1 Kings 20:26

_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._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

22-30 Those about Benhadad advised him to change his ground. They take it for granted that it was not Israel, but Israel's gods, that beat them; but they speak very ignorantly of Jehovah. They supposed that Israel had many gods, to whom they ascribed limited power within a certain district; thus vain were the Gentiles in their imaginations concerning God. The greatest wisdom in worldly concerns is often united with the most contemptible folly in the things of God....

Verse 26. _BEN-HADAD NUMBERED THE SYRIANS, AND WENT UP TO APHEK_] There were several towns of this name; see the notes on Joshua 12:18. It is supposed that the town mentioned here was situated in Libanus, upon the river _Adonis_, between _Heliopolis_ and _Biblos_....

APHEK - There were several places of this name in Palestine (see the marginal reference). This Aphek has been almost certainly identified with the modern Fik, a large village on the present high road from Damascus to Nablous and Jersalem. The expression “went up to Aphek” is appropriate, for Fik, though in a level country, is at a much higher elevation than Damascus....

EXPOSITION THE INVASIONS OF ISRAEL BY THE SYRIANS AND THEIR RESULTS.—The insertion of this chapter, which contains an account of two invasions of Israel by the hosts of Syria, and of the utter defeat of the latter, and which therefore constitutes a break in the history of Elijah, which has occupied the historian up to the end of 1 Kings 19:1; and which is resumed with 1 Kings 21:1.—the insertion of this twentieth chapter in this place is apparently due to the compiler of these records, who seems to have adopted this arrangement as the more chronological. It is not absolutely certain, however, that we owe this disposition

AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THE RETURN OF THE YEAR,.... In the spring, or autumn, as some think, 2 Samuel 11:1 THAT BENHADAD NUMBERED THE SYRIANS; took a muster of his army, to see if he had got the number he had before: AND WENT UP TO APHEK, TO FIGHT AGAINST ISRAEL; not that in Judah, Joshua 15:53, rather that in Asher, Joshua 19:30, but it seems to be that which Adrichomius l places in Issachar, near to the famous camp of Esdraelon, or valley of Jezreel, where it is probable the king of Syria intended to have fought; the battle; and some travellers, as he observes, say m, the ruins of that city are still shown in that great camp or plain, not far from Gilboa, to the east of Mount Carmel,

4. KING AHAB: HIS WICKED REIGN AND END CHAPTER 20 Ahab's War with the Syrians and His Victory _ 1. The siege and relief of Samaria (1 Kings 20:1)_ 2. The victory at Aphek (1 Kings 20:22) 3. A prophet's symbolical action and his message (1 Kings 20:35) Two expeditions of Ben-hadad (son of the Sun) against Israel are recorded in this chapter. When Ben-hadad forced the war and insulted the King of Israel, Ahab prepared for the battle. Then a prophet came to Ahab, most likely one of those who had been hidden by Obadiah. He brought a message from the Lord. “Thus saith Jehovah, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou sha

AHAB'S VICTORY OVER BEN-HADAD. Chs. 20 and 22 come from another source. Elijah does not appear, the religious interest is less prominent, and Ahab is presented in a far less hostile light. He acts as a brave and chivalrous king, bold in the battle and merciful in victory. In the Book of Kings the kings of Israel are seldom represented in a hostile spirit when confronted by the common enemy, Syria (_cf._ 2 Kings 7). Syria, we learn, had become a formidable power. Ben-hadad's father had taken some of Omri's cities, and had compelled him to allow his merchants to have streets, _i.e._ bazaars, in Samaria (1 Kings 20:34). The power of Syria was such that the king could treat the Israelite sovereign as his despised vassal. When the Syrian army filled the valley, the Israelite forces appeared like two small flocks of goats ...

APHEK. Probably east of the Sea of Galilee....

_numbered_ R.V. MUSTERED, and so in the next verse. See above on 1 Kings 20:15. _up to Aphek_ There were several places of this name. One was at the foot of Lebanon, in the tribe of Asher (see Joshua 13:4; Joshua 19:30). Another was in the hill country on the east of the sea of Galilee. But as Ben-hadad's policy was to fight in the plain, the Aphek here intended must be the city of that name which lay in the plain of Jezreel. On the fitness of this place for a large encampment cf. 1 Samuel 29:1....