And the man of God drew near, and spoke to the king of Israel and said, Thus saith Jehovah Because the Syrians have said, Jehovah is a god of the mountains, but he is not a god of the valleys, I will give all this great multitude into thy hand, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
The Syrians lost the first battle in the hill country. From the terrain they drew a conclusion about Israel's God. Their reasoning came out of a world where every god had a home ground.
The Syrians had no concept of a sovereign God. They assumed that each nation had its own 'gods' of various kinds, and that all of them shared the weakness and failure seen in humans. Ben Hadad's servants came up with the notion that Israel's God was a God of the hills because Israel had triumphed in the hill country (v.23). So they thought they would win if they were to fight Israel in the plain. Such is the stupidity of unbelief!
Choosing the battlefield was their way of testing whether Israel's God had limits.
They knew very well that Samaria was a hill, and Jerusalem was a hill, and they thought that the Jehovah God of Israel was only a god of the hills. So the next time they would go into the valleys, to see whether the God of Israel was able to meet them there. But the God of Israel was the God of the valleys as much as of the hills. There they are beaten far worse on the second occasion than on the first. They gave the challenge, God answers, and they are overwhelmed.
The verse ends with a purpose: "you shall know that I am the LORD." Writers note that the outcome taught both sides of the battle line at once.
This time it is a matter of proving to the Syrians that Israel had not won the victory by their "gods of the mountains." Ben-Hadad changes the organization of his army and the place of battle, but it is no use. The Israelites, in number like two little flocks of goats, strike down one hundred thousand of the enemy's men in one day. The wall of Aphek falls on those who were left. So the Syrians had to learn who the Lord was, and so Israel could know Him.
The verse promises "all this great multitude" into the hand of an army that looked like nothing at all.
For a whole week the two armies lay camped facing each other. Israel's poor little army was "like two little flocks of goats," but with God on its side. When they join battle on the seventh day, the "two little flocks of goats" destroy a host of a hundred thousand men… Means were nothing with Israel's God, Jehovah, who is called "the God of battles." He can save by many or by few. What a mere handful (a few thousand) does not destroy of a vast army, He can shake down a wall upon the rest.
The message came to Ahab, one of Israel's worst kings. God's stated aim was that this man should know Him.
The Lord again stepped in on behalf of Israel. He sent a man of God to Ahab with this message: because the Syrians had said that God is not a God of the valleys, God would deliver the multitude of the Syrians into the hand of the small Israelite army (v.28). Again the Lord clearly declares that He has an object in doing this, that Ahab might know that God is the Lord. How often did God bear witness to His grace and power for Ahab's benefit! Yet all this had little lasting effect on Ahab's attitude toward God.
The Syrians meant the title as an insult. Believers have since taken it as a comfort, because low ground is not where God's care thins out.
As God brings home the saints, as the Lord Jesus leads home many sons to glory, we have to pass through an endless variety of circumstances. They are not always mountain-top experiences. There are valleys, sometimes very deep valleys… It is not the valleys so much I want to engage you with, but the God of the valleys. He is the God who is victorious in 1 Kings 20, the God who having begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6). He is the God who wants you and me to get the most out of those valley experiences that in His wisdom and His love He puts us through.
- The insult. The Syrians blamed the terrain for their first defeat. They pictured Israel's God as a local god of the hills — the stupidity of unbelief.
- The answer. God took up their challenge on the ground they chose, and the second defeat in the valley was worse than the first on the heights.
- The odds. A force like two little flocks of goats faced a host of a hundred thousand men. Means were nothing to Israel's God. He can save by many or by few.
- The purpose. "You shall know that I am the LORD" reached both camps — the Syrians had to learn who He was, and Israel could know Him.
- The reach. Ahab saw grace and power again and again, with little lasting effect. Yet the title the enemy sneered at stands: He is the God of the valleys as much as of the hills.
And they encamped one over against the other seven days; and it came to pass that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel smote of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen in one day.
Two armies camp facing each other for a full week. Then the fighting starts, and a tiny Israelite force cuts down a hundred thousand Syrian foot soldiers in one day. The numbers are the point. God arranged this battle to answer an insult about where His power reaches.
The Syrians had already lost once, near Samaria. They did not conclude that Israel's God had beaten them. They decided He was a local god of high ground, and chose flat land for the rematch.
Benhadad besieges Samaria. God, through the direction of a prophet, sends out even the feeble part of the army — not the warriors, but the armour-bearers — because honour must go to what is known. The Syrians are demolished, and they do not learn that God was against them. No, it was "the god of the hills." They knew very well that Samaria was a hill, and Jerusalem was a hill. They thought that Jehovah, the God of Israel, was only a god of the hills. So the next time they would go into the valleys and see whether the God of Israel was able to meet them there. But the God of Israel was the God of the valleys as much as of the hills. There they are beaten far worse the second time than the first. They gave a challenge, God answers, and they were overwhelmed.
The week of waiting took surprise out of the battle. Each side had time to size up the other.
For seven days the armies remained opposite each other, each as it were taking measure of the other. So there was no element of surprise in the battle, except for this: when they attacked, the Israelites were able to kill 100,000 Syrian foot soldiers in one day.
Israel's army looked like nothing — two little flocks of goats against a host of a hundred thousand. The size gap is what makes the result unmistakable.
Israel's poor little army was "like two little flocks of kids," but with God on its side. When they join battle on the seventh day, the "two little flocks of kids" destroy a host of a hundred thousand men. Twenty-seven thousand of the beaten army escaped the sword of the people whose land they had invaded without provocation. They fled into the city of Aphek, where a wall fell on them. Means were nothing with Israel's God, Jehovah, who is called "the God of battles". He can save by many or by few. When a mere handful does not destroy the whole of a vast army, He can shake down a wall on the rest.
God gave His reason for this victory before the battle. He wanted Ahab to know who He is.
The Lord again intervened on behalf of Israel. He sent a man of God to Ahab with this word: because the Syrians had said God is not a God of the valleys, God would deliver the multitude of the Syrians into the hand of the small Israelite army (v.28). Again the Lord clearly declares that He has an object in doing this, that Ahab might know that God is the Lord.
Right after this victory, Ahab welcomed the beaten Benhadad as family.
God had asserted His supremacy in the plains as well as in the hills. For His own name's sake He gave Ahab victory over the Syrians, and so gave Israel another opportunity to return to His worship. Then the wretched blinded Ahab takes Benhadad to his heart, embraces him, and claims kinship with Israel's foe — God's enemy! Not even the appearance of thanksgiving to God for His wonderful mercy and deliverance. Instead, he makes an alliance with one whose purpose was to destroy Israel. But though judgment is near, mercy still lingers over the guilty nation.
The Syrians fenced God into one type of ground. One writer sees the same instinct in how we split up our own lives.
Look beneath the local and temporary details of this old story of the Benhadad campaign. The narrative holds an eternal principle that applies to us now. Are we not often tempted to agree to the artificial division of life into compartments labelled sacred and secular? We come very near to endorsing the folly the enemy suggested: God is the God of the sacred, with all its vision and communion, but not the God of the secular, with its daily round of home duties, business obligations, and social life.
- The claim. The Syrians said Israel's God ruled hills but not valleys, and chose the plain to prove it.
- The setup. Seven days in the open removed surprise. A force like two little flocks of goats faced a host of a hundred thousand.
- The answer. A hundred thousand fell in one day. A falling wall finished twenty-seven thousand more. Means were nothing to the God of battles.
- The purpose. God gave His reason beforehand: Ahab must know that God is the Lord, in the valleys as much as on the hills.
- The warning. Ahab took the mercy and then embraced God's enemy. The same instinct lives on whenever we treat God as Lord of the sacred hours but not the working day.