“Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’ Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood, dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’ ”” - 1 Kings 21:19 NIV
Ahab wasn’t the one to directly give the stamp to kill Naboth.
“Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.”” – 1 Kings 21:7-10 NIV
Even though Jezebel gave the stamp, Ahab, due to his negligence, having his royal authority being used, and the lack of leading his wife properly can be considered blameworthy for Naboth’s murder and it’s not surprising the Bible frames it as such. Elsewhere in the Bible there is support for the husband leading his wife:
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” – Ephesians 5:22-24 NIV
Wives are called to submit to their husbands as their spiritual leaders in a similar sense of Christians being led by Christ in the church. This means as spiritual leaders in our homes some, not all, of the stuff that falls apart ends up being our responsibility and our job to manage. Spiritual leaders need to make sure to stay on top of and know spiritual affairs well.
