1 Kings 20:7

_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....

The political institution of a Council of elders (Exodus 3:16, etc.), which had belonged to the undivided nation from the sojourn in Egypt downward, had therefore been continued among the ten tribes after their separation, and still held an important place in the system of Government. The Council was not merely called together when the king needed it, but held its regular sittings at the seat of government; and hence, “all the elders of the land” were now present in Samaria. On the “elders of towns,” see 1 Kings 21:8. Apparently the king had not thought it necessary to summon the Council when the first terms were announced to him, inasmuch as they touched only himself. The fresh demands affected the people at large, and it became necessary, or at any

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

THEN THE KING OF ISRAEL CALLED ALL THE ELDERS OF THE LAND,.... His poor sneaking spirit was a little aroused with the last message, and therefore called a council of the elders of the people upon it, which was a piece of wisdom in him: AND SAID, MARK, I PRAY YOU, AND SEE HOW THIS MAN SEEKETH MISCHIEF; nothing less than the entire ruin of the nation: FOR HE SENT UNTO ME FOR MY WIVES, AND FOR MY CHILDREN, AND FOR MY SILVER, AND FOR MY GOLD, AND I DENIED HIM NOT; in the sense he understood him, which was, that he was to be a vassal, and tributary to him, for the sake of holding these, which yet was very mean; but he wanted to have these in hand, and not them only, but the pillaging of all his subjects....

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 ...

_called all the elders of the land_ It was more than a gathering of the chief men of the city. Probably at such a crisis many of the principal persons who dwelt at other times away from the fortified cities would have gathered in Samaria for safety. It was with all these that Ahab conferred. Josephus represents the king as gathering τὸ πλῆθος, -the bulk of the people." This can hardly have been thought necessary, nor is it at all after the manner of Eastern monarchs. The treasures which were now threatened would be the possessions of the principal men, and to them the king would appeal for advice. It is however mentioned in 1 Kings 20:8 that all the people agreed to the decision that Ben-hadad's demand should be rejected. Ahab's sentence is left unconcluded, but the conclusion suggests itself without being spoken. It would have run somewhat thus, "But now he threatens to seize your treas...

II. THE GREAT MILITARY CRISIS 20:1-43 The account of Elijah's ministry during the reign of Ahab is interrupted by chapter 20 probably because the author is attempting to give a chronological treatment of that king's reign.[454] The policy of harassment had characterized Benhadad's dealing with Israel in the days of Baasha (cf. 1 Kings 15:18). Now the Aramean king was bent on total conquest of Israel. This crisis for Ahab and Israel unfolds in two stages: (1) the Aramean siege of Samaria (1 Kings 20:1-22); and (2) the battle of Aphek (1 Kings 20:23-43). [454] In some Septuagint manuscripts chapter 20 follows chapter 21 and thus comes at the conclusion of the Elijah material. Some scholars feel this

WAR BETWEEN ISRAEL AND SYRIA The Syrians besiege Samaria, but a sally being made from the city by the direction of a prophet, they are driven off, and the next year are beaten at Aphek. Ahab, having spared Benhadad the Syrian king, is rebuked by a prophet in the name of the Lord....