1 Kings 20:6

_AND THE KING OF ISRAEL ANSWERED AND SAID, MY LORD, O KING, ACCORDING TO THY SAYING, I AM THINE, AND ALL THAT I HAVE._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-11 Benhadad sent Ahab a very insolent demand. Ahab sent a very disgraceful submission; sin brings men into such straits, by putting them out of the Divine protection. If God do not rule us, our enemies shall: guilt dispirits men, and makes them cowards. Ahab became desperate. Men will part with their most pleasant things, those they most love, to save their lives; yet they lose their souls rather than part with any pleasure or interest to prevent it. Here is one of the wisest sayings that ever Ahab spake, and it is a good lesson to all. It is folly to boast of any day to come, since we know not what it may bring forth. Apply it to our spiritual conflicts. Peter fell by self-confidence. Happy is the man who is never off his watch....

Verse 1 Kings 20:6. _WHATSOEVER IS PLEASANT IN THINE EYES_] It is not easy to discern in what this _second_ requisition differed from the _first_; for surely his _silver, gold, wives_, and _children_, were among his _most pleasant_ or _desirable things_. _Jarchi_ supposes that it was the _book of the law of the Lord_ which Ben-hadad meant, and of which he intended to deprive Israel. It is however evident that Ben-hadad meant to _sack the whole city_, and after having taken the _royal treasures_ and the _wives_ and _children_ of the king, to deliver up the whole to be _pillaged_ by his soldiers....

Ben-hadad, disappointed by Ahab’s consent to an indignity which he had thought no monarch could submit to, proceeds to put a fresh construction on his former demands....

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

YET I WILL SEND MY SERVANTS UNTO THEE TOMORROW ABOUT THIS TIME,.... He gave him twenty four hours to consider of it: AND THEY SHALL SEARCH THINE HOUSE, AND THE HOUSES OF THY SERVANTS; the royal palace, and the houses of the noblemen, and even of every of his subjects in Samaria: AND IT SHALL BE, THAT WHATSOEVER IS PLEASANT (OR DESIRABLE) IN THINE EYES, THEY SHALL PUT IT IN, THEIR HAND, AND TAKE IT AWAY; not be content with what should be given, but search for more; and if any in particular was more desirable to the possessor than anything else, that should be sure to be taken away; which was vastly insolent and aggravating....

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 ...

SEARCH: as from the top: i.e. ransack....

_to-morrow about this time_ The imperious victor (as he thought himself) would suffer no delay. His orders were to be carried out at once....