A certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow by Yahweh’s word, “Please strike me!” The man refused to strike him.
Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed Yahweh’s voice, behold, as soon as you have departed from me, a lion will kill you.” As soon as he had departed from him, a lion found him and killed him.
Then he found another man, and said, “Please strike me.” The man struck him and wounded him.
So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. As the king passed by, he cried to the king; and he said, “Your servant went out into the middle of the battle; and behold, a man came over, and brought a man to me, and said, ‘Guard this man! If by any means he is missing, then your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ As your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be. You yourself have decided it.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv35, 36, 39 By this external sign he would more lively touch…
By this external sign he would more lively touch the king’s heart.
Or, of the disciples.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv35–40 1Ki 20:35 And a certain man of the sons…
1Ki 20:35 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.
Ver. 35. And a certain man of the sons of the prophets.] This was Michaiah, saith Josephus, and other Jewish doctors, whom Ahab therefore had cast into prison, and therefore so readily knew where to have him, {1Ki 22:9} and whither to resend him. {1Ki 22:26}
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Smite me, I pray thee.] (1.) That hereby I may show Ahab how he hath wounded his own soul by sparing Benhadad; (2.) What a wound both he and his people shall hereafter receive hereby; (3.) That I may seem a wounded soldier, and so may have the easier access to Ahab.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv35, 36, 38, 39, 40 Unto his neighbour, or brother; another son of the…
Unto his neighbour, or brother; another son of the prophets.
In the word of the Lord; in the name and by the command of God, whereof doubtless he had informed him.
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Smite me, so as to wound me, 1Ki 20:37. He speaks what God commanded him, though it was to his own hurt; by which obedience to God he secretly reproacheth Ahab’s disobedience in a far easier matter. And this the prophet by God’s appointment desires, that looking like a wounded soldier, he might have the more free access to the king, and discourse with him; which it was very hard for a prophet to obtain, that sort of men being hateful to Ahab, 1Ki 22:8, and to his courtiers.
The man refused to smite him; not out of contempt of God’s command, but most probably in tenderness and compassion to his brother.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv35–40 And a certain man of the sons of the…
And a certain man of the sons of the prophets,.... Which the Jews take to be Micaiah, and so Josephus (u), which is probable; the same that had been with Ahab more than once; and, whoever he was, it is not unlikely that he was the same, since Ahab knew him when his disguise was off, Kg1 20:41,
said unto his neighbour, in the word of the Lord, smite me, I pray thee; told his neighbour, that by the command of God he was ordered to bid him smite him, so as to wound him:
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and the man refused to smite him; being his neighbour, and perhaps a fellow prophet, and having an affection for him.
(u) Antiqu. l. 8. c. 14. sect, 5.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv35, 36, 38, 39, 40 In the word - ln the name, and by…
In the word - ln the name, and by the command of God, whereof doubtless he had informed him. Smite me - So as to wound me, ver. 37. He speaks what God commanded him, though it was to his own hurt; by which obedience to God, he secretly reproacheth Ahab's disobedience in a far easier matter. And this the prophet by God's appointment desires, that looking like a wounded soldier, he might have the more free access to the king. Refused - Not out of contempt of God's command, but probably, in tenderness to his brother.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv35, 36, 38, 39 Verse 35. In the word of the Lord] By…
Verse 35. In the word of the Lord] By the word or command of the Lord; that is, God has commanded thee to smite me. Refusing to do it, this man forfeited his life, as we are informed in the next verse.
By this emblematical action he intended to inform Ahab that, as the man forfeited his life who refused to smite him when he had the Lord's command to do it; so he (Ahab) had forfeited his life, because he did not smite Ben-hadad when he had him in his power.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv35, 36, 38, 39 1Ki 20:35. A certain man said to his neighbour…
1Ki 20:35. A certain man said to his neighbour — Hebrew, אל רעהו, eel regnehu, to his companion, as St. Hierom translates it, that is, to a prophet bred in the same school with himself, who well understood the importance of obeying the command. In the word of the Lord — In the name and by the command of God, whereof, doubtless, he had informed him. Smite me, I pray thee — So as to wound me, 1Ki 20:37. He speaks what God commanded him, though it was to his own hurt; by which obedience to God, he secretly reproacheth Ahab’s disobedience in a far easier matter. And this the prophet desires, by God’s appointment, that, looking like a wounded soldier, he might have the more free access to the king. And the man refused to smite him — Not out of contempt to God’s command, but probably, in tenderness to his brother.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv35, 38 The sons of the prophets - The expression occurs…
The sons of the prophets - The expression occurs here for the first time. It signifies (marginal references), the schools or colleges of prophets which existed in several of the Israelite, and probably of the Jewish, towns, where young men were regularly educated for the prophetical office. These “schools” make their first appearance under Samuel 1Sa 19:20. There is no distinct evidence that they continued later than the time of Elisha; but it is on the whole most probable that the institution survived the captivity, and that the bulk of the “prophets,” whose works have come down to us belonged to them. Amos Amo 7:14-15 seems to speak as if his were an exceptional case.
Said unto his neighbor - Rather, “to his friend” or “companion “ - to one who was, like himself, “a prophet’s son,” and who ought therefore to have perceived that his colleague spoke “in the word of the Lord.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv35, 38, 39, 40 In the word, or by the authority. The person…
In the word, or by the authority. The person who refused to comply, out of a false compassion, displeased God. The wound of the prophet was a symbol of what would happen to Achab. It was a prophetic action, chap. xi. 30. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv35, 39 A PROPHET REPROVES HIM. (Kg1 20:35-42)
A PROPHET REPROVES HIM. (Kg1 20:35-42)
Smite me--This prophet is supposed (Kg1 20:8) to have been Micaiah. The refusal of his neighbor to smite the prophet was manifestly wrong, as it was a withholding of necessary aid to a prophet in the discharge of a duty to which he had been called by God, and it was severely punished [Kg1 20:36], as a beacon to warn others (see on 1Ki. 13:2-24). The prophet found a willing assistant, and then, waiting for Ahab, leads the king unconsciously, in the parabolic manner of Nathan (Sa2 12:1-4), to pronounce his own doom; and this consequent punishment was forthwith announced by a prophet (see on Kg1 21:17).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv35, 36, 38, 39, 40 AHAB’S REPROOF, 1Ki_20:35-43.
AHAB’S REPROOF, 1Ki_20:35-43.
35. A certain man of the sons of the prophets — A member of one of the schools of the prophets. The head of one of these schools was a spiritual father. See note on 1Sa_10:5.
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His neighbour — A fellow-student among the sons of the prophets.
Smite me — Here we first meet with an example of those symbolical actions of the prophets which occur so often in the subsequent history of Israel and Judah. This demand was made in the word of the Lord. It was positively required by Jehovah, and was to be symbolical. The wonderful interposition of Divine power, by which the Syrians had been defeated and Ben-hadad made a captive, was a sufficient indication to Ahab that God had appointed the king of Syria to utter destruction. 1Ki_20:42. His letting him go, therefore, was a disobedience of the Divine will.
The man refused to smite him — And so became a representative of Ahab in his refusal to obey the word of the Lord. The prophets mentioned 1Ki_20:13; 1Ki_20:22; 1Ki_20:28 had said enough to show Ahab that when his royal enemy fell into his power, he must not covenant with him, but smite and utterly destroy him. But his making a covenant with him, and sending him away, was a refusal to smite him.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv35–40 35–43. A prophetic message rebuking Ahab because he had…
35–43. A prophetic message rebuking Ahab because he had let Ben-hadad go (Not in Chronicles)
35. a certain man of the sons of the prophets] It is clear from what follows in the history (2 Kings 2) about the taking of Elijah into heaven, that in spite of Jezebel’s persecution, the prophets and their schools were not put down, but still flourished in various places. Josephus represents this ‘son of the prophets’ as Micaiah, spoken of in 1Ki_22:8, and says that it was in consequence of this message about Ben-hadad’s deliverance that Ahab put him in prison. (Ant. viii. 14. 5.)
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said unto his neighbour in [R.V. fellow by] the word of the Lord] The man to whom he made the request was probably one who like himself dwelt in one of the prophetic societies, and he ought therefore to have understood that there was some purpose in his companion’s request. Hence his sin in refusing to comply with it. ‘Fellow’ gives the idea of men of the same guild better than ‘neighbour’. The expression ‘by the word of the Lord’ is found in a similar passage (1Ki_13:17), and is the more usual form.
Smite me] He wished to personate a man who had been engaged in the battle and had suffered something from the enemy.
the man refused] Such a refusal was utterly at variance with the character of a prophet, who was to be prepared to obey at all costs a message which came as the word of the Lord. His companion puts the case very strongly in the next verse when he calls his own request ‘the voice of the Lord’.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv35, 36, 38, 39 (35) A certain man—according to Josephus, Micaiah, the son…
(35) A certain man—according to Josephus, Micaiah, the son of Imlah. This tradition, or conjecture, agrees well with the subsequent narrative in 1 Kings 22.
The sons of the prophets.—This phrase, constantly recurring in the history of Elijah and Elisha, first appears here. But the thing designated is apparently as old as the days of Samuel who is evidently surrounded by “a company” of disciples. (See 1Sa_10:5; 1Sa_10:10; 1Sa_19:20.) The prophetic office seems never to have been, like the priesthood or kingship, hereditary. “Sonship,” therefore, no doubt means simply discipleship; and it is likely enough that the schools of the sons of the prophets were places of higher religious education, including many who did not look for the prophetic vocation; although the well-known words of Amos (Amo_7:14), “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son,” clearly indicate that from their ranks, generally though not invariably, the prophets were called. Probably the institution had fallen into disuse, and had been revived to seal and to secure the prophetic victory over Baal-worship. To Elijah the “sons of the prophets” look up with awe and some terror; to Elisha, with affectionate respect and trust.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv35–40 And a certain man Heb. one man; of. (1Ki_13:11,…
And a certain man Heb. one man; of. (1Ki_13:11, note) of the sons of the prophets Here mentioned for the first time, though the prophetic schools probably owed their existence, certainly their development, to Samuel. The Nh; yneB are of course not the children, but the pupils of the prophets. For this use of "son," cf.; 1Sa_20:1 ("a son of death 2Sa_12:5; Deu_25:2 Mt
23. 1Ki_4:30; Ezr_2:1; Joh_17:12, and Amo_7:14. Gesenius refers to the Greek iJatrwn uiJoi rJhtorwn uiJoi, etc., and says that among the Persians "the disciples of the Magi are called, "Sons of Magi." The word, again, does not necessarily imply youth. That they were sometimes married men appears from 2Ki_6:1, though this was probably after their collegiate life was ended. As they were called "sons," so their instructor, or head, was called "father" (1Sa_10:12) said unto his neighbour or companion. Another prophet is implied. It was because this "neighbour" was a prophet that his disregard of the word of the Lord was so sinful, and received such severe punishment, in the word of the Lord, (see on 1Ki_13:1) Smite me, I pray thee. Why the prophet, in order to the accomplishment of his mission which was to obtain from Ahab"s own lips a confession of his deserts why he should have been smitten, i.e., bruised and wounded, is not quite clear. For it is obvious that he might have sustained his part, told his story, and obtained a judgment from the king, without proceeding to such painful extremities. It is quite true that a person thus wounded would perhaps sustain the part of one who had been in battle better, but the wounds were in no way necessary to his disguise, and men do not court pain without imperious reasons. Besides, it was "in the word of the Lord" that these wounds were sought and received. It is quite clear, therefore, that it cannot have been merely to give him a claim to an audience with the king (Ewald) he could easily have simulated wounds by means of bandages, which would at the same time have helped to disguise him or that he might foreshadow in his own person the wounding which Ahab would receive, (1Ki_22:11) for of that he says nothing, or for any similar reason. The wounding, we may be quite sure, and the tragical circumstances connected therewith, are essential parts of the parable this prophet had to act, of the lesson he had to teach. 1%w the great lesson he had to convey, not to the king alone, but to the prophetic order and to the whole country, the lesson most necessary in that lawless age, was that of implicit unquestioning obedience to the Divine law. Ahab had just transgressed that law. He had "let go a man whom God had appointed to utter destruction;" he had heaped honours on the oppressor of his country, and in gratifying benevolent impulses had ignored the will and counsel of God (see on ver. 42). No doubt it seemed to him, as it has seemed to others since, that he had acted with rare magnanimity, and that his generosity in that age, an age which showed no mercy to the fallen, was unexampled. But he must be taught that he has no right to be generous at the expense of others; that God"s will must be done even when it goes against the grain, when it contradicts impulses of kindness, and demands painful sacrifices. He is taught this by the prophetic word (ver. 42), but much more effectively by the actions which preceded it. A prophet required to smite a brother prophet, and that for no apparent reason, would no doubt find it repugnant to his feelings to do so; it would seem to him hard and cruel and shameful to smite a companion. But the prophet who refused to do this, who followed his benevolent impulses in preference to the word of the Lord, died for his sin died forthwith by the visitation of God. What a lesson was this to king and country for no doubt the incident would be bruited abroad, and the very strangeness of the whole proceeding would heighten the impression it made. Indeed, it is hardly possible to conceive a way in which the duty of unquestioning obedience could be more emphatically taught. When this prophet appeared before the king, a man had smitten and wounded him, disagreeable and painful as the task must have been, because of the word of the Lord; whilst a brother prophet, who declined the office because it was painful, had been slain by a wild beast. It is easy to see that there was here a solemn lesson for the king, and that the wounding gave it its edge. And the man refused to smite him.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v40 As thy servant was busy here and there, he…
1Ki_20:40
As thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.
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Lost opportunities
Ahab had a chance of doing Gods will; he neglected to use it, and judgment descended upon him.
I. We have each and all something to do for Gods glory.
1. In the case before us Ahab should have destroyed Ben-hadad. We ought to outlive all evil--to overthrow all that opposes the spread of truth and righteousness.
2. Gods glory would have been manifest in the destruction of the Syrian king. That glory is revealed in a yet greater degree when souls are saved, and in this we may be instrumental.
3. What, Am I my brothers keeper? Even so, it devolves upon you to do all you can to save those who are unsaved. This work for Gods glory, can only be performed by adaptability in teaching--the exercise of a loving spirit--earnest prayer--a humble dependence on the Divine power.
II. We too often neglect to embrace the opportunities presented. The prophet, in his parable, said, that while he was busy here and there, his prisoner had escaped; that was the excuse he made. Christian people often make excuses for not doing their duty, here is one.
1. I am too timid. I cant speak to my children, to my servants, to strangers about their souls, and their duty to the Great Creator. Why cant you? You can talk to them about their bodies and temporal things. Why not about Divine?
2. It is not my business. Whose then? Ministers are paid to do this work, and they ought not to trouble us. So, then, if you knew a man had poisoned himself, you would not try to save him (although you knew well enough what to do), all you would say would be Go to the doctor.
3. I am too much engaged. And, perhaps, there never was an age in which men are so busy as they are to-day. Express speed is far too slow. Men must beat the lightning, or at least equal it. They are too busy to give a little time to the consideration of the best means for spiritual work; too busy to engage in that work themselves; and what does it all mean?
III. Opportunities once lost never return. Opportunity for doing good is like a favouring breeze springing up around a sailing vessel. If the sails be all set, the ship is wafted onward to its port; but if the sailors are not there, the breeze may die away; and when they would go they cannot, and their vessel stands as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean. Think for a moment of the opportunities each has neglected; let the thought stimulate you to improve the present.
IV. All such neglected opportunities will have to be accounted for. (A. F. Barfield.)
Gone. Gone for ever
This story was originally told in order to tough the conscience of King Ahab, who had allowed Ben-hadad, King of Syria, to escape when Providence had put the cruel monarch into his hand on purpose that he might receive his doom. Ahab is no more, but this Scripture is not, therefore, like a spent shell--there is truth and power in it yet. Its teaching is applicable to us also.
I. The obligation which the text suggests, that we may solemnly own that we are under a higher obligation still. This man being engaged in warfare, was bound to obey the orders of his superior officer; that officer put into his custody a prisoner, saying, Keep this man, and from that moment he was under an obligation from which nothing could free him.
1. That we are bound to serve God is dear, because we derive our being from Him.
2. It was for this end that the Almighty made us, and for nothing short of this, that we might glorify God and enjoy him for ever.
3. To the service of God a thousand voices call us all
4. A great argument for our obligation to glorify God is found in the fact that in this service men find their highest honour and their truest happiness.
5. Let this, also, never be far from our memories, that there is a day coming when we must all of us give an account of our fives, and the account will be based upon this inquiry--How have we served and glorified God?
II. A confession: He was gone. The man was under obligation to take care of his prisoner, but he had to confess that he was gone.
1. We have lost many opportunities for serving God which arise out of the periods of fife. I hope you will not have to say, My childhood is gone; I cannot praise Jesus with a girls voice or a boys tongue now, for my childhood passed away in disobedience and folly. You cannot talk to your son now, as you might have done when you could take the fair-haired boy upon your knee and kiss him and tell him of Jesus.
2. Another form of regret may arise out, of the changes of our circumstances. A man had once considerable wealth, but a turn of Providence has made him poor: it is a very unhappy thing if he has to confess, I did not use my substance for God when I had it. I was an unfaithful steward, and wasted my Masters goods, and now I am no longer trusted by Him, my property is gone. Another may have possessed considerable ability of mind, but through sickness or declining vigour he may not be able now to do what he once did.
3. As time has gone so also have many persons gone to whom we might have been useful.
4. Sometimes, however, the confession of the thing gone concerns noble ideas and resolves. You had great conceptions, and if they had but been embodied in action something good would have come of them; but where are the ideas now? Were they not smothered in their birth?
5. And there may be some from whom a vast wealth of opportunity has passed away. They have been blessed with great means and large substance, and if these had been laid out for Jesus Christ year after year many a lagging agency would have been quickened, and many a holy enterprise which has had to be suspended for want of means might have gone on gloriously.
III. The excuse which was made--As thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.
1. The excuse is, I was so busy; which, first of all, is no excuse, because a soldier has no business to have any business but that which his commander allots to him.
2. When the man said he was busy here and there, he cut away the only excuse he could have had, because that showed he had ability.
3. Then, again, what he had done was evidently done to please himself. He was busy here and there.
IV. The unalterable fact. While I was busy here and there, he was gone. Could you not seize him again? No, he is gone. Is there no making-up for past neglect? No recapturing the missing one? No, he is gone, clean gone.
1. With the time, remember, your life has gone, and there is no living it over again.
2. Remember, also, that future diligence will not be able to recover wasted time. I suppose Luther was past forty before he began his life-work, and yet he accomplished a splendid result for Christ; but even Luther could not get back his years of unregeneracy and superstition. Time is on the wing; use it now. Do not loiter, for thou canst pluck no feather from the wing of time to make it loiter too. It flies, and if thou wouldst use it, use it now. Arouse thyself, and sleep no longer. If thou wouldst indeed be true to God who made thee and to Christ who bought thee with His precious blood, use thyself now to the fullest conceivable extent for the glory of thy Lord and Master. What shall we do? Let us all fly to Jesus, who can forgive the guilt of the past. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The opportunity which escaped
Arab had been faithless to his trust. He had had the opportunity to crush out the enemy of Israel, but he had let him live for his own selfish purpose, and in sentencing the pretended soldier who had been faithless he was in reality uttering sentence against himself. It is my purpose to compare the opportunities of life to a prisoner given to us to keep, in which if we are faithful to our trust we shall secure eternal promotion and blessing;. and if we are careless and indifferent and neglectful, our opportunities will all escape and leave us poverty-stricken indeed. Every period of life has its special opportunity, which if not used at that time escapes for ever. It can never be recaptured. Youth has opportunities peculiar to itself; it is like the spring-time in nature. If a farmer lets spring-time escape him, and leave his fields unploughed and his gardens unplanted, however remorseful he may be about it he cannot capture that opportunity after spring-time has passed. Youth is like that--a time for sowing, a time when the mind readily grasps its lessons, and seizes with firm hold upon new truths; it is the time when we make most of our friends, and when the affections have the strong grip that hold for ever. It is a terrible thing to let youth go by and not become a Christian. To return to the parable of which our text is a part, one would suppose that a man having been put in charge of a prisoner to keep, with so terrible a warning that his life depended upon his being faithful to his trust, would have seen to it that the man did not escape. But when we compare it to our own lives, we can see how easy it was for the man to become careless, and to be taken up with other things which may have amounted to very little indeed, but which took his mind off the matter of greatest importance to him and thus endangered his life. The story is told of Henry IV. of France, that he asked the Duke of Alva if he had observed the eclipses happening in that year. He replied that he had so much business on earth that he had no leisure to look up to heaven. What sad folly it is for men born with the possibility of immortal Joy to so bend themselves towards the earth and so set their hearts on the things of this world as scarcely to cast a look to the things belonging to the world to come. How much wiser was Zeuxis, the famous painter of his day, who, when somebody observed that he was very slow at his work, and let no painting of his go abroad into the world to be seen of men until he had tried it in every light and given it long consideration to see if he could find any fault in it, replied to an inquiry as to his conduct, I am long in doing what I take in hand because what I paint I paint for eternity. So what we do has to stand the test of eternity. If it is rubbish, it will be burned up in the judgment fires. An old historian tells us that Alexander the Great, being much taken with the witty answers of Diogenes, bade him ask what he would and he should have it. The philosopher demanded the least proportion of immortality. That is not my gift, said Alexander. No? asked Diogenes. Then why doth Alexander take such pains to conquer the world, when he cannot assure himself of one moment to enjoy it? What the cynic said to this great conqueror might well be said to every man who is giving himself so earnestly to the business of this world that he is running the risk of losing the infinitely greater values of eternity. Comparatively few men and women deliberately set out to make great fortunes, or to win for themselves great worldly triumph at the cost of their spiritual welfare. The great majority who are fatally deceived by the enemy of their souls are seduced into evil ways and into fatal neglect by the desire for the simplest physical pleasures and adornment. There is only one way to make sure of your salvation, and that is to improve the present opportunity and thus make certain that it will not escape. A friend of mine overheard one young girl saying to another in the saddest tone, thinking about her friend: I think she regretted it afterwards; she said it should be different next time. But then, with a little sigh, so many things havent any next time. If it should happen to be that way with you that there should be no next time. with the offer of mercy to your soul, I want to so speak and so do my duty by you that I shall not be responsible for your failure to gain heaven. (L A. Banks, D. D.)
A lost opportunity
The parables of the New Testament are so speakingly real, so beautiful in their conception, and so manifestly the touches of a Master-hand, that we are liable to overlook--if not, indeed, to neglect--the minor parables of the Old Testament. And yet these minor parables, like the minor prophets and poets, possess--especially for the student of literature--a charm and fascination peculiarly their own. They are not wanting either in colour or finish, but are, in fact, bits of beautiful workmanship well worth framing and hanging up in honoured places of the mind and memory. Amusingly quaint, touchingly tender, they belong in a conspicuous degree to the hoary past, more so even than do the allegories of the Great Teacher Himself. In one particular, however, they closely resemble His, they never fail to hit the target of their aim. Now, our text is taken from one of these minor parables and in its aim it resembles Nathans. The teaching here is that Ahab had a fine opportunity of serving God and his country, but he threw it away and it did not return. Let us discuss together this subject of opportunities--more especially lost opportunities.
1. And, first, this word opportunity springs from an old root signifying at port, or in the harbour, suggestive of the welt-known and oft-repeated lines:--
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Thus we think of the trader watching the market, ready to pounce upon every opportunity that presents itself, so that he may turn it to gold; ready to snatch every chance of striking a good bargain, and thereby winning success. Indeed, it would appear--as a suggestive writer has remarked--as though it were a part of the Divine discipline to put large opportunities in mens way, and leave it with themselves whether they will use or neglect them. There is no coercion to compel us to turn them to account, and the wheels of time shall not be reversed to bring them back once they are gone. If we neglect them we shall be permanent losers in this life; how much more in the next we cannot say. True it is, however, that thousands fail in life through neglect of such chances, and through want of energy and enterprise, so that when the Blucher of opportunity presents itself, they have not pluck enough to arise and charge, and so win their Waterloo. There are great national opportunities which present themselves once or twice in the lifetime of a country or community and never come again. Such an opportunity the Church of Rome had when some of her most noble and faithful sons and servants pointed out, before it was too late, the sins and excesses which led to the Reformation. Such an opportunity old Jerusalem had nineteen centuries ago; but she spurned it, rejected it, and finally quenched it in the blood of the innocent. And when He drew nigh, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known in this day, even thou, the things which belong unto peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes.
2. But, in the second place, there are opportunities which belong to certain periods of life. Saith Seneca: Time is the only thing in which it is a virtue to be covetous, and for this reason, that it is the only thing that can never be recovered. Lost riches may be regained by patience and industry; forgotten knowledge may by hard work be conjured back again into the brain; departed health may return through the skill of the healer; the consistency of many years may blanch again the sullied snow of character; but time once gone is gone for ever. Now if this be true with regard to the physical and mental--how much more with regard to the moral and the spiritual? Says the poet: Heaven lies near us in our infancy. The heart has not become stained and soiled; the conscience has not become seared and hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; the moral faculties have not become blunted and atrophied through bad habits, but on the contrary, the whole being is fresh and hopeful and buoyant.
3. Let us consider next our opportunities of usefulness. Take the home, for example; what a splendid chance it presents to Christian parents of influencing their children goodwards at the very gateway of life! If you have neglected to do this, then you have missed a great opportunity, and one that will never again present itself under the same favourable conditions. So, again, with regard to servants. Now, as a Christian master or mistress, God has placed within your reach a fine opportunity of doing real home mission work, and so cause your servants for ever to bless the day when they came to reside under your roof. And to a certain extent the same thing holds good with regard to visitors. When Lord Peterborough lodged with Fenelon for a season, he said, on leaving, After this I shall be a Christian in spite of myself. Oh, there is a day coming when these lost opportunities will appear in a clearer light, and with more terrible and startling distinctness; when the opportunity of years ago--calling us to the service of others, and to the service of our Master, Christ, will again reappear, and, like the Hebrew seer, take up its parable against us. Because I have called, and ye refused, etc. Consequences are unpitying. So, then, as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith. (J. Dymond.)
Busy here and there
In this parable we find a man busy about everything, but at the cost of neglecting his duty. There are plenty of men who are very busy in the world, but who never do their duty. They are not idle: some people are too idle to do anything; but those of whom I now speak are not idle. They are always on the move, and are busily engaged at different things; but they never keep to the same things long. They do not seem to have any aim in life. It is not enough for us to be always doing. What God requires of us is, just to do what He wants us to do. We have to learn, first of all, what God would have us do, and then do it. Now here is one man who attaches the greatest importance to making his fortune, to heaping together money. He makes provision for the,few years that he has to spend here; but for meeting his God, and for rendering an account of the way in which he has lived and served his Lord and Master, he has made no provision. Well, that is a man who is busy here and there, but who nevertheless misses the one great duty which, above every other, he has to perform. Now I want you children, not only to be busy, but always to have an aim in life, and that aim to glorify God. We glorify Him by living just as He would have us live. Christ Himself has given us an example. The great thing is to give Jesus the first place in our hearts and lives, and never do anything that is not well-pleasing to Him. (D. Davies.)
Lost opportunities
I. The trust of our time. Each new day that dawns upon us, each hour that rests with us in its rapid flight, each of the moments which together make up the sum total of our existence, each of these is a trust, not to be used at our mere caprice, not to be cherished or lost just as the passing fancy takes us. Each day, each hour is golden with possibilities of good; of good for ourselves, of self-discipline, of self-culture, of deepening spirituality, of a nearer vision of God; of good for others, of gentle words and kindly deeds, of some task begun for the blessing of our fellows, of some seed sown which shaft ripen at last to a harvest of beneficent achievement. And if the parts of our life are thus a trust, what shall we say of life itself in its entirety? What tremendous possibilities of weal or woe are bound up in the small compass of a single life! But if this be true, as it is, of the life that is bound within the two shores of birth and death, what shall we say of the trust of the soul itself--the soul whose unending life reaches far on into the unknown eternity beyond the grave--the soul, that spark flashed forth from the fire of Eternal Being, ray of light let down to earth from the Central Sun of Universal Existence? Oh, what a trust is this!
II. The failure of the trust. As thy servant was busy here and there, and he was gone. He was gone, what a sad story these words suggest; a charge neglected, a duty unfulfilled, a bitter loss sustained, a dire doom incurred. It is gone, what a suggestion of inconsolable regret there is in these words, Some trusts once gone may be recovered: lost health may be restored, friends alienated may be won back again: but in life there are some utterly irreparable failures. A young man grieves the fond heart of a loving mother by carelessness or sin; he wanders away, perhaps, into other lands, and by silence and neglect breaks the tender heart he has so deeply shadowed; and then, perhaps, he comes to himself, and he says, Ill go home, and make up for my hard neglect by special tenderness and care; and when he gets home he finds that she is gone; that there is now no chance for his late atonement.
III. The excuse for failure. Thy servant was busy here and there, and it was gone. Now, mark you, the excuse was not, Thy servant was busy. That would have been in one sense a justifiable plea, and not a lame excuse. For life, for the best and the noblest, is always a busy thing. We are in a busy world. Around us we hear on every side the breaking of the unresting waves of human industry and human toil It is plain that the having been busy is not the excuse that we have to consider. Now notice what the excuse really was, Thy servant was busy here and there. I think that this being busy here and there may fairly be taken to mean that desultory and utterly unsatisfactory kind of being busy in which so many waste their days and miss their chances of good; the busy idleness of the restless child, not the busy industry of the thoughtful and high-purposed man. Now is it not. Just this serious trifling, this spending of our energies on lesser and lower objects, and so withdrawing them from higher and truer and more lasting occupations--is it not just this that will account for half the failures of life? The two great wants in this habit of life are the want of a continuous purpose and of a true and worthy object--a purpose that shall bind all our multiplied actions into one, and so give to our energies and our life that true unity in which alone lies strength; an object great enough and good enough to lend inspiration to flagging energies, and attractiveness to the most trivial tasks needed for its achievement. And this, in the saddest sense of all, is the excuse that will make thousands at the last miss utterly their chances of eternal life. Of those who make what Dante calls the great refusal; of those who fail to accept the offers of salvation held out to them in the Gospel of Christ, there are not many, I fancy, who do so deliberately and of set purpose. (Canon OMeare.)
The value of opportunity, and our obligation to improve it
How much wisdom was there in the charge of Pythagoras to his disciples: Be mindful of opportunities! We live in a world where all are busy. Many busy for themselves; many for the Church. All around us in nature is busy--full of action. All in commerce and life says--Do something, do it. And in one sense all mankind do something, but many are busy without an object, a rule, or a motive, and consequently without a beneficial result. Their actions are made up by a collection of shreds and patches; they move in a circle, busy in moving, but arrive at the point whence they started--no progress, no attainment, no benefit is visible. Activity is the law or the habit, of the human mind, and never is mind easy but as it is in action; but without a suitable motive, rule, and end, can no degree of activity be of real benefit.
I. Opportunities generally.
1. Opportunity is in some cases unmistakable; it presents itself and presses on us so plainly, that we must be blind if we will not see it, deaf if we will not hear it, dead if we will not regard it. It lies in our path, and we must push it out of our way, or pass over it to escape. If, however, it is not in our way, we should seek it. If the door is not open, we must open it. Where opportunity cannot be found, it must be made. What must be done can be done. Impossibilities are not insurmountable in real duties to God, to ourselves, or for others. It is admirable to see how a persevering mind creates opportunities, and lamentable to see how the timid pass them by.
II. I shall now give these remarks a practical bearing:. It is important to inquire--For what purpose did God create me? What is life? It is not a dream of pleasure, or it would not be a passage through a vale of tears. It is not a whirl of business, or it would have been lengthened and not doomed to loss and disappoinment, to the most devoted men of trade. Gods end is more worthy of Himself; He has blessed you with such faculties for a great end, or, as John Howe says, It would be like clothing a man in purple to send him to feed swine. Are all our faculties given to us to be employed on the wisdom which is earthly, sensual, devilish, or for business or pleasure, or the honour which cometh from man? No, but for God, for gaining and enjoying heaven. Let us notice a few causes which operate to the neglect of what would ensure mans everlasting salvation.
1. Actual idleness--some are literally slumberers, nothing rouses them--A little more sleep, a little more slumber, is all they utter.
2. Inconsiderateness is another cause--such are not careful or wise to use the power or cultivate the habit of reflection.
3. Frivolity of mind. Many are turned away from seeking salvation by what is as insignificant as the chirping of a grasshopper.
4. But not less fatal than these is that ruiner of thousands--procrastination. There is a world of importance in the monosyllable now. Fortunes, blessings, and souls without number have been lost for want of minding this word now. Duties cannot clash. God does not require two things which are opposed to each other of any man, at any time; but the language of God to you at this moment is this--Now is the accepted time, that is, the best opportunity. Some continue during the whole of life, from the dawn of reason to the feebleness and inactivity of its closing hours Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, oh, living man! do it with thy might--do it, for there is no device in the grave--do it, for thither thou goest, and all your opportunity is confined to this world. True, there may be posthumous good, as seen in legacies and founded institutions, and books which survivors may not suffer to be lost when we are gone; but these things, so far as we are concerned in them, are done in this world.
2. Youth is the prime and flower of opportunity. Youth! Many of you hear and feel it to be the season of joy. Yes, it is best for piety too. Unencumbered by the cares of a master or father, your time is at your own disposal. Oh, now seek salvation. Suffer not the season of youth to pass, lest you in age say, I have lost my opportunity and cannot seek salvation now. Seek it with earnestness.
3. Health is an important opportunity to do good to others. What can an invalid do compared with the healthy? Such may do something. I would not add to their affliction by suggesting they cannot. God does not add to their sorrow by discharging them from all opportunity to do good. (J. A. James.)
The parable of the wounded prophet
I. The very remarkable condition necessary to this parable.
II. The signification of the parable. It is not very clear in all its details, but so much is indisputable that the young man who had gone out into the battle is the representative of Ahab, and the man entrusted to his keeping, but allowed to escape through carelessness, is the representative of Ben-hadad. Israel had just endured a hard, bloody fight, and had carried off the promised victory; but now, in the person of Ben-hadad, it had let the arch-enemy, whom God had given into their hands, go free and unpunished. It is especially to be noted that as the man in the parable is represented as having a prisoner entrusted to his care by another, so Ben-hadad had been given into Ahabs hand by god as His prisoner. God was captain, Ahab only keeper.
1. The overthrow of kings and rulers proceeds from the Divine hand, and is often necessary for the preservation of those whom they rule.
2. That when God gives men power over others, it is at their peril if they do not use it according to His will. For man to deliver where God condemns is to affect to be more merciful than God. To question the decision of a human judge is to cast a doubt upon either his ability or his character. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Shall criminal reverse the sentence of another with impunity?
3. Weakness of purpose and lack of character may be mistaken for generosity: A man who uses money for the benefit of others which has been entrusted to his care by his master, is not generous, but dishonest. God gave Ahab place and power to use in His service; to employ them for other purposes was to rob God.
4. Those who are displeased at the truth of God are on the high road to ruin. The sentence which Ahab passed Upon the man of God was soon executed upon himself. Those who reject the remedy which would heal their disease must not complain if they have to suffer from the consequences. The truth is intended to lead to repentance.
5. Those who are ruled by the Word of God will sometimes have to suffer temporal pain for obeying it. The servant of God will sometimes find himself, like the prophet who spoke the parable, wounded by or in the Word of the Lord. (Outlines from Sermons by a London Minister.)
Inconsiderately busy
The parable which touched the heart of the discontented king was meant for us. We are anxious about too many things, and while we are busy here and there, lo, the principal thing is gone. We live in a hurrying age. We ask questions, and are in too much of a hurry to wait for an answer. In religious service from soul to soul nothing counts like personality. A Christ undertakes the reformation of a planet. It is a task to quail the stoutest heart, but He never hurries. His calm is ever unruffled. And when we come to think it over and count it up, we find that Jesus Christ did more work than any man who ever lived upon this earth. Science is not the enemy, but the ally of religion. Theologians are beginning to apply the methods of science to their department of knowledge. Beyond science and beyond theology is the heart of consecration for his fellow-man, which he who would do the work assigned him must have; without which, like the man who was busy here and there, one will lose the whole object of his life. We ought, moreover, to see that the things that we do are worth the doing. The man in our story missed the relative importance of the things he had to do. What is the one thing we are to do above all others? To him who is busy in money-getting, to the lawyer, whose sole thought in this world is the law, to the doctor, who thinks little beyond his patients and their medicines, to each one wholly absorbed in his worldly occupation comes the voice while he is busy here and there, and the man, like the king, is heavy and displeased. (G. Hedges, D. D.)
Losses arising from absorbtion in business
We are so busy here and there--busy in commerce, in letters, in politics, in domestic, social, and ecclesiastical matters, that things, oftentimes invaluable, pass away from us without our knowing it.
I. Means of improvement pass away from men in this way. Whilst men are busy here and there,
(1) religious services have come and gone,
(2) Christian ministers have appeared and departed,
(3) soul-rousing books are come from the press, and run through their edition unobserved; they are dead to everything but their business.
II. Opportunities for usefulness pass away prom men in this way. The father is so absorbed in his business, that he neglects the spiritual culture of his children, and they reach a stage of depravity without his knowing it. Whilst men are busy, those around them who need their instruction drop into their graves, and pass beyond their reach. How many merchants in London, professing Christianity, carry on their daily avocations in the city with a soul so absorbed in their business, that they are unconscious of the thousand sinning, wretched, and dying spirits that teem around their warehouse.
III. The days of grace pass away from men in this way. Through this absorbing spirit of business, men lose their years without knowing it,--feel themselves old and grey-headed before they are aware. This subject serves to impress us.
1. With the fact that man has evidently fallen. It can never be that the human soul, with its moral sensibilities, its noble faculties, its fountain of affection, was made to be thus engrossed with the material concerns of a few short years. No, we have fallen. This subject serves to impress us:
2. With the fact that change is a resistless law of life. It matters not whether we are busy or asleep, change proceeds in its resistless march. While we are busy here and there, men are dying, the outward scenes of life are changing, our own life is decaying, our end is approaching. We may be so busy on the shore as to think of nothing but the few shells we are gathering, but the billows are rolling on, and will bury us and our business soon. This subject serves to impress us:
3. With the fact that a religious life is a wise life. A religious life is a life that subordinates the body to the soul, matter to mind, business to virtue, time to eternity, all to God. Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all to the glory of God. (Homilist.)
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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv35, 37, 39 one of the sons of the prophets
one of the sons of the prophets
"a member of the group of prophets"
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the word of Yahweh
"the message of Yahweh" or "Yahweh's message"
you have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh
"The voice" is metonymy for what Yahweh commanded. AT: "you have not obeyed Yahweh" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
son
prophet
word of God
obey
voice
Yahweh
lions
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv35–36 20:35-43 Ahab’s leniency toward Ben-hadad met with God’s disfavor,…
20:35-43 Ahab’s leniency toward Ben-hadad met with God’s disfavor, portrayed in the symbolic actions of an unidentified prophet. God’s prophets often conveyed the Lord’s message through symbolic actions (Isa 20; Jer 27:1-7; Ezek 4:1-3, 9-17; 5:1-4). Ahab had brought judgment upon himself and his people by sparing an untrustworthy enemy rather than trusting further in the Lord.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.