1 Kings 20

— Smite me, I pray thee.] His intention was, that, from the circumstance of being wounded, he might obtain the freer access to Ahab, as a soldier well deserving, and that he might the better feign his story; for, in such a matter, Ahab was not to be dealt with in plain and direct words. Bp. Patrick. The Prophet, knowing the evil and desperate temper of the king against any that brought evil tidings, would not do it in a downright manner, but by such a method as would gain the greater attention from him, so as to make a deeper impression. Pyle.

1 Kings 20:3

3. — The Lord forbid it me.] As it is natural to all men to value the ancient possessions that have been in their family, so the law of Moses prohibited the alienation of lands from one tribe or family to another, unless a man was reduced to poverty; in which case he might sell it till the Jubilee; but then it was to return to him. See Levit. xxv. 16, 25, 28. Now as Naboth was in no need, so he considered that if he should, out of respect to the king, and merely to do him a pleasure, part with his vineyard, he should never get it out of his hands at the jubilee, being made part of the ground belonging to the royal palace. Thus, by such an act, he would both offend against the law, and injure his posterity, which, being an upright and religious man, he was most unwilling to do. Bp. Patrick.

This consideration throws light on the conduct of Ahab in the first instance. As king of Israel, especially obliged and solemnly pledged to observe and maintain the laws, it was his duty to secure the possession of property in its legitimate course, instead of endeavouring to divert it into improper channels by alienating it from one family into another. In obedience to the law, Naboth refused to sell the inheritance of his fathers. If he was praiseworthy for his refusal, Ahab was culpable for his request: for that which the subject could not conscientiously concede, the sovereign could not conscientiously require. Mont.

1 Kings 20:4

4. — came into his house heavy and displeased] How precarious and fleeting is the happiness of the greatest and wealthiest of men, if founded only on this world’s enjoyments! And yet how real and sincere is the pain which a disappointment brings! Here a mighty king counts himself miserable, because he cannot have his garden enlarged: this one cross blasts all his blessings. Wogan.

The conduct of Ahab upon this occasion may warn us against the danger of brooding over our disappointment, when we fail of attaining the object of our wishes; and may prompt us to turn our eyes aside to those in-

1 Kings 20:10

10. — if the dust of Samaria shall suffice &c.] He wishes he may perish if he did not bring such an army against the king of Israel, that, if every soldier were to take a handful of the dust of the land, the whole dust of the land would not be sufficient. Bp. Patrick.

1 Kings 20:11

11. — let not him that girdeth &c.] The meaning is, Let not Ben-hadad boast of a victory before he has obtained it. Dr. Wells.

1 Kings 20:13

13. — there came a prophet unto Ahab] We are no where informed in Scripture who the Prophet was, that, upon this message, and another afterwards, was sent to Ahab. It is singular that, during this whole war with Ben-hadad, neither Elijah nor Elisha, the two principal Prophets of Israel, should appear, though other Prophets (of whom there appear to have been a considerable number) make no scruple of executing their office. It is possible that this war began before Jezebel’s persecution of the Prophets; or that this impious queen abated her persecution, and let them have some re-

spite, when she supposed she had exterminated Elijah. Calmet.

1 Kings 20:14

14. — the young men of the princes of the provinces.] These were to be the instruments in attaining this victory. The Hebrew word has some ambiguity in it, and may signify either the sons or the servants of the princes or governours of the provinces, either young noblemen or their fathers’ servants, who had been brought up delicately, and quite unaccustomed to war. By these young men, unaccustomed to war, and not by old experienced officers, the battle was to be obtained, that it might appear how entirely the victory was owing to God’s gracious and powerful providence, and not to the valour or fitness of the instruments. Stackhouse.

1 Kings 20:15

15. — all the children of Israel,] That is, all that were in that place, and fit for war; for it is impossible to suppose that the whole force of the Israelites amounted to no more than 7000 men. Pyle.

1 Kings 20:23

23. — Their gods are gods of the hills;] They vainly and superstitiously imagined, that the Hebrew

The Syrians are smitten again. They submit themselves. Before CHRIST 901. was fallen. 900. war with Israel. virtualized. against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

1 Kings 20:26

26.—to Aphek,] A city in the tribe of Asher, not far from the plains of Galilee, where Ben-hadad intended to fight. Bp. Patrick. 28.—The Lord is God of the hills,—not God of the valleys,] How strikingly is here displayed the vanity of idolatry! The Syrians believed in gods of the hills, not of the valleys; that is, in beings only of a limited power and presence, in reality of no power or dominion at all, mere fictions and imaginations of men; lies and lying vanities, as Scripture frequently styles them. But the true God, who made heaven and earth, and all things that are therein, does by His presence and power inspect and govern all things, in the whole heavens, and in the whole earth. Dr. S. Clarke.

1 Kings 20:29

29.—and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians] We are here to observe, that though Ahab was an idolatrous and wicked king, yet God granted to him twice the victory over the Syrians. This He probably did to punish the pride of Ben-hadad and the Syrians, because they had unjustly attacked him, and, above all, because they had blasphemed the God of Israel. He did it, likewise, to give Ahab proofs of his goodness and

1 Kings 20:30

30.—a wall fell] The wall of the city, under which they probably lay, ready to defend it, fell down. Bp. Patrick. The expression means, not that the wall fell on every individual, but on the main body of the 27,000, killing some and manning others. Stackhouse. It was probably a large and long wall, with towers in it, into which they fled. Dr. Wall.

1 Kings 20:31

31.—put sackcloth on our loins,] This was the habit and guise of suppliants in those countries when they petitioned for mercy. The sackcloth on their loins was a token of great sorrow for what they had done; and the halters about their necks, a token of their willingness to submit to any punishment Ahab might think fit to inflict upon them. Bp. Patrick. —and ropes upon our heads,] The approaching persons with a sword hanging about the neck is still customary in the East, as a token of humility and submission. Among other instances, Thevenot mentions, that, when Bagdat was besieged by the Turks in 1638, the governour of the city went to the grand vizier with a scarf about his neck, and his sword wreathed in it, as a mark of submission, begging pardon and mercy. If this custom of later times may be brought in explanation of those in ancient times, we may suppose that the ropes, which Ben-hadad’s servants put on their Before CHRIST 900. chamber to chamber. chamber within a chamber. The prophet denonuceth God’s judgment against Ahab.

hadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

1 Kings 20:34

34. — thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus,] The learned are by no means agreed what we are to understand by “streets” in this passage. Some suppose that courts of judicature are meant, where Ahab was to maintain a jurisdiction over Ben-hadad’s subjects. Others think that they were publick marketplaces, where commodities were sold, and the toll of them paid to Ahab; but the most general opinion is, that they were citadels or fortifications, to be a bridle or restraint upon this chief city of the Syrians, that they might make no new irruptions into the land of Israel. This was a great privilege, and such that Ben-hadad, when he found himself set at liberty, refused to comply with it. Stackhouse. Or, by the expression of “making streets” in Damascus, we may understand, that Ben-hadad proposed to grant in that city a quarter for Ahab’s subjects to live in, where he should enjoy the same jurisdiction as he did over the rest of the kingdom. Ahab’s father, as is here expressed, had given to the Syrians such a jurisdiction in Samaria; and it was an expression of very abject adulation in Ben-hadad, to propose to give Ahab a like power in Damascus. It appears from the relation of William of Tyre, that it was, in the time of the Crusades, the custom to assign churches, and to give streets, in the towns and cities of the Holy Land, to foreign nations, together with great liberties and jurisdictions in those streets. Thus he tells us, that the Genesee had a street in Accon, or St. John d’Acre, together with a full jurisdiction in it; the Venetians also had a street in the same city, where, among other privileges, they had the power of judging causes for themselves, together with as complete a jurisdiction over all that dwelt in their street, as the king of Jerusalem had over the rest. Harmer.

1 Kings 20:35

35. — said unto his neighbour] Unto his fellow, that is, to one of his fellow Prophets; for indeed it is

And the man smote him, † so that in smiting he wounded him.

1 Kings 20:36

36. — a lion — slew him.] If this punishment should seem too severe, it should be recollected, that the Prophet had addressed himself, not to an ordinary man, but to a Prophet bred in the same school with himself, and that he required him to smite “by the word of the Lord,” that is, not by his own private motion, but because God enjoined it. Bp. Patrick.

1 Kings 20:38

38. — disguised himself with ashes] Besprinkled himself with ashes in the manner of a criminal and suppliant. Pyle. The Hebrews understand that he covered his face with a handkerchief or fillet, to shew that he was wounded. Bp. Patrick.

1 Kings 20:39

39. — he cried unto the king: and he said, &c.] The story which he feigns is, that, being a soldier in the late battle, a certain officer had delivered into his custody a prisoner of note taken from the enemy, with a strict charge to hold him safe, upon pain of death, or a severe fine. But I being eager, says he, in the glorious pursuit of the vanquished foe, my prisoner made his escape, and I am likely to undergo the last extremity for my misfortune. The king told him, in answer, it was no more than he deserved, from his breach of orders. Pyle.

Ahab is denied Naboth’s vineyard.

appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.

1 Kings 20:42

42. — therefore thy life shall go for his &c.] If it should be asked, wherein lay Ahab’s great offence, for which God threatens to punish him so severely? the answer is, That it consisted in suffering so horrid a blasphemer, as Ben-hadad was, to go unpunished, which was contrary to an express law, Lev. xxiv. 16. If it should be urged, that this was nothing to Ben-hadad, since the law concerned the Israelites only; the reply is, That the law extended not to those only that were born in the land, (but as is there expressed) to strangers likewise, that were amongst them and in their power, as Ben-hadad certainly was. God had delivered him into Ahab’s hands for his blasphemy, as He had promised, 1 Kings xx. 28, and therefore this act of Providence, compared with the law, did plainly intimate, that he was appointed by God for destruction: but so far was Ahab from punishing him as he deserved, that he treats him like a friend and a brother, dismisses him upon easy terms, and takes his bare word for the performance, without the least care for the reparation of God’s honour. Stackhouse.

Chap. XXI. ver. 1. And it came to pass after these things.] After the signal and repeated instances of God’s goodness to Ahab, so far was he from true contentment; so far from enjoying the abundance he possessed; that here we find this mighty monarch turn slave to his impotent desires, and fall a victim to the most abject vice of covetousness. He could not be satisfied with all the plenty that royal wealth could bestow, or conquest acquire, while one poor spot of ground, his neighbour’s vineyard, was looked upon with a longing eye, as a necessary addition and improvement to his estate. What avails it then to increase our store, if concupiscence also increase? This insatiable passion, we see, will make the greatest princes poor; so that, not he who has much, but he who covets little, is the true rich man. A competency therefore is the only wealth; and the best way to obtain it, is rather to contract our desires, than to enlarge our estates. Wogan.

— hard by the palace of Ahab] We must suppose, that, besides the palace in Samaria, Ahab had another palace at Jezreel; or rather, as may be collected from 2 Kings ix. 21, that the palace here spoken of was the residence of queen Jezebel, and that it was for her pleasure, and at her instigation, that Ahab was so concerned

to procure this vineyard. Pyle. The account of Ahab’s coveting Naboth’s vineyard is immediately set after his treatment of Ben-hadad, to shew his extremely great wickedness in sparing him, (as Saul did Agag, king of the Amalekites,) and killing Naboth, that he might get possession of his vineyard: for this was an high aggravation of his crime, that he basely murdered a just Israelite, and let an impious enemy escape. Bp. Patrick.