1 Kings 20:30

_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._ 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 30. _A WALL FELL UPON TWENTY AND SEVEN THOUSAND_] From the first view of this text it would appear that when the Syrians fled to Aphek, and shut themselves within the walls, the Israelites immediately brought all hands, and sapped the walls, in consequence of which a large portion fell, and buried _twenty-seven_ _thousand_ men. But perhaps the hand of God was more immediately in this disaster; probably a _burning wind_ is meant. See at the end of the chapter. 1 Kings 20:43. _CAME INTO THE CITY, INTO AN INNER CHAMBER._] However the passage above may be understood, the city was now, in effect, taken; and Ben-hadad either betook himself with his few followers to the citadel or to some secret hiding-place, where he held the council with his servants immediately mentioned....

A WALL - “The wall,” i. e., the wall of the town. We may suppose a terrific earthquake during the siege of the place, while the Syrians were manning the defenses in full force, which threw down the wall where they were most thickly crowded upon it, and buried them in its ruins. Ben-hadad fled from the wall, where he had been at the time of the disaster, into the inner parts of the city - probably to some massive stronghold - and there concealed himself....

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

BUT THE REST FLED TO APHEK, INTO THE CITY,.... Which perhaps was in the hands of the Syrians, and was designed for a retreat for them, should they be beaten: AND THERE A WALL FELL UPON TWENTY SEVEN THOUSAND OF THE MEN THAT WERE LEFT; not slain in the battle; here again the Lord might be seen, who, as Abarbinel observes, fought from heaven, and either by a violent wind, or an earthquake, threw down the wall upon them just as they had got under it for shelter: AND BENHADAD FLED, AND CAME INTO THE CITY INTO AN INNER CHAMBER; or, "into a chamber within a chamber" q, for greater secrecy. q חדר בחדר "cubiculo in cubiculum", Pagninus, Montanus....

INNER Hebrew, "a chamber in a chamber." (1 Kings 22:25)....

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 ...

_and_there _a_[R.V. AND THE] _wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the_[R.V. omits _of the men_ The noun is definite in the original, and must refer to the city wall of Aphek. The narrative gives no clue to the cause of the disaster. But the divine promise of victory seems to warrant us in concluding that it was by divine interposition, through an earthquake it may be, that a destruction so tremendous was wrought among the enemy. The small number of Israel could not have availed even for the slaughter of those who fell in the battle. _And Ben-hadad fled_ He was probably on or near the walls when the great disaster occurred, and in terror gat him to the more central parts of the city. _into an inner chamber_ Literally, -a chamber within a chamber". The LXX. has εἰς τὸν οἷκον τοῦ κοιτῶνος εἰς τὸ ταμιεῖον, -into the bedchamber, even into the innermost room". Josephus says -an underg...