1 Kings 20:1

Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, once gave strong help to Asa, king of Judah, against Baasha, king of Israel. From then on he stayed Baasha's enemy. He took cities from him, and he even won by conquest certain rights over Samaria, the capital of the kingdom (v. 34). His son, also named Ben-Hadad, goes up against Ahab and besieges Samaria. Claiming his father's rights, he sends the king an insulting demand (v. 3).

God's care for His people Israel still shows clearly in this chapter, despite Ahab's ungodly character. Ben Hadad, king of Syria, gathered a huge army, with 32 kings allied to him, and came to besiege the city of Samaria. He was so sure of his greater strength that he did not start the battle at once. Instead he sent messengers to tell Ahab, "Your silver and your gold are mine; your loveliest wives and children are mine" (v.3). So he was calling on Ahab to submit to his authority.

What does Ahab do? He had watched the scenes of 1 Kings 18 unfold before his eyes. He had heard his whole people cry in his ears, "The LORD, He is God!" Yet he spares not one thought for the God who had just restored His own worship by His power — the worship Ahab had replaced with the worship of Baal (1 Kings 16:31-32)! Ahab does not ask the Lord what to do, and he does not put his cause in His hands.

He shows that God is a stranger to him. He acts as if God did not even exist, and he accepts the shame the pagan king puts on him: "My lord, O king, as you say, I am yours, and all that I have" (v. 4). After all, what could he do against Ben-Hadad, who led all his forces and had thirty-two kings with him? That is how people who do not know God work things out.

As a picture, we have already traced in part what Aram, or Syria, stands for. It stands for man. God has lifted man up in Christ, in His own gracious and wonderful way. But man lifts himself up, and by doing so he drags himself down to his own ruin. That second thing is what the historical Aram shows us. The world keeps showing this in different ways. "Man's day" is a day when man makes himself great with what he has robbed from God, and lifts himself up by the very things God's mercy gave him.

In the next chapter (1 Kings 20) we are looking mostly at Israel's national standing among their enemies. But here is the striking fact. Even when judgment was drawing near on the people, when evil was judged and the Lord was acknowledged, He still claims His people as His own. That is something people often wonder at.