Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 20:31–end
Here is an account of what followed upon the victory which Israel obtained over the Syrians.
I. Ben-hadad's tame and mean submission. Even in his inner chamber he feared, and would, if he could, flee further, though none pursued. His servants, seeing him and themselves reduced to the last extremity, advised that they should surrender at discretion, and make themselves prisoners and petitioners to Ahab for their lives, Kg1 20:31. The servants will put their lives in their hands, and venture first, and their master will act according as they speed. Their inducement to take this course is the great reputation the kings of Israel had for clemency above any of their neighbours: "We have heard tha…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 20:35
A PROPHET REPROVES HIM. (Kg1 20:35-42)
Smite me--This prophet is supposed (Kg1 20:8) to have been Micaiah. The refusal of his neighbor to smite the prophet was manifestly wrong, as it was a withholding of necessary aid to a prophet in the discharge of a duty to which he had been called by God, and it was severely punished [Kg1 20:36], as a beacon to warn others (see on 1Ki. 13:2-24). The prophet found a willing assistant, and then, waiting for Ahab, leads the king unconsciously, in the parabolic manner of Nathan (Sa2 12:1-4), to pronounce his own doom; and this consequent punishment was forthwith announced by a prophet (see on Kg1 21:17).
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 20:36
A lion found him, and slew him - This seems a hard measure, but there was ample reason for it. This person was also one of the sons of the prophets, and he knew that God frequently delivered his counsels in this way, and should have immediately obeyed; for the smiting could have had no evil in it when God commanded it, and it could be no outrage or injury to his fellow when he himself required him to do it.
John Gill on 1 Kings 20:37
Then he found another man, and said, smite me, I pray thee,.... This is not said to be his neighbour, nor one of the sons of the prophets, but a rustic man, and so stuck not to take him at his word:
and the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him; in his face; made some incision in his flesh, broke the skin, and fetched blood of him; perhaps somewhere about his eyes, by what follows: this he got done to him, that he might look like a wounded soldier, and thereby get the more easily to the speech of Ahab.
