1 Kings 20:1-43


There are times when the ways of God with His people surprise us.  Ahab was one of the worst kings in the history of Israel, yet we see that his reign was long and we see him being victorious in battle.  God was certainly defending His own name and honor but it is surprising to see the Lord defending such a wicked and idolatrous king.  However, we can also see that Ahab did not humble himself before the Lord or turn to the Lord and ended up not benefiting from the graciousness that God demonstrated to him.  God is always more gracious than we deserve.  The question that we must ask ourselves is if we are responding to that grace with gratitude, obedience and worship.

GOD DEFENDS ISRAEL FROM THE SYRIANS: Ahab found himself in a very difficult position.  He was being attacked by a coalition of 32 kings and he had a meager army in comparison to the vast troops that the Syrians had mustered.  Ahab agreed to give the Syrians his wealth and even his wives and children, but when Ben-hadad required Ahab to let his men in to take whatever they wanted, Ahab refused.  This is when God steps in and tells Ahab through a prophet that He is about to defend Israel from the attack.  Ben-hadad and the other kings are so confident of their victory that they don’t even lead the men in battle but simply instruct their soldiers to take them army of Israel alive.  Much to their surprise, Israel is victorious because God defended His people.

GOD DESTROYS THE SYRIANS THROUGH ISRAEL: The Syrians recognized that the battle was lost because of the work of God on Israel’s behalf.  However, they greatly underestimated the God of Israel.  They thought that He must only be a god of the hills so they decided to amass another army and this time attack Israel in the planes where they thought that this god of the hills would be powerless.  Little did they realize that they were dealing with the God of the universe!  Once again the huge army of Syria made the army of Israel look like a tiny flock of goats in the vast field of battle.  However, God was out to defend His name and once again destroyed the army of Syria.  It is a dangerous thing to doubt the hand of and power of God.

GOD DENOUNCES AHAB’S TREATY WITH SYRIA: When Ben-hadad saw that he was defeated he surrendered to Ahab in humility and asked that his life be spared.  Ahab foolishly calls him a brother and accepts the financial reward that was offered to him without consulting the prophet that God had sent to instruct Ahab.  This is very displeasing to God and He promises that Ahab will be killed because of this selfish and disobedient act.  We can see that Ahab’s character did not change in and of itself but that God was simply defending His own name from a nation that had no fear of Him.  We must be careful to become prideful when God grants us victory but to always seek His will and direction in our lives.

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