1 Kings · chapter 20 of 22
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1 Kings 20 tells how Ben-hadad, king of Syria, besieges Samaria with thirty-two allied kings and demands Ahab's riches and family. By a prophet's word, Israel wins two battles, the second at Aphek. But Ahab spares Ben-hadad and makes a treaty with him, and a prophet tells him he will pay with his life for freeing the man the Lord had condemned.
This chapter tells of a war in which the Lord shows his power to Israel, even under an unfaithful king like Ahab. God acts so that Ahab and all will know he is the Lord, but the end of the story shows that misused mercy also has consequences.
Ben-hadad, king of Syria, gathers a great army with thirty-two kings and besieges Samaria. He sends messengers to Ahab demanding his silver, his gold, his wives and his children. Ahab agrees at first, but when Ben-hadad adds that his servants will search his house and take whatever they like, the elders of Israel advise him not to give in. Ahab replies that the one who puts on his armor should not boast like the one who takes it off.
A prophet announces to Ahab that the Lord will give the great army into his hand, so that he will know that he is the Lord. The young officers of the governors go out first, and Ben-hadad, who was drinking with the kings, orders them taken alive. Israel defeats the Syrians. The prophet warns Ahab to prepare, because Syria will return in the spring. The servants of Ben-hadad say that Israel's God is a god of the hills and will be beaten on the plain.
Syria assembles at Aphek, and a man of God announces that, because they said the Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys, the Lord will give Israel the victory. After seven days of camping face to face, Israel kills a hundred thousand foot soldiers in one day, and the wall of Aphek falls on twenty-seven thousand of those remaining. Ben-hadad hides, and his servants ask Ahab to spare him. Ahab calls him his brother, has him ride in his chariot and makes a treaty with him.
A prophet, by the word of the Lord, asks a companion to strike him, and when he refuses, a lion kills him. Another strikes him and the prophet covers his eyes with a bandage and waits for Ahab on the road. He tells a story of a soldier who let a prisoner he was guarding escape, and Ahab pronounces his own sentence. The prophet removes the bandage and declares that, for letting go the man the Lord had condemned, Ahab's life will answer for his. Ahab goes home sullen and angry.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
A prophet announces to Ahab that the Lord will give the great multitude into his hand that day, so that he will know that he is the Lord. God acts on Israel's behalf not for Ahab's merits but to make himself known.
Ben-hadad's servants say Israel's God is a god of the hills, which is why Israel defeated them, and that on the plain they would be stronger. They think of the Lord as a regional god, a false idea God will disprove.
The man of God announces that, because the Syrians said the Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys, he will give the multitude into Israel's hand. God is Lord of all the earth and is not limited to one kind of terrain.
The prophet tells Ahab that, for letting go the man the Lord had condemned, his life will answer for the other's. Forgiveness misunderstood, ignoring God's word, is not an act of mercy but of disobedience.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: His silver, gold, wives and children, and then to search his house. — 1 Kings 20:3-6
Answer: Not to give in to Ben-hadad's demand. — 1 Kings 20:7-8
Answer: That the Lord would give the great army into his hand, so that he would know that he is the Lord. — 1 Kings 20:13
Answer: That he was a god of the hills, and that on the plain they would be stronger. — 1 Kings 20:23
Answer: A hundred thousand foot soldiers, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand more. — 1 Kings 20:29-30
Answer: He spared him and made a treaty; the prophet said his life would answer for that of the man he let go. — 1 Kings 20:34, 42
God showed his power to Ahab and gave him two victories, but Ahab did not learn to obey. We often see God work on our behalf and still make decisions out of convenience. In a small group, talk about how to respond to blessings with obedience, not only gratitude.
The story of the treaty with Ben-hadad also questions decisions that look like mercy but ignore what God has said. Ask yourselves whether there are areas of life where you act on what seems reasonable or kind rather than on what the Lord has clearly said in his Word.
1 Kings 20 ends with Ahab sullen and angry, under a warning from the Lord. In 1 Kings 21, another story shows the abuse of power by Ahab and Jezebel with Naboth's vineyard.
He was a king of Syria (Aram), with his capital at Damascus, who was a frequent threat to Israel. The name Ben-hadad was used by several Syrian kings, and the Bible connects it with different periods, so historians debate which one this chapter refers to.
They followed the common ancient idea that each god had his own territory. They thought the Lord had power in the highlands of Samaria but not on the plain. The Lord answers by showing that he is God of every place.
The text indicates that Ben-hadad was a man the Lord had condemned to destruction, and Ahab, instead of carrying out that sentence, treated him as a brother and made a treaty with him. For the narrator, Ahab put his political judgment above God's word.