Benhadad, King of Syria

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Chapter 20 records the story of Benhadad, the Syrian. Before the destruction prophesied in the last chapter, destruction always being the last recourse for the Lord, the Lord tried giving them a "blessing" to see if that would lead them to repentance.

Nothing is mentioned here of Elijah. It would appear that Jezebel's rage had abated and that Elijah was probably busy establishing schools for prophets. Here God grants a favor to an adulterous and disobedient people by giving them a victory over Syria.

Ben-hadad, King of Syria, descended upon Samaria, the Capitol of Israel. He had with him a coalition of 32 kings. How this force got so far into Israel without opposition is not known. The city was only about 20 years old and its defenses were not complete and would have been an easy target for Ben-hadad. Ben-hadad arrived at Samaria and sent his demands to King Ahab of Israel. He wanted tribute plus all the gold and silver that he had plus all his wives and children. Ahab agreed to his demands. This surprised Ben-hadad and gave him courage to ask for more. He demanded that Ahab allow his servants enter the city and take whatever they wanted. This Ahab felt he could not allow.

Ahab called together the Elders of Israel and they advised him to not consent to the last demands of Ben-hadad. Ahab sent word to Ben-hadad of this and Ben-hadad vowed he would destroy Samaria. But, Ahab replied, "Let not him who begins a war, boost of victory until he has pulled it off." (paraphrased) Well, it was noon and Ban-hadad and his officers were drunk and out of the mouth of a drunken King came instructions for the Syrian Army. Fortunately, Israel's instructions came from a Prophet. We are not told who the Prophet was but surly it was one whom Ahab had hated and perhaps even persecuted.

The question is, why was God so gracious? Three possible answers:

  1. Even though the people were idolatrous and disobedient, they were still the children of Abraham.
  2. That He might magnify His mercy, returning good for evil.
  3. That He might teach Ban-hadad a lesson and those who underestimated the power of the God of Israel.

Notice what the Prophet tells Ahab:

  1. He assures Ahab victory over the Syrians.
  2. He gives him instructions on how to achieve this victory. a. Strike first. b. Use only the most unlikely of men, those who were unqualified for war, and of them, use only 232. c. These 232 would be followed by 7000 men after the 232 had crushed the forces of Ben-hadad.

Well both armies had their instructions and the Syrians were defeated and Benhadad escaped on a horse. But Benhadad was not finished yet. He reasoned the God of Israel was a God of the hills, therefore, if he would fight the Israelites on the plains, he would defeat them. So he assembled another army and attacked again. The Syrians were defeated again and lost 100,000 of their men.

This time Benhadad does not escape. He is advised by his servants to give himself up to King Ahab and ask for clemency. Ahab agreed and allowed Ben-hadad to live in return for the cities that Ben-hadad's father had taken from Israel and also for re-established trade with Syria. In return for having allowed Ben-hadad to live, the Prophet prophesied that Ahab would die in his place.


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