1 Kings 20

1 Kings 20 1

My Notes Authors Matthew Henry - Commentary on the Whole Bible Here is, I. The threatening descent which Ben-hadad made upon Ahab’s kingdom, and the siege he laid to Samaria, his royal city, v. 1. What the ground of the quarrel was we are not told; covetousness and ambition were the principle, which would never want some pretence or other. David in his time had quite subdued the Syrians and made them tributaries to Israel, but Israel’s apostasy from God makes them formidable again. Asa had tempted the Syrians to invade Israel once (ch. xv. 18-20), and now they did it of their own accord. It is dangerous bringing a foreign force into the country: posterity may pay dearly for it. Ben-hadad had with him thirty-two kings, who were either tributaries to him, and bound in duty to attend him, or confederates with him, and bound in interest to assist him. How little did the title of king look when all these poor petty governors pretended to it!

1 Kings 20 12

My Notes Authors Matthew Henry - Commentary on the Whole Bible The treaty between the besiegers and the besieged being broken off abruptly, we have here an account of the battle that ensued immediately. I. The Syrians, the besiegers, had their directions from a drunken king, who gave orders over his cups, as he was drinking (v. 12), drinking himself drunk (v. 16) with the kings in the pavilions, and this at noon. Drunkenness is a sin which armies and their officers have of old been addicted to. Say not thou then that the former days were, in this respect, better than these, though these are bad enough. Had he not been very secure he would not have sat to drink; and, had he not been intoxicated, he would not have been so very secure. Security and sensuality went together in the old world, and Sodom, Luke xvii. 26, &c. Ben-hadad’s drunkenness was the forerunner of his fall, as Belshazzar’s was, Dan v. How could he prosper that preferred his pleasure before his business, and kept his kings to drink with him when they should have been at their respective posts to fight for him? In his drink, 1. He orders the town to be invested, the engines fixed, and every thing got ready for the making of a general attack (v. 12), but stirs not from his drunken club to see it done. Woe unto thee, O land! when thy king is such a child. 2. When the besieged made a sally (and, by that time, he was far gone) he gave orders to take them alive (v. 18), not to kill them, which might have been done more easily and safely, but to seize them, which gave them an opportunity of killing the aggressors; so imprudent was he in the orders he gave, as well as unjust, in ordering them to be taken prisoners though they came for peace and to renew the treaty. Thus, as is usual, he drinks, and forgets the law, both the policies and the justice of war.

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