CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1 Kings 22:32. They turned aside to fight against him—יּסָרֻו—they turned to him. Sept. has εκύκλωσαν, surrounded him.
1 Kings 22:34.—Drew a bow at a venture—Lit., “in bis simplicity.” So 2 Samuel 15:11.
1 Kings 22:38. They washed his armour—A manifestly incorrect reading. Lit., The harlots bathed; either bathed him, or themselves bathed in the stream stained with his blood, his chariot having been washed therein. To the prediction chap. 1 Kings 21:19, the Sept. adds: “And the harlots shall wash themselves in thy blood.” Theodoret says it was customary for harlots—probably temple prostitutes—to bathe at evening.
HOMILETICS OF 1 Kings 22:29-40
THE DEATH OF A WICKED KING
I. That the death of a wicked king may be precipitated by an unbelieving disregard of divine warnings (1 Kings 22:29 compare with 1 Kings 22:17-23).
1. A wicked king is not indifferent to human threats (1 Kings 22:30-31). It is very likely that Ahab had heard, through the agency of his spies, of the order of the Syrian king for his charioteers to fight only with the king of Israel, and this had more effect upon him than the warning words of Micaiah, though he might regard them as an evil omen. To baffle the object of Benhadad, and perhaps with a secret wish to prove the words of Micaiah false, Ahab disguised himself. A wicked man is often more easily scared by the bluster and bullying of a weak, sinful, human creature, than by the threatenings of heaven.
2. A wicked king is reckless as to the danger in which he exposes his ally (1 Kings 22:32-33). Jehoshaphat in his kingly robes was mistaken for the king of Israel, and very nearly fell a victim to the Syrian fury. He cried to Heaven for help (2 Chronicles 18:31), perhaps using his own peculiar battle cry, which, as it contained the name of Jehovah, would be distinct from that of Ahab’s, and was probably known to the Syrians. Jehoshaphat now sees to his sorrow the great inconvenience of being in bad company; and that green wood also, if bound up with dry, easily takes fire and they burn together. Selfishness is the essence of wickedness; so that the sinner himself escapes, it matters little to him what may become of his companions.
II. That the death of a wicked king may be brought about by what seems the merest accident.
1. He may meet death with a princely fortitude (1 Kings 22:34-35). An archer shoots an arrow in the air, little dreaming what mischief it will work; it is the death warrant of the king of Israel. Feeling himself mortally wounded, he directed his chariot to be quietly driven aside that he might have his wounds dressed; and then returned to the battle, supported in his chariot in sight of his army until the sunset, when he expired. Let us give Ahab full credit for whatever was commendable in his conduct. Bad as he was, there was a touch of true heroism in the brave, resolute manner in which he insisted on being stayed up in his chariot, while his life-blood flowed about his feet, and his wound festered under the irritating heat of the sun. His death was kingly, and became him better than his life.
2. His death decides the fate of an important expedition (1 Kings 22:36). The attack on the Syrians was abandoned and the army dispersed, according to the custom of the Orientals on the death of the king. Death interrupts the work of the wicked, and in some cases happily ends it. The decease of a wicked ruler is an opportunity for the reform of national abuses.
III. That the death of a wicked king was accomplished in a manner that fulfilled the disregarded warnings of heaven (1 Kings 22:38). The manner of Ahab’s end left its traces in a form not to be mistaken. The blood which all through that day had been flowing from his wound had covered both the armour in which he was dressed and the chariot in which he had stood for so many hours. The chariot, perhaps the armour, was washed in state—according to one version in the tank of Samaria, according to another in the spring of Jezreel. The bystanders remembered that the blood, shed as it had been on the distant battle field, streamed into the same waters which had been polluted by the blood of Naboth and his sons, and was lapped up from the margin by the same dogs and swine, still prowling round the spot; and that when the abandoned outcasts of the city—probably those who had assisted in the profligate rites of the temple of Ashtaroth—came, according to their shameless usage, for their morning bath in the pool, they found it red with the blood of the first apostate king of Israel. So were accomplished the warnings of Elijah and Micaiah. So ended what may be called the first part of the tragedy of the House of Omri (Stanley). What would be the thoughts of the dying king that day on the battle field? Already he had proof of the fulfilment of one of Micaiah’s warnings regarding himself, and perhaps sullenly anticipated that the rest would follow. With what horror would he reflect upon his wicked life—the warnings he had slighted, the idolatry he had committed and championed, the stolen vineyard of Naboth, the heartless imprisonment of Micaiah! If we reject the warnings of heaven, we shall not prevent their accomplishment. The apparent delay affords time for repentance, and is not to be mistaken for indiscriminate leniency or forgetfulness.
IV. That the death of a wicked king was the more striking and humiliating that it occurred in the midst of external magnificence and power (1 Kings 22:39-40). All that Ahab lived for—affluence, pomp, pleasure—was taken away in a moment. The ivory house—a rival of the stately palace of the kings of Judah—the fortified and prosperous cities he had reared, the ease and gaiety of his luxurious court, must be abandoned for ever; and what would he get in exchange? Death is no respecter of persons or circumstances. The mortal scythe is master of the royal sceptre. What will riches, magnificent monuments, or heroic deeds avail when God requires the sinner’s soul? A wicked life does not pay.
LESSONS:—
1. Royalty is no defence against the havoc of death.
2. A wicked life will be cut short by an ignominious end.
3. A monarch who has lived for himself will perish unregretted.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Kings 22:29-40. Ahab’s end was truly tragical. It was brought about, not by a blind fate, but by a God who is just in His ways and holy in all His works (Psalms 145:17), whose judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out (Romans 11:33). The conflict which Ahab had sought, and which no warning could induce him to abandon, became his punishment. He fell in battle with that very enemy who had once been delivered into his hands, and whom he had released out of vanity and weakness, to the harm of Israel; and so he made good the words of the prophet (1 Kings 20:42). He thought that a disguise would render him secure from the Syrian leaders who sought to find him out, and he did, indeed, escape them; but an unknown man, who did not know him and had no intention against him, shot him, while Jeshoshaphat, though undisguised, escaped unharmed. The arrow which struck him was not warded off by his corselet, but just struck the narrow opening between the corselet and the skirt, where it could penetrate and inflict a fatal wound. Everyone, therefore, who does not regard all incidents as accidents, must recognize the hand which guided the shaft. The words of the psalmist held true—“If he will not turn, he will whet his sword, he hath bent his bow and made it ready. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors” (Psalms 7:12-13). Finally, Ahab did not die at once, but at evening, in consequence of the loss of blood. His blood flowed down in the chariot, which was so besmeared by it that it had to be washed. It was washed at the pool before the city, where dogs drank and harlots bathed. So it came to pass, although he was buried with all honour, that he was marked in his death as one condemned by God, and Elijah’s word was fulfilled (1 Kings 21:19).—Lange.
1 Kings 22:29. It might have been expected that Jehoshaphat, who had pressed enquiry at the Word of the Lord, and had not rested till a real prophet of Jehovah was sent for and made his appearance, would have withdrawn from the expedition when he heard Micaiah denounce it as fated to end in disaster. It must be remembered, however, that he had rashly committed himself to take part in the war by a solemn promise, couched in the strongest terms (1 Kings 22:4), before he bethought himself of enquiring what was the will of God in the matter. His honour was thus pledged, and he would be ashamed to draw back, especially as Ahab, whom the prophecy chiefly threatened, was resolved to brave it. He may also have had a personal affection for Ahab, and so have been loth to desert him in his need. This seems to be implied in the rebuke addressed to him by the prophet Jehu after his return to Jerusalem—“Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord” (2 Chronicles 19:2).—Speaker’s Comm.
—Men do far too readily what they want to do, although it is contrary to God’s will, putting aside God’s Word, or the warnings of others, or the voice of conscience. The event was never good. How often men ask for advice, yet follow their own will only! Jehoshaphat’s example ought to make us shy of the society of the wicked. The sun of grace in his heart became gradually dimmed. At first he had courage to remonstrate with Ahab, but gradually he comes to silence and indifference, even while Micaiah is abused and remanded to prison. In the end this evil companionship would have cost him his life, if God had not wonderfully interposed.—Kyburz.
1 Kings 22:30. The vanity of disguise. I. An evidence of cowardice and fear. II. Easily penetrated by the eye of the Omniscient Judge. III. Does not prevent the catastrophe it seeks to avoid.
—Unbelief in Ahab joined hands with superstition. The king despises and rejects the Word of God which is announced to him, and yet he is frightened, and seeks to escape the threatened dangers by disguising himself. This stratagem was intended to prove the prophet false. Neither cunning nor might avails against God’s will. Thou mayest disguise thyself as thou wilt: God will find thee when and where no man recognises thee (Psalms 139:7-12).
1 Kings 22:31. The king of Syria gives charge to his captains to fight against none but the king of Israel. Thus doth the unthankful infidel repay the mercy of his late victor; ill was the snake saved that requites the favour of his life with a sting: thus still the greatest are the fairest mark to envious eyes. By how much more eminent any man is in the Israel of God, so many more and more dangerous enemies must he expect: both earth and hell conspire in their opposition to the worthiest. Those who are advanced above others have so much more need of the guard, both of their own vigilancy and others’ prayers. Jehoshaphat had liked to have paid dear for his love: he is pursued for him in whose amity he offended; his cries deliver him—his cries, not to his pursuers, but to his God, whose mercy takes not advantage of our infirmity, but rescues us from those evils which we wilfully provoke. It is Ahab against whom, not the Syrians only, but for himself intends this quarrel; the enemy is taken off from Jehoshaphat.—Bp. Hall.
1 Kings 22:34. The greatest calamities. I. Often brought about by undesigned and accidental causes. II. Often occur to those who have taken the greatest pains to avoid them. III. May be traced to the unerring operations of retributive justice.
—The less of the human there is in those things which we commonly call accidents, the more there is of the Divine. The weal or woe of whole nations often depends on those things which are called accidents.
—O the just and mighty hand of that Divine providence which directeth all our actions to His own ends, which takes order where every shaft shall light, and guides the arrow of the strong archer into the joints of Ahab’s harness! It was shot at a venture, falls by a destiny; and there falls where it may carry death to a hidden debtor. In all actions, both voluntary and casual, thy will, O God, shall be done by us, with whatever intentions. Little did the Syrian know whom he had stricken, no more than the arrow with which he struck. An invisible hand disposeth of both, to the punishment of Ahab, to the vindication of Micaiah. How worthily, O God, art thou to be adored in thy justice and wisdom! to be feared in thy judgments! Too late doth Ahab now think of the fair warnings of Micaiah, which he unwisely condemned; of the painful flatteries of Zedekiah, which he stubbornly believed. That guilty blood of his runs down out of his wound into the midst of his chariot, and pays Naboth his arrearages.—Bp. Hall.
1 Kings 22:37-40. O Ahab, what art thou the better for thine ivory house, while thou hast a black soul? What comfort has thou now in those flattering prophets which tickled thine ears and secured thee of victories? What joy is it to thee now that thou wast great? Who had not rather be Micaiah in the jail, than Ahab in the chariot? Wicked men have the advantage of the way; godly men of the end. The chariot is washed in the pool of Samaria; the dogs come to claim their due; they lick up the blood of the great king of Israel. The tongues of those brute creatures shall make good the tongue of God’s prophet. Micaiah is justified, Naboth is revenged, the Baalites confounded, Ahab judged. “Righteous art thou, O God, in all thy ways, and holy in all thy works”!—Bp. Hall.
1 Kings 22:37. And now God was even with him for his idolatry, persecution of the prophets, cruelty to Naboth, who now was in far better condition, likely. The wicked are like hawks, of great esteem while living, but after, nothing worth. The godly are compared to tamer fowls, which are hushed forth and little heeded whilst living; but after death are brought into the parlour. Then, there is as much difference as betwixt the falcon and the capon, the hawk and the hen.—Trapp.
1 Kings 22:37-38. The death of Ahab.
1. It was sudden (1 Samuel 20:3; Luke 12:20). From sudden death, good Lord, deliver us.
2. It was unrepentant. Without conviction of sin, or repentance for it, or longing for grace and pardon.
3. It was shameful. He was indeed buried with honour, like the rich man (Luke 16); but the dogs licked his blood, and his memory does not remain in honour (Psalms 73:19; therefore, Psalms 90:12; Psalms 39:5). As he lived, so he died; as he died, so he was judged. The death of Ahab is a testimony to Romans 11:33; Galatians 6:7; Isaiah 40:8.—Lange.
1 Kings 22:38. The inexorable law of retribution.
1. Is proportioned to the character and degree of the sin it punishes.
2. Is the terrible completion of the warnings and threatenings which foreshadowed it.
3. A proof of the unchanging justice of Jehovah.
4. An awful yet salutary method of instruction to all nations in all ages.
—From a narrative like this, it need scarcely be said, the stern justice of God may well be engraven on every heart. The examples we have of retributive providence in sacred Scripture are, to say the least, exceedingly striking. Judas hanged himself. Herod the Great, who slew the children of Bethlehem, was smitten with ulcers, from which issued swarms of loathsome vermin, and died in the greatest agony; a humbling spectacle to his meanest slave. Herod Agrippa, who permitted his fawning parasites to adore him as God, “was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost.” The other Herod, who sent and beheaded the Baptist, spent his closing years with his guilty partner an exile in Lyons; while Salome, who asked the Baptist’s head in a charger, met with her death, as related by Nicephorus, at the hand of a common assassin. Let examples such as these stand alongside of Ahab, to teach that even in this world these awful words have frequently an awful meaning: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.”—Howat.
1 Kings 22:39. Nothing is known of these cities; but the fact of Ahab’s building cities is important, as indicating the general prosperity of the country in his time, and his own activity as a ruler. The close relations which he established with Phœnicia and Judea tended naturally to bring about a flourishing condition of things in Samaria; and thus the decay of religion was accompanied by a temporary increase in the material prosperity (2 Kings 3:4), the commercial enterprize (1 Kings 22:49), and even the military vigour of the country. Such prosperity, it is plain, may for awhile co-exist with causes which are sapping the vital power of a nation, and leading it surely, if slowly, to destruction.—Speaker’s Comm.