Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 20:31
And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel [are] merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.
31. let us, I [R.V. we ] pray thee ] The change is made because the sentence is in other parts in the plural. The Hebrew is a mere particle employed to give emphasis to forms of entreaty, and has nothing that indicates whether one or more persons are speakers.
sackcloth on our loins ] The garment of humiliation and mourning. Cp. Gen 37:34; 2Sa 3:31; 2Ki 6:30; Isa 37:1-2.
ropes upon our heads ] Probably meaning with ropes around the neck. No token of submission could be more expressive than this to indicate that Ahab might hang them if he pleased.
peradventure he will save thy life ] A touch of Oriental character, which is destroyed by the LXX., which has ‘our lives’. The Eastern courtier, even at such a time, would speak of his master’s life and not his own. If the former were spared, the latter would be spared also, as a matter of course.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And ropes upon our heads – Ropes about our necks is probably meant. They, as it were, put their lives at Ahabs disposal, who, if he pleased, might hang them at once.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 31. Put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads] Let us show ourselves humbled in the deepest manner, and let us put ropes about our necks, and go submitting to his mercy, and deprecating his wrath. The citizens of Calais are reported to have acted nearly in the same way when they surrendered their city to Edward III., king of England, in 1346. See at the end. 1Kg 20:43.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Merciful kings; more merciful than others, because that religion which they had professed taught them humanity, and obliged them to show mercy.
Sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads; as a testimony of our sorrow for undertaking this war; and that we have justly forfeited our lives for it, which we submit to their mercy.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And his servants said unto him,…. Being reduced to the utmost extremity; for if he attempted to go out of the city, he would fall into the hands of the Israelites, and there was no safety in it, the wall of it being fallen down; and it could not be thought he could be concealed long in the chamber where he was, wherefore his servants advised as follows:
behold, now, we have heard that the kings of the Israel are merciful kings; not only the best of them as David and Solomon, but even the worst of them, in comparison of Heathen princes, were kind and humane to those that fell into their hands, and became their captives:
let us, I pray thee; so said one in the name of the rest:
put sack cloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads; and so coming in such a mean and humble manner, and not with their armour on, they might the rather hope to have admittance; so, the Syracusans sent ambassadors to Athens, in filthy garments, with the hair of their heads and beards long, and all in slovenly habits, to move their pity r;
and go out to the king of Israel: and be humble supplicants to him:
peradventure he will save thy life; upon a petition to him from him; to which the king agreed, and sent it by them.
r Justin e Trogo, l. 4. c. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In this extremity his servants made the proposal to him, that trusting in the generosity of the kings of Israel, they should go and entreat Ahab to show favour to him. They clothed themselves in mourning apparel, and put ropes on their necks, as a sign of absolute surrender, and went to Ahab, praying for the life of their king. And Ahab felt so flattered by the fact that his powerful opponent was obliged to come and entreat his favour in this humble manner, that he gave him his life, without considering how a similar act on the part of Saul had been blamed by the Lord (1Sa 15:9.). “Is he still alive? He is my brother!” was his answer to Benhadad’s servants.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
31 And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life. 32 So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother. 33 Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Benhadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. 34 And Benhadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away. 35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him. 36 Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him. 37 Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him. 38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face. 39 And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver. 40 And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it. 41 And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets. 42 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people. 43 And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.
Here is an account of what followed upon the victory which Israel obtained over the Syrians.
I. Ben-hadad’s tame and mean submission. Even in his inner chamber he feared, and would, if he could, flee further, though none pursued. His servants, seeing him and themselves reduced to the last extremity, advised that they should surrender at discretion, and make themselves prisoners and petitioners to Ahab for their lives, v. 31. The servants will put their lives in their hands, and venture first, and their master will act according as they speed. Their inducement to take this course is the great reputation the kings of Israel had for clemency above any of their neighbours: “We have heard that they are merciful kings, not oppressive to their subjects that are under their power” (as governments then went, that of Israel was one of the most easy and gentle), “and therefore not cruel to their enemies when they lie at their mercy.” Perhaps they had this notion of the kings of Israel because they had heard that the God of Israel proclaimed his name gracious and merciful, and they concluded their kings would make their God their pattern. It was an honour to the kings of Israel to be thus represented, as indeed every Israelite is then dressed as becomes him when he puts on bowels of mercies. “They are merciful kings, therefore we may hope to find mercy upon our submission.” This encouragement poor sinners have to repent and humble themselves before God. “Have we not heard that the God of Israel is a merciful God? Have we not found him so? Let us therefore rend our hearts and return to him.” Joel ii. 13. That is evangelical repentance which flows from an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ; there is forgiveness with him. Two things Ben-hadad’s servants undertake to represent to Ahab:– 1. Their master a penitent; for they girded sackcloth on their loins, as mourners, and put ropes on their heads, as condemned criminals going to execution, pretending to be sorry that they had invaded his country and disturbed his repose, and owning that they deserved to be hanged for it. Here they are ready to do penance for it, and throw themselves at the feet of him whom they had injured. Many pretend to repent of their wrong-doing, when it does not succeed, who, if they had prospered in it, would have justified it and gloried in it. 2. Their master a beggar, a beggar for his life: Thy servant Ben-hadad saith, “I pray thee, let me live, v. 32. Though I live a perpetual exile from my own country, and captive in this, yet, upon any terms, let me live.” What a great change is here, (1.) In his condition! How has he fallen from the height of power and prosperity to the depths of disgrace and distress, and all the miseries of poverty and slavery! See the uncertainty of human affairs; such turns are they subject to that the spoke which was uppermost may soon come to be undermost. (2.) In his temper–in the beginning of the chapter hectoring, swearing, and threatening, and none more high in his demands, but here crouching and whining and none more low in his requests! How meanly does he beg hi life at the hand of him upon whom he had there been trampling! The most haughty in prosperity are commonly most abject in adversity: an even spirit will be the same in both conditions. See how God glorified himself when he looks upon proud men and abases them, and hides them in the dust together, Job xl. 11-13.
II. Ahab’s foolish acceptance of his submission, and the league he suddenly made with him upon it. He was proud to be thus courted by him whom he had feared, and enquired for him with great tenderness: Is he yet alive? He is my brother, brother-king, though not brother-Israelite: and Ahab valued himself more upon his royalty than on his religion, and others accordingly. “Is he thy brother, Ahab? Did he use thee like a brother when he sent thee that barbarous message? 1Ki 20:5; 1Ki 20:6. Would he have called thee brother if he had been the conqueror? Would he now have called himself thy servant if he had not been reduced to the utmost strait? Canst thou suffer thyself to be thus imposed upon by a forced and counterfeit submission?” This word brother they caught at (v. 33), and were thereby encouraged to go and fetch him to the king. He that calls him brother will let him live. Let poor penitents hear God, in his word, calling them children (Jer. xxxi. 20), catch at it, echo to it, and call him Father. Ben-hadad, upon his submission, shall not only be honourably conveyed (he took him up into the chariot), but treated with as an ally (v. 34): he made a covenant with him, not consulting God’s prophets, or the elders of the land, or himself, concerning what was fit to be insisted on, but, as if Ben-hadad had been conqueror, he shall make his own terms. He might now have demanded some of Ben-hadad’s cities, when all of them lay at the mercy of his victorious army; but was content with the restitution of his own. He might now have demanded the stores, and treasures, and magazines of Damascus, to augment the wealth and strength of his own kingdom, but was content with a poor liberty, at his own expense, to build streets there, a point of honour and no advantage, or no more than what the kings of Syria had had in Samaria, though they had never had so much power as he had now to support the demand of it. With this covenant he sent him away, without so much as reproving him for his blasphemous reflections upon the God of Israel, for whose honour Ahab had no concern. Note, There are those on whom success is ill bestowed; they know not how to serve God, or their generation, or even their own true interests, with their prosperity. Let favour be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness.
III. The reproof given to Ahab for his clemency to Ben-hadad and his covenant with him. It was given him by a prophet, in the name of the Lord, the Jews say by Micaiah, and not unlikely, for Ahab complains of him (ch. xxii. 8) that he used to prophesy evil concerning him. This prophet designed to reprove Ahab by a parable, that he might oblige him to condemn himself, as Nathan and the woman of Tekoa did David. To make his parable the more plausible, he finds it necessary to put himself into the posture of a wounded soldier. 1. With some difficulty he gets himself wounded, for he would not wound himself with his own hands. He commanded one of his brother prophets, his neighbour, or companion (for so the word signifies), to smite him, and this in God’s name (v. 35), but finds him not so willing to give the blow as he is to receive it; he refused to smite him: others, he thought, were forward enough to smite prophets, they need not smite one another. We cannot but think it was from a good principle he declined it. “If it must be done, let another do it, not I; I cannot find it in my heart to strike my friend.” Good men can much more easily receive a wrongful blow than give one; yet because he disobeyed an express command of God (which was so much the worse if he was himself a prophet), like that other disobedient prophet (ch. xiii. 24), he was presently slain by a lion, v. 36. This was intended, not only to show, in general, how provoking disobedience is (Col. iii. 6), but to intimate to Ahab (who no doubt was told the story) that if a good prophet were thus punished for sparing his friend and God’s, when God said, Smite, of much sorer punishment should a wicked king be thought worthy, who spared his enemy and God’s, when God said, Smite. Shall mortal man pretend to be more just than God, more pure or more compassionate than his Maker? We must be merciful as he is merciful, and not otherwise. The next he met with made no difficulty of smiting him (Volentinon fit injuria—He that asks for an injury is not wronged by it) and did it so that he wounded him, v. 37. He fetched blood with the blow, probably in his face. 2. Wounded as he was, and disguised with ashes that he might not be known to be a prophet, he made his application to the king in a story wherein he charged himself with such a crime as the king was now guilty of in sparing Ben-hadad, and waited for the king’s judgment upon it. The case in short is this–A prisoner taken in the battle was committed to his custody by a man (we may suppose one that had authority over him as his superior officer) with this charge, If he be missing, thy life shall be for his life, v. 39. The prisoner has made his escape through his carelessness. Can the chancery in the king’s breast relieve him against his captain, who demands his life in lieu of the prisoner’s? “By no means,” says the king, “thou shouldst either not have undertaken the trust or been more careful and faithful to it; there is no remedy (Currat lex—Let the law take its course), thou hast forfeited thy bond, and execution must go out upon it: So shall thy doom be, thou thyself hast decided it.” Now the prophet has what he would have, puts off his disguise, and is known by Ahab himself to be a prophet (v. 41) and plainly tells him, “Thou art the man. Is it my doom? No, it is thine; thou thyself hast decided it. Out of thy own mouth art thou judged. God, thy superior and commander-in-chief, delivered into thy hands one plainly marked for destruction both by his own pride and God’s providence, and thou hast not carelessly lost him, but wittingly and willingly dismissed him, and so hast been false to thy trust, and lost the end of thy victory; expect therefore no other than that thy life shall go for his life, which thou hast spared” (and so it did, ch. xxii. 35), “and thy people for his people, whom likewise thou hast spared,” and so they did afterwards, 2Ki 10:32; 2Ki 10:33. When their other sins brought them low, this came into the account. There is a time when keeping back the sword from blood is doing the work of the Lord deceitfully, Jer. xlviii. 10. Foolish pity spoils the city. 3. We are told how Ahab resented this reproof. He went to his house heavy and displeased (v. 43), not truly penitent, or seeking to undo what he had done amiss, but enraged at the prophet, exasperated against God (as if he had been too severe in the sentence passed upon him), and yet vexed at himself, every way out of humour, notwithstanding his victory. He who by his providence had mortified the pride of one king, by his word cast a damp upon the triumphs of another. Be wise therefore, O you kings! and be instructed to serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling,Psa 2:10; Psa 2:11.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
1Ki. 20:33. Men did diligently observeTook his words as a good omen. Did hastily catch itHastened to seize or quote the words, my brother. Ahab found his vanity flattered by their abject suit, and, losing sense and wit, yielded to a sentimental magnanimity.
1Ki. 20:34. Make streets for thee means business thoroughfares.
1Ki. 20:38. Ashes upon his faceRather, head bandage for wounds (1Ki. 20:37).
1Ki. 20:42. Thou hast let go a man, &c.It was a weakminded act, an injustice, a clear neglect of duty, and a dishonour to the God of Israel, whom the king of Israel represented. Ahab knew Benhadad was Israels enemy, and the fact that God had so signally defeated him showed Jehovahs anger towards him.
1Ki. 20:43. Heavy and displeased , vexed and refractory, from , to be stubborn (Deu. 21:18); more than gloomy and uneasyfretful and resentful.W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki. 20:31-43
THE REMORSE OF NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES
LIFE is but brief, yet it is full of great opportunities for usefulness. Those opportunities correspond to our position, our means, and our abilities. God expects from no man what He has not given him power to do. He who is wise to sec and prompt to act when the opportunity is presented will win success and honour. Not to do the plainly revealed duty of the moment is to entail weakness, disappointment, and suffering. We shall be punished for the good we neglect, as well as for the evil that we do.
I. That opportunities occur when we are called to do a great work for God.
1. Every opportunity brings with it corresponding responsibility (1Ki. 20:31-32). Victory, a victory achieved by direct Divine interference, had placed Benhadadthe enemy of God and of Israelin the power of Ahab. It was an opportunity not to be thrown away. The Lord had appointed this man to utter destruction (1Ki. 20:42), and Ahab knew it. Benhadad was to be taught to know, in avenging justice, the greatness of that God he had blasphemed; and the power of the state he ruled was to be so broken as to render it incapable of giving further trouble to Israel. The purpose of God and the safety of Israel were placed in the hands of Ahab; the enemy might now be punished, and his power for ever crushed. Ahab neglected the opportunity, and he lived long enough to see and regret it. It is a grave, solemn moment when we are brought into the presence of an acknowledged evil which we have power to destroy. We have need to pray for courage and fidelity to act wisely and decisively.
2. We are not justified in indulging private sentiment at the sacrifice of public duty (1Ki. 20:33-34). It was here that Ahab failed. What at first sight might seem an act of magnanimity becomes, when rightly viewed, a gross weakness; and the generosity which might entitle a man to praise if shown towards a private enemy, may become a crime in a king towards a public adversary. What would have been thought of the Regent of England, after the victory of Waterloo, if, when Napoleon, the great troubler of Europe, was brought a prisoner to our shores, he had been set free? The sense of duty was weakened in Ahab by his past disobedience and by his unlawful sympathy with idolatry. The neglect of one duty incapacitates the soul for doing another; and so when a great emergency comes upon us, we find ourselves unequal to its demands. The king must lose sight of selfish ends and feeling in a righteous anxiety to promote the public good.
II. That a time will come when we shall be made painfully conscious of opportunities neglected.
1. This may be done through the sufferings of others (1Ki. 20:35-38). A son of the prophets submitted to be wounded that he might the more effectively bring home to Ahab his sin. The faithful teacher must not shrink from suffering. It is rarely we can be faithful to others without pain to ourselves. The most powerful method of preaching the truth is learned in the school of trial.
2. Will be done in a way not to be mistaken (1Ki. 20:39-42).
(1). It was symbolic. This is the first example of those symbolical actions of the prophets which occur so often in the subsequent history of Israel and Judah. The man who refused to smite the son of the prophet became a representative of Ahab in his refusal to obey the word of the Lord. The prophets mentioned in 1Ki. 20:13; 1Ki. 20:22; 1Ki. 20:28 had said enough to show Ahab that when his royal enemy fell into his power he must not covenant with him, but smite and utterly destroy him. But his making a covenant with him and sending him away (1Ki. 20:34) was a refusal to smite him.
(2). It was faithful and pointed (1Ki. 20:42). Here Ahab, like David on another occasion (2Sa. 12:5-6), pronounces his own condemnation. As the son of the prophet was to answer by his life for letting his supposed prisoner free, so Ahab is to answer with his life for granting liberty to the doomed Syrian monarch. The sin of neglect will sooner or later be brought home to every bosom, and the guilt will be self-acknowledged.
III. That the consciousness of neglected opportunities will fill the soul with bitter remorse (1Ki. 20:43). The slumbering conscience of the weak, easy-going Ahab was once more awoke, and he went to his home depressed and angryangry with himself, and angry with the means which had been intended to bring him to repentance and disobedience. He felt the burden of a sense of Divine wrath upon him, and, instead of humbling himself and seeking for mercy, he became sulky and soured. He was still refractory and rebellious; and yet he could not shake off the gloomy, stinging remorse of neglected opportunities. His experience is a picture of the tortures which will for ever afflict the impenitent: for ever conscious of oft-repeated sin, and for ever incapable of ridding himself of its consequences!
LESSONS:
1. Every soul will be judged according to its opportunities in life.
2. Opportunities for well-doing are offered to all.
3. To neglect opportunities for good is to condemn ourselves.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki. 20:31-43. When authority is compassionate out of the proper season, and neglects its office of correction, it draws upon itself the guilt of the other. God wants no mercy to be shown where He has ordered punishment.Cramer.
1Ki. 20:31-33. Praise, flattery, and subserviency are only too often the snare with which kings and great men are caught, so that under the appearance of generosity and magnanimity they may be led astray and act contrary to the will of God. They ought, indeed, to be merciful and gracious, but not forget that to do justice is their first duty, and that they do not carry the sword in vain. Ahab persecutes an Elijah in every kingdom, and threatens him with death; but he permits a robber and a plunderer to sit beside him in his chariot, and makes a covenant with him. What in the eyes of the world looks like generosity, in the eyes of God, who trieth the heart and reins, is only weakness and folly. Great injury can be done by seeming ill-timed generosity.Lange.
1Ki. 20:31. There can be no more powerful attractive of humble submission than the intimation and conceit of mercy. We do at once fear and hate the inexorable. This is it, O Lord, that allures us to thy throne of grace, the knowledge of the grace of that throne; with thee is mercy and plenteous redemption; thine hand is open before our mouths, before our hearts. If we did not see thee smile upon suitors, we durst not press to thy footstool. Behold now we know that the king of heaven, the God of Israel, is a merciful God; let us put sackcloth upon our loins and strew ashes upon our heads, and go meet the Lord God of Israel, that He may save our souls.Bp. Hall.
1Ki. 20:32 compared with 1Ki. 20:10. Contrasts in the same individual life.
1. The kingthe slave.
2. The proud boasterthe craven suppliant.
3. The confident leader of a great armythe defeated and dejected fugitive.
1Ki. 20:32. How well doth this habit become insolent and blasphemous Benhadad and his followers! a rope and sackcloth! a rope for a crown, sackcloth for a robe! He that was erewhile a lord and king, is now a servant; and he that was servant to the king of Syria, is now his lord. He that would blow away all Israel in dust, is now glad to beg for his own life at the door of a despised enemy. No courage is so haughty which the God of hosts cannot easily bring under. What are men or devils in those Almighty hands?Bp. Hall.
1Ki. 20:34. Complicity with idolatry.
1. Unfits for the proper discharge of kingly duties.
2. Encourages a false leniency towards the greatest enemy.
3. Blinds the mind to true conceptions of public justice.
4. Sows the seeds of future troubles.
Ahab, without inquiring of the Lord, who had given him so great a victory (1Ki. 20:28), whether he should let Benhadad go or no, at once agrees to the terms offered; and, without even taking any security for their due observance, allows the Syrian monarah to depart and return to his own country. Considered politically, the act was one of culpable carelessness and imprudence. It let loose an enemy whose talent, ambition, and personal influence made him peculiarly formidable; and it provided no effectual security against the continuance of his aggressions. Benhadad might, or might not, regard himself as bound by the terms of a covenant made when he was a prisoner. If he took the view that he was not boundas his after conduct shows that he did (22 1Ki. 20:3)Ahab left himself no means of enforcing the obligations incurred except by a renewal of hostilities. And if Ahabs conduct was thus, politically speaking, wrong in him as the mere human head of a state, much more was it unjustifiable in one who held his crown under a theocracy. Inquiry at the word of the Lord was still possible in Israel (1 Kings 22, 1Ki. 20:5; 1Ki. 20:8), and would seem to have been the course that ordinary gratitude might have suggested.Speakers Comm.
This as impolitic as untheocratic proceeding of Ahab arose by no means from a heart naturally very good, but from weakness, indecision, and self-deluding vanity. To free a cruel and faithless enemy was not only great harshness towards his own subjects, but also an obvious striving against God, who, by granting the promised victory, had given the enemy of His people into His hand. Even though Ahab had no express command, as Saul had regarding Agag (1Sa. 15:3), yet there lay upon him, if as theocratic ruler he would respect the will of the Lord, inasmuch as the Lord had given him into his hands as a despiser of His Divine Majesty, the sacred duty of securing rest for himself and his subjects by his death; as it was natural to presume that the faithless adversary, after his freedom was recovered, would not adhere to a treaty formed on compulsion, which accordingly happened (1Ki. 21:1). The punishment of his striving against God is immediately announced to Ahab.Keil.
1Ki. 20:35-37. He who has his calling and service from the Word of God ought to allow no danger to detain him from making an announcement of the fact (2Ti. 4:2), and must obediently submit himself to His commands, even when the fulfilment of them is joined with pain and sacrifice.
1Ki. 20:35-36. Disobedience.
1. Is aggravated as committed against the revealed will of God.
2. Is not excused from a reluctance to inflict pain.
3. Is faithfully denounced.
4. Is inevitably punished.
1Ki. 20:35. Smite me, I pray thee.
1. That hereby I may show Ahab how he hath wounded his own soul by sparing Benhadad.
2. What a wound both he and his people shall hereafter receive hereby.
3. That I may seem a wounded soldier, and so may have the easier access to Ahab.Trapp.
1Ki. 20:36. It is not for us to examine the charges of the Almighty: be they never so harsh or improbable, if they be once known for His, there is no way but obedience or death. Not to smite a prophet when God commands, is no less sin than to smite a prophet when God forbids. It is the divine precept or prohibition that either makes or aggravates an evil; and if the Israelite be thus revenged that smote not a prophet, what shall become of Ahab that smote not Benhadad!Bp. Hall.
1Ki. 20:40. Lost opportunities. I. Important interests have been committed to our care.
1. Our personal salvation.
2. The salvation of our neighbours.
3. The religious education of our children.
4. Sympathy and relief for the poor and suffering. II. God furnishes an opportunity to all.
1. He fits the opportunity to the work required.
2. He provides the means essential to success.
3. He gives efficiency and certainty to the effort. III. Opportunities lost are lost for ever.
1. We lose them unconsciously.
2. We lose them while busied here and there with minor things.
3. Lost opportunities bring loss of happiness.
4. The consequences of their loss will be eternal.Wythe.
The danger of much worldly business. Consider
1. The extreme brevity of seasons of spiritual advantage. Shortness of lifeillustrate by metaphors of Scripture. Life as the commencement of eternity, everything; in competition with eternity, nothing. Danger of procrastination. Importance of every opportunity of spiritual instruction. II. The difficulties and dangers against which we have to guard, if we would not sacrifice them.
1. The absorbing character of worldly business.
2. Liable to neglect chief ends of existence for inferior pursuits.
3. Much devotedness to the world disqualifies for spiritual services.
4. Positive losses of religious privilege accrue from multitude of engagements. III. The appalling losses we may sustain through a solitary act of negligence. Great business of Satan is to draw off men from the care of the soul. One act of indiscretion may, in the things of this life, involve years of repentance; but one neglect of the soul may be the cause of its everlasting ruin. Oh, that thou hadst known at least in this thy day, &c.
LESSONS.
1. Cultivate a spirit of contrition over past indifference.
2. Use all diligence to make your calling and election sure.The Preachers Portfolio.
1Ki. 20:42-43. Ahab listened well pleased to the falsehood from the lips of the Syrian nobles, for it gave nourishment to his folly; the truth from the mouth of the prophet made him restless and angry, because it punished his folly. There is no help for the man who allows himself to be irritated by the truth instead of receiving it with meekness (Jas. 1:21). There is nothing that so rouses and provokes an unconverted and unbelieving man as to have his sinful character so unveiled and set before his eyes that he can no longer justify or excuse himself.Lange.
1Ki. 20:42. The equity of punishment.
1. The Divine order.
2. Is regulated by opportunities granted.
3. Is afflicted according to nature and degree of sin.
1Ki. 20:43. Heavy and displeased. Not with a sorrow according to God, but such as arose from a slavish fear. This heavy message in the midst of his triumph being worse than the whip and bell hung up usually in the chariot of the Roman triumpher, to show him what he might one day come tonamely, to be whipped as a slave, yea, to lose his head as an offender.Trapp.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(31) Ropes upon our headslike the ropes round the necks of the burghers of Calais, in the days of Edward III. The envoys offer themselves as naked, helpless criminals, to sue for mercy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
31. Ropes upon our heads Tokens of the most abject submission and humiliation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 20:31-32. Let usput sackcloth on our loins, and ropes, &c. The approaching persons, with a sword hanging to the neck, is, in the East, thought to be a very humble and submissive manner of coming before them. So William of Tyre, describing the great solemnity and humiliation with which the governor of Egypt under the caliph of that country appeared before his master, tells us, that he prostrated himself on the ground thrice, with his sword hanging to his neck, which, at the third prostration, he took off and laid down. Thevenot has mentioned this circumstance in the account he has given of the taking of Bagdat by the Turks in 1638, extracted from the letter of a person of distinction in the Turkish army, to one of the Sangiacks of Egypt; for upon the besieged begging quarter we are told, that the lieutenant, and principal officer of the governor of Bagdat, went to the grand vizier with a scarf about his neck, and his sword wreathed in it, (which, says he, is an ignominious mark of submission,) and begged, both in his own and his master’s name, aman, that is to say, pardon and mercy; and having obtained it, the governor came and was introduced to the grand signior, and obtained not only a confirmation of the promise of life which had been made him, but also divers presents of value. Thevenot supposed, that the hanging the sword about the neck was an ignominious mark of submission; but its being used by the governor of Egypt, when he appeared before his master, shews, that though it was an expression of humiliation and perfect submission, it was not an ignominious one; but a token it undoubtedly was of such respect as was thought proper for the conquered to pay to the victor, when they begged their lives; and as such was used, I suppose, by Ben-hadad: for those ropes about the necks of his servants were, I should imagine, what they suspended their swords with, if the customs of later times may be thought explanatory of those of ancient days, as in the East, particularly, they often are. Observations, p. 354.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(31) And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life. (32) So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother. (33) Now the men did diligently observe whether anything would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Benhadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. (34) And Benhadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.
I would again pass over the mere history, to gather somewhat spiritual. Is not Benhadad like the proud sinner when humbled and brought low? Doth he not come, as with a rope round his neck, and sackcloth on his loins, like one ready for execution; confessing, after all his proud and self righteous language, that now, the weapons of sin being taken out of his hands, he merits nothing but punishment in the very moment he pleads for mercy. Reader! depend upon it, every truly awakened sinner doth so; and while he sues for pardon, confesses he deserves it not. I dare not represent the clemency of our dear Jesus by such a character as Ahab, in his kindness to Ben-hadad. But yet, I may say, without the danger of sullying the holiness of the Saviour, by the view of the sinner; that in reading the account that Ahab called his enemy brother, and caused him to ride in his chariot, it reminded me of thy tender mercy, thou who art mercy itself, in that thou not only condescendest to receive sinners, and to eat with them; but on the cross, and now in glory, thou commendest thy love to us, in that while we were enemies, thou didst die for us. And not only is it said of thee, that thou art not ashamed to call such brethren; but hast shown thyself, a brother indeed born for adversity; one that loveth at all times, notwithstanding our undeservings; and who sticketh closer than a brother. Oh! unparalleled love, and matchless grace of our Jesus! Pro 17:17 ; Psa 22:22 ; Pro 18:24 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Ki 20:31 And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel [are] merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.
Ver. 31. We have heard that the kings, &c. ] Merciful to those that they have beaten in battle. Julius Caesar had got such a name; a and our Queen Elizabeth, who for her merciful returning home certain Italians taken here in the 1588 invasion, was termed St Elizabeth by some at Venice.
Let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins.
a Cic. pro Ligar, et pro M. Marcel.
b Daniel’s Chro.
c Paraei Medul.
d Dan, 240.
e Speed.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Losing the Man God Put into His Hand
1Ki 20:31-43
Ahabs easy good-nature was criminal, and indicated the evil that was enervating and cankering his heart. Whatever may have been his private feelings and sympathy, it is plain that these had no right to control his action as king when national interests were at stake. The judge may be subject to tender compassion toward those on whom his office requires him to pass sentence, but he should be governed by consideration of the good of all. This unwise clemency on the part of Ahab resulted, in after-days, in Israels suffering at the hand of Syria.
Busy here and there! It is true of us all. We are so occupied that we have hardly time to think. We do not realize the opportunities which are placed in our hands, and which, if not made immediate use of, depart never to return. The bald head of departing opportunity, said the Greeks, has not even one lock of hair by which we can catch it and drag it back. Let us be diligent in the Kings business, remembering that to Him we must render an account.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
his servants: 1Ki 20:23, 2Ki 5:13
merciful kings: Pro 20:28, Isa 16:5, Eph 1:7, Eph 1:8
I pray thee: Six of the citizens of Calais are reported to have acted nearly in the same manner, when they surrendered their city to Edward the Third, king of England, in 1346. See the whole story circumstantially related by Sir John Froissart – who lived in that time with that simplicity and detail that give it every appearance of truth.
put sackcloth: 1Ki 21:27-29, Gen 37:34, 2Sa 3:31, 2Sa 14:2, 2Ki 19:1, 2Ki 19:2, Est 4:1-3, Isa 22:12, Isa 37:1, Jon 3:5, Jon 3:6, Rev 11:3
peradventure: 2Ki 7:4, Est 4:16, Job 2:4, Mat 10:28
Reciprocal: Gen 32:20 – peradventure Jos 9:4 – work wilily Est 7:3 – let my life Job 41:4 – Will he Amo 5:15 – it may Luk 14:32 – and desireth Luk 15:18 – will arise
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 20:31. 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 that we have justly forfeited our lives for it, and shall submit to any punishment he may be pleased to inflict. This, it seems, was the habit in those times, in which supplicants presented themselves, when they petitioned for mercy. Peradventure he will save thy life This encouragement have all poor sinners, to repent and humble themselves before God. The God of Israel is a merciful God; let us rend our hearts and return to him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:31 And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel [are] merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our {n} loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.
(n) In sign of submission and that we have deserved death, if he will punish us with rigour.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Ahab’s unfaithfulness to Yahweh and his sentence 20:31-34
This section is similar to the one that recorded Saul’s failure to follow Yahweh’s command that also resulted in God cutting him off (1Sa 13:13-14). The parallels between Saul and Ahab are remarkable throughout this record of Ahab’s reign.
Archaeology has confirmed that other ancient Near Eastern kings were more brutal in war than Israel’s were (1Ki 20:31). Sackcloth and ropes expressed remorse and servitude (1Ki 20:31-32). [Note: See Gray, pp. 429-30.] Ben-Hadad’s envoys called their king Ahab’s "servant" (1Ki 20:32) because that is what Ben-Hadad was willing to become if Ahab would have mercy on him. Ben-Hadad was not Ahab’s blood brother (1Ki 20:32). Ahab was willing to regard him as such rather than as a servant if Ben-Hadad agreed to make a treaty and concessions to him. Ahab’s plan was contrary to God’s Law that called for the deaths of Israel’s enemies (Deu 20:10-15). Ahab welcomed Ben-Hadad into his chariot (1Ki 20:33). This was an honor. The Aramean king was quick to make concessions in return for his life (1Ki 20:34). Compare Saul’s refusal to execute Agag. The covenant the two men made involved the return of Israelite cities that Aram had previously taken and trade privileges for Israel with Damascus (1Ki 20:34). Ahab figured that it would be better for him and Israel to make a treaty than to obey God’s Law (cf. Exo 23:32). Perhaps the reason Ahab was so eager to make this treaty was that the Assyrian Empire was expanding toward Israel from the northeast.
What happened to the man who refused to strike the prophet (1Ki 20:35-36) was exactly what would happen to Ahab and for the same reason, disobedience to the word of the Lord. Compare Samuel’s first sentence against Saul for his disobedience (1 Samuel 13). Again a lion was God’s agent of execution (cf. 1Ki 13:24). The prophet’s parable recalls the one Nathan told David (2Sa 12:1-7). Ahab condemned himself by what he said. God would kill Ahab for not killing Ben-Hadad (1Ki 22:37). He would also cause Israel, which Ahab headed and represented, to suffer defeat rather than the Arameans (1Ki 20:42; cf. 1Sa 15:22-29). Ahab foolishly chose to follow his own plan instead of obeying the Lord. Obedience probably would have terminated the conflict with the Aramean army.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
AHABS INFATUATION
1Ki 20:31-43
“Quem vult Deus perire dementat prius.”
THE courtiers of Benhadad found it easy to flatter his pride by furnishing reasons to account for such an alarming overthrow. They had attacked the Israelites on their hills, and the gods of Israel were hill-gods. Next time they would take Israel at a disadvantage by fighting only on the plain. Further, the vassal kings were only an element of dissension and weakness. They prevented the handling of the army as one strong machine worked by a single supreme will. Let Benhadad depose from command these incapable weaklings, and put in their place dependent civil officers (pachoth) who would have no thought but to obey orders. And so, with good heart, let the king collect a fresh army with horses and chariots as powerful as the last. The issue would be certain conquest and dear revenge.
Benhadad followed this advice The next year he went with his new host and encamped near Aphek. There is an Aphek (now Fik) which lay on the road between Damascus on the east of Jordan on a little plain south-east of the Sea of Galilee. This may have been the town of Issachar, in the valley of Jezreel, where Saul was defeated by the Philistines. {1Sa 29:1} Israel went out to meet them duly provisioned. The Syrian host spread over the whole country; the Israelite army looked only like two little flocks of kids.
To strengthen the misgivings of the anxious king of Israel, another nameless prophet-probably, like Elijah, a Gileadite-came to promise him the victory. Jehovah would convince the Syrians that He was something more than a mere local god of the hills as they had blasphemously said, and Israel would once more he shown that He was indeed the Lord.
For seven days the vast army and the little band of patriots gazed at each other, as the Israelites and Philistines had done in the days of Saul and Goliath. On the seventh day they joined battle. In what special way the aid of Jehovah seconded the desperate valor of His people who were fighting for their all we do not know, but the result was, once more, their stupendous victory. The army of the Syrians was not only defeated, but practically annihilated. In round numbers 100,000 Syrians fell in the slaughter of that day, and when the remnant took refuge in Aphek, which they had captured, they perished in a sudden crash-perhaps of earthquake-which buried them in the ruins of its fortifications. Rescued, we know not how, from this disaster, Benhadad fled from chamber to chamber to hide himself from the victors in some innermost recess.
But it was impossible that he should not be discovered, and therefore his servants persuaded him to throw himself on the mercy of his conqueror. “The kings of Israel,” they said, “are, as we have heard, compassionate kings; let us go before the king with sackcloth on our loins, and ropes round our necks, and ask if he will save thy life.” So they went, as the burghers of Calais went before Edward I; and then Ahab heard from the ambassadors of the king who had once dictated terms to him with such infinite contempt, the message: “Thy slave Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live.” The incident that followed is eminently characteristic of Eastern customs. In rencontres between Orientals everything depends on the first words which are exchanged. It is believed that superior powers wield the utterances of the tongue amid the chances which are really destiny, so that the most casual expression is caught up superstitiously as a sort of Bath Kol, or “the daughter of a voice,” which not only indicates but even helps to bring about the purposes of Heaven. A chance friendly greeting may become the termination of a blood feud, because something more than chance is supposed to lie behind it! Once when a group of doomed gladiators gathered themselves under the Imperial podium of the amphitheatre with their sublimely monotonous chant, “Ave Caesar, morituri te salutamus,” the half-dazed emperor inadvertently answered, “Avete vos! He has bidden us, Hail!” shouted the gladiators: “the contest is remitted; we are free!” Had the Romans been Orientals the twenty thousand assembled spectators would have felt the force of the appeal. Even as it was the significance of the omen was felt to be so great that the gladiators threw down their arms, and it was only by whips and violence that they were finally driven to the combat in which they perished.
So with intense eagerness the ambassadors, in their sackcloth and their halters, awaited the Bath Kol. It came far more favorably than they had dared to hope. Surprised, and perhaps half touched with pity for so immense a reverse of misfortune, “Is he yet alive?” exclaimed the careless king: “he is my brother!”
The Syrians snatched at the expression as a decisive omen. It constituted an absolute end of the feud. It became an implicit promise of that sacred dakheel, that “protection” to which the slightest and most accidental expression constitutes a recognized claim. “Thy brother Benhadad,” they earnestly and emphatically repeated. In accordance with Eastern custom and augury their whole end was gained. As far as Benhadad was concerned he was now safe; as far as Ahab was concerned, the mischief, if mischief it were, was irreparably done. Ahab could hardly have drawn back even if he wished to do so, but perhaps he was swayed by a fellow feeling for a king. This strange uxorious monarch, with his easily swayed impulses, his fits of schoolboy sullenness and swift repentance, his want of insight into existing conditions, his-if the expression may be excused-happy-go-lucky way of letting questions settle themselves, was, no doubt, a brave warrior, but he was a most incapable statesman. His conduct was perfectly infatuated. Pity is one thing, but the security of a nation has also to be considered. It would have been a worse than insensate piece of pseudo-chivalry if the Congress of Vienna had not sent Napoleon to Elba, and if England had not confined him in St. Helena. To set free a man endowed with passionate hatred, with immense ambitions, with boundless capacities for mischief-or only to bind him with the packthread of insecure promises-was the conduct of a fool. If it was compassion which induced Ahab to give Benhadad his life, it showed either gross incapacity or treachery against his own nation not to clip his wings, and hamper him from the future injuries which the burden of gratitude was little likely to prevent. The sequel shows that Benhadads resentment against his royal “brother” only became more hopelessly implacable, and in all probability it was largely mingled with contempt.
And Ahabs conduct, besides being foolish, was guilty. It showed a frivolous non-recognition of his duties as a theocratic king. It flung away the national advantages, and even the national security, which had not been vouchsafed to any power or worth of his, but only to Jehovahs direct interposition to save the destinies of his people from premature extinction.
When Benhadad came out of his hiding-place, Ahab, not content with sparing the life of this furious and merciless aggressor, took him up into his chariot, which was the highest honor he could have paid him, and accepted the excessively easy terms which Benhadad himself proposed. The Syrians were not required to pay any indemnity for the immense expenditure and unutterable misery which their wanton invasions had inflicted upon Israel! They simply proposed to restore the cities which Benhadads father had taken from Omri, and to allow the Israelites to have a protected bazaar in Damascus similar to the one which the Syrians enjoyed in Samaria. On this covenant Benhadad was sent home scatheless, and with a supineness which was not so much magnanimous as fatuous, Ahab neglected to take hostages of any kind to secure the fulfillment even of these ridiculously inadequate terms of peace.
Benhadad was not likely to throw away the chance which gave him such an easy-going and improvident adversary. It is certain that he did not keep the covenant. He probably never even intended to keep it. If he condescended to any excuse for breaking it, he would probably have affected to regard it as extorted by violence, and therefore invalid, as Francis I defended the forfeiture of his parole after the battle of Pavia. The recklessness with which Ahab had reposed in Benhadad a confidence, not only undeserved, but rendered reckless by all the antecedents of the Syrian king, cost him very dear. He had to pay the penalty of his dementation three years later in a new and disastrous war, in the loss of his life, and the overthrow of his dynasty. The fact that, after so many exertions, and so much success in war, in commerce, and in worldly policy, he and his house fell unpitied, and no one raised a finger in his defense, was doubtless due in part to the alienation of his army by a carelessness which flung away in a moment all the fruits of their hard-won victories.
There was one aspect in which Ahabs conduct assumed an aspect more supremely culpable. To whom had he owed the courage and inspiration which had rescued him from ruin, and led to the triumphs which had delivered him and his people from the depths of despair? Not in the least to himself, or to Jezebel, or to Baals priests, or to any of his captains or counselors. In both instances the heroism had been inspired and the success promised by a prophet of Jehovah. What would convince him, if this would not, that in God only was his strength? Did not the most ordinary gratitude as well as the most ordinary wisdom require that he should recognize the source of these unhoped-for blessings? There is not the least trace that he did so. We read of no word of gratitude to Jehovah, no desire to follow the guidance of the prophets to whom he was so deeply indebted, and who had proved their right to be regarded as interpreters of Gods will. Had he done this he would not have suffered the clannishness of royalty to plunge him into a step which was the chief cause of his final destruction
He might ignore guidance, but he could not escape reproof. Again an unknown monitor from the sons of the prophets was commissioned to bring home to him his error He did so by an acted parable, which gave concrete force and vividness to the lesson which he desired to convey Speaking “by the word of the Lord”-i.e., as a part of the prophetic inspiration which dictated his acts-he went to one of his fellows in the school of which the members are here first called “the sons of the prophets,” and bade him to wound him. His comrade, not unnaturally, shrank from obeying so strange a command. It must be borne in mind that the mere appeal to an inspiration from Jehovah did not always authenticate itself. Over and over again in the prophetic books, and in these histories which the Jews call “the earlier prophets,” we find that men could profess to act in Jehovahs name, and even perhaps to be sincere in so doing, who were mere dupes of their own wills and fancies. It was, in fact, possible for them to become false prophets, without always meaning to be so; and these chances of hallucination-of being misled by a lying spirit-led to fierce contentions in the prophetic communities. “Since you have not obeyed Jehovahs voice,” said the man, “the lion shall immediately slay you.” “And as soon as he was departed from him the lion found him and slew him.” There is nothing impossible in the incident, for in those days lions were common in Palestine, and they multiplied when the country had been depopulated by war. But we can never feel certain how far the ethical and didactic and parabolic elements were allowed, for purposes of edification, to play a part in these ancient yet not contemporaneous Acta Prophetarum, and at any rate to dictate the interpretation of things which may have actually occurred.
The prophet then bade another comrade to smite him, and he did so effectually, inflicting a serious wound. This was a part of the intended scene in which the prophet meant for a moment to play the role of a soldier who had been wounded in the Syrian war. So he bound up his head with a bandage, and waited for the king to pass by. An Eastern king is liable at any time to be appealed to by the humblest of his subjects, and the prophet stopped Ahab and stated his imaginary case. “A captain,” he said, “brought me one of his war captives, and ordered me to keep him safe. If I failed to do so, I was to pay the forfeit of my life, or to pay as a fine a silver talent. But as I was looking here and there the captive escaped.” “Be it so,” answered Ahab; “you are bound by your own bargain.” Thus Ahab, like David, was led to condemn himself out of his own mouth. Then the prophet tore the bandage from his face, and said to Ahab: “Thou art the man! Thus saith Jehovah, I entrusted to thee the man under my ban (cherem), and thou hast let him escape. Thou shalt pay the forfeit. Thy life shall go for his life thy people for his people.”
Anger and indignation filled the heart of the king; he went to his house “heavy and displeased.” The phrase, twice applied to him and never used of another, shows that he was liable to characteristic moods of overwhelming sullenness, the result of an uneasy conscience, and of a rage which was compelled to remain impotent. It is evident that he did not dare to chastise the audacious offender, though the Jews say that the prophet was Micaiah, the son of Imlah, and that he was imprisoned for this offense. As a rule the prophets-like Samuel and Nathan, and Gad and Shemaiah, and Jehu the son of Hanani-were protected by their sacrosanct position. Now and then an Urijah, a Jeremiah, a Zechariah son of Berechiah, paid the penalty of bold denunciation, not only by hatred and persecution, but with his life. This, however, was the exception. As a rule the prophets felt themselves safe under the wing of a Divine protector. Not only Elijah in his sheepskin mantle, but even the humblest of his imitators in the prophetic schools might fearlessly stride up to a king, seize his steed by the bridle, as Athanasius did to Constantine, and compel him to listen to his rebuke or his appeal.