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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Kings 20:1 - 20:21
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Benhadad's first Defeat
v. 1. And Benhadad, the king of Syria, under whom the kingdom had grown very strong, gathered all his host together, his entire army; and there were thirty and two kings with him, vassal kings, tributary chiefs, including lords of single cities and their districts, and horses, and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, in a campaign of conquest, and warred against it.
v. 2. And he sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel, into the city and said unto him, Thus saith Benhadad,
v. 3. Thy silver and thy gold is mine, he coolly demanded the contents of the royal treasury; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, the most eminent young men of the city, are mine, he demanded that they be delivered to him as hostages.
v. 4. And the king of Israel, appalled by the great show of power which the Syrian king displayed, answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine and all that I have, he was ready to yield without the faintest show of resistance, glad to buy off his city by the payment of this tribute.
v. 5. And the messengers came again and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver and thy gold and thy wives and thy children,
v. 6. yet I will send my servants unto thee tomorrow about this time, and they shall search thine house and the houses of thy servants, openly plundering the houses of the wealthiest people in the city; and it shall be that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, what Ahab valued especially highly, they shall put it in their hand and take it away. Benhadad's behavior was overbearing, insolent; it was equivalent to the demand that Ahab place himself and his city in his power.
v. 7. Then the king of Israel, aroused to action by the unbounded insolence of Benhadad, called all the elders of the land, the highest officials of the country, who evidently had sought the shelter of the capital at the approach of Benhadad, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief, his intention being to ruin Israel completely; 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, so much he had willingly agreed to deliver.
v. 8. And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him nor consent, he should pay no attention to Benhadad's demands, but be emphatic in his refusal.
v. 9. Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do, willing to fulfill his first promise; but this thing I may not do, the second demand was an outrage. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.
v. 10. And Benhadad sent unto him and said, in the rage of a tyrant who finds himself foiled, 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! His intention was so utterly to destroy the city that the dust of the ruins would not even suffice for the purpose mentioned by him.
v. 11. And the king of Israel, whose courage grew at the same rate as the insolence of the enemy, answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off, a proverbial saying equivalent to: Do not boast of a victory before it is won.
v. 12. And it came to pass, when Benhadad heard this message as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, engaged in a drinking-bout in the booths made of the branches of trees, which had been put up for them during the siege, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array, ready to storm the city in a sudden attack. And they set themselves in array against the city.
v. 13. And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab, king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? It was a very great army which was encamped against the city. Behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Here was both a promise of victory and a call to repentance.
v. 14. And Ahab said, By whom? He wanted to know who was to bring about the deliverance. And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces, the servants of the officials of the various districts of Israel, the members of their body-guards. Then he said, Who shall order the battle, open the attack? And he answered, Thou; Ahab himself was to lead the charge.
v. 15. Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two, a very small band to lead in the attack; and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, those able to bear arms, being seven thousand.
v. 16. And they went out at noon, advancing boldly to the attack. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.
v. 17. And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria; they were not even recognized as a troop or as an attacking force.
v. 18. And he said, in maudlin presumption, Whether they be come out for peace, that is, to confer about a treaty or to capitulate, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive, in either case, they were simply to be arrested.
v. 19. So these young men of the princes of the provinces, a mere handful of soldiers, came out of the city, and the army which followed them.
v. 20. And they, the members of the attacking band, slew every one his man, as they closed with the enemy in a hand-to-hand encounter. And the Syrians fled; and Israel, the entire army, pursued them. And Benhadad, the king of Syria, escaped on an horse with the horsemen, having quickly seized a chariot-horse, as the panic took hold of him.
v. 21. And the king of Israel went out and smote the horses and chariots, all those who were trying to escape by means of them, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter. Thus God punished the pride and the insolence of the tyrant, while, at the same time, He called Ahab to repentance. To this day the goodness of God plans to lead men to repentance if they would but take note of the signs.