And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
All Commentaries on 1 Kings 21:27 Go To 1 Kings 21
Ephrem The Syrian
AD 373
And the Lord said to Elijah, “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me?” and so on. If the repentance of Ahab had not been sincere, it would not have been praised by the Lord nor would the sentence pronounced against him have been diminished. It is true that Ahab did not receive his punishment in its entirety: the dogs, in fact, did not rip up his corpse or the birds devour it. Therefore what was said by Elijah as the word of the Lord must be interpreted in the sense of the word addressed to Moses: “I will blot out that nation,” but he did not blot it out. But consider three [different] meanings here.
The first is that Ahab repents and prays, and God immediately receives his prayer and reconciles with him, and he reveals to Ahab the pardon of his fault through the mediation of the prophet. The benevolence of the Lord toward this impious man is truly admirable, and the friend of humankind also shows his mercifulness toward sinners on many occasions. God forgives the faults of David in the same way, and after he has confessed his sin, he hears from the prophet, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.” And [the same happens] to Manasseh, whom he enables to leave his captivity after only a short time and to come back to his kingdom from Babylon.
Second, consider that even though the repentance of Ahab was short, the pardon that he asked for was nonetheless granted immediately. His Lord did not act in this manner with Abraham, to whom he conceded an heir only after a prayer lasting one hundred years. See also how a great fault was forgiven Ahab, while Miriam became a leper for a small error. Recognize, then, that the grace of God, which is incomprehensible, does not allow sinners to waste away in their iniquity, and [God] makes the righteous man thrive by not giving him what he wants immediately and by correcting him without delay. See again how Abraham prayed without receiving anything. He does not make his servants rich, so that they might not grow too proud. In the third place, even though God has freed Ahab, who had been condemned by Elijah, from his sentence, he nonetheless says, “But in his sons’ days I will bring the disaster on his house.” This means that the merciful judge tried to influence the king to live under his good will, for Ahab was an impulsive man who changed his mind quickly and turned from goodness to evil. In addition, [he said these words] so that [Ahab] might invoke mercy for his children and turn from them the sentence pronounced against them.
