1 Kings 20:13

13 And lo! one prophet nighed to Ahab, king of Israel, and said to him, The Lord God saith these things, Certainly thou hast seen all this multitude full great (Certainly thou hast seen all this very great multitude); lo! I shall betake it into thine hand today, that thou know that I am the Lord.

1 Kings 20:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 20:13

And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel,
&c.] Supposed by the Jewish writers to be Micaiah the son of Imlah, ( 1 Kings 22:9 ) one of those perhaps that Obadiah hid in the cave, and now is sent out publicly on an errand to Ahab:

saying, thus saith the Lord, hast thou seen all this great multitude?
considered what a vast number Benhadad's army consisted of:

behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day;
as great as it is:

and thou shalt know that I am the Lord;
and not Baal, who can save by few as well as by many, and from a great multitude.

1 Kings 20:13 In-Context

11 And the king of Israel answered, and said, Say ye to him, A girded man, that is, he that goeth to battle, have not glory evenly as a man ungirded, that is, as he that hath the victory, and hath put off his armours. (And Ahab, the king of Israel, answered, and said, Say ye to him, A girded man, that is, he who goeth to battle, hath not equal glory to an ungirded man, that is, he who already hath the victory, and hath put off his armour.)
12 And it was done, when Benhadad had heard this word, he drank, and also the kings, in shadowing places (in a shady place in their tents); and he said to his servants, Compass ye the city. And they compassed it.
13 And lo! one prophet nighed to Ahab, king of Israel, and said to him, The Lord God saith these things, Certainly thou hast seen all this multitude full great (Certainly thou hast seen all this very great multitude); lo! I shall betake it into thine hand today, that thou know that I am the Lord.
14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said to Ahab, The Lord saith these things, By the squires, or the footmen, of the princes of (the) provinces. And Ahab said, Who shall begin to fight? And the prophet said, Thou.
15 Therefore he numbered the young men of the princes of [the] provinces, and he found the number of two hundred and two and thirty; and after them he numbered the people, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand. (And so he called for the young men who served the leaders of the provinces, and he found them to number two hundred and thirty-two; and after them he called for the people, yea, all the Israelites/the whole Israelite army, seven thousand of them.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.