancy. And it was here that he could retire in the cool of the evening to relax from the hard daily task of ruling a contentious people.

Since he was the king, it would seem likely that he could have what he wanted -- at a price he considered fair, of course. But he hit a snag. For Naboth said, “No.” Ahab offered to get him a better piece of land. The answer was “No.” The king offered to pay cash. Still the answer was, “No.”

Beyond the material value of the place, was the fact that the vineyard had been in Naboth’s family for a long time. It had come to him as one of those inheritances, the like of which one treasured for family meaning as well as for physical livelihood. And so when Ahab said, “Give me thy vineyard,” Naboth replied firmly, “The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.”

Ahab didn’t take the refusal gracefully! He went home in a huff. Really, he was in quite a mood! He lay on his bed like a spoiled child, refused food, wouldn’t look at anyone. And he just sulked.

Queen Jezebel came in and asked him what was the matter. So he told her the story. She said, “Well, aren’t you the king? Get up and eat. I’ll see to it that you get your vineyard.” And so she did! She gave a few orders here and there. Common liars of no character were to be secured who would testify that Naboth had spoken treason to God and king. It would all be very legal and Naboth would be legally executed by stoning. When he was dead, his land, being the possession of a “criminal,” would be forfeited to the crown. So they would be rid of an unruly subject, and Ahab would get the vineyard for nothing.

It was the old, old story of those who use perfectly legal methods for achieving unethical and vicious ends. That is the kind of legalism which many years later prompted Paul to say, “The strength of sin is the law,” the good intent of the law being perverted and prostituted to evil purposes.

And so Naboth’s refusal cost him his life -- a life given for a principle; a life taken by the crudest sort of selfishness in high and responsible places.

It happened that the land in question was a prized possession of Naboth’s. He was unwilling to part with it because it was in an inheritance, something that had belonged in his family for generations. He was not interested in a price, no matter how great, from Ahab. Nor was he interested in exchange for another vineyard or piece of land, no matter how much better might be said to be. He was unwilling to surrender the tradition of his fathers. “Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.” Naboth had said it well, and resolutely.

His attitude was precisely opposite to that of the impetuous young fellow who had set no store by the inheritance of his family. This latter fellow was impatient of all that his family represented. He wanted a pleasurable time among other young blades of his own age. And he wasn’t willing to wait until his father died to get it! He made so much trouble over it, around the place, that his father finally consented to give the young fellow his expected share of the inheritance and let him go.

You know the rest of that story, as it was told, of the prodigal son, who then went off to a distant place and dissipated his fortune in riotous living, until he had lost his own self-respect, broken his father’s heart and alienated the rest of the family. [Luke 15: 11-31].

We have quite enough of the prodigal in our makeup today. How we need the spirit of Naboth now in our time when there is so much of Ahab to try to persuade us to surrender the tradition and inheritance of our fathers - traditions that are priceless and that represent the very best in life. There are Ahabs in numerous realms, over-persuading us to give up the priceless heritage handed down by our fathers in the spirit.

It is obvious that the United States of America that is so hated by tyrants and demagogues from Hitler to Castro and that is so beloved by us and by those who truly long for freedom, is an inheritance from our fathers. Our prized American way of life is a treasure worked out, guarded, strengthened, and transmitted to us by the earlier fathers of the nation down to our own immediate parents. Civilization, like coral islands, grows out of the very life - the blood and bone and determination - of past generations. When any Ahab would take away our inheritance, he should be answered with a firm “No.” “Lord forbid it that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.” For the Ahabs have not the slightest interest in perpetuating the moral and spiritual qualities of our forefathers.

Visitors of recent times to Plymouth Rock find it zealously defended from the ravages of souvenir hunters -- fenced off from the chisels of those who would take it away, chip by chip.

Not so far from Plymouth Rock, one can find the grave of the colonial Governor Bradford. At the base of the monument there are written impressive words in Latin, the translation of which, in English, reads: “What our fathers with so much difficulty secured, do not basely relinquish.”

A few months ago, those who had access to television were able to see, as well as hear, the proceedings, and the people involved, in an investigation of crime and corruption on a large scale. It was not only informative, but it shocked the nation awake to some of the sordid goings-on in our country.

The Pilgrims and the Puritans were real symbols of the moral and ethical way of living on which the greatness of this nation was built. They may have been straight-laced in their piety, and they may have erred at some points, as they certainly did in an occasional witch hunt. But there was a rock-ribbed morality about them that maintained their integrity of soul and hence the integrity of their body politic -- a morality and an integrity that should never be surrendered.

It is an alarming statement that former President Hoover made when he says, “There is a dangerous weakening of morality and ethical standards in public life generally.” And a Christian Century editorial asks, “How many of us realize that, in a far deeper sense than any scandals involving graft and gifts, the very foundations on which the republic rests are being eaten away?”

Shall we surrender a precious heritage to the Ahabs of today? Or allow the termites of neglect to eat them away?

We are faced with a constant, alluring temptation, drawing us, if we follow far afield, from the principles that make for the greatness of our nation. We seem to think that what we have is more important than where we came from. In general, we have plenty of things. But have we plenty of character? That’s far more important. We have harnessed electricity and we are putting harness on the atom. But have we harnessed ourselves? We have wanted what we wanted when we wanted it; but have we been concerned over what the other fellow needs?

We have accepted in literature, that which has impressive style and skill in the use of words. But we have been less concerned if it be decent or indecent, morally healthy or obscene, proper or profane. We can print a Sunday metropolitan newspaper in several colors at once; but do we really care whether the antics of its comic characters teach our youngsters what life really is and can be? This is not alone a commentary on those who produce what we absorb but on us who allow and encourage it to be produced. We of our time can be brilliant but unstable, clever but unhappy, comfortable, but comfortless. If we are the indifferent public, we are responsible for the termite reduction of our civilization.

How can we be complacent about the moral lag of our time? The historians of the future can analyze us, but we are the ones to make our own day in history. For the corruption we see in the lives of some public figures, as in the recent police department scandals in Chicago, is a reflection of the lack of integrity and basic moral fiber in our nation. Public officials do not bribe themselves. If some officials are bribed, someone does the bribing. We may be sure of that.

A well known, and brazen, Chicago confidence man once remarked that a confidence man’s whole stock in trade is his playing on the larcenous desires of his victims. It is their desire to get something for little or nothing that plays them into his hands.

Here is the nub of the situation that makes a cleanup of corrupt practices among some officials not just a job for a few law enforcement men, but a moral and religious job for all of us. And I say “religious” because really sound morals are rooted in religious conviction. If any Naboth is to say “No” to an Ahab, it is we who must say “Lord forbid it that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee.”

A plaintive Negro spiritual begins: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord; Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble! Were you there when they crucified my Lord.” At first hearing, one may say: “How quaint, for the people of a former slave race to be singing that! Of course none of us, nor the singer either, was there.” But the more one hears it, the more searching becomes its spiritual perception and the more searching the inquiry. Are we present, consenting, or even contributing to the repeated crucifying of our Lord?

As churches, are we fulfilling our duty as the conscience of the nation if we let our country be morally weak, as to let this infection take hold?

Why do we surrender to Ahab? Is it not due to what we might call “subversive inactivity?” The overt enemies, devilish as are some of their attacks, are not a damaging as millions of us citizens who think of ourselves as loyal but are simply indifferent. It does not occur to us that we are against the American way of life by being too busy having a good time or making some money, to care for the moral welfare of the nation - too busy to be bothered.

Was it H. G. Wells who brought this to focus in one of his stories of a croquet player? “I don’t care,” said the fellow. “The world may be going to pieces. The stone age may be returning. This may, as you say, be the sunset of civilization. I’m sorry but I can’t help it this morning. I have other engagements. I am going to play croquet with my aunt at half past twelve today.”

An appalling lot of important work gets left undone when we decide that the one thing we will attend to is the matter that we particularly want to do for ourselves. Is it sometimes a surrender to Ahab? Any corruption in government is part of a deeper corruption -- a corruption of government.

Of course it is not the business of the church to make a good government. There have been churches and churchmen who have sought such power and seized upon it. But the nation is far better off whose churches are separate from its government, serving rather through the consciences of the citizens. The church’s task is to cultivate the goodness in men who will create good government. So this becomes a very personal problem.

You recall that the great wall of China was a gigantic structure, requiring immense labor and expense. When finished, it seemed a superb way to have gained security. But within a few years of its completion it was breached three times by the enemy. Note, however, that the enemy did not breach it by breaking the wall, but by bribing the gatekeepers. It was the human element that failed, the collapse of character that spelled disaster.

If we make honest inventory, we must ask ourselves seriously whether we have been too busy to orient ourselves daily to God. Do we read our Bibles, or do they gather dust? Have we continued our weekly fellowship with Christian friends or do we let it lapse (for regular church attendance is an important spiritual necessity.) Do we keep eyes open each day to put our good intentions to work?

A university professor who had lost any vital faith was at length honest enough to explain what had happened. “I never consciously gave up religious belief,” he said. “It was as if I had put my beliefs in a drawer, and when I opened it there was nothing there at all.” Subversive inactivity!

Most corruption grows in a nation simply because there are not enough people who care enough. We are interested, but with a moderate sort of interest.

Samuel Butler could write. He had a skillful literacy command of words and some power with them But he is not a favorite author with me. He once wrote in his notebook: “There will be no comfortable and safe development of our social arrangements (and by this he explained that he meant that we shall not get infanticide and permissive suicide and cheap and easy divorce!) until this Jesus Christ’s ghost has been laid.” He added, sarcastically, “And the best way to lay it is to be a moderate churchman.” The only positive thing I see in so sneering a statement is that it points out our pitiful lack if we be just so-so in our church loyalty.

Our day needs more Naboths who will rise up and stoutly declare: “The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.”

Every churchman, and every citizen, does well to lift in his own heart the prayer of the Psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” [Psalm 139: 23-24].

Let this sermon not stop here. Let us list some practical things to do.

1. We can refuse to support any enterprise that is not legitimate.

2. We can support all law enforcement agencies.

3. We can get as well informed as possible on election issues and candidates, and vote at election time.

4. We can become informed on conditions and circumstances of government.

5. We can read and listen critically and analytically

6. We can love goodness and hate evil.

7. We can support our church and churches, with time, substance and effort, being a lot more than “moderate” churchmen.

8. We can seek Christ’s presence and walk closer to his spirit.

9. We can pray for America.

10. We can be Naboths, saying: “The Lord forbid it that I should give away the inheritance of my fathers.”

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Dates and places delivered:

Wisconsin Rapids, April 20, 1952

Wisconsin Rapids, April 24, 1960