1 Kings 20:1-21
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.]
