A Familiar Story

1 Kings 20

            It feels like we’ve read this story before: a vastly inferior Israelite force defeats a much larger enemy force because the Lord is on their side, and then there’s a mistake. In this case, Ahab spares Ben-Hadad. While it’s not explicitly recorded, the prophet says that the Lord had commanded the death of Ben-Hadad, but Ahab spared him. This all reminds me of Saul’s disaster with Agog of the Amalekites. There, as here, the Lord wants obedience, not good intentions. And much like Saul, Ahab goes away sullen and angry. That’s no way for a king to behave, as Wednesday’s reading will show us.