This poetry brings the wise king close to us in sensitivity and appreciation, for it is an experience now to go into a vinery in flower, when the first trusses of grapes are forming, for the unique and exquisite fragrance.

Ahab, that hard and ruthless king, had a single-minded wish to own Naboth’s vineyard, to turn it into a herb garden, and the resulting conflict of interests led first to cynical crime and then to tragedy foretold to Ahab, ironically, in his projected place of peace, the herb garden, where the prophet found him. (more…)