>> Jen: Hello and good morning, friends and faithful listeners. Thank you for tuning in to the Bible Explained podcast. So I thought my cold was over last week. I was sorely mistaken. Thursday, I felt great. I was like, wow, you know, that was the easiest cold I ever had. And then Thursday night rolled around and I was so sick. I was sneezing and coughing and just a snotty mess. And so I went to bed early to try to kick. And then Friday I woke up just with a really awful, um,
just congestion. So I'm dealing with that still. So forgive me if my words kind of roll together. You know how that happens when you're, like, super congested and you can't breathe through your nose. Your words sound sort of weird, but we're going to be reading First Kings, chapter 20 today, verses 31 through 43, and finishing out this chapter talking about what happens to Ben Hadad. But before we begin reading today, I'd like to do
recap of this chapter. So last week we talked about this really terrible king named Ben Hadad. He was the king of Aram, or the king of Syria. And he had it out for Israel because Israel had just gone through a really bad drought and a really bad famine. So Ben Hadad was like, perfect time to strike Israel. We can take everything they have, take the land, and they will be submissive to us. Ben Hadad comes up against Israel and he's super cocky. He thinks that he
has, you know, nothing to lose. He's going to just win this battle, easy peasy. He had a bunch of kings on his side. I believe it was 32 kings he had working with him to take Israel. And so Benhadad, he's not really thinking much about the battle, and he gets super drunk and makes terrible calls on the battlefield. So Israel comes in and totally decimates the Syrian army and also the armies of the 32 kings that were with Ben Hadad. And so Ben Hadad goes home
humiliated. But he decides that he's going to try again because his advisors gave him some advice. They said, oh, you know, the God of Israel is just a God of the hills. And because we were battling it out with Israel on the hills, their God was with them. So if we go into the valley, we will certainly win because their God is not a God of the valley. So benhadad's like, this is a great idea. We will go and battle it out with
Israel in the valley. So Ben Hadad makes another army and goes to the valley of Aphek to fight against Israel. And it Says that Israel looked like a little flock of sheep compared to the thousands that made up the Syrian army. So Israel was vastly outnumbered against the Syrians. But of course, this doesn't matter when God is on your side. So God once again protected the Israelites and gave them a massive victory. So much so that the Syrian army was whittled down to just
thousands of people. And then when the thousands go into the city of Aphek to try to get away from the Israelites, the walls of the city of aphek fall on 27,000 Syrian soldiers and kills them. So now Ben Hadad's army is pretty much nothing, and he goes into the city to try to hide away for his life. And so that is where we leave off in First Kings, chapter 20 today. So I'm going to be reading verses 31 through 43.
And today I'm going to be reading out, uh, of the NASB version, because the NASB version is a literal translation of Scripture. And we're going to get into some Hebrew words today. But of course, grab the version of the Bible that you prefer, and also your cup of coffee, your cup of tea, your cup of water, your protein shake, whatever you're drinking this morning, and let's go ahead and give reverence to God's word together.
But his servants said to him, behold, now we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please, let's put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will let you live. So they put sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads and came to the king of Israel and said, you, servant Ben Hadad says, please let me live. And Ahab said, is he still
alive? He's my brother. Now, the men took this as a good omen and quickly accepted it from him. They said, your brother Ben Hadad. Then he said, go and bring him. Then Ben Hadad came out to him, and he had him mount onto the chariot. And Ben Hadad said to him, the cities which my father took from your father I will restore. And you can make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Ahab said, and I will let you go with this covenant.
So he made a covenant with him and let him go. Now a man from the sons of the prophets said to another, by the word of the LORD, please strike me. But the man refused to strike him. Then he said to him, because you have not listened to the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as you leave me, a lion will kill you. And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him. Then he found another man and said, please strike me. And the man, uh, struck
him, injuring him. So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road and disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. And as the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, your servant, went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, guard this man. If for any reason he goes missing, then your life shall be forfeited in place of his life, or else you shall pay a talent of
silver. Now, while your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared. And the king of Israel said to him, so shall your judgment be. You yourself determined it. Then he quickly took the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he was one of the prophets.
And the prophet said to him, this is what the LORD says, since you have let go from your hand the man that I had designated for destruction, your life shall be forfeited in place of his life and your people in place of his people. So the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and furious, and came to Samaria. Starting in verse 31, Ben Hadad is hiding out in an inner room in the city of Aphek, hoping that he is not going to
die. But more than likely, nobody was actually pursuing him, because, uh, as you can see here, from what we just read, the king of Israel, Ahab, did not seem particularly interested in killing Ben Hadad. And so he probably was not trying to find him. And Ben Hadad likely could have just gone home in complete shame and not really had to worry about anything. But of course, Ben Hadad was worried, because Ben Hadad was a cruel king. And there's no way Ben Hadad would have let
another king go. Like if. If the roles were reversed and King Ahab had gotten away and was hiding away somewhere, Ben Hadad certainly would have tracked Ahab down to kill him in a second. So he assumed that Ahab would be doing the same thing to him. But that likely was not what Ahab was doing. So Ben Hadad is terrified and is not sure how to get back home. So his advisors say to him, behold, now we have heard that the kings of the house
of Israel are merciful kings. Please, let's put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads, and we'll go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will let you live. And Ben Hadad agrees. Now, of course, as you guys know, the sackcloth around the waists was a very common way for people to show humility or to show that they were
in mourning over something. They would dress themselves in sackcloth, sometimes put ashes on their heads, just like, look very dirty and not dress up or look nice at all. And this would show the people around them that they were in a state of humility or that they were grieving deeply over something. Now, the ropes around the head thing, that was something that ancient kings would do to prisoners of war. They would put ropes around their heads and forced, uh, them to walk behind the
chariot. And this would be like a sign that these prisoners of war were going off to their death. Ben Hadad's servants decide to do the exact same thing to show, oh, you know, Ahab, we are your servants, we are humble, we deserve death. Um, you have won, we have lost. And because we have lost, please spare our lives, basically. So of course, Ben Hadad agrees to this because he probably doesn't care much about his servants lives. You
know, Ahab could take his servants and kill them. And also, what else is he going to do to get out of the situation that he's in? So his servants put sackcloth around their waists and ropes on their heads. And they come to the king of Israel and they say, your servant Ben Hadad says, please let me live. And Ahab says, is he still alive? He is my brother. Man, what an anticlimactic ending. So anticlimactic. I mean, this Syrian king deserved death, quite honestly. Like, he was a terrible
king. He was cruel and ruthless and attacked people for no reason, just because he wanted to gain land and power. He was a bad king. And yet Ahab still wants to have a treaty with this king that he humiliated in battle twice. Ahab thought this would be a good idea. And he says, oh, you know, Ben Hadad, he is my brother. You know, we're gonna make a treaty if he's still alive. Yes, we're gonna, we're gonna do good things together. We're gonna make a
treaty. So of course the servants are overjoyed to hear this because, uh, they have just been spared their lives and also their king's life Has just been spared. And so they, they bring Ben Hadad to Ahab, and Ahab has him mount on the chariot with him, acting as if Ben Hadad is a brother to him, acting as if, you know, they are best buds.
Even though Ben Hadad, literally a year beforehand, told Ahab, hey, you know, I'm going to um, take your wives, like, the hottest of all of your wives and the fittest of all of your children, and I'm going to make them mine. And Ahab was like, oh, okay, cool. Like, you can have my family members. That's fine. And then Ben Hadad tells Ahab, well, you know, you know what? That's not enough for me. I'm going to take everything nice out of your house. And then Ahab was like,
yeah, no, I can't agree to that. And then Ben Hadad's like, okay, because I can't take everything nice out of your house. I'm going to literally destroy Israel. And then they go to war. Ben Hadad is totally destroyed in battle. Then, of course, Ben Hadad thinks it's a great idea to again go to battle with Israel and is once again completely destroyed in battle. And after all of that, Ahab is like, yeah, Benhadad, he's a great
man. He is my brother. We're gonna have a great treaty and do fantastic things together. Now, of course, Ahab was deeply stupid to make a treaty with this guy. Because if you go to First Kings 22, only two chapters later, here's what happens. Ahab actually partners with the king of Judah to go into battle against the Syrians. Because the Syrians, once again with Ben Hadad, rise up against Israel only two short chapters later. So if you read 1 Kings 22,
30 - 31, here's what it says. The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I will disguise myself and go into battle. But you put on your robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle. Now, the king of Syria had commanded. Not cereal. I'm sorry, Syria, once again, my cold. Now, the king of Syria had commanded the 32 captains of his chariots, saying, don't fight with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel. So Benhadad
fighting once again with Ahab. And that battle actually does not end well for King Ahab. So Ahab was very stupid to make a treaty or a peace deal with this Ben Hadad guy. So verse 34, Ben Hadad says, the cities which my father took from your father I will restore. And you can make streets for yourself in Damascus, just as my father made in Samaria. So Ahab says, good, you know
what? I will agree to those terms. You can go home free as long as you restore all of my cities that you took, and as long as I'm allowed to also make streets in your city, just as you have streets in My city. Now, of course, God is not happy with all of this. And a very bizarre story takes place directly after this in verses 35 through 43. And this is why I wanted to read out, of the NASB version was specifically for this portion.
It says, now a man from the sons of the prophets said to another, by the word of the LORD, please strike me. So this man of the sons of the prophets is unnamed. And I, uh, believe Josephus said that this particular prophet was Micaiah, which we will learn about the prophet Micaiah in, I think, two chapters from now. He was a prophet that Ahab knew very well, because Micaiah was one of the prophets that was constantly just prophesying bad things about Ahab. So
Ahab hated Micaiah. Now, scripture doesn't specifically say it's Micaiah, so it might not be Micaiah. It could be a different prophet that we just don't know his name. But this prophet tells another, by the word of the LORD, please strike me. And this was by the word of the lord is specifically what it says. Now, we have to look at the Hebrew here to really understand what's going on. It says, this prophet asked another to strike him. The word for another in Hebrew also means
associate. So most likely, this prophet was asking one of his fellow prophets to strike him by the word of the LORD. So this other prophet, Prophet B, I'll call him, understood that this was a mission from God and that God was telling Prophet B to strike Prophet A, it says. But the man refused to strike him. So prophet A says to him, because you have not listened to the voice of the LORD. Behold, as soon as you leave me, a lion
will kill you. And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him. You might be like what just happened. Why in the world would God send a lion to kill this Prophet B that didn't want to hurt his friend? Why would God strike and kill Prophet B for that? Well, first and foremost, once again, going back to the Hebrew, the word for strike here is naca So rereading verse 35, again with the Hebrew, it says, a man from the sons of the prophet said to another, by the word of the LORD, please
naca me. In other words, please strike me or please injure me, please hurt me. But the man refused to naca him. The reason I bring up the word naca is because it's the same Hebrew word for kill here as well. So allow me to read verse 36 using the word naca. Then Prophet A said to Prophet b because you have not listened to the voice of the LORD, Behold, as soon as you leave me, a lion will naka, uh, you. And as soon as he left him, a lion
found him and naka- ed him. So that means that the word naca here has multiple definitions. And the most common definitions for naca is to be struck, to be destroyed, to be beaten, to be wounded, or to be killed. But for some reason, most translators of the Bible translates verse 36 as kill, even though naca could potentially mean to strike
or to wound. And this is why I wanted to use the NASB here, because the NASB was the only version I could find that put the literal definition of nacah in the footnotes. So when you see verse 36 in the NASB where it says the word kill, the lion will kill you. If you look at the footnotes, it says literally to strike.
So I found that kind of interesting. So if you look at the Hebrew, it doesn't necessarily mean that the lion killed this prophet B, this lion could have just wounded him or mauled him or struck him in some way. And that would be a punishment for Prophet b for not listening to the words of Prophet A Because the words from Prophet A were straight from God's lips. And Prophet B would have known this because it specifically says, prophet A said to prophet b, by the word of the LORD
please strike me. But Prophet B refused to strike him. So Prophet b disobeyed God. And we don't know why, other than maybe he was thinking, I don't want to strike my friend, because that sounds evil to me. I don't know why God would do that. Why would God ever tell me to, uh, strike my friend? But then Prophet A is like, because you didn't listen to the voice of the LORD God is going to punish you with this lion. So the lion was a punishment for Prophet b
for not listening to the voice of the LORD. And it was a harsh punishment for sure. But we know that God desires obedience. However, because Prophet B refused to listen to God's words, when God told Prophet b to strike Prophet a, Prophet b now has to be wounded as well, almost sharing in the misery of Prophet A. And you might be like, well, why does God want Prophet A struck in the first place? Well, I'm about to explain
that. But after this whole thing goes on between Prophet A and Prophet b, it says, prophet A found another man and said, please strike me. And this man, uh, struck him and injured him. So once again, this was probably Prophet a speaking to Another prophet, Prophet C. And prophet C sees what happens to prophet B and then actually listens to
what God tells him to do. And he strikes and injures Prophet A. And this was the reason why prophet A had to be injured, because for what prophet A was about to do, it had to look real. And this is just my own personal opinion, but I believe that one of the reasons why God had the prophets injure Prophet A was because the prophets were unliked at this point in time. They were, um, on the run for their lives. A lot of times they were deeply disliked by the, the
populace. And so in order to not be killed, it was probably a good thing that one of the prophets didn't just go up to a random person and be like, hey, strike me and injure me with your weapon. Because they, they likely would have died. But a prophet wouldn't kill another prophet. So anyway, Prophet A had to look like he had just gone through a battle. And so that is why he had to have an injury of some sort, because he was about to go to King Ahab and do an object lesson for King Ahab.
And like I said, you know, the prophets, they kind of started out, you know, like in the days of David as just people who traveled around, didn't really do anything all that weird, just stated God's word and, you
know, people would come to them to hear God's word. But we're gonna see that the prophets just get weirder and weirder and weirder because as Israel and Judah fall further and further away from God, God has his prophets do really bizarre things in order to get the attention of the people. And this is kind of the start of that. This is something really bizarre. But, you know, the prophets took the job of being a prophet very seriously because they knew what was at stake and they knew who
they were serving. So the prophets knew what was in store for them to become a prophet. It was not an easy life by any means. It was usually a very difficult life. I mean, for example, I think Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah had to streak around the city for like a year or something like that. And then Jeremiah had to wear this big heavy yoke. And then, um, Ezekiel, he's the strangest of all the prophets. He had to lie on one side of his
body for a full year. And then he could only eat like a certain type of bread, if you've ever heard of Ezekiel bread. That's where the reference comes from. And then also Ezekiel had to like, cook his food using cow manure. And God actually originally Said, use human feces to cook your meal. And Isaiah or..a.. Ezekiel was like, no, please, God, don't make me do that. So then God was like, okay, you can use cow manure if you must.
So, yeah, the prophets did not have an easy life, and they knew what it meant to be a prophet. And so Prophet A, it says, bandaged his face to hide his identity. And that means that Ahab was very aware of whoever this prophet was, which is why most people believe it was the prophet Micaiah, as we are about to learn about him. But prophet A hides his face, and it says, the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road and disguised
himself with a bandage over his eyes. And as King Ahab passed by, the prophet cried out to the king and said, your servant, went into the midst of battle, and behold, a man turned aside and brought a man to me and said, guard this man. If for any reason he goes missing, then your life shall be forfeited in place of his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver. So this prophet makes up a story to Ahab, and he's like, uh, an object lesson story, kind of similarly to what Nathan did
to King David. If you remember that story when King David, uh, slept with Bathsheba and then killed Bathsheba's husband, Nathan came and gave a story to David to get David to really think about his actions. Basically, this prophet here is doing the same thing to King Ahab. He says, you know, I was just in the midst of battle, Ahab. That's why I'm all wounded and bandages are over my face. And, you know, I'm running for my life, because one of the commanders brought me this man to
guard. Guard this man with your life. Otherwise, if he goes missing, your life will be forfeited, or you'll have to pay a very hefty fine if this man goes missing. So I'm, um, on the run because that man did go missing, because I was in the midst of battle, and then I turn around and the guy was gone. And so Ahab responds to the prophet, you know, thinking that he was just a soldier in battle. And the king of Israel says to him, so shall your judgment be. You yourself determined it. So King
Ahab's like, what do you want me to do about it? It's your problem. You determined it. You should have guarded that man better. So, yeah, your life is on the line. Sorry.
And the prophet takes the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him, that he was one of the prophets, and the prophet said to him, this is what the LORD, says, since you have let go from your hand the man that I had designated for destruction, your life shall be forfeited in place of his life and your people in place of his people. So this prophet showed the hypocrisy of King
Ahab. Because King Ahab, when he believed that the prophet was just a soldier, was like, yeah, you know, you did forfeit your life because you let that man go. That's your punishment. And yet Ahab didn't think about what he had just done to Ben Hadad. Ben Hadad was an evil king that God had designated for destruction. And yet Ahab just let him go scot free. This was an evil thing that Ahab had done. And this just goes to show you, in
fact, all of it's connected. Even the story of Prophet B refusing to hit Prophet A, it's all connected. When God tells you to do something, you listen, you do it. And Ahab and Prophet B did not listen to what God had told these two men to do. And so now Ahab goes home, sullen and infuriated. So in other words, he is sulking like a child because of what this prophet just told him. So no matter what God tells you to do or how bizarre it sounds to you, God
expects obedience. And so you might be like, well, how do I know then if God is truly talking to me? First and foremost, if God tells you to do something, it's going to be in line with what Scripture says. God does not tempt people to sin, and he certainly does not tell people to sin. So God is never going to tell you to go sin in some way. That's the first way that you can know if God is truly speaking to you or not. But the second way is to ask God to confirm that
he is speaking to you. If you think God is talking to you about something, something you should do in your life, or something that he is calling you to obedience in, then ask him to confirm it for you in multiple different ways and ask him to close doors and open doors in that general direction and God will answer that request of yours. There's a verse I just read, and I'm sorry, I don't remember where it's at, but it says, ask God for knowledge and he will give it to
you. He will not be upset with you for asking for that knowledge. So when it comes to hearing God's voice, you have to have knowledge. You can't just jump into something saying, yeah, God told me to do that. That's certainly gotten people into a lot of trouble before. But you also can't ignore God's call for you. So ask God for knowledge. He will give you that knowledge, and he won't get upset at you for asking.
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2nd Corinthians. I will see you guys then. 6am or whenever you choose to wake up and listen. Happy listening and God bless.