Episode 143: A lion kills a man for refusing to smite a prophet

1 Kings 20

Benhadad threatens Ahab

20 ¹ Benhadad, the king of Syria, along with 32 other kings, attacked Samaria. ² He sent messengers to Ahab, the king of Israel, and said to him,

³ Your silver and gold are mine.

So are your wives and children (even the best-looking ones).

⁴ Ahab said, "Sure. It's all yours."

⁷ Then he called all the elders of Israel and said to them,

I told Benhadad he could have all your wives, children, silver, and gold.

⁸ The elders said to Ahab, "No way! Tell him he can't have all our stuff."

⁹ So Ahab sent messengers to Benhadad, who said,

You can have some of our stuff, but not all of it.

¹⁰ Benhadad sent messengers to Ahab, who said, "I'll take all your stuff."

¹¹ So Ahab sent messengers to Benhadad, who said, "We'll see."

God delivers Benhadad into Ahab's hand

¹³ Then a prophet came to Ahab and said,

This is what God says: "I'll deliver Benhadad into your hand. (And you'll know I'm God.)"

¹⁵ Ahab counted 232 young men and 7000 people in Israel.

¹⁶ At this time, Benhadad and the 32 kings were getting drunk.

²⁰ Each Israelite killed a Syrian soldier, and the rest of the Syrians ran away, with the Israelites chasing after them. Benhadad escaped on horseback.

²¹ And Ahab smote the horses, chariots, and Syrian soldiers with a great slaughter.

100,000 Syrians are killed (for calling God a god of the hills)

²³ The servants of the Syrian king said to him,

Israel's gods are hill gods, so they were stronger than us.

So let's fight them on the plains, where we can beat them for sure.

²⁸ A man of God said to Ahab,

This is what God says: Because the Syrians called me a hill god but not a valley god, I'll deliver them into your hand. (And then you'll know I'm God.)

²⁹ And the Israelites killed 100,000 Syrians in one day.

27,000 Syrians are killed by a falling wall

³⁰ And a wall fell on 27,000 of the remaining Syrian soldiers, killing them all. Except for Benhadad, who ran away and hid in a room.

Benhadad and Ahab reach an agreement

³¹ Benhadad's servants said to him,

We've heard that Israel's kings are merciful, so let's put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads and go out to meet Ahab. Maybe he won't kill us then.

³² So they put sackcloth on their loins and ropes on their heads, and came to Ahab and said, "Please don't kill Benhadad."

³³ Ahab said, "Is he still alive? He's my brother. Go fetch him for me."

³⁴ So they brought Benhadad to him, and he said to Ahab,

I'll give you back the cities that my father took from your father.

Ahab said, "Okay. That sounds good to me."

A lion kills a man for refusing to smite a prophet

³⁵ Then a certain son of a prophet said to his neighbor in the word of the Lord, "Please smite me."

But his neighbor refused to smite him.

³⁶ So the son of prophet said to his neighbor, "Because you refused to smite me, a lion will kill you."

And as soon as his neighbor left, a lion killed him.

³⁷ The son of a prophet found another man and said to him, "Please smite me."

And the man smote and wounded him.

³⁸ So the son of a prophet left, disguising himself with ashes on his head, and waited for King Ahab to pass by. ³⁹ When he did, the son of a prophet said to him,

I went out to battle and a man brought another man who said to me,

Keep this man. Don't let him escape or you'll be killed or will have to pay a talent of silver.

⁴⁰ But I was too busy, so the prisoner escaped.

Ahab said to him, "Well then, you'll be punished for that."

⁴¹ Then the son of a prophet took the ashes off his face, and King Ahab recognized him as a prophet.

⁴² The son of a prophet said to King Ahab,

This is what God says: "Because you've let a prisoner escape that I wanted you to kill, I will kill you and your people."

⁴³ And King Ahab went home to Samaria an unhappy man.