1 Kings 20
43 verses
The account of the conflict between Ahab and Ben-Hadad of Syria represents a temporary respite from the religious struggle with Ahab and demonstrates that despite Ahab's apostasy, YHWH continues to grant him military victories in order to preserve Israel from conquest. The chapter opens with Ben-Hadad's demand for tribute and the surrender of Ahab's wives and children. Ahab's initial compliance with the demand for tribute, coupled with his refusal to surrender his wives and children, demonstrates his political acumen. The prophet's intervention declares that YHWH will give Ben-Hadad and his army into Ahab's hand. The military campaign unfolds: Ahab's army defeats Ben-Hadad's much larger force in a series of engagements. Ben-Hadad is forced to sue for peace, and Ahab's generous treatment of Ben-Hadad, allowing him to escape with his life and agreeing to a treaty of peace, is presented as a failure of royal judgment. A prophet comes to Ahab in disguise and tells him a parable: a man was given a prisoner to guard with the stipulation that if the prisoner escaped, the man's life would be forfeit; the prophet's revelation establishes Ahab's accountability for his failure to execute Ben-Hadad. The theological significance lies in the recognition that YHWH's military support for Israel continues even against the backdrop of the king's apostasy.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
And Ben–hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.
0 0Open verse page →
2
And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben–hadad,
0 0Open verse page →
God is faithful in every circumstance.. The promise here is not conditional on our strength but on His character.. God i...
3
Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.
1 1Open verse page →
4
And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.
0 0Open verse page →
5
And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben–hadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
0 1Open verse page →
6
Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.
0 0Open verse page →
What a reminder that God's ways are not our ways. This connects directly to the promise made to Abraham. What a reminder...
7
Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not.
2 0Open verse page →
8
And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.
0 0Open verse page →
9
Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben–hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.
0 0Open verse page →
Following God is costly, but the reward is eternal.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. God is faithful in every ci...
10
And Ben–hadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me.
1 0Open verse page →
11
And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.
0 0Open verse page →
The early church would have heard this very differently than we do today. God is faithful in every circumstance.. It imp...
12
And it came to pass, when Ben–hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city.
1 0Open verse page →
13
And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
0 0Open verse page →
14
And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou.
0 0Open verse page →
15
Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.
0 0Open verse page →
God is faithful in every circumstance.. Their context of persecution gives these words a weight we often miss.. God is f...
16
And they went out at noon. But Ben–hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.
1 1Open verse page →
17
And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben–hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.
0 0Open verse page →
18
And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.
0 0Open verse page →
19
So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.
0 0Open verse page →
20
And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Ben–hadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen.
0 0Open verse page →
The imagery here is agricultural — the original audience would have immediately understood the metaphor of sowing, waiti...
21
And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.
1 1Open verse page →
22
And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.
0 0Open verse page →
23
And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
0 0Open verse page →
24
And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms:
0 7Open verse page →
25
And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.
0 0Open verse page →
26
And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Ben–hadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.
0 0Open verse page →
27
And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.
0 0Open verse page →
28
And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the Lord, Because the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
0 0Open verse page →
29
And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.
0 0Open verse page →
30
But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Ben–hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.
0 0Open verse page →
31
And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.
0 0Open verse page →
32
So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Ben–hadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.
0 0Open verse page →
33
Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Ben–hadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Ben–hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.
0 0Open verse page →
34
And Ben–hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.
0 0Open verse page →
35
And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the Lord, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.
0 0Open verse page →
36
Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.
0 0Open verse page →
37
Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him.
0 0Open verse page →
38
So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.
0 0Open verse page →
39
And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver.
0 0Open verse page →
40
And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.
0 0Open verse page →
41
And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.
0 0Open verse page →
42
And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.
0 0Open verse page →
43
And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.
0 0Open verse page →
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
No notes on this chapter yet. Be the first to write one!