And when he saw that
That her design and resolution were to take away his life; the
Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions read, "and he was
afraid"; or frightened; he that had such courage as not to be
afraid to meet Ahab, and contend with four hundred and fifty
priests of Baal, and in the face of all Israel, who at first were
not inclined to take his part, is now terrified at the threats of
a single woman; which shows that the spirit and courage he had
before were of the Lord, and not of himself; and that those who
have the greatest zeal and courage for religion, for God, and his
worship, his truths and ordinances, if left to themselves, become
weak and timorous; and whether this is the true reading, or not,
it was certainly his case by what follows:
he arose and went for his life;
fled to save his life, at a time when he was much wanted to
encourage and increase the reformation from idolatry, and to
preserve the people from relapsing who were converted; and
through the miracles that had been wrought by him, and for him,
he had great reason to trust in the Lord: or "he went unto", or
"according to his own soul" F13; according to his own mind
and will, not taking counsel of God, or any direction from him;
and so Abarbinel interprets it:
and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to
Judah;
to the tribe of Judah; for though it was in the inheritance of
Simeon, yet that was within the tribe of Judah, ( Joshua 19:1 Joshua 19:2 ) , or to
the kingdom of Judah, over which Jehoshaphat reigned, and so
might think himself safe, being out of the dominions of Ahab, and
reach of Jezebel; but yet he did not think so, his fears ran so
high that he imagined she would send some after him to search for
him, and slay him privately, or make interest with Jehoshaphat to
deliver him up, there being friendship between him and Ahab; for
though this place was eighty four miles from Jezreel, as Bunting
F14 computes it, he left it:
and left his servant there;
he took him not with him, either lest he should betray him, or
rather out of compassion to him, that he might not share in the
miseries of life that were like to come upon him.