Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, “Come, strengthen yourself, and consider well what you have to do, for in the spring the king of Syria will come up against you.”
Israel has just routed Ben-hadad's huge army, and the natural instinct after such a win is to relax. Instead a prophet arrives with no congratulations — only an order to get stronger, and a date: the Syrian king returns when the year turns.
A warning that is itself mercy
Notice who gets this message. Ahab had shown no interest in God, yet God keeps speaking to him. One writer sees kindness in the warning:
C. KnappWhat patient, marvellous grace God shows! His goodness would lead men to repentance. So He sends His prophet, even to Ahab, to warn him of what the Syrians will do.
Rescued, and still not grateful
A victory given by God should produce thanks. One writer names Ahab's response, and what the next battle would prove:
H. L. RossierNo spirit of thankfulness is produced in the king's heart. God warns him by the prophet that at the return of the year Ben-Hadad will attack him again. This time it is a matter of proving to the Syrians that Israel had not gotten the victory by their "gods of the mountains."
Told not to slacken
"Strengthen yourself" is an order not to let go after a win. The deadline, "in the spring," reads in older translations as "at the return of the year" — the point in the year when Syria would march again. One writer joins both halves of the prophet's word and weighs what Ahab did with it:
Leslie M. GrantHowever, the Lord sent the prophet to Ahab again. He told him not to relax, but to strengthen himself, because Syria would return in the spring of the year to attack Israel. God stepped in for Ahab like this. That should have driven Ahab to turn from his evil ways and trust only the Lord. But the Word of God did not penetrate his hard heart.
The same writer calls God's patience here wonderful: "this foolish king might have had a different end if only he had turned to the Lord."
Why success is the dangerous hour
The warning lands at the moment of victory. One writer describes that danger in comments on Israel's battles elsewhere:
H. Forbes WitherbyBut such are our hearts that, in the very victory God gives us, we are apt to begin to trust in self and to loosen our belts. The path to victory is usually safer than the high ground of success we have already won. Nothing needs a watchful and prayerful spirit more than a time of marked blessing. Indeed, defeats often arise from a lack of care in the hour of success.
The order to "consider well what you have to do" fits this: the man who has just won is the man most likely to trust himself.
A beaten enemy, not a finished one
The prophet names the same king coming back again. One writer draws out the principle in comments on Israel's incomplete conquests:
Samuel RidoutAn enemy half conquered is an enemy unconquered. You must completely overthrow the power of evil that would keep you out of one corner of your inheritance. If you do not, you will find that enemy come up again. You may hold him down for a time and make him secondary. But if the enemy is not really a conquered enemy, he will conquer us one day.
What the warning was worth
The year turned and the attack came, just as the prophet said. The second battle taught both sides one lesson:
H. L. RossierBen-Hadad reorganises his army and changes the place of battle, but it is all in vain. The Israelites, in number like two little flocks of goats, strike down a hundred thousand of the enemy's men in one day. The wall of Aphek falls on those who were left. So the Syrians had to learn who the Lord was, and so Israel could know Him.
Summary
- Warned — God tells Ahab in advance what is coming and when; the message is a warning, not a reward for the victory just won.
- Grace — God speaks at all to a man like Ahab. One writer calls it patient, marvellous grace, His goodness leading men to repentance.
- Strengthen — the order is not to relax. Success is the hour when hearts start to trust themselves and drop their guard.
- Returns — a defeated enemy is not a destroyed enemy. Half-conquered, he comes back, so no season of sitting still is safe.
- Response — the word came true and God delivered Israel. Yet it never reached Ahab's hard heart; one writer says he might have ended differently had he turned.