1 Kings 20:40-42

40 While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared.” “That is your sentence,” the king of Israel said. “You have pronounced it yourself.”
41 Then the prophet quickly removed the headband from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.
42 He said to the king, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die.[a] Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.’ ”

1 Kings 20:40-42 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 20

This chapter relates the siege of Samaria by the king of Syria, and his insolent demand of Ahab's wives, children, and riches, 1Ki 20:1-12, the sally made out upon him, at the direction of the prophet, and the route made of the Syrian army, 1Ki 20:13-21, the return of the Syrian army the next year, when there was a pitched battle between them and Israel, in which the former were entirely defeated, 1Ki 20:22-30, the peace Ahab made with the king of Syria, 1Ki 20:31-34, and the reproof one of the sons of the prophets gave him for it, which made him very uneasy, 1Ki 20:35-43.

Cross References 4

  • 1. 2 Samuel 12:5; S 2 Samuel 14:13
  • 2. S 2 Samuel 12:7
  • 3. Jeremiah 48:10
  • 4. ver 39; S Joshua 2:14; 1 Kings 22:31-37

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
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