1 Kings 20:41-43 Not Repentant!

 “And he hastened to take the bandage away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. Then he said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.’ ” So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased, and came to Samaria.” I Kings‬ ‭20‬:‭41‬-‭43‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. The king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets: This showed why the prophet found it wise to disguise himself as a soldier recently returned from battle, and why the wound was necessary. Ahab consciously shielded himself from the prophets.

b. Because you have let slip out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people: God intended that Ben-Hadad should be utterly destroyed, but He also intended that this happen by the hand of the army of Israel. God was interested in more than the mere death of Ben-Hadad, but also in the way that death came about.

c. So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased: Ahab was sullen and displeased, but he was not repentant. He had the sorrow of being a sinner and knowing the consequences of sin, without having the sorrow for the sin itself. (Guzik)

Not Repentant!

Throughout the Bible when the Lords people repent, God relents and shows mercy. It’s one of His merciful traits!

“So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.”

‭‭II Samuel‬ ‭12‬:‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

King Ahab was not repentant, but if you are still breathing then you have time to confess to the Lord anything that’s displeasing to Him!

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

May we all pray this on a daily basis.

Blessings 

1 Kings 20:39-40 God-appointed work!

 “Now as the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and there, a man came over and brought a man to me, and said, ‘Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ While your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” Then the king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.”” I Kings‬ ‭20‬:‭39‬-‭40‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Your servant went out into the midst of the battle: After the pattern of other prophets, this anonymous prophet brought a message to King Ahab through a made-up story.

b. While your servant was busy here and there, he was gone: The prophet’s story told of a man who was responsible to guard the life of another, and proved himself unfaithful. In the story, the guilty man’s excuse was that he was busy here and there, which was no excuse at all. He should have paid attention to the job he had to do.

i. “This was likely enough to happen on a battlefield. It would not be possible to hold your prisoner, and to busy yourself about other things at the same time.” (Meyer)

ii. The prophet’s made-up story with the fictional excuse becomes real in the life of many, especially many ministers of the Gospel. 

“If a man is called to preach the Word, and becomes busy over a hundred things other than that of his central work, and so loses the opportunity to preach, his failure is complete. That which is our God-appointed work, we must do. If we fail in that, the fact that we have been ‘busy here and there,’ doing all sorts of other things, is of no avail” (Morgan).

iii. He was gone: Even as the fictional prisoner escaped, so many opportunities escape us in the Christian life. “I want you all to remember this morning that if any portion of life has not been spent in God’s service it is gone. Time past is gone. You can never have it back again, not even the last moment which just now glided by” (Spurgeon).

c. So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it: In the prophet’s story, he was unfaithful in guarding something that was entrusted to him. Ahab rightly judged that he should be held responsible for his failure to guard what was entrusted to him. (Guzik)

God-appointed work!

Don’t miss Morgan’s commentary! How can a man preach if he is busy over a hundred things? The same applies to us! If we are serving the Lord in some capacity we can’t be of service if we are busy over a hundred things! 

Morgan’s example of a preacher is spot on and sitting through one sermon will demonstrate his failure is complete!

Do you prioritize God-appointed work?

Blessings 

1 Kings 20:35-38 God works in mysterious ways!

 “Now a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor by the word of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” And the man refused to strike him. Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, surely, as soon as you depart from me, a lion shall kill you.” And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him. And he found another man, and said, “Strike me, please.” So the man struck him, inflicting a wound. Then the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes.” ‭‭I Kings‬ ‭20‬:‭35‬-‭38‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. A certain man of the sons of the prophets: This seems to be a different prophet from the man mentioned earlier in the chapter. This is another reminder that the 7,000 faithful followers of Yahweh were active in Israel.

i. “Although he is not named, Josephus believed the anonymous ‘man of God’ introduced in verse 35 was Micaiah who figures so prominently in the next story. He suggested it was in retaliation for Micaiah’s prophetic condemnation that the king put him in prison.” (Dilday)

ii. “This is the first reference to these special bands of prophets (2 Kings 2:3-7, 2:15; 4:1, 4:38; 5:22; 6:1; 9:1) who appear during the critical period of the Omride dynasty but are otherwise not well attested.” (Wiseman)

b. Strike me, please: Directed by God, the prophet needed an injury to display to King Ahab. When his neighbor refused, the prophet announced coming judgment on the neighbor, through the unusual method of a lion attack (a lion found him and killed him).

i. The neighbor was not just another man in the kingdom of Israel. The implication was that he was a fellow member of the sons of the prophets. He himself was a man given to following God and sensitive to God’s work in the prophets. He should have known better. Though this is not as clear in the New King James translation, it is clearer in other translations: his companion (NIV), a certain member of a company of prophets said to another (NRSV) another (NASB) to another man (NLB).

ii. “This seems a hard measure, but there was ample reason for it. This person was also one of the sons of the prophets, and he knew that God frequently delivered his counsels in this way, and should have immediately obeyed; for the smiting could have had no evil in it when God commanded it, and it could be no outrage or injury to his fellow when he himself required him to do it.” (Clarke)

c. Disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes: Ready with his injury, the prophet waited for the arrival of King Ahab so he could deliver his message from God to the king. (Guzik)

God works in mysterious ways!

When we read these verses and the commentary we wonder what the Lord is doing with the injured prophet and why the death sentence to the one who refused to strike him?

In our own lives we sometimes wonder why the Lord is doing things differently than we would!

““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We need to trust in the Lord because the Father knows best!

Blessings 

1 Kings 20:31-34 The Victory Was The Lord’s!

 “Then his servants said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please, let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.” So they wore sackcloth around their waists and put ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ” And he said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” Now the men were watching closely to see whether any sign of mercy would come from him; and they quickly grasped at this word and said, “Your brother Ben-Hadad.” So he said, “Go, bring him.” Then Ben-Hadad came out to him; and he had him come up into the chariot. So Ben-Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” Then Ahab said, “I will send you away with this treaty.” So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.”

‭‭I Kings‬ ‭20‬:‭31‬-‭34‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Please, let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: Not long before this, Ben-Hadad spoke severe threats against Ahab and the Kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 20:1-6). Now, he humbled himself as much as he could to win mercy and favor from the unexpectedly triumphant King of Israel.

i. “The rope around the head was a sign of supplication, the figure being that of the porter at the wheel of the victor’s chariot.” (Patterson and Austel)

ii. Sinners should come to God the King with the same manner as Ben-Hadad. They should come with sincerity, with humility, with surrender, with earnestness, and with close watching to see whether any sign of mercy would come to them.

b. Is he still alive? He is my brother: Ahab felt a kinship towards this pagan king with exceedingly pagan ideas of God. Perhaps Ahab wanted Ben-Hadad and Syria’s friendship as protection against the powerful and threatening Assyrian Empire. If so, he looked for friends in the wrong places.

i. “This was not courtesy, but foolery. Brother Ben-Hadad will ere long fight against Ahab with that life which he had given him (chapter 22:31).” (Trapp)

c. I will send you away with this treaty: Ahab had no business making this treaty. The victory was the LORD’s and did not belong to Ahab; he had no right to negotiate away the victory.

The Victory Was The Lord’s!

Like Ahab some of us believe that the victory was of our doing, but the victory was the Lord’s not anything of us!

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Our victory over death “is the gift of God”!

Have you accepted His gift?

Blessings 

1 Kings 20:29-30 Clearly a Miracle!

 “And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day. But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; then a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left. And Ben-Hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner chamber.” I Kings‬ ‭20‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. The children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day: This was clearly a miracle, yet it was a miracle working through the existing Israeli army, not by another outside agency. God wanted to show that as unlikely as it seemed, He could work through this outwardly weak and ineffective instrument.

b. Then a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left: After the great victory on the battlefield, God moved in other extraordinary ways to defeat the Syrians, who had defamed His character through their flawed understanding of Him.

i. “The 27,000 killed in Aphek would include everyone in the city when the walls fell.” (Wiseman) (Guzik)

Clearly a Miracle!

There have been times in my life that I look back and realize I am only here because of the grace of God! Clearly a miracle happened when I was felling a tree and it went wrong and it missed me by inches, but others would say it was just luck. 

Jesus had a similar problem when performing miracles!

“Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”” ‭‭

Matthew‬ ‭12‬:‭24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

What has God (the Father), God the Son (Jesus) or God (the Holy Spirit) done in your life that you can point to and say clearly a miracle, by the grace of God I am here today?

Blessings 

1 Kings 20:26-28 God’s Power is Every Where!

 “So it was, in the spring of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside. Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”” I Kings‬ ‭20‬:‭26‬-‭28‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside: When Ben-Hadad came to avenge their previous loss, he came with overwhelming force. Ben-Hadad didn’t want to risk another humiliation.

b. Because the Syrians have said, “The LORD is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand: God took the flawed theology of the Syrians as a personal insult. Our flawed and wrong ideas about God always take away from His glory and majesty, never adding to them.

i. “God resents their blasphemy, and is determined to punish it. They shall now be discomfited in such a way as to show that God’s power is every where, and that the multitude of a host is nothing against him.” (Clarke)

(Guzik)

God’s Power is Every Where!

When we examine our lives, the people around us and mother nature do you see the multitude of a host, that Gods power is every where?

I see it in the people He brought out of the depths of addiction. I see it in fellow Christians helping in countless ministries, helping the poor, distributing food, visiting people in hospitals. I see it in nature and in the heavens.

How can the foolish say there is no God?

“The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭14‬:‭1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

What does your heart tell you about God?

Blessings 

1 Kings 20:23-25 Put God in a Box?

 “Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they. So do this thing: Dismiss the kings, each from his position, and put captains in their places; and you shall muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than they.” And he listened to their voice and did so.”

‭‭I Kings‬ ‭20‬:‭23‬-‭25‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Their gods are gods of the hills: The idea of the localized deity was prominent in the ancient world. They felt that particular gods had authority over particular areas. Because the recent victory was won on hilly terrain, the servants of the king of Syria believed that the God of Israel was a localized deity with power over the hills, not the plains.

i. Here they imagined that God could be molded into an image that they wanted or could relate to. “The art of god-making is very common among men. Instead of going to revelation to see what God is, and humbly believing in him as he reveals himself, men sit down and consider what sort of God he ought to be, and in so doing they are no wiser than the man who makes a god of mud or wood or stone” (Spurgeon).

ii. Many today think that God is a God of hills but not of the plains. They think God is a God of the past but not of the present. They think God is a God of a few special favorites but not of all His people. They think that God is God of one kind of trial, but not of another kind. “Depend upon it, since Satan could not kill the church by roaring at her like a lion, he is now trying to crush her by hugging her like a bear. There is truth in this, but it is not all the truth. Do you really think, my brethren, that God cannot preserve his Church in the particular trial through which she is now passing? Is he the God of the hills of persecution, but not the God of the valleys of prosperity?” (Spurgeon).

iii. “Will God aid a Whitfield and not help a poor local preacher holding forth upon the green? Will he assist the earnest minister who addresses thousands, and desert the simple girl who teaches a dozen little children the old, old story of the cross? Is this after the fashion of God, to patronise the eminent and neglect the lowly? Does Jesus despise the day of small things?” (Spurgeon)

b. Then we will fight against them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than they: The action they recommended was logical, given their theology. Their theological belief directed their advice and action. (Guzik)

Put God in a box?

The servants of the king of Syria wrongly believed “Their gods are gods of the hills”! You can’t put God in a box and shape Him to fit your image of what you think God should be. He is the God that created the heavens and the earth! 

Do you only open the God box only on Sunday?

No my friends! He is either the God of everything or you are worshipping the wrong god! 

Recently we have been hanging a bird feeder with sunflower seeds and have been enjoying the seasonal birds that have been feeding on them. I thank God for their beauty and their wonderful singing! After a long hard winter it’s a blessing from God to witness the wonderful nature of spring!

Do you thank God for the simple things in life, like birds singing?

Blessings