XX. This chapter, evidently drawn from a different source, is interposed in the middle of the record of the prophetic career of Elijah. The history evidently belongs to the latter years of Ahab’s reign, probably some time after the events of the previous chapter. The existence of the schools of the... [ Continue Reading ]
BEN-HADAD. — This is the inherited title of the Syrian kings. (See Amos 1:4; Jeremiah 49:27.) From the allusion in 1 Kings 20:34 it appears that this Ben-hadad was the son of a king who had been victorious against Omri — possibly pushing still further the advantage gained in the time of Baasha. It i... [ Continue Reading ]
WHATSOEVER IS PLEASANT. — The demand, which is virtually for the plunder of Samaria, probably neither expects nor desires acceptance, and is therefore a refusal of all but unconditional surrender. It is notable that in the last extremity Ahab falls back on an exceptional appeal to the patriotism of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DUST OF SAMARIA — when razed to the ground. The phrase probably implies a threat of destruction, as well as a boast of overwhelming strength. Josephus (_Ant._ viii. 14, 2) has a curious explanation — that, if each of the Syrians took only a handful of dust, they could raise a mound against the c... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE CAME A PROPHET. — The appearance of this unknown prophet evidently shows (see also 1 Kings 22:6) that Ahab’s enmity to the prophetic order was over since the great day at Carmel, and that the schools of the prophets were forming themselves again — perhaps not free from connection with the idol... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO SHALL ORDER THE BATTLE? — The marginal reading seems right, “Who shall give battle?” “Who shall begin the fray?”... [ Continue Reading ]
THE YOUNG MEN — _i.e.,_ the attendants or armour-bearers of the territorial chiefs, no doubt picked men and well armed. The whole garrison is stated as seven thousand — enough, perhaps, to man the walls, but wholly unfit to take the field. The sally is made at noon, when (as Josephus relates) the be... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SLEW... — The attack of this handful of men, supported by a sally of the whole garrison, is not unlike the slaughter of the Philistine garrison and host in the days of Saul (1 Samuel 14), or the still earlier rout of the army of Midian by the night attack of Gideon (Judges 7:16). Probably,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RETURN OF THE YEAR. — The early part of the next year, after the winter was over, “when kings go out to battle” (2 Samuel 11:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
GODS OF THE HILLS. — The idea of tutelary gods, whose strength was greatest on their own soil, is naturally common in polytheistic religions, which, by the very multiplication of gods, imply limitation of the power of each. Now the greater part of the territory where Jehovah was worshipped was a hil... [ Continue Reading ]
APHEK. — The name, signifying simply a “fortress,” as applied to several different places. There are two places which suit well enough with the Aphek of this passage and 2 Kings 13:17, as being a battlefield in the plain country between Israel and Syria. One is the Aphek of 1 Samuel 29:1, evidently... [ Continue Reading ]
WERE ALL PRESENT. — The marginal reading “were victualled,” or, perhaps, more generally, “were supplied,” with all things necessary for war, seems correct. The comparatively small number of the Israelite forces, even after the great victory of the year before, appears to show that, previous to the s... [ Continue Reading ]
(28)A MAN OF GOD — apparently not the same as before. We see from 1 Kings 20:35 that the prophetic order was now numerous. The vindication of the majesty of God before the Syrians, as well as before Israel — like the more celebrated case of the rebuke of the blasphemy of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:16)... [ Continue Reading ]
A WALL — properly, _the wall of the city,_ whether falling by earthquake, or in the storming of the place, by Israel. The numbers in the text are very large, as in many other instances. It is possible (see Introduction) that there may be corruption, although the same numbers are found in the ancient... [ Continue Reading ]
ROPES UPON OUR HEADS — like “the ropes round the necks” of the burghers of Calais, in the days of Edward III. The envoys offer themselves as naked, helpless criminals, to sue for mercy.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE MEN. — There has been much discussion of the meaning here, and some proposals of slight emendations of the reading. But the general sense seems accurately rendered by our version. “The men watched” (“as for augury,” says the LXX.), “and hasted, and caught up” (so as to make it sure) “what fe... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE STREETS — properly, _squares,_ or _quarters of a city._ This concession implies a virtual acknowledgment of supremacy; for the right to have certain quarters for residence, for trade, perhaps even for garrison, in the capital of a king, belongs only to one who has sovereignty over him. Hence it... [ Continue Reading ]
A CERTAIN MAN — according to Josephus, Micaiah, the son of Imlah. This tradition, or conjecture, agrees well with the subsequent narrative in 1 Kings 22. THE SONS OF THE PROPHETS. — This phrase, constantly recurring in the history of Elijah and Elisha, first appears here. But the thing designated is... [ Continue Reading ]
A LION SHALL SLAY THEE. — It is obvious to compare the example of 1 Kings 13:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
ASHES UPON HIS FACE. — It should be a “bandage over his head,” to cover his face, and to accord with the appearance of a wounded soldier. Unless the wound had some symbolic significance in application to Ahab or Israel, it is difficult to see what purpose it could serve.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY SERVANT. — The parable is, of course, designed (like those of 2 Samuel 12:1; 2 Samuel 14:5) to make Ahab condemn himself. In Ahab, however, it excites not compunction, but characteristic sullenness of displeasure, like that of 1 Kings 21:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN WHOM I APPOINTED — properly, _a man under my curse._ The rash action of Ahab, like the deliberate disobedience of Saul (1 Samuel 15), may have been due partly to compassion, partly to weakness. In either case it had no right to stand unauthorised between God’s judgment and him on whom it was p... [ Continue Reading ]