1 Kings 20:22 - Meaning and Application

We have here another victory that Ahab, by God’s help, won over the Syrians, and it was a greater defeat than before. It is surprising to see Ahab, who worshiped idols, still winning battles, and a persecutor still becoming a conqueror. God has wise and holy reasons for letting wicked people prosper for a time, and he uses even that to glorify his name.

Ahab is warned by a prophet to get ready for another war, (1 Kings 20:22). He seems to have grown careless and was looking only a little way ahead. People who are careless about their souls are often careless about their daily affairs too. But the prophet, to whom God had revealed the Syrians’ plans, told him they would attack again when the year came around, hoping to recover their honor and avenge their defeat. So he told Ahab to strengthen himself, prepare for defense, and be ready for them.

God had already decided the outcome, but Ahab still had to use the means God gave him, or he would be testing God. In other words, he had to do his part and trust God for the rest. The enemies of God’s people are restless in their hatred. Even if they pause for a while, they are still breathing out threats against the church. So we should always expect attacks from our spiritual enemies and watch carefully how we live.

Ben-hadad, the king of Syria, was then advised by his officers about how to fight the next campaign, (1 Kings 20:23-25). They assumed Israel had not beaten them, but Israel’s gods had. They were speaking very wrongly about the Lord. They treated him as if he were many gods, when he is one God and his name is one. They also acted as if he were only the God of one nation, when he rules all the world.

They said he was a God of the hills only, because many of the Psalms speak of God’s holy hill and mountains, such as (Psalm 121:1), (Psalm 87:1), (Psalm 78:54), (Psalm 15:1), and (Psalm 24:3). Thinking of him like their own false gods, they imagined he was tied to the hills and could not help in the valleys. So they thought a battle in the plain would be beyond his notice and outside his protection. This shows how empty the thinking of the Gentiles was, and how dark their minds had become.

They also told Ben-hadad to change his commanders, not to use the kings, who were commanders by birth, but captains, who were skilled men and used to war. These captains would not care about making a show like the kings would, but would focus on the work itself. People should be used in the kind of work they are trained for and suited to do. Syria must have been rich and populous, because after such a heavy defeat it could still raise a force of horse for horse and chariot for chariot.

Then both armies took the field. Ben-hadad and the Syrians camped near Aphek, in the territory of Asher, likely in a flat place suited to his plan, (1 Kings 20:26). Ahab and his troops set themselves at some distance opposite them, (1 Kings 20:27). The difference in numbers was striking. The Israelites, divided into two small groups, looked like two tiny flocks of goats. Their numbers were small, their equipment plain, and they seemed weak and despised. But the Syrians covered the land with their vast numbers, their chariots, their wagons, and all their supplies.

Ahab was then encouraged to fight, even though the Syrians had every outward advantage and confidence. A man of God was sent to tell him that this huge army would be given into his hand, (1 Kings 20:28). Yet it would not be because Ahab deserved it. He was not a man through whom God would do this because of his faith or prayers, since we do not read that he had either. God would do it because the Syrians had insulted him, saying he was the God of the hills and not of the valleys.

So God would act for the honor of his own name. If the Syrians had said, “Ahab and his people have forgotten their God, so they have lost his protection, and we can attack them,” God might have let Israel fall. But when they spoke in a way that dishonored God’s almighty power and treated him as if he were limited to one place, they would be corrected at the cost of the very army they trusted in so much.

After the armies stood facing each other for seven days, the Syrians likely boasting and the Israelites trembling, they fought, and the Syrians were completely defeated. In the field, Israel killed 100,000 men by the sword, (1 Kings 20:29). Then 27,000 more men, who thought they were safe behind the walls of Aphek, found death where they had hoped for shelter. The wall fell on them, perhaps from an earthquake. Since the cities of Canaan had walls that rose very high, the collapse may have reached far and crushed, injured, or terrified many.

Ben-hadad, who had thought Aphek would protect him, found the city stripped of safety. With the rest of his army broken and scattered, he had nothing left but secrecy to hope for. So he hid in an inner room, hoping the pursuers would not find him. See how the greatest confidence often ends in the greatest cowardice. He had mocked the God of Israel as if he were only the God of the hills, but now he learned that he could not even stay safe in an inner room.