_A.M. 3103. B.C. 901._ Ben-hadad's invasion of Israel, and insolent demand, 1 Kings 20:1. Ahab, encouraged by a prophet, overthrows him twice, 1 Kings 20:13. Makes a covenant with him, 1 Kings 20:31. Is reproved and threatened by a prophet, 1 Kings 20:35.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gathered all his host_ To war against Israel: wherein his design was to enlarge the conquest which his father had made; but God's design was to punish Israel for their apostacy and idolatry. _There were thirty and two kings with him_ Petty kings, such as were in Canaan in Joshua's time, who indeed... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy silver and thy gold is mine_ I challenge them as my own, and expect to have them forthwith delivered, if thou expect peace with me. _The king said, My lord, O king, I am thine_ I do so far comply with thy demand, that I will own thee for my lord, and myself for thy vassal, and will hold my wive... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying_, &c. Although I before demanded not only the dominion of thy treasures, and wives, and children, as thou mayest seem to understand me; but also the actual possession of them, wherewith I would then have been contented: yet now I will not accept of those terms, but,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king called all the elders_ Whose counsel and concurrence he now desires in his distress. _See how this man seeketh mischief_ Though he pretended peace upon these terms propounded, it is apparent, by those additional demands, that he intends nothing less than our utter ruin. _I denied not_ I gr... [ Continue Reading ]
_This thing I may not do_ If I would do it, I cannot; because my people will not suffer it. _If the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls_, &c. If I do not assault thy city with so potent and numerous an army, as shall turn it all into a heap of dust, and shall be sufficient to carry it all awa... [ Continue Reading ]
_And, behold there came a prophet unto Ahab_ One of those, probably, that had been hid, but was now commanded of God to appear and carry a message to Ahab; which the prophet did not fear to do, as he brought him such good news as those which follow. _Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou seen this great mu... [ Continue Reading ]
_By the young men of the princes_, &c. The Hebrew word נערי, _nagnaree_, here rendered young men, is ambiguous, and may mean either the sons or the servants of the princes of the provinces. It was not by old, experienced soldiers, but by those young men, who had lived delicately, and perhaps had nev... [ Continue Reading ]
_He numbered all the men of Israel_ All in Samaria and the neighbourhood that were fit to go out to war; all except those whom their age, or infirmity, or other sufficient causes excused; but certainly not all the men of war in Israel, who must have been far more than seven thousand.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Kings 20:16 ; 1 KINGS 20:18. _And they went out at noon_ When they knew the Syrians were at dinner, if not also drinking to excess, as their king was. _And he said, Whether they be come for peace, take them alive_, &c. It was against the law of nations to apprehend those that came to treat of peac... [ Continue Reading ]
_They slew every one his man_ Who came to apprehend him. _And the Syrians fled_ Amazed at the undaunted and unexpected courage of the Israelites, and struck with a divine terror. _And Ben-hadad escaped on a horse_ That proud boaster durst not face them; but mounted immediately, drunk as he was, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see_, &c. Consider what is necessary for thee to do by way of preparation, and take care that nothing be wanting to oppose the designs of the Syrians against thee, who will certainly return and renew the fight next year. The enemies of the children of God are r... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their gods are gods of the hills_, &c. The heathen, in general, had no notion of the God of the universe, but only worshipped local and tutelary deities; who, they thought, ruled over particular countries, and distributed the several parts of those countries among them, some being gods of the woods... [ Continue Reading ]
_Do this take the kings away_, &c. He had made the thirty- two kings, who were his tributaries, chief commanders in his former army; which his counsellors represent to him as a great error, and therefore advise him to displace them, and put his own captains in their stead, who would fight better. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ben-hadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek _ A city in the tribe of Asher; which, it is probable, was one of those that Ben-hadad's father had taken from the king of Israel, (1 Kings 20:34,) not far from which was the plain of Galilee, where he intended to fight. _And the children of Isra... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because the Syrians have said_, &c. What they had said, this man of God knew, either from common report, strengthened by their present choice of plain ground for the battle; or rather, by revelation from God, to whose inspection their secret counsels lay open, 2 Kings 6:12. His omnipotence being di... [ Continue Reading ]
_They pitched one over against the other seven days_ It may seem strange that they should look one another in the face so long, without coming to any action; for the Syrians had so much advantage in their numbers, that one would have thought they would have immediately encompassed the Israelites, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_A wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand_ The wall of the city under which they lay, ready to defend it; or _the walls_ (the singular number being put for the plural, than which nothing is more frequent) of some great castle or fort, in or near the city in which they were now fortifying themselve... [ Continue Reading ]
_We have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful kings_ More merciful than others, because that religion, which they professed, taught them humanity, and obliged them to show mercy. _Let us put sackcloth upon our loins, and ropes_, &c. As a testimony of our sorrow for undertaking this war; and t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy servant Ben-hadad saith, I pray thee, let me live_ He now as humbly petitions Ahab, as Ahab a little while ago had petitioned him, and begs of him his life. What a change from the height of prosperity to the depth of distress! Such is the uncertainty of human affairs! Such the strange turns whi... [ Continue Reading ]
_The men did diligently observe_, &c. They were wise persons whom Ben-hadad employed in this embassy; who watched attentively to hear whether any kind word would drop from Ahab's mouth, on which they might lay hold, and make their advantage of it, before he could retract it. And they catched hastily... [ Continue Reading ]
_The cities which my father took from thy father_ Either from Baasha, (1 Kings 15:20,) whom he calls Ahab's father, because he was his predecessor in the government; or rather, from Omri, in whose time he probably made a successful invasion into the land of Israel, and took some more of the cities,... [ Continue Reading ]
_A certain man said to his neighbour_ Hebrew, אל רעהו, _eel regnehu_, to his companion, as St. Hierom translates it, that is, to a prophet bred in the same school with himself, who well understood the importance of obeying the command. _In the word of the Lord_ In the name and by the command of God,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, a lion shall slay thee_ If the punishment seem too severe for so small a fault, let it be considered, 1st, That disobedience to God's express command, especially when delivered by a person known by the party disobeying to be a prophet, was a great... [ Continue Reading ]
_And disguised himself with ashes upon his face_ As a man in a very sorrowful condition. Houbigant reads it, _He had his eyes covered with a bandage_, supposing that the genuine, reading of the text is, not אפר, _apher_, but אפד, _aphed_, which signifies a bandage; whence comes the Hebrew word ephod... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he said, Thy servant_, &c. This relation is a parable; a usual way of instruction in the eastern parts, and most fit for this occasion, wherein an obscure prophet was to speak to a great king, impatient of a downright reproof, and exceeding partial in his own cause. _A man turned aside and said... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face_ Threw off his disguise immediately, by pulling off the cloth or bandage wherewith his face, or a part of it, had been concealed. _And the king of Israel discerned him_ Either by his face, which was known to the king, or to some of the courtiers... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord, Because_, &c. “What was the great sin of Ahab in this action, for which God so severely punished him?” The great dishonour hereby done to God, in suffering so horrid a blasphemer to go unpunished, which was contrary to an express law, Leviticus 24:16. And God had delivered him... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased_ This distressing sentence turned all their joy, for their late victory, into mourning; Ahab being much troubled for what he had done, and for what, it seems, he now believed he must suffer.... [ Continue Reading ]