Though it is completely clear from the beginning of the storyline that Ahav is legally powerless to commandeer Navot's vineyard - a significant statement regarding the autonomy of the common citizen in ancient Israel - the outcome after Izevel's ruthless plan displays the helplessness and vulnerability of the simple Jewish farmer. While the story describes Ahav as passive and ignorant of Izevel's plan and Izevel as the mastermind, Eliyahu makes it clear that Ahav is fully implicated in the murder. Ahav succeeds in taking Navot's ethical stand and grotesquely twisting it into an egotistical gesture of greed and as king he cannot absolve himself by claiming ignorance, all the more so when the pointers were rather obvious.

Courtesy of the Virtual Beit Midrash, Yeshivat Har Etzion