1 Kings 20:34

_AND BEN-HA'DAD SAID UNTO HIM, THE CITIES, WHICH MY FATHER TOOK FROM THY FATHER, I WILL RESTORE; AND THOU SHALT MAKE STREETS FOR THEE IN DAMASCUS, AS MY FATHER MADE IN SAMARIA. THEN SAID AHAB, I WILL SEND THEE AWAY WITH THIS COVENANT. SO HE MADE A COVENANT WITH HIM, AND SENT HIM AWAY._ Streets ... in Damascus - implying that a quarter of that city was to be assigned to Jews, with the free exercise of their religion and laws, under a judge of their own. The provision was designed for the benefit of trading and commercial colonies of Jews who might be resident there. 'This privilege of having streets in a foreign capital,' says Harmer, 3: pp. 489-492, (quoting from Knollis' 'History of the Turks'), 'gave them liberty to have not only houses, but in each an oven, a mill, a bagnio, weights and measures for wine, oil, and honey, if they thought fit, and also to judge causes among themselves,...

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 34. _THOU SHALT MAKE STREETS FOR THEE IN DAMASCUS_] It appears that it was customary for foreigners to have a place assigned to them, particularly in maritime towns, where they might deposit and vend their merchandise. This was the very origin of European settlements in Asiatic countries: "The people gave an _inch_ to those strangers; and in consequence they took an _ell_." Under the pretense of strengthening the place where they kept their wares, to prevent depredations, they built forts, and soon gave laws to their entertainers. In vain did the natives wish them away; they had got power, and would retain it; and at last subjected these countries to their own dominion. It was customary also, in the time of the crusades, to give those nations which were engaged in them _streets, churches_, and _post dues_, in those places which they assisted to conquer. The Genoese and Venetians...

Ben-hadad, secure of his life, suggests terms of peace as the price of his freedom. He will restore to Ahab the Israelite cities taken from Omri by his father, among which Ramoth Gilead was probably the most important 1 Kings 22:3; and he will allow Ahab the privilege of making for himself “streets,” or rather squares, in Damascus, a privilege which his own father had possessed with respect to Samaria. Commercial advantages, rather than any other, were probably sought by this arrangement. SO HE MADE A COVENANT WITH HIM ... - Ahab, without “inquiring of the Lord,” at once agreed to the terms offered; and, without even taking any security for their due observance, allowed the Syrian monarch to depart. Considered politically, the act was one of culpable carelessness and imprudence. Ben-hadad did not regard himself as bound by the

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 [BENHADAD] SAID UNTO HIM,.... The word Benhadad is not in the original text, and some, as Osiander and others, have thought they are the words of Ahab last spoken of; which seems most likely, who not only took Benhadad into his chariot, but in his great and superabundant kindness, though the conqueror, said to him what follows: THE CITIES WHICH MY FATHER TOOK FROM THY FATHER I WILL RESTORE; that is, those cities which Omri, the father of Ahab, had taken from the father of Benhadad; for as Omri was a prince of might and valour, 1 Kings 16:16, it is more probable that he took cities from the king of Syria, than that the king of Syria should take any from him, and which Ahab in his circumstances weakly promises to restore: AND THOU SHALL MAKE STREETS FOR THEE IN DAMASCUS, AS MY FATHER MADE IN SAMARIA; which confirms it that it is Ahab, and not Benha

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 ...

STREETS. broad ways, or bazaars. AS. according as. SAID. Figure of speech _Ellipsis_ (App-6) to be supplied by repetition from previous clause....

This verse is very singular from the omission of the names of both the speakers. It is clear enough from the sense, to whom each clause must be assigned, but the omissions are so unusual that one can hardly help suspecting some error in the text. The LXX. joins the two clauses as though they were spoken by the same person. _make streets for thee in Damascus_ This must signify that a portion of Damascus should be set apart as belonging to Israel, and that dwellings might be erected there for the use of such Israelites as should have need to go thither. That such a privileged quarter in a foreign city might be of great use for purposes of commerce we can readily imagine, and more so in those days and lands of caravans than in the western world. Probably -Lombard Street" in London was originally a privileged part of the city, where the wealthy Lombard merchants established themselves. _The...