Observing the King's Word
(No. 2853)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1903.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 21, 1877.
"Now the men did diligently observe whether anything would come from
him, and did hastily catch it." 1 Kings 20:33.
You know the circumstances to which these words refer. The boastful
Syrian king had been utterly defeated and his army destroyed. He
himself had fled into an inner chamber in desperate fear of his life,
but, being informed that the kings of Israel were merciful, he sent
certain of his attendants, in humblest fashion, with sackcloth on their
loins and ropes about their necks, to beg that he might be spared. When
they came in before Ahab and began to plead with him for Ben-Hadad,
they watched every word that the king uttered–"The men did diligently
observe whether anything would come from him." And the moment he said,
"He is my brother," they caught at the expression immediately. They
were in such anxiety about their king that even half a word that
indicated tenderness and mercy brought joy to their hearts!
I think that this narrative contains a great deal of instruction for
those who desire to be reconciled to God. If, dear Friend, you are
conscious of your guilt and are afraid of being destroyed on account of
it, the wisest thing that you can do is to come before the Lord in the
attitude of submission. These men put sackcloth upon their loins and
ropes around their necks to show that they deserved to die. And you
must, spiritually, do the same. Go to God and humbly confess your
transgressions–acknowledge that you are absolutely in His hands and
that if He destroys you, He will be just. If He calls you to account
for all your iniquities, and even casts you into Hell, you cannot
impugn the justice of His decision. Yet, while you do that, imitate
these messengers of Ben-Hadad when they came to Ahab. "The men did
diligently observe whether anything would come from him, and did
hastily catch it."
I. My first observation in turning this incident to a spiritual use, is
that IT IS A PITY THAT AWAKENED SINNERS DO NOT COPY THE EXAMPLE OF
THESE MEN.
For, first, there is far too little of diligent observance of what God
says in His Word. Dear Friend, if you want to have the pardon of your
sin and deliverance from its consequences, it is God alone who can do
this for you! Therefore, you ought to endeavor to know all that is to
be known about God in order that if there is anything encouraging and
hopeful to one in your circumstances, you may know it. Hence, every
anxious enquirer ought to be a diligent searcher of his Bible. If I did
not know the way of salvation, I would read that blessed Book from
morning till night–and if I had read it through and yet had not found
a verse that spoke peace to my soul, I would resolve to read each
chapter, over and over again, with this constant prayer to God, "Lord,
show me something that will meet my case, some kind assuring word from
Your own Inspired Book that may remove my fears and give me peace."
How can some of you who say that you are seeking the Lord, be at all
surprised if you do not find Him, as you are neglecting the diligent
searching of His Word? I pray you to read it through and through, again
and again, and try if you cannot find a sentence, somewhere or other,
that will breathe comfort to your troubled heart. For remember that all
your hope lies there–within the covers of this Book is "the glorious
Gospel of the blessed God"–therefore, be you well acquainted with it
and diligently observe if anything has come from the lips of the Lord
which may bring deliverance to you.
The same thing ought to be done when you are hearing the Gospel
preached, for God has been pleased, in order that His Truth may be
brought home to your hearts, to choose certain of His servants to speak
His Word. And, so far as they
speak in accordance with His mind and will, they speak for God to you.
It is a blessed thing when we have hearers who diligently observe
whether there is anything in the sermon that will meet their case and
remove their distress. I know some congregations where they are
diligently observing whether there is fine oratory. I bless God that I
hate oratory from my very soul! To speak His Truth clearly and simply,
is all I aim at. So, if you want the beauties of rhetoric, you must
seek them elsewhere. There are some preachers who are always looking
out for scraps of poetry, or something quaint or curious that they can
weave into their discourse, but all this is as the chaff to the wheat.
The sincere seeker after the Truth of God continually prays, "Lord,
give me something that I may lay hold of. Give me a safe anchorage for
my storm-driven vessel. I am in sore trouble of soul, be pleased, O
God, to breathe peace to my heart through something that the preacher
shall say under the gracious guidance of Your Holy Spirit!" I do not
think there will be much preaching in vain when hearers diligently
observe what comes from the preacher's lips in the hope that, by God's
Grace, it may be blessed to them!
Then, again, dear Friends, while there is too little of diligent
observation of what God has said, there is also far too little of
hastily catching at the Word. These messengers of Ben-Hadad were
intently listening to all that Ahab said, so that, as soon as he
uttered the one word that gave them a ray of hope, they "did hastily
catch it." Oh, how I long that poor troubled hearts may hastily catch
at any word of encouragement that is either recorded in the Bible, or
spoken by God's sent servant! How many encouragements some of you have
missed through inattention! Sweet promises have been as near to you as
the key was to Christian when he was in Doubting Castle, yet you have
not perceived them. You have been hungering while the bread was waiting
for you upon the table. Some of you have been thirsting, as Hagar did
in the wilderness, when there was a well of water close beside her, but
she did not know it. There are sweet words that have set other souls at
liberty and, I trust, will yet bring you liberty–they have been
sounding in your ears again and again, yet, for lack of hastily
catching at them, you have missed the comfort they are intended to
convey to you.
I know some who, instead of hastily catching at comforts, are always
catching at difficulties. They seem to spend a great part of their time
trying to find out why they should not be saved–and they have
discovered quite a number of arguments to prove that there is no hope
of salvation for them! How do I know that they act thus? Why, because I
have had plenty of practical experience of it when trying to guide them
to the Lord Jesus Christ! They will argue this way, and that way, and
50 other ways–and when you have answered all their 50 arguments, they
just go and discover 50 more! There seems to be no end to their
ingenuity in finding stern sentences, threatening passages and
doctrines that appear to look black upon them. Well, dear Friend, if
this is what you have been doing, will you not turn your ingenuity into
another direction and, as you read a chapter, will you not say, "If
there is anything here that I can catch at, I will do so"? And when you
are listening to a sermon, say, "If there is anything that I can lay
hold of, I will do so." Say, especially, "Lord Jesus, if there is
anything in Your revealed Word. If there is one text, or half a text,
that would suit a poor sinner like me, I will not lose it for need of
grasping it, but, right or wrong, I will have it! I will catch at it,
if, perhaps, it may bring me peace and pardon."
It is a great pity that those who are in trouble of soul do not imitate
these messengers of Ben-Hadad, but they do not. They neither diligently
observe what God says, nor do they readily catch at it. I wonder why
this is? Is it because they are not so much in need as these poor men
with sackcloth on their loins and ropes around their necks? That is not
the case, but it may be that they have not so clear a sense of their
need! I have noticed that really hungry people will eat almost
anything–and when a man gets driven to self-despair, he eagerly
watches for any word that falls from God's mouth that is at all likely
to meet his case. Why is it that those in soul-trouble are not as
believing as these Syrians were? Whatever Ahab said, they caught at it
at once and believed it was true–yet he was a sorry specimen of
humanity. I do not know anything to his credit. There was only one
person who was worse than he–that was his wife, Jezebel! But, with
that exception, he was about as bad a character as could be found
anywhere–yet these men believed him. It is a sad pity that they
believed Ahab, but that some of us will not believe the Lord who cannot
lie!
God grant us Grace to watch carefully for any hopeful word that comes
from His lips and to catch it hastily, for our own comfort and for His
Glory!
II. My second observation is this–IT IS VERY STRANGE THAT SINNERS ACT
THUS, FOR IT IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH THE USUAL WAYS OF MANKIND.
We have a proverb which says that "drowning men catch at straws." So
they do. And when a man is in peril, he will usually grasp at anything
that seems to offer him a hope of escape! How is it, then, that with a
Bible full of promises and a Gospel full of encouragements, the mass of
people with troubled consciences do not at once catch at what God says?
There is another proverb of ours which says that "the wish is father to
the thought." Sometimes a man wishes for a thing so long that, at last,
he believes it is really his–but how strange it is that, in spiritual
things, men wish, and wish, and wish–or say that they do–and yet they
do not believe that it is as they wish! The more they wish, the further
they seem to be from the blessing they desire to possess. Alas, how
many of you there are who torture yourselves needlessly, who seem to
prefer to be troubled rather than be at peace, who see the Table of
Mercy spread before you, yet choose to remain hungry, who behold the
rippling rills of the Water of Life leaping at your feet, yet will not
stoop and drink! How odd it is that in other things, men should, in
their time of trouble, snatch at anything that seems likely to help
them, that they should be ready enough to lay hold on any sort of
comfort that is dangled before them and so are often deceived, and yet,
when their trouble arises from things that concern their soul, they do
not catch at the real consolation which God offers them!
I have often noticed, when a person is pleading with me for something
he wants, it is but a very simple illustration of something far
greater–how ready he is to lay hold of even half a promise. A man asks
me to preach in the country and I say, "I really cannot. It is quite
impossible." But he keeps on begging me to go and gets me to say that I
would if I could–and then he interprets that to mean that I shall go,
yet I never said anything of the kind! And then, some time afterwards,
he writes to say that I promised to preach for him, which I never did,
but he tries to make it out somehow that I did. And I expect that you
find it the same when people are begging of you–they will, if they
can, get a word of hope from you and then they lay hold upon it and
tell you that you said, such-and-such. Yet, when we come to deal with
God, we will not believe the promises which He has really made to us!
Some of us seem to be always ready to believe anything against
ourselves even though it is not true. It is strange that if we want
favors from men, we will plead with them, and twist their words in our
own favor, yet, when we come to deal with God, and everything is
clearly in favor of the coming, seeking, believing sinner, we so often
twist it around the other way, instead of catching at what God has
really said!
This is the more strange, too, because you can continually see how
sinners catch at everything else. See how they cling to their own
righteousness! A thousand tons of it are not worth a farthing–it is
neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill! Yet they prize it as
if it were a heap of diamonds. See what confidence many put in utterly
worthless forms and ceremonies. And that so-called "priest" with the
cross on his back–they are foolish enough to trust in him and believe
that he can do something or other for their soul's salvation! Anybody
who chooses to deceive them will find them ready to become his dupes.
Yet, when GOD comes to them with His exceedingly great and precious
promises, they do not catch at them, but rather turn aside from them!
Many, as it were, take the pope up in their arms, triple crown and all,
yet, when the Lord Jesus Christ passes by, they hardly put out their
little finger to touch the hem of His garment! They seem as if they
could trust even the devil sooner than they could trust their God, for
they hope to find pleasure in sin, which is trusting the deceitfulness
of Satan. Yet, when God Himself promises them eternal life through
believing in His own dear Son, they turn their backs on Him, and say,
"It is too good to be true! It cannot be possible!" Or they find some
other pretext for not catching hold of the gracious promise of God.
There was once a man, an honest man, who verily believed that Christ
was an impostor and, therefore, he devoted all his powers to the
putting down of Christ's teaching and His disciples. He was a man with
a large heart and, therefore, when this prejudice had taken full
possession of him, he foamed at the mouth and breathed out threats and
slaughter against the Church of Christ. He hunted down the disciples of
Jesus in Jerusalem and when they fled from him there, he followed them
to strange cities–all the while, as a truthful man–carrying out what
he believed to be pleasing to God. It needed only a very few words from
Heaven to let him know that this Christ, whom he was persecuting in the
person of His followers, was, indeed, the Son of God–and that man, as
soon as he had learned that Truth of God, resolved thenceforth to live
and die for Him whose servants he had persecuted so ruthlessly. I
believe I am addressing some who only need to know that Jesus Christ
is, indeed, the Son of God, and all their jests and mocking at true
religion will be turned into holy penitence and devoted adherence to
the cause which hitherto they have defied. O Lord, send that dash of
light to
them this very hour! Let them believe in Him who is not only the
faithful Witness to the Truth, but who is, Himself, the Truth, for, the
moment they believe in Him, they shall be saved.
III. My third observation is that WHEN WE ARE DEALING WITH GOD, THERE
IS VERY MUCH TO CATCH
AT. Many years ago, when I was in great distress of soul and could not
find Christ for a long while, I would have been glad if I had heard
anybody speak about how much there is for a troubled soul to catch at.
Perhaps I did hear something about it, but, if so, I did not catch at
it, though I think I would have done so if it had really been made
plain and clear to me. Until God the Holy Spirit enlightens the soul,
the Truth may be put very plainly, but we do not see it. I will try,
now, to set it before anyone here who is willing to catch at it.
Now, poor troubled Soul, if it had been God's purpose to destroy you.
If He never intended to hear your prayers. If He never meant to save
you, let me ask you, very earnestly, Why did He give you the Bible? I
want you to catch at this thought. That blessed Book is all about
salvation–the good news is fully and freely published there. But if
God had resolved never to accept your faith, or to answer your prayers,
why did He give you the Bible? Did He do this merely to tantalize you?
What other use can it be to you except to increase your condemnation?
What is the good of giving a hungry man the description of a grand
dinner if he may not eat it? What is the use of telling a poor beggar,
who is shivering in the cold, all about garments that he will be glad
to wear, when you know, all the while, that he will never be clad in
them? That is not God's way of dealing with sinners. The very existence
of the Word of God in your hand ought to be looked upon by you as a
token of mercy to your soul–so, catch at it.
Again, why has God raised up a ministry and given you the opportunity
of listening to it? Why are you continually being warned to flee from
the wrath to come? Why are you constantly being instructed in the
Truths of the Gospel? Why are you invited to come to Christ if He will
reject you when you do come? If there is no hope for you who trust in
Jesus, why has God sent me to preach to those whom He never intends to
bless? I do not believe that it is so and I pray you not to believe it
yourselves! The very fact that the Gospel is still sounding in your
ears is the thing you ought to catch at. Therefore, go at once to God
in prayer and say to Him, "Lord, You have sent me this precious message
of hope both in the Bible and by Your servant–will you not accept me,
now that I seek Your face and ask forgiveness at Your hands, in the
name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, Your well-beloved Son?"
I remind you also that you are still on praying ground. There are still
many precious promises that you can claim, such as this, "He that
seeks, finds; and to Him that knocks, it shall be opened." Your Lord
has told you to pray and not to faint–surely, God has not set up His
Mercy Seat in order that you may come to it and yet be refused? Do you
believe that He bids you pray, all the while knowing in His heart that
He never means to hear you? Do you think you would, over and over again
in God's Word, be encouraged to seek His face if He had determined that
He would never show that face to you? I cannot believe such a thing! On
the contrary, I think that your poor troubled heart ought to say, "As
the Lord bids me pray, He must mean to hear me." It seems clear enough
to my mind that it must be so! I trust it will be equally clear to you.
Go and use the Throne of Grace and I feel sure that you will not use it
in vain.
See, next, if you cannot catch at this great Truth–God has given Jesus
Christ to die for sinners. You are a sinner, so catch at this glorious
fact! "He gave Himself for our sins." If it had said that He gave
Himself for our righteousness, it would not have helped us, but it is
most cheering for us to learn that He gave Himself for our sins. Did
Jesus really die for sinful men and because of their sins? Then there
is hope for me, a guilty man in whom sins abound, for it is "a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners." If the Lord had meant to destroy you, He would
never have sent His Son to die, or sent to you an invitation to come to
Him, for God takes no delight in tantalizing His creatures by setting
before them that which encourages their hope only to plunge them
afterwards into deeper despair! Are you even now despairing of
salvation? Then, I urge you to say, with Job, "Though He slay me, yet
will I trust Him." If not a single ray of hope comes to you, yet grasp
the Cross–and if you perish, perish there! But if you, by faith, grasp
Christ, you shall never perish, for His own declaration is, "Him that
comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out"!
There is another Truth that I think some of you might catch at. It is
this one–"God now commands all men everywhere to repent."This was the
message that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself preached, "Repent you, for
the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." You know that there is such a thing
as saying that which is false by an indirect action as well as by
direct speech. Suppose, for instance, that someone had offended you and
that you should propose to him that he should
confess the wrong that he did to you? If you were earnestly to exhort
him to come and be at peace with you, suppose that, when he had done
so, you were to say to him, "Now you have humbled yourself, and
confessed the wrong that you did to me, but I will never forgive you"?
You would have grossly deceived him and acted a lie even if you had not
actually uttered it, because, in the very fact of your asking him to
acknowledge the wrong, there was, by implication, an assurance from you
that you meant to forgive him. In like manner, I look upon the
preaching of the duty of repentance and the command to repent as
containing within themselves the assurance that whoever repents shall
find free forgiveness at the hand of God!
Then, again, what can be the meaning of that other command, "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved,"'except that if, as a
guilty sinner, I come and trust in Christ, I shall be saved? It is even
so, indeed–I am saved as soon as I believe in Jesus. "But," says
someone, "suppose that I have no right to do that." That cannot be! It
has never happened yet and it never shall. At any rate, if I were in
your place, I would not ask any question about the matter, but I would
come to Christ because He commandsme to come to Him and threatens me
with terrible punishment if I do not come! Can you not catch at that?
I do not know where you poor troubled, conscience-smitten souls are
sitting. I feel sure that there are some of you here, but, wherever you
are, it seems to me that I cannot do better than say to you that the
whole Bible is full of promises for you to catch at I pray you lay hold
of them. Do not read the Bible through those dark spectacles that you
are so fond of wearing, trying to find all the threats there are in it,
but read it in a very humble spirit, yet resolving, "If there is any
encouragement for such a poor seeking soul as I am, I will find it. O
God the Holy Spirit, help me to find it! If the Lord has spoken any
word that can cheer me, I will not miss it for lack of believing it,
for I will believe everything that He has said, since I know that He
cannot lie! If I perish, I will perish with my finger on His promise
and I will say to Him, 'You have said this, O Lord. Now fulfill Your
promise to me, for I trust You to save even me according to Your
Word!'" Gracious Spirit, lead many to come to this resolution and You
shall have the praise!
IV. Now, lastly, THERE IS MUCH GREATER ENCOURAGEMENT FOR YOU AND FOR ME
THAN THERE WAS FOR THOSE MESSENGERS FROM BEN-HADAD.
For, first, suppose Ahab did utter a hopeful word–He was very
deceitful. Most kings, in those days, were as deceitful as they well
could be. One could never believe a word that they spoke. So what if
Ahab did say, "Ben-Hadad is my brother"? It might mean that he wanted
to allure him into his power that he might destroy him. The men did not
think of that, but they hastily caught at Ahab's favorable word. Now,
when God speaks, there is no deceit in what He says. He is not
treacherous. He has never spoken falsely to any man. Every word of His
is as true as the fact of your existence. I wish, sometimes, that I
could induce sinners to treat God as they treat those with whom they do
business. I wish they would believe His promise as readily as they
believe a man's promise and say to Him, "That is what You have said,
and I believe it. Lord, You cannot lie, therefore, fulfill Your promise
to me." There would never be a single instance in which your hope would
be disappointed! There never has been and there never shall be, so long
as the race of man exists.
Then, again, when those men listened to Ahab, he might have uttered a
friendly word without meaning it It might have been quite an idle word
and he might have said to the messengers, afterwards, "You must not lay
any stress upon that expression. I merely used a courtly phrase–there
is nothing in it." But God never speaks in a trifling or meaningless
manner. There is not one idle word of His in the whole of the
Scriptures. There is not a promise which has the slightest falseness or
exaggeration in it. If God has promised to do a great thing, He will do
a great thing. If He has promised a marvelous mercy, it was not a slip
of the tongue or a slip of the pen, but He has bound Himself to fulfill
it and He will surely do even as He has said! It is a great mercy for
you, and for me, dear Friends, that the Bible is so full of solemn
"shalls" and "wills" which God will certainly verify. They are all such
massive pillars that a soul may well rest its whole weight upon them,
or upon any one of them–and rest there for all eternity without fear
of falling! I wish, with all my heart, that every poor troubled soul
would just lay hold of the promises and say to the Lord, "These are no
idle words– fulfill them unto me, I pray You, for Your dear Son's
sake!"
There is another lesson to be learned from this incident. These
messengers from Ben-Hadad said that the kings of Israel were merciful
kings, but we know that God is much more merciful than they were, for
"His mercy endures forever." It is no delight to God to see the wicked
perish. He would infinitely rather that they should turn unto Him and
live. He has no satisfaction in seeing you hopeless and despairing,
young man–and it will bring joy to His heart if you will
come and cast yourself at His feet, confessing your sin and believing
that He has forgiven it. "There is joy in the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner that repents"–and no one will rejoice more than
God Himself will if you do but come unto Him!
I close with this last remark. Those messengers from Ben-Hadad might
have believed better of Ahab than would have been true, but you cannot
believe better of God than will be true. I will give you a challenge.
There is no saint here who can out-believe God! You know that God never
out-promised Himself yet. Some people do–they say they will do
wonderful things, but they promise what they cannot perform, or they
find it inconvenient to fulfill their pledged word. That never yet
happened to the God of Heaven and earth! He has never out-promised
Himself. There have been some men who have believed great things of God
and have gone a long way in believing, but there has never lived any
man who has yet out-believed God! Come, now, and put Him to the
test–believe that He can blot out your sin before you leave this
place! Trust His Son to do it and it shall be done. Believe that He
will make a new man of you, creating you anew in Christ Jesus, and it
shall be done. Believe that He will fill your heart with abounding
comfort and overflowing joy, whereas, aforetime, you have been
desponding and well-nigh despairing–and it shall be done. Believe that
He will keep you from falling all your life and present you faultless
before His Presence with exceeding joy–and it shall be done! Believe
that He will be with you in life, with you in death, with you at the
Judgment Seat and with you to all eternity–and it shall be done! You
may open your mouth wide, but He will fill it and when He has filled
it, there will be as much more left for others as they will be able to
receive. In the name of God. I challenge you to out-believe Him if you
can!
"Oh," says one, "if what you have said is true, I will believe that
Jesus can save me, and that He can save me now–
"'I'll go to Jesus, though my sin
Has like a mountain rose.
I know His courts, I'll enter in,
Whatever may oppose!
I'll to the gracious King approach,
Whose scepterpardon gives.
Perhaps He may command my touch,
And then the suppliant lives."
He does command your touch! So stretch out your hand! Trust Him and you
are saved! Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you because you
have believed on the name of the only-begotten Son of God! Go in peace,
for Jesus Christ has made you whole! The Lord be with you! Amen and
Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 KINGS20:1-34.
Verses 1-4. And Ben-Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host
together: and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses, and
chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it
And he sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel, into the city, and said
unto him, Thus said Ben-Hadad, Your silver and your gold is mine, your
wives also and your children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the
king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to your
saying, I am yours, and all that I have. This was a king of Israel,
meanly crouching before the idolatrous king of Syria! Not after this
fashion would David have spoken, or any of those kings who followed the
Lord of Hosts. But when men forsake God, they soon become cowards. What
Kingdom or nation shall prosper that casts off the yoke of the Most
High?
5, 6. And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben-Hadad,
saying, though I have sent unto you, saying, You shall deliver me your
silver, and your gold, and your wives, and your children; yet I will
send my servants unto you tomorrow about this time, and they shall
search your house, and the houses of your servants; and it shall be
that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they shall put it in their
hands, and take it away. That is always the way with such people–give
them an inch, and they take a mile. Ahab had agreed to all that the
Syrian king claimed, so now Ben-Hadad pushes his advantage. If you ever
yield to Satan, you will find him to be a hard taskmaster. You can
never yield enough to satisfy him and if you yield to any sin, whatever
it may be, you will find it to be a cruel tyrant to you. If you
allow it once to have power over your soul, it will push its advantage
further and further, and make your yoke to be exceedingly heavy.
7-9. Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and
said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeks mischief for he sent
unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for
my gold, and I denied him not And all the elders and all the people
said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent Therefore he said unto
the messengers of Ben-Hadad, Tell my lord, the king. All that you did
send for to your servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may
not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again. Driven
to extremity, Ahab showed that he had a little courage left, but when
he was supported by his people and, possibly, urged on by them, he put
his foot down and would not altogether submit to Ben-Hadad. Oh, that
men had the moral courage to revolt against sin! Would that, when they
felt its cruel bondage, they would resist it! God grant them Grace to
do so, and strengthen them in their resistance!
10. And Ben-Hadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and
more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all
the people that follow me. As much as to say, "I will bring so many
against you that all the dust of the city would not be enough to
furnish a handful each."
11. And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him
that girds on his harness boast himself as he that takes it off. That
was a sharp shrewd check to the boasting of the Syrian king.
12-15. And it came to pass, when Ben-Hadad heard this message, as he
was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his
servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array
against the city. And, behold, there came a Prophet unto Ahab, king of
Israel, saying, Thus says the LORD, Have you seen all this great
multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into your hand this day, and you
shall know that I am the LORD. And Ahab said, By whom? And he said,
Thus says the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the
provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered,
You. Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces,
and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered
all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.
All the volunteers that were ready for the war–they were only seven
thousand.
16-18. And they went out at noon. But Ben-Hadad was drinking himself
drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings that
helped him. And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out
first And Ben-Hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men
come out of Samaria. And he said. In his drunken fury, "he said"–
18. Whether they are come out for peace, take them alive; or whether
they are come out for war, take them alive. They were not to be so
easily taken as Ben-Hadad imagined.
19-21. So these young men of the princes of the providences came out of
the city, and the army which followed them. And they slew, everyone,
his man: and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them: and Ben-Hadad
the King of Syria escaped on a horse with the horsemen. And the king of
Israel went out and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians
with a great slaughter God has ways and means of delivering His people
in His own time. I wish all the young men of our churches had the high
ambition to be serviceable to the Lord of Hosts. These young princes
were a very small band of soldiers, but they led the way and smote the
drunken monarch and his troops–and if our young men, full of holy zeal
and ardor, had confidence in God and went forth, everyone to slay his
man, by which I mean, each one to win a soul to Christ, what glorious
victories would be won for the Truth as it is in Jesus!
22. And the Prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go,
strengthen yourself, and mark, and see what you should do: for at the
return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you. Another
year would bring another war, so they must be prepared.
23. And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are
god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us
fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than
they. I t was a current heathen idea that there was one god for a
mountain, another for a stream, another for a plain–and these men
imagined that the glorious Jehovah was a local deity like their images
were supposed to be!
24. And do this thing, Take the kings away, everyman out ofhisplace,
andput captains in theirplaces. "Do not let the kings, who have their
own armies, govern them, for that creates divisions in the camp–but
appoint captains in their places."
25-27. And number you an army, like thee army that you have lost, horse
for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in
the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened
unto their voice, and did so. And it came to pass at the return of the
year, that Ben-Hadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to
fight against Israel And the children of Israel were numbered, and were
all present. That is a grand record. It shows the kind of men they
were. I wish that all our church-members were present at all our Prayer
Meetings and on all occasions when work is to be done for Christ. What
a healthy condition the Church would be in if it could be said, "The
children of Israel were numbered, and were all present."
27. And went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before
them like two little flocks of kids. A herd of goats was seldom very
large, and the whole of the Israelites put together seemed only "like
two little flocks of kids."
27, 28. But the Syrians filled the country. And there came a man of
God, and spoke unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus says the LORD,
Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but He is
not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great
multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD. See
how good came to Israel through the blasphemy of the Syrians? Whenever
there is a rather worse book than usual brought out against the
religion of Jesus Christ, or a more than ordinary villainous blasphemy
is invented against the Grace of God, you may almost clap your hands,
and say, "Now will God bestir Himself for His Truth and for
righteousness' sake. These men will provoke Him so that He will arise
and defend His own cause."
29-32. And they pitched one over against the other seven days, and so
it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children
of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.
But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon
twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Ben-Hadad
fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber. And his servants
said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of
Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray you, put sackcloth on our
loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel:
perhaps he will save your life. So they girded sackcloth on their
loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel,
and said, Your servant Ben-Hadad. There is a wonderful difference
between this language and the way in which he had previously spoken!
"Your servant Ben-Hadad."
32. Says, Ipray you, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? He is
my brother. When a man leaves his God, he cannot distinguish between
his foes and his friends, so that, oftentimes, those who would do him
the direst mischief he reckons to be his brothers.
33, 34. Now the men did diligently observe whether anything would come
from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Your brother
Ben-Hadad. Then he said, Go you, bring him. Then Ben-Hadad came forth
to him, andhe caused him to come up into the chariot. And Ben-Hadad
said unto him, The cities which my father took from your father, I will
restore; and you shall make streets for you in Damascus, as my father
made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send you away with this
covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away. Ahab
actually made a treaty of peace with him, and let him live to plot
incalculable mischief against the nation.