1 Kings 20 Chapter Introduction

Structure and Formatting

In this chapter, the author relates how King Ben Hadad of Aram twice invaded the kingdom of Israel and how Yahweh enabled the Israelites to defeat him both times, even though they were greatly outnumbered. In the first battle, Yahweh had the youngest and least experienced Israelite soldiers lead the attack, and he enabled the Israelites to defeat the Arameans anyway. Yahweh did this to continue to show Ahab that he was the true God. But Ahab nevertheless disobeyed Yahweh and made a treaty with Ben Hadad.

1. Ben Hadad besieges the city of Samaria but is defeated (20:1–21)
2. Ben Hadad attacks Israel in the Valley of Aphek and is defeated again (20:22–30)
3. Ahab spares Ben Hadad’s life and makes a treaty with him (20:31–43)

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Why did Ben Hadad say to seize alive the Israelites who were coming out of Samaria?

In 20:18, after receiving a report that some Israelite men are coming out of the besieged city of Samaria, Ben Hadad tells his soldiers to capture them alive, whether they are coming out to negotiate for peace or to start an attack. Both of these things would not have been usual. Ancient armies respected messengers who were negotiating for peace. They allowed them to travel back and forth between opposing armies. So making these Israelites prisoners, if they were peace negotiators, would have violated the standards of this culture. But Ahab had already refused Ben Hadad’s demands, mocking his overconfidence (20:11), so Ben Hadad apparently would not conduct any further negotiations. Telling his soldiers to capture the Israelites alive if they were coming out to fight imprudently put his soldiers at risk, as that would be much more difficult and dangerous than seeking to kill them. Ben Hadad may have wanted to interrogate the men and find out the conditions in Samaria. But both of these orders reflect Ben Hadad’s overconfidence and complacency, which are also evident from the way he is getting drunk at midday even with a battle looming. This illustrates what a great military advantage he knew he had over the Israelites, and so it also shows the greatness of Yahweh’s power, since he enabled the Israelites to defeat Ben Hadad and his army.