33 Now the men observed diligently, and hurried to catch whether it were his mind; and they said, Your brother Ben Hadad. Then he said, Go you, bring him. Then Ben Hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.
34 [Ben Hadad] said to him, The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you shall make streets for you in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. I, [said Ahab], will let you go with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and let him go.
35 A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by the word of Yahweh, Please strike me. The man refused to strike him.
36 Then said he to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, behold, as soon as you are departed from me, a lion shall kill you. As soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and killed him.
37 Then he found another man, and said, Please strike me. The man struck him, smiting and wounding him.
38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes.
39 As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall your life be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.
40 As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. The king of Israel said to him, So shall your judgment be; yourself have decided it.
41 He hurried, and took the headband away from his eyes; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.
42 He said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Kings 20
Commentary on 1 Kings 20 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 20
This chapter is the history of a war between Ben-hadad king of Syria and Ahab king of Israel, in which Ahab was, once and again, victorious. We read nothing of Elijah or Elishain all this story; Jezebel's rage, it is probable, had abated, and the persecution of the prophets began to cool, which gleam of peace Elijah improved. He appeared not at court, but, being told how many thousands of good people there were in Israel more than he thought of, employed himself, as we may suppose, in founding religious houses, schools, or colleges of prophets, in several parts of the country, to be nurseries of religion, that they might help to reform the nation when the throne and court would not be reformed. While he was thus busied, God favoured the nation with the successes we here read of, which were the more remarkable because obtained against Ben-hadad king of Syria, whose successor, Hazael, was ordained to be a scourge to Israel. They must shortly suffer by the Syrians, and yet now triumphed over them, that, if possible, they might be led to repentance by the goodness of God. Here is,
1Ki 20:1-11
Here is,
1Ki 20:12-21
The treaty between the besiegers and the besieged being broken off abruptly, we have here an account of the battle that ensued immediately.
1Ki 20:22-30
We have here an account of another successful campaign which Ahab, by divine aid, made against the Syrians, in which he gave them a greater defeat than in the former. Strange! Ahab idolatrous and yet victorious, a persecutor and yet a conqueror! God has wise and holy ends in suffering wicked men to prosper, and glorifies his own name thereby.
1Ki 20:31-43
Here is an account of what followed upon the victory which Israel obtained over the Syrians.