silver."  57

From the language we infer that the person who handed over the prisoner was represented as a superior officer; that the

battle itself was ended, and that the captive was a very valuable prisoner, since such a price was set upon him. But

while the pretended soldier "was busy here and there" - or, as it has been proposed t o be read: "looked here and there" -

the prisoner escaped. In these circumstances he appealed to the king that he might not be punished as threatened by his

leader. The king had no hesitation how to decide. He told him that in recounting his story he had already pronounced

sentence upon himself. Then the prophet, having removed the bandage from his eyes, so that the king recognized him,

announced the application of the Divine parable. The war had been Jehovah's, not Ahab's, and Ben-hadad had been the

"banned" of the Lord. "Because thou hast let go forth out of thine hand (custody) the man of my ban (compare

Leviticus 27:29), therefore thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people."

The judgment pronounced was not only righteous, but alike t he necessary sequence of God's dealings throughout this

history, and of Ahab's bearing in it. And in the judgment the people as a whole must also share. For even if theirs had

not been the same spirit as that which had prompted the conduct of Ahab, yet the public acts of rulers are those of the

nation, and national sins are followed by national judgments. Ahab had been on his triumphant return to Samaria, there

to receive the popular applause for his achievements, when, in presence of all his retinue, he wa s thus publicly

confronted by the prophet's message. He now "went to his house much excited and angry."  58 And this also casts further

light both on what Ahab had done, and on what he was about to do.