So he was more than appalled when his king shamelessly pounced on his inheritance.
Yes, he bowed and did every human protocol in order to get on the king's good graces. He was human, after all, and being so dangerously close to the king's view. His father always warned him that the heart is man's worst pollutant, and greed is only but the seed planted to sow evil.
The king offered him a myriad of options for that land: money, larger and more productive lands far away from his kingdom, hired hands, women, maybe a life full of earthly graces. He wanted to turn the vineyard into a vegetable garden, in a place where only vines could grow and any perversions of the land would grow fallow! Why would Nabot lose his precious inheritance for the king's selfish whims? Would he tend to the land? Would he care for it like a newborn child? Would he nurse the land back to health when he was sick? Would he offer the fruits of this land to God?
He would never have the land that was given to him!
"The Lord forbid I give away my inheritance to you!", he said to the king, looking straight in the eye, filled with anger and zeal. And the king left, looking sullen and defeated.