1 Kings 20:1-43

God’s lessons from history

1 Kings

Philip Smith

Chapter 20

God allows Ahab’s army to defeat the army from Syria

v1 Benhadad, king of Syria gathered his whole army. Then 32 other kings with their horses and *chariots joined him. They attacked Samaria and they surrounded it. Nobody could enter or leave. v2 He sent people with messages into the city to Ahab king of *Israel. This is what they said. ‘Benhadad says this. v3 “I want to have all your silver and gold. I want to have the best of your wives and children.” ’

v4 This is how the king of *Israel replied. ‘Tell this to the king. He can have me and everything that I own.’

v5 Benhadad’s agents came again with another message. They said, ‘This is what King Benhadad says. “I told you that you must give to me your silver and gold. You must also give to me your women and your children. v6 Now, however I will send my officials. They will search your palace and the homes of your officials. They will take everything of value. They will be there about this time tomorrow.” ’

v7 The king of *Israel called all the leaders of the country. He said to them, ‘This man wants trouble. He sent for my wives, children, gold and silver. And I did not refuse him.’

v8 All the leaders and the people replied, ‘Do not listen to him or agree to his demands.’

v9 So Ahab replied to Benhadad’s agents, ‘Tell this to the king. “I am your servant. I will do all that you asked for the first time. But I cannot agree to your second demand.” ’ The people who brought the message took the answer back to Benhadad.

v10 Then Benhadad sent another message to Ahab. ‘I promise that I will destroy Samaria completely. I do not intend to leave even a handful of dust for each of my men. If I fail, I pray that the gods will kill me.’

v11 The king of *Israel said, ‘Tell King Benhadad that he should not be proud before the battle. A person should not be proud until he has defeated his enemies.’

v12 Benhadad heard this message while he and his kings were drinking in their tents. He ordered his men to attack. So they prepared to attack the city.

Benhadad the king of Syria attacked Samaria. He led a vast army. And 32 other kings were supporting him. His army surrounded the city so that nobody could bring in food or drink.

But they could not enter the city easily. Ahab’s father, Omri, took care to build strong defences for the city. So Benhadad’s army stayed outside the city while Benhadad sent his agents to speak to Ahab.

Benhadad demanded that Ahab should give him all his silver and gold. He also wanted the best of Ahab’s wives and children. Ahab agreed to this. Probably, Ahab hoped that his offer would satisfy Benhadad. Then Benhadad would take his army elsewhere.

Instead, Benhadad demanded more. He would send his officials to take everything that had any value. Ahab talked to the people who advised him. They told him not to agree to these demands. They thought that it would be better to fight than to lose everything.

Benhadad replied that he intended to ruin Samaria completely. Ahab told him not to be too confident of success. But really, Ahab was in a desperate situation. He knew that his army was much weaker than Benhadad’s army. But the *Lord was using this situation to show Ahab that he (the *Lord) really is God.

v13 A *prophet went to Ahab, the king of *Israel and he said, ‘This is what the *Lord says. “You see this very big army. I will give you success over it today. Then you will know that I am the *Lord.” ’

v14 ‘But who will do this?’ asked Ahab. The *prophet replied, ‘This is what the *Lord says. “The young soldiers under the command of the district rulers will do this.” ’

Ahab asked. ‘And who will start the battle?’

The *prophet answered, ‘You will.’

v15 So Ahab called the young soldiers whom the district rulers commanded. There were 232 of them. Then he called the *Israelite army. There were 7000 men in it. v16 The attack began at midday. Benhadad and the 32 kings with him were drinking much wine in their tents. v17 The young soldiers went first.

Benhadad sent out men to watch the *Israelite army. These men told him, ‘Men are coming out of Samaria.’

v18 He ordered ‘Take them alive. Do this whether they are coming to fight or to ask for peace.’

v19 The young soldiers led the attack. The *Israelite army followed them. v20 Each man killed the man that he fought. At that, the soldiers from Syria ran away and the *Israelites chased them. However, Benhadad king of Syria escaped on horseback together with some of his men. v21 The king of *Israel advanced and he *captured the horses and *chariots. He killed many soldiers from Syria.

v22 Afterwards, the *prophet went to King Ahab and said, ‘Go back and make your army strong. Make careful plans. Next spring, the king of Syria will attack you again.’

v23 Then King Benhadad’s officials spoke to him. ‘The gods of the *Israelites are gods of the hills. That is why they defeated us. But if we fight them on the plains, we will defeat them. v24 Do this. Remove all the kings from their commands and replace them with other officers. v25 You must also get an army like the one that has just lost the battle. It will have the same number of horses and *chariots. We will fight the *Israelites on the plains. Then we will defeat them.’ The king agreed with them and he followed their advice.

The *prophet of God told Ahab that he would win the battle against Benhadad. Ahab was a very evil king, and he certainly did not deserve God’s help. But God showed his kindness to Ahab. God did this for two reasons:

(1) The *Israelites were still God’s people, although most *Israelites were not loyal to him. He wanted them to turn back to him.

(2) This would give Ahab an opportunity to change his ways. *Israel would defeat the proud soldiers from Syria. God was kind to his people. He gave them every opportunity to put their trust in him.

He sent the youngest of his soldiers to begin the attack. Behind them came the large army of 7000 men. Benhadad had drunk too much alcohol. He was very confident. As a result, he told his soldiers not to kill the young men who were attacking. But he was very foolish. The young *Israelites killed the soldiers who were trying to *capture them. When Benhadad’s army saw this, they were very afraid. They tried to run away. But a soldier cannot fight when his back is towards his enemies. So the *Israelites killed many more of Benhadad’s soldiers. The result was that the *Israelites won the battle.

The *prophet warned Ahab that the king of Syria would attack again in the spring. The king of Syria’s men supposed that they could explain *Israel’s success. They said that *Israel’s God was only a god of the hills. If the armies fought on the plains, the soldiers from Syria would defeat them. Therefore, the king of Syria used the winter time to prepare to attack. Instead of the kings, they appointed soldiers to lead the armies.

v26 During the next spring, Benhadad ordered the soldiers from Syria to fight. He went up to Aphek in order to fight *Israel. v27 The *Israelites came together and they prepared their equipment. Then they marched out to meet the soldiers from Syria. The *Israelites camped opposite the soldiers from Syria. They seemed like two small groups of goats. But the soldiers from Syria spread out over the whole country.

v28 A *prophet came to the king of *Israel and he said, ‘This is what the *Lord says. “The soldiers from Syria think that the *Lord is the god of hills and not the god of valleys. Because of that, I will give you success over this vast army. Then you will know that I am the *Lord.” ’

v29 For 7 days, the armies camped opposite each other. On the 7th day, they started to fight. The *Israelites killed 100 000 soldiers from Syria in one day. v30 The rest of the soldiers from Syria ran away into the city called Aphek. The city’s walls fell on 27 000 of them. Benhadad escaped into the city. He hid in the back room of a house.

v31 His officials said to him, ‘We have heard that the *Israelite kings are very kind. Let us go to the king of *Israel. We should wear rough cloth and put ropes (very thick strings) round our necks. Perhaps he will not kill you.’

v32 So they wore rough cloth and they put ropes round their necks. They went to the king of *Israel and they spoke to him. ‘Your servant Benhadad says, “Please let me live.” ’

The king replied, ‘Is he still alive? He is my brother (companion).’

v33 The men took this as a good *sign. They said, ‘As you say, Benhadad is your brother.’

‘Go. Get him’, said Ahab. When Benhadad came out, Ahab invited him into his *chariot.

v34 Benhadad said, ‘I will return the cities that my father took from your father. You may set up a market in Damascus as my father did in Samaria.’

Then Ahab said, ‘Because you have agreed to do this, I will free you.’ So he made an agreement with him and he let him go.

In those days, armies usually went to war during the spring. Then the weather was better for a fight. The *Israelite army seemed very small because the army from Syria was so large. But God sent a message to Ahab. He would show the soldiers from Syria that he was not just a god of the hills. He would give the *Israelites success over them.

The large numbers of people in the story are a problem. Perhaps ‘100 000 soldiers from Syria’ includes the soldiers that the *Israelites forced to leave the battle. Aphek was a small city east of the Sea of Galilee. Just to destroy the walls would not have killed 27 000 people. Perhaps this means that the soldiers in the city now had no protection. The *Israelites may have killed them.

Benhadad asked Ahab in a humble manner not to kill him. Ahab agreed for a political reason. He would need Benhadad’s help against Assyria. Benhadad promised to give back the cities that his *ancestors had taken from *Israel. He also allowed Ahab to trade in Damascus.

Ahab was very foolish to make this agreement. He had not learned the lesson that the *Lord was teaching him during these two battles. God had proved that he is able to protect his people. Twice he had given Ahab’s army success against a much larger army. But Ahab was not trusting the *Lord to protect him against Assyria. Instead, Ahab preferred to trust a large army and a powerful king. And that king happened to be Ahab’s enemy, Benhadad. In fact, Ahab’s peace agreement with Benhadad would not last. Ahab would die in a battle against Syria just three years afterwards.

The *Lord’s message to Ahab

v35 The *Lord told one of the *prophets to tell another *prophet to cause him an injury. But the man refused.

v36 The first *prophet said to him, ‘Because you have not obeyed the *Lord, a lion will kill you. This will happen as soon as you leave me.’ As soon as he left, a lion killed him.

v37 The *prophet found another man and said, ‘Please hit me!’ The man hit him and caused him an injury. v38 The *prophet stood by the road. He was waiting for the king. He covered his face with a cloth so that the king would not recognise him. v39 As the king went by, the *prophet called out to him. ‘I am your servant. I went into battle when a soldier brought a *captured enemy to me. He said, “Guard this man. If he escapes, you will pay with your life or with 75 pounds (34 kilos) of silver.” v40 But I was very busy and the man escaped.’

The king said, ‘You have announced your own punishment. You will have to pay.’

v41 Then the *prophet quickly removed the cloth from his face. The king recognised that he was one of the *prophets. v42 The *prophet said to the king, ‘This is what the *Lord says. “You have freed a man whom I wanted to die. Therefore you will die and so will the people in your army.” ’ v43 The king went home to Samaria. This message upset him much, and he felt angry.

The first *prophet asked another *prophet to hit him with his sword. But he did not. As a result, a lion killed him. That was what happened to the *prophet in chapter 13.

Perhaps this *prophet did not think that it was right to hit the first *prophet. The first *prophet’s request was very unusual. But it is clear that the second *prophet was refusing to obey God. And that is a very serious matter. Maybe the first *prophet had warned the other *prophet that God had ordered this. Or maybe the other *prophet knew for some other reason. Perhaps this event happened to warn Ahab. If a good man suffered in this manner, then a worse thing would happen to Ahab.

So the first *prophet found another man. We do not know whether that man was also a *prophet. But he obeyed and he hit the *prophet. The *prophet then stood by the road. He told the king a story. This was very much like the story that Nathan told David (2 Samuel 12:1-15). The purpose of the story was to make Ahab announce his own punishment. God had wanted Ahab to punish Benhadad. Instead, Ahab made an agreement with him. This showed that he did not trust God. As a result, Ahab died in a battle against the soldiers from Syria. Later the soldiers from Syria attacked the nation and it suffered greatly. God is fair when he punishes people for their *sins. Nobody will be able to say that he is not.

chariot ~ a cart with two wheels that soldiers used. Horses pulled it.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
Lord ~ the name of God. It can translate either of two words in Hebrew, which is the original language of this book. The word ‘Yahweh’ is God’s most holy name, and means ‘God always’. The word ‘Adonai’ means ‘master’.
prophet ~ a person who prophesies.
prophesy ~ to speak God’s word; or, to say what will happen in the future.
Israelite ~ someone who lives in Israel; or, a descendant of Jacob.
Israel ~ the country or nation of people who are descendants of Jacob; the northern part of that country after it divided.
descendants ~ people in your family who live after you.
captured ~ a description of someone who becomes a prisoner during a battle.
capture ~ to take someone or something and keep it. Not to allow freedom.
sign ~ a thing or event that has a special meaning. It shows that somebody or something is present; or it shows that something will happen.
ancestor ~ any person from the past from whom the families of your father or mother have come.'sin/sinful ~ an action that is wrong or wicked. It is against a religious or moral law.
religious ~ about religion.