1 Kings 20
1 Ben-hadad, not content with Ahab's homage, besieges Samaria.
13 By the direction of a prophet, the Syrians are slain.
22 As the prophet forewarned Ahab, the Syrians, trusting in the valleys, come against him in Aphek.
28 By the word of the prophet, and God's judgment, the Syrians are smitten again.
31 The Syrians submitting themselves, Ahab sends Ben-hadad away with a covenant.
35 The prophet, under the parable of a prisoner, making Ahab judge himself, denounces God's judgment against him.
Ben Hadad <01130> [A.M. 3103. B.C. 901. Ben-hadad.]
thirty-two <08147 07970> [Thirty and two.]
horses <05483> [and horses.]
besieged <06696> [besieged.]
[I am thine.]
search <02664> [and they shall search.]
valuables <04261> [pleasant. Heb. desirable.]
leaders <02205> [all the elders.]
Notice <03045> [Mark.]
looking ... trouble <07451 01245> [seeketh mischief.]
resist <04513> [denied him not. Heb. kept not back from him.]
gods <0430> [The gods.]
dirt <06083> [if the dust.]
<07272> [follow me. Heb. are at my feet.]
gear <02296> [Let not him, etc.]
This was no doubt a proverbial mode of expression. Jonathan renders it: "Let not him who girds himself, and goes down to battle, boast as one who has conquered and returned from it."
boast <01984> [harness.]
The word harness is an obsolete word for armour, derived from the French {harnois;} see Ex 13:18.
reply <01697> [message. Heb. word. drinking.]
quarters <05521> [pavilions. or, tents.]
That persons of regal dignity regaled themselves in this manner, we may learn from Dr. Chandler, who, when he went to visit the Aga of Suki, after his return from hawking, found him vexed and tired; and "a couch was prepared from him beneath a shed made against a cottage, and covered with green boughs to keep off the sun. He entered as we were standing by, and fell down on it to sleep, without taking any notice of us."
ready ... attack So .... ready ... attack <07760> [Set yourselves in array. And they set, etc. or, Place the engines. And they placed engines.]
visited <05066> [came. Heb. approached. Hast thou.]
know <03045> [and thou shalt.]
servants <05288> [young men. or, servants.]
launch <0631> [order. Heb. bind, or tie.]
232 <03967 08147> [two hundred.]
7,000 <0505 07651> [seven thousand.]
Ben Hadad <01130> [Ben-hadad.]
thirty-two <07970> [the thirty.]
The Syrians, the besiegers, had their directions from a drunken king, who gave orders over his cups, while he was drinking at noon. Drunkenness is a sin which is most detestable in all, but more so in a king than in a private individual, inasmuch as the greater weight a man's situation carries, whether from accumulated riches, family connections, hereditary authority, or invested command, so is the influence which his vices must have on those around him. Perhaps it may be said, from past experience, that drunkenness, which is a most heinous sin in the sight of God, may be charged on those who indulge only now and then in that which may eventually lead them into drunkenness; for they shut their eyes against the most palpable facts, and rather than give up the paltry gratification of a debauch, involve thousands by their example to positive harm. Benhadad's drunkenness was the forerunner of his fall. Belshazzar also, we read, drank wine with his princes, his wives, and his concubines, and praised the gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone: and in the same hour came forth the finger of a man's hand and wrote his doom on the plaster of the wall. Those who fancy themselves perfectly secure, and above the possibility of falling, are commonly nearest their destruction: there is always an Ahab read to take advantage of and improve the self-imposed imbecility.
struck <05221> [they slew.]
Syrians ........... Syria <0758> [the Syrians.]
escaped <04422> [escaped.]
Then <03318> [went out.]
prophet <05030> [the prophet.]
fortify <02388> [strengthen.]
spring <08666> [at the return.]
God .... god <0430> [Their gods.]
It was the general belief in the heathen world, that each district had its tutelary and protecting deity, who could do nothing out of his own province.
Dismiss ... kings <05493 04428> [Take the.]
lost <05307> [thou hast lost. Heb. was fallen. and surely.]
Aphek <0663> [Aphek.]
Supposed to be the Aphek near the river Adonis, between Heliopolis and Biblos, and probably the same place that Paul Lucas mentions in his Voyage to the Levant. It was swallowed up by an earthquake, and formed a lake about nine miles in circumference, in which he says there were several houses still to be seen entire, under the water.
[Aphik.]
fight Israel <04421 03478> [to fight against Israel. Heb. to the war with Israel.]
supplies <03557> [were all present. or, were victualled.]
two <08147> [like two.]
visited <05066> [there came.]
Syrians <0758> [Because.]
I will <05414> [therefore will.]
know <03045> [ye shall know.]
seven days On .... day ............... day <07651 03117> [seven days.]
100,000 <03967 0505> [an hundred thousand.]
remaining <03498> [the rest.]
wall <02346> [a wall.]
ran .................. ran <05127> [fled.]
inner room <02315> [into an inner chamber. or, from chamber to chamber. Heb. into a chamber within a chamber.]
advisers <05650> [his servants.]
kings ....... kind ................... king <04428 02617> [merciful kings.]
put <07760> [let us, I pray thee.]
Six of the citizens of Calais are reported to have acted nearly in the same manner, when they surrendered their city to Edward the Third, king of England, in 1346. See the whole story circumstantially related by Sir John Froissart, (who lived in that time,) with that simplicity and detail that give it every appearance of truth.
put sackcloth <08242 07760> [put sackcloth.]
spare <02421> [peradventure.]
servant <05650> [Thy servant.]
brother <0251> [he is my brother.]
<0582> [the men.]
pulled ... up <05927> [and he caused.]
cities <05892> [The cities.]
set up ......... did ............ treaty .......... made ... treaty <07760 03772 01285> [So he made a covenant.]
One of the conditions of this covenant, we learn, was, that Ahab should have "streets (chutzoth) in Damascus;" a proposal better relished by Ahab then understood by the generality of commentators. This, however, is well illustrated by Mr. Harmer, from William of Tyre, the great historian of the Crusades; from whom it appears that it was customary to give those nations which were engaged in them, churches, streets, and great jurisdiction therein, in those places which they assisted to conquer. The Genoese and Venetians had each a street in Acon, or Acre, in which they had their own jurisdiction, with liberty to have an oven, mill, baths, weights, and measures, etc.
members <01121> [of the sons.]
<01697> [in the word.]
Wound ..... man .... wound him <05221 0376> [Smite me.]
man .... Wound ..... man wounded ... severely <05221 0376> [Smite me.]
Wound ...... wounded ... severely <05221> [so that, etc. Heb. smiting and wounding.]
disguised <02664> [disguised.]
servant <05650> [Thy servant.]
life <05315> [thy life.]
<08254> [or else.]
<08254> [pay. Heb. weigh.]
<0369> [he was gone. Heb. he was not. So shall thy judgment be.]
removed ... bandage <05493 0666> [the ashes away.]
released <07971> [Because.]
life <05315> [thy life shall go.]
<03212> [went.]
