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.
Verse 23. _THEIR GODS_ ARE _GODS OF THE HILLS_] It is very likely that the small Israelitish army availed itself of the _heights_ and _uneven_ ground, that they might fight with greater advantage aga...
THEIR GODS ARE GODS OF THE HILLS - The local power and influence of deities was a fixed principle of the ancient polytheism. Each country was considered to have its own gods; and wars were regarded as...
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 prop...
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...
_their gods_are _gods_ R.V. THEIR GOD IS A GOD. The LXX. also renders by the singular. The Syrians would speak of the God of Israel as a national divinity, just as they would of their own god. The for...
THEIR GODS ARE GODS OF THE HILLS— See Numbers 23:27 and Virgil, En. viii. ver. 698, &c. Bishop Warburton observes, that when Ben-hadad, whose forces consisted of chariots and horsemen, had warred with...
B. THE BATTLE OF APHEK 20:23-43 It was not long before the intelligence reports reaching Ahab's military advisers confirmed the warnings of the man of God. Benhadad was massing new troops, reorganizin...
20:23 plateau, (a-33) The elevated plain east of Jordan....
THEIR GODS.. THE HILLS] RV 'Their god is a god of the hills' A national god was believed to exert his power chiefly within his own land, and the Syrians regarded Jehovah's power as confined to the hil...
WAR BETWEEN ISRAEL AND SYRIA The Syrians besiege Samaria, but a sally being made from the city by the direction of a prophet, they are driven off, and the next year are beaten at Aphek. Ahab, having...
GOD’S LESSONS FROM HISTORY 1 KINGS _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 20 GOD ALLOWS AHAB’S ARMY TO DEFEAT THE ARMY FROM SYRIA V1 Benhadad, king of Syria gathered his whole army. Then 32 other kings with the...
GODS OF THE HILLS. — The idea of tutelary gods, whose strength was greatest on their own soil, is naturally common in polytheistic religions, which, by the very multiplication of gods, imply limitatio...
וְ עַבְדֵ֨י מֶֽלֶךְ ־אֲרָ֜ם אָמְר֣וּ אֵלָ֗יו...
AHAB AND BENHADAD 1 Kings 20:1 IN the Septuagint and in Josephus the events narrated in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Kings are placed after the meeting of Elijah with Ahab at the door of Nabo...
A PROSPEROUS NATION 1 Kings 4:1; 1 Kings 20:1; 1 Kings 21:1; 1 Kings 22:1 What a picture is here given of national contentment and
THE GOD BOTH OF HILLS AND VALLEYS 1 Kings 20:16 What is God to us? Is He only the God of the hills? We expect religion to serve us when we come to the great summits of experience. There are times of...
Here begins the actual movement in the downfall of Ahab. Ben-hadad, drunken, profligate, despotic, came in the pride of arms against Samaria. By the voices of prophets Jehovah spoke to Ahab, who, acti...
And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their (k) 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 st...
Hills. All the high places of Israel were covered with idols. Samaria, Bethel, Dan, &c., were built on eminences. (Menochius) --- Altars had also been erected to the true God on the most famous mounta...
(22) В¶ 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 t...
The days were very dark in Israel. Not only rebellion. And rebellion, always serious, was peculiarly so in Israel, for there it was insubordination in a direct manner against not only God's providence...
According to the outward history of Israel, that which follows the revelations made to Elijah in Horeb looks like a time of restoration and blessing; and outwardly it was so. Benhadad is overcome and...
AND THE SERVANTS OF THE KING OF SYRIA SAID UNTO HIM,.... His ministers of state, his privy counsellors: THEIR GODS ARE GODS OF THE HILLS, THEREFORE THEY WERE STRONGER THAN WE; and beat them in the la...
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 strong...
_Their gods are gods of the hills_, &c. The heathen, in general, had no notion of the God of the universe, but only worshipped local and tutelary deities; who, they thought, ruled over particular coun...
1 Benhadad not content with Ahabs hommage, besiegeth Samaria. 13 By the direction of a Prophet, the Syrians are slaine. 22 As the Prophet forewarned Ahab, the Syrians trusting in the valleys, come a...
And the servants of the king of Syria, in an effort to find an explanation of their defeat, SAID UNTO HIM, THEIR GODS ARE GODS OF THE HILLS, they believed that the God of Israel had power only in the...
Benhadad's Second Defeat, Capture, and Release...
AHAB DEFEATS SYRIA (vs.1-22) God's care for His people Israel is still remarkably displayed in this chapter in spite of the unholy character of Ahab. Ben Hadad, king of Syria, marshaled a tremendous...
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 suppose...
THE SERVANTS OF THE KING OF SYRIA suppose that their gods were no better than the Syrian gods, (which the idolatry of the Israelites had given them too great cause to imagine,) and that there were man...
1 Kings 20:23 servants H5650 king H4428 Syria H758 said H559 (H8804) gods H430 gods H430 hills H2022 stronger...
YHWH THWARTS BENHADAD'S SECOND ATTEMPT ON ISRAEL (1 KINGS 20:22). It was not likely that Benhadad would take this reverse lightly. While his forces had fled in panic with the result that he had forfei...
WAR WITH BENHADAD KING OF ARAM (1 KINGS 20:1). There is no indication at what point in Ahab's reign these events occurred, but a situation is indicated where the power of the Aramaeans had now grown s...
CONTENTS: Ahab's Syrian campaigns and victories. His sin in sparing Ben-hadad. CHARACTERS: God, Ahab, Ben-hadad, two prophets. CONCLUSION: Enemies are more than a match for us, but no match for Jeho...
1 Kings 20:3. _Thy gold thy wives are mine._ The African princes still send similar messages to one another. Mungo Park mentions one who sent an order to a neighbouring prince to have the houses all m...
_Go, strengthen thyself _ MADE STRONG FOR LIFE’S BATTLE Israel had Just been at war with Syria, and had come off victorious. Naturally they were feeling very happy and triumphant and were congratula...
1 KINGS—NOTE ON 1 KINGS 20:1 After Elijah’s recruitment of Elisha, one expects to read of his anointing of Hazael as king over Syria and of Jehu as king over Israel (compare 1 Kings 19:15). Instead
1 KINGS—NOTE ON 1 KINGS 20:22 STRENGTHEN YOURSELF. Both sides prepare for a continuation of warfare in the following SPRING, a common time for kings to go to war (compare...
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.— 1 Kings 20:22. AT THE RETURN OF THE YEAR—לִתְשׁוּבת השָׁנָה. with the beginning of the year—the spring—until which time the winter rains would prevent another campaig...
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...
Now Benhadad who was presently the king of Syria gathered all of his host together: and there were thirty-two kings that went with him, with their horses, and chariots: and they came up and besieged S...
1 Kings 14:23; 1 Kings 20:28; 1 Samuel 4:8; 2 Chronicles 32:13;...
Said to him — They suppose that their gods were no better than the Syrian gods and that there were many gods who had each his particular charge and jurisdiction; which was the opinion of all heathen n...