1 Kings 21:21

Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21-24) Behold, I will bring evil.—Distinct from that message of personal judgment is the doom of utter destruction pronounced on the dynasty of Omri—the same in substance, and almost in word, as that already pronounced in 1Kings 14:10-11; 1Kings 16:3-4. It is, indeed, called forth by the last sin of Ahab, but the ground assigned for it (1Kings 21:22) extends to the whole course of idolatry and apostasy, “making Israel to sin.” It is only this more general sentence which is postponed by the repentance of Ahab (1Kings 21:29).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:17-29 Blessed Paul complains that he was sold under sin, Ro 7:14, as a poor captive against his will; but Ahab was willing, he sold himself to sin; of choice, and as his own act and deed, he loved the dominion of sin. Jezebel his wife stirred him up to do wickedly. Ahab is reproved, and his sin set before his eyes, by Elijah. That man's condition is very miserable, who has made the word of God his enemy; and very desperate, who reckons the ministers of that word his enemies, because they tell him the truth. Ahab put on the garb and guise of a penitent, yet his heart was unhumbled and unchanged. Ahab's repentance was only what might be seen of men; it was outward only. Let this encourage all that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe the holy gospel, that if a pretending partial penitent shall go to his house reprieved, doubtless, a sincere believing penitent shall go to his house justified.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The prophet changes, without warning, from speaking in his own person to speaking in the person of God. The transition is abrupt, probably because the compiler follows his materials closely, compressing by omission. One fragment omitted here is preserved in 2 Kings 9:26.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21, 22. will make thine house, &c.—(see on [323]1Ki 15:29 and [324]1Ki 16:3-12). Jezebel, though included among the members of Ahab's house, has her ignominious fate expressly foretold (see 2Ki 9:30).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole "1 Kings 14:10"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Behold, I will bring evil upon thee,.... Upon his own person, by cutting him off with a violent death, though his family was so numerous, having no less than seventy sons:

and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left Israel; See Gill on 1 Kings 14:10.

Geneva Study Bible

Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. and will take away thy posterity] R.V. and will utterly sweep thee away. See above on 1 Kings 14:10, where this verse occurs in substance.

and left in Israel] R.V. and him that is left at large. The expression is a proverbial one, meant to indicate all men of every kind. Perhaps its origin is in the idea of ‘bondmen and free’ or it may have been ‘the young, who were not their own masters, and the old who were at liberty to choose their own way.’ The expression recalls Deuteronomy 32:36.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity [Heb. exterminate after thee. See note on 1 Kings 14:10. Ahab knew well the meaning of these words. He had before him the examples of Baasha and Zimri], and will cut off from Ahab [Heb. to Ahab] him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel [see on 1 Kings 14:10]. 1 Kings 21:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Ahab answered, "Hast thou found me (met with me), O mine enemy?" (not, hast thou ever found me thine enemy? - Vulg., Luth.) i.e., dost thou come to meet me again, mine enemy? He calls Elijah his enemy, to take the sting from the prophet's threat as an utterance caused by personal enmity. But Elijah fearlessly replied, "I have found (thee), because thou sellest thyself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord." He then announced to him, in 1 Kings 21:21, 1 Kings 21:22, the extermination of his house, and to Jezebel, as the principal sinner, the most ignominious end (1 Kings 21:23). הרע לעשׂות חתמכּר to sell one's self to do evil, i.e., to give one's self to evil so as to have no will of one's own, to make one's self the slave of evil (cf. 1 Kings 21:25, 2 Kings 17:17). The consequence of this is πεπρᾶσθαι ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν (Romans 7:14), sin exercising unlimited power over the man who gives himself up to it as a slave. For 1 Kings 21:21, 1 Kings 21:22, see 1 Kings 14:10-11; 1 Kings 15:29-30; 1 Kings 16:3, 1 Kings 16:12-13. The threat concerning Jezebel (1 Kings 21:23) was literally fulfilled, according to 2 Kings 9:30. חל, written defectively for חיל, as in 2 Samuel 20:15, is properly the open space by the town-wall, pomoerium. Instead of בּחל we have בּחלק in the repetition of this threat in 2 Kings 9:10, 2 Kings 9:36-37, and consequently Thenius and others propose to alter the חל here. But there is no necessity for this, as בּחלק, on the portion, i.e., the town-land, of Jezreel (not, in the field at Jezreel), is only a more general epithet denoting the locality, and חל is proved to be the original word by the lxx.