1 Kings 20:14

14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, The Lord says, By the servants of the chiefs who are over the divisions of the land. Then he said, By whom is the fighting to be started? And he made answer, By you.

1 Kings 20:14 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 20:14

And Ahab said, by whom?
&c.] Knowing he had no army with him sufficient to go out with against the Syrian army:

and he said, thus saith the Lord, even by the young men of the princes
of the provinces;
either such, as Kimchi thinks, who were brought up with him; or, as others, the sons of governors of provinces, who were kept as hostages, that their fathers might not rebel; neither of which is likely: but rather the servants of such princes who waited on them, and lived delicately and at ease, and were not trained up to military exercise, even by these should the victory be obtained:

then he said, who shall order the battle?
begin the attack, we or they? or who shall conduct it, or be the general of the army, go before it, and lead them on? Ahab might think, being an idolater, that the Lord would not make use of him, or otherwise who could be thought of but himself?

and he answered, thou;
thou must be the commander, go forth with the army, and make the attack upon the enemy.

1 Kings 20:14 In-Context

12 Now when this answer was given to Ben-hadad, he was drinking with the kings in the tents, and he said to his men, Take up your positions. So they put themselves in position for attacking the town.

13 Then a prophet came up to Ahab, king of Israel, and said, The Lord says, Have you seen all this great army? See, I will give it into your hands today, and you will see that I am the Lord.

14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, The Lord says, By the servants of the chiefs who are over the divisions of the land. Then he said, By whom is the fighting to be started? And he made answer, By you.

15 Then he got together the servants of all the chiefs who were over the divisions of the land, two hundred and thirty-two of them; and after them, he got together all the people, all the children of Israel, seven thousand.

16 And in the middle of the day they went out. But Ben-hadad was drinking in the tents with the thirty-two kings who were helping him.