1 Kings 20:28

_AND THERE CAME A MAN OF GOD, AND SPAKE UNTO THE KING OF ISRAEL, AND SAID, THUS SAITH THE LORD, BECAUSE THE SYRIANS HAVE SAID, THE LORD IS GOD OF THE HILLS, BUT HE IS NOT GOD OF THE VALLEYS, THEREFORE WILL I DELIVER ALL THIS GREAT MULTITUDE INTO THINE HAND, AND YE SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

22-30 Those about Benhadad advised him to change his ground. They take it for granted that it was not Israel, but Israel's gods, that beat them; but they speak very ignorantly of Jehovah. They supposed that Israel had many gods, to whom they ascribed limited power within a certain district; thus vain were the Gentiles in their imaginations concerning God. The greatest wisdom in worldly concerns is often united with the most contemptible folly in the things of God....

Verse 28. _BECAUSE THE SYRIANS HAVE SAID_] God resents their blasphemy, and is determined to punish it. They shall now be discomfited in such a way as to show that God's power is every where, and that the multitude of a host is nothing against him....

A MAN OF GOD - Evidently not the prophet who had spoken to Ahab the year before 1 Kings 20:13, 1 Kings 20:22. He probably dwelt in the neighborhood of Samaria. Now that Ahab and his army had marched out into the Trans-Jordanic territory, another prophet, a native probably of that region, announced God’s will to them....

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 THERE CAME A MAN OF GOD,.... The same as before, 1 Kings 20:13 or had come p before the little army went out to meet the Syrians; though he might go to Ahab when encamped, for his encouragement: AND SPAKE UNTO THE KING OF ISRAEL, AND SAID, THUS SAITH THE LORD, BECAUSE THE SYRIANS HAVE SAID, THE LORD IS GOD OF THE HILLS, BUT HE IS NOT GOD OF THE VALLEYS; 1 Kings 20:23. THEREFORE WILL I DELIVER, ALL THIS GREAT MULTITUDE INTO THINE HAND; not for Ahab's sake would the Lord do this, who does not appear thankful to God for the former victory, nor to be reformed from his idolatry, and the better for it, but for the honour of his own name, which had been blasphemed by the Syrians: AND YE SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD; both of hills and valleys, the

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 ...

MAN OF GOD. a prophet. See App-49. YE SHALL KNOW. Septuagint reads "so shalt thou know". Compare 1 Kings 20:13 above....

_And there came a man of God_ R.V. AND A MAN OF GOD CAME NEAR. See on 1 Kings 20:13 above. This was probably a different person from the prophet of 1 Kings 20:13; 1 Kings 20:22. _and said_ This is the same word in the original with that rendered -and spake" just a few words before. It seems probable, as the verse makes equally good sense without it, that its repetition is due to an error of the scribe. Some versions do not represent it. _the Lord_is _God_ R.V. A GOD, twice in this verse, thus bringing it into accord with the alteration in 23....