And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours. Then the messengers came back and said, Thus speaks Ben-Hadad, saying, Indeed I have sent to you, saying, You shall deliver to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children. but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time. And they shall search your house and the houses of your servants. And it shall be that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they will put it in their hands and take it.
So the king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, notice, please, and see how this man seeks trouble. For he sent to me for my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold. And I did not deny him. And all the elders and all the people said to him, Do not listen or consent.
Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, Tell my lord the king, all that you sent forth to your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do. And the messengers departed and brought back word to him. Then Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, The gods do so to me, and more also, if enough dust is left of Samaria for a handful for each of the people who follow me. So the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.
And it happened when Ben-Hadad heard this message, as he and the kings were drinking at the command post, that he said to his servants, Get ready. And they got ready to attack the city. Suddenly a prophet approached Ahab, king of Israel, saying, Thus says the Lord, Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
So Ahab said, by whom? And he said, thus says the Lord, by the young leaders of the provinces. Then he said, who will set the battle in order? And he answered, you.
Then he mustered the young leaders of the provinces, and there were 232. And after them he mustered all the people, all the children of Israel, 7,000. So they went out at noon. Meanwhile, Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings helping him were getting drunk at the command post.
The young leaders of the provinces went out first, and Ben-Hadad sent out a patrol, and they told him, saying, Men are coming out of Samaria. So he said, If they have come out for peace, take them alive, and if they have come out for war, take them alive. Then these young leaders of the provinces went out of the city with the army which followed them, and each one killed his man. So the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them.
And Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, escaped on a horse with the cavalry. Then the king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter. And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, go, strengthen yourself, take note and see what you should do. For in the spring of the year, the king of Syria will come up against you.
Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore, they were stronger than we. But if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they. So do this thing.
Dismiss the kings each from his position and put captains in their places. And you shall muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. then we will fight against them in the plain. Surely we will be stronger than they. And he listened to their voice and did so.
So it was in the spring of the year that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside. Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel and said, ìThus says the Lord.î Because the Syrians have said, ìThe Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys.
Therefore, I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.î and they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day, the battle was joined, and the children of Israel killed 100,000 foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day. But the rest fled to Afak, into the city. Then a wall fell on 27,000 of the men who were left, and Ben-Hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner chamber.
Then his servants said to him, Look, now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please, let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life. So they wore sackcloth around their waists and put ropes around their heads and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant, Benadad, says, Please, let me live.
And he said, Is he still alive? He is my brother. Now the men were watching closely to see whether any sign of mercy would come from him. And they quickly grasped at this word and said, Your brother, Ben-Hadad.
So he said, Go, bring him. Then Ben-Hadad came out to him, and he had him come up into the chariot. So Ben-Hadad said to him, The cities which my father took from your father I will restore, and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria. Then Ahab said, I will send you away with this treaty.
So he made a treaty with him and sent him away. Now a certain man of the sons of the prophet said to his neighbor, by the word of the Lord, strike me, please. And the man refused to strike him. Then he said to him, because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, surely as soon as you depart from me, a lion shall kill you.
And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him. And he found another man, and said, Strike me, please. So the man struck him, inflicting a wound. Then the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the road, and disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes.
Now as the king passed by, he cried out to the king, and said, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle. And there a man came over, and brought a man to me, and said, Guard this man. If by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life. or else you shall pay a talent of silver. While your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.
Then the king of Israel said to him, so shall your judgment be. You yourself have decided it. And he hastened to take the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. Then he said to him, thus says the Lord. because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction.
Therefore, your life shall go for his life and your people for his people. So the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and displeased, and came to Samaria. Amen.
Introduction: Ahab's Beginning of the End
As I said, it's a lengthy chapter, but it all fits together, and it certainly demonstrates to us many good truths concerning God Almighty, but also concerning Ahab. And in essence, what we have here is the beginning of the end for Ahab. Here Ahab engages in rebellion against the living and true God after having received from God great grace, great mercy, and great kindness. In chapter 21 we will see how Ahab oppresses a man by the name of Naboth in order to gather or to take his field away from him.
And then in chapter 22 we see them go against the Syrians once again and Ahab ultimately dies in battle. So God is bringing judgment to bear upon Ahab. But as I said, the section breaks down, or the chapter breaks down into three broad sections. The first is the victory over the Syrians in verses 1 to 30, and there are essentially two battles here that we will consider.
Secondly, the rebellion of Ahab in verses 31 to 34, And then thirdly, the condemnation of Ahab in verses 35 to 43. But in the first place,
First Battle: Syrian Threat on Samaria
notice this first battle in chapter 20 at verses 1 to 22. We have the Syrian threat on Samaria. Remember that Samaria is the capital city of the Northern Kingdom. Most likely this Ben-Hadad is Ben-Hadad II, the son of the Ben-Hadad whom Asa made a treaty with in 1 Kings 15.
It's probably his son. I think that's how we ought to understand his reference to his father. later on in his discussion with Ahab. But note his demand here in verse 3. He says, your silver and your gold are mine, your loveliest wives and children are mine.
There's nothing indicated in the text as to what would have instigated this. It probably was just a means by which Ben-Hadad was trying to engage in kingdom building, trying to gain some more product or booty or spoil from Israel. And the amazing thing is the response of Ahab in verse 4. The king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours.
Now, he probably thought... ought to be interpreted in this sense. He thought he was going to become a vassal, a subject to this king, Ben-Hadad. So he offers him this, probably to try to maintain peace, probably trying to maintain open access, probably trying to be politically savvy. Yeah, all that I have is yours.
Let's maintain a relationship. Let's not make this bloody and messy. But then, Ben-Hadad escalates, and he wants even more at this point. Notice in verses 5 to 6.
Essentially, he says, or his demand becomes more extensive. Now it is whatever is pleasant in your eyes. It's intrusive because his troops are going to search your house and the houses of your servants, and it's going to be immediate. It's going to be tomorrow.
Now, thankfully, Ahab comes to himself and seeks counsel. He seeks advice in verse 7. And the advice he receives is good advice. They say, no, we're not going to do that.
If we give everything away to this man, then our kingdom is going to crumble. Now, probably in the first instance, when Ahab said yes, it was to maintain good politics and be expedient and to keep things good on the surface level with Ben-Hadad. He probably seeks out this council because he realizes it's one thing for me to promise to give away everything I have. But if I start promising to give away everything that everybody else has, I may be facing a coup in my own kingdom.
Right? That would probably be the reason for his seeking out this counsel. So the elders are wise in verse 8. It says, do not listen or consent.
And so he then sends a word back to Ben-Hadad. So Ben-Hadad now threatens. Notice in verse 10. He sent to him and said, the gods do so to me and more so also.
Same language that Jezebel used, by the way, in chapter 19 with reference to Elijah. But he says, The gods do so to me, and more also, if enough dust is left of Samaria, for a handful for each of the people who follow me. So if he would have just gotten his stuff, he would not have continued the attack. But now Ahab has stood up to him, and so Ben-Hadad is now turning up to he.
Ahab's retort there in verse 11 is probably akin to, don't count your chickens before they hatch. You don't know what's going to happen. He says, so the king of Israel answered and said, tell him, let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off. Probably, don't be so sure of yourself.
The dust hasn't quite settled yet. I don't know why Ahab would have said that. Doesn't seem like in the earlier part of the chapter, he was in a position to make such retorts against Ben-Hadad. But perhaps he's thinking, I might as well go for broke here.
Now, notice verse 12 is very important because it's going to serve us later when the battle takes place. Now, it happened when Ben-Hadad heard this message as he and the kings were drinking at the command post that he said to his servants, get ready, and they got ready to attack the city. Now, they were drinking alcohol. They weren't drinking water and iced tea and that sort of thing.
This indicates a certain degree of confidence, doesn't it? Ben-Hadad is getting hammered in his bunker, his command post, with his fellow military leaders. That demonstrates something of his sureness that he is going to wipe the floor with Ahab and with Israel. You see, Ben-Hadad has not reckoned with the God of Israel.
Ben-Hadad, like the other Syrians, have not reckoned with the true and the living God. They have this pagan conception of God, that you have gods of the hills, you've got gods of the plains, you've got gods of the storm, you've got all these different gods working together trying to accomplish a particular purpose. So, Ben-Hadad excludes the reality of the true and living God. That ultimately is what's going to come back and be the downfall of Ben-Hadad and the Syrians.
But
Unsolicited Grace and the Prophetic Word
notice the prophetic word here in verses 13 and 14. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? We have this military threat. Ben-Hadad and the Syrians come to Samaria, the very capital city of the northern kingdom, and essentially want everything that is valuable.
Ahab initially capitulates to this. Ahab then seeks the counsel of the elders. They say, do not capitulate. Now, Ben-Hadad has threatened military force.
I'm going to wipe the floor with you and Israel. And now, verse 13, suddenly a prophet approached Ahab, king of Israel. You see, I think we ought to appreciate before we move on here the unsolicited nature of this prophetic vision or this prophetic word. In other words, Ahab didn't seek this out.
Ahab wasn't asking God for assistance. Ahab did not seek the Lord. He didn't seek a priest. He didn't seek a prophet.
In fact, he is at odds with the sort of main prophet in Israel at that time, even Elijah. So the prophetic word here is unsolicited. A second thing we ought to appreciate with reference to this prophetic word, it works in favor of Ahab. In other words, Ahab is going to win against Ben-Hadad and Syria.
Later on, the prophet's going to come back and say, oh, by the way, they're going to return in the spring of next year, similar to what we find in David, when it was spring, the time of the year when kings go out to battle. And what's going to happen in that second battle with the Syrians? Ahab's going to win that as well. Brethren, this suddenly, a prophet approached Ahab, king of Israel, saying, and then announcing the fact that Israel would be victorious, needs to be appreciated in the larger context.
Ahab is a wretch. Ahab is a godless king. Ahab has taken the northern tribes, and he has driven them right into apostasy and idolatry. He has brought Baal worship into Israel.
He has married a chief proponent of Baal worship in the person of Jezebel, who is, you know, a monster in a dress. I don't know if she wore a dress. or a monster with, you know, mascara. But all of these things are indicative of the goodness and the kindness of God. It's unsolicited.
It's going to work in the favor of Ahab. He didn't ask for it. He didn't request it. And guess what?
He certainly didn't deserve it. Isn't that the essence of grace? We talk about amazing grace. We define grace as unmerited favor.
We can preach grace from these two battles of Ahab against Ben-Hadad, because he got a gift handed to him. They were outnumbered, they were outgunned, they were out, you know, military savvy, everything. They should have lost these battles. hands down. So the prophet comes and says, thus says the Lord, have you seen all this great multitude?
Behold, I will deliver it into your hand today. Now notice, and you shall know that I am the Lord. It's a curious fact. God is going to demonstrate his God-ness Yes, for the benefit of the Syrians who have terrible theology, but he's demonstrating his godhood to Ahab.
He is demonstrating his godhood to Israel. This is how bad they had become, and this is how bad things were in Israel. I am going to deliver it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am the Lord. I mean, a man that leads the northern tribes in ancient Israel certainly should know the Lord.
Again, there's that knowledge. Probably he had a cognizant knowledge of God. He knew who Yahweh was, but he didn't know the Lord in terms of experiential communion with God. But as bad as he was, he had failed to recognize that the living and the true God was over nature, was over battles, was over all things.
So now Ahab wants the particular details, and the prophet spells it out. So Ahab said, by whom? And he said, thus says the Lord, by the young leaders of the provinces. Now, some particular translations almost make it sound like these are military leaders.
In fact, this young leaders of the provinces almost seems to intimate that they had a military sort of a being. I don't think so. In fact, I think it's just the opposite. The power of God is going to be displayed in the fact that you're going to get a bunch of rank amateurs, guys that aren't skilled in military combat, guys that don't have savvy and ability, they're going to go out on the battlefield and they're going to mop up the Syrians.
That's going to be the display of the power of God. You see, if these were crack military leaders, we would maybe diminish the power of Yahweh. We would give it all, or all the credit, to these cracked military leaders. They're probably young men, perhaps leaders in some sense, but not military.
That's the point. What we are facing is a superior military power led by Ben-Hadad, the specific group being the Syrians, against Ahab and his army. And the numbers are completely stacked against them every step of the way. So then Ahab says, who will set the battle in order?
And he answered, you. Now notice specifically the Israelite victory. The troops are mustered in verse 15. The drunkenness of Ben-Hadad is going to play out in verse 18.
Notice verse 16, so they went out at noon. Meanwhile, Ben-Hadad and the 32 kings helping him were getting drunk at the command post. Not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier. I mean, they may have thought they were going to wipe up the floor with them without a problem, but still, it's noon, and they're getting drunk before they go out to battle.
Notice, the young leaders of the provinces went out first, and Ben-Hadad sent out a patrol, and they told him, saying, men are coming out of Samaria. Now note verse 18. This is the ramblings of a drunken man. This isn't the savvy of a military leader.
So he said, if they have come out for peace, take them alive. That's understandable. If a man surrenders, he waves the white flag, he comes out for peace, take him alive. I don't think that's illegitimate in military warfare.
This next clause is really puzzling, however. And if they have come out for war, take them alive? That makes absolutely no sense. I think we're supposed to hear the whiskey talking and not a cracked military leader.
In fact, Ian Proven says the plan benefits from Ben Haddad's drunkenness and apparent inability to utter coherent or sensible instructions. It is a tricky enterprise when an army is approaching with hostile intent to take people alive. You see, you wouldn't expect that as a troop under his command. If they come out and they're hostile, if they come out with war on their minds, if they come out waving weaponry rather than white flags, take them alive?
I would imagine some of the soldiers would have been like, what was that? You see, this drunkenness was used by God to defeat these armies. Not just the drunkenness, but every step of the way. Don't you appreciate the providence of God?
You see His wisdom, you see His counsel, you see His ability to ordain all these things for His glory. Now notice, very specifically, the victory in verses 19 to 21, they wipe them out. These young leaders of the provinces went out of the city with the army which followed them. Each one killed his man.
So the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. And Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, escaped on a horse with the cavalry. Then the king of Israel went out and attacked the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter." See, it was a decisive victory. There was no question whatsoever.
This was a demonstration to both Ahab and Israel that God Almighty is indeed the Lord. The prophetic word, as I referenced earlier, is predictive prophecy. It comes true not even before the chapter ends. He says, go strengthen yourself, take note, and see what you should do, for in the spring of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.
You see, this is one of those instances that we can sort of explain by Cromwell's maxim. He said, pray and keep your powder dry. And essentially the prophet is suggesting that very thing. God has delivered you in this battle against the Syrians.
But they're going to come back. Make sure that you're ready for them. Make sure that you're prepared for them. Make sure that you have everything in place.
Because you don't want to be caught unawares, and you certainly don't want it to be the case that they decimate and they wipe out the northern kingdom. Now note,
Second Battle: Bad Syrian Theology
with reference to the second battle, verses 23 to 25 highlight bad Syrian theology. And essentially, what they propose is wise on the one hand, but absolutely unwise on the other hand. The wisdom is seen in their strategy. Essentially what they say is we lost in the hills, but now we have them seriously outnumbered.
So if we fight them in the plains, we won't have that trouble again, right? If you just have a numbers game, you're going to be a whole lot better off out in the plains. If you're in the hills, Guys hide, they run, it's easier to evade. But when you're out in the plains, it's typically the guy who has the most amount of bodies that's going to win the opposing army.
So in terms of military strategy, that's a good idea. We just need to take them out on the plains, and there we will be able to wipe up the floor with that. But the reasoning is faulty, and here is their bad theology. Verse 23, their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we.
But if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they. So do this thing, dismiss the kings, each from his position, and put captains in their places. You shall muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain.
Surely we will be stronger than they." So you see the wisdom on the one hand, good strategy, take them out to the plain. But it flows from very bad theology, and they're undermining or undervaluing the God of Israel. And here again, Proven says, the king's officials argue that the failure of their gods in the previous encounter had to do partly with geography, because the Israelite gods are gods of the hills. The reader of Kings knows, of course, that this is not true.
We know God isn't the God of the hills. I mean, He is, but He's the God of the plains, too. We know that He's not just the God of the hills and the plains, but He's the God of the universe. Nothing happens apart from our God.
You see,
The Danger of Defective Theology
bad theology has consequences. Never let it be thought that, well, it really doesn't matter what I believe about God. It most certainly does matter what you believe about God. If you think like a Syrian, you are going to be a very unhappy camper.
Now, it's easy for us to sit on this side of the situation and say, oh, look at how bad those Syrians are in the way that they theologize. But you know, we're like that sometimes, too. Sometimes within the church, you have Christians that affirm the absolute sovereignty of God. He's over the universe.
He's over kings. He's over governments. But he's not really concerned about the various things in my little old life. Or you have the converse.
You have those sorts of people that think, well, you know, God's all about me. God only cares about my details. And they forget that He actually is over, you know, the presidents and the governors and the prime ministers, and that He's comprehensively God. You see, it's not just Syrians who sort of compartmentalize gods.
We can do the very same thing if we're not careful. We can do the very same thing to the neglect of the reality of the absolute sovereignty of God. He goes on to say, the reader of Kings knows, of course, that this is not true. The Lord is the only real God there is. and can be active both in the hills, 1 Kings 18, he certainly demonstrated supremacy in the hills on Mount Carmel, and anywhere else, 1 Kings 17.
How did he support Elijah? By the brook Caret that was through Ravens. How did he support Elijah when the brook Carith evaporated? He sent him up to Phoenicia and had a widow, a woman there, sustain him.
He says, in a world with no gods or many, the strategy would have had a fair chance of success. The world that the Aramaeans, the Syrians, actually inhabit, however, is not such a world, and military planning will not make it so. You see, they can't orchestrate how God is going to function, and they cannot compartmentalize the living and the true God according to their pagan pantheon. Now notice the specific disparity in terms of the troops.
At the end of verse 27, we're given a glimpse as to what's happening in these plains. It says, And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats while the Syrians filled the countryside. It's just kind of like what we saw at Mount Carmel.
Wasn't it every step of the way the deck was stacked against God? Every step of the way Elijah made it more difficult for God, so that when God came through, no one would be able to scratch their heads and say, I wonder if that was Baal or Yahweh. No, it was stacked in a particular way so that when that fire consumed the bull, it would be evident that Yahweh is indeed God. And the same thing is taking place here.
You've got Israel, like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside. Now, structurally, it's the same. The attack on Samaria and the attack on Aphek. You have the preparation for battle, you have the prophetic word, and then you have Israelite victory.
And the same sort of thing plays out here. Note the prophetic word, again in verse 28. Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel and said, Thus says the Lord. Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys.
Therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord. So the promise again that deliverance would come. More grace to a very undeserving man. Now, if you're God, and Ahab did what Ahab did, wouldn't you kill him?
I suppose I would. I would want to eradicate the earth of such a vile influence upon my covenant people. But not God. In fact, in chapter 21, we're going to see even more grace toward this wretched Ahab.
I mean, it really is the case. When someone says, oh, that Old Testament, it's so full of wrath and fury and judgment and anger. Take them to the life of Ahab. Take them to 1 Kings chapter 20 and 21 and show how God responds to a wretch like Ahab.
And then you can make the connection. God responds to wretches like that in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in this new covenant setting. So you need to go to God through His Son. Because grace is indeed amazing, and the Old Testament exhibits that to us.
It displays it vividly. It holds up to us, Behold your God, and watch Him in His goodness toward people. So the promise is there that deliverance would come through Yahweh. As well, it seems to be a corrective to the bad Syrian theology.
I mean, he doesn't say this outright, but I don't think it's unwise to read between the lines because the Syrians have said, the Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys. What's God going to do? He's going to devastate them in the valley. So that they know the God of Israel isn't some localized deity who has, you know, sort of control over the hills alone.
But again, the take-home message in all of this is that you shall know that I am the Lord. It's a demonstration to Ahab. It's almost as if we've come off Mount Carmel and Ahab continues to go in this trajectory of badness and evil and God continues to extend or continues to give these overtures of grace. It's almost as if he is saying to him, come to me, turn to me, know that I am God, know that I am your Lord, I am the one who's giving you these victories, bow to me.
Davis makes this observation. By the coming victory, Yahweh will both show goodness to Israel and get glory for himself. The latter is the primary concern in verse 28. Syrian stupidity has distorted the truth about Yahweh, casting him in the image of a humdrum pagan deity.
When Israel levels them on level ground, Yahweh shall have exposed their theological nonsense for what it is. After disaster number two, that's their loss in the second battle, the Syrians will have an opportunity to see the truth, if they will. He says, however, the man of God stresses the impact the prophecy and the victory should have upon Israel. And you shall know that I am Yahweh.
Frequently, it is God's professed covenant people who most need convinced of Yahweh's power and omnipotence. We may stand within Israel's camp, but keep lapsing into Syrian modes of thinking. I think that has application for today. I really do.
I don't think it's a stretch to jump from here into the New Testament and say, yeah, on the one hand, we affirm the God of heaven and earth. We affirm the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, but our doctrine of God is not biblical. Our doctrine of God is messed up. We see him over the big things, but doesn't care about the little things.
We see him over the little things, but we don't think he cares or governs or has ability over the big things. We have defective views concerning God. We have views that are similar to Mormonism. We have a God who is becoming, a God who is progressing.
We have a God who is changing. We have a God who is riddled with passions. We have a whole host of defective theology within the camp of the professing people of God. I think Davis is right.
Frequently, it is God's professed covenant people who most need convinced of Yahweh's power and omnipotence. We may stand within Israel's camp, but keep lapsing into Syrian modes of thinking. We need to be aware of that, and we need to be mindful of that, and we need to realize there is no greater truth in our Bibles than who God is. It's unfortunate that we come to the Bible with us in mind.
It's unfortunate that we come to the Bible with ourselves first. We need to come to the Bible to see who God is. How does Jesus define eternal life in John 17 3? And this is eternal life. that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." You see, it's the knowledge of God that is the best thing any creature can ever possess.
We ought not to roll our eyes or we ought not to think, wow, that's just highfalutin stuff for the seminarians. We need this stuff in our houses. We need this stuff in our bedrooms and in our kitchens and in our workplaces. If we don't have a proper conception of God, If we stand within the camp of Israel, but we lapse into Syrian theology, we are no better than these fools saying, well, their God is the God of the hills.
If we take them out into the plains or in the valleys, we will certainly win the battle. Brethren, that kind of defective thought has gotten the church into a whole host of problems, and we need to think better about our God. That's our purpose, that's our function, that's our role in life, is to think properly about God.
Israel's Second Victory and the Jericho Connection
The Israelite victory, verses 29 to 30, the defeat of the 100,000 in verse 29, and then note the defeat of the 27,000 in verse 30a. It's an intrigue, well, verse 30, then Ben-Hadad flees. But look at verse 30. The rest fled to Aphek into the city, then a wall fell on 27,000 of the men who were left.
Now, they were opposite each other for seven days. It was on the seventh day that they engaged this battle. What does seventh day and walls falling on enemy forces seem to conjure in your mind? If you think Jericho, you're thinking properly.
Note the similarities. I wasn't having these high meditations today. Proven really sparked my thoughts on this whole situation. But note the connection.
We have this scenario where this wall falls on the enemies of God. Again, it suggests to our minds Jericho in Joshua chapter 6. What happens after Jericho in Joshua chapter 6? Well, of course, Joshua chapter 7, if you were thinking that, good for you.
But in Joshua chapter 7, you have the troubler of Israel named Achan. And what did Achan do? Achan took things that were under the ban. Under the ban is the Hebrew word heron, and it means something that's devoted, and it connotates devoted to destruction.
And so these things were under the ban, devoted to destruction, Achan takes them. He is then the Troubler of Israel. He is called out, and then he is ultimately executed. So on the heels of this victory at Jericho, where a wall falls on an enemy army, then the Troubler of Israel emerges and does foolish things.
He troubles Israel. What was Elijah's identifier of Ahab back in chapter 18? Well, it was after Ahab called Elijah the Troubler of Israel. And then Elijah said, I ain't the one troubling Israel.
I'm giving you the Jim Butler paraphrase. It's you. You're the Troubler of Israel. So you see, on the heels of this great victory, we move now, secondly,
Ahab's Rebellion: Freeing Ben-Hadad
by way of a large concern, to the rebellion of Ahab. You see, the Troubler of Israel takes something under the ban and frees it. I don't mean freezes it, but he frees it. He lets it go.
You see, this is the rebellion of Ahab. God gift-wrapped Ben-Hadad twice. two times handed this enemy wretch that was content to go to Samaria and then to Aphek with a view of obliterating Israel. God hands this man over to him two times and Ahab lets him go. You see, the point of the chapter is actually verses 35 to 43.
I think Davis is right. Everything up to that point is introductory. I mentioned that this is the beginning of the end for Ahab. The real power in chapter 20 comes at the end of the chapter.
This is all sort of preliminary, and it's setting the stage of the context. Note, in the rebellion of Ahab, the Syrian plan, simple. We heard the kings of Israel are merciful. Let's go cast ourselves upon their mercy, and perhaps they won't kill us.
That's what they do, and they're successful. Notice, verse 32. Your servant Ben-Hadad says, please let me live. And he said, is he still alive?
He is my brother. Ahab, what are you thinking? In what possible world does this make any sense whatsoever? The man shows up at your house asking for your stuff, you capitulate, and then elders have the good horse sense to tell you, no, don't capitulate to him.
You beat him twice on the field of battle, and now you've actually got the gall to call him brother? I don't think he means brother the way an Israelite was his brother, but a brother king. He is being politically expedient in this particular instance. More than likely, he wants Syria on good terms so that it's a buffer between Israel and Assyria, this invading empire that is growing by leaps and bounds.
So he is functioning here as a politician. So they come, they cast themselves ultimately on his mercy, and he says, he is my brother. Now note verse 33, the men were watching closely to see whether any sign of mercy would come from him, and they quickly grasped at this word and said, yeah, your brother Ben-Hadad. This is exactly what they wanted.
They want Ben-Hadad alive. They want to remain alive. So now notice, he says, come on up into my chariot and we'll have a summit. This was a bit of a Switzerland.
Is that where they, the neutral or is it Sweden? The neutral place where they gather together and exchange watches and chocolate and talk about how they're going to have peace and all that sort of thing. That's what's happening. Benidad came out to him and he had him come up into the chariot.
So they barter a bit. And essentially, Benidad says, whatever my father took, we'll give back to you. And by the way, you can have bazaars or markets in Damascus. Ahab says, good.
Sounds great. So they cut a treaty together. This is his problem. He wasn't supposed to let him live.
And you say, well, that was just compassion, wasn't it? That was just kindness. Ahab knew the rules for holy war. Ahab knew as well the example of Saul, another connection that is certainly one that we ought to appreciate in the passage.
What was Saul told with reference to Agag and the Amalekites? He was told to utterly destroy them. And remember, he comes back from battle and Samuel says, so how'd it go? Oh, it went great.
We did exactly what God commanded. And Samuel says, well, why am I hearing these sheep and why am I hearing these oxen? You didn't do what you were supposed to do. What happens at the end of chapter 15 is that Samuel hacks Agag to pieces because Agag was supposed to die.
But not only does he know the mandate for holy war, not only does he have the example of Saul, he knows how Ben-Hadad and the Syrians have treated Israel. I mean, the king of Israel has a vested interest in protecting the people of Israel. You don't let this guy go. You don't let, you know, the arch enemy of your subject people leave.
This was absolutely faulty. And
Condemnation of Ahab
that brings us finally to the condemnation of Ahab. Now, if we just stopped at verse 34, it really does make sense, doesn't it? I mean, the story makes sense. You got battles, they win, treaty, everybody goes home, everybody's happy, everybody lives happy, right?
What's the point of verses 35 to 43? It's the point. That's the point of it. Davis says, verse 35 opens the whole thing up again, and in a rather bizarre fashion.
Whenever you have lions killing people in the Old Testament, it's just good stuff. But it kind of makes you wonder, why is that there? Davis goes on. Let me exaggerate only a bit.
In 1 Kings 20, verses 1 to 34 are a long introduction to the main section of the story. Verses 35 to 43. He says, and what does one meet in this climactic section? Another prophet.
Interesting, Ahab cannot get free of the word of God. God is relentless in chasing this man down with the truth of his word. So notice this prophetic parable. Now, here I'm going to ask you to think 2 Samuel 12.
What's happening with this prophet is a 2 Samuel 12 scenario. Remember in 2 Samuel 11, David commits adultery and murder. And then David lives as if there was no issue. He just lives and he's moving and he's having his being.
And then a prophet by the name of Nathan comes along. And Nathan tells David a story. And in that story, a poor man has a little ewe lamb and a rich man comes and essentially takes it away to barbecue it for his friends. David gets outraged and David gets incensed and in verses five to six, he climbs up the wall and he says, this is terrible.
And in verse seven, Nathan says, thou art the man. This is Ahab's thou art the man situation. That's what's happening in this section. But no, the instruction by the prophet, now some, the Jews suppose that this was Micaiah.
He's gonna appear in chapter 22 and I have no reason to doubt it is. Because Ahab was familiar with him. Ahab didn't like him. Ahab didn't want to hear from him.
And we might surmise it's because of this particular section. At any rate, so the instruction by the prophet in verse 35. A certain man of the sons of the prophet said to his neighbor, by the word of the Lord. Now, his neighbor was probably a prophet.
Prophets tended to hang out together. Whether he was or not, I would submit that he was. But he says to his neighbor, now note, by the word of the Lord, strike me, please. It's interesting, isn't it?
And the man refused to strike him. Why do you think he refused to strike him? I don't think it was diabolical. I doubt he said, well, if God commanded it, I'm not going to do it.
It was probably because of compassion. Probably kind of kindness. Probably kind of, you know, I'm not going to hit you. What's the point?
We do what God says. Compassion, feelings, kindness, our own thoughts, that's not supposed to drive us. It's the written word of God. He goes on, then he said to him, because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, surely as soon as you depart from me, a lion shall kill you.
And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him. Again, pretty awkward, pretty odd, pretty interesting, but here's the point. If God is going to judge a prophet for not listening to the prophetic word, He is certainly going to judge the king. In other words, Ahab is going to fall prey to this prophetic word just like this man who didn't strike the prophet when he was told to.
That's the point. In other words, verses 35 and 36 are not some odd addition to the narrative in Kings. What we see consistently throughout the narrative of Kings is the primacy of God's Word. And that's underscored, and it's highlighted, and it's reiterated here right for us vis-a-vis a lion killing a man who disobeyed the Lord God Most High.
Now notice, very specifically, the prophetic parable in verses 37 to 39. He found another man and said, strike me, please. So the man struck him, inflicting a wound. That guy just said, OK, whatever you want, here you go.
But it was for this purpose. Then the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. Now as the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and there a man came over and brought a man to me and said, Guard this man. If by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.
Now, a common soldier would never have a talent of silver. So the idea is that you, as the soldier, tasked with guarding this particular prisoner, if he gets away, you're going to die. Everybody gets that, right? It's pretty obvious what the particular emphasis is.
Now note, verse 40, while your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. What a pathetic response or excuse. While your servant was busy here or there, he was gone. Look, your job was to protect this guy upon the threat of death.
That's really important. You shouldn't just be bebopping from here and there, and he was gone. Now, here's the 2 Samuel 12, 5 and 6, David thing. Notice, then the king of Israel said to him, so shall your judgment be, you yourself have decided it.
You see, that's what Nathan did with David. He reeled him in. He told him that little story about the Ulam, and David got all upset. Well, that's what's happening here.
Ahab says, you've signed your own death warrant. You knew the terms, you knew the reality, you knew the situation, you were supposed to guard the guy, and you were doing thus and thus, and off he went. So, you know, whatever is going to happen is going to happen. Now here comes Nathan the prophet.
Well, not Nathan, but you see the parallels. He hastened to take the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. Then he said to him, thus says the Lord, because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life and your people for his people. That's the point.
That's the narrative. That's what we're supposed to take from all of this. Ahab continues to reject the Word of God. Ahab continues to reject the grace of God.
Ahab continues to resist the grace of God. And as a result, Ahab is going to be rejected by the God of grace. That's the purpose of this parable of the prophet to this particular man. Davis says Ahab begins by sparing his enemy and will end by destroying his people.
And then verse 43, the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased and came to Samaria. This seems to characterize Ahab if you look down at 21.4. Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased because of the word which Naboth, the Jezreelite, had spoken to him. For he had said, I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.
You see, sullen displeasure on the part of a rebel. He doesn't get his way, and he goes away, and he's sullen, and he's displeased. Matthew Henry said, he was not truly penitent or seeking to undo what he had done amiss, but enraged at the prophet, exasperated against God. So
Grace Exhausted, Judgment Confirmed
the point of the passage ultimately is God's condemnation of Ahab, but we need to appreciate it came after many overtures of God's grace. Now, I realize that we don't have in here a Matthew 11, 28. Jesus doesn't pop up on the plains of Aphek and say, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. But you see, when Ahab witnesses, not only here's the prophetic word, but witnesses it come true, he needs to be led to a consideration of the living and true God.
He should cast himself upon the mercy of God. No one can come to this and say, wow, how in the world could God judge Ahab for such a thing? We never have a record or a command where he was supposed to leave Ben-Hadad alive. Again, Ben-Hadad was an arch enemy against Israel.
If Ahab was truly concerned at least one bit about the nation of Israel, he should have killed this enemy combatant. He should have killed this enemy king. He knew the demands of holy war. He knew the bad example of King Saul in 1 Samuel 15.
You cannot come to this chapter and say, well, you know, that's pretty severe that God's going to cut him off. Do you see what he did prior to this? Do you see the grace? Do you see the mercy?
Do you see the kindness? Do you see the goodness? You see, when men ultimately are cut off by God and brought to the point of judgment, it is typically after many overtures of grace, many times where they've heard the gospel, many times where they've been pleaded with, many times where they've been pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and then ultimately the day of God's judgment comes, and that is what we see in this particular chapter.
Application
Well, in conclusion, as I said, the beginning of the end for Ahab, Davis comments, because Ahab's spineless moderation, both Ahab and Israel stand under doom. That's in chapter 20. Because of his heartless oppression, his household will be exterminated. We'll see that in chapter 21.
And because of his thick-headed obtuseness, his life is forfeit. No other king received such a literary battering from the sacred writer, but no other king the likes of Ahab had come along. So in other words, he is a pretty bad and nasty character. Proven makes again another just wonderful observation here.
You remember how Ahab dies? He's in disguise, isn't he? He's disguised on the field of battle. Proven says the people's death will be a long time coming yet, not till 2 Kings 17.
Ahab's death is closer, and it is strangely prefigured in the manner in which he hears about it. A prophet has disguised himself as a soldier fresh from fighting the Arameans in order to trick the king. In 22, 29 and following, Ahab will disguise himself as a soldier when going out to fight the Arameans in order to foil a prophet and his God. His strategy will fail as spectacularly as the prophet's has succeeded.
For God is the prime mover behind all that happens to mortal beings and disguises only succeed when God ordains it so. That's very, very perceptive. And then, as I mentioned earlier, the demonstration in this chapter of true theology. I think Davis nails it in terms of an expositional presentation.
Essentially, what he has in the first section is the marvelous grace of God. That's what happens. Ahab is a recipient and a benefactor of the marvelous grace of God. In the second section, he calls it the display of the power of God.
He ain't just the God of the hills, but he's the God of the hills and the plains, yea over all things. And then that last section being on the judgment of God. Ahab has rejected, Ahab has rebelled, Ahab is ultimately cut off by God in his justice.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for this, your Word. Help us to have ears to hear and hearts to receive and just that desire to obey what you call us to, Father. Help us to learn from the death of this prophet by lion how seriously you take obedience to your Word.
May it never be the case that we adjudge disobedience to be the right course because of some feeling or some idea of compassion. Help us, God, to be faithful and obedient to you. Help us to receive the Word with thanksgiving. Help us to guard our hearts against the sorts of things that we see in this chapter in terms of bad Syrian theology and bad conduct on the part of Israel's king.
Go with us and watch over us and grant us grace to glorify and honor you. We thank you for the gospel, we thank you for your grace extended to us, your grace applied by the Holy Spirit, your grace truly delighted in. It is indeed amazing. And we praise you for it, in Jesus' name.
Amen.