27 Hearing these words, Ahab, in great grief, put haircloth on his flesh and went without food, sleeping in haircloth, and going about quietly.
Then the king, hearing what the woman said, took his robes in his hands, violently parting them; and, while he was walking on the wall, the people, looking, saw that under his robe he had haircloth on his flesh.
Then Jacob, giving signs of grief, put on haircloth, and went on weeping for his son day after day.
So David made prayer to God for the child; and he took no food day after day, and went in and, stretching himself out on the earth, was there all night. And the chief men of his house got up and went to his side to make him get up from the earth, but he would not; and he would not take food with them.
Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah, with their clothing parted as a sign of grief, and gave him an account of what the Rab-shakeh had said.
And in that day the Lord, the Lord of armies, was looking for weeping, and cries of sorrow, cutting off of the hair, and putting on the clothing of grief:
What am I to say? seeing that it is he who has done it: all my time of sleeping I am turning from side to side without rest.
Have I given orders for such a day as this? a day for keeping yourselves from pleasure? is it only a question of the bent head, of putting on haircloth, and being seated in the dust? is this what seems to you a holy day, well-pleasing to the Lord? Is not this the holy day for which I have given orders: to let loose those who have wrongly been made prisoners, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the crushed go free, and every yoke be broken? Is it not to give your bread to those in need, and to let the poor who have no resting-place come into your house? to put a robe on the unclothed one when you see him, and not to keep your eyes shut for fear of seeing his flesh? Then will light be shining on you like the morning, and your wounds will quickly be well: and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will come after you.
Put haircloth round you and give yourselves to sorrow, you priests; give cries of grief, you servants of the altar: come in, and, clothed in haircloth, let the night go past, you servants of my God: for the meal offering and the drink offering have been kept back from the house of your God.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Kings 21
Commentary on 1 Kings 21 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 21
Ahab is still the unhappy subject of the sacred history; from the great affairs of his camp and kingdom this chapter leads us into his garden, and gives us an account of some ill things (and ill indeed they proved to him) relating to his domestic affairs.
1Ki 21:1-4
Here is,
1Ki 21:5-16
Nothing but mischief is to be expected when Jezebel enters into the story-that cursed woman, 2 Ki. 9:34.
1Ki 21:17-29
In these verses we may observe,