1 Kings 20:1-22

II. THE GREAT MILITARY CRISIS 20:1-43

The account of Elijah's ministry during the reign of Ahab is interrupted by chapter 20 probably because the author is attempting to give a chronological treatment of that king's reign.[454] The policy of harassment had characterized Benhadad's dealing with Israel in the days of Baasha (cf. 1 Kings 15:18). Now the Aramean king was bent on total conquest of Israel. This crisis for Ahab and Israel unfolds in two stages: (1) the Aramean siege of Samaria (1 Kings 20:1-22); and (2) the battle of Aphek (1 Kings 20:23-43).

[454] In some Septuagint manuscripts chapter 20 follows chapter 21 and thus comes at the conclusion of the Elijah material. Some scholars feel this may be the more original order.

A. THE ARAMEAN SIEGE OF SAMARIA 20:1-22

Act One of the great military crisis has two distinct scenes: (1) the demands of Benhadad (1 Kings 20:1-12); and (2) the deliverance of the city (1 Kings 20:13-22).

1. THE DEMANDS OF BENHADAD (1 Kings 20:1-12)

TRANSLATION

(1) Now Benhadad king of Aram gathered all his host, and thirty-two kings were with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria, and made war against it. (2) And he sent messengers unto Ahab king of Israel to the city, and said to him, Thus says Benhadad: (3) Your silver and your gold belongs to me, along with the goodliest of your wives and children. (4) And the king of Israel answered and said, According to your saying, my lord, O king; I am yours, and all which I have. (5) Then the messengers returned and said, Thus says Benhadad: Although I sent unto you, saying, Your silver, your gold, your wives and your sons you shall give me, yet tomorrow about this time I will send my servants unto you, and they shall search your house and the houses of your servants; and it shall be that all that is desirable in your eyes, they shall put in their hands and take away. (7) And the king of Israel called to all the elders of the land and said, Note, I pray you, that this man is seeking evil; for he sent unto me for my wives and my children and for my silver and my gold, and I denied him not. (8) And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Do not hearken and do not consent. (9) And he said to the messengers of Benhadad, Say to my lord the king, All which you sent unto your servant in the beginning, I will do; but this thing I am not able to do. And the messengers went and brought him word again. (10) And Benhadad sent unto him and said, Thus may the gods do to me and even more, if the dust of Samaria suffice for handfuls for all the people who follow me. (11) And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him: Let not him boast who puts it on, like the one who removes it. (12) And it came to pass when he heard this word, he was drinking, he and the kings in the booths. And he said unto his servants, Station yourselves. So they stationed themselves about the city.

COMMENTS

With thirty-two vassal kings[455] Benhadad went up and besieged Samaria with the clear objective of humbling and plundering his southern neighbor (1 Kings 20:1). There is no indication that Ahab had in any way provoked this attack. Possibly Benhadad's sudden invasion was prompted by Omri's conquest of Moab and consequent control of the Trans Jordanian trade route, the famous King's Highway.[456]

[455] The title king was sometimes given to heads of extremely tiny principalities, (cf. Joshua 12:9-24).

[456] Morgenstern, AS, 267f.

Aramean messengers were sent to Ahab with the demands of Benhadad (1 Kings 20:2). They probably delivered their message to Ahab's representatives at the gates of the city. Benhadad's demands were excessive and were designed to humiliate Ahab and perhaps force him into all-out war. The Aramean demanded Ahab's silver and gold, which is to be expected; but in addition he wanted Ahab's harem and the goodliest of his children as hostages[457] (1 Kings 20:3). The surrender of a harem was tantamount to surrender of the throne (cf. 2 Samuel 16:21-22) and was certainly a surrender of all manhood and self-respect. Faced with an overwhelming Aramean host, Ahab deemed it advisable to make every concession, to cast himself, as it were, on the mercy of Benhadad (1 Kings 20:4). He may have hoped that a soft answer would turn away the wrath of his adversary. It is not entirely clear that Ahab ever meant to surrender his wives and his children to the Aramean. He assumed that a verbal acknowledgment of the claims of Benhadad would be sufficient to placate the foe.

[457] Gray (OTL, p. 422) feels that the claim of Benhadad to the possessions and family of Ahab would seem to indicate the vassal status of the latter.

Since Ahab had yielded so easily and so swiftly to his initial ultimatum (1 Kings 20:5), Benhadad made yet further demands. The initial proposal was vague and general and allowed for Ahab to select what he would deliver over to the Aramean; the second proposal was definite and immediate and provided that Benhadad's servants would pass through the palaces of Samaria seizing whatever appeared to be valuable to Ahab[458] (1 Kings 20:6). Realizing that his previous conciliatory submission had only stirred the Aramean braggart to make greater demands, Ahab called the elders of the land together to seek advice. It now appeared, Ahab pointed out to the council, that Benhadad would be satisfied with nothing less than total capitulation[459] (1 Kings 20:7). The elders of the nation and the people as well were unanimous in urging Ahab to resist these latest demands (1 Kings 20:8).

[458] Josephus (Ant. VIII, 14.1) assumes that at first Ahab interpreted Benhadad's demand to apply to the royal household exclusively, and that after the second message he realized it applied to all the people. Modern commentators think Ahab interpreted the first message as simply a grandiloquent demand for surrender and tribute; but in the second, Ahab saw that Benhadad intended his terms literally.

[459] The accepted practice of war was that a city should be sacked only if its defenders refused peaceful surrender on the basis of tribute in money and/or labor. Ahab had already indicated his willingness to surrender and yet Benhadad was not satisfied. Ahab could only conclude that Benhadad was deliberately goading him to continue what he believed to be a hopeless defense so that he might sack the city.

Ahab sent word back to Benhadad that whereas he had been willing to comply with the initial demands, he could not permit enemy soldiers to pillage his palaces. This message the Aramean messengers carried back to their king (1 Kings 20:9). Infuriated, Benhadad fired back a blustering and boasting reply. He vowed that he would make Samaria a heap of dust, and boasted that his troops were so numerous that this dust would be insufficient to fill the hands of each of his soldiers (1 Kings 20:10). Ahab responded with a pithy and incisive proverb which consists of only four words in the Hebrew: It is not the one who girds on his harness who should boast, but he that survives to remove it (1 Kings 20:11). When this curt but appropriate reply was reported to Benhadad, the king and his vassals were drinking in the campaign huts which they had erected. In furious rage the king issued the commandone word in the Hebrewto commence the siege (1 Kings 20:12).

2. THE DELIVERANCE OF THE CITY (1 Kings 20:13-22)

TRANSLATION

(13) Now behold a prophet drew near unto Ahab king of Israel and said, Thus said the LORD: Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold I am about to give it into your hand today, that you may know that I am the LORD. (14) And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus says the LORD: By the young men of the cities of the provinces. And he said, Who shall order the battle? And he said, You. (15) And he counted the young men of the cities of the provinces, and they were 232, and after them he numbered all the people, all the sons of Israel were seven thousand. (16) And they went out at noon. Now Benhadad was drinking to the point of drunkenness in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who were helping him. (17) And the young men of the cities of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad had sent out, and they had told him, saying, Men have come out from Samaria. (18) And he said, Whether they have come out for peace or for war, seize them alive. (19) So these men went out from the city, the young men of the cities of the provinces, and the army which was behind them. (20) And they smote every man his man; and the Arameans fled, and Israel pursued them, and Benhadad king of Aram escaped upon a horse with the horsemen. (21) And the king of Israel went out and smote the horses and the chariots, and he smote the Arameans with a great smiting. (22) Then a prophet drew near unto the king of Israel, and said to him, Go, strengthen yourself, and note and see what you have to do; for at the return of the year the king of Aram will come up against you.

COMMENTS

It is useless to speculate as to the identity of the prophet sent by God with a message of encouragement to Ahab.[460] The promise is that Benhadad and his host would be delivered into the hand of Ahab that very day. Whatever other reasons God might have had for intervention on behalf of Israel, the supreme purpose of this divine help was so that Ahab might know assuredly that Yahweh was God (1 Kings 20:13). On Carmel Yahweh had appeared as a God of fire, wrath and judgment; now He was about to reveal Himself as God of redemption. On Carmel the Lord had shown Himself to be superior to the idols of Phoenicia; now He would demonstrate His power over the gods of Aram.

[460] Josephus identifies the prophet as Micaiah ben Imlah. But if so, how would one account for 1 Kings 22:8?

Ahab welcomed this word from the Lord, but he was puzzled by it, and so inquired further of the prophet. Who would secure the promised victory and which side would commence the hostilities? In the name of Yahweh the prophet related the strategy. It is the young men or servants of the district governors who would gain the victory. Apparently these officials and their aids had fled to Samaria upon the approach of Benhadad. Just who these young men were is not clear, and suggestions range from the view that they were pages to the view that they were an elite body of troops.[461] Probably God selected an agency which was purposely weak and feeble in order that the victory might be seen to be of God. This band of young men, whoever they may have been, was to commence the attack against the Arameans (1 Kings 20:14).

[461] The traditional view is that they were the sons of vassal princes left as hostages as an assurance that they would not rebel. Modern commentators prefer the view that the princes were governors of various districts of Israel. The young men were cadets who were recruited by these princes and sent to the capital for special training. Gray (OTL, p. 424) pictures the young men as shock troops or commandos.

Ahab numbered his troops and found them to be very small by the standards of antiquity: the young men belonging to the district governors numbered 232, and the rest of the army but seven thousand (1 Kings 20:15). At noon when normally peoples of the Near East take a lengthy respite from all activity, the tiny force of Ahab marched forth from Samaria. Benhadad and his vassals were carousing and giving little thought to their military endeavors[462] (1 Kings 20:16). Of course the Arameans had posted observers, and these observers immediately reported the troop movements out of the gate of Samaria (1 Kings 20:17). The king gave the orders that the Israelites were to be taken alive, no doubt so that he might torture them and mock them before they were executed (1 Kings 20:18). It may be that the 232 young men were used as a decoy to lull the Aramean troops into a false sense of security. When the Arameans came forward to take these young men into custody, the seven thousand troops poured forth from the city to engage the enemy (1 Kings 20:19). When several Arameans fell in battle, panic seized the rest, and they fled for their lives with Israel in hot pursuit. Benhadad himself fled by horse in the company of some of his cavalry[463] (1 Kings 20:20). Thus did Israel defeat the Aramean host with a great slaughter which included the cavalry and chariotry (1 Kings 20:21).

[462] Gray (OTL, p. 423) has followed the suggestion of Yadin that the Hebrew word translated pavilions (1 Kings 20:16) should be rendered as a proper noun, Succoth. According to this view, Benhadad was directing the campaign from a headquarters several miles removed from Samaria.

[463] Among the western allies at the battle of Qarqar (853 B.C.) Damascus contributed by far the largest contingent of mounted cavalry.

Shortly after the victory over the Arameans, the unnamed prophet came to Ahab again, this time with a warning. The danger was not over. At the turn of the year, i.e., in the spring of the following year, when oriental kings normally launched their military campaigns,[464] Benhadad would return. Therefore Ahab should take every military precaution by strengthening both his army and the fortifications of his capital (1 Kings 20:22).

[464] Compare 2 Samuel 11:1, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle. Also 2 Chronicles 36:10. Large-scale offensive warfare was not conducted during the rainy season.