1 Kings Chapter 20

At a Glance

  • The chapter opens with a bold confrontation: Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, lays siege to Samaria and orchestrates a dramatic demand for Israel’s wealth, wives, and children.
  • In the larger arc, the chapter sits within the ongoing struggle between Israel’s kings and a Syria that seeks to exploit weakness.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • First Kings is part of the Deuteronomistic history, compiled to present Israel’s monarchy in light of covenant faithfulness and faithlessness.
  • coercion: The siege tests whether Israel will trust God or yield to uncompromising militaristic demands.

Chapter Overview

The chapter opens with a bold confrontation: Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, lays siege to Samaria and orchestrates a dramatic demand for Israel’s wealth, wives, and children. Ahab, king of Israel, responds with cautious submission—yet the Syrian king escalates, threatening to search every house for plunder. The tension shifts as Ahab seeks counsel from the elders, who encourage restraint and warn against yielding to aggression. In a tense exchange, Ben-Hadad boasts of overwhelming force, while Ahab’s retort about girding on the harness serves as a subtle rebuke to boastful bravado. The siege intensifies through cunning diplomacy, forged letters, and a threat of treachery that foreshadows the darker political landscape of Israel under Ahab. The narrative moves from a moment of strategic maneuvering to a broader theme: political power, fear, and the fragility of human plans in the face of a sovereign God. While Ahab initially tries to bargain and negotiate, the chapter underscores cycles of intimidation and resistance that lead to a precarious balance between threat and restraint.

In the larger arc, the chapter sits within the ongoing struggle between Israel’s kings and a Syria that seeks to exploit weakness. It foregrounds a recurring pattern: external pressure tests the integrity and discernment of leadership, and it raises questions about trust in God versus reliance on worldly leverage. The text also introduces a subtle moral dimension—how leaders respond to fear and how the elders’ wisdom contrasts with the boastful menace of an enemy.

Historical & Literary Context

First Kings is part of the Deuteronomistic history, compiled to present Israel’s monarchy in light of covenant faithfulness and faithlessness. Chapter 20 sits in the period after Elijah’s and Elisha’s major prophetic confrontations, during Ahab’s reign, and captures the ongoing tension with Syria. The genre blends narrative history with political and prophetic commentary. It illustrates how kings interact with foreign powers, negotiate terms, and confront mercy and judgment. The chapter’s structure—open confrontation, counselor advice, dramatic negotiation, and a looming crisis—reflects a literary pattern that emphasizes human strategies under pressure while hinting at divine sovereignty behind events.

Key Themes

- Trust vs. coercion: The siege tests whether Israel will trust God or yield to uncompromising militaristic demands.

- Leadership under pressure: Ahab’s diplomacy and reliance on elders reveal different leadership orientations—fear, prudence, and political calculation.

- The limits of human power: Ben-Hadad’s threats illustrate how worldly force seeks to dictate what rightly belongs to God’s people.

- Covenant fidelity in crisis: The elders’ counsel points toward fidelity to the covenant rather than expedient compromise.

Modern Application

This chapter invites readers to reflect on leadership when confronted with overwhelming pressure. It challenges the impulse to concede what is not ours by right, and it invites discernment: when should a leader negotiate, and when should courage and faith in God’s promises guide action? The dialogue with danger models how communities respond to threats—whether through fear-driven compromise or principled stand grounded in covenant identity. The text also teaches the value of wise counsel and humble restraint. In contemporary life, readers can apply this by seeking wise, community-based discernment in situations—whether corporate, national, or personal—where power dynamics threaten integrity, reminding us that ultimate security rests in trust of the Lord rather than in wealth or force.

Cross-References

- 1 Kings 14–16 (prophetic critique of Ahab and national direction)

- 1 Kings 20 (this chapter) paired with 1 Kings 21 (Arab political dynamics and Jezebel’s manipulation)

- Proverbs on wisdom and counsel in governance (for wisdom vs. bold boasting)

- Psalm 20 (trust in the Lord in times of crisis)

Recommended Personas

- Elijah or Elisha (prophetic perspective on power and trust)

- Ahab or the Elders (leadership under pressure)

- A cautious foreign-policy advisor (as a foil to Ben-Hadad’s bravado)

Chapter Text

1

And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.

2

And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Benhadad,

3

Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.

4

And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.

5

And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Benhadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;

6

Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.

7

Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not.

8

And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.

9

Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

10

And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me.

11

And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.

12

And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city.

13

And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

14

And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou.

15

Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.

16

And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

17

And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.

18

And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.

19

So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.

20

And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen.

21

And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

22

And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.

23

And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.

24

And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms:

25

And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.

26

And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Benhadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.

27

And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.

28

And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

29

And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.

30

But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Benhadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

31

And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.

32

So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.

33

Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Benhadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Benhadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

34

And Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.

35

And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him.

36

Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.

37

Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, so that in smiting he wounded him.

38

So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.

39

And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver.

40

And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.

41

And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.

42

And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.

43

And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.

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