Study Desk

The king of Israel answered, "Tell him, 'A man who puts on [his armor to go to battle] should not boast like the man who takes it off [after the battle has been won].'"

When Ben-hadad heard this message, as he and the kings were drinking in the temporary shelters, he said to his servants, "Station yourselves." So they stationed themselves against the city [of Samaria].

And each one killed his man; and the Arameans (Syrians) fled and Israel pursued them. Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on a horse with horsemen.

"Do this: remove the [thirty-two allied] kings, each from his place, and put captains in their place,

But his servants said to him, "We have heard that the kings of the house (royal line) of Israel are merciful kings. Please let us put sackcloth around our loins and ropes on our necks [as symbols of submission], and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life."

Now the men took it as a good omen, and quickly understanding his meaning said, "Yes, your brother Ben-hadad lives." Then the king said, "Go, bring him." Then Ben-hadad came out to him, and Ahab had him come up into the chariot.

So the prophet left and waited for King Ahab by the road, and disguised himself [as a wounded soldier] with a bandage over his eyes.

As the king passed by, the prophet called out to the king and said, "Your servant went out into the middle of the battle, and behold, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, 'Guard this man; if for any reason he is missing, then your life shall be required for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.'

Then the prophet quickly removed the bandage from his eyes, and [Ahab] the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.

He said to the king, "Thus says the LORD: 'Because you have released from your hand the man [Ben-hadad] whom I had devoted to destruction, your life shall be required for his life, and your people for his people.'"

So the king of Israel went to his house resentful and sullen, and came to Samaria.

So Ahab [already upset by the Lord's message] came into his house [feeling more] resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him; for he had said, "I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers." And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face, and would not eat any food.

Then Jezebel his wife came to him and asked him, "Why is your spirit so troubled that you have not eaten?"

Jezebel his wife said to him, "Do you now reign over Israel? Get up, eat food, and let your heart rejoice; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city.

So the men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived there, did as Jezebel had sent word to them, just as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them.

There certainly was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him.

Now when Ahab heard these words [of Elijah], he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly (mourning).

"Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil (catastrophe) in his lifetime, but in his son's days I will bring evil upon his house."

Now the king of Israel said to his servants, "Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, yet we are still doing nothing to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?"