1 Kings 20

1 Kings 20:1-4

Here is, 1. Ben-hadad’s defeats upon Israel, and his insolent demand, ver. 1—12. 2. The two defeats shall gave him, ver. 13—20. 3. The covenant of peace made between them, ver. 31—34. for which he is repressed and threatened by a prophet, ver. 35—43.

About 1901. 1. ANZ Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together, and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. 2. And ‘he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad, 3. ‘Thy silver and thy gold is mine, thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. 4. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have. 5. And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver and thy gold, and thy wives and thy children: 6. Yet I will send my servant unto thee, to-morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is + pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away. 7. Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, ‘Mark, I pray you, and see how this man deserts mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold, and I denied him not. 8. And all the elders, and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him,

nor consent. 9. Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first, I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again. 10. And Ben-hadad sent unto him, and said, ‘The gods do so unto me and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that I follow me. 11. And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, ‘Let not him that girdeth on his barnes? boath himself, as he that putteth it off.

We have here,

1. Samaria besieged by Ben-hadad king of Syria, with thirty-two tributary or confederate kings under him: and on hand so weakened Israel’s hands, that they met with no resistance in their way, even to the capital. Note, They who provoke God to leave them, are defenceless indeed.

2. As ambition and covetousness dictated the invasion, sworn with insistence and pride on his success, he send Ahab a haughty message, as his vassal, and bids him submit and surrender his all without reserve. Note, Success makes vain minds insolent.

3. Ahab, whose coward heart dared not oppise the haughty conqueror, and whose guilt forbade him to hope for help in God, tamely submits to purchase his peace at this ignominious price.

4. Ben-hadad grown more insolent on his submission, and now concluding his affairs desperate, rises in his demands. Not content with his treasures, or his vassal, he requires that his servants may search his house, the houses of his great men, and plunder them of every thing that is valuable, and expects his answer by the morrow. Note, (1.) There is no satisfying a covetous mind. (2.) Mean spirits delight to tyrannize over those they think dare not resist them.

5. Routed by so unreasonable a demand, Ahab summons his counsel, and exposes to them the concessions he had offered, and the fresh demands imposed on him. They encourage him to stand out, and promise to support him; on which the messengers are dismissed with a denial, yet touched in terms that might lead offend; and with a proposal to ratify the former offer.

6. Enraged at this refusal, Ben-hadad swears by his gods to beat Samaria into dust; and to bring such an lust into the field, that there shall not be enough for each to take a handful. Note, (1.) The greatest talkers are not the greatest doers. (2.) The threats of pride are often impotent and vain.

7. Ahab wisely admonishes him of the uncertainty of war, and that the most confident are not the most successful. Note, As long as we are in the flesh, it becomes us with fear and trembling to work out our salvation, when we shall put off the body in the grave, then we may shout for victory.

8. And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message (as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions) that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in a way: And they set themselves in a way against the city.

9. ¶ And ‘behold there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Half thou seen ‘all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day, and ’thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 14. And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even ‘by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. 15. Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand. 16. And they went out at noon: but Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him. 17. And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first, and Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria. 18. And he said, ‘Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive. 19. So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them. 20. And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians’ fled, and Israel pursued them: and Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped to an horse, with the horsesmen. 21. And the king of Israel went out, and some the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

M. 75—27.

bear in fackeloth, with halters about their necks, as those who owned they deferred to die; and with abject submission, as from their king, beg only for life, v. 21. Note, (1.) Israel’s God is more famed for mercy than Israel’s king; there is hope for the perfilling sinner, when in duft and ashes he comes to surrender up his guilty foul. (2.) It is better to flop and live, than perish hardened in pride.

2. Ahab receives them unspeakably beyond their expectations, expresses a joy that Ben-hadad is alive, and calls him brother; intimating his respect for him. At this word they eagerly catch, and return at his command to bring Ben-hadad forth. Ahab receives him with all imaginable respect, caudes him to fit with him in his chatter, and then in a fit of generosity, offers to refrain the cities of Syria, which Omri his father had taken, See chap. xxi. 17, and permits him to exercise every act of sovereignty at Damascus, his royal residence, as much as Omri had done at Samaria. And having thus made peace, dismisses him without so much as a reproof for his blasphemy and influence. Our transfusions, by infesting Ben-hadad’s name, describe the concessions, v. 24, to him, but the former fends is most agreeable to the original. Note, Lenity and generosity may be重复ly exercised towards such, as we have reason to suspect will abude them.

3. A prophet, probably Miesiah, See chap. xxii. 8. is sent to rebaide this false clemency of Ahab: and in order to lead the king to condemn himself, he disguises himself as a soldier, and bids a neighbour finite him, that he might appear bloody; but his neighbour refused, though the prophet told him the command was from God; and therefore is punished for his disobedience, a lion is commissioned to stay him. Another whom he met, fearing probably the consequences of a refusal, though unwillingly, imites and wounds the prophet. Thus bloody and disguised, with ashes on his head, he way-laid the king, and prefers his fictitious complaint. He had thro’ carelessness let a prisoner escape, that his captain, at the peril of his life, or on forfeiture of a client of silver, had bid him guard, and he flies to the king’s clemency to protect him from his officer’s prosecution. But Ahab rejects his suit, and leaves him to the just punishment his carelessness deferred. The prophet then removes the disguises, and returns the king’s sentence upon him. For Ben-hadad’s life which he had spared, when delivered of God into his hands, his own was forfeited, chap. xxii. 34. and Israel shall suffer for his injury to the Syrians, 2 Kings 2. 32. Note, (1.) Whatever seeming pleas we may have for disobedience to God’s word, none of them will be accepted as an arrest of judgment at his bar. (2.) Out of his own mouth will the sinner be condemned in the day of God.

4. Ahab’s joy was now turned into heaviness; he went to his house, vexed at his own folly, displeased at the prophet, and more enraged against the threatened punishment, than afflicted under the sin which provoked it. Note, There is a sorrow of the world which only worketh death.

AND it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezebel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, ‘Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house, and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it: or if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. 3. And Naboth said to Ahab, ‘The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. 4. And Ahab came into his house’ heavy and displeased, because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers: and he said him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

Ahab now seemed to be quite at peace, and perhaps his late melancholy was blown over. But there is no long peace to the wicked, fresh sin will produce fresh torment.

1. Naboth’s vineyard, which lay contiguous to his palace, caught his eye, and determined him, if possible, to engage Naboth to part with it by sale, or for an equivalent in some other place. A desire not in itself unlawful, though becoming so by his inordinate eagerness. Note, (1.) Lawful things inordinately

covered, become a share to us. (2.) Contiguity to a great man’s estate, hath exposed many a poor man to oppression.

2. Naboth rejected the proposal as sinful, oftenting it unlawful, except in case of extreme poverty; See Lev. xxv. 23—28. to part with his family inheritance, and fearing least if it ever became crown land, it would not in the year of jubilee revert to his heirs; he rather therefore hazarded the offending the king, than the wounding his conscience; and perhaps his being one of the seven thousand who refused to bow to Baal, made the denial more displeasing. Note, (2.) When we must offend God or man, there can be no hesitation to determine which. (2.) They who are marked as the godly, must expect the world will now them a grudge.

3. Ahab valily resented the refusal, grew fullen, and would not eat through vexation. Note, Proud, restful, and discontented spirits are their own tormentors. As the world is too full of the same dispositions to give them their way, they will seldom want daily cause for vexation.

4. ¶ But ‘Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eated no bread? 6. And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else if it pleads thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. 7. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now’ govern the kingdom of Israel? arise and eat bread, and let thine heart be mercy: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. 8. So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and he sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city dwelling with Naboth. 9. And the wrote in the letters, saying, ‘Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: 10. And set two men, ‘sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king: and then carry him out, and thone him’ that he may die. 11. And the men of his city, cross the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them. 12. They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. 13. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, cross against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and ‘stoned him with stones, that he died. 14. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, ‘Naboth is stoned, and is dead. 15. ¶ And it came to pass when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead. 16. And it came to pass when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

5. 5—16. The very name of Jezebel portends mischief. A worse engine the devil can never employ for craft or cruelty, than a wicked woman.

6. Observing Ahab fallen, the conjectured some disappointment; and having enquired the cause, rallies him on his weakness; bids him use his prerogative, for who dare oppose the king? at least, leave the matter to her, and she will give him Naboth’s vineyard. Note, If the heart be set on wickedness, the devil will furnish the means.

7. Her project is truly diabolical. Not satisfied to gratify her covetousness by depriving him of his estate, she designs to gratify her revenge by shedding his blood; and this too, under the specious appearances of religion and justice. She orders them to proclaim a solemn fast, though the words proclaim a fast may also be rendered, overcome a court as if dreading some impending calamity on the city, because of his commitment in the midst of them: let Naboth, according to his rank, have an high place in the congregation, and during the solemnity, let them suborn two witnesses to appear and accuse Naboth of blasphemy and treason: heropon, without farther enquiry, they should hurry him forth and thone him, that his life might appear forfeited to God, and his estate to the king. These orders, to give them authority, are sealed with the king’s seal; whether he knew their contents or not, is uncertain, and dispatched in haste to the magistrates and elders of Jezebel. Note, (1.) Prejury is among the most deadly sins, and most dangerous to society; no man’s life or property are safe against a lying

tongue. under the the most indisputable kind of oppression.

1. Defeable and infamous as the command was, which every Israelite with holy indignation should have rejected with adherence, the nobles of Jezreel scruple not to pay a farvile complaisance; and perhaps Naboth’s religious principles made them glad of such an opportunity to defray him. The left is proclaimed, the accusation is laid, and Naboth is found; and his sons also, either secretly or publicly, made away with. See King’s 2. 26. whether to this their orders extended, or to gratify their own enmity, and remove every prosecutor of such an uphill and cruel murder. Note, (1.) No indifference can proceed a man from the power of oppressors. (2.) There is a day, when the blood of innocence, and the tears of the oppressed, will come into remembrance; and then weor to the murderer and the oppressor.

2. No sinners are these glad tidings arrived, than Jezebel with joy acquaints the king of Naboth’s death, and bids him take possession; whilst he, far from expressing the bad dissons, fail on at the horrid plot, goes down to the vineyard, amidst his couriers and captains, See 2 Kings ix. 25. as if it had been the most lawful as well as most welcome acquiesces. Note, When his hath hardened the heart, men glory in their wickedness, and are left to shame.

3. ¶ And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tifshire, saying, 18. Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, be it in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. 19. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus faith the LORD, ‘Halt thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus faith the LORD, ‘In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. 20. And Ahab said to Elijah, Halt thou found me, ‘O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: ‘because thou hast told thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. 21. Behold, ‘I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that priestly against the wall, and him that is shut up, and left in Israel. 22. And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam, the son of Neam, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. 23. And of Jezebel also spoke the LORD, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the y wall of Jezreel. 24. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city, the dogs shall eat: and him that dieth in the field, shall the fowls of the air eat. 25. ¶ But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife flared up. 26. And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 27. And it came to pass when Ahab heard these words, that he rest his cloaths, and put backcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in kackcloth, and went forlly. 28. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tifshire, saying, 29. Seek thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his sons days will I bring the evil upon his house.

1 Kings 20:17-20

Ahab had now filled up the measure of his iniquities. Worse than all his predecessors in wickedness, and more infamous in his idolatries, he had willingly told himself to commit every abomination: nor is it any exculpation of his guilt, that Jezebel flared him up, whom he should have refrained, rather than have obeyed.

1. Elijah, at God’s command, met him in Naboth’s vineyard, and his unwelcome presence marred the master’s joy. Ahab’s guilty conscience told him the prophet’s coming bodied to good, and therefore he accedes him with his former unhumbled pride, as the enemy of his repose; yet expressing a dread, which majestee goodness impressed even on such a hardened heart, v. 20. Note, (1.) The ministers of God, who cannot bear to see sinners perishing in their iniquities without warning, are therefore often counted by them as their worst enemies. (2.) The very presence of a godly man strikes an one upon sinners, and they shun them as the ghost which haunts their conscience, and as the dead come to torment them before their time.

2. Elijah denounces on him his deserved doom: I have found thee, and am come from God to pass sentence on thee, v. 20. He charges him with Naboth’s murder, and his unjust seizure

of his inheritance, v. 19. and, with a terrible commission of approaching judgment, thunders God’s wrath against him. His wicked house shall be utterly cut off, as the houses of Jeroboam and Baasha, whose uncommon wickedness he had exceeded: his accusered his father, he eaten of dogs, so low her pride shall fall; and in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, (awful and just retaliation!) dogs, faith he, shall lick thy blood, even thine; which was fulfilled in part, chap. xxii. 28. and more fully, 2 Kings ix. 26. Note, (1.) Let no sinner think to be hid; sinner or later, terrots like an armed man shall seize him; and woe then to the soul, that dying now from his convictions, treasures up wrath against the day of wrath. (2.) No subterfuges in the day of judgment will be able to evade conviction. The apporver, as well as the perpetrator, stand equally guilty before that God who feareth the heart. (3.) God’s justice in this world sometimes appears most exemplary in fishing the sinner’s punishment to his crime.

3. Shocked at the message, his stubborn heart for a moment trembled, and driven to his knees in terror, with faddisth on his loins, he wore the garb of penitence, though his unhumbled heart continued as distant as ever from that godly sorrow that worketh repentance unto salvation never to be repeated of. Yet even thus God is pleased to grant him a short reprieve, v. 29. Note, (1.) Formal professions of penitence legal terms often produce; but a sense of pardoning love can only convert the heart. (2.) Hypocrites in outward form and expressions of sorrow cannot be as oftentimes he distinguished from real penitence; but God trieth the heart. (3.) If even a hypocrite’s tears obtained a respite, shall not the tears of real penitence be made more remembered of God, and the pardon brought with the blood of Jesus be sealed to every soul who truly turns to him?