1 Kings Chapter 20

“And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together, etc.] This was Benhadad the second, the son of that Benhadad, to whom Asa sent to help him against Baasha, (<111518>1 Kings 15:18) and there were thirty and two kings with him; these were heads of families, so called, and at most governors of cities under Benhadad; petty princes, such as were in the land of Canaan in Joshua’s time: and horses and chariots; how many is not said: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it; he went up with such an intent, but had not as yet done it in form; what moved him to it cannot be said precisely,…”

“BEN-HADAD BESIEGES SAMARIA. (Kg1 20:1-12) Ben-hadad the king of Syria--This monarch was the son of that Ben-hadad who, in the reign of Baasha, made a raid on the northern towns of Galilee (Kg1 15:20). The thirty-two kings that were confederate with him were probably tributary princes. The ancient kings of Syria and PhÅ“nicia ruled only over a single city, and were independent of each other, except when one great city, as Damascus, acquired the ascendency, and even then they were allied only in time of war. The Syrian army encamped at the gates and besieged the town of Samaria.”

“Ben-hadad, the king of Syria - Probably the son of the Ben-hadad who assisted Asa against Baasha (1 Kings 15:18 note). Thirty and two kings with him - Not allies, but feudatories 1 Kings 20:24. Damascus had in the reign of this Ben-hadad become the center of an important monarchy, which may not improbably have extended from the Euphrates to the northern border of Israel. The Assyrian inscriptions show that this country was about the period in question parcelled out into a multitude of petty kingdoms, the chief tribes who possessed it being the Hittites, the Hamathites, and the Syrians of Damascus. Horses and…”

“Gathered his host - To war against Israel: wherein his design was to enlarge the conquest which his father had made, but God's design was to punish Israel for their apostacy and idolatry. 3 Kings (1 Kings) 20:3”

“20:1 Whether this is Ben-hadad I or II is unclear. • thirty-two allied kings: Confederations of kings were common in the ancient Near East. Shalmaneser III recorded Ben-hadad’s name as Hadad-ezer and reported that he was part of a twelve-king coalition that opposed him in the Battle of Qarqar (853 BC).”

“am 3103, bc 901 Benhadad: Kg1 15:18, Kg1 15:20; Kg2 8:7-10; Ch2 16:2-4; Jer 49:27; Amo 1:4 Thirty and two: Kg1 20:16, Kg1 20:24; Gen 14:1-5; Jdg 1:7; Ezr 7:12; Isa 10:8; Eze 26:7; Dan 2:37 and horses: Exo 14:7; Deu 20:1; Jdg 4:3; Sa1 13:5; Isa 37:24 besieged: Lev 26:25; Deu 28:52; Kg2 6:24-29, Kg2 17:5, Kg2 17:6 3 Kings (1 Kings) 20:2”

“The First Victory. - Kg1 20:1. Benhadad, the son of that Benhadad who had conquered several cities of Galilee in the reign of Baasha ( Kg1 15:20), came up with a great army - there were thirty-two kings with him, with horses and chariots - and besieged Samaria. The thirty-two kings with him (אתּו) were vassals of Benhadad, rulers of different cities and the territory belonging to them, just as in Joshua's time almost every city of Canaan had its king; they were therefore bound to follow the army of Benhadad with their troops. Kg1 20:2-7 During the siege Benhadad sent messengers into the city to Ahab with this…”