Just one year after their first attack, as the prophet had said, Ben-hadad came back against Israel. His servants said that the gods of Israel were gods of the hills and not gods of the valleys, and that it was because of this that they had been overcome by Israel the first time. They suggested therefore that this time they would come against them in the plain, and defeat them. They gathered a vast army together, like the army they had lost in the previous battle, and came out to fight against Israel. Israel’s army looked like two little flocks of kids in comparison with the Syrian host which filled the whole valley.
A man of God then came to the king of Israel and told him that because the Syrians had said that the Lord was a God of the hills and not of the valleys, the Lord would therefore manifest His power and utterly destroy their army, as He had before. He said they would be delivered into the hand of Israel that they might know that the Lord was the true God.
When after seven days the battle began, the little army of the children of Israel advanced and slew one hundred thousand footmen, and the rest of the Syrian army fled to Aphek where a tower fell on twenty-seven thousand of them. Ben-hadad their king then fled to the city into an inner chamber. Surely we can see in all this that God is able to deliver His people, no matter how great the odds are against them. We have remarked previously that though the people failed to respond to the display of power through Elijah, who proved to them that the Lord was the true God, yet God did not give them up. He manifested His grace in delivering them in this remarkable way. I believe it is a picture too of how the Lord will come in, in a later day, and deliver His people Israel, even though they rejected the Lord Jesus, their true Messiah. Through the work accomplished on Calvary, He can and will bless them, delivering His own from the awful power of the enemy when He appears in glory at the end of the tribulation period. (Zech. 14:3, 4.) Ahab did not even ask the Lord for help here, yet the Lord delivered him. It makes one think of that beautiful hymn,
“Uncalled, Thou cam’st with gladness,
Us from the fall to raise,
And change our grief and sadness
To songs of joy and praise.”
But if the enemy cannot overcome us in one way he will try another. Ahab was not prepared for the wiles of the enemy, even though, through the Lord’s help, he had defeated them on the battlefield. Ben-hadad’s servants came to him and said, “Behold, now we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us... go out to the king of Israel: peradveure he will save thy life.” Ben-hadad took their advice, and putting sackcloth upon them, and ropes upon their heads, his servants went out to meet king Ahab. They said, “Thy servant Ben-hadad saith, I pray thee let me live.” Ahab replied, “Is he yet alive? he is my brother.”
The servants of Ben-hadad then came back and told him what Ahab had said. Ben-hadad rejoiced at this, and came out to meet Ahab who immediately invited him to ride in his chariot. Ben-hadad then made promises of what he would do, and poor Ahab, taken off his guard by this pretended kindness and humility, entered into a covenant with this wicked king. Often we find that the enemy is especially busy with his wiles after some great victory in our lives.
ML 07/08/1956