Thank you for listening to this sermon from Seven Springs Presbyterian Church. If you want to learn more about us, please find us on Facebook or visit us at sevenspringspresbyterian.com. Like I said, we'll be in First Kings chapter 20. We began last time we were together looking at the beginning of this section in chapter 20, a whole new period. same era, but really an opening of a new section where we are focusing on Ahab, his political endeavors, and his wars, and not so much Elijah and the drought, and what is going on between Elijah, although he plays a part. But really on Ahab he becomes the predominant person that we are centered around now. And we got up to verse 12 of chapter 20 and And just as a way of memory it really describes the initial conflict and contact between Ahab the king of Israel and Ben-Hadad of Aram or Syria. And Ben-Hadad had gathered together 32 other kings to be able to besiege Samaria. He sends his messengers to Ahab and demands silver and gold and his wives, his best wives and his children. And Ahab eventually agrees, just quite simply agrees with that. And then Ben-Hadad comes and says, well, if you're going to give me that, you can give me a lot more than that, insisting that he'll basically take whatever he desires. Ahab then consults with the elders of Israel and the elders advise Ahab and Ahab refuses as the elders had advised and of the additional demands. But Ben-Hadad said, well, this basically means war. So he gets ready for his attack, calling on his army. He's got a bigger army, he's ready to be able take this King Ahab and Samaria down. But Ahab finally responds and he responds and tells him not to be able to boast before the battle is won. Boasting about putting on your armor is a lot more difficult, easier than boasting about taking your armor off. But Ben-Hadad drinks with his kings, he assumes victory is at hand and he's won this battle already. and he commands his men to attack and that is where we find ourselves now with this initial battle. There are several battles that happen in a couple of these chapters. So what we need to be able to keep an eye on as we looked at last time is we need to be paying attention to the prophets. That there is always this conflict that arises and then a prophet enters into the story. And these stories that seem just grouping together of just random stories. They are all consistent with this prophet entering. And so this is the first out of six that we will meet in these chapters. And in verse 13 it begins by saying that there is a prophet. We are not told of the name of this prophet. It is not uncommon for this to be the case. Prophets enter and prophets leave. We have seen this before. and it is not uncommon for this to be able to happen. But we must also think about Obadiah and him saving those 100 prophets and putting them in caves. Jezebel has gone through and tried to wipe out all the prophets of the Lord. We at least know that there are 101 prophets, these 100 that Obadiah has saved and then also Elijah as well. So, we must assume that it is probably one of these 100 prophets that Obadiah has saved. So, we see that impact there. And there is this large army, a lot of people and this prophet comes to Ahab and tells him what seems the most unlikely news in verse 13. And behold a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel and said, Thus says the Lord, Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will give it into your hand this day, and you shall know that I am the Lord." So during this period of time we see God speak and we've seen this through Elijah. We took note of this in one of the most worst, in one of the most terrible times in Israel's history. Ahab is a wicked king, the wickedest king. And here he is and yet God is still speaking. And he speaks through this prophet. And he points out this great multitude. I always kind of think God has a sense of humor. You know, what does Ahab respond to this? Have you seen this great multitude? Of course, I've seen this great multitude sitting on my front lawn, encompassing, celebrating. Their noise is keeping me up at night. It's not a small army. It is a large army encircling the whole city of Samaria. It's not a small Boy Scout troop. These are trained military professionals, and it's such a large number. And this prophet asked this question, have you seen this great multitude? And I think this heightens then the opposite of what is going to happen, what we think is going to happen. But the prophet says that, well God says through the prophet that I'm going to give this army into Ahab's hand this very day. with a specific purpose God is doing this for a specific reason and that reason is that Ahab shall know that he is that Yahweh is Lord and again this is not uncommon is exactly what Elijah said in chapter 18 that the great battle of Baal and Yahweh and Elijah the prophet came near and said, the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known to this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that the people may know you, O Lord, our God. and that you have turned their hearts back." So again God does this great sign and wonder in chapter 18 to be able to draw the hearts of the people of Israel back and so too God does this sign here in this chapter that he might draw Ahab to himself. And God had defeated Baal and he was going to defeat Ben-Hadad and this army. In Ahab, simply just again, the simple statement of fact, Ahab asks what everyone is thinking. Who is going to defeat them? Again, the comic understanding of this here, Ahab's question, who will fight them? Who will start? But initially in verse 14, he's just simply says, by who? Who is going to win this army and defeat these 32 kings plus Ben-Hadad of Syria, an enormous empire? It is truly a great feat that he puts it there. The Lord responds, the prophet responds, thus says the Lord, again we see God speaking during this time by servants of the governors of the districts. And then Ahab asks another question, well who shall begin the battle? And the prophet turns around and says, you, you see, Ahab is asking all these questions. There's a big army. Who is gonna win this army? And well, you are, the governors are your district. Who's gonna start the battle? Well, you are. You see this kind of situation. And then we see in verse 16 and 18, And they went out at noon while Ben-Hadad was drinking himself drunk in the booths. And he and his 32 kings who helped him, the servants of the governors of the districts, went out first. And Ben-Hadad sent out scouts and they reported to him men are coming out from Samaria. He said, if they come out for peace, take them alive. or if they have come out for war, take them alive." So we see the wickedness not of just Ahab is put in a pedestal throughout these chapters but also Ben-Hadad. Ben-Hadad, these men are coming out and here Ben-Hadad has been insulted and This happens and men often are quite moved with their emotions in a negative way. Either way, if they come out for peace, kill them. If they come out for war, kill them. There is no way out for these people. It reminds us of Nahash all the way back in 1 Samuel chapter 11. Nahash, this wicked ruler of the Ammonites, he besieged Jabash-Gilead and the men of Jabash said to Nahash, make a treaty with us and we will serve you. But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, on this condition I will make a treaty with you that I gouge out all your right eyes and thus bring disgrace on all of Israel. They go and ask for seven days, but he doesn't necessarily seek that during time. So they try and find peace with Nahash, and he turns around and says, no, I'm not giving you peace. I'm going to cut out your eyes. That's the deal that I'll make with you. And so peace, kill him. War, kill them. And so they end up going out of the city in verse 19. So these went out of the city and the servants of the governors of the districts and the army that followed them and each struck down his man. And the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued. But Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, escaped on a horse with horsemen. And the king of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots and struck the Syrians with a great blow." So here we see Ben-Hadad's really first mistake in the previous verse was here he was drinking in the middle of the day. And this is, you know, obviously, you know, the old saying, there's always five o'clock somewhere. But often this is not merely symbolic of he had a drinking problem. It's that they thought they had won. They were celebrating before it had done. And we saw this with David as he pursued The people that took his town in 2 Samuel, end of 1 Samuel, and they were celebrating. And so Ben-Hadad had already just assumed his victory in his boasting and Ahab's remark that, you know, putting on your armor is the easy thing. Taking your armor off after winning, that's the difficult thing. Then you can boast after you've taken off your armor. But here you see the pridefulness and arrogance of Ben-Hadad and they come out and You have the governors of these districts, this small little group of people trying to defeat this huge army, 32 kings with all various sizes of army that we see. And so Israel defeats Syria and we're told it was with a great blow. You see that at the end of verse 21 that it was they did it not merely just barely scraping by so much point these warriors turned around and started to run. They turned around and with this great blow and so now we see in verse 22 And then the prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, come strengthen yourself and consider well what you have to do for in the spring the king of Syria will come up against you. And so he won this battle. The Syrians are fleeing. Ahab, Ben-Hadad is sought to be able to run. And so the prophet warns Ahab, what is coming? Spring is coming. Spring is known as wartime. You remember the story of David Masheba? It's all the springtimes when you go to war. You know, you might plant vegetables in the springtime and cut your grass frequently. Well, in this time, if you're a king, you'd go to battle. That's the best time to be able to start a battle. You know, you've been at home winter all the time with your wife and kids, bottled up, and finally now's the time to be able to go out and fight your battles. They wake up, they smell the pollen and the plunder and they head out on this expedition to be able to go fight. And so 1 Kings chapter 20 verse 23 and 25 continues to be able to tell what happens. And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, their gods are gods of the hills so that they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And do this, remove the kings, each from his post, and put commanders in their places. And muster any army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain. And surely we shall be stronger than they." And he listened to their voice and they did so. So here they come out and they say, well the reason we lost was several reasons. One is that their gods is the god of the hills. How they got this we are not particularly sure. I mean you have all these high places that they go up and worship in Baal and that is where they set up all these high places. Jerusalem set up on a hill. You might have heard some of the Psalms, I lift my eyes up to the hills, where does my help come from? Here God is up in the hills and He comes to be able to there to the aid of the Israelites. But what they're really doing in this is they're underestimating God. They're underestimating God and saying, well, He's only a God of the hills. Again, they're putting in perspective what they thought was their gods. You look at the gods of any nation and they often had multiple gods because their gods were small and their gods were only powerful to be able to look after one thing. The gods of the Egyptians had many different gods of the sun, the moon, the harvest, the rivers, the life to death, all of these different gods that they would worship and this is really key. It's key as we begin to be able to understand what's happening here. The second thing is they say, well, the problem was that they had governors of districts and that's why they won. And you only had kings. So replace your kings with commanders, follow their pattern. Now we see Israel do all this. God works in mysterious ways. He uses ordinary means normally to be able to accomplish his purposes. And so they're looking at the external and they're saying, well, if we only do this, do what they were doing, then we might be able to win. But we need to understand God's supernatural hand at work in all of these ordinary means that he uses. It's not some type of formula that we can calculate to be able to try and work out how God beats. We saw this in 1 Samuel, when Jesus Phineas and Hophnius, Eli's sons went into battle and they said, well, I know how we can win this battle. Let's go get the ark. That's how God has used it in the past. Let's try and copy that. And so this is what the Assyrians are doing at this point. They're like, well, replace the kings with commanders. That will help your side. And then he said, they don't say get the army bigger. They say get the army as you had it as before. The size of the army wasn't the problem. There was two other problems. The problem was that we're up in the hills, and their god is the god of the hills. And they had governors, not kings, ruling their army. So we see those kind of three consistent things. Now, before we move on, what would it be to be an Israelite during this time? You think about the wickedness of Ahab, how we've read about him, how he's responded to Elijah, Jezreel, and how she has act, Jezebel, and how she has act. You probably assume that they thought the nation was being blessed. that here you must have a godly king who watches over us if God is protecting us. And so again we need to think about that. The external looks like here God is showing their favor upon them. Why is he doing this? Well, he's doing this because of his covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would sustain this. We've seen that he was going to send judgment upon the nation of Israel through those three means in chapter 19. This judgment is coming upon. But the external that people in Israel might have been looking at and saying, well, look, we are favored. We are blessed. We must be doing the right thing. And so it is always interesting for us to be able to pay attention to. This is one of the reasons I think that Jonah wants to be able to flee is because Jonah makes a prophecy to the kings of Jeroboam II. And Jeroboam II is another wicked king. And here the prophecy Jonah gives him is that he is going to see all this growth in Israel during this time. And Jonah, but he's wicked. So he goes and flees. His problem is God shows mercy to wicked sinners. That's his problem that he has. And this is exactly what they do. They carry out that plan with those three changes, the fighting on the plains, replacing the kings and the army of the same size. The birds are buzzing, the bees, The bees are buzzing, the birds are building a nest and here the Assyrians are getting ready for war. In verses 26 and 27, In the spring, Ben-Hadad mustered the Assyrians and went up to Ephek to fight against Israel. And the people of Israel were mustered and were provisioned and went against them. The people of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Syrians filled the country. So the contrast here is you have two camps. The Syrians here, they're filling the whole country. It's hard for us to be able to have that size or scope of an army that big. But again, you're thinking about 32 or so nations coming upon this small little nation of Israel. And what it says is Israel was like two little flocks of goats. I'm not much of a farmer, and I don't know much about animals, but I don't think I would be petrified of a flock of goats, even two flocks of goats. Maybe I'm underestimating what a goat can do. But meeting a bear might be a horrible thing for me to be able to do. Meet a flock of goats, I doubt people would go running. But in steps now comes the second prophet in this story in verse 28. Now we've seen how he responds. Ahab responds positively to the first prophet. in the first part of chapter 20 and now we see the second prophet in chapter 28. 28 And a man of God came near and said to the king of Israel, Thus says the Lord. 29 Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is a God of the hills, but He is not a God of the valleys. 30 Therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord. So again, we see God defending not per se the Israelites. Here, God is defending His own name. The Syrians have underestimated who God is. And God is not going to let the Syrians win because what that would mean is that He is then limited to be a God of the hills. Again, that underestimating God is very important in this passage. Again, we see the limitations of the human mind when humans create human gods. Merely, they're just big humans. We can only rule over a certain sphere, a realm, and so too any type of god that we make is just going to look like that. They can only do what a human can do in maybe a bigger scale, but really they're small regional gods. And the only reason they won last time, they believed, is because he was a god of the hill. Their god that they worship, their one god that they worship, specializes in hills. He's a hill god. But we also need to see this reflection upon the people of God. This is, they're worshiping just like these other nations. They're looking in and we see that their issues and their problems come and stem because this is exactly how the Israelites seem to be acting. They're building all their high places in the hills. They're worshiping gods in the false ways. They're worshiping God just like the other nations are worshiping God. So why wouldn't they assume that their God is just like their gods that they worship? Baal and Ashtoreth, And so but yet look how again Jonah compares and points out who God is as he meets the sailors in chapter 1 and he said, I'm a Hebrew I fear the Lord the God of the heaven who made the sea and the dry land and the men were exceedingly afraid and they said what is it that you have done for they knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them So here God is the one who makes the heavens and the sea and the dry land, the three categories there that you often see. Often is that the maker of heaven and earth. The three categories we see in the third commandment is don't make anything in the skies above, in the earth beneath, or in the water as well. So there's three categories here and Jonah points that out that he's the one who made all of it. And that makes them filled with fear, right? Because they understand that if He makes them, He is the God of all of them, He rules them. But therefore, here is the important, the second prophet says, therefore I will give this great multitude into your hand. Because they underestimated who I am. But again, interesting to think about what is around the corner. You hear about Naaman who hears about God and seeks to find a prophet who can help him. Hezekiah who prays to God that he might heal him, this great multitude that's before him. Yet what does Ahab do? Ahab does not seem to be worried about God or his name. As you remember this important reason David fought Goliath. Why did David fight Goliath? Here, Goliath was not merely just mocking David, he was mocking David's God. He was blaspheming God and David fought for God's honor and God's name. But again, we see that truth that prevails throughout all of this, that you shall know that I am the Lord. All of this happens that not only merely the enemy may know who God is, but more specifically, God's people. God's King Ahab would know that Yahweh is the Lord. Jeremiah puts it this way in Jeremiah chapter 9, let no wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me. that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord." Standing in this moment, you'd think Ahab would boast in the Lord, the one who won last time, and God seeks that Ahab should know Him. As we saw in verse 13, Again in verse 28, that he would know that he is the Lord. We see, again, there's a fundamental principle here. You have the king of God's people. and he does not seem to know who God is. Not only the enemy doesn't know who God is, Ahab does not know who God is. He's seen God's mighty power through even Elijah and not having any reign, he sees God's power. God sending reign, he sees God's power. God destroying Baal, he sees God's power. He's seen God's power as he defeated Ben-Hadad the last time and he will see it again. But we see God's graciousness towards Ahab as Peter points out in 2 Peter that the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise. Why does he keep on showing Ahab who he is that he might be able to know because he's not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness. He's patient towards you not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. Here, these are chances for Ahab to repent, to be able to look to God, to worship God, to thank God. But again, we're reminded of how we met Ahab to begin with, that Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. God here merely has already said that judgment is coming right through the actions of Elijah in chapter 19 as he stood there as the covenant prosecutor that here no one's going to depart from the sword but yet here God is showing grace to Ahab. He's showing grace and mercy to the one who has done wicked again in Ezekiel chapter 33. As I live, declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?" All of these are chances for Israel to be able to know who God is, know His power and His might to be able to turn back to Him. Be able to know the Lord is used in two variety of different ways. The first is how we often think about it with the covenantal promises. As we're told in Exodus chapter six, I will take you to be my people and I will be your God, that you shall know that I am the Lord, your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. Here we see the great glorious promise, how we often think about people knowing who God is, of his gracious, redeeming love, his steadfast love to be able to uphold those promises. But also, if you remember as we're going through Exodus, it's not merely that the Israelites would know who God is, it's also through the judgments that people know who God is. Not merely him upholding his covenantal promises to save and deliver, but also his covenantal promises that he's made to be able to destroy and wipe out the wicked, those who are punished and judged. Then in chapter 7, verse 5, the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel for among them. We're in chapter 14. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. And I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord." And they did so. Again, this is very common, particularly in the prophecies of Ezekiel, that to know Yahweh, to know God, is not merely just in a good sense, but it's also to be able to know God's power for who He truly is. But I think one thing is really missing. It's not always, but it's quite common to be able to know the Lord, but specifically know the Lord as your God. Exodus again in chapter 29, and they shall know that I am the Lord their God. who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God." Not merely, I am the Lord God, but I am the Lord their God. Or Deuteronomy chapter 29, you have not eaten bread, you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. And there's a great difference between people knowing about God and knowing that there is a God, compared to them knowing God as their God. that he or Ahab might be able to say, well, there's Yahweh, another God. But if he's not his God, there's a great drastic difference. And Ahab is a person that we study and we should understand with great warning. Here he is placed in a great position of power and responsibility, the leader, the king over God's people. He has the sign of the covenant upon him. Yeah, he does not know God. Specifically, he does not know God as his God. Nor do we actually see him truly know God. Again, we can argue and debate about whether we think Ahab will be in heaven. We can discuss this when we get to his repentance, but it really seems merely external, public humility instead of heart humility. Be it in all of this, God does all of this that he may know that God is the God. Again, not because of Ahab. Not because God thinks that now this is going to convince Ahab. We see it all the time. People see the great signs and wonders of the prophets and yet they don't listen to them. I mean, you think about all the Pharisees, all the Sadducees who saw all these great signs and wonders done by the hand of Jesus and what do they say? Well, he must be doing it by the power of Beelzebub. They don't give glory to God. They do the exact opposite. They give glory to Satan for these works. Now, some of these people are the people that turn and repent in Acts chapter 2, where their hearts are cut when Peter turns around and says, you are the ones that crucified him. Now, some of them do, but some of them don't. They see all these signs and wonders, and yet, They don't do anything. So God wins. He miraculously delivers his people. Again, not because there's a certain outcome of Ahab turning and repenting and worshiping God, but for his own glory. See this in the closing in chapter 20 again in verse 29 and 30, and they camped opposite one another seven days. On the seventh day the battle was joined and the people of Israel struck down the Assyrians, 100,000 foot soldiers in one day and the rest fled into the city of Ephek and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left. Ben-Hadad also fled and entered in an inner chamber in the city. Again, this is quite an amazing feat, hard for us truly to be able to understand. In verse 15, we're told this, and he mustered the servants of the governors of the districts, and there were 232. After them, he mustered all the people of Israel, 7,000. I'm not great at math off the top of my head, but 7,232 versus 127,000. If I was to offer you one of those two in the size of money, it wouldn't take us long, right, to be able to work out which one we want. It's not a small difference. It's not merely a few pennies. It's a great difference. That if we believe that the first time they fought, here one of the commandments from the people instructing Ben-Hadad was that get the same number of people. So the first one we see 7,232 fight about the same number. So two times, you know, we see 256,000 people destroyed by the hand of Ben-Hadad. You know, these small numbers. It's a common theme throughout all of Scripture. The Israelites crossing the Red Sea. Here they're small in number crossing the Red Sea and who defeats them? The Lord. Gideon's victory over the Midnight's in Judges chapter 7. You remember they keep on going down and down until finally the Lord says, yeah, 300, that'll do. But he defeats the Midianite Nari by following God's plan. God defeats them. David and Goliath, the tall enormous Goliath in 1 Samuel chapter 17. And David here is only armed with slingshot and stone. And he brings Goliath down, defeating not only Goliath but also the whole Philistine army as they ran away. Joshua and Jericho, Joshua chapter 6. The walls of Jericho collapsed, come tumbling down, merely because they walked around it for seven days. And finally, blew some trumpets, and then it came crumbling down. Jehoshaphat's victory over Moab and Ammon in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. Again, you see it time and time again. Why does this happen? Because they underestimate God. They don't understand that God is not merely the God of walls or the God of cities or the God of hills, but he's the God who made the heavens and the earth. We need to always be reminded that they didn't win because of the holiness of the people. Although I think that's sometimes important, they're told to be able to go cleanse themselves. But they win every single time because God causes them to win. Because God honors His name and He will not let His name be dishonored. Again, the Philistines in 1 Samuel 4-5, He defeats Baal. Why? Not because he had any help. He defeated them because he won. He defeated their gods. No one needed to help God. So what we see here is Ahab is not a godly man, but God is fulfilling His promise to carry out His plans. He is fulfilling His promise, a part of the judgment that was coming upon the nation of Israel. But remember that promise at the very end of chapter 19. Here God is going to preserve that faithful remnant of 7,000. So God preserves, not Ahab for Ahab's sake, God is preserving that faithful remnant, even if that means saving Ahab at this point. So we need to be able to see one of the great weaknesses that we have in this world is that we think we have a small-g God. Our God is merely the human, man-made God that other people worship. we shall be cautious to be able to underestimate God. When we think about it, why does God preserve his church? Not because we're holy, not because we're good people. God preserves us and his church merely because he's preserving his name. Was Moses' appeal as the people are in the wilderness and he goes before God, he says, you can't destroy these people because people will question you. You can't wipe them out. You need to preserve them because your name is attached to them. You can't bring them out into the wilderness to die. You have to save them, not for their sake, but for yours. That's God's story the whole way through, that God preserves his people because of his name, because of his covenant faithfulness. Jesus says the gates of hell will try and attack the church, but yet why will they not prevail? Because Christ will build his church. It's a glorious promise when we think about that. We need to be challenged when we think about all these pressures and things that are coming in from the outside. We would turn to be able to honor God's name, to fight and defend God's name, but ultimately it's God who defends his own name by himself. Thank you for listening to this sermon from Seven Springs Presbyterian Church. If you want to learn more about us, please find us on Facebook or visit us at sevenspringspresbyterian.com. Seven Springs Presbyterian Church began in 1874 and is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America located in Glade Spring, Virginia. Please join us for worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. for His glory and His gospel.