1 Kings 20:31-43
"31 And his servants said to him, “Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.” 32 So they tied sackcloth around their waists and put ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please, let me live.’” And he said, “Does he still live? He is my brother.” 33 Now the men were watching for a sign, and they quickly took it up from him and said, “Yes, your brother Ben-hadad.” Then he said, “Go and bring him.” Then Ben-hadad came out to him, and he caused him to come up into the chariot. 34 And Ben-hadad said to him, “The cities that my father took from your father I will restore, and you may establish bazaars for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” And Ahab said, “I will let you go on these terms.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.
35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow at the command of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him. 36 Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion met him and struck him down. 37 Then he found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” And the man struck him—struck him and wounded him. 38 So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. 39 And as the king passed, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver.’ 40 And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.” 41 Then he hurried to take the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.42 And he said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.’” 43 And the king of Israel went to his house vexed and sullen and came to Samaria."
There is a plain conflict in these verses between Ahab's attitude and God's towards Ben-hadad. God had appointed him to utter destruction; Ahab spared his life. We must beware of thinking that Ahab was magnanimous towards his enemy, more magnanimous than God. This is a mistake that could be made only by those who mistake sentimentality for love to the extent of bowing righteousness off the stage altogether. Ahab was duped by the Syrian's assumed servility; perhaps his vanity was touched at the thought of his enemy so helpless at his feet. It is a measure of how completely Ahab had misunderstood God's purposes in giving him this victory that he thought that he had the disposing of Ben-hadad's destiny. Not so, saith the Lord, and straightway intervened by His prophet to show how wrong he was (35). We once heard of a British officer in India who had a summer house on the top of a hill overlooking the jungle. One year a great flood covered the fields, and the native people took refuge on the hill around his home. As they looked out over the rising flood they saw the head of a great Bengal tiger, swimming directly for the hill and for dry ground. When it reached dry ground it shook itself and lay down on the grass as quietly as a lamb. It was more afraid than the people who had been terrorised by its coming. Some pitied it; but the officer took his gun and shot it dead. He knew, as perhaps they didn't, that its docility would very soon disappear and its real nature would assert itself to the peril of those around it. Which thing is a parable. Ben-hadad in defeat might seem harmless and servile, but Ben-hadad spared and set free would be as ruthless and implacable as ever. His cup was full to the brim and his sins were come up for judgment. The Lord had spoken.