Afterward, the prophet approached the king of Israel and said, “Go and strengthen your position, and take note what you must do, for in the spring the king of Aram will come up against you.”
We have here an account of another successful campaign which Ahab, by divine aid, made against the Syrians, in which he gave them a greater defeat than in the former. Strange! Ahab idolatrous and yet victorious, a persecutor and yet a conqueror! God has wise and holy ends in suffering wicked men to prosper, and glorifies his own name thereby. I.
Commenting on 1 Kings 20:22-30
And the prophet came to the king of Israel,.... The same that came to him before: and said unto him, go, strengthen thyself; exhorted him to fortify his cities, especially Samaria, and increase his army, that he might be able to oppose the king of Syria: and mark, and see what thou doest: observe his moral and religious actions, and take heed that he did...
the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said--The same prophet who had predicted the victory shortly reappeared, admonishing the king to take every precaution against a renewal of hostilities in the following campaign. at the return of the year--that is, in spring, when, on the cessation of the rainy season, military campaigns (Sa2 11:1), were anciently begun. It happened as the prophet had forewarned.