1 Kings 20:35

_AND A CERTAIN MAN OF THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS SAID UNTO HIS NEIGHBOUR IN THE WORD OF THE LORD, SMITE ME, I PRAY THEE. AND THE MAN REFUSED TO SMITE HIM._ Smite me. This prophet is supposed (1 Kings 20:8) to have been Micaiah. The refusal of his neighbour to smite the prophet was manifestly wrong, as it was a withholding of necessary aid to a prophet in the discharge of a duty to which he had been called by God, and it was severely punished, as a beacon to warn others (see the notes at 1 Kings 13:2). In general, it may be remarked, that the very actions and words of a prophet during the prophetical ecstasy were symbolical. In the case under notice, the refusal of the man who was asked to smite the excited prophet was morally good, on the supposition that the thing had not been commanded by t

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 35. _IN THE WORD OF THE LORD_] By the word or command of the Lord; that is, God has commanded thee to smite me. Refusing to do it, this man forfeited his life, as we are informed in the next verse. By this emblematical action he intended to inform Ahab that, as the man forfeited his life who refused to smite him when he had the Lord's command to do it; so he (Ahab) had forfeited his life, because he did not smite Ben-hadad when he had him in his power....

THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS - The expression occurs here for the first time. It signifies (marginal references), the schools or colleges of prophets which existed in several of the Israelite, and probably of the Jewish, towns, where young men were regularly educated for the prophetical office. These “schools” make their first appearance under Samuel 1 Samuel 19:20. There is no distinct evidence that they continued later than the time of Elisha; but it is on the whole most probable that the institution survived the captivity, and that the bulk of the “prophets,” whose works have come down to us belonged to them. Amos Amos 7:14 seems to speak as if his were an exceptional case. SAID UNTO HIS NEIGHBOR - Rather, “to his friend” or “companion

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 A CERTAIN MAN OF THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS,.... Which the Jews take to be Micaiah, and so Josephus u, which is probable; the same that had been with Ahab more than once; and, whoever he was, it is not unlikely that he was the same, since Ahab knew him when his disguise was off, 1 Kings 20:41, SAID UNTO HIS NEIGHBOUR, IN THE WORD OF THE LORD, SMITE ME, I PRAY THEE; told his neighbour, that by the command of God he was ordered to bid him smite him, so as to wound him: AND THE MAN REFUSED TO SMITE HIM; being his neighbour, and perhaps a fellow prophet, and having an affection for him. u Antiqu. l. 8. c. 14. sect, 5....

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 DEATH FORETOLD FOR SPARING BENHADAD. This section reminds us of 1 Samuel 15, Saul's sparing of Agag. It does not appear to be part of the foregoing narrative, but may be of great antiquity. The sin of Ahab, like that of Saul, seems commendable in our eyes, but to the Hebrews it was the most deadly of all the violation of the _herem_ or ban (pp. 99, 114), the sparing of a person devoted to Yahweh (1 Kings 20:42). The sons of the prophets are mentioned here for the first time in the Bible (1 Kings 20:35)....

MAN. Hebrew. _ish_. Josephus identifies him with Micaiah (1 Kings 22:8)....

A prophetic message rebuking Ahab because he had let Ben-hadad go (Not in Chronicles) 35. _a certain man of the sons of the prophets_ It is clear from what follows in the history (2 Kings 2) about the taking of Elijah into heaven, that in spite of Jezebel's persecution, the prophets and their schools were not put down, but still flourished in various places. Josephus represents this -son of the prophets" as Micaiah, spoken of in 1 Kings 22:8, and says that it was in consequence of this message about Ben-hadad's deliverance that Ahab put him in prison. (_Ant._viii. 14. 5.) _said unto his neighbour in_[R.V. FELLOW BY] _the word of the Lord_ The man to whom he made the request was probably one who like himself dwelt in one of the prophetic societies, and he ought therefore to have