The strangest thing about the theft of Naboth’s vineyard wasn’t the King’s tantrum, or his wife’s evil manipulations to get it for him, but the role of the city’s elders.
David listened to the prophet who delivered God’s rebuke (Nathan); Ahab called the prophet who delivered the bad news his ‘enemy’:
1 Kings 21:8-10 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and other leaders of the town where Naboth lived. In her letters she commanded: “Call the citizens together for a time of fasting, and give Naboth a place of honor. And then seat two scoundrels across from him who will accuse him of cursing God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.’
That’s what they did.
Despite the Law, and its demand for holiness and justice, these Elders knowingly invited false witness and acted on it, stoning Naboth to death. There’s no record of anyone speaking up for Naboth—and the chances are that Naboth wasn’t in with the city’s elite—it’s likely that there was no one at the feast who would or could speak up for him.
That Bible blog 