The Wars against Aram
"Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off"
"Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine." Ahab agrees, but when Ben-hadad demands to search his house, the elders say refuse. "Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off." A prophet: "Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day." The young men of the provincial governors go out at noon, while Ben-hadad is "drinking himself drunk in the pavilions." Aram flees.
Aram's advisers say: "Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain." A man of God answers: "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." At Aphek Aram is defeated; a wall falls on the survivors.
Ben-hadad's servants come in sackcloth: "Thy servant Ben-hadad saith, I pray thee, let me live." "Is he yet alive? he is my brother." Ahab makes a covenant with him and lets him go; Ben-hadad returns cities and gives Israel trading streets in Damascus. A son of the prophets has himself wounded, disguises himself, and tells Ahab a story of a prisoner he let escape. "So shall thy judgment be." "Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life." Ahab goes home "heavy and displeased."
Which Ben-hadad?
Ben-hadad ("son of Hadad") was a throne name used by more than one king of Damascus. Assyrian records of 853 BC name the king of Damascus fighting with Ahab at Qarqar as Adad-idri (Hadadezer). Some scholars therefore think chapter 20 originally concerned a later Israelite king and an Aramean king of Jehu's dynasty; others identify Adad-idri with the Ben-hadad here. The question is open.
Aphek
Several places were called Aphek. This one is usually placed east of the Sea of Galilee, near modern Afiq on the Golan, on the road from Damascus. The identification is a proposal.
A different order in Greek
In the library's Greek, this chapter comes after the story of Naboth: Greek chapter 20 is Hebrew 21, and Greek 21 is Hebrew 20. The Greek order keeps the Elijah stories (17–19, Naboth) together before the Aramean wars. See the passage page.
The Case for the Biblical Account
Scripture's account
Ahab's wars with Ben-hadad (1 Kings 20).
What evidence would we expect?
Conflicts between Israel and Damascus in the 9th century BC.
The discoveries
The Kurkh Monolith (Ahab and Adad-idri as allies in 853 BC); the Tel Dan Stele (later Aramean victories); Aramean trading quarters known in Assyrian cities.
Testing the discoveries
Israel–Aram relations swung between war and alliance; this chapter's battles are known only from Kings.
The strongest reconstruction
Prophetic war narratives from the Omride period; some may have been attached to Ahab later.
What remains possible
The identity of this Ben-hadad; the original king of Israel in the stories.
What the evidence shows
- The Assyrian record names Adad-idri of Damascus as Ahab's ally in 853 BC.Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jewish Virtual Library), on Ahab and Qarqar ↗
- This Ben-hadad is Adad-idri.
- The library's Greek has chapters 20 and 21 in reverse order.
Continue the journey
Journey of a Passage1 Kings 20–21: Naboth before the Aramean warsThe Hebrew tells Ahab's wars with Ben-hadad (chapter 20) before Naboth's vineyard (chapter 21).More from this lesson
Investigations
Optional deep dives: the ancient sources, the physical evidence, and every interpretation side by side, including unconventional ones, each labeled for what it is.
Ahab at QarqarAhab at Qarqar: documented · Numbers: Assyrian claim · Link to Ramoth-gilead: uncertain
What does the Kurkh Monolith say about Ahab?
Shalmaneser III's Kurkh Monolith describes the battle of Qarqar (853 BC) against twelve allied kings, including "Ahab the Israelite" with 2,000 chariots and 10,000 soldiers. It is the earliest contemporary text naming a king of Israel. Kings does not mention Qarqar, and the monolith does not mention Ahab's death.
Open the full investigation →Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- Three years without war.
- Nathan's parable.
- Help from the hills, from the LORD who made heaven and earth.