What does it mean that God is the God of the hills and valleys (1 Kings 20:28)?

"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 ." (1 Kings 20:28)

I want to speak tonight, beloved brethren, about the God of the valleys. Rather a striking title. These were words that came from the lips of one of Israel 's enemies. The setting of this chapter is very interesting. The preceding chapters deal with the history of Elijah and the decadent nation of Israel. In response to his testimony there was a contest on Mount Carmel between Elijah - one man - and the prophets of Baal - one hundred and fifty - and consequent upon Elijah's testimony the fire came down upon the burnt offering and when the people witnessed this there came from their lips the confession, "the Lord He is God; the Lord He is God". There were features in victory, in recovery in the hearts of the people of God. Now it is against this background we come to this chapter of victory, 1 Kings 20. The Syrians, enemies of Israel, came and they were utterly defeated. There followed from them the testimony that Israel 's God was a "God of the hills" at the first victory (v.23) and the second victory proved that He was the "God of the valleys".

A most remarkable change takes place. Benhadad besieges Samaria, and God, by the direction of a prophet, sends out even the feeble part of the army, because there must be honour put upon that which is known — not the warriors, but the armour-bearers — and the Syrians are demolished, and they learn not 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, and they thought that the Jehovah God of Israel was only a god of the hills. Well, the next time they would go into the valleys and they would see whether the God of Israel was able to meet, them there; but the God of Israel was the God of the hills and of the valleys as much as of the hills; and there they are beaten more disastrously on the second occasion than on the first, for there was a challenge given by them and God answers, and they were overwhelmed.

The Syrians had no concept of a sovereign God, but assumed that each nation had certain 'gods' of various kinds who were all subject to the weakness and failure seen in humans. Ben Hadad's servants conceived the notion that Israel's God was a God of the hills because Israel bad triumphed in the hill country (v.23). Therefore they thought they would win if they were to fight Israel in the plain. Such is the stupidity of unbelief! They made careful plans as to how they would engage in another battle, and Ben Hadad was persuaded to accept these plans (vs.24-25).

No spirit of thankfulness is produced in the king's heart. God warns him by the prophet that at the return of the year Ben-Hadad will attack him again. This time it is a matter of proving to the Syrians that Israel had not gotten the victory by their "gods of the mountains." In vain does Ben-Hadad change the organization of his army and the place of battle: the Israelites, in number like two little flocks of goats, in one day smite one hundred thousand of the enemy's men; the wall of Aphek falls upon those who were left. Thus the Syrians had to learn who the Lord was and thus Israel could know Him.

The Lord again intervened on behalf of Israel, sending a man of God to Ahab to tell him that because the Syrians had said that God is not a God of the valleys, therefore God would deliver the multitude of the Syrians into the hand of the small Israelitish 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.

"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." What patient, marvelous grace is God's! His goodness would lead men to repentance. So He sends His prophet, even to Ahab, to warn him of what the Syrians will do. "And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Benhadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel." This Aphek lay about six miles east of the sea of Galilee, on the direct road between the land of Israel and Damascus, and was a common battlefield of the Syrian kings. See 2 Kings 13:17. "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. 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 thy hand, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah" — another demonstration that Jehovah was the God of Israel.

The God of Israel was the God of heaven and of earth. Then He must prevail; it would be hopeless to resist Him. He had given Israel the land; then the doom of those who opposed them was fixed, it was certain. Judgment on her people and on her land was at hand. She could not doubt it. She knew it, and that before a single soldier of the host of Israel had crossed the Jordan.

It is more to Israel; in Genesis 2, "Jehovah" is used, though it is the name of God to Israel. He was not a mere national God, though He was indeed their God. He was the Lord of all the earth, and He will shew that out too; He is the Sovereign God. Two things there are, namely, God's government of this world of which Israel is the centre; and then the Sovereign grace which puts poor sinners in the same place as the Son of God, and that is the Lord of all the earth. After all, He who is the God of the Jews, is God over all, blessed for evermore. A national deity was a common enough thing, and so was the ascribing to it of things that were done. Jephthah says, "Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess?"

"But," Solomon adds, "will God indeed dwell on the earth?" David realized that God's dwelling in the darkness of the holy place did not by any means infer that God was confined there. In fact, "heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You" (v.27). God is infinite (unlimited) and omnipresent (present everywhere), yet in pure grace He specially signified the temple as the place of His dwelling in order to concentrate Israel's thoughts on Him as the Center of all Israel's interests.