And behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel and said, “Thus says the LORD, Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will give it into your hand this day, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”
Samaria is under siege. Thirty-two allied kings are camped outside, and King Ahab has already offered the enemy his silver, his gold, his wives and his children. Into that scene walks an unnamed prophet with a promise of victory. The reason he gives has nothing to do with Ahab deserving it.
A Word to a King Who Never Asked for One
Nothing in the chapter suggests Ahab prayed. He had heard a whole nation shout that the Lord is God. Yet when the crisis came, he looked everywhere but up.
H. L. RossierWhat does Ahab do? He had watched the scenes of 1 Kings 18 unfold before his eyes. He had heard his whole people cry in his ears, "The LORD, He is God!" Yet he has not even a thought for the God who had just restored His worship by His power — the worship Ahab had replaced with the worship of Baal. Ahab does not consult the Lord nor commit his cause to Him.
He consulted the elders of the land instead, and traded insults with Ben-hadad. God never entered his thinking. The prophet came anyway.
Why God Spoke at All
If Ahab's heart gave no ground for this promise, something else did.
H. L. RossierWhat was the Lord's ground in speaking this way? The condition of Ahab's heart? We have just seen how hard it was. But Israel, in the presence of Elijah's miracle, had acknowledged the true God. Would He not show His grace at the least sign of His people returning to Himself?... What touching patience on God's part, even toward the most godless, the most indifferent, the most hardened. The God whom man rejects, instead of tiring, appears to him again as the God of grace and of deliverance!
The Stated Purpose of the Victory
Ahab's army was small, and his regard for the God of Israel was smaller.
Leslie M. GrantDespite this, God intervened. He sent a prophet to Ahab to tell him that He would deliver this great multitude of the Syrians into their hand that day. Notice, however, that God told him this with an object in view — that Ahab would know that God is indeed the Lord.
Ahab had already seen God act once, at close range.
Eugene P. Vedder Jr.The Lord now promised Ahab victory over the Syrian enemy. Ahab had seen God send down fire on Mount Carmel, and had seen his 850 idolatrous prophets destroyed. It was not that Israel deserved it. No, God told Ahab, "you shall know that I am the LORD." The Lord would prove Himself in this way too. Would Israel, would Ahab, repent and turn back to Him? "God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance," Romans 2:4 tells us.
Victory by the Smallest Possible Means
Ahab asks "By whom?" and the answer removes any chance of crediting the army. Israel had seven thousand men available; God names 232 junior officers instead.
C KnappGod's time to humiliate Ben-hadad had come. He would not do it by any show of strength, such as the seven thousand soldiers left to Ahab. He would do it by the servants of the princes of the provinces, who numbered two hundred and thirty-two. They "went out at noon, while Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the booths, he and the thirty-two kings who helped him."
A few hundred servants went out in broad daylight. The king besieging them was too drunk to answer.
What Ahab Did With the Lesson
God gave the same message again when Syria came back a second time.
Leslie M. GrantThe Lord again stepped in for Israel. He sent a man of God to Ahab to say that because the Syrians had claimed God is not a God of the valleys, God would hand the multitude of the Syrians over to the small army of Israel. Again the Lord declares that He has an object in doing this — that Ahab might know that God is the Lord. How often did God bear witness to His grace and power for Ahab's benefit! Yet all this had little lasting effect on Ahab's attitude toward God.
Summary
- Unasked. Ahab never consulted God during the siege. The prophet came to him. The promise started on God's side.
- Undeserved. The promise did not rest on Ahab's heart. It rested on God's readiness to answer the least sign of His people turning back to Him.
- Unmistakable. God used 232 servants, not the seven thousand soldiers. Only He could take the credit.
- Unhidden. The rescue came with a goal attached — Ahab would know who the Lord is.
- Unheeded. God gave the same lesson again when Syria returned. It had little lasting effect on Ahab.