What effect was produced on the national mind and on the social religion by this immense deliverance we are not told. Never, certainly, had any nation deeper cause for gratitude to its religious teachers, who alone had not despaired of the commonwealth when everything seemed lost. We would fain know where was Elijah at this crisis, and whether he took any part in it. We cannot tell, but we know that as a rule the sons of the prophets acted together under their chiefs, and that individual impulses were rarely encouraged. The very meaning of the "Schools of the Prophets" was that they were all trained to adopt the same principles and to move together as one body.
The service rendered by this prophet, whose very name has been buried in undeserved oblivion, did not end here. Perhaps he saw signs of carelessness and undue exultation. He went again to the king, and warned him that his victory, immense as it had been, was not final. It was no time for him to settle on his lees. The Syrians would assuredly return the following year,[724] probably with increased resources, and with the burning determination to avenge their defeat. Let Ahab look well to his army and his fortresses, and prepare himself for the coming shock!
[708] For these particulars, and the following translations, see Dr. Ginsburg in _Records of the Past_, xi. 163; and Dr. Neubauer, _id._, New Series, ii. 194; _The Moabite Stone_, Second Edition (Reeves & Turner), 1871; Dr. Schlottmann, _Die Sieggessaüle Mesas_, 1870; Nöldeke, _Die Inschrift der König Mesa_, 1870; Stade, i. 534; Kittel, ii. 198, etc.
[709] Chemosh-Gad perhaps came to the throne in the fourth year of Omri, about B.C. 926, and reigned till the close of Ahaziah's reign (B.C. 896).
[710] Comp. 1 Sam. vii. 12.
[711] For it is indirectly mentioned that "_his father_" had taken cities from Omri.
[712] LXX., Exod. iii. 16.
[713] Comp. Josh. ix. 18; Judg. xi. 11.
[714] 1 Kings xx. 10. Elohim here, doubtless, means the false gods of Benhadad. Vat. LXX., ὁ θεός; but Chaldee, "the terrors."
[715] "Fanfaronnade, qui veut dire; je réduirai cette bicoque en poussière; j'ai avee moi plus de monde qu'il ne faudra pour l'emporter tout entière" (Reuss). Comp. Herod., viii. 226, where Dieneces answers the braggart vaunt of the Medes.
[716] Reuss renders it, "Ceignant n'est pas encore gaignant." The proverb resembles in different aspects the precept of Solon, τέρμα ὁρᾶν βιότοιο, and "Praise a fair day at night"; and the Italian, "Capo ha cosa fatta"; and the Latin, "Ne triumphum canas ante victoriam"; and the French, "Il ne faut pas vendre le peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué."
[717] A.V., "pavilions"; but the word (_sukkoth_) implies that they were temporary booths rather than tents. They resembled the birchwood pavilions made for the Turkish pachas in campaigns (Keil).
[718] A.V., "Set yourselves in array." LXX., οἰκοδομήσατε χάρακα; Vulg., _circumdate civitatem_.
[719] Now in the British Museum.
[720] 1 Kings xx. 14 (נַעָרִים).
[721] Jarchi--_more Rabbinico_--says that these were the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
[722] 1 Kings xx. 20, LXX., καὶ ἐδευτέρωσεν ἒκαστος τὸν παῤ αὐτοῦ.
[723] Or, "pell-mell." The Hebrew in 1 Kings xx. 20 is, וּפָרָשִׁים עַל־סוּס, "on a horse with (some) horsemen." Klostermann would supply הוּא. Jonathan takes וּפָרָשִׁים as a dual--"and two riders with him"; LXX., ἐφ' ἵππων ἱππέων; Vulg., _in equo cum equitibus suis_; Luther, "_sammt Rossen und Reitern_."
[724] See 2 Sam. xi. 1. The custom of all countries in the ancient world was to devote the summer months only to campaigns. There were few or no standing armies, and the citizen-conscripts had to look after their farms, or the nation would have starved. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians introduced a gradual revolution in these respects.