Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 22:35

Charles Ellicott Commentary

1 Kings 22:35

1819–1905
Anglican
Charles Ellicott
Charles Ellicott

Charles Ellicott Commentary

1 Kings 22:35

1819–1905
Anglican
SCRIPTURE

"And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even; and the blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot." — 1 Kings 22:35 (ASV)

The king was stayed up ... — Ahab’s repentance, imperfect as it was, has at least availed to secure him a warrior’s death, before the evil came on his house and on Israel. Evidently he conceals the deadliness of his hurt, though it disables him from action, and bravely sustains the battle, till his strength fails. Then the news spreads, and the army disperses; but the subsequent history seems to show that no fatal defeat was incurred. This union of desperate physical bravery with moral feebleness and cowardice is common enough in history, and (as Shakespeare has delighted to show in his Macbeth) most true to nature.