1 Kings 20

1 Kings 20 is part of the narrative of the reign of Ahab, king of the northern kingdom of Israel. Following 1 Kings 19, in which Elijah calls Elisha, the scene shifts to war with Aram. Elijah does not appear in this chapter; instead, unnamed prophets deliver the word of the Lord.

Outline

• Verses 1–12 Ben-hadad, king of Aram, besieges Samaria together with thirty-two kings and demands silver, gold, wives, and children. Ahab accepts the first demand. Following the counsel of the elders and the people, however, he refuses the second demand, under which Ben-hadad's servants would search the houses and carry off whatever they wished.
• Verses 13–21 A prophet announces victory. The 232 young men of the princes of the provinces, together with 7,000 of the people, go out at noon and defeat the drunken Aramean army.
• Verses 22–30 Ben-hadad's servants claim that Israel's gods are "gods of the hills" and advise fighting on the plain. The following year at Aphek, Israel kills 100,000 Aramean foot soldiers, and the wall of Aphek falls on the remaining 27,000.
• Verses 31–34 Ben-hadad surrenders, girded with sackcloth. Ahab calls him "my brother," makes a covenant with him on the terms that the captured cities be restored and that Israel be allowed to establish streets in Damascus, and then lets him go.
• Verses 35–43 A man of the sons of the prophets asks a companion to strike him, but the companion refuses and is killed by a lion. The prophet is then struck and wounded by another man and disguises himself. He tells a fabricated story about letting a prisoner escape, leads Ahab to pronounce judgment on himself, and then rebukes him.

Key Verses

• 1 Kings 20:11 "Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off." This verse is often cited as a proverb warning against boasting of victory before the battle is over.
• 1 Kings 20:28 "The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys." In this scene, the notion that a god rules over only a particular territory is refuted.
• 1 Kings 20:42 "Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction." The victory is overturned by a sentence of judgment.

Characters and Places

• Ahab — King of the northern kingdom of Israel.
• Ben-hadad — King of Aram. Because several Aramean kings bore this name, opinions differ as to which Ben-hadad appears in this chapter.
• Aram — The neighboring kingdom to the north, whose capital was Damascus.
• Samaria — The capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.
• Aphek — The city where the second battle took place.

Points for Reflection

• The phrase "appointed to utter destruction" is related to the Hebrew term herem, which refers to that which is devoted to God for complete destruction. For this reason, the scene is often read alongside the account of Saul sparing Agag (1 Samuel 15).
• The use of a fabricated story to lead the king to judge himself resembles Nathan's rebuke of David in 2 Samuel 12.
• Some interpreters view Ahab's leniency as a pursuit of political advantage, while others see it as disobedience that placed diplomacy ahead of God's command. The word "merciful" in verse 31 translates the Hebrew hesed.
• Many interpreters hold that the sentence pronounced in this chapter is fulfilled in 1 Kings 22, which recounts Ahab's death.
• In the Septuagint, this chapter and 1 Kings 21, the account of Naboth's vineyard, are known to appear in reverse order.