Did Jezebel also destroy the sons of Naboth as alluded to in 2 Kings 9?

Question

When Jehu recounts the Naboth incident he seems to insinuate that Naboth died with his sons.

2 Kings 9:25, 26 NASB

²⁵ Then Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Take him up and cast him into the property of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite, for I remember when you and I were riding together after Ahab his father, that the Lord laid this oracle against him: ²⁶ ‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will repay you in this property,’ says the Lord. Now then, take and cast him into the property, according to the word of the Lord.”

But the earlier narrative did not hint at any death of his sons.

1 Kings 21:15, 16 NASB

¹⁵ When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.” ²⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

Trying to reconcile the above narratives. Did Jezebel also destroy the sons of Naboth?

Answer 1

Yes. I'd be surprised that Jezebel didn't kill Naboth's sons after killing Naboth. It truly matches her unrepentant and vile personality.

Back to the question, 1 Kings 21:15 explicitly mentions that only Naboth was stoned so thus, it can be feasibly deduced that the execution of Naboth's sons occurred afterwards. Jezebel may be depraved but she was extremely resourceful and intelligent. Her Phoenician background, which she fanatically holds dearly, testifies this.

Many Bible commentators like Emil G. Hirsch assume that Naboth's sons were killed so they wouldn't assert their claim of inheritance to the vineyard, but I think the answer is much simpler yet more sinister.

Remember that Jezebel never explicitly told how Naboth died in 1 Kings 21:15. Ahab, thus, would assume that Naboth died due to an accident or some unknown illness he contracted (Samaria was in a volatile state, at risk of famine and enemy invasions) and hence took possession of his vineyard with no second thoughts.

We must also remember that, as dastardly evil Ahab could be, he was never comfortable with arbitrary executions and unjust seizure of people's property (Ben-Hadad threatening to take away his wealth and wives in the earlier chapter of Kings seems to bring this in mind). His genuine repentance after Elijah relays to him the truth and his culpability in facilitating this crime seems to reflect this aspect of Ahab's personality.

Hence, it seems extremely plausible that the murder of Ahab's sons was carried out to cover up the truth behind Naboth's execution, at least for Ahab. Naboth's trial and execution was public. The elders and nobles knew. Everyone was there, most possibly, including his family too. But unlike the others, Naboth's sons knew better about who their God-fearing father really was. Thus, they could make a complaint to their next-door neighbour king. And you know how this would go...

Answer 2

In those days, at least since Israel in the wilderness, if one (esp fathers) was accused of sinning against the Lord as Naboth was, the entire household paid for it.

Answer 3

Jezebel probably had gotten Abah to practice what Joshua did in Joshua 7:

24Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. 25Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

This fits the character of Jezebel as explained by Barnes:

The murder of Naboth's sons is here for the first time mentioned; but as the removal of the sons was necessary, if the vineyard was to pass to Ahab, we can well understand that Jezebel would take care to clear them out of the way.

Did Jezebel also destroy the sons of Naboth as alluded to in 2 Kings 9?

Yes for 2 reasons: 1. That's something that Jezebel would do and 2. she needed to get rid of them in order to take over their vineyard.

Answer 4

While the text clearly implies that Naboth's sons we killed, it does not specify exactly when they were killed or whom was responsible. Since Jezebel is a villainous character in these chapters, she becomes the prime suspect. But we should not be too quick to convict. The issue hangs on whether "yesterday" is meant literally, and/or whether "in the night" is a better translation.

Strong's Lexicon says the key term אֶמֶשׁ (ʼemesh) can mean literally yesterday, last night, or a time in the past. Jastrow's Dictionary, which specializes in ancient Hebrew texts, prefers "between nightfall and midnight." If we accept this, a better literal translation would read.

Surely I have seen in the night the blood of Naboth and his sons.

We do not know for certain that Jehu and Bidkar were out riding on the exact day after Naboth was killed, except by relying on "yesterday" in the literal sense, not the sense of "in the recent past" or "in the night." This means that Ahab is just as likely as Jezebel to have been the murderer, since he could have conducted any "recent" or "nighttime" operations necessary dispossess Naboth's family after Naboth himself had been removed from the picture by Jezebel et al.

Although it is tempting to convict Jezebel at first glance, a closer examination of the key word 'emesh shows that it Ahab is an equally likely suspect. The jury is still out.