1 Kings 20:40

And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:31-43 This encouragement sinners have to repent and humble themselves before God; Have we not heard, that the God of Israel is a merciful God? Have we not found him so? That is gospel repentance, which flows from an apprehension of the mercy of God, in Christ; there is forgiveness with him. What a change is here! The most haughty in prosperity often are most abject in adversity; an evil spirit will thus affect a man in both these conditions. There are those on whom, like Ahab, success is ill bestowed; they know not how to serve either God or their generation, or even their own true interests with their prosperity: Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. The prophet designed to reprove Ahab by a parable. If a good prophet were punished for sparing his friend and God's when God said, Smite, of much sorer punishment should a wicked king be thought worthy, who spared his enemy and God's, when God said, Smite. Ahab went to his house, heavy and displeased, not truly penitent, or seeking to undo what he had done amiss; every way out of humour, notwithstanding his victory. Alas! many that hear the glad tidings of Christ, are busy and there till the day of salvation is gone.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ashes - Rather, "a bandage" (and in 1 Kings 20:41). The object of the wound and bandage was double. Partly, it was to prevent Ahab from recognizing the prophet's face; partly, to induce him to believe that the man had really been engaged in the recent war.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

39. a talent of silver—£342.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i. e. Thy sentence; or the sentence against thee: thou must perform the condition to which thou didst submit; either suffer the one, or do the other.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone,.... Employed in one thing or another relative to the battle, his prisoner committed to his care made his escape:

and the king of Israel said unto him, so shall thy judgment be, thyself hast decided it; the sentence was plain and open against him, that either he must die or pay the money, for he himself had agreed to it.

Geneva Study Bible

And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

40. he was gone] The sentence would of course continue thus: ‘Let me however find grace and let not thy servant suffer for this neglect’.

So shall thy judgement be] i.e. As he laid down who entrusted his prisoner to thy care. The LXX. rendering here is utterly without sense, and it is impossible to conceive whence it was derived, ἰδοὺ καὶ τὰ ἔνεδρα παρʼ ἐμοὶ ἐφόνευσας.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 40. - And as thy servant was busy [Heb. doing. The LXX. περιεβλέψατο ὁ δοῦλός σου, and the Vulgate dum ego turbatus hue illucque me verterem, have led some critics to urge the substitution of פֹּגֶה turning, or שֹׁעֶה looking, for עֹשֵׂה doing, in the text. But no alteration is needed] here and there [or hither and thither - the ה is generally local - as in Joshua 8:20. But sometimes it is merely demonstrative, "here and there," as in Genesis 21:29, Daniel 12:5, and so it may be understood here (Gesenius)], he was gone [Heb. he is not]. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it. [Cf. 2 Samuel 12:5-7, Ahab has himself pronounced that his judgment is just, and what it shall be.] 1 Kings 20:40

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When the king passed by, he cried out to him and related the following fictitious tale: He had gone to the war, and a man had come aside to him (סוּר as in Exodus 3:3; Judges 14:8, etc.), and had given a man (a prisoner) into his care with this command, that he was to watch him, and if he should be missing he was to answer for his life with his own life, or to pay a talent of silver (as a punishment). The rest may be easily imagined, namely the request to be saved from this punishment. Ahab answered (1 Kings 20:40), משׁפּטך כּן, "thus thy sentence, thou hast decided," i.e., thou hast pronounced thine own sentence, and must endure the punishment stated.