The Skeptics Annotated Bible (329 page)

14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou.

15 Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.

16 And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

17 And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.

18 And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.

19 So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.

20 And
they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them
: and Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen.

21
And the king of Israel
went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and
slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

(20.20-21)
“They slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them … And the king of Israel … slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.”
The first God assisted “great slaughter” of the Syrians.
God’s 94th Killing

22 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 thee.

23 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.

(20.23) “The servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills.” God killed 127,000 Syrians because they called him a “God of the hills.” (See verses 28-30)

24 And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms:

25 And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.

26 And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Ben-hadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.

27 And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.

(20.28-30) God delivers the Syrians into the Israelites’ hands, and 100,000 were killed in one day. Of those that escaped, 27,000 were crushed by a falling wall. (It was a really big wall.)

28 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.

(20.28)
“A man of God … 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.”
God kills 127,000 Syrians because they said he was God of the hills but not God of the valleys.

29 And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.

(20.29)
“The children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.”
God’s 95th Killing

30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there
a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left
. And Ben-hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

(20.30)
“A wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left.”
God’s 96th Killing

31 And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.

32 So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Ben-hadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.

33 Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Ben-hadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

34 And
Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore;
and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria.
Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.

(20.34)
“Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore … Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away.”
King Ahab is merciful to king Beh-hadad. God will later kill him and his family for it. (See 1 Kings 20.42 and 22.35)