Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 20:34
And [Ben-hadad] 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.
34. This verse is very singular from the omission of the names of both the speakers. It is clear enough from the sense, to whom each clause must be assigned, but the omissions are so unusual that one can hardly help suspecting some error in the text. The LXX. joins the two clauses as though they were spoken by the same person.
make streets for thee in Damascus ] This must signify that a portion of Damascus should be set apart as belonging to Israel, and that dwellings might be erected there for the use of such Israelites as should have need to go thither. That such a privileged quarter in a foreign city might be of great use for purposes of commerce we can readily imagine, and more so in those days and lands of caravans than in the western world. Probably ‘Lombard Street’ in London was originally a privileged part of the city, where the wealthy Lombard merchants established themselves.
Then, said Ahab, I will send thee away ] R.V., And I, said Ahab, will let thee go. The verb is rendered ‘to let go’ in the application made by the son of the prophets in 1Ki 20:42. It is better therefore to translate it in the same way here, and in the following clause of this verse ‘ and let him go ’.
with this covenant ] The agreement, namely, for the restoration of the taken cities, and for the privilege of occupying part of Damascus with houses for Israelites. The language sets before us the easy way in which Ahab allowed the advantages of the victory to slip from his grasp. It seems too that Ben-hadad did not fulfil all his part of the covenant (see 1Ki 22:3), and this may have been in consequence of the behaviour of Ahab, which would make the compact appear of little moment.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ben-hadad, secure of his life, suggests terms of peace as the price of his freedom. He will restore to Ahab the Israelite cities taken from Omri by his father, among which Ramoth Gilead was probably the most important 1Ki 22:3; and he will allow Ahab the privilege of making for himself streets, or rather squares, in Damascus, a privilege which his own father had possessed with respect to Samaria. Commercial advantages, rather than any other, were probably sought by this arrangement.
So he made a covenant with him … – Ahab, without inquiring of the Lord, at once agreed to the terms offered; and, without even taking any security for their due observance, allowed the Syrian monarch to depart. Considered politically, the act was one of culpable carelessness and imprudence. Ben-hadad did not regard himself as bound by the terms of a covenant made when he was a prisoner – as his after conduct shows 1Ki 22:3. Ahabs conduct was even more unjustifiable in one who held his crown under a theocracy. Inquiry at the word of the Lord was still possible in Israel 1Ki 22:5, 1Ki 22:8, and would seem to have been the course that ordinary gratitude might have suggested.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 34. Thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus] It appears that it was customary for foreigners to have a place assigned to them, particularly in maritime towns, where they might deposit and vend their merchandise. This was the very origin of European settlements in Asiatic countries: “The people gave an inch to those strangers; and in consequence they took an ell.” Under the pretense of strengthening the place where they kept their wares, to prevent depredations, they built forts, and soon gave laws to their entertainers. In vain did the natives wish them away; they had got power, and would retain it; and at last subjected these countries to their own dominion.
It was customary also, in the time of the crusades, to give those nations which were engaged in them streets, churches, and post dues, in those places which they assisted to conquer. The Genoese and Venetians had each a street in Accon, or St. Jean d’Acre, in which they had their own jurisdiction; with oven, mill, bagnio, weights, and measures. – See William of Tyre, and Harmer’s Observations.
He made a covenant with him] According to the words recited above, putting him under no kind of disabilities whatsoever.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The cities which my father took from thy father; either,
1. From Baasha, 1Ki 15:20, whom he calls Ahabs father, because he was his legal father, i.e. his predecessor. Or,
2. From Omri; in whose time, it seems, he made a successful invasion into the land of Israel, and took some more of the cities, and Aphek amongst the rest, though it be not elsewhere recorded in Scripture.
Thou shalt make streets, or markets, &c., places where thou mayest either receive the tribute which I promise to pay thee, or exercise judicature upon my subjects in case of their refusal; or outlets (as the LXX. render it) in or into Damascus, i.e. some strong fort near Damascus, which might curb the kings of Damascus, and keep them from attempting any other invasion into the land of Israel. With this covenant: he takes no notice of his blasphemy against God, nor of the vast injuries which his people had suffered from him; but only minds his own grandeur, and the advancement of his power.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
34. streets for thee inDamascusimplying that a quarter of that city was to beassigned to Jews, with the free exercise of their religion and laws,under a judge of their own. This misplaced kindness to a proud andimpious idolater, so unbecoming a theocratic monarch, exposed Ahab tothe same censure and fate as Saul (1Sa15:9, &c.). It was in opposition to God’s purpose in givinghim the victory.
1Ki20:35-42. A PROPHETREPROVES HIM.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And [Benhadad] said unto him,…. The word Benhadad is not in the original text, and some, as Osiander and others, have thought they are the words of Ahab last spoken of; which seems most likely, who not only took Benhadad into his chariot, but in his great and superabundant kindness, though the conqueror, said to him what follows:
the cities which my father took from thy father I will restore; that is, those cities which Omri, the father of Ahab, had taken from the father of Benhadad; for as Omri was a prince of might and valour, 1Ki 16:16, it is more probable that he took cities from the king of Syria, than that the king of Syria should take any from him, and which Ahab in his circumstances weakly promises to restore:
and thou shall make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria; which confirms it that it is Ahab, and not Benhadad, that is speaking; for Benhadad’s father never had any power nor residence in Samaria, whereas Omri, the father of Ahab, had, he built it, and made it his royal seat; and, in like manner, Ahab promises Benhadad that he should have his palace at Damascus, the metropolis of Syria, and exercise power there, and over all Syria; whereby Ahab renounced all right he had to the kingdom, and any of the cities of it: for by “streets” are not meant those literally so called, for the making of which there was no reason; nor markets to take a toll from, as some, supposing them to be the words of Benhadad; nor courts of judicature, to oblige them to pay it who refused it, as others; nor fortresses to keep them in awe; but a royal palace, as a learned critic t has observed, for Benhadad to reside in; this Ahab gave him power to erect, and added:
and I will send thee away with this covenant; or promise now made:
so he made a covenant with him; confirmed the above promises:
and sent him away; free, to enjoy his crown and kingdom, for which folly and weakness Ahab is reproved by a prophet, 1Ki 20:42.
t Vallandi Dissert. ad 1. Reg. xx. 33, 34. Subsect. 2. sect. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Benhadad, in order to keep Ahab in this favourable mood, promised to give him back at once the cities which his father had taken away from Ahab’s father, and said, “Thou mayest make thyself roads in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.” There is no account of any war between Omri and Benhadad I; it is simply stated in 1Ki 15:20 that Benhadad I had taken away several cities in Galilee from the Israelites during the reign of Baasha. This cannot be the war intended here, however, not indeed because of the expression , since might certainly be taken in a broader sense as referring to Baasha as an ancestor of Ahab, but chiefly on account of the statement that Benhadad had made himself roads in Samaria. This points to a war between Omri and Benhadad, after the building of Samaria into the capital of the kingdom, of which no account has been preserved. , “to make himself roads,” cannot be understood as referring either to fortifications and military posts, or to roads for cattle and free pasturage in the Syrian kingdom, since Samaria and Damascus were cities; not can it signify the establishment of custom-houses, but only the clearing of portions of the city for the purpose of trade and free intercourse (Cler., Ges. etc.), or for the establishment of bazaars, which would occupy a whole street (Bttcher, Thenius; see also Movers, Phnizier, ii. 3, p. 135). – “And I,” said Ahab, “will let thee go upon a covenant” (a treaty on oath), and then made a covenant with him, giving him both life and liberty. Before we must supply in thought . This thoroughly impolitic proceeding on the part of Ahab arose not merely from a natural and inconsiderate generosity and credulity of mind (G. L. Bauer, Thenius), but from an unprincipled weakness, vanity, and blindness. To let a cruel and faithless foe go unpunished, was not only the greatest harshness to his own subjects, but open opposition to God, who had announced to him the victory, and delivered the enemy of His people into his hand.
(Note: Clericus is correct in the explanation which he has given: “ Although, therefore, this act of Ahab had all the appearance of clemency, it was not an act of true clemency, which ought not to be shown towards violent aggressors, who if released will do much more injury than before, as Benhadad really did. God had given the victory to Ahab, and delivered the guilty king into his hands, that he might inflict punishment upon him, not that he might treat him kindly. And Ahab, who had allowed so many prophets to be slain by his wife Jezebel, had no great clemency at other times. ” )
Even if Ahab had no express command from God to put Benhadad to death, as Saul had in 1Sa 15:3, it was his duty to punish this bitter foe of Israel with death, if only to secure quiet for his own subjects; as it was certainly to be foreseen that Benhadad would not keep the treaty which had been wrung from him by force, as was indeed very speedily proved (see 1Ki 22:1).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(34) Make streetsproperly, squares, or quarters of a city. This concession implies a virtual acknowledgment of supremacy; for the right to have certain quarters for residence, for trade, perhaps even for garrison, in the capital of a king, belongs only to one who has sovereignty over him. Hence it goes beyond the significance of the restoration of the citiesconquered, it would seem, from Omri, unless, indeed, taking father in the sense of predecessor, the reference is to the Syrian victories in the days of Baasha. (See 1Ki. 15:20.) The narrative seems to convey an idea that the covenant was made hastily, on insufficient security. The great point, however, was that a war, victoriously conducted under prophetic guidance, should not have been concluded without prophetic sanction.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
34. The cities See at 1Ki 15:20. Streets for thee in
Damascus Whole streets and houses to be known and honoured as the Israelitish quarter, and something like the bazaars of modern Oriental cities. Compare “the bakers’ street.” Jer 37:21. Ben-hadad’s father had such a Syrian quarter in Samaria.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 20:34. Thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, &c. Ben-hadad, received to mercy, and treated with respect, promised upon this occasion to restore to the kingdom of Israel the cities that his father had taken from it. And thou shalt make, said he, streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. This was a proposal better relished by Ahab, than understood by commentators. Bishop Patrick tells us, that some suppose the word chutsoth to signify market-places, where things were sold, the toll of which should belong to Ahab: others think that he meant courts of judicature, where he should exercise a jurisdiction over the Syrians; others, what we now call a piazza, or rather what by Rauwolff is called a a fondique, champ, carvatschura, or caravansera, and by others a kane; 1:e. a great house, built like a cloister, round a great court-yard, and full of warehouses and apartments, in which foreign merchants are wont to live, or travellers to repair, as to an inn, and of which Ahab was to receive the rents. But commonly, says the Bishop, interpreters understand by the word, fortifications or citadels, as we now speak; Vallandus, however, attempts to prove, that palaces are meant, the building of which by Ahab was a great token of subjection in Ben-hadad. Perhaps the privileges which we know were actually granted to the Venetians for their aid, by the states of the kingdom of Jerusalem, in the time of the captivity of Baldwin II. may more satisfactorily explain these words of Ben-hadad. William of Tyre, the greatest historian of the Croisades, has preserved that ancient and curious instrument; from which convention, as well as from the accounts he has elsewhere given of the privileges granted to other nations for their assistance, it appears, that they were wont to assign churches, and give streets, in their towns and cities to those foreign nations, together with great liberties and jurisdiction in these streets. Thus he tells us, that the Genoese had a street in Accon, or John D’Acre, together with full jurisdiction in it, and a church, as a reward for taking that city, together with a third part of the dues of the port. Thus too the above-mentioned ancient instrument very clearly shews, that the Venetians had a street also in Accon; and explains what this full jurisdiction in a street means, by giving them liberty to have in their street there an oven, mill, bagnio, weights and measures for wine, oil, and honey, if they thought fit, and also to judge causes among themselves; together with as great a jurisdiction over all who dwelt in their street and houses, of whatever nation they might be, as the king of Jerusalem had over others. May we not believe, that the same or nearly the same franchises and regalities which were granted to the Venetians and Genoese, in order to obtain aid from them, the father of Ahab had granted to Ben-hadad’s father to obtain peace, and Ben-hadad, upon this fatal turn of his affairs, proposed to grant to Ahab in Damascus;a quarter for his subjects to live in, and which he should possess, and over which he should enjoy the same jurisdiction, as he did with respect to the rest of his kingdom? Such a power in Samaria, and such a making-over a part of it to the father of Ben-hadad, and annexing it to the kingdom of Syria, with a right of building such idol temples as he thought fit, was a sufficient disgrace to the father of Ahab, as the proposing to give Ahab now a like honour in Damascus was an expression of a very abject adulation in Ben-hadad. The privileges that commentators have mentioned are either not of importance enough to answer the general representation of matters in the history, or are absolutely destructive of them. A medium is therefore to be sought for; and such an one, we presume, is here satisfactorily proposed. See Observations, p. 355.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Ki 20:34 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.
Ver. 34. The cities which my father took from thy father. ] That is, From thy predecessor Baasha. 1Ki 15:20
I will restore.
And thou shalt make streets for thee.
I will send thee away.
And sent him away.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
streets = broad ways, or bazaars.
as = according as.
said. Figure of speech Ellipsis (App-6) to be supplied by repetition from previous clause.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The cities: 1Ki 15:20, 2Ch 16:4
So he made a covenant: One of the conditions of this covenant, we learn, was, that Ahab should have “streets (chutzoth) in Damascus;” a proposal better relished by Ahab then understood by the generality of commentators. This, however, is well illustrated by Mr. Harmer, from William of Tyre, the great historian of the Crusades; from whom it appears that it was customary to give those nations which were engaged in them, churches, streets, and great jurisdiction therein, in those places which they assisted to conquer. The Genoese and Venetians had each a street in Acon, or Acre, in which they had their own jurisdiction, with liberty to have an oven, mill, baths, weights, and measures, etc. 1Ki 20:42, 1Ki 22:31, 2Ch 18:30, Isa 8:12, Isa 26:10
Reciprocal: 1Sa 11:1 – Make 1Sa 15:8 – Agag 1Ki 11:24 – to Damascus 1Ki 15:18 – Benhadad 1Ki 22:1 – General 2Ki 6:8 – the king 2Ki 8:7 – Benhadad Amo 3:12 – in Damascus in a couch
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 20:34. The cities which my father took from thy father Either from Baasha, (1Ki 15:20,) whom he calls Ahabs 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, and Aphek among the rest, though it be not elsewhere recorded in Scripture. And thou shall make streets in Damascus Bishop Patrick tells us, that some suppose the word to signify market-places, where things were sold, the toll of which should belong to Ahab: others think he meant courts of judicature, where he should exercise a jurisdiction over the Syrians; others, what we now call a piazza, or rather, what by Rauwolff is called a caravansera, and by others a kane, that is, a great house, built like a cloister, round a great court-yard, and full of warehouses and apartments, in which foreign merchants are wont to live, or travellers to repair to, as to an inn, and of which Ahab was to receive the rents. It is probable, it was a quarter for his subjects to live in, and which he should possess, and over which he should enjoy the same jurisdiction, as he did with respect to the rest of his kingdom. Such a power granted in Samaria, and such a making over a part of it, to the father of Ben-hadad, and annexing it to the kingdom of Syria, with a right of building such idol temples as he thought fit, was a sufficient disgrace to the father of Ahab; as the proposing to give Ahab now a like honour in Damascus, was an expression of a very abject adulation in Ben-hadad.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:34 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 {p} 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.
(p) You shall appoint in my chief city what you will, and I will obey you.