1 Kings 20:32

_SO THEY GIRDED SACKCLOTH ON THEIR LOINS, AND PUT ROPES ON THEIR HEADS, AND CAME TO THE KING OF ISRAEL, AND SAID, THY SERVANT BEN-HA'DAD SAITH, I PRAY THEE, LET ME LIVE. AND HE SAID, IS HE YET ALIVE? HE IS MY BROTHER._ They girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel. It was considered an act of deep humility and submission for a vanquished foe to approach the conqueror with a sword suspended from his neck. A modern instance, which occurred on the storming of Bagdad by the Turks, 1638, is related in Thevenot's 'Travels,' Part 1:, p. 289. In the case of a defeated army, or remnant of an army, having resolved to beg for quarter the vanquished general sought an interview with the vizier or prime minister, by whom he was introduced to the king, and in token of his throwing himself and his remaining soldiers upon the victor's clemency, he app...

31-43 This encouragement sinners have to repent and humble themselves before God; Have we not heard, that the God of Israel is a merciful God? Have we not found him so? That is gospel repentance, which flows from an apprehension of the mercy of God, in Christ; there is forgiveness with him. What a change is here! The most haughty in prosperity often are most abject in adversity; an evil spirit will thus affect a man in both these conditions. There are those on whom, like Ahab, success is ill bestowed; they know not how to serve either God or their generation, or even their own true interests with their prosperity: Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. The prophet designed to reprove Ahab by a parable. If a good prophet were punished for sparing his friend and God's when God said, Smite, of much sorer punishment should a wicked king be thought worthy, w...

Verse 32. _THY SERVANT BEN-HADAD_] See the vicissitude of human affairs! A little before he was the haughtiest of all tyrants, and Ahab calls him his _lord_; now, so much is he humbled, that he will be glad to be reputed Ahab's _slave_!...

Ben-hadad is now as humble as Ahab had been a year before 1 Kings 20:9. He professes himself the mere “slave” of his conqueror....

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

SO THEY GIRDED SACKCLOTH ON THEIR LOINS, AND PUT ROPES ON THEIR HEADS,.... Signifying they came to surrender themselves to him as his captives and prisoners, and he might do with them as seemed good to him, hang them up if he pleased, for which they brought ropes with them, as a token that they deserved it, see Isaiah 20:2, AND CAME TO THE KING OF ISRAEL, AND SAID, THY SERVANT BENHADAD SAITH, I PRAY THEE LET ME LIVE: he that a little while ago insolently demanded his wives, and children, and silver, and gold, as his property, now is his humble servant, and begs, not for his crown and kingdom, but for his life: AND HE SAID, IS HE YET ALIVE? HE IS MY BROTHER; which was intimating at once, that not only they might expect he would spare his life, who seemed to be so glad that he was alive, but that he would show him more favour, having a great affection for h

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 ...

ME. my soul. Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13. BROTHER: i.e.. brother-king....

Is _he yet alive? he_is _my brother_ Ahab could not know whether Ben-hadad had perished under the falling wall, but as soon as he hears that he is safe, his sympathy is stirred for one of his own rank, and he uses the kingly form of address in speaking of him -my brother". Cf. above on 1 Kings 9:13....