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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
20:1-43 Ahab's War against Syria. After Elijah's recruitment of Elisha, one expects to read of his anointing of Hazael as king over Syria and of Jehu as king over Israel (cf. 19:15-18). Instead, one finds a story in which a different prophet appears and in which a different king of Syria (Ben-hadad) loses a war with Ahab. The message of ch. 19 is thus underlined: Elijah is not the only servant of God left, in spite of what he has claimed (19:10, 14); and the quiet ways of God must take their course for a while before the events spoken of in 19:17 come to pass.
20:2-9 Your silver and your gold are mine (v. 3). The king of Syria seeks to reduce Israel to vassal status. His terms are at first accepted by Ahab (v. 4), only to be later rejected (vv. 5-9) after a revision in v. 6 that apparently makes them more extensive (whatever pleases you), intrusive (search your house), and immediate (tomorrow).
20:11 Let not him who straps on his armor boast himself as he who takes it off. It is unwise to boast about one's exploits before the battle has even begun; there is time enough for boasting when the battle is won.
20:14-18 Israel is to fight according to a divine battle plan that does not make much human sense (as in the case of Gideon in Judges 7). The servants (plural of Hb. na‘ar) are to initiate the battle--young men unschooled in military matters, like the young and untrained David, who is also called a na‘ar in 1 Sam. 17:33 (a "youth," in contrast to the warrior Goliath). The plan benefits from the fact that Ben-hadad is drunk as the Israelites approach (1 Kings 20:12, 16) and seemingly incapable of uttering coherent or sensible instructions (v. 18).
20:22-25 strengthen yourself. Both sides prepare for a continuation of warfare in the following spring, a characteristic time for kings to go to war (cf. 2 Sam. 11:1). The Syrian preparations involve a reorganization of the empire (1 Kings 20:24)--the replacement of the vassal kings with commanders directly accountable to Ben-hadad. The royal advisers seek greater military cohesion through a greater degree of political control. The Syrians also raise a new army to replace the one destroyed in v. 21, planning next time to fight the Israelites in the plain (v. 23), where horse and chariot will give them an advantage that is all too easily lost in the hills (cf. Judg. 1:19). But the theological reasoning that underlies their military strategy is faulty. The Lord is the only real God there is, and he is active both in the hills (1 Kings 18) and anywhere else he chooses (ch. 17).
20:26 Aphek. The second battle is considerably farther north (see Josh. 19:30; Judg. 1:31) than the first, which took place near Samaria (1 Kings 20:1). In another incident, Ahab and Ben-hadad II conspired together against the Assyrian threat from the east. A text from the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (ruled ) describes a battle he fought at Qarqar on the Orontes River in . A coalition was apparently able to halt any Assyrian advance. According to the text, "Ahab the Israelite" provided "
20:28 god of the hills . . . not a god of the valleys. God intends to refute the Syrians' false notions about him.
20:31 Sackcloth signifies penitence (cf. 21:27), and ropes signify submissiveness (prisoners may be led by them).
20:34 cities . . . bazaars. The Israelite cities taken by the Syrians in an earlier period are returned, and Ahab is given trading privileges in Damascus.
20:35 sons of the prophets. A reference to members of prophetic communities (see note on 2 Kings 2:3; also 2 Kings 4:1; 6:1).
20:36 a lion shall strike you down. The scene is reminiscent of ch. 13, where the same point is made (even prophets must obey the divine word) and the same punishment is pronounced. The implication is also clear in both passages: if disobedient prophets cannot escape God's judgment, then disobedient kings certainly will not.
20:39-42 Your servant went out into the midst of the battle. In a scene reminiscent of 2 Sam. 12:1-4, the prophet tricks the king into pronouncing judgment on himself, albeit with a disguise whose purpose is obscure. (Did Ahab know this man, or did prophets have distinctive facial garb?) He tells a story that implies that because he failed in his guard duties, he is liable to pay a fine of a talent of silver (an impossible amount for an ordinary soldier to raise) or suffer death. Ahab agrees on the justice of the death sentence and thus provides the prophet with the opportunity to declare Ahab's life forfeit because Ahab has released an enemy king whom God had devoted to destruction (cf. 1 Sam. 15:17-24). Ahab's death is in fact strangely prefigured in the very manner in which God's word about it comes to him. A prophet has disguised himself as a soldier fresh from fighting the Syrians, in order to catch the king. In 1 Kings 22:29-40 Ahab will disguise himself as a soldier when going out to fight the Syrians, in order to trap a prophet (and his God). His strategy will fail as spectacularly as this prophet's has succeeded.
