a prophet or (generally) inspired man · preposition + definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Samuel 13:19 And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.
1 Kings 20:38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.
Job 2:8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentat…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
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…
a talent of silver--£342.
Next: 1 Kings Chapter 21
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 20:41
Took the ashes away - He took the bandage from off his eyes: see on Kg1 20:38 (note). It was no doubt of thin cloth, through which he could see, while it served for a sufficient disguise.
John Gill on 1 Kings 20:41
And he hasted, and took away the ashes from his face,.... Took off the linen cloth from his eyes, unveiled or unmasked himself:
and the king of Israel discerned him, that he was of the prophets; he knew him again, having seen him once or twice before; otherwise there could be nothing in his face that could discover him to be a prophet, rather he was to be known by his habit.
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 20:41-42
Then the disciple of the prophets drew the bandage quickly from his eyes, so that the king recognised him as a prophet, and announced to him the word of the Lord: "Because thou hast let go out of thy hand the man of my ban (i.e., Benhadad, who has fallen under my ban), thy life shall stand for his life, and thy people for his people," i.e., the destruction to which Benhadad was devoted will fall upon thee and thy people. The expression אישׁ־חרמי (man of my ban) showed Ahab clearly enough what ought to have been done with Benhadad. A person on whom the ban was pronounced was to be put to death (Lev 27:29).
The Church Fathers
In the course of these events Ahab's indulgence toward a man who was notoriously impious and an open and arrogant despiser of divine majesty fully deserved to be condemned, just as Saul's clemency toward the king of the Amalekites was reproached with good reason by Samuel; this is especially true if, as some commentators assert, the same prophet who had promised the victory in the name of God prescribed that a punishment was to be inflicted on Ben-hadad. On the other hand, a mild punishment should have been inflicted on Ahab and his subjects, if they were completely unaware of the will of God. But they could not ignore God's will at all, because the prophet had told them ahead of time that the Arameans would be handed over to them, after the Arameans had violated the majesty of God with their impious insults.
After the second man had struck and wounded him, the prophet bound his own head with a bandage, covered his eyes and disguised himself. Why did he do this? He was going to accuse the king and condemn him for saving the life of the king of the Syrians. Now Ahab was an impious man and always a foe to the prophets. The prophet did not wish Ahab to recognize him and then drive him from his sight; if the king drove him away, he would not hear the prophet's words of correction. So the prophet concealed his face and any statement of his business in the hope that this would give him the advantage when he did speak and that he might get the king to agree to the terms he wanted.When the king was passing by, the prophet called aloud to him and said, "Your servant went forth to the campaign of war. Behold, a man brought another man to me and said to me: 'Guard this man for me. If he shall leap away and bound off, it will be your life for his life, or you will pay a talent of silver.' And it happened that as your servant turned his eyes this way and that, the man was not there." And the king of Israel said to him: "This is your judgment before me: You killed the man." And the prophet hurried to take the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized that he was one of the sons of the prophets. And he said to the king: "So says the Lord: 'Because you let go from your hand a man worthy of death, it will be your life for his life, and our people for his people.' " Do you see how not only God but also people make this kind of judgment because both God and people heed the end and the causes rather than the nature of what is done? Certainly even the king said to him, "This is your judgment before me: you killed the man." You are a murderer, he said, because you let an enemy go. The prophet put on the bandage and presented the case as if it were not the king but somebody else on trial, so that the king might pass the proper sentence. And, in fact, this did happen. So after the king condemned him, the prophet tore off the bandage and said, "Because you let go from your hand a man worthy of death, it will be your life for his life and your people for his people." Did you see what a penalty the king paid for his act of kindness? And what punishment he endured in return for his untimely sparing of his foe? The one who spared a life is punished; another, who killed a man,…
Dictionary and topics
Micaiah — Who is like Jehovah?, the son of Imlah, a faithful prophet of Samaria (1 Kings 22:8-28). Three years after the great battle with Ben-hadad (20:29-34), Ahab proposed to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah,…
Ashes · Disguises in — Disguises in
Parables · Of the pri — Of the pri
Self-Condemnation · .Ahab — .Ahab
Syria · The Israelites: Craftily drawn into a league with — The Israelites: Craftily drawn into a league with
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Kings 20:36
a lion will kill you: A lion was previously the means of divine judgment (13:20-24) and would be so again during the repopulation of Israel following the fall of Samaria (2 Kgs 17:25-26).
Rashi on 1 Kings 20:40
And disappeared. He ran away.
You have pronounced. Either [your] life or a talent of silver.
