1 Kings 19:19-20:43
Notes
Transcript
Review 18:1-19:18
Review 18:1-19:18
John Wesley wrote: "The mind seems chiefly to be affected, having lost its relish of everything, and being no longer capable of enjoying the things it once delighted in most."
King David: Psalm 42:11, Psalm 43:5, Psalm 42:5 “5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”
The Apostle Paul, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, John Bunyan, John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Mother Teresa are all examples we know suffered from spiritual depression.
God didn’t speak and all their struggle go away. Instead as Paul said: 2 Corinthians 12:9 “9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
And like Elijah they weren’t condemned for their struggle, instead they were called back into action: 1 Kings 19:15–16 “15 And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: 16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.”
Introduction
Introduction
Brings us to the end of Chapter 19 and Chapter 20 this morning.
The rest of the book constitutes a trio of chapters that will highlight the failure of King Ahab and how God opposes him:
20 will be about God
21 will be about God’s justice
22 will be about God’s word
Chapter 19:19-21
Chapter 19:19-21
19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. 20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? 21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.
Elijah gets up off the mat in Horeb and obeys Yahweh
Elisha hears it, goes back to say goodbye to mom and dad and in doing so he bbq’s his means of work and celebrates his call with his family. Gives us some perspective on Luke 9:62 “62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Elisha then catches up to Elijah and begins his apprenticeship serving God by serving Elijah
Chapter 20
Chapter 20
The Provocation
The Provocation
1 And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. 2 And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Benhadad, 3 Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. 4 And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have. 5 And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; 6 Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.
Benhadad sends word to Ahab “everything you got is mine!”
Ahab, being the brave king he is, tells the Syrian king “yep, sure is”
Benhadad didn’t care about Ahab’s stuff, he was picking a fight, so he sends back and tells him “instead of you sending me the silver, gold, and wives; I’m sending people and their gonna take whatever it is you like”
7 Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not. 8 And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent. 9 Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again. 10 And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. 11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off. 12 And it came to pass, when Benhadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city.
Willing to pay the Aramean off but not willing to let him take all Ahab has and realizing it was a war he wanted, Ahab went for counsel then tells him “nope”
The promise of Benhadad and his army being so big and we’re going to beat you so bad, there won’t even be enough dust of Israel left to give the soldiers I’m bringing some as a souvenir”
Ahab, finding a tick of the little bit of manhood he had, he tells Benhadad “don’t count your chickens before they hatch”
Benhadad tells his drinking buddies in the tents “let’s rumble”
The Battle of Samaria
The Battle of Samaria
13 And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou. 15 Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.
Yahweh sends a prophet to tell Ahab the win would be given to him and Ahab asks how.
The prophet answers by telling him “Yahweh said to put all the rookies up front and start the fight with them, then mop up with the veterans”
In the world of war tactics this is a loser; but Yahweh was letting everyone know the victory was His and not the army’s
16 And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him. 17 And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria. 18 And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.
Drunk Benhadad sees the strategy and tells his army “this is going to be so easy we aren’t going to have to kill anyone; take them all alive”
19 So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them. 20 And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen. 21 And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.
Yahweh wins the fight no problem, just like He promised
22 And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.
The prophet comes and tells Ahab “they’ll be back next year”
23 And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. 24 And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms: 25 And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.
The Arameans didn’t believe in Israel’s one, true, God of the Bible. They think Israel has little g-gods like theirs that help them win on the mountains but in the valleys their gods are stronger. Tactically they had more chariots and Israel held the high ground so bring the fight to the plains and they would win for sure.
They thought Yahweh was limited in where he gave victory
26 And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Benhadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel. 27 And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country. 28 And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 29 And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day. 30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left.
The Syrians come, and again, the army of Israel is so small compared to them they look like a few baby goats.
Prophet tells Ahab, because they don’t believe the God of the Bible, Yahweh is giving you victory and in that you’ll see Yahweh IS GOD!
Yahweh uses the army of Israel and strikes down 100k Syrian’s in a day. the rest run off to Aphek and Yahweh pushes a wall over on 20k of the ones left.
The god they thought was limited by altitude wasn’t even limited by location
30 And Benhadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber. 31 And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life. 32 So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother. 33 Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Benhadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot. 34 And Benhadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.
They have been totally beaten. Begging for mercy is the last resort and Ahab tells Benhadad to get in the chariot with him and the defeated king tells him “everything my dad took, I’ll give back to you to save my life”
Politically Ahab was a genius. Restore the lands of Israel and show mercy in victory. Theologically Ahab was barren. The Syrians had mocked God’s power and attacked God’s people. This was a just war and the death and defeat of the Syrians was the judgement of God and the death of Benhadad was required. the spoils of the war should have been devoted to God like at Jericho. Instead, Ahab intends to gain personally and disobeys the law of God
35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him. 36 Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him. 37 Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him. 38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face. 39 And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver. 40 And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it. 41 And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets. 42 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people. 43 And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.
The chapter finishes by telling how God exposes Ahab’s sin and promises to judge it
There’s room in my job leading people to encourage them to follow the spirit of the law rather than the letter. But when it comes to the Law of God, the letter, every jot and tittle, is required!
God’s judgement is the result when it’s not
Conclusion
Conclusion
1 Kings 20:28 “28 And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”
1 Kings 20 isn’t just stories of ancient battles
Elijah got depressed because he believed half-truths about God
The Arameans refused to believe in the God of the bible that has no limits and because of that God defeats them and uses it to show all of Israel and Ahab specifically He IS the covenant GOD of Israel!
All of us have to be careful we don’t do both
To the Pharisees and the scribes: Mark 7:6–9 “6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. 9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”
To the Sadducees: Matthew 22:29 “29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.”
2 Timothy 3:1–5 “1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”
2 Timothy 3:16–17 “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
