The First Book of the Kings, commonly called the Third Book of the Kings
1 Kings 20
Chapter XX · Vol. II, pp. 756–758
1 Benhadad, king of Syria, not content with Ahab's homage, besiegeth Samaria. 13 By the direction of a prophet the Syrians are slain. 22 As the prophet had forewarned Ahab, the Syrians, trusting in the valleys, come against him in Aphek. 28 By the word of the prophet, and God's judgment, the Syrians are smitten again. 31 The Syrians submitting themselves, Ahab sendeth Benhadad away with a covenant. 35 The prophet, under the parable of a prisoner, making Ahab to judge himself, denounceth God's judgment against him for his unseasonable lenity.
1 And Ben-hadada the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were bthirty and two kings with him,1 and horses and chariots: and he went up and cbesieged Samaria, and warred against it.
B.C. 901.
a ch.15.20. 2 Ki.8.15.
b Ge.14.1,2. Jos.12.7-24. Ju.1.7.
1 The kings of small cities and territories, each having a distinct and independent jurisdiction, but members of a general league, under some chief political head, to whom, on occasions of war, each state furnished its contingent of troops. The German Confederation and United States of America furnish in modern times a near approach to this arrangement. C.—If we go back to the early ages of Syria, we find a number of isolated cities surrounded by a territory of very limited extent, and governed by kings or princes. Sometimes one of these towns obtained a marked superiority over the others, over which it arrogated a species of dominion, and of this number was Damascus. But this dominion was no more than a forced alliance, which only obliged these cities to furnish troops and subsidies in time of war, without compromising their distinct existence, under their own laws and rulers.—Heeren.
c Le.26.25. De.28.52. 2 Ki.6.24,25; 17.5,6.
2 And he dsent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad,
4 And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, fI am thine, and all that I have.
f ver.7. De.28.48.
5 And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, gThou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;
g De.28.29-48. 2 Sa.24.14. Pr.12.3,10; 13.3,10,20,21; 16.18; 18.6,7,12; 10.8,14; 11.2,28; 14.16; 15.25.
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 2servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant3 in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.
2 First he demanded the king's property, which the king pusillanimously tendered: now he demands the plunder of the whole city, which the elders and people magnanimously refuse.—C.
3 Heb. desirable.
7 Then the king of Israel called hall the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man iseeketh mischief; for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold, and I kdenied him not.
8 And all the elders, and all the people, said unto him, lHearken not unto him, nor consent.
l ver.6.
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.
10 And Ben-hadad sent unto him, and said, Them gods do so unto me, and more also,4 if the dust of Samaria shall nsuffice for handfuls for all the people that ofollow me.
A.M. 3103. B.C. 901.
m ch.19.2. Ac.23.12.
4 This wicked imprecation imports—'The gods do so to me (as I purpose to do to you), and more (worse) also, if,' &c.—C.
n Is.36.12. 2 Sa.17.13. We will carry off everything.
11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, pLet not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.5
p Ec.7.8; 9.11. 1 Sa.14.6. Pr.21.30; 27.1.
5 There is much practical human wisdom in the proverb, but, as might be expected from Ahab's character, an evident lack of divine knowledge or pious feeling. He that boasts himself before he begins a warfare is a vain fool—but he that boasts himself after a victory is an ungrateful infidel. The humble believer has but one boast—the name, covenant, and grace of God, Ps. 34.2; 44.8.—C.
12 And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message,6 (as he was qdrinking, he and the kings in the pavilions,7) that he said unto his servants, Set8 yourselves in array: and they set themselves in array against the city.
13 And, rbehold, there came9 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 sthou shalt know that I am the LORD.
r Ps.46.1,7,11. Is.33.22-24. Ge.22.14. De.32.36.
9 Heb. approached.
14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the tyoung men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order1 the battle? And he answered, uThou.
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 xseven thousand.2
x 2 Ki.13.7, with ch.19.18. Ps.106.40-43.
2 All the Israelites he could muster—being the number, and perhaps the very persons, who had not bowed the knee to Baal—at once the most pious and the most courageous.—C.
16 And they went out at noon:3 buty Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions,4 he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.
3 They went out in the heat of the day when the luxurious monarch and his confederates were engaged in rioting and drunkenness.—C.
y Ec.10.16. Pr.23.29-32; 33.4,5. ver.12; ch.16.9. Da.5.2,20. Lu.21.34.
4 More properly booths, constructed of boughs of trees, to protect them from the rays of the sun.—C.
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.
18 And he said, zWhether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.5
z 1 Sa.2.3,4. Ps.75.5-7. Pr.1.32; 16.18; 18.12.
5 Not an order of humanity, but either to make them slaves, or hold them as hostages, or submit them to torture. Ben-hadad's character is warrant for either or each of these views. For had they come out for peace, the order was a breach of all public faith, and every principle of international law, which the man who could violate, was capable of every other act implied in these suggestions.—C.
19 So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.
20 And they slew aevery one his man:6 and the Syrians bfled; and Israel pursued them: and Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen.
a i.e. 7232, ver.15.
6 They slew 7232, which implies an evidence of extreme courage, as they must have deployed near the city, and advanced in a front merely one in depth, where each man, under Providence, depended on his own arm, without any support from a rear rank or reserve.—C.
21 And the king of Israel cwent out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.
22 And the dprophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, estrengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for fat the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.
23 And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, gTheir gods are gods of the hills;7 therefore they were stronger than we: but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
g ch.14.23. Is.42.8. Ps.50.21,22; 121.1,2.
7 This was not only in strict accordance with heathen ideas of local godship, but the most plausible excuse they could form for their own cowardice.—Note, Always beware of that religion whose principles afford colour or excuse for any defect, error, or sin. True religion leads the way to pardon, but never to palliate or excuse transgression.—C.
24 And do this thing, hTake the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms;
h Job 5.12,13. Pr.21.30. Ps.33.10,16; 20.7.
25 And number thee an army like the army that thou hast lost,8 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.
8 Heb. that was fallen.
26 And it came to pass9 at the return of the year,1 that Ben-hadad numbered the Syrians, and went up ito Aphek,2 to fight against 3Israel.
9 B.C. 900.
1 In spring, about the month of April, when the winter rains had to a great extent ceased, and when men could with safety sleep in the open air. It is at the same season the nomads of the eastern desert make their periodical incursions into Palestine.—P.
i Jos.13.4; 19.30. Ju.1.31. ver.30.
2 There is no topographical notice here or elsewhere to indicate the position of Aphek. There was a village called Aphek in the plain of Esdraelon, not far from Jezreel, where the Philistines encamped, 1 Sa.29.1. It seems more probable, however, that the Aphek here mentioned was the large town in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh, on the plateau of Bashan east of the Sea of Galilee.—P.
3 Heb. to the war with Israel.
27 And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all4 present,5 and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids;6 but the Syrians kfilled the country.
28 And there came la man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, mBecause the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, ntherefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
l ver.13,22. 2 Ch.20.14-17,20.
m Ps.7.6; 74.10,11; 46.6,7. Is.37.4,17,23,29. Ho.7.16.
n Is.42.8; 37.29. Eze.36.21,22. Ps.50.21,22; 58.10,11.
29 And they pitched one over against the other oseven days: and so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians pan hundred thousand footmen in one day.7
o 1 Sa.17.3,16. Jos.6.15.
p ver.20. Ps.107.42. Is.26.11. 1 Sa.2.3,4. Le.26.8. Jos.23.10.
7 When the effeminate and dissolute character of Ben-hadad and his army, and the multitude of unarmed followers that encumber eastern armies, are considered, this number need not provoke incredulity, especially as the whole country would rise for the destruction of the Syrians so soon as the rout commenced.—C.
30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; qand there a wall fell8 upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Ben-hadad fled, and came into the city, into an rinner chamber.9
q Is.24.18. Je.48.44. Am.5.19; 2.14; 9.1-4.
8 It is not said the wall killed, but fell upon 27,000; and yet, if crouching near the wall, as a screen from the sun, the destruction of so many at once might be effected by a small portion of a lofty wall.—C.
r Heb. into a chamber within a chamber, ch.22.25. Da.4.47. Job 40.11,12. 1 Pe.5.5.
9 Or, from chamber to chamber.
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.
32 So they girded ssackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads,9 and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy tservant Ben-hadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.
A.M. 3104. B.C. 900.
s Ge.37.34. 2 Sa.14.2. Is.37.1.
9 Or, 'round their necks.' This is well illustrated by several Egyptian and Persian sculptures, which represent captives dragged before their kings by a rope that passes round the neck of each, and binds them to one another.—Note, What an appropriate emblem of the captive state of sinners—each a captive, and each bound to his companions in misery.—C.
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.
34 And Ben-hadad said unto him, uThe cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus,1 as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So xhe made a covenant with him, and sent him away.
u As ch.5.20. Or perhaps these are Ahab's words.
1 Authorize the establishment of a 'Jewish quarter or factory,' for commercial purposes, as was, and in some degree still is, the case in some Christian European cities, and as still is the case in Constantinople and the principal cites of Asia where Jews reside—a rule of separation that likewise applies generally to Europeans, or Franks, as they are called. C.——To this day there is a Jewish quarter in the most ancient part of Damascus, and there is evidence to show that the Jews have occupied it since the Mahomedan conquest of the city in the 7th century.—P.
35 And a certain man of the ysons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, zSmite me, I pray thee.2 And the man refused to smite him.
y 1 Sa.10.12. 2 Ki.2.3,5,7,15. ver.38. Is.8.18.
z Is.20.3,4; 8.18. Mat.16.24. Pr.27.6. ver.37.
2 Knowing him as a neighbour to be a prophet, he should have obeyed 'in the word of the Lord.'—C.
36 Then said he unto him, aBecause 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.
a 1 Sa.15.22,23. ch.13.21,22; 22.34,37. 2 Ki.2.23,24, with ch.13.24.
37 Then he found another man, and said, Smiteb me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him.3
b Ex.21.15,18. Pr.23.13.
3 Heb. smiting and wounding.
38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way,4 and cdisguised himself with ashes5 upon his face.
4 As a prophet of the Lord, he could have no access to the idolatrous king; but as a wounded soldier, ver. 39, he was sure of a hearing.—C.
c ch.14.2; 22.30.
5 According to Boothroyd and other eminent translators, 'a veil or bandage.'—C.
39 And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he dsaid, 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 pay6 a talent of silver[≈ 34 kg · 75 lb · silver worth ≈ US$59,000].
d 2 Sa.12.1-7; 14.5-7. Ju.9.7-20.
6 Heb. weigh.
40 And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was7 gone.8 And the king of Israel said unto him, eSo shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.
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.
Notes
[Ver. 33. 'And the men took it as an omen (for good), and they hastened and took it from him;' i.e. they made haste to let him explain his meaning fully, that they might know whether he spake this word of grace from his heart, or whether in dissimulation. They expected death, and they could scarcely credit. P.]
Reflections.—Weak and defenceless are those who have provoked God to forsake them, however former successes may make them proud or insolent. There is no satisfying the covetous mind: and mean spirits delight to tyrannize over those who they think dare not resist them. But pride and insolent boasting go before destruction. The greatest talkers are seldom the greatest actors. And the more secure men are, the more certain is their ruin. God often heaps mercies on his sinful people when they are almost ripe for destruction. Inadequate means must be used when God directs, but no means ever trusted to. By the weakest instruments God can abase the proud, and defeat the most powerful armies even when flushed with victory and success. But we must never on earth think the danger over. Earth and hell cannot long lie quiet. Atheistical apprehensions of God effectually plunge men headlong into misery. For they that fight against him will at last be covered with confusion and despair. Malicious persecutors are in general extremely indulgent to horrid murderers and blasphemers. But sinful indulgence issues in men's own ruin. God's servants have need of great boldness and zeal, that they may declare his mind to the most powerful transgressors. And it is peculiarly stinging when men are condemned out of their own mouth.
Learn, O my soul, notwithstanding all my emptiness, to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. If my spiritual enemies compass me about like bees, let me attack them in the name of the Lord. If I obtain one victory let me prepare for another assault. But let me never show mercy to the most humble and suppliant lust:—to pity those is to be careless of God's honour and cruel to myself.
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.