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years of the reign of Ahab and his two descendants, but also from the circumstance
that Ahab built so many cities, and adorned his capital by a magnificent palace made
of ivory (1 Kings 22:39). Lastly, the jealousy and enmity of Ben-hadad must have
been increased by his own relations to the great neighboring power of Assyria, which
(as we shall see) were such as to make a dangerous alliance between the latter and
Israel an event of political probability.
In these circumstances, Ben-hadad resolved to strike such a blow at Samaria as
would reduce it to permanent impotence. At the head of all his army, and followed
by thirty-two vassal kings, or probably rather chieftains, who ruled over towns with
adjoining districts within the territory between the Euphrates and the northern
boundary of Israel,^38 he invaded Samaria.
He met with no opposition, for, as Josephus notes (Ant. 8. 14, 1), Ahab was not
prepared for the attack. But even if it had been otherwise, sound policy would have
dictated a retreat, and the concentration of the Israelitish forces behind the strong
walls of the capital. This proved a serious check to the plans of Ben-hadad. The
Syrian army laid, indeed, siege to Samaria, but the heat of the summer season,^39 the
character and habits of his allies, and even the circumstance that his own country
seems to have been divided among a number of semi-savage chiefs, must have
proved unfavorable to a prolonged warfare.
Ben-hadad might have succeeded if at the first onset he could have crushed the small,
hastily-raised forces of Ahab by sheer weight of numbers. But the slow systematic
siege of a well-defended city, into which Ahab had evidently gathered all the leading
personages in his realm and all their wealth,^40 must have appeared even to a boastful
Oriental a doubtful undertaking, which might at any time be converted into a disaster
by the sudden appearance of allies to Israel from Judah, Tyre, or perhaps even from
Assyria.
It was probably shortly after the commencement of the siege of Samaria, that Ben-
hadad sent envoys to demand in imperious terms the absolute submission of Ahab (1
Kings 20:2). At least so the latter seems to have understood it, when he declared his
readiness to agree to his enemy's terms. But whether Ben-hadad had from the first
meant more, or his insolence had grown with what he regarded as the necessities and
fears of Ahab, the next day other heralds came from Ben-hadad, requiring in terms of
extreme and wanton insult, not only the surrender of Ahab, but that of Samaria; and
especially of the palaces of its nobility, for the avowed purpose of plunder. It was
evident that Ben-hadad intended, not the surrender of Ahab, but the destruction
("evil") of the capital, and the ruin of the whole land (ver. 7). Possibly the apparently
strange demand of Ben-hadad (ver. 6) may indicate a deeper scheme. To oblige Ahab
formally to submit, would be of comparatively small, at most, of only temporary use.
(^)