John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 17:1



INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 17



This chapter begins with a prophecy of Elijah, that there should be want of rain for some years to come, and he is directed to go first to the brook Cherith, where he should be fed by ravens, 1Ki 17:1, and afterwards he is sent to a widow at Zarephath, where he, she, and her son, were supported for a considerable time with a handful of meal, and a little oil in a cruse miraculously increased, 1Ki 17:8, whose son falling sick and dying, he restored to life, 1Ki 17:17.



Ver. 1. And Elijah the Tishbite, [who] was of the inhabitants of Gilead,.... Which belonged partly to the Reubenites and Gadites, and partly to the half-tribe of Manasseh on the other side Jordan, where this prophet dwelt; but why he is called the Tishbite is not easy to say; what Kimchi observes seems right, that he was at first of a city called Toshab, and afterward's dwelt at Gilead; which city perhaps is the same with Thisbe, in the tribe of Naphtali, the native place of Tobit,



"Who in the time of Enemessar king of the Assyrians was led captive out of Thisbe, which is at the right hand of that city, which is called properly Nephthali in Galilee above Aser.'' (Tobit 1:2)



and, if so, is an instance of a prophet, even the prince of prophets, as Abarbinel calls him, coming out of Galilee, contrary to the suggestions of the Jews, Joh 7:52. R. Elias Levita {l} observes, that after the affair of Gibeah an order was given to smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead, Jud 21:8, and that as it is reasonable to suppose some might escape, he thinks Elijah was one of them; and that when this began to be inhabited again, they that returned were called the inhabitants of Gilead, of whom Elijah was, who lived in those times, being, as the Jews suppose, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron, see Jud 20:28, but that he should be Elijah, and live to the times of Ahab, is beyond belief. By Origen {m} he is said to be in Thesbon of Gilead; and by Epiphanius {n} to be of Thesbis, of the land of the Arabians, Gilead bordering upon it: the same



said unto Ahab; who perhaps had been with him before, and reproved him for idolatry, warned him of the evil consequences of it, but to no purpose, and therefore now threatened in a very solemn manner:



as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand; he swears by the living God, in whose presence he was, and to whom he appeals as the omniscient God, whose minister and prophet he was, and in whose name he came and spoke, and to whom he prayed; for standing was a prayer gesture, and sometimes put for it, See Gill on "Mt 6:5" and it was at the prayer of Elijah that rain was withheld, as follows, see Jas 5:17



there shall not be dew nor rain these years; for some years to come, even three years and a half:



but according to my word; in prayer, or as he should predict, in the name of the Lord.



{l} In Tishbi, p. 275. Vid. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 11. 1. & David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 235. 4. {m} Comment. in Matth. p. 224. Ed. Huet. {n} De Prophet. Vit. c. 6.





1 Kings 17:2



Ver. 2. And the word of the Lord came to him,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum; this shows that by word, in the former verse, he means the word of the Lord by him:



saying; as follows.





1 Kings 17:3



Ver. 3. Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward,.... From the place where he was, being in danger from Ahab and Jezebel, provoked by his reproofs, threatenings, and prophecies:



and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan; in some wood or cave near it, or among the reeds and rushes that grew on the banks of it; and Bochart {o} takes it to be the same with the river Kanah, on the borders of Ephraim, which has its name from reeds, Jos 16:8, and Cherith by anticipation, from the prophet's being fed there; and Adrichomius {p} places this brook in the tribe of Ephraim; though Fuller {q} in the half tribe of Manasseh, beyond Jordan; but Bunting says {r} it runs from Mount Ephraim between Bethel and Jericho, eight miles from Jerusalem towards the north, and so, passing along towards the east, falls into Jordan.



{o} Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2. c. 13. col. 216. {p} Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 26. {q} Pisgah-Sight, &c. B. 2. c. 3. p. 97. {r} Travels, &c. p. 205.





1 Kings 17:4



Ver. 4. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook,.... The water of that was to be his drink:



and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there; whereby he should be provided with food to eat; by whom are meant not angels in the form of ravens, as some; nor, as others, Arabians, for there were none of that people near him; nor, as others, merchants, the word being sometimes used of them, for this was not a likely method for privacy; nor, as others, the inhabitants of a place called Oreb, or Orbo; so the Arabic version calls them Orabimi; but we read of no such place near Jordan; the Jews {s} speak of a city of this name near Bethshean, from whence these Orebim came; and some of them {t} think they had their name from Oreb, in Jud 7:25 it seems better to interpret them of ravens, as we do, these creatures delighting to be in solitary places, in valleys, and by brooks; nor need it be any objection that they were unclean creatures by the law, since Elijah did not feed upon them, but was fed by them; and supposing any uncleanness by touch, the ceremonial law might be dispensed with in an extraordinary case, as it sometimes was; though it is very remarkable that such creatures should be employed in this way, which are birds of prey, seize on anything they can, live on carrion, and neglect their own young, and yet feed a prophet of the Lord; which shows the power and providence of God in it. Something like this Jerom {u} relates, of a raven bringing a whole loaf of bread, and laying it before the saints, Paulus and Antonius.



{s} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 33. fol. 29. 1. {t} T. Bab. Cholin. fol. 5. 1. Menasseh Ben Israel Conciliat. in Lev. quaest. 3. {u} In Vita Paul Erem. fol. 82. C.





1 Kings 17:5



Ver. 5. So he went, and did according to the word of the Lord,.... Took his journey eastward, and hid himself in the place directed to:



for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan,

See Gill on "1Ki 17:3".





1 Kings 17:6



Ver. 6. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening,.... For his breakfast and supper, the two principal meals then in use; and as there were several employed, they could bring a sufficiency in a short time for each meal; and these provisions were ready prepared, the bread made and baked, and the flesh boiled, broiled, or roasted; from whence they had it need not be inquired after; the Jews say {w} they were fetched from Ahab's table, and others from Jehoshaphat's, and others, as probable as any, from the tables of the 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal:



and he drank of the brook; at his meals.



{w} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 113. 1. Cholin, fol. 5. 1. Tanchuma apud Abarbinel in loc.





1 Kings 17:7



Ver. 7. And it came to pass after a while,.... Or "at the end of days" {x}, perhaps a year, which sometimes is the sense of this phrase, see

Ex 13:10,



that the brook dried up; through the excessive heat, and for want of supplies from the springs and fountains with which it was fed, and for the following reason:



because there had been no rain in the land; from the time Elijah prayed and prophesied; of this drought mention is made in profane history: Menander, a Phoenician writer, speaks {y} of a drought in the times of Ithobalus (the same with Ethbaal the father of Jezebel), which lasted a whole year, and upon prayer being made there were thunder, &c.



{x} Mymy Uqm "in, vel a, fine dierum", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. {y} Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 8. c. 13. sect. 2.





1 Kings 17:8



Ver. 8. And the word of the Lord came unto him,.... As before, after he had been a year at the brook, and that was dried up:



saying; as follows.





1 Kings 17:9



Ver. 9. Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there,.... This might be a trial of the prophet's faith, to be sent to dwell in a place belonging to the Zidonians, among whom Jezebel had an interest, being the daughter of their king, 1Ki 16:31, the place is so called, to distinguish it from another Zarephath, Ob 1:20, Kimchi interprets it, near to Zidon, yet not as belonging to it, but of the land of Israel; though it rather seems to be a Gentile city; it is called, in Lu 4:26 Sarepta of Sidon; and also by Pliny {z}; according to Josephus {a}, it was not far either from Sidon or Tyre, and lay between them; it was three quarters of a mile from Sidon; and so Mr. Maundrell {b} speaks of it as in the way from Sidon to Tyre, and which is now called Sarphan; of which he says, the place shown us for this city consisted only of a few houses, on the tops of the mountains, within about half a mile from the sea; but it is more probable the principal part of the city stood below in the space between the hills and the sea, there being ruins still to be seen in that place of a considerable extent; and a traveller into those parts many years before him says {c}, that he saw nothing of any building on the shore, but some small houses in the place where formerly the town of Sarepta did stand; and Bunting says {d}, there are at this time but eight houses in all the town, though by the ruins it seems to have been in times past a very fair city; and another {e} observes, that it is about three miles from Berytus:



behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee; not that this was declared to the woman, or that she had any orders from the Lord to support him; but that he had determined it in his mind, and would take care in his providence that he should be supplied by her: this was another trial of the prophet's faith, that he should be sent to a poor widow woman for his support, and she a Gentile; but he that had been so long fed by ravens, could have no reason to doubt of his being provided for in this way.



{z} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19. {a} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 8. c. 13. sect. 2.) {b} Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 48. {c} Rauwolff's Travels, par. 3. ch. 22. p. 326. {d} Ut supra. (Travels, &c. p. 205.) {e} Baumgarten. Peregrinatio, l. 3. c. 9. p. 126.





1 Kings 17:10



Ver. 10. So he arose, and went to Zarephath,.... Which, according to Bunting {f}, was one hundred miles from the brook Cherith:



and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering sticks: perhaps out of an hedge just without the city this shows her to be a poor woman, who had no other way of coming at fuel but this, and no servant to fetch it for her: Bunting tells us, that now before the gate of the city there is showed a certain chapel, where they say Elias first spoke with the widow:



and he called to her, and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink; being thirsty through travelling, and supposing this to be the woman he was directed to, made trial of her this way; some render it, "in this vessel" {g}, which he had with him, and made use of at the brook Cherith.



{f} Ut supra, (Travels, &c.) p. 203. {g} ylkb "in hoc vase", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





1 Kings 17:11



Ver. 11. And as she was going to fetch it,.... For she made no difficulty of granting his request, but immediately set out to fetch him some water from the city, or some spring close by, or her own house; being very ready to do an hospitable act to a stranger, and especially to a good man, and a prophet, as she might perceive by his habit he was, as it seems by what follows:



and said, bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand; to eat before he drank; this he said still further to try her whether she was the person that was to sustain him, as well as in order to lead on to more discourse with her.





1 Kings 17:12



Ver. 12. And she said, as the Lord thy God liveth,.... Which shows her to be a good woman, swearing by the living God, and him only, and that she took Elijah to be a good man, and a prophet of the Lord:



I have not a cake; greater or less, not a morsel of bread in the house:



but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; these separate and unmixed, and not made into a cake, and dressed as she intended to do with them:



and, behold, I am gathering two sticks; or a few, which would be sufficient to bake such a quantity as her meal and oil would make; she speaks by the figure "meiosis", which expresses less than what is meant, as Ben Melech observes:



that I may go in and dress it for me, and my son, that we may eat it, and die; having nothing more left, and no expectation of any elsewhere, and the famine strong in the land; so that she could look for nothing but death after this was eaten.





1 Kings 17:13



Ver. 13. And Elijah said unto her, fear not,.... That she and her son should die, it would not be the case:



go and do as thou hast said: mix her meal and her oil, and make a cake thereof, and bake it:



but make thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son: which was not said from a selfish spirit of the prophet, but to try the faith of the woman; and besides, as Abarbinel observes, the prophet was not only hungry and thirsty through his journey, and so required to be served first, but it was for the sake of his sustenance, that the Lord would command a blessing on the meal and oil; wherefore, if she dressed it for herself and her son first, there would have been none left for the divine blessing to descend upon.





1 Kings 17:14



Ver. 14. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel,.... Whom the prophet perceived she had knowledge of, and faith in:



the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail; that is, the meal in the barrel, and the oil in the cruse, by an hypallage, or change of words:



until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth; which was assuring her the rain would be sent, and that the Lord, who had the sole command of it, would send it; and that, until that time it should be sent, she would have no lack of provisions, and therefore need not scruple dressing for the prophet first.





1 Kings 17:15



Ver. 15. And she went, and did according to the saying of Elijah,..... Made a cake for him first, and brought it to him, which showed great faith in the word of the Lord by him:



and she, and he, and her house, did eat; many days, a year at least, if not two years, see 1Ki 17:7 the widow, the prophet, and her family, lived upon the meal and oil so long; we read but of one son, but she might have more.





1 Kings 17:16



Ver. 16. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. There being a continual increase and supply of both, through the mighty power of God working a continued miracle; just as the loaves and fishes were increased while the disciples were eating, Mt 14:19.





1 Kings 17:17



Ver. 17. And it came to pass after these things,.... Not only after the conversation that passed between the prophet, and the widow, but after they had lived together many days, a year or years, upon the miraculous provision made for them:



that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; that is, the son of the widow woman in whose house the prophet dwelt; the Jews say {h} this woman was the mother of Jonah, and that he was this son of her's:



and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him: it was a sickness unto death, it issued in it; for that he was really dead appears from all that follows.



{h} Pirke Eliezer, c. 33.





1 Kings 17:18



Ver. 18. And she said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, O thou man of God!.... As if she should say, it would have been well for me if I had never seen thy face, or had any conversation with thee; this she said rashly, and in her passion and agony, being extremely affected with the death of her child, which made her forget and overlook all the benefits she had received through the prophet's being with her:



art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? to punish her for her former sins, she was conscious she had been guilty of; for she supposed, that as it was by his prayer that the drought and famine were come upon the land, so it was in the same way that her son's death came, namely, through the prayer of the prophet.





1 Kings 17:19



Ver. 19. And he said unto her, give me thy son, and he took him out of her bosom,.... Where she had laid him, mourning over him; from thence the prophet took him with her leave:



and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed; an upper room, which was his bedchamber; hither he carried him, that he might be alone, and use the greater freedom both in his expressions and gestures.





1 Kings 17:20



Ver. 20. And he cried unto the Lord,.... Or prayed unto him, as the Targum, with great vehemence and importunity:



and said, O Lord, my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow, with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? he pleads his interest in the Lord, and makes use of it as an argument with him to hear his prayer; he observes the character and condition of the woman, a widow, such as the Lord has a compassionate regard for; and he urges the kindness of her to him, with whom he had sojourned so long; and seems to represent the case as an additional evil or affliction to him, as well as to the widow.





1 Kings 17:21



Ver. 21. And he stretched himself upon the child three times,.... Or "measured himself" {i} on it, or put himself into a posture in some respects equal to the child; putting his mouth on its mouth, his eyes on its eyes, his hands on its hands, as Elisha afterwards did in a like case, perhaps in imitation of him, 2Ki 4:34, thereby showing his great affection to the child, and in order to increase it the more, and to make him the more fervent and importunate in his prayers for its life; and hereby signifying also that he would if he could infuse his breath and life into it, and warm it with his own heat:



and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again: which shows that the child was really dead; and a proof this that the soul dies not with the body, but exists in a separate state without it.



{i} ddmtyw "et mensus est se", Pagninus, Montanus; "admensus se", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





1 Kings 17:22



Ver. 22. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah,.... In prayer, and answered it:



and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived; this is the first instance of anyone being raised from the dead; this Satan has imitated; hence the many fabulous stories with the Heathens of persons being raised to life after death {k}.



{k} Vid. Huet. Alnetan. Quaest. l. 2. c. 12. sect. 30.





1 Kings 17:23



Ver. 23. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house,.... Being come to life, he took it off of the bed in his bedchamber, and brought it down to the lower part of the house, where the woman was:



and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, see, thy son liveth; which no doubt was to her great surprise, and was a wonderful instance of divine power and goodness, and to which the apostle may have respect, Heb 11:35, Bunting {l} says, the inhabitants of this place now take upon them to show the chamber wherein the prophet Elias lived, when he raised the widow's child to life.



{l} Travels, &c. p. 205.





1 Kings 17:24



Ver. 24. And the woman said to Elijah, now by this I know that thou art a man of God,.... She took him to be one at his first coming to her; she was in a great measure confirmed in it by the miracle of the barrel of meal and cruse of oil; but upon the death of her son, which she was ready to impute to the prophet, she was staggered at it; but now, by his resurrection from the dead, was fully assured of it:



and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth; she had known before that what he said concerning the meal and oil not failing was true; but now she was more and more convinced and assured that the God, whose prophet he was, was the true God, and that the religion he professed was the true religion, and he a true prophet, and that all his prophecies would be exactly fulfilled.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 18:1



INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 18



In this chapter Elijah has an order from the Lord to show himself to Ahab, who, going first, and meeting with a servant of his, Obadiah, charges him to tell his master where he was, that he might meet him, 1Ki 18:1, and, upon meeting him, desires that all Israel, and the prophets of Baal, might be convened, which was accordingly done, 1Ki 18:17, when he expostulated with the people of Israel for their idolatry, mocked and confounded the prophets of Baal, and gave the strongest proofs, to the conviction of the people, that Jehovah is the true God, 1Ki 18:21, on which all the prophets of Baal were slain, 1Ki 18:40, and rain in great abundance was given at the prayer of the prophet, 1Ki 18:41.



Ver. 1. And it came to pass after many days,.... When two years and more were gone from the time the drought and famine began; or rather from the time of the prophets departure to the brook Cherith, which might be six months after the famine began:



that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year; of his absence from Ahab:



saying, go show thyself unto Ahab; whom he had not seen so long, and who had been seeking for him, but to no purpose:



and I will send rain upon the earth; the term of three years and six months being almost expired, see Jas 5:17.





1 Kings 18:2



Ver. 2. And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab,.... Which showed his cheerful and ready obedience to the will of God, and his great courage and magnanimity, to face a king enraged against him, and that sought his life:



and there was a sore famine in Samaria; the metropolis of the kingdom, where Ahab kept his court, and therefore must be sensible of it, and bore the greater indignation against the prophet who had foretold it.





1 Kings 18:3



Ver. 3. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house,.... Perhaps his steward: the Jews {m} take him to be Obadiah the prophet, who wrote the small prophecy that goes by his name:



(now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly:) who, though he did not go up to Jerusalem to worship, which ceremonial service was dispensed with in him, yet he did not worship the calves, nor Baal, but served the Lord in a spiritual manner.



{m} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 39. 2.





1 Kings 18:4



Ver. 4. For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord,.... Or slew them, as the Targum; put them to death some way or another; such as were brought up in the schools of the prophets, trained up in religious exercises, and instructed others therein:



that Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave; fifty in one cave and fifty in another; for there were large caves in the land of Israel capable of holding such a number, and many more, see 1Sa 22:1 and fed them with bread and water; which in this time of famine were very acceptable; though these may be put for all the necessaries of life.





1 Kings 18:5



Ver. 5. And Ahab said unto Obadiah, go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks,.... To observe in what condition they were, and the places adjoining to them, the meadows and valleys:



peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive; particularly those which belonged to the king's stables, to find provisions for which it was found difficult:



that we lose not all the beasts; many of them, doubtless, were lost through the drought already, and there was great danger of the rest, and so, in time, of there being none to procreate and preserve their species, and to prevent which Ahab proposed to take this method.





1 Kings 18:6



Ver. 6. So they divided the land between them, to pass through it,.... And one took one part, and the other the other part:



Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself; Ahab not caring to trust any but Obadiah, who he knew was a faithful man, lest they should be bribed by those that had grass not to discover it.





1 Kings 18:7



Ver. 7. And as Obadiah was in the way,.... In his district, making his observations:



behold, Elijah met him: where is not said; but he was, no doubt, upon the road from Zarephath to Samaria:



and he knew him that is, Obadiah knew Elijah, having seen him at Ahab's court before he absconded:



and fell on his face, and said, art thou that my lord Elijah? thus doing him honour and reverence both by words and gesture, as being an extraordinary prophet of the Lord.





1 Kings 18:8



Ver. 8. And he answered him, I am,.... He did not desire to be concealed, his orders were to show and make himself known to Ahab, and Obadiah was one of his domestic servants:



go tell thy lord, behold, Elijah is here; in such a place, ready to face him at any time. Elijah, by calling Ahab the lord of Obadiah, as he tacitly reproves him for calling him lord, shows reverence to Ahab as a king, and yet that he was fearless of him, as he was the prophet and ambassador of the Lord of hosts to him.





1 Kings 18:9



Ver. 9. And he said, what have I sinned,.... Or in what have I offended God or his prophet, that revenge should be taken on me in this way:



that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me? for that he supposed would be the consequence of it, as he argues and more plainly expresses his sense in the following words.





1 Kings 18:10



Ver. 10. As the Lord thy God liveth,.... Which is the form of an oath he thought fit to make, to ascertain the truth of what he was about to say:



there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee; which is either an hyperbolical expression, signifying he had sought for him in many places, and in every place he could think of; or it must be understood either of the ten tribes, which were as so many nations and kingdoms as they had been; or were more in the times of the Canaanites; or of the nations round about, that were in alliance with or tributary to the king of Israel:



and when they said, he is not there, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they found thee not; which he might exact of his own subjects, but could not of other nations, unless they were free to it of themselves; or he might take it of their ambassadors or merchants that came into his land, of whom he inquired, and adjured them to tell him the truth.





1 Kings 18:11



Ver. 11. And now thou sayest, go tell thy lord, behold, Elijah is here. Which, if I should not be able to make good, would be of fatal consequence to me; and that it is plain he feared, by what he next says.





1 Kings 18:12



Ver. 12. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not,.... This he supposed might possibly, and very probably, be the case, since small raptures might have been already, and known to Obadiah, as there were afterwards, see 2Ki 2:16, and then he should not know where he was, nor be able to direct his master where to find him:



and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me; for telling him a lie, and deceiving and mocking him; or for not seizing on Elijah, and bringing him, when he knew he was so desirous of getting him into his hands:



but I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth; and therefore did not deserve to be treated after this manner, having been an early and conscientious worshipper of the true God.





1 Kings 18:13



Ver. 13. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord? how I hid one hundred men of the Lord's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?]

See Gill on "1Ki 18:4", this he said not in a way of ostentation, but to show that it would be very ungenerous and ungrateful, as well as impolitic, to sacrifice such a friend at court to the Lord's prophets as he had been, and might still continue to be.





1 Kings 18:14



Ver. 14. And now thou sayest, go tell my lord, behold, Elijah [is here]: and he shall slay me. That is, should he carry such a message to him, and Elijah should be removed elsewhere, and not to be found.





1 Kings 18:15



Ver. 15. And Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand,.... In whose presence he was, and whose prophet and minister he was; he takes this oath, to assure Obadiah that he would certainly be upon the spot, or to be found, and not expose him to any danger:



I will surely show myself unto him today; he was determined at all events to present himself to him that day.





1 Kings 18:16



Ver. 16. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him,.... That Elijah was in such a place, and had desired him to inform him of it, and was ready to appear before him that day wherever he pleased; for upon the prophet's oath Obadiah was entirely satisfied, and was in no fear of delivering the message:



and Ahab went to meet Elijah; though perhaps the bold message of the prophet might make him fear he had something to say to him not very agreeable.





1 Kings 18:17



Ver. 17. And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah,.... As soon as he came up to him, and knew who he was; Abarbinel thinks, because his hair was grown so long that Ahab did not know him certainly, and therefore put the following question:



that Ahab said unto him, art thou he that troubleth Israel? by opposing the religion of Baal, which prevailed among them; but chiefly rain being withheld from them according to his word, and at his prayer.





1 Kings 18:18



Ver. 18. And he answered,.... That is, Elijah, with great boldness and undaunted courage, not fearing the face of the king, being sent to show himself to him in the name of the King of kings:



I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house; they, by their sins, were the cause of all the troubles, those sore evil and sad calamities that were upon them:



in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord: to have no other gods before him, and not to make images, and worship them, which they had done:



and thou hast followed Baalim; the several Baals, the Sun, moon, and stars, the whole host of heaven, worshipped under this name; or, not content with the Phoenician Baal, or Baal of the Zidonians, followed others, see Jud 2:11.





1 Kings 18:19



Ver. 19. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel..... No doubt but more discourse passed between Ahab and Elijah, though not recorded, before he made this motion to him; it is very probable, that after some dispute between them, who was the true God, and about idolatry, as the cause of want of rain, Elijah proposed to the king what he afterwards did to the people, to which he could not object; and being desirous of gratifying his curiosity, and especially of having rain, which the prophet might promise him in the issue of this affair, he agreed unto it; and therefore Elijah desired that all Israel might be convened, that it might be openly and publicly done, and to the conviction and reformation of them, which was what was chiefly designed; and he chose Carmel, a mountain in the tribe of Issachar, well situated for the people that came from all parts; and the rather this than Samaria, that he might meet with no obstruction from Jezebel, and from whence: he might be able to see the rain when coming, as he did. Of this mountain, See Gill on "Jer 46:18", to which may be added, the description of it by Mr. Sandys {n}.



"Mount Carmel stretcheth from east to west, and hath its uttermost basis washed with the sea; steepest towards the north, and of an indifferent altitude; rich in vines and olives when farmed, and abounding with several sorts of fruits and herbs, both medicinal and fragrant, though now much overgrown with woods and shrubs of sweet savour.''



From the following solemn transaction at it, it seems in later times, to have become sacred, and was very venerable with the Heathens; from this mountain, a deity with them had the name of Carmel, and was worshipped here, without an image or a temple, only had an altar erected for it, in imitation of the God of Israel, worshipped here in like manner; here Vespasian sacrificed to this deity, assisted by the priest of it, Basilides, as Tacitus {o} relates; Suetonius {p} also makes mention of this deity, and of Vespasian's consulting its oracle, which gave him hopes of obtaining the empire; and from hence, in Popish times, there were an order of friars called Carmelites, instituted in the year 1180, pretending to be the successors of the children of the prophets Elijah left there:



and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty; who are supposed to be dispersed in the various parts of the kingdom, to teach and practise the worship of Baal, and encourage and spread it in the nation:



and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table; for it seems there were now more groves than that one Ahab first made, 1Ki 16:33, for which such numbers were appointed to attend, and which, perhaps, were near Samaria, since they ate at Jezebel's table, and were a sort of domestic chaplains of her's. "Asheroth", we render "groves", the learned Selden {q} takes to be Ashtoreth, or Ashtareth, or Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, for whom, and so for these prophets, Jezebel might have a peculiar respect, see 1Ki 11:5.



{n} Travels, l. 3. p. 158. Ed. 5. {o} Hist. l. 2. c. 78. {p} Vit. Vespasian. c. 5. {q} De Dis Syris Syntagm. 2. c. 2. p. 232, &c.





1 Kings 18:20



Ver. 20. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel,.... By messengers, requiring their attendance at Mount Carmel at such a time, at least their chief and principal men:



and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel; the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, but not the four hundred prophets of the groves; for of them we have no account afterwards, only of the former; it may be they were not at the command of Ahab, only of Jezebel, at whose table they ate, who would not suffer them to go.





1 Kings 18:21



Ver. 21. And Elijah came unto all the people,.... Assembled at Mount Carmel:



and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? sometimes inclining to the one, and sometimes to the other: as a lame man in walking, his body moves sometimes to one side, and sometimes to another; or "leap ye upon two branches" {r}, like a bird that leaps or hops from one branch to another, and never settles long; or rather it denotes the confusion of their thoughts, being like branches of trees twisted and implicated; thus upbraiding them with their inconstancy and fickleness; what their two opinions were, may be learnt from the next clause:



if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him; for there is but one God, one infinite, immense, and incomprehensible being; one that is omnipotent, all sufficient, good, and perfect; there cannot be more, and therefore but one to be followed, served, and worshipped:



and the people answered him not a word: through conviction and confusion, his reasoning being unanswerable; or not knowing which to choose at present; or fearing they should be drawn into a snare, should they name any; either incur the displeasure of the king, who was for Baal, or of the prophet, who was for the Lord, at whose word rain was withheld, and might be given, which they were desirous of.



{r} Mypeoh ytv le Myxop "transilietis super duos ramoe, Malvenda; vos transilientes super ambos ramos", Piscator.





1 Kings 18:22



Ver. 22. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only remain a prophet of the Lord,.... At least as he thought, all the rest being slain, as he supposed; however there were none present but himself:



but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men; which were very great odds he had to contend with.





1 Kings 18:23



Ver. 23. Let them therefore give us two bullocks,.... Who, being so many, were better able to be at the expense of them, and having the king on their party too; though perhaps no more is meant than that two bullocks should be brought thither, and presented before them:



and let them choose one bullock for themselves; which of the two they would, if they thought one was any ways preferable to the other, it was at their option to take it:



and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood; as sacrifices usually were:



and put no fire under; which was wont to be done for burnt offerings, as this was designed to be:



and I will dress the other bullock; by slaying and cutting it in pieces;



and lay it on wood: as for a burnt offering:



and put no fire under; to consume it.





1 Kings 18:24



Ver. 24. And call ye on the name of your gods,.... The Baalim, the many lords and gods they served:



and I will call on the name of the Lord; the one true Jehovah and God of Israel, whom I serve:



and the God that answereth by fire; by causing fire to come down upon the sacrifice, and consume it:



let him be God; accounted, owned, and acknowledged as the true God, and so afterwards worshipped as such:



and all the people answered and said, it is well spoken; they thought it a very reasonable proposal, a very good method to determine the controversy, and come at the truth, and know who was the true God, and who not.





1 Kings 18:25



Ver. 25. And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal,.... Who agreed to this proposal, though not expressed; or they signified it by their silence. Ben Gersom thinks they agreed to it, because that, according to their belief, Baal was Mars, and in the sign of Aries, one of the fiery planets, and therefore fancied he could send down fire on their sacrifice; but Abarbinel is of opinion that it was the sun they worshipped, under the name of Baal, the great luminary which presides over the element of fire, and therefore had power to cause it to descend; and if not, they agreed to it, he thinks, for three reasons; one was necessity, they could not refuse, after the people had approved of it, lest they should rise upon them, and stone them; and another was, that Elijah proposed to offer without the temple, contrary to the law of his God, and therefore concluded he would not answer him by fire, and so they should be upon a par with him; and the third was, that they thought they should offer their bullocks together, so that, if fire descended, it would come upon them both, and then the dispute would be, whether his God, or their god, sent it; and so no proof could be made who was God, nor the matter in controversy decided:



choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; therefore in civility to them gave the choice of the bullock and the altar first, he being one and they many:



and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under; under the wood on which was the sacrifice cut in pieces; and when they had so done, then they were to call on their gods to cause fire to descend upon it.





1 Kings 18:26



Ver. 26. And they took the bullock which was given them,.... By such of them as made the choice:



and they dressed it; slew it, and cut it in pieces, and laid it on the wood, but put no fire under it:



and called on the name of Baal, from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us; and send fire down on the sacrifice; and if the sun was their Baal, they might hope, as the heat he gradually diffused was at its height at noon, that some flashes of fire would proceed from it to consume their sacrifice; but after, their hope was turned into despair, they became and acted like madmen:



but there was no voice, nor any that answered; by word, or by sending down fire as they desired:



and they leapt upon the altar which was made; not by Elijah, but by themselves, either now or heretofore, and where they had formerly sacrificed; and they danced about it, and leaped on it, either according to a custom used by them; such as the Salii, the priests of Mars, used, so called from their leaping, because they did their sacred things leaping, and went about their altars capering and leaping {s}; or rather they were mad on it, as the Targum renders it, and acted like madmen, as if they were agitated by a prophetic fury and frenzy.



{s} Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 8. "tum Salii ad cantus", &c. Vid. Gutberleth. de Salii, c. 2. p. 9.





1 Kings 18:27



Ver. 27. And it came to pass at noon,.... When they had been from the time of the morning sacrifice until now invoking their deity to no purpose:



that Elijah mocked them; he jeered and bantered them:



and said, cry aloud; your god does not hear you; perhaps, if you raise your voice higher, he may;



for he is a god; according to your esteem of him, and, if so, he surely may hear you: unless



either he is talking; with others about matters of moment and importance, who are waiting on him with their applications to him; or he is in meditation; in a deep study upon some things difficult to be resolved:



or he is pursuing; his studies, or his pleasures, or his enemies, to overtake them; or he is employed on business {t}:



or he is in a journey; gone to visit his friends, or some parts of his dominions; so Homer {u} represents Jupiter gone to pay a visit to the Ethiopians, and as yesterday gone to a feast, and all the gods following him, from whence he would not return until twelve days; and in like manner Lucian {w} speaks of the gods, mocking at them:



or, peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked; with a loud crying to him: it being now noon, Abarbinel thinks this refers to a custom of sleeping after dinner; Homer {x} also speaks of the sleep of the gods, and which used to be at noon; and therefore the worshippers of Baal ceased then to call upon him; and it is said {y}, the Heathens feared to go into the temples of their gods at noon, lest they should disturb them; but such is not the true God, the God of Israel, he neither slumbers nor sleeps, Ps 121:4.



{t} David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 211. 1. {u} Iliad. ver. 1. 423. {w} Jupiter Tragoedus. {x} Ut supra, (Iliad. ver. 1. 423.) in fine, & Iliad. 2. ver. 1, 2. {y} Meurs. Auctuar. Philol. c. 6. apud Quistorp. in loc.





1 Kings 18:28



Ver. 28. And they cried aloud,.... Trying to make him hear, if possible:



and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them; so the priests of Heathen deities used to slash themselves on their shoulders, arms, and thighs, in their devotions to them, as many writers observe {z}, fancying their gods were delighted with human blood; particularly the priests of Bellona {a}, and the worshippers of the Syrian goddess {b}, and of the Egyptian Isis {c}.



{z} Vid. Kipping. Antiqu. Roman. l. 1. c. 10. p. 202. {a} Tertul Apolog. c. 9. Lactant. Institut. l. 1. c. 21. {b} Apulei Metamorph. l. 8. {c} Herodot. Euterpe, c. 61. Manetho. Apotelesm. l. 1. ver. 243, 244. Seneca de vita beata, c. 27.





1 Kings 18:29



Ver. 29. And it came to pass when midday was past,.... And nothing done, no fire descended:



and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; continued praying to Baal, and singing his praises, but all to no purpose; or they behaved like madmen, as the Targum; thus they went on until it was time to offer the evening sacrifice; so that they had no interruption in their service, and had all the time they could desire to have to importune their god to do the favour for them they requested:



that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded; no voice was heard that returned them any answer; nor was any answer made by fire, nor any regard shown to their mad gestures, and barbarous actions; and very likely the people also, by this time, paid no regard unto them, perceiving they were not able, by all their cries and methods they took, to obtain an answer.





1 Kings 18:30



Ver. 30. And Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me,.... And observe what I do, and what will be done at my request:



and all the people came near unto him; left the prophets of Baal to themselves, and took no more notice of them, but attended to what the prophet should say and do:



and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down; which had been set up when high places and altars were allowed of, while the tabernacle was unsettled, and the temple not built; this is supposed to have been erected in the times of the judges; though, according to a tradition of the Jews {d}, it was built by Saul, see 1Sa 15:12 but had been thrown down by the idolatrous Israelites, who demolished such as were erected to the name of the Lord everywhere, and built new ones for their idols, 1Ki 19:10. Benjamin of Tudela {e} says, that on the top of Mount Carmel is now to be seen the place of the altar Elijah repaired, which is four cubits round.



{d} Jarchi & Kimchi in loc. {e} ltinerar. p. 37.





1 Kings 18:31



Ver. 31. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob,.... Which he might very easily come at from the mountain:



unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name, which signifies one that has power with God, as Jacob had, when the word came to him to make a change in his name at Penuel, Ge 32:28, and as Elijah hoped and believed he should have at this time, being a prophet, and a worshipper of Israel's God.





1 Kings 18:32



Ver. 32. And with the stones he built an altar in the same of the Lord,.... Whom the twelve tribes had formerly worshipped; and though now divided in their civil state, yet ought to be united in the worship of God:



and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed; or two seahs, one of which was the third part of an ephah, and two of them were more than half a bushel; and this trench or ditch round the altar was as broad as such a measure of seed would sow.





1 Kings 18:33



Ver. 33. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood,.... Just in such manner as sacrifices usually were:



and said, fill four barrels with water; either from the brook Kishon, or, if that was dried up, from the sea; for both were near this mountain, and so to be had, though a time of drought:



and pour it on the burnt sacrifice; that which was intended to be one:



and upon the wood: wherewith it was to be burnt, and so made unfit for it; and which would make the miracle appear the greater, when fire came down and consumed it.





1 Kings 18:34



Ver. 34. And he said, do it the second time, and they did it the second time,.... That is, poured four barrels of water more upon the wood:



and he said, do it the third time, and they did it the third time; so that there were in all twelve barrels of water poured on the wood, agreeably to the number of the twelve stones the altar was built with, and may have respect to the same as they.





1 Kings 18:35



Ver. 35. And the water ran round about the altar,.... There being such a large effusion of it on it;



and he filled the trench also with water; which surrounded the altar, so that it seemed impracticable that any fire should kindle upon it; and this gave full proof and demonstration there could be no collusion in this matter.





1 Kings 18:36



Ver. 36. And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice,.... Which the people of God at Jerusalem were now attending to:



that Elijah the prophet came near; to the altar he had built, and on which he had laid the sacrifice:



and said; in prayer to God:



Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the covenant God of the ancestors of his people, though they had now so fully departed from him:



let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel; and that there is no other:



and that I am thy servant; a true worshipper of him, and his faithful prophet and minister:



and that I have done all these things at thy word; restrained rain from the earth for some years past, and now had convened Israel, and the false prophets, together, that by a visible sign from heaven it might be known who was the true God; all which he did not of himself, but by the impulse, direction, and, commandment of the Lord.





1 Kings 18:37



Ver. 37. Hear me, O Lord, hear me;.... Which repetition is made to express his importunity, and the vehement earnest desire of his soul to be heard in such a case, which so much concerned the glory of God; the Targum is,



"receive my prayer, O Lord, concerning the fire, receive my prayer concerning the rain;''



as if the one respected the sending down the fire on the sacrifice, and the other sending rain on the earth; and which sense is followed by other Jewish writers:



that this people may know that thou art the Lord God; and not Baal, or any other idol:



and that thou hast turned their heart back again; from idolatry, to the worship of the true God; though some understand this of God's giving them up to a spirit of error, and suffering them to fall into idolatry, and hardening their hearts, as he did Pharaoh's; but the former sense is best.





1 Kings 18:38



Ver. 38. Then the fire of the Lord fell,.... An extraordinary fire from God out of heaven, as the effects of it show:



and consumed the burnt sacrifice; as it had done in former instances, Le 9:24, and besides this, which is still more extraordinary,



and the wood, and the stones, and the dust; of the altar, thereby signifying that even such were not to be used any more:



and licked up the water that was in the trench; around the altar, see

1Ki 18:32.





1 Kings 18:39



Ver. 39. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces,.... In reverence of God, astonished at the miracle wrought, ashamed of themselves and their sins, particularly their idolatry, that they should turn their backs on the true God, and follow idols:



and they said, the Lord, he is the God, the Lord, he is the God; which acknowledgment of God, as the true God, in opposition to Baal, is repeated, to show their firm belief and strong assurance of it.





1 Kings 18:40



Ver. 40. And Elijah said unto them, take the prophets of Baal,.... The four hundred and fifty that were upon the spot; for the number of the people of Israel, now gathered together, were equal to it; nor was it in Ahab's power to hinder it, and he might himself be so far surprised and convicted as not in the least to object to it:



let not one of them escape: that there might be none of them left to seduce the people any more:



and they took them; laid hold on them, everyone of them:



and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon; which ran by the side, and at the bottom of Mount Carmel, into the sea;

See Gill on "Jud 4:7" see Gill on "Jud 5:21".



and slew them there; intimating, that it was owing to the idolatry they led the people into that rain had been withheld, and the brooks were dried up, as this might be; or, as Ben Gersom thinks, that the land might not be defiled with their blood, but be carried down the river after it: these he slew not with his own hand, but by others he gave orders to do it; and this not as a private person, but as an extraordinary minister of God, to execute justice according to his law, De 13:1 by which law such false prophets were to die; and the rather he was raised up and spirited for this service, as the supreme magistrate was addicted to idolatry himself.





1 Kings 18:41



Ver. 41. And Elijah said unto Ahab, get thee up,.... From the brook and valley where the execution of the prophets had been made; either up to his chariot, or to the tent or pavilion erected on the side of the mount, where the whole scene of things was transacted;



eat and drink; which he had no leisure for all the day, from the time of the morning sacrifice to the evening sacrifice, which was taken up in attending to the issue of the several sacrifices; but now he is bid to eat and refresh himself, and that in token of joy and gladness, as became him, both for the honour of the true God, which had been abundantly confirmed, and for the near approach of rain, of which he assures him:



for there is a sound of abundance of rain; the wind perhaps began to rise, and blow pretty briskly, which was a sign of it {f}; besides, according to the Tyrian annals {g}, there were loud claps of thunder at this time, at least when the heavens became very black, as in

1Ki 18:45.



{f} "Fit fragor, hinc densi----nimbi", Ovid. Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 8. v. 269. {g} Apud Joseph, Antiqu. l. 8. c. 13. sect. 2.





1 Kings 18:42



Ver. 42. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink,.... Up to his chariot, as some think, or rather to some place higher than that in which he now was:



and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; higher still, where he both might be alone, and have the opportunity of observing the clouds gathering, and the rain coming:



and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees; expressive of his humility, and of his earnestness, and vehement desire, and continued importunity, that rain might fall; for this was a posture of prayer he put himself into, and continued in; and it is certain that it was through his prayer that rain came, Jas 5:18 and from hence came the fable of the Grecians concerning Aeacus praying for rain in a time of drought, when it came {h}. So the Chinese writers {i} report that at the prayers of their emperor Tangus, after a seven years' drought, great rains fell.



{h} Pausan. Attica, sive, l. 1. prope finem. Isocrat. Evagoras, p. 373. {i} Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 3. p. 60.





1 Kings 18:43



Ver. 43. And said to his servant,.... Whom some take to be the son of the widow of Sarepta, but he must be too young to be employed in such service as this was:



go up now; still higher on Mount Carmel; than where he was, even to the highest point of it:



look towards the sea: or the west, as the Targum, the Mediterranean sea, which lay to the west of the land of Israel:



and he went up and looked, and he said, there is nothing; there was nothing in the sky, or arising out of the sea, that looked like or foreboded rain:



and he said, go again seven times; till he should see something.





1 Kings 18:44



Ver. 44. And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand,.... Either about the size or in the form of it; rain water comes out of the sea, and, being strained through the clouds and air, becomes fresh:



and he said, go up: the meaning seems to be, that he should first go down from the mount, and then go up to that part of it where Ahab was:



say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot; bind or fasten the horses to it, as the phrase seems to signify:



and get thee down; from the mountain where he was, to go to Jezreel, which lay low in a valley:



that the rain stop thee not; on the road, that might be made impassable by it, signifying that such abundance should fall as would make it so.





1 Kings 18:45



Ver. 45. And it came to pass in the mean while,.... That the servant was gone with the message to Ahab, and Ahab was getting ready his chariot:



that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain; which all sprung from the cloud like a man's hand; and so we are told {k}, that sometimes a little cloud called the ox's eye is seen on a mount of the Cape of Good Hope, called Tafesbery, when the sky is most serene, and the sea quiet; which is at first scarce so big as a barley corn, and then as a walnut; and presently it extends itself over the whole surface of the mountain:



and Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel; as fast as he could.



{k} Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacra, vol. 3. p. 591.





1 Kings 18:46



Ver. 46. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah,.... Giving him more than common strength of body, as well as courage and fortitude of mind; so the Targum, the spirit of strength from the Lord was with him:



and he girded up his loins; gathered up his long loose garment, and girt it about him, that he might be more fit for travelling:



and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel; reckoned about sixteen miles from Carmel {l}; this showed his humility, that he was not elated with the wonderful things God had done by him, and that he bore no ill will to Ahab, but was ready to show him all honour and respect due to him as a king; and that it were his sins, and not his person, he had an aversion to; and that he was not afraid of Jezebel, and her prophets, but entered into the city where she was, to instruct the people, and warn them against her idolatries; though some think he went no further than the gate of the city, prudently avoiding falling into her hands.



{l} Bunting's Travels, &c. p. 204.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 19:1



INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 19



This chapter gives us a further account of Elijah, of his being obliged to flee for his life through the threats of Jezebel, 1Ki 19:1, of the care the Lord took of him, providing food for him, in the strength of which he went to Horeb, 1Ki 19:5, of the Lord's appearance to him there, and conversation with him, 1Ki 19:9, of some instructions he gave him to anoint a king over Syria, another over Israel, and a prophet in his room, 1Ki 19:15, and of his finding Elisha, and throwing his mantle over him, who left his secular employment, and followed him, and became his servant, 1Ki 19:19.



Ver. 1. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done,.... What miracles he had wrought, how that not only fire came down from heaven, and consumed the sacrifice, but even the stones and dust of the altar, and licked up great quantities of water in the trench around it; and that it was at his prayer that rain came down from heaven in such abundance, of which she was sensible; by all which he got the people on his side, so that it was not in his power to seize him and slay him; and this he said to clear himself, and make her easy:



and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword; the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal he had gathered to Carmel; the Targum calls them false prophets, but Ahab would scarcely use that epithet to Jezebel; as for the four hundred prophets of the grove, they were not present, and so not included. Jezebel knew they were safe, being with her, she not suffering them to go to Carmel.





1 Kings 19:2



Ver. 2. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah,.... In Jezreel, or near it, to frighten him away; not caring to seize him, and dispatch him, for fear of the people, in whom he had now a great interest; or otherwise it is not easy to account for it that she should give him notice of it; unless she scorned to do it privately, as some think, and was determined to make a public example of him; but being not as yet prepared for it, sends him word what he must expect, imagining that as he had the courage to appear, he would not flee; no doubt there was an hand of Providence in it, be it which it will, that he might have time to make his escape:



saying, so let the gods do to me, and more also; the gods she served, Baal and Ashtaroth, and by whom she swore:



if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time; as one of the prophets Elijah had slain; she swore by her gods, and wished the greatest evils might befall her, if she did not lodge him in the state of the dead where they were in the space of twenty four hours; though Abarbinel thinks it is not an oath, but that the words and meaning of them are, so the gods do; it is their usual way, and they will go on to do so for the future, because of the holiness of their name; and therefore do not boast of slaying the prophets, or make use of that as an argument of their falsehood, for they will do the same by thee by tomorrow this time.





1 Kings 19:3



Ver. 3. And when he saw that,.... That her design and resolution were to take away his life; the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions read, "and he was afraid"; or frightened; he that had such courage as not to be afraid to meet Ahab, and contend with four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, and in the face of all Israel, who at first were not inclined to take his part, is now terrified at the threats of a single woman; which shows that the spirit and courage he had before were of the Lord, and not of himself; and that those who have the greatest zeal and courage for religion, for God, and his worship, his truths and ordinances, if left to themselves, become weak and timorous; and whether this is the true reading, or not, it was certainly his case by what follows:



he arose and went for his life; fled to save his life, at a time when he was much wanted to encourage and increase the reformation from idolatry, and to preserve the people from relapsing who were converted; and through the miracles that had been wrought by him, and for him, he had great reason to trust in the Lord: or "he went unto", or "according to his own soul" {m}; according to his own mind and will, not taking counsel of God, or any direction from him; and so Abarbinel interprets it:



and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah; to the tribe of Judah; for though it was in the inheritance of Simeon, yet that was within the tribe of Judah, Jos 19:1, or to the kingdom of Judah, over which Jehoshaphat reigned, and so might think himself safe, being out of the dominions of Ahab, and reach of Jezebel; but yet he did not think so, his fears ran so high that he imagined she would send some after him to search for him, and slay him privately, or make interest with Jehoshaphat to deliver him up, there being friendship between him and Ahab; for though this place was eighty four miles from Jezreel, as Bunting {n} computes it, he left it:



and left his servant there; he took him not with him, either lest he should betray him, or rather out of compassion to him, that he might not share in the miseries of life that were like to come upon him.



{m} wvpn la kata thn quchn autou, Sept. "secundum animam suam", Vatablus, Pagninus. {n} Travels, ut supra. (p. 204.)





1 Kings 19:4



Ver. 4. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness,.... Of Paran, which began near Beersheba, and was the wilderness of Arabia, in which the Israelites were near forty years; this day's journey carried him about twenty miles from Beersheba southward, as the above writer reckons:



and came and sat down under a juniper tree; Abarbinel supposes that Elijah chose to sit under this tree, to preserve him from venomous creatures, which naturalists say will not come near it; and Pliny {o} indeed observes, that it being burnt will drive away serpents, and that some persons anoint themselves with the oil of it, for fear of them; and yet Virgil {p} represents the shade of a juniper tree as noxious; hence some interpreters take this to be a piece of carelessness and indifference of the prophet's, where he sat:



and he requested for himself that he might die; for though he fled from Jezebel to preserve his life, not choosing to die by her hands, which would cause her prophets to exult and triumph, yet was now desirous of dying by the hand of the Lord, and in a place where his death would not be known:



[it is] enough, now, O Lord, take away my life; intimating that he had lived long enough, even as long as he desired; and he had done as much work for God as he thought he had to do; he supposed his service and usefulness were at an end, and therefore desired his dismission:



for [I am not] better than my fathers that he should not die, or live longer than they; but this desire was not like that of the Apostle Paul's, but like that of Job and of Jonah; not so much to be with God and Christ, as to be rid of the troubles of life.



{o} Nat. Hist. l. 24. c. 8. {p} "Juniperi gravis umbra----" Bucol. Eclog. 10. ver. 76.





1 Kings 19:5



Ver. 5. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree,.... Being weary and fatigued with his journey, the same under which he sat; for there was but one, as that is said to be in the preceding verse:



behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, arise, and eat; so far was the Lord from granting his request to take away his life, that he made provision to preserve it; so careful was he of him, as to give an angel charge to get food ready for him, and then awake him to eat of it.





1 Kings 19:6



Ver. 6. And he looked, and, behold, [there was] a cake baked on the coals,.... Just took off the coals, quite hot. Bochart {q} thinks it should be rendered, "baked on hot stones"; and such was the way of baking cakes in some of the eastern countries, See Gill on "Ge 18:6", the stones hereabout might be heated by a supernatural power, and the cake baked on them by an angel; these sort of cakes are in Hebrew called "huggoth", as some pronounce the word, and are said to be now common in Bulgaria, where they are called "hugaces" {r}:



and a cruse of water at his head; to drink of in eating the cake; which cruse or pot a learned man {s} thinks was Elijah's, not brought by the angel, only water put into it by him; see 1Sa 26:11, and he did eat and drink; but not all that was set before him:



and laid him down again; to take some more sleep for his greater refreshment.



{q} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 33. col. 528. {r} Busbequius apud Calmet on the word "Bread". {s} Schacchi Elaeochrism. Myrothec. l. 1. c. 44. col. 224.





1 Kings 19:7



Ver. 7. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him,.... In order to awake him out of sleep:



and said unto him, arise, and eat, because the journey is too great for thee; which he had to go to Horeb, without eating more than he had; and there were no provisions to be had in a common way and manner in his road thither.





1 Kings 19:8



Ver. 8. And he arose, and did eat and drink,.... Of what was left of the cake and cruse of water, before provided for him:



and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God; for so long he was going to that place, though it might have been gone in three or four days; but he went in byways, and wandered about in the wilderness, as the Israelites did, and that for the space of forty days, as they did near forty years; and all this while he had no other sustenance than what he had taken under the juniper tree, from whence he set out, which must be supernatural; for it is said {t}, a man cannot live without food beyond seven days, See Gill on "Ex 24:18" the food either staying in his stomach all this while, or however the nutritive virtue of it, by which he was supported, and held out till he came to Horeb or Sinai; called the mount of the Lord, because here he had appeared to Moses in the bush, and from hence gave the law to the children of Israel. Abarbinel is of opinion that this term of forty days was consumed in his whole journey to Horeb, his stay there, and return to the land of Israel.



{t} Macrob. in Soma Scipion. l. 1. c. 6.





1 Kings 19:9



Ver. 9. And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there,.... This cave, some travellers say {u}, is to be seen at this day, not far from a church dedicated to the prophet Elijah, and that the cave itself has the appearance of a chapel; but a more particular account of it is given in a journal {w} lately published, which says, this cave exists to this very day, and is situated at the foot of Mount Sinai, and is now enclosed in a church built of red and white granite marble, the entrance into which is from the west; the dimensions of this cave are in length five feet, in depth four feet, and in height four and a half. The Jewish writers are of opinion that this was the cleft of the rock in which Moses was put, when the Lord passed before him; but, if so, there would have been no need of Elijah to have gone forth to and stand upon the mount when the Lord passed by, 1Ki 19:11,



and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him; an articulate voice was heard by him:



and he said unto him, what dost thou here, Elijah? this is not a proper place for a prophet to be in, in a wilderness, in a mountain, in a cave in it: what work could he do for God? or what service to his people? in the land of Israel he might bear his testimony against idolatry, and so be a means of reclaiming backsliders, and of establishing those that were in the true religion; but of what usefulness could he be here? Abarbinel takes it to be a reproof of Elijah, for going into a place so holy as it was, and in which Moses, the chief of the prophets, had been, and that it did not become such a man as he was to be in such a place.



{u} Egmont and Heyman's Travels, vol. 2. p. 166. {w} Journal from Cairo to Mount Sinai in 1722, p. 26. Ed. 2.





1 Kings 19:10



Ver. 10. And he said, I have been jealous for the Lord God of hosts,.... Through zeal for the glory of God he had slain four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and this had stirred up the malice and revenge of Jezebel against him, who sought his life, and which had obliged him to flee, and come to this place for shelter; this is the first part of his answer, others follow:



for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant; the law, especially the two first commandments delivered in this very place; and therefore he could hope for no protection from them, but was forced to leave his country:



thrown down thy altars: which had been built in times past for the worship of God, to sacrifice thereon to him, but were now demolished, that those that would not bow the knee to Baal, and could not go to Jerusalem, might make no use of them:



and slain thy prophets with the sword; which was done by Jezebel, the Israelites conniving at it, and consenting to it, and not daring to oppose her; slain all she had knowledge of, or even were known by the prophet: hence it follows,



and I, [even] I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away: all this Elijah said, as it seems, not only to excuse himself for fleeing, and taking up his abode where he was, but to stir up the indignation of God against Israel for their idolatries and murders, and to put him upon inflicting his judgments on them for the same.





1 Kings 19:11



Ver. 11. And he said, go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord,.... Who would appear there as he had to Moses formerly, though not in the same manner:



and, behold, the Lord passed by; or was about to pass, for as yet he had not; his messengers first went before him:



and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; strong enough to do all this, and so it might:



but the Lord was not in the wind; as he sometimes is, Na 1:3, he spake to Job out of a whirlwind, Job 38:1,



and after the wind an earthquake; that shook the earth all around, and the mountain also, as it did when the law was given on it, Ps 68:8



but the Lord was not in the earthquake; as he was when it trembled in the times of Moses, Ex 19:18.





1 Kings 19:12



Ver. 12. And after the earthquake a fire, [but] the Lord was not in the fire,.... As he was when he descended on this mount, and spake to Moses, Ex 19:1, the Targum, and so Jarchi, interpret all these appearances of angels, and not amiss; the wind, of an host of angels of wind; the earthquake, of an host of angels of commotion; the fire, of an host of angels of fire; see Ps 104:4, these ministers of the Lord went before him, to prepare the way of his glorious Majesty; which emblems may represent the power of God, the terribleness of his majesty, and the fury of his wrath, which he could display, if he would, to the destruction of his enemies; and could as easily destroy the idolatrous kingdom of Israel, which Elijah seems to be solicitous of, as the wind rent the mountains, and broke the rocks, and the earthquake shook the earth, and the fire consumed all in its way; but he chose not to do it now, but to use lenity, and show mercy, signified by the next emblem:



and after the fire a still small voice: not rough, but gentle, more like whispering than roaring; something soft, easy, and musical; the Targum is, the voice of those that praise God in silence; and all this may be considered as showing the difference between the two dispensations of law and Gospel; the law is a voice of terrible words, and was given amidst a tempest of wind, thunder, and lightning, attended with an earthquake, Heb 12:18, but the Gospel is a gentle voice of love, grace, and mercy, of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by Christ; and may also point at the order and manner of the Lord's dealings with the souls of men, who usually by the law breaks the rocky hearts of men in pieces, shakes their consciences, and fills their minds with a sense of fiery wrath and indignation they deserve, and then speaks comfortably to them, speaks peace and pardon through the ministration of the Gospel by his Spirit; blessed are the people that hear this still, small, gentle voice, the joyful sound, Ps 89:15.





1 Kings 19:13



Ver. 13. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle,.... Through reverence of the divine Majesty he perceived was there, and through shame and confusion under a sense of his impurity, imperfections, and unworthiness, as the seraphim in Isa 6:2, and as Moses, Ex 3:6, and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave; he attempted to come forth out of the cave upon the divine order, 1Ki 19:11, but was stopped by the terrible appearances of the wind, earthquake, and fire, a little within it; but now he came quite out, and stood at the mouth of it, to hear what the Lord would say unto him:



and, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, what dost thou here, Elijah? the same question is here put as in 1Ki 19:9, though there by an angel, here by the Lord himself.





1 Kings 19:14



Ver. 14. And he said,.... Elijah, in answer to the question put, and he says the same as before:



I have been very jealous,.... which the question was designed to draw from him, in order to give him some instructions and directions; which would suggest to him, that though he should not deal severely with Israel, nor with Ahab and his house, yet he would hereafter by the kings he should anoint over Syria and Israel, and by the prophet he should anoint in his room, as instruments of his vengeance.





1 Kings 19:15



Ver. 15. And the Lord said unto him, go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus,.... He is bid to go back the way he came, through the wilderness of Arabia, which was part of his way to Damascus, near to which was another wilderness, which took its name from thence; though Fortunatus Schacchus {x} thinks no other is meant by this phrase than returning to his former course and custom of preach the law of God, and reclaiming men from the error of their ways:



and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria; it is nowhere related that Elijah did go to Damascus, and anoint Hazael, though it may be he did; however he acquainted Elisha with it, and he declared it to Hazael, that he should be king of Syria, and which perhaps is all that is meant by anointing; that is, that he should be made king, and which was declared by both these prophets, see 2Ki 8:13.



{x} Elaeochrism. Myrothec. l. 1. c. 39. col. 198.





1 Kings 19:16



Ver. 16. And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel,.... This was a son of Jehoshaphat, and a grandson of Nimshi; nor does he appear to have been anointed by Elijah, but by Elisha; and being done by his order and direction was the same as if it was done by himself, unless he was twice anointed, see 2Ki 9:1



and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room; which was in the half tribe of Manasseh, on this side Jordan; See Gill on "Jud 7:22".





1 Kings 19:17



Ver. 17. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay,.... Which suggests that many should be slain in Israel by them both, as were by Hazael, 2Ki 10:32 and by Jehu, 2Ki 9:24,



and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay; which may be understood either literally of the forty two children cursed by him, in consequence of which they were destroyed by bears, 2Ki 2:24 or rather figuratively by his prophecies, see Ho 6:5 who foretold the slaughters made by Hazael and Jehu, as well as others, see 2Ki 8:12, these several things were not done in the order in which they are here put; for what Elisha did was before Hazael and Jehu, and Jehu before Hazael; these words therefore do not respect the exact order of time in which they should be done, only that each should do the part appointed and assigned unto him, and what could not be so well done by the other; thus Hazael was to destroy those that came out to war; and Jehu Ahab's family that did not; and Elisha the children of idolatrous parents at Bethel, that came not within the reach of either; though it may be observed, that Hazael began to distress Israel before Jehu appeared, 2Ki 8:28 and the prophecies of Elisha might not have their full accomplishment until after Hazael and Jehu had done what was appointed for them.





1 Kings 19:18



Ver. 18. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel,.... From perishing by the sword of either of them:



all the knees which have not bowed to Baal; that is, had not worshipped him, which was signified by this gesture:



and every mouth which hath not kissed him; either the image of Baal itself, or the hand, in reverence of him; which rites, one or other, or both, were used by his worshippers; See Gill on "Ho 13:2". This either refers, as some think, to the present time, and so is an answer to Elijah, who thought he was the only worshipper left with which seems to agree Ro 11:2, or to the times to come, when destruction should be made by the above persons, and when God would have some faithful worshippers, and would take care of them; so some render the words, "I will reserve", &c. {y}.



{y} ytravhw "reservabo vel servabo", Vatablus; so V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version.





1 Kings 19:19



Ver. 19. So he departed thence,.... From Mount Horeb, and came to Abelmeholah, which Bunting computes {z} at one hundred and fifty six miles:



and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth; which may be understood either of twelve couple of oxen drawing one plough; which was a large number, but will not seem strange when it is observed, that Abelmeholah, where Elisha was ploughing, lay in the vale of Jordan, which was a clayey stiff ground, and required such a number of oxen to plough it up, especially at the first tilling of it, as this might be {a}; compare 1Ki 4:12 A late traveller {b} observes, that at Damegraed, in upper Egypt on the Nile, six oxen yoked to plough had a great deal of difficulty to turn up the ground; or else, as the Jewish writers generally understand it, there were twelve ploughs, and a yoke of oxen to each, and a ploughman to attend everyone, and Elisha attended the twelfth; or was with one of the twelve, as the Targum, and might have the oversight of them all; Kimchi thinks, and so Abarbiuel after him, that this signified that he should be leader of the twelve tribes of Israel:



and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him; the skirts of it.



{z} Travels, &c. p. 204. {a} See Fuller's Pisgah-Sight, &c. B. 2. ch. 8. p. 175. {b} Norden's Travels in Egypt and Arabia, vol. 2. p. 85.





1 Kings 19:20



Ver. 20. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah,.... His heart being touched by the Lord at the same time, and his mind enlightened to understand what was meant by that action:



and said, let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother; take his leave of them in this way, which was what was used by friends at parting, see Ru 1:9



and then I will follow thee; which he understood was meant by his casting his mantle over him:



and he said unto him, go back again; to his plough:



for what have I done to thee? he had only cast the skirts of his mantle over him, and had said nothing to him; this he said to try him, and get out of him what was in his heart, and how it had been touched by the Spirit of God; and if so, then he suggests it was not what he had done, but what the Lord had impressed upon him, that would oblige him to return, and follow him, after he had taken his leave of his parents.





1 Kings 19:21



Ver. 21. And he returned back from him,.... To his father's house, and took his leave, and then came back into the field, perhaps with others accompanying him:



and took a yoke of oxen and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen: their yokes, and the plough, with an addition of other things sufficient to boil them:



and gave unto the people, and they did eat; the ploughmen and others that came together on this occasion; he made a feast for them, to express his joy at being called to such service he was:



then he arose and went after Elijah; left his worldly employment, the riches he was heir to, his parents, and his friends, and followed the prophet:



and ministered unto him; became his servant, whereby he attained to great knowledge and understanding of divine things, and was trained up to the prophetic office, which he was invested with upon the removal of Elijah; see Mt 8:21.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 20:1



INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 20



This chapter relates the siege of Samaria by the king of Syria, and his insolent demand of Ahab's wives, children, and riches, 1Ki 20:1, the sally made out upon him, at the direction of the prophet, and the route made of the Syrian army, 1Ki 20:13, the return of the Syrian army the next year, when there was a pitched battle between them and Israel, in which the former were entirely defeated, 1Ki 20:22, the peace Ahab made with the king of Syria, 1Ki 20:31, and the reproof one of the sons of the prophets gave him for it, which made him very uneasy, 1Ki 20:35.



Ver. 1. And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together,.... This was Benhadad the second, the son of that Benhadad, to whom Asa sent to help him against Baasha, 1Ki 15:18



and there were thirty and two kings with him; these were heads of families, so called, and at most governors of cities under Benhadad; petty princes, such as were in the land of Canaan in Joshua's time:



and horses and chariots; how many is not said:



and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it; he went up with such an intent, but had not as yet done it in form; what moved him to it cannot be said precisely, whether an ambitious view of enlarging his dominions, or because the king of Israel paid not the tribute his father had imposed upon him, see 1Ki 20:34, however, so it was, through the providence of God, as a scourge to Ahab for his impiety.





1 Kings 20:2



Ver. 2. And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city,.... Who there remained, and attempted not to go forth and meet him, and stop his progress, though he must have passed great part of his dominions to come to Samaria:



and said unto him, thus saith Benhadad; by them, his messengers, as follows.





1 Kings 20:3



Ver. 3. Thy silver and thy gold is mine,.... Not of right, but reckoning it as good as in his hands, Ahab not being able to resist him:



and thy wives also; for it seems he had more than Jezebel:



and thy children; which were many, for he had no less than seventy sons, 2Ki 10:1,



even the goodliest are mine: some aggravate this, as if his view was to commit the unnatural sin with his male children, when in his possession.





1 Kings 20:4



Ver. 4. And the king of Israel answered and said, my lord, O king,.... So he said to Benhadad's messengers, representing him, as acknowledging his sovereignty over him:



according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have: which he understood of holding all that he had of him, by giving him homage, and paying him tribute; not that he was to deliver all his substance, and especially his wives and children, into his hands.





1 Kings 20:5



Ver. 5. And the messengers came again,.... From Benhadad:



and said, thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, although I have sent unto thee, saying: at the first message:



thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; into his possession, and not as Ahab understood it, that he should be his vassal, and pay a yearly tribute for his quiet enjoyment of them; yet even this he would not now abide by, growing still more haughty upon the mean submission of Ahab, as by what follows.





1 Kings 20:6



Ver. 6. Yet I will send my servants unto thee tomorrow about this time,.... He gave him twenty four hours to consider of it:



and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; the royal palace, and the houses of the noblemen, and even of every of his subjects in Samaria:



and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant (or desirable) in thine eyes, they shall put it in, their hand, and take it away; not be content with what should be given, but search for more; and if any in particular was more desirable to the possessor than anything else, that should be sure to be taken away; which was vastly insolent and aggravating.





1 Kings 20:7



Ver. 7. Then the King of Israel called all the elders of the land,.... His poor sneaking spirit was a little aroused with the last message, and therefore called a council of the elders of the people upon it, which was a piece of wisdom in him:



and said, mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief; nothing less than the entire ruin of the nation:



for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold, and I denied him not; in the sense he understood him, which was, that he was to be a vassal, and tributary to him, for the sake of holding these, which yet was very mean; but he wanted to have these in hand, and not them only, but the pillaging of all his subjects.







1 Kings 20:8



Ver. 8. And all the elders and all the people said unto him,.... They were unanimous in their advice:



hearken not [unto him], nor consent; promising, no doubt, that they would stand by him.





1 Kings 20:9



Ver. 9. Wherefore he sent unto the messengers of Benhadad,.... Upon the advice the elders had given him, and encouraged thereby, though in a poor sneaking manner after all:



tell my lord the king, all that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do; owning him as his lord, and himself as his servant, and promising to grant his first demand, though so insolent, in the sense he understood him, of paying tribute to him for it:



but this thing I may not do; to have not only all put into his hands, but his and his servant's houses to be searched and pillaged, because the elders of his people would not agree; and yet he seems to speak as if he himself would have submitted to it, but was restrained by his council:



and the messengers departed, and brought him word again; reported to Benhadad the answer they received from Ahab.





1 Kings 20:10



Ver. 10. And Benhadad sent unto him, and said,.... That is, to Ahab:



the gods do so unto me, and more also; bring greater evils upon me than I can think or express:



if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me, signifying that he made no doubt of it of reducing it to dust by numbers of men he should bring with him, which would be so many, that if each was to take an handful of dust of the ruins of Samaria, there would not enough for them all; which was an hectoring and parabolical speech, uttered in his wrath and fury.





1 Kings 20:11



Ver. 11 And the king of Israel answered and said,.... Very mildly and very wisely:



tell him, let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off; that is, he that prepares for the battle as he that has got the victory; the sense is, let no man triumph before the battle is over and the victory won; the events of war are uncertain; the battle is not always to the strong.





1 Kings 20:12



Ver. 12. And it came to pass, when Benhadad heard this message (as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions),.... Though it was at noon, or before, 1Ki 20:16, which shows that he and they were addicted to intemperance:



that he said unto his servants; some of the principal officers of his army:



set yourselves in array; prepare for battle, betake yourselves to your arms, invest the city at once, and place the engines against it to batter it down:



and they set themselves in array against the city; besieged it in form, at least prepared for it; for it seems after all that it was not properly done.





1 Kings 20:13



Ver. 13. And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel,.... Supposed by the Jewish writers to be Micaiah the son of Imlah, 1Ki 22:9 one of those perhaps that Obadiah hid in the cave, and now is sent out publicly on an errand to Ahab:



saying, thus saith the Lord, hast thou seen all this great multitude? considered what a vast number Benhadad's army consisted of:



behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; as great as it is:



and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; and not Baal, who can save by few as well as by many, and from a great multitude.





1 Kings 20:14



Ver. 14. And Ahab said, by whom?.... Knowing he had no army with him sufficient to go out with against the Syrian army:



and he said, thus saith the Lord, even by the young men of the princes of the provinces; either such, as Kimchi thinks, who were brought up with him; or, as others, the sons of governors of provinces, who were kept as hostages, that their fathers might not rebel; neither of which is likely: but rather the servants of such princes who waited on them, and lived delicately and at ease, and were not trained up to military exercise, even by these should the victory be obtained:



then he said, who shall order the battle? begin the attack, we or they? or who shall conduct it, or be the general of the army, go before it, and lead them on? Ahab might think, being an idolater, that the Lord would not make use of him, or otherwise who could be thought of but himself?



and he answered, thou; thou must be the commander, go forth with the army, and make the attack upon the enemy.





1 Kings 20:15



Ver. 15. Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two,.... A very small number to go forth against so great an army as the host of the Syrians, and these raw unexperienced young men:



and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand; which could never be the number of all the people in the land, nor even in the city of Samaria, who were able to bear arms; but it must mean such who were willing to go out to war on this occasion: and the number being just the same as of those that bowed not the knee to Baal, has led the Jewish commentators to conclude that these were the men that were numbered for war; but it is not likely that they were all in Samaria, or that none but those would go to war, though it must be owned the number is remarkable.





1 Kings 20:16



Ver. 16. And they went out at noon,.... From Samaria, the two hundred and thirty two young men, and the 7000 Israelites, openly, with great spirit and courage, fearless and undaunted; but it is not said that Ahab went out at the head of them; it seems as if he did not by what is said, 1Ki 20:21,



but Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions (or booths, or tents), he, and the kings, the thirty two kings that helped him; who either were his subjects, or his tributaries, or confederates; being secure, and having nothing to fear from Ahab, he and they gave themselves up to carousing and drinking, even at noon, and so destruction came upon them unawares, as on Belshazzar.





1 Kings 20:17



Ver. 17. And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first,.... From Samaria, before the 7000 did:



and Benhadad sent out; of his pavilion, a messenger or messengers to his sentinels, to know what news, and how matters stood, whether Ahab had sent any message, signifying his compliance with his terms:



and they told him, saying, there are men come out of Samaria; but upon what account they could not say.





1 Kings 20:18



Ver. 18. And he said, whether they be come out for peace,.... To propose terms of peace:



take them alive; make them prisoners, which was contrary to the laws of nations:



or whether they be come out for war, take them alive; he made no doubt of their being easily taken; but he would not have them be put to death, that he might examine them, and know the state of things in Samaria, and what Ahab intended to do, that he might take his measures accordingly.





1 Kings 20:19



Ver. 19. So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city,.... First, as before observed, and marched forwards towards the Syrian camp:



and the army which followed them; consisting of 7000 men.





1 Kings 20:20



Ver. 20. And they slew everyone his man,.... The Syrian army, or at least a body of men detached from them, met them, opposed them, and fought them, and they slew of them 7232 men; as many as they themselves were:



and the Syrians fled; not expecting such a rebuff:



and Israel pursued them; to make some further advantage of their victory:



and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse, with the horsemen; with two couple of horsemen, as the Targum; with these to guard him he galloped away as fast as he could for his life.





1 Kings 20:21



Ver. 21. And the king of Israel went out,.... Of Samaria; when he saw the Syrians fleeing, and his army pursuing, he went forth, perhaps, with more forces, who were now willing to join with him; Josephus {c} says, Ahab had another army within the walls:



and smote the horses and chariots; that is, the men that rode on horses; and in chariots, the Syrian cavalry:



and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter; how many were slain is not said; but the Jewish historian {d} says they plundered the camp, in which were much riches, and great plenty of gold and silver, and took their chariots and horses, and returned to the city of Samaria.



{c} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 14. sect. 2. {d} Ibid.





1 Kings 20:22



Ver. 22. And the prophet came to the king of Israel,.... The same that came to him before:



and said unto him, go, strengthen thyself; exhorted him to fortify his cities, especially Samaria, and increase his army, that he might be able to oppose the king of Syria:



and mark, and see what thou doest: observe his moral and religious actions, and take heed that he did not offend the Lord by them, as well as make military preparations:



for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee; about the same time in the next year, at the spring of the year, when kings go out to war, see 2Sa 11:1.





1 Kings 20:23



Ver. 23. And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him,.... His ministers of state, his privy counsellors:



their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we; and beat them in the last battle; this notion they might receive from what they had heard of Jehovah delivering the law on Mount Sinai to Moses, and of the miraculous things done lately on Mount Carmel, as well as of their worship being in high places, especially at Jerusalem, the temple there being built on an hill, as was Samaria itself, near to which they had their last defeat; and this notion of topical deities very much obtained among the Heathens in later times, some of which they supposed presided over rivers, others over woods, and others over hills and mountains {e}: so Nemestinus the god of woods, Collina the goddess of hills, and Vallina of valleys {f}; and Arnobins {g} makes mention of the god Montinus, and Livy {h} of the god Peninus, who had his name from a part of the Alps, so called where he was worshipped; and there also the goddess Penina was worshipped; and Lactantius {i} speaks of the gods of the mountains the mother of Maximilian was a worshipper of; and even Jupiter had names from mountains, as Olympius, Capitolinus, &c. and such was the great god Pan, called mountainous Pan {k}:



but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they; and prevail over them, and conquer them.



{e} "Dii fumus agrestes, et qui dominemur in altis montibus.----" Ovid. Fast. l. 3. {f} Vid. D. Herbert de Cherbury de Relig. Gent. c. 12. p. 198, 112. {g} Adv. Gentes, l. 4. {h} Hist. l. 21. c. 38. {i} De Mort. Persecutor. c. 11. p. 22. Vid. Ovid. Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 8. ver. 320. "Et numina montis adorant". See Ep. 4. ver. 171. {k} Sophoclis Oedipus Tyr. ver. 1110.





1 Kings 20:24



Ver. 24. And do this thing,.... Also take this further piece of advice:



take the kings away, every man out of his place: for being brought up delicately, they were not inured to war, nor expert in the art of it; and being addicted to pleasure, gave themselves to that, and drew the king into it, which they observed was the case before, though they did not care to mention it; and if they were tributaries or allies, they would not fight as men do for their own country:



and put captains in their rooms; of his own people, men of skill and courage, and who would fight both for their own honour, and for the good of their country.





1 Kings 20:25



Ver. 25. And number thee an army like the army that thou hast lost,.... Raise an army of an equal number, which they supposed he was able to do:



horse for horse and chariot for chariot; as many horses and chariots as he had before:



and we will fight against them in the plain; where they could make use of their horses and chariots to greater advantage than on hills and mountains, see Jud 1:19



and surely we shall be stronger than they; and beat them:



and he hearkened unto their voice, and did so; took their counsel, and prepared an army, and placed captains in it instead of kings.





1 Kings 20:26



Ver. 26. And it came to pass at the return of the year,.... In the spring, or autumn, as some think, See Gill on "2Sa 11:1"



that Benhadad numbered the Syrians; took a muster of his army, to see if he had got the number he had before:



and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel; not that in Judah, Jos 15:53, rather that in Asher, Jos 19:30, but it seems to be that which Adrichomius {l} places in Issachar, near to the famous camp of Esdraelon, or valley of Jezreel, where it is probable the king of Syria intended to have fought; the battle; and some travellers, as he observes, say {m}, the ruins of that city are still shown in that great camp or plain, not far from Gilboa, to the east of Mount Carmel, and five miles from Tabor; according to Bunting {n}, it was fourteen miles from Samaria; but it may be Aphaca near Mount Lebanon, and the river Adonis {o}, is meant.



{l} Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 35. {m} Brocard. & Breidenbach. in ib. {n} Travels, &c. p. 164. {o} Vid. Sozomen. Hist. l. 2. c. 5.





1 Kings 20:27



Ver. 27. And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present,.... The same as before; the two hundred and thirty two young men of the princes of the provinces, and 7000 of the people, not one was missing:



and went against them; out of Samaria, towards Aphek:



and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids: being few and weak, the two hundred and thirty two young men in one body, and the 7000 in another:



but the Syrians filled the country: with their men, their horses, and their chariots.





1 Kings 20:28



Ver. 28. And there came a man of God,.... The same as before, 1Ki 20:13 or had come {p} before the little army went out to meet the Syrians; though he might go to Ahab when encamped, for his encouragement:



and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, thus saith the Lord, because the Syrians have said, the Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys; See Gill on "1Ki 20:23".



therefore will I deliver, all this great multitude into thine hand; not for Ahab's sake would the Lord do this, who does not appear thankful to God for the former victory, nor to be reformed from his idolatry, and the better for it, but for the honour of his own name, which had been blasphemed by the Syrians:



and ye shall know that I am the Lord; both of hills and valleys, the omnipotent Jehovah, the only true God.



{p} vgyw "accesserat", Vatablus.





1 Kings 20:29



Ver. 29. And they pitched one over against the other seven days,.... Very probably the Israelites pitched upon an hill, and the Syrians waited till they changed their position, not caring to fall upon them, though so very supernumerary to them, for the reason before given:



and so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; or they that made war drew nigh, as the Targum, and both sides engaged in battle:



and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians 100,000 footmen in one day; which was a prodigious slaughter to be made by so small an army; the hand of the Lord was visible in it.





1 Kings 20:30



Ver. 30. But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city,.... Which perhaps was in the hands of the Syrians, and was designed for a retreat for them, should they be beaten:



and there a wall fell upon twenty seven thousand of the men that were left; not slain in the battle; here again the Lord might be seen, who, as Abarbinel observes, fought from heaven, and either by a violent wind, or an earthquake, threw down the wall upon them just as they had got under it for shelter:



and Benhadad fled, and came into the city into an inner chamber; or, "into a chamber within a chamber" {q}, for greater secrecy.



{q} rdxb rdx "cubiculo in cubiculum", Pagninus, Montanus.





1 Kings 20:31



Ver. 31. And his servants said unto him,.... Being reduced to the utmost extremity; for if he attempted to go out of the city, he would fall into the hands of the Israelites, and there was no safety in it, the wall of it being fallen down; and it could not be thought he could be concealed long in the chamber where he was, wherefore his servants advised as follows:



behold, now, we have heard that the kings of the Israel are merciful kings; not only the best of them as David and Solomon, but even the worst of them, in comparison of Heathen princes, were kind and humane to those that fell into their hands, and became their captives:



let us, I pray thee; so said one in the name of the rest:



put sack cloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads; and so coming in such a mean and humble manner, and not with their armour on, they might the rather hope to have admittance; so, the Syracusans sent ambassadors to Athens, in filthy garments, with the hair of their heads and beards long, and all in slovenly habits, to move their pity {r};



and go out to the king of Israel: and be humble supplicants to him:



peradventure he will save thy life; upon a petition to him from him; to which the king agreed, and sent it by them.



{r} Justin e Trogo, l. 4. c. 4.





1 Kings 20:32



Ver. 32. So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads,.... Signifying they came to surrender themselves to him as his captives and prisoners, and he might do with them as seemed good to him, hang them up if he pleased, for which they brought ropes with them, as a token that they deserved it, see Isa 20:2,



and came to the king of Israel, and said, thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee let me live: he that a little while ago insolently demanded his wives, and children, and silver, and gold, as his property, now is his humble servant, and begs, not for his crown and kingdom, but for his life:



and he said, is he yet alive? he is my brother; which was intimating at once, that not only they might expect he would spare his life, who seemed to be so glad that he was alive, but that he would show him more favour, having a great affection for him as his brother; this was a very foolish expression from a king in his circumstances, with respect to one who had given him so much trouble and distress, and had behaved with so much haughtiness and contempt towards him.





1 Kings 20:33



Ver. 33. Now the men did diligently observe whether anything would come from him,.... That would be a good omen to them, and encourage them to hope for success; they observed him as diligently by his words and behaviour as soothsayers do when they look out for a lucky sign; for the word is sometimes used of divining {s}:



and did hastily catch it; as soon as it was out of his mouth, and laid hold on it to improve it to advantage, being wiser than him:



and they said, thy brother Benhadad; him whom thou callest thy brother; he is thy brother, and is alive; this they caught, and expressed it, to observe whether it was a slip of his tongue, and whether he spoke it heartily, and would abide by it, or whether he would retract it:



then he said, go ye, bring him; meaning from the city to the place where he was:



then Benhadad came forth to him; out of his chamber, upon the report of his servants:



and he caused him to come up into the chariot; to sit and converse with him there.



{s} wvxny "augurati sunt", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus.





1 Kings 20:34



Ver. 34. And [Benhadad] said unto him,.... The word Benhadad is not in the original text, and some, as Osiander and others, have thought they are the words of Ahab last spoken of; which seems most likely, who not only took Benhadad into his chariot, but in his great and superabundant kindness, though the conqueror, said to him what follows:



the cities which my father took from thy father I will restore; that is, those cities which Omri, the father of Ahab, had taken from the father of Benhadad; for as Omri was a prince of might and valour, 1Ki 16:16, it is more probable that he took cities from the king of Syria, than that the king of Syria should take any from him, and which Ahab in his circumstances weakly promises to restore:



and thou shall make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria; which confirms it that it is Ahab, and not Benhadad, that is speaking; for Benhadad's father never had any power nor residence in Samaria, whereas Omri, the father of Ahab, had, he built it, and made it his royal seat; and, in like manner, Ahab promises Benhadad that he should have his palace at Damascus, the metropolis of Syria, and exercise power there, and over all Syria; whereby Ahab renounced all right he had to the kingdom, and any of the cities of it: for by "streets" are not meant those literally so called, for the making of which there was no reason; nor markets to take a toll from, as some, supposing them to be the words of Benhadad; nor courts of judicature, to oblige them to pay it who refused it, as others; nor fortresses to keep them in awe; but a royal palace, as a learned critic {t} has observed, for Benhadad to reside in; this Ahab gave him power to erect, and added:



and I will send thee away with this covenant; or promise now made:



so he made a covenant with him; confirmed the above promises:



and sent him away; free, to enjoy his crown and kingdom, for which folly and weakness Ahab is reproved by a prophet, 1Ki 20:42.



{t} Vallandi Dissert. ad 1. Reg. xx. 33, 34. Subsect. 2. sect. 4.





1 Kings 20:35



Ver. 35. And a certain man of the sons of the prophets,.... Which the Jews take to be Micaiah, and so Josephus {u}, which is probable; the same that had been with Ahab more than once; and, whoever he was, it is not unlikely that he was the same, since Ahab knew him when his disguise was off, 1Ki 20:41,



said unto his neighbour, in the word of the Lord, smite me, I pray thee; told his neighbour, that by the command of God he was ordered to bid him smite him, so as to wound him:



and the man refused to smite him; being his neighbour, and perhaps a fellow prophet, and having an affection for him.



{u} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 14. sect, 5.





1 Kings 20:36



Ver. 36. Then said he unto him, because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord,.... In not smiting him; which, if he was a prophet, he must know how great an evil it was to disregard or disobey what was said by a prophet in his name; he must be inexcusable:



behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee.

And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him; which may seem severe, yet being an act of disobedience to the command of God, by a prophet of his, was punishable with death.





1 Kings 20:37



Ver. 37. Then he found another man, and said, smite me, I pray thee,.... This is not said to be his neighbour, nor one of the sons of the prophets, but a rustic man, and so stuck not to take him at his word:



and the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him; in his face; made some incision in his flesh, broke the skin, and fetched blood of him; perhaps somewhere about his eyes, by what follows: this he got done to him, that he might look like a wounded soldier, and thereby get the more easily to the speech of Ahab.





1 Kings 20:38



Ver. 38. So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way,.... As he went from Aphek, the place where the battle had been fought, to Samaria, his royal seat:



and disguised himself with ashes upon his face; the Targum is, he covered his eyes with a vail, or piece of cloth, which he wrapped about his head, as men do when they have got a wound or bruise in such a part, which seems very probable; for had he besmeared his face with ashes, clay, or dust, or any such thing, he could not so easily have got it off, as in 1Ki 20:41.





1 Kings 20:39



Ver. 39. And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king,.... With a loud voice, signifying he had something to say unto him, at which he stopped:



and he said, thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; this was not real, but fictitious, an apologue, fable, or parable, by which he would represent to Ahab his own case, and bring him under conviction of his folly, just as Nathan dealt with David:



and, behold, a man turned aside; a superior officer in the army:



and brought a man unto me; he had made a prisoner of:



and said, keep this man; do not let him escape:



if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver; if he let him go willingly, or by any means he should get out of his hands, then he should either die for it, or be fined a talent of silver, which of our money is three hundred and seventy five pounds; and to this it seems he agreed.





1 Kings 20:40



Ver. 40. And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone,.... Employed in one thing or another relative to the battle, his prisoner committed to his care made his escape:



and the king of Israel said unto him, so shall thy judgment be, thyself hast decided it; the sentence was plain and open against him, that either he must die or pay the money, for he himself had agreed to it.





1 Kings 20:41



Ver. 41. And he hasted, and took away the ashes from his face,.... Took off the linen cloth from his eyes, unveiled or unmasked himself:



and the king of Israel discerned him, that he was of the prophets; he knew him again, having seen him once or twice before; otherwise there could be nothing in his face that could discover him to be a prophet, rather he was to be known by his habit.





1 Kings 20:42



Ver. 42. And he said unto him, thus saith the Lord,.... He spake not his own sense, and in his own words, but in the name of the Lord, for which he had authority, that it might have the greater weight with Ahab:



because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction; meaning Benhadad; or "the man of my anathema or curse" {w}; cursed of God for his blasphemy of him, and devoted by him to ruin on that account; or "of my net" {x}, being by his providence brought into a net or noose at Aphek, out of which he could not have escaped, had not Ahab let him go:



therefore thy life shall go for his life; as it shortly did, and that by the hand of a Syrian soldier, 1Ki 22:34,



and thy people for his people; which was fulfilled by Hazael king of Syria, the sins of Israel rendering them deserving of the calamities they endured by his means, see 2Ki 8:12.



{w} ymrx vya "vir anathematis mei", Montanus, Piscator. {x} "Vir retis mei"; so some in Vatablus.





1 Kings 20:43



Ver. 43. And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased,.... With the prophet for what he had said, and with himself for what he had done in letting Benhadad go; the Targum is, he was



"troubled and grieved,''



not so much for the sin he had committed, as for the punishment of it on him and his people:



and came to Samaria; with a heavy heart, for the message of the prophet had spoiled the joy of his victory.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 21:1



INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 21



In this chapter we have an account of Ahab's design to have Naboth's vineyard, for which he offered him another, or the value of that, but Naboth refusing to part with it, Ahab fell sick, 1Ki 21:1, the reason of which being found out by Jezebel, she devised means to get Naboth put to death under the colour of justice for blasphemy, 1Ki 21:5, and then bid Ahab go and take possession of the vineyard, where he was met by Elijah, who denounced the judgments of God upon him, and Jezebel, and all his family, for his injustice, 1Ki 21:15, but he humbling himself, the evil threatened was deferred to the days of his son, 1Ki 21:27.



Ver. 1. And it came to pass, after these things,.... After the two battles with the king of Syria, in which Ahab was victorious, and after he had let Benhadad, a blasphemer, and injurious to him, go free:



[that] Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel; of which place See Gill on "Ho 1:5" or "who was in Jezreel"; that is Naboth, for the vineyard was in Samaria, 1Ki 21:18



hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria; that being the metropolis of the kingdom of Israel, is put for it, who, besides his palace in Samaria, had another in Jezreel; which, according to Bunting {y}, were sixteen miles distant from each other.



{y} Travels, &c. p. 164.





1 Kings 21:2



Ver. 2. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs,.... For a kitchen garden to produce eatables of the vegetable kind for his household, or for a flower garden; and perhaps for both, as Kimchi observes, it being customary to have such in court yards, or behind the house; perhaps he might take his notion of an herb garden from his neighbours the Syrians, who were very diligent and laborious in cultivating their gardens, as Pliny {z}; hence



"multa Syrorum olera'',



the many herbs of the Syrians, became a proverb with the Greeks:



because it is near unto mine house; lay very convenient for him:



and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seemeth good unto thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money; which seems very well spoken, that he would either give him a better in exchange, or purchase it at its full value; he did not pretend to take it by usurpation, by force, against his will, as it was represented by Samuel kings would do, 1Sa 8:14 as yet such oppression and tyranny was not exercised.



{z} Nat Hist. l. 20. c. 5.





1 Kings 21:3



Ver. 3. And Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. The inheritances of families were not to be alienated to another family, or tribe, nor even to be sold, unless in extreme poverty, and then to return at the year of jubilee, Le 25:23. Now Naboth was a man in good circumstances, and under no necessity of selling his vineyard; and, if he sold it, he might reasonably conclude, it becoming a part of the royal demesnes, would never revert to his family; and therefore, both out of regard to the law of God, and the good of his family, would not part with it at any rate: this shows that he was a conscientious man, and therefore is thought to be one of those that would not bow his knee to Baal, and against whom Ahab had a grudge, and sought an opportunity against him.





1 Kings 21:4



Ver. 4. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased,.... Just in the same humour he was after the prophet had delivered his message to him, 1Ki 20:43, where the same words are used as here:



because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him, for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers, neither by way of exchange nor of purchase: and such a denial he could not bear, since it looked like treating him with contempt, and taxing him with imprudence at least, if not with injustice, or both:



and he laid him down upon his bed; or couch, which might be not in his bedchamber, but in one of his halls, where his courtiers were:



and turned away his face; to the wall, not choosing to have conversation with any of his nobles:



and would eat no bread; the vexation took away his stomach, and he became melancholy, at least sullen.





1 Kings 21:5



Ver. 5. But Jezebel his wife came unto him, and said, why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?] She perceived he was low spirited, and supposed he had met with something that had ruffled him, and made him so uneasy that he could not eat his food; and she desired to know what it was, that she might relieve him if possible.





1 Kings 21:6



Ver. 6. And he said, because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, give me thy vineyard for money,.... Sell it him at his own price:



or else, if it please thee; if he liked it better:



I will give thee another vineyard for it; as good, or better; and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard; he represents this answer as surly and ill natured, and as the effect of obstinacy, concealing the reason Naboth alleged for his denial.





1 Kings 21:7



Ver. 7. And Jezebel his wife said unto him, dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?.... Art thou not king of Israel? canst thou not do as thou pleasest? hast thou not power to oblige a subject to obey thy commands, and especially in such a trifling matter as parting with a vineyard, and that upon the most reasonable terms? thou hast too much demeaned thyself as a king; thou oughtest to have exerted thy kingly power and authority, and demanded it from him; the Targum is,



"thou now shalt prosper in thy kingdom over Israel;''



thy reign now is prosperous, and like to continue so, having obtained two such victories over thine enemies, and therefore should not be dejected with such a trifling thing as this:



arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: the kingdom being in such a flourishing state; and let not this affair give thee any trouble or uneasiness; I will take care of that, leave it with me:



I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite: without paying any money, or giving another vineyard in exchange for it.





1 Kings 21:8



Ver. 8. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal,.... He giving her leave, no doubt, to take his seal; though she might not communicate her scheme to him, lest he should object to it:



and sent the letters unto the elders, and to the nobles that were in his city dwelling with Naboth: to the chief magistrates of the city of Jezreel, where Naboth dwelt.





1 Kings 21:9



Ver. 9. And she wrote in the letters, saying, proclaim a fast,.... Pretending fears of some dreadful calamity coming upon the nation, and therefore fasting and humiliation were necessary to avert it, and it would be right to inquire what crimes were committed by men among them, and punish them for them; and intimated to them that Naboth should be chosen as the great offender, and be accused, condemned, and put to death, R. Joseph Kimchi {a} thinks the phrase signifies "call an assembly or congregation"; convene a court of judicature, from the use of the word in the Talmudic language {b}; and so it is thought it is used in Jer 36:6 and indeed it can hardly be thought that Jezebel should have much notion of fasting; and besides, if it was a public fast, why should it be proclaimed only in Jezreel, and not throughout the kingdom?



and set Naboth on high among the people; the court being set, bring him to the bar and arraign him; perhaps in their courts of judicature there was a high place above the heads of the people, where criminals accused used to stand when they took their trials, that they might be seen and heard by all in court.



{a} Apud David. Kimchium in loc. {b} Vid. Buxtorf. Talmud. Lexic. in rad tou





1 Kings 21:10



Ver. 10. And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him,.... Worthless wretches, that have cast off the yoke of the law, as Belial signifies, lawless abandoned creatures, that have no conscience of anything; "knights of the post", as we call them, that will swear anything; these were to be set before Naboth, right against him to confront him, and accuse him to his face, and charge him with crimes next mentioned:



saying, thou didst blaspheme God and the king: and so was guilty of death for the former, if not for both, and of confiscation of estate for the latter, which was the thing aimed at; and Jezebel was willing to make sure work of it, and therefore would have him accused of both:



and then carry him out, and stone him, that he die; immediately, without requiring the witnesses to give proof of their charge, and without giving Naboth leave to answer for himself.





1 Kings 21:11



Ver. 11. And the men of the city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them,.... That Jezebel should contrive so execrable a scheme, and that there should be such sons of Belial among the common people to swear to such falsehoods, need not seem strange; but that the elders and nobles of the city, the chief magistrates thereof, should be so sadly and universally depraved as to execute such a piece of villany, is really surprising. Idolatry, when it prevails, takes away all sense of humanity and justice:



[and] as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them; they punctually, exactly, obeyed the orders in them, as follows.





1 Kings 21:12



Ver. 12. They proclaimed a fast,.... Or called a court,

See Gill on "1Ki 21:9".



and set Naboth on high among the people; placed him at the bar as a criminal, See Gill on "1Ki 21:9", though Josephus {c} thinks he was set on an high place in the court, because he was of an illustrious birth.



{c} Antiqu. l. 3. c. 13. sect. 8.





1 Kings 21:13



Ver. 13. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him,.... Which position showed that they were his accusers, and had a charge against him; it being usual for the accusers and accused to be set face to face, as it was the manner of the Romans in later times, Ac 25:16. Josephus says {d} there were "three" men to accuse him; but the Targum, and all the ancient versions, have only "two":



and the men of Belial witnessed against him, [even] against Naboth, in the presence of the people; both before the judges of the court, and before all the people that filled it, who came to hear the trial; so bold and impudent were they:



saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king; or "bless", an euphemism; the phrase of cursing God being shocking to the ear, and therefore such a word is used to express it, see Job 1:5,



then they carried him forth out of the city; without any further process of examining witnesses, and of hearing what the accused had to say in his defence; but immediately they carried him out of court, and out of the city, to put him to death, malefactors being executed always without the city:



and stoned him with stones, that he died; which was the death blasphemers were put to, Le 24:14, of the manner of which,

See Gill on "Ac 7:58", it seems from 2Ki 9:26, that his sons were stoned with him.



{d} Antiqu. l. 3. c. 13. sect. 8.





1 Kings 21:14



Ver. 14. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. Not only stoned, but stoned to death. This message was sent to her from the magistrates of Jezreel; for though the letters came in Ahab's name, they might be privately informed that this was a scheme of Jezebel's; besides, they knew she had the sway at court, and especially that the news of this man's death would be acceptable to her, and the more if he was of the 7000 that would not bow the knee to Baal.





1 Kings 21:15



Ver. 15. And it came to pass when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab,.... To whom she communicated the news as soon as possible:



arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead; some think that Naboth was a near relation to Ahab, his father's brother's son {e}; which they endeavour to support from his estate lying next to Ahab's, and from his being ordered to be set in an high place among the people; and Josephus, as before observed, says he was of illustrious descent; and so Ahab upon his death, his sons being also put to death with him, was next heir to his estate; and therefore Jezebel bid him enter on the possession of it, he being dead, and his sons also, and therefore there was nothing in his way to obstruct him: but rather her meaning is, that Naboth was dead, not of a natural but violent death, by the hand of the civil magistrate; as for blasphemy against God, so for treason against the king, in virtue of which his estate was forfeited to the crown, and that Ahab had a right to possess it; and so it was certainly condemned in later times however among the Jews, that if a man was condemned to die by the sanhedrim, his goods came to his heirs, but if for treason against the king, they ceded to him {f}.



{e} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 48. 2. {f} Sanhed. ib.





1 Kings 21:16



Ver. 16. And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead,.... Of which he was informed by Jezebel:



that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it; if it was in Jezreel, that was sixteen miles from Samaria, and lay lower than that, in a valley, and therefore he is said to go down to it; and which he did very likely in great state and pomp, many of his nobles and captains accompanying him, as we read that Jehu and Bidkar did ride after him at this time, 2Ki 9:25.





1 Kings 21:17



Ver. 17. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the prophet,.... Where he now was, when this word came to him, is not certain; nor what he had been employed in for some time past, since we hear nothing of him since the unction of Elisha, other prophets of lesser note being employed in messages to Ahab from time to time; perhaps Elijah, while Ahab was engaged in war with the king of Syria, spent his time in founding or reviving the schools of the prophets, and instructing and training up those that were in them for public usefulness, since we afterwards hear of them; the word that came to him is, by the Targum, called the word of prophecy, as indeed it was, foretelling the destruction of Ahab and his house: saying; as follows.





1 Kings 21:18



Ver. 18. Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria,.... Whose seat was there, his palace where he dwelt; and Benjamin of Tudela says {g}, that in his time might be discerned in Samaria the palace of Ahab king of Israel, that is, some traces of it; some connect the last clause with Israel, as if the sense was, that Ahab was king over those tribes of Israel, of which Samaria was the head:



behold, [he is] in the vineyard of Naboth: or "will be" by the time thou gettest thither; though the Arabic version is, he is "now" in the vineyard of Naboth:



whither he is gone down to possess it; as if it was his legal inheritance.



{g} Itinerar. p. 38.





1 Kings 21:19



Ver. 19. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, thus saith the Lord, hast thou killed, and also taken possession?.... Killed in order to possess, and now taken possession upon the murder; some versions, as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic, read without an interrogation, "thou hast killed and hath taken possession", so Joseph Kimchi and Ben Melech; charging him with the murder of Naboth, and the unjust possession of his vineyard; the murder is ascribed to him, because his covetousness was the cause of it; and it was done by the contrivance of his wife; and it is highly probable Ahab knew more of it, and connived at it, and consented to it, than what is recorded, and however, by taking possession upon it, he abetted the fact:



and thou shalt speak unto him, saying, in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine; which was fulfilled in his sons, who were his flesh and blood, 2Ki 9:26, for the punishment was respited in his days, and transferred to his sons, see

1Ki 21:29, though dogs did lick his blood, even his blood also, according to this prophecy, though not in the same place, see

1Ki 22:38, wherefore some take these words not to be expressive of the place where, but of the cause or reason for which this should be done, and read the words, "inasmuch", or "because dogs have licked" {h}, &c.



{h} rva Mwqmb "pro eo quod", Junius & Tremellius; "propierea quod", Grotius; so some in Vatablus.





1 Kings 21:20



Ver. 20. And Ahab said to Elijah, hast thou found me, O mine enemy?.... So he reckoned him, because he dealt faithfully with him, and reproved him for his sins, and denounced the judgments of God upon him for them:



and he answered, I have found thee; as a thief, a robber and plunderer, in another's vineyard; he had found out his sin in murdering Naboth, and unjustly possessing his vineyard, which was revealed to him by the Lord; and now was come as his enemy, as he called him, as being against him, his adversary, not that he hated his person, but his ways and works:



because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord; had given up himself wholly to his lusts, was abandoned to them, and as much under the power of them as a man is that has sold himself to another to be his slave; and which he served openly, publicly in the sight of the omniscient God, and in defiance of him. Abarbinel gives another sense of the word we render "sold thyself", that he "made himself strange", as if he was ignorant, and did not know what Jezebel had done; whereas he knew fully the whole truth of the matter, and that Naboth was killed through her contrivance, and by her management purposely; and so he did evil in the sight of that God that knows all things, pretending he was ignorant when he was not, and this Elijah found out by divine revelation; so the word is used in

Ge 42:6, but the former sense is best, as appears from

1Ki 21:25.





1 Kings 21:21



Ver. 21. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee,.... Upon his own person, by cutting him off with a violent death, though his family was so numerous, having no less than seventy sons:



and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left Israel; See Gill on "1Ki 14:10".





1 Kings 21:22



Ver. 22. And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah,.... Two of his predecessors, whose families were utterly destroyed, 1Ki 15:29,



for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin: not only by his worship of the calves, but of the idols of the Zidonians, particularly Baal, and also of the Amorites, 1Ki 21:26.





1 Kings 21:23



Ver. 23. And of Jezebel also spake the Lord,.... To Elijah, and by him:



saying, the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel or in the inheritance or portion of Jezreel, as the Targum; Jarchi interprets it, the valley of Jezreel; the fulfilment of this see in 2Ki 9:30.





1 Kings 21:24



Ver. 24. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat, and him that dieth in the field the fowls of the air shall eat. That is, they shall have no burial, see 1Ki 14:11 hitherto are the words of the Lord by Elijah; next follow the remarks of the historian.





1 Kings 21:25



Ver. 25. But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord,.... Not of any of his predecessors, even those whose families had been destroyed, as his would be, 1Ki 21:21.

See Gill on "1Ki 21:20".



whom Jezebel his wife stirred up; to idolatry, revenge, and murder, and to whose will he was a slave, and is one instance of his being a captive to sin, and giving up himself to the power of it.





1 Kings 21:26



Ver. 26. And he did very abominably in following idols,.... Which were abominable to the Lord; "dunghill gods", as the Tigurine version:



according to all things as did the Amorites, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel; meaning the seven nations that formerly inhabited Canaan, but were driven out for their sins, to make way for the children of Israel, of which the Amorites were one, and here put for all the rest.





1 Kings 21:27



Ver. 27 And it came to pass when Ahab heard these words,.... Delivered in 1Ki 21:21,



that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon, his flesh, tore off his clothes, and stripped himself of all, even of his very shirt, and put sackcloth on his bare flesh, a coarse cloth made of hair, and such as sacks are made with:



and fasted, how long it is not said:



and lay in sackcloth; in the night on his bed, would have no linen on him day nor night:



and went softly: step by step, as persons mourning, grieving, and pensive, do; the Targum renders it "barefoot", and so Jarchi.





1 Kings 21:28



Ver. 28. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite,.... After he was gone from Ahab, and Ahab had been some time in this humble posture; the Targum calls it the word of prophecy, and so it was, as the next verse shows: saying: as follows.





1 Kings 21:29



Ver. 29. Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me?.... Which yet was but an external humiliation, to be seen only with bodily eyes, as were all his actions and postures, before observed. Some Jewish writers {i} think his repentance was true and perfect, and his conversion thorough and real: they tell us {k}, that he was in fasting and prayer morning and evening before the Lord, and was studying in the law all his days, and returned not to his evil works any more, and his repentance was accepted: but the contrary appears manifest; we never read that he reproved Jezebel for the murder of Naboth, nor restored the vineyard to his family, which he would have done had he been a true penitent; nor did he leave his idols; we quickly hear of his consulting with the four hundred prophets of the groves, and expressing his hatred of a true prophet of the Lord, 1Ki 22:6, his humiliation arose from dread of punishment, and not from the true fear of God; however, it was such as was never seen in any of his wicked predecessors, and is taken notice of by the Lord. Luther {l} from these words concluded, and was persuaded, that he was saved:



because he humbled himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house; this was not a pardon, only a reprieve; the sentence pronounced on him and his family was not taken off, nor countermanded, only the execution of it prolonged; it is promised that the destruction of his family should not be in his lifetime, but after his death, in his son's days, otherwise he himself died a violent death, and the dogs licked his blood, as were foretold; however, this may be an encouragement to those who are truly humbled for their sins, and really repent of them, that they shall receive forgiveness at the hand of God, since he showed so much regard to an outward humiliation and repentance.



{i} Bereshit Rabba in Abarbinel in loc. {k} Pirke Eliezer, c. 43. {l} Mensal. Colloqu. c. 32. p. 360.

 

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