#28 – The Second Battle of Ben-Hadad Run

Published by Ben Stahl on April 29, 2020April 29, 2020

So it was, in the spring of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside.

Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The LORD is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,” therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD.’ ”

And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day. But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; then a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left. And Ben-Hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner chamber.

Then his servants said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please, let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.” So they wore sackcloth around their waists and put ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’ ” And he said, “ Is he still alive? He is my brother.” Now the men were watching closely to see whether any sign of mercy would come from him; and they quickly grasped at this word and said, “Your brother Ben-Hadad.” So he said, “Go, bring him.”

Then Ben-Hadad came out to him; and he had him come up into the chariot. So Ben-Hadad said to him, “The cities which my father took from your father I will restore; and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” Then Ahab said, “I will send you away with this treaty.” So he made a treaty with him and sent him away.

I Kings 20:26-34 NKJV

In 2009 the Manhattan Declaration was produced defending the life of the unborn, religious freedom, and marriage. Some Christians were quite upset at the number of Reformed ministers who would not sign the declaration; ignoring the facts that the declaration aligned Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and evangelicals under the same faith and practice;  that it elevated human reason and nature to the same level of truth as the Scripture; and that evangelicals have historically viewed Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox religion as presenting another gospel from that of the Scripture. Many simply saw the goals of the letter and ignored the preamble and much of the body. By signing, Christians agreed with some good statements but also some statements that opposed God and His word.

As Ahab secured a great second victory over Ben-Hadad he would do a similar thing. Desiring the cities and friendship offered by Ben-Hadad, he would treat Ben-Hadad as a friend and call him “brother,” while ignoring Ben-Hadad’s hatred of the true God, God’s express desire for Ben-Hadad’s destruction, and the harm done to His country by Ben-Hadad.

We can know with great certainty that an army was large when God says their pack animals were without number and the host was as the sand of the seashore. This was the description used by God to describe the Midianites in Judges 7. God then used 300 men with Gideon to destroy them all.

The description in our text today is not much different. Israel’s army was like “two flocks of goats” while the Syrian army “filled the countryside”. From the world’s perspective this match was unfair and the result obvious: Syria would swallow Israel up. But the world would not understand the fatal flaw that Syria had made. They had spoken against the Lord, claiming He was only a god of the hills and not god of the plains. Now He who set the hills in their order and laid out the plains in their fashion had set His hand against them.

The second battle with Ben-Hadad made the first battle look like a skirmish. The Israelites killed 100,000 Syrians on the first day the battle was engaged. The Syrian army fled to Aphek and made a determined stand on and behind its defensive wall, hoping to hold the Israelites from further gains. Instead the Lord caused the wall to collapse and fall killing 27,000 additional soldiers. Surely now Ahab would know that the Lord was God alone (vs. 28) and finish off the wicked Syrian king.

At the destruction of his army, Ben-Hadad hid in the city. His servants persuaded him to present himself to Ahab in humble fashion and to seek his mercy. His servants begged Ahab for their king’s life to be spared and Ahab responded in a manner that ought to widen the eyes of the reader: “Is he still alive? He is my brother” (vs. 32).

He who had harmed Israel for many years and mocked God was now called a brother, a close friend, by king Ahab. Ben-Hadad’s  clever servants caught onto this language and confirmed that Ben-Hadad was Ahab’s brother. Ahab then took Ben-Hadad into his chariot and made a peace treaty with the king who had made war on the God of Israel.

We should not make friends with those who oppose the Lord Jesus Christ. Witness to them, do good to them, pray for them,  but do not align yourself with their evil ways. II John 9-11 says of him who comes to you without the biblical doctrine of the Father and the Son, “do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds” (II John 11).

If we join with those who are against the true and living God we share in acting against God. Let us abide in the Lord, “that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (I John 2:28).

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