The two halves of the story reflect two inverse processes that Ahav undergoes: his deterioration from transgressing a “light” prohibition to complicity in the most terrible of sins – murder, and his ascent from the depths of his sin to the level of a penitent. A significant literary structure exists around the low-point of the story – Ahav taking possession of Navot’s vineyard.

Courtesy of the Virtual Beit Midrash, Yeshivat Har Etzion