1 Kings 20

Introduction

The last three chapters of 1 Kings focussed on Elijah the prophet. So, we were introduced to him in chapter 17 where he announced to King Ahab that there would be no rain in the next few years except at God’s command. And then Elijah went away and hid, first in the Kerith Ravine, where the ravens fed him; and then in Zarephath, where a widow fed him. In chapter 18 we had the great trial on Mount Carmel between Elijah and the prophets of Baal to see whether Baal is God or whether the Lord is God. And, of course, it became clear that Baal is nothing; and the Lord, he is God and worthy of our worship. And then in chapter 19 we read how Elijah travelled from Ahab’s palace in Jezreel to Mount Horeb, also known as Sinai, to speak to the Lord. Elijah complained to the Lord that the people had broken the covenant which the Lord had made with them in the days of Moses at Mount Sinai. And the Lord responded by saying that he would punish the people for their rebellion, but he would nevertheless keep 7,000 for himself. In other words, because he is gracious and kind, he would save some of them.

And so, the focus of those three chapters was on Elijah the prophet. The focus of the next three chapters is on Ahab the king. Whereas Elijah was the Lord’s obedient prophet, Ahab is the Lord’s disobedient king. In today’s chapter, he disobeyed God in relation to Ben-Hadad, an enemy king. In chapter 21 we have the story of Naboth’s vineyard and how Ahab let his wife arrange for Naboth to be killed so that Ahab could take over the vineyard. And in chapter 22 we have the record of Ahab’s death. So, the focus of the next three chapters is on King Ahab, who foreshadows the coming of Christ our King. But he foreshadows the coming of Christ our King not in a positive way, but in a negative way. That is to say, Ahab’s disobedience stands in contrast to Christ’s perfect obedience.

There’s a lot going on in this chapter, but really all the action boils down to two battles followed by the God’s judgment on Ahab.

Verses 1 to 21

The first battle and the events surrounding it are recorded for us in verses 1 to 21. We’re told that the king of Aram, Ben-Hadad, mustered his entire army to go and besiege Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel. And you’ll see from verse 1 that he was accompanied by 32 kings with their horses and chariots. In those days, a powerful king like Ben-Hadad would form alliances with weaker kings. The weaker kings would agree to pay tribute to the stronger king; and the stronger king would promise to provide protection to the weaker kings. In other words, the weaker kings would become vassals, or subordinates, of the stronger king. And when it was necessary, the stronger king could call on his vassals or subordinates to join him when he went to war. And that’s what is happening here.

And from what we read in verse 2, it seems the reason Ben-Hadad was attacking Samaria was in order to make Ahab one of his vassals or subordinates. So, he sent messengers to Ahab to lay claim on all of Ahab’s silver and gold and the best of his wives and children. At this stage it’s unlikely that he wanted Ahab to hand over his silver and gold and wives and children. Instead he was declaring that from now on Ahab would be his vassal and Ahab should therefore acknowledge that from now on Ben-Hadad was his lord and master.

And before we go on, we should note how far Israel has fallen since the days of Solomon, when Israel was a mighty and prosperous kingdom, with kings and nations paying tribute to Solomon. But Israel is so much weaker now and therefore Ben-Hadad is confident that Ahab will submit to him.

And sure enough, according to verse 4, Ahab submitted to Ben-Hadad and was willing to comply with his demand. King Ahab even calls Ben-Hadad his ‘lord and king’. Do you see that in verse 4? It must have been humiliating for Ahab.

And it only gets worse, because Ben-Hadad sends his messengers a second time and this time he says that he’s actually going to send his officials to enter Ahab’s palace and the houses of his officials and take all their valuables. He’s going to seize what they own and make it his. In other words, he’s going to strip the palace bare.

This time Ahab turned to his elders for advice and they advised him not to listen to Ben-Hadad and not to comply with his demands. Stand up to him! And so he sent his reply to Ben-Hadad, saying he was willing to comply to his first demand and become his vassal, but he won’t agree to his second demand.

And, of course, Ben-Hadad is ready for a fight, isn’t he? ‘May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful.’ He means that he’s going to pulverise Samaria and turn it into dust. However since he has so many men in his army, there won’t be enough dust for every soldier in his vast army to pick up a handful.

And you have to admire Ahab for the way he replied, because he says to Ben-Hadad in verse 11 that one who puts on armour should not boast like one who takes it off. We might say: don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched. The time for boasting is not before the battle, but afterwards. But Beh-Hadad is not too concerned. He’s drinking with the other kings. And he tells his men to prepare for war.

And then, out of the blue, a prophet turns up to speak to Ahab. He has a message from the Lord and it’s a wonderful message, because the Lord promises to hand over Ben-Hadad’s army into his hand. The Lord is going to give the victory to Ahab so that Ahab will know that the Lord is God.

We don’t know when this battle took place. Although it’s recorded for us in chapter 20, we don’t know whether it took place before the trial on Mount Carmel or after it. But both chapters make clear that the Lord is the one, true and living God. And so, Ahab should not trust Baal, because Baal is not real. He should trust the Lord, who is the one, true and living God; and he’s the one who can help Ahab when he’s in trouble.

And once again we see the Lord’s grace and mercy and his patience, because he wants Ahab to know that he is God. He wants Ahab to believe. He wants Ahab to turn from his false gods and to turn to the Lord. And so, when Ben-Hadad threatened Ahab, the Lord was ready to step in to help Ahab so that Ahab would see God’s greatness.

And every day the Lord reveals himself to people throughout the world. He reveals his glory and power by the things he has made, which speak to us of his greatness. And he reveals his kindness and goodness to all, because he causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall and the crops to grow to give food to all kinds of people around the world. And so, he fills our lives with good things to enjoy. And then, God has given us his word so that we might know him; and he has sent preachers into all the world to proclaim the good news of the gospel. The Lord is gracious and merciful and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and he is very patient with us, putting up with our sins and making himself known to people around the world so that they will know him and turn to him. He is patient and kind and he reveals himself to us again and again and again so that we might know that he is God. And that’s what he’s doing here in this chapter.

Ahab listens to the Lord’s promise and asks who will do this? That is, who will fight for him? Although the NIV says that the young officers will do it, some of the commentators suggests that the word translated ‘young officers’ should really be translated ‘lads’. And the point is that they are not experienced soldiers. Nevertheless their inexperience doesn’t matter, their weakness doesn’t matter, because the Lord will enable them to gain the victory. And the Lord makes clear that Ahab should start the battle. In other words, he should lead his lads into battle. And so, he summoned his men. We’re told in verse 15 that he had 7,000 men in total, but the word for a thousand is also the word for a company of soldiers. And so, he perhaps only had seven companies of soldiers. And they went to fight against Ben-Hadad. And they won! The men from Aram fled and Ben-Hadad escaped, but still Israel was able to inflict heavy losses on the Arameans. The Lord kept his promise and gave them victory. Fantastic!

Verses 22 to 25

In verse 22 we read that the prophet came to Ahab and advised him to strengthen his position, because Ben-Hadad is likely to attack again the following year. And sure enough, in verses 23 to 25, we see the Arameans preparing to attack again. The officials have this strange idea that the Lord has power in the hills only and therefore they should attack Israel on the plains. But they also advise Ben-Hadad to reorganise his army so that they will be stronger than before. And Ben-Hadad listened to them and did what they suggested.

Verses 26 to 30

And so, we come to the second battle in this chapter. According to verse 26, Ben-Hadad mustered his men and went to this place Aphek to fight against Israel. The Israelite army also gathered together and marched out to meet the Arameans. The narrator tells us in verse 27 that when the Israelites set up camp, they were like two small flocks of goats, while their enemies covered the countryside. So, the Israelites were clearly outnumbered.

And once again the Lord sent a prophet to reassure Ahab. He says that because of their faulty theology — thinking the Lord only has power over the hills — the Lord is going to deliver them into Ahab’s hands. So, once again the Lord is going to give the victory to Ahab. And once again the Lord says he will do this so that ‘you will know that I am the Lord.’ This time the ‘you’ is plural. The Lord wants the whole of Israel to know that he is God. He wants them to worship him and not Baal.

For seven days they camped opposite one another. And then, on the seventh day, they began to fight each other. And once again, the Israelites won! Many of the Arameans were killed or injured and the rest fled for their lives to the city of Aphek. But the walls of the city fell on them and thousands were killed. And Ben-Hadad also fled for his life and hid himself in an inner room. His officials advised him that the kings of Israel were known for being merciful. And so, they put on sackcloth and went out to meet Ahab, in the hope that he would show them mercy.

And look how Ahab responds when he heard that Ben-Hadad, his enemy, was alive. He describes him as his brother, which is very odd given everything we have just read in this chapter. And then they agreed peace terms with one another. And it says in verse 34 that Ahab made a treaty with Ben-Hadad and let him go.

Verses 35 to 43

And so, the chapter records for us these two battles. On both occasions the Lord gave the victory to Ahab, king of Israel. But in the end, Ahab let his enemy go free. And so, in verses 35 to 43 we have the Lord’s judgment on Ahab, who makes clear that Ahab shouldn’t have let his enemy go free.

We’re told in verse 35 that the word of the Lord came to one of the sons of the prophets. We’ll hear more about the sons of the prophets in 2 Kings. And by the word of the Lord, this prophet said to his companion, ‘Strike me with your weapon.’ His companion refused and the prophet warned him that a lion will therefore kill him, because he did not obey the word of the Lord. And sure enough, the prophet’s companion was killed by a lion. The prophet then found someone else and asked him to do the same thing. This time the man struck him and wounded him. And now, disguised with a headband over his eyes, the prophet stood by the road and waited for Ahab to pass by. When he did so, the prophet made up a story about how he was a soldier and had been commanded to guard a prisoner, but the prisoner escaped. Presumably the prisoner had to be guarded until it was time to execute him, because the penalty for letting him escape was death. So, the soldier should die in place of the condemned prisoner who escaped.

Ahab listened to the story and agreed that the man must pay for his failure: he must be killed in place of the condemned prisoner who had escaped. That’s the appropriate penalty. And that’s when the prophet took off his disguise and revealed himself to be one of the Lord’s prophets. And he revealed that the story was really a story about Ahab, because Ahab had let Ben-Hadad go, when it was the Lord’s will for Ben-Hadad to die. Therefore it should be Ahab’s life for Ben-Hadad’s life, and Ahab’s people for Ben-Hadad’s people.

You might be wondering why Ben-Hadad had to die. Why shouldn’t Ahab have shown him mercy? And isn’t it a good thing for God’s people to be merciful? After all, God is merciful to us; shouldn’t we be merciful to others? However, we’ve come across this kind of thing before, when we were studying 1 Samuel and the stories of Saul and David. Saul was not a good king, because he did not destroy his enemies. And David was a good king, because he did destroy his enemies. And it all goes back to Deuteronomy 7, when the Lord’s people were preparing to enter the Promised Land of Canaan. And in Deuteronomy 7 the Lord commanded them to drive out the nations who were living in the land at that time. Don’t make peace with them. Don’t make any treaties with them. Don’t become friends with them. Instead you must destroy them completely. And the Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy 7 for destroying them completely is the same Hebrew word which is used in 1 Kings 20. Ahab should have destroyed Ben-Hadad completely, because it was God’s will for his people to drive the nations out of the Promised Land by killing them.

And there were two reasons for destroying them completely. The first is that they would only lead the Israelites astray. If the Israelites let them live, the pagan nations would teach the Israelites to worship false gods. Unfortunately it was now too late for that, because Ahab and the Israelites were worshipping Baal. But the second reason for destroying the nations who lived in the Promised Land was because the Lord wanted to use the Israelites to punish the pagan nations for their sin. They were a wicked people who did wicked things; and though the Lord had given the nations time to repent, they refused to repent and they continued in their sin. And therefore the Lord wanted to use Israel to punish them.

And so, according to Deuteronomy 7, God’s people were to destroy the nations living in the Promised Land. And Ben-Hadad had invaded the Promised Land. But instead of destroying him, Ahab let him live. He made peace with him, even though Ben-Hadad was God’s enemy. And since Ahab had disobeyed the Lord, the Lord pronounced his judgment on Ahab. And instead of confessing his sin, and seeking the Lord’s forgiveness, we read in verse 43 that Ahab went away sullen and angry. Instead of humbling himself before the Lord, he remained unrepentant.

Conclusion

What God said to his people in Deuteronomy 7 was for those people in that place at that time. After the Lord’s resurrection from the dead, he told his apostles to go into all the nations, not to kill and destroy, but to preach the good news of the gospel to all in the hope that they will repent and believe. And even if they will not repent and believe, we are nevertheless to love them and to pray for them and to do good to them. The kingdom of God does not come now by force, but by persuasion. We cannot compel people to believe, but we seek to persuade them with the good news. And the only sword we have at our disposal now is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.

However, what Ahab was supposed to do, but which he did not do, points us to Christ our King, who came into the world as a great and mighty warrior to destroy our great enemy, who is Satan. The writer to the Hebrews makes clear that Satan is our great enemy, because he holds us in slavery by the fear of death. So, we’re to imagine Satan as our enemy and we’re to imagine that death is like a mighty club which Satan is holding in his hand. And Satan towers over the whole human race and he frightens us all with the threat of death. And he cares for no one and he frightens everyone. Just as Ben-Hadad wanted to pulverise Samaria, so the Devil wants to pulverise us and turn us into dust.

And the reason death is such a mighty weapon in Satan’s hand is because of sin. If there had been no sin in the world — if everyone always did what was right — then there would have been no death. But since there’s sin, since we all break God’s laws, then there’s death, because death is the penalty for sin.

But by his death on the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ, our mighty king, has defeated death. And he’s defeated death by defeating sin. What do I mean?

The Apostle Paul said that the sting of death is sin. Death’s power to hurt us comes from the fact that we’re all sinners. But the Lord Jesus Christ has removed the sting of death by paying for our sins on the cross. It’s power to hurt us has been removed. Death is now like a wasp with no sting. A wasp with no sting cannot hurt us; and death has had its sting, its power, removed, because of Christ, who suffered and died for our sins.

Believers still die, but death is no longer something for us to fear, because death for the believer is the doorway into God’s presence, which is better by far than anything else. I’ve been quoting the words of Tim Keller on Sunday evenings recently, who said that ‘All death can now do to Christians is to make their lives infinitely better.’ Since Christ has paid for our sins with his life, then death has lost its sting and all it can now do to Christians is to make our lives infinitely better, because when believers die they go to be with the Lord.

And by defeating sin and death in this way, Christ our mighty king has destroyed the power of Satan over us. Satan can no longer hold us in slavery by our fear of death, because death is no longer frightening for us.

And so, Christ our King has defeated Satan by defeating sin and death. And this is why you’re to trust in him. This is why you’re to submit to him as your king. This is why you’re to live your life for him. It’s because he is a great king and a mighty warrior, and unlike Ahab who disobeyed God, the Lord Jesus was obedient, and he destroyed our great enemy. And he gives to all who believe in his name everlasting life in the presence of God in the Promised Land to come.