1 Kings 20:22-30
Amplified Bible
22 Then the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself and observe and see what you have to do; for at the first of next year the king of Aram (Syria) will come up against you.”
23 Now the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Israel’s [a]god is a [b]god of the hills; that is why they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we will be stronger than they. 24 Do this: remove the [thirty-two allied] kings, each from his place, and put captains in their place, 25 and assemble an army like the army that you have lost in battle, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.” And he listened to their words and did so.
Another Aramean War
26 At the first of the year [in spring], Ben-hadad assembled and counted the Arameans (Syrians) and went up to Aphek [east of the Sea of Galilee] to fight against Israel. 27 The sons of Israel were counted and given provisions, and they went to meet them. The Israelites camped before the enemy like two [c]little flocks of goats [with everything against them, except God], and the Arameans filled the country. 28 A man of God approached and said to the king of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because the Arameans have said, “The Lord is a god of the hills, but He is not a god of the valleys,” I will give this great army into your hand, and you shall know [by experience] that I am the Lord.’”(A) 29 So they camped opposite each other for seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle began, and the sons of Israel killed 100,000 of the Aramean foot soldiers in a single day. 30 But the rest ran to the city of Aphek, and the [city] wall fell on 27,000 of the men who were left. Ben-hadad escaped and came into the city, going into an inner chamber [to hide].
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Kings 20:23 Or gods are gods.
- 1 Kings 20:23 In polytheistic religions it was common for gods to be associated with particular topological regions or natural events (like rain or lightning). The thinking evidently was that supernatural beings must control the many aspects of nature, and that man could gain some control over nature by acknowledging and appeasing these beings. The Arameans (Syrians) may have associated the God of Israel with Mt. Sinai; and instead of realizing that they needed to appeal to the one true God who favored Israel, they imagined that God did not control the plains and valleys (cf v 28), and that Israel could be defeated there by superior numbers.
- 1 Kings 20:27 I.e. small, compact fighting units.
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