1 Kings 20:13

_AND, BEHOLD, THERE CAME A PROPHET UNTO AHAB KING OF ISRAEL, SAYING, THUS SAITH THE LORD, HAST 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._ Behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab. Though the king and people of Israel had highly, offended Him, God had not utterly cast them off. He still cherished designs of mercy toward them, and here, though unasked, gave them a signal proof of His interest in them, by a prophet's animating announcement, that the Lord would that day deliver the mighty hosts of the enemy into his hands, by means of a small, feeble, inadequate band. Conformably to the prophet's instructions, 232 young men went boldly out toward the camp of the enemy, while 7,000 more, apparently volunteers, followed at some little distance, or posted themselves at the gate, to be ready to reinforce those i...

12-21 The proud Syrians were beaten, and the despised Israelites were conquerors. The orders of the proud, drunken king disordered his troops, and prevented them from attacking the Israelites. Those that are most secure, are commonly least courageous. Ahab slew the Syrians with a great slaughter. God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another....

Verse 1 Kings 20:13. _THERE CAME A PROPHET_] Who this was we cannot tell; _Jarchi_ says it was _Micaiah, son of Imlah_. It is strange that on such an occasion we hear nothing of Elijah or Elisha. Is it not possible that this was one of them disguised?...

The rabbinical commentators conjecture that this prophet was Micaiah, the son of Imlah, who is mentioned below 1 Kings 22:8. HAST THOU SEEN ALL THIS GREAT MULTITUDE? - The boast of Ben-hadad 1 Kings 20:10, was not without a basis of truth; his force seems to have exceeded 130, 000 (compare 1 Kings 20:25, 1 Kings 20:29). In his wars with the Assyrians we find him sometimes at the head of 100, 000 men....

EXPOSITION THE INVASIONS OF ISRAEL BY THE SYRIANS AND THEIR RESULTS.—The insertion of this chapter, which contains an account of two invasions of Israel by the hosts of Syria, and of the utter defeat of the latter, and which therefore constitutes a break in the history of Elijah, which has occupied the historian up to the end of 1 Kings 19:1; and which is resumed with 1 Kings 21:1.—the insertion of this twentieth chapter in this place is apparently due to the compiler of these records, who seems to have adopted this arrangement as the more chronological. It is not absolutely certain, however, that we owe this disposition

AND, BEHOLD, THERE CAME A PROPHET UNTO AHAB KING OF ISRAEL,.... Supposed by the Jewish writers to be Micaiah the son of Imlah, 1 Kings 22:9 one of those perhaps that Obadiah hid in the cave, and now is sent out publicly on an errand to Ahab: SAYING, THUS SAITH THE LORD, HAST THOU SEEN ALL THIS GREAT MULTITUDE? considered what a vast number Benhadad's army consisted of: BEHOLD, I WILL DELIVER IT INTO THINE HAND THIS DAY; as great as it is: AND THOU SHALT KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD; and not Baal, who can save by few as well as by many, and from a great multitude....

4. KING AHAB: HIS WICKED REIGN AND END CHAPTER 20 Ahab's War with the Syrians and His Victory _ 1. The siege and relief of Samaria (1 Kings 20:1)_ 2. The victory at Aphek (1 Kings 20:22) 3. A prophet's symbolical action and his message (1 Kings 20:35) Two expeditions of Ben-hadad (son of the Sun) against Israel are recorded in this chapter. When Ben-hadad forced the war and insulted the King of Israel, Ahab prepared for the battle. Then a prophet came to Ahab, most likely one of those who had been hidden by Obadiah. He brought a message from the Lord. “Thus saith Jehovah, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou sha

AHAB'S VICTORY OVER BEN-HADAD. Chs. 20 and 22 come from another source. Elijah does not appear, the religious interest is less prominent, and Ahab is presented in a far less hostile light. He acts as a brave and chivalrous king, bold in the battle and merciful in victory. In the Book of Kings the kings of Israel are seldom represented in a hostile spirit when confronted by the common enemy, Syria (_cf._ 2 Kings 7). Syria, we learn, had become a formidable power. Ben-hadad's father had taken some of Omri's cities, and had compelled him to allow his merchants to have streets, _i.e._ bazaars, in Samaria (1 Kings 20:34). The power of Syria was such that the king could treat the Israelite sovereign as his despised vassal. When the Syrian army filled the valley, the Israelite forces appeared like two small flocks of goats ...

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos_. App-6. HAST. ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6....

God by a prophet promises the victory to Ahab. The Syrians are defeated (Not in Chronicles) 13. _there came a prophet_ The Hebrew verb is not the common word for -to come." The R.V. has therefore translated it here, and in 1Ki 20:22; 1 Kings 20:28, by CAME NEAR, as it is very frequently translated elsewhere in the A.V. This prophet must have been one of those who were saved at the time of Jezebel's attempt to destroy them all. Obadiah had saved a hundred, and no doubt others also escaped. When Elijah complained -I, even I only, am left," the reason was that, through the persecution, a stop had been put to all prophetic activity. In the present strait we need not doubt that any messenger of good tidings would be welcome. So that there is nothing strange about the prophet's visit. The national thoughts were occupied on other things than the slaughter of Jehovah's pro