1 Kings 21:29 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Kings 21:29
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.
to see · interrogative particle + verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Ahab
אַחְאָ֖ב'ach.'Av
H256
Achab · proper noun, a man's name
humbleth
נִכְנַ֥עnikh.Na'
H3665
properly · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
before
מִלְּפָנָ֑יmi.le.fa.Nai
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
because
יַ֜עַןYa.'an
H3282
properly · conjunction
humbleth
נִכְנַ֣עnikh.Na'
H3665
properly · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
before
מִפָּנַ֗יmi.pa.Nai
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
bring
אָבִ֤יא'a.vi'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
evil
הָֽרָעָה֙ha.ra.'Ah
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
days
בְּיָמָ֔יוbe.ya.Mav
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
son’s
בְנ֔וֹve.No
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
days
בִּימֵ֣יbi.Mei
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
bring
אָבִ֥יא'a.Vi'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
evil
הָרָעָ֖הha.ra.'Ah
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
house
בֵּיתֽוֹbei.To
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should peri…
Micah 7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his…
2 Kings 9:25-26 Then said Jehu to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite: for remember how that, whe…
Psalms 86:15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
2 Kings 9:33-10:7 And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her un…
2 Kings 10:11 So Jehu slew all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his kinsfolks, and his priests, until he left him…
Psalms 18:44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
Ezekiel 33:10-11 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we p…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 21:17–end
In these verses we may observe,
I. The very bad character that is given of Ahab (Kg1 21:25, Kg1 21:26), which comes in here to justify God in the heavy sentence passed upon him, and to show that though it was passed upon occasion of his sin in the matter of Naboth (which David's sin in the matter of Uriah did too much resemble), yet God would not have punished him so severely if he had not been guilty of many other sins, especially idolatry; whereas David, except in that one matter, did that which was right. But, as to Ahab, there was none like him, so ingenious and industrious in sin, and that made a trade of it. He sold himself to work wickedness, that is, he made himself a perfect slave t…
Ahab . . . rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly--He was not obdurate, like Jezebel. This terrible announcement made a deep impression on the king's heart, and led, for a while, to sincere repentance. Going softly, that is, barefoot, and with a pensive manner, within doors. He manifested all the external signs, conventional and natural, of the deepest sorrow. He was wretched, and so great is the mercy of God, that, in consequence of his humiliation, the threatened punishment was deferred.
Next: 1 Kings Chapter 22
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 21:29
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself - He did abase himself; he did truly repent him of his sins, and it was such a repentance as was genuine in the sight of God: He humbleth himself Before Me.
The penitent heart ever meets the merciful eye of God; repentance is highly esteemed by the Father of compassion, even where it is comparatively shallow and short-lived. Any measure of godly sorrow has a proportionate measure of God's regard; where it is deep and lasting, the heart of God is set upon it. He that mourns shall be comforted; thus hath God spoken, and though repentance for our past sins can purchase no favor, yet without it God will not grant us his salvation.
John Gill on 1 Kings 21:29
The Church Fathers
In this place the question comes up: how do we interpret what the Lord said to Elijah: "Have you seen how Ahab has been moved at my presence? I will not bring evils in his days, but in his sons' days will I bring evils"—or how do we say that repentance avails before God? "Behold, the king was moved before the face of the Lord and went away weeping, and he tore his garments, and covered himself with haircloth and put on sackcloth from that day on which he killed Naboth the Jezrehite," so that mercy moved God, and he changed his decree. Therefore either repentance did not avail and did not turn God to mercy or the prophecy is false, for Ahab was vanquished and killed. But consider that he had a wife, Jezebel, by whose will he was inflamed and who turned his heart and made him execrable by reason of his excessive sacrileges. Accordingly, she checked even this desire of repentance on his part. But the Lord cannot be considered changeable if he did not think that he ought to keep for the one unmindful of his confession what, at his confessing, he had promised him.But hear another and truer explanation. Even for him in his unworthiness did the Lord keep the tenor of his decree, but Ahab himself did not hold fast to the divine favors conferred on him. The king of Syria made war. He was defeated and kept for pardon. Although a captive, he was even given his liberty and sent back to his kingdom. It was in keeping with the divine decree that Ahab not only escaped harm but even triumphed; it was due to his own stupid want of firmness that he armed against himself the enemy by whom he was to be conquered. And surely he was warned by the prophet, who said, "Know, and see what you do." He was warned, I say, because the help of divine favor was due against the servants of the king of Syria, since he had said, "The God of the mountains is the God of Israel and not the god Baal. Therefore," he says, "they have conquered us. And therefore," he says, "if we shall not completely overcome them, put satraps in the stead of the king of Syria," so that he might take from them their valor and the power of the king. Hence in the first battle Ahab was victorious, so that he put his enemy to flight; in the second he was also victorious, in which instance he restored the captured king to his power. For this reason there leaped forth a clear prophecy of Ahab's defeat, one of the sons of…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Boaz — Alacrity. (1.) The husband of Ruth, a wealthy Bethlehemite. By the “levirate law” the duty devolved on him of marrying Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4:1-13). He was a kinsman of Mahlon, her first husband.…
Jehoram — Jehovah-exalted. (1.) Son of Toi, king of Hamath, sent by his father to congratulate David on the occasion of his victory over Hadadezer (2 Sam. 8:10). (2.) A Levite of the family of Gershom (1 Chr.…
Naboth — Fruits, “the Jezreelite,” was the owner of a portion of ground on the eastern slope of the hill of Jezreel (2 Kings 9:25, 26). This small “plat of ground” seems to have been all he possessed. It was…
Stoning — A form of punishment (Lev. 20:2; 24:14; Deut. 13:10; 17:5; 22:21) prescribed for certain offences. Of Achan (Josh. 7:25), Naboth (1 Kings 21), Stephen (Acts 7:59), Paul (Acts 14:19; 2 Cor. 11:25).
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).
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me?.... Which yet was but an external humiliation, to be seen only with bodily eyes, as were all his actions and postures, before observed. Some Jewish writers (i) think his repentance was true and perfect, and his conversion thorough and real: they tell us (k), that he was in fasting and prayer morning and evening before the Lord, and was studying in the law all his days, and returned not to his evil works any more, and his repentance was accepted: but the contrary appears manifest; we never read that he reproved Jezebel for the murder of Naboth, nor restored the vineyard to his family, which he would have done had he been a true penitent; nor did…
This terrible threat made such an impression upon Ahab, that he felt deep remorse, and for a time at least was sincerely penitent. Rending the clothes, putting on the mourning garment of hair (שׂק), and fasting, are frequently mentioned as external signs of humiliation before God or of deep mourning on account of sin. יהלּך אט, he walked about lightly (slowly), like one in deep trouble. This repentance was neither hypocritical, nor purely external; but it was sincere even if it was not lasting and produced no real conversion. For the Lord Himself acknowledge it to be humiliation before Him (Kg1 21:29), and said to Elijah, that because of it He would not bring the threatened calamity upon Aha…
Ahab was a complex character. Although justly condemned for his evil character, here he repented when the Lord’s prophet brought a message of rebuke (21:27). Because of Ahab’s repentance, the Lord sent Elijah to postpone the awful sentence against Ahab and instead impose it on his equally wicked sons (2 Kgs 1:17; 9:24-26; 10:1-11).
Rashi on 1 Kings 21:29
I will not bring the evil. The disaster of this house I will not bring in his days, but the decree that the dogs will lick his blood is not possible to come in the days of his son, but upon him.
