And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before
him
Which position showed that they were his accusers, and had a charge against him; it being usual for the accusers and accused to be set face to face, as it was the manner of the Romans in later times, ( Acts 25:16 ) . Josephus says F4 there were "three" men to accuse him; but the Targum, and all the ancient versions, have only "two":
and the men of Belial witnessed against him, [even] against Naboth, in
the presence of the people;
both before the judges of the court, and before all the people that filled it, who came to hear the trial; so bold and impudent were they:
saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king;
or "bless", an euphemism; the phrase of cursing God being shocking to the ear, and therefore such a word is used to express it, see ( Job 1:5 ) ( 2:9 ) ,
then they carried him forth out of the city;
without any further process of examining witnesses, and of hearing what the accused had to say in his defence; but immediately they carried him out of court, and out of the city, to put him to death, malefactors being executed always without the city:
and stoned him with stones, that he died;
which was the death blasphemers were put to, ( Leviticus 24:14 Leviticus 24:23 ) , of the manner of which, (See Gill on Acts 7:58), it seems from ( 2 Kings 9:26 ) , that his sons were stoned with him.