and thrive there, one generation after another; and you will find,
my friends, that families do take root and thrive in a place just in
proportion as they fear God and do righteousness. The Psalms tell
you, again and again, that the way to abide in the land, and prosper
in it, is to trust in the Lord and be doing good; and that the
wicked are soon rooted out, and their names perish out of the land.
One sees that come true daily.

But to return to Naboth. He loved his own land, and therefore he
had a right to keep it. We may say it was but a fancy of his, if he
could have a better vineyard, or the worth of it in money.
Remember, at least, that God respected that fancy of his, and
justified it, and avenged it. When (after Naboth's death) Elijah
accused Ahab, in God's name, he put two counts into the indictment;
for Ahab had committed two sins. 'Hast thou killed, and also taken
possession?' Killing was one sin; taking possession was another.

And so Ahab learnt two weighty and bitter lessons. He learnt that
God's Law stands for ever, though man's law be broken or be
forgotten by disuse. For you must understand, that these Jews were
a free people, even as we are. They were not like the nations round
about them, or as the Russians are now--slaves to their king, and
holding their property only at his will. The law of Moses had made
them a free people, who held their property each man from God, by
God's Law, which had said, 'Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not
covet. Cursed is he who removes his neighbour's landmark.' And
their kings were bound to govern by Moses' law, just as our kings
and rulers are bound to govern by the old constitutions of England,
and to do equal justice by rich and poor. But the wicked kings of
Israel were trying to break through that law, and make themselves