1Now Ben-Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his forces together; thirty-two kings were with him, with horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria, and made war against it. 2And he sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel, and said to him, Thus says Ben-Hadad: 3Your silver and your gold are mine; your lovely wives and children are mine. 4And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, just as you say, I and all that I have are yours. 5And the messengers came back and said, Thus says Ben-Hadad, saying, Indeed I have sent to you, saying, You shall deliver to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your children; 6but I will send my servants to you tomorrow about this time, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants. And it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in your eyes, they shall put it in their hands and take it away. 7So the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Notice, please, and see how this man seeks evil, for he sent to me for my wives, my children, my silver, and my gold; and I have not withheld from him. 8And all the elders and all the people said to him, Do not listen or consent. 9Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-Hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that you sent for to your servant the first time I will do, but this thing I cannot do. And the messengers departed and brought back word to him. 10And Ben-Hadad sent to him and said, The gods do so to me, and more also, if enough dust is left of Samaria for a handful for each of the people who follow me. 11And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off. 12And it happened when Ben-Hadad heard this message, as he and the kings were drinking at the booths, that he said to his servants, Get ready. And they stationed themselves against the city. 13And behold, a certain prophet approached Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold, I am delivering it into your hand today, and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 14So Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus says Jehovah: By the young rulers of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall begin the battle? And he answered, You. 15Then he mustered the young rulers of the provinces, and there were two hundred and thirty-two; and after them he mustered all the people, all the sons of Israel; seven thousand. 16So they went out at noon. Meanwhile Ben-Hadad and the thirty-two kings helping him were getting drunk in the booths. 17And the young rulers of the provinces went out first. And Ben-Hadad sent out, and they reported to him, saying, Men have come out of Samaria! 18And he said, If they have come out for peace, take them alive; and if they have come out for war, take them alive. 19And the young rulers of the provinces went out of the city with the army which followed them. 20And each one struck his man; so the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them; and Ben-Hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with the horsemen. 21And the king of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots, and struck the Syrians with a great slaughter. 22And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, Go, strengthen yourself; take note, and see what you should do, for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against you. 23And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than us; but if we fight against them in the plain, will we not be stronger than them. 24So do this thing: Remove the kings, each from his place, and put governors in their places; 25and you shall muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we shall fight against them in the plain; surely we will be stronger than them. And he heeded their voice and did so. 26So it was, at the turn of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. 27And the sons of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the sons of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the land. 28And a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, Thus says Jehovah: Because the Syrians have said, Jehovah is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys, therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am Jehovah. 29And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day. 30And the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; where a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left. And Ben-Hadad fled and came into the city, into an inner chamber. 31And his servants said to him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please, let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will preserve alive your soul. 32So they girded sackcloth on their loins and put ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-Hadad says, Please preserve my soul alive. And he said, Is he still alive? He is my brother. 33Now the men observed carefully, and they quickly grasped at this word and said, Your brother Ben-Hadad. And he said, Go, bring him. Then Ben-Hadad came out to him; and he had him come up into the chariot. 34And Ben-Hadad said to him, The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you shall make streets for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria. And Ahab said, I will send you away with this treaty. So he made a treaty with him and sent him away. 35And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said to his neighbor, By the Word of Jehovah, Strike me, please. And the man refused to strike him. 36And he said to him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, behold, as soon as you depart from me, a lion shall kill you. And as soon as he left him, a lion found him and killed him. 37And he found another man, and said, Strike me, please. So the man struck him, to strike and wound him. 38And the prophet departed and waited for the king by the road, and disguised himself with a cover over his eyes. 39And as the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and there, a man came over and brought a man to me, and said, Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, your soul shall be for his soul, or else you shall pay a talent of silver. 40And while your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said to him, So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it. 41And he hastened to take the covering away from his eyes; and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. 42And he said to him, Thus says Jehovah: Because you have sent away out of your hand a man whom I devoted to utter destruction, therefore your soul shall go for his soul, and your people for his people. 43So the king of Israel went to his house sullen and angry, and came to Samaria.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 BEN-HADAD BESIEGES SAMARIA. (
1Kgs 20:1-12)
Ben-hadad the king of Syria--This monarch was the son of that Ben-hadad who, in the reign of Baasha, made a raid on the northern towns of Galilee (
1Kgs 15:20). The thirty-two kings that were confederate with him were probably tributary princes. The ancient kings of Syria and Phśnicia ruled only over a single city, and were independent of each other, except when one great city, as Damascus, acquired the ascendency, and even then they were allied only in time of war. The Syrian army encamped at the gates and besieged the town of Samaria.
2 Thus said Ben-hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine--To this message sent him during the siege, Ahab returned a tame and submissive answer, probably thinking it meant no more than an exaction of tribute. But the demand was repeated with greater insolence; and yet, from the abject character of Ahab, there is reason to believe he would have yielded to this arrogant claim also, had not the voice of his subjects been raised against it. Ben-hadad's object in these and other boastful menaces was to intimidate Ahab. But the weak sovereign began to show a little more spirit, as appears in his abandoning "my lord the king" for the single "tell him," and giving him a dry but sarcastic hint to glory no more till the victory is won. Kindling into a rage at the cool defiance, Ben-hadad gave orders for the immediate sack of the city.
12 as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions--booths made of branches of trees and brushwood; which were reared for kings in the camp, as they still are for Turkish pashas or agas in their expeditions [KEIL].
Set yourselves in array--Invest the city.
13 THE SYRIANS ARE SLAIN. (
1Kgs 20:13-20)
behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab--Though the king and people of Israel had highly offended Him, God had not utterly cast them off. He still cherished designs of mercy towards them, and here, though unasked, gave them a signal proof of His interest in them, by a prophet's animating announcement that the Lord would that day deliver the mighty hosts of the enemy into his hand by means of a small, feeble, inadequate band. Conformably to the prophet's instructions, two hundred thirty-two young men went boldly out towards the camp of the enemy, while seven thousand more, apparently volunteers, followed at some little distance, or posted themselves at the gate, to be ready to reinforce those in front if occasion required it. Ben-hadad and his vassals and princes were already, at that early hour--scarcely midday--deep in their cups; and though informed of this advancing company, yet confiding in his numbers, or it may be, excited with wine, he ordered with indifference the proud intruders to be taken alive, whether they came with peaceful or hostile intentions. It was more easily said than done; the young men smote right and left, making terrible havoc among their intended captors; and their attack, together with the sight of the seven thousand, who soon rushed forward to mingle in the fray, created a panic in the Syrian army, who immediately took up flight. Ben-hadad himself escaped the pursuit of the victors on a fleet horse, surrounded by a squadron of horse guards. This glorious victory, won so easily, and with such a paltry force opposed to overwhelming numbers, was granted that Ahab and his people might know (
1Kgs 20:13) that God is the Lord. But we do not read of this acknowledgment being made, or of any sacrifices being offered in token of their national gratitude.
22 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 (
2Sam 11:1), were anciently begun. It happened as the prophet had forewarned. Brooding over their late disastrous defeat, the attendants of Ben-hadad ascribed the misfortune to two causes--the one arose from the principles of heathenism which led them to consider the gods of Israel as "gods of the hills"; whereas their power to aid the Israelites would be gone if the battle was maintained on the plains. The other cause to which the Syrian courtiers traced their defeat at Samaria, was the presence of the tributary kings, who had probably been the first to take flight; and they recommended "captains to be put in their rooms." Approving of these recommendations, Ben-hadad renewed his invasion of Israel the next spring by the siege of Aphek in the valley of Jezreel (compare
1Sam 29:1, with
1Sam 28:4), not far from En-dor.
27 like two little flocks of kids--Goats are never seen in large flocks, or scattered, like sheep; and hence the two small but compact divisions of the Israelite force are compared to goats, not sheep. Humanly speaking, that little handful of men would have been overpowered by numbers. But a prophet was sent to the small Israelite army to announce the victory, in order to convince the Syrians that the God of Israel was omnipotent everywhere, in the valley as well as on the hills. And, accordingly, after the two armies had pitched opposite each other for seven days, they came to an open battle. One hundred thousand Syrians lay dead on the field, while the fugitives took refuge in Aphek, and there, crowding on the city walls, they endeavored to make a stand against their pursuers; but the old walls giving way under the incumbent weight, fell and buried twenty-seven thousand in the ruins. Ben-hadad succeeded in extricating himself, and, with his attendants, sought concealment in the city, fleeing from chamber to chamber; or, as some think it, an inner chamber, that is, a harem; but seeing no ultimate means of escape, he was advised to throw himself on the tender mercies of the Israelitish monarch.
32 put ropes on their heads--Captives were dragged by ropes round their necks in companies, as is depicted on the monuments of Egypt. Their voluntary attitude and language of submission flattered the pride of Ahab, who, little concerned about the dishonor done to the God of Israel by the Syrian king, and thinking of nothing but victory, paraded his clemency, called the vanquished king "his brother," invited him to sit in the royal chariot, and dismissed him with a covenant of peace.
34 streets for thee in Damascus--implying that a quarter of that city was to be assigned to Jews, with the free exercise of their religion and laws, under a judge of their own. This misplaced kindness to a proud and impious idolater, so unbecoming a theocratic monarch, exposed Ahab to the same censure and fate as Saul (
1Sam 15:9, &c.). It was in opposition to God's purpose in giving him the victory.
35 A PROPHET REPROVES HIM. (
1Kgs 20:35-42)
Smite me--This prophet is supposed (
1Kgs 20:8) to have been Micaiah. The refusal of his neighbor to smite the prophet was manifestly wrong, as it was a withholding of necessary aid to a prophet in the discharge of a duty to which he had been called by God, and it was severely punished [
1Kgs 20:36], as a beacon to warn others (see on 1Ki. 13:2-24). The prophet found a willing assistant, and then, waiting for Ahab, leads the king unconsciously, in the parabolic manner of Nathan (
2Sam 12:1-4), to pronounce his own doom; and this consequent punishment was forthwith announced by a prophet (see on
1Kgs 21:17).
39 a talent of silver--Ł342.