Syria invades for wealth and women
1Syrian King Ben-hadad mobilized all the armies in his region. He combined the infantry, cavalry, and chariot corps of 32 kings of kingdom territories and towns. Then he took them to Israel’s capital city of Samaria and attacked.2He sent this message to King Ahab in the city: 3“Your silver and gold are mine. Your prettiest wives and children are mine.” 4Israel’s king sent this message: “You’re the king. You’re in charge. And you’re right. I am yours and everything I have belongs to you.”
5Ben-hadad’s messengers came back with a reply: “Okay then, get everything ready for us—your silver and gold and your wives and children. 6About this time tomorrow I’ll send in my people. They’ll search your palace and the houses in town and they’ll take whatever they want.”
Ahab rejects the Syrian demands
7Ahab called in Israel’s leaders in town at the time and said, “Did you see that? This guy is looking for trouble. When he ordered me to give him my gold and silver and my wives and children, I said, ‘Sure. Done.’ But that wasn’t enough. He wants to take them.” [1]8Israel’s leaders told Ahab, “Don’t do it. Don’t give into him.” 9Ahab told Ben-hadad’s messengers, “Tell the boss, my king, ‘I serve at your pleasure. Everything I have is yours. But they need to stay here.’ The messengers took Ahab’s words back to their king.
10Ben-hadad had choice words for Ahab: “When I’m done pulverizing your town, there won’t be enough of it left to give each of my soldiers a little brag bag of Samaritan dust. If there is, may the gods do worse than that to me.” 11Ahab fired back his response: “A man armored for battle shouldn’t brag like the battle is over.”
12When Ben-hadad got that message, he was drinking in the tents with the other kings. He gave the order: “Let’s go. Prep the attack.” So the army set up to launch the attack.
Ahab defeats Ben-hadad
13While Syrians prepared to attack, a prophet delivered a message to Ahab. “Here’s what the LORD says: ‘Do you see that overwhelming force out there? I’m giving it all to you today. It’s my way of reminding you of who I am.’”14Ahab asked, “How?” The prophet delivered God’s battleplan. “Call up the elite warriors who guard governors of the provinces. They will win the battle for you.” Ahab said, “Who will engage the enemy first?” The prophet said, “That’ll be you.”
15Ahab called in all 232 elite soldiers from the provinces who were guarding the assembled governors in town. He also mustered an army of 7,000 regulars. 16It was noon when Ahab led his regulars outside the city walls. Ben-hadad was in a tent, drinking himself into a deeper drunk, and relaxing with his 32 royal allies, each one a king. 17Israel’s elite corps of guards stepped forward, creating a first line of attack. Ben-hadad’s scouts saw them coming and reported back, “Men from Samaria are advancing onto our position.”
18Ben-hadad said, “Take them alive. It doesn’t matter if they come in peace or come to fight.” [2]
19Ahab’s army of regulars followed behind the elite warriors. 20Each of the elites killed the first enemy he engaged. That was all it took to scatter the Syrians into a retreat at full speed. Israel ran many of them down. Ben-hadad managed to climb on a horse and escape, with some of the cavalry. 21Ahab’s regular army charged the Syrians and inflicted heavy casualties on the cavalry and the chariot corps.
Syria preps to attack again
22After the battle, the prophet told the king, “Strengthen your defenses. They are coming back next spring.”23Ben-hadad’s military leaders said, “Their gods own those hills. We can’t defeat Israel there. We need to fight on the flatland plains. We’ll beat them there. 24But there’s something else you need to do. Don’t assign the kings to lead their armies. Put military men in command of every unit of soldiers. 25You’ve also got to replace the army you lost—man for man, horse for horse, chariot for chariot. Then we can take the battle to the plains. There, we’ll be stronger than them.” Everyone agreed and got busy rebuilding their fighting force.
Syria takes a position on Israel’s coastal plain
26In the spring, Ben-hadad took his army to Aphek [3] to fight Israel again. 27Israel’s army loaded supplies, marched to Aphek, and camped near the Syrian army, which seemed to blanket the plain. By comparison, Israel’s army looked like a little bunch of goats—maybe two bunches. No more.28The prophet told Ahab, “The LORD says this: Syrians think I’m a hill god. I’m going to let them know I do valleys, too. So, I’m going to give them to you again. Take this as your clue, too, that I am the LORD.”
