1 AND Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. [ The king of Syria probably recognizes that King Ahab has suffered a huge blow at least to his ego with the loss of all of his priests of Baal in the showdown at Mount Carmel. So since we have been wanting to attack anyway now seems like a good time, let no crisis go to waste. ]

2 And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad,

3 Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.

4 And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.

5 And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;

6 Yet I will send my servants unto thee to morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.

7 Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not.

8 And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken [ Hebrew "Shema" to "listen" and "obey". ] not unto him, nor consent.

9 Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

10 And Ben-hadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me.

11 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off.

12 And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city.

13 ¶ And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; [ The prophet tells Ahab this does not look to good for you right now does it. However if you will follow the God of Israel then you will be victorious. It is up to you. ] and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

14 And Ahab said, By whom? [ Or with what power or who is going to do that? ] And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou.

15 Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.

16 And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

17 And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.

18 And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.

19 so these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.

20 And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them: and Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen.

21 And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

22 ¶ 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. [ They are going to attack you again next year so start to prepare now. ]

23 And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods [ Suggesting that the God of Israel was able to take the victory because the battle took place in the hills. Suggesting that if their Gods are hill Gods then they most likely will not be valley Gods. So that is where we should attack next. Home games are often easier to win. ] are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. [ We should be able to prevail on flat land. The idea of the time is that different Gods had jurisdiction over certain areas, there was a God of the hils and a God of the plains and so forth. Usually the Gods of these regions were also the God that the people respected because they lived in the plains of the hills. So the idea that the God of Israel would be the God of the who world would have be a foreign notion to them. ]

24 And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms:

25 And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.

26 And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Ben-hadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.

27 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.

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. [ Or you will know that I am the God of the whole earth. I am not just the God of the hills, I am not just the God of the valleys, but the God of everything. Please come to recognize that will you. I am the only God that you need. ]

29 And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.

30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Ben-hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.

31 ¶ And his servants said unto him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings: let us, I pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel: peradventure he will save thy life.

32 so they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Ben-hadad saith, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? he is my brother.

33 Now the men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him, and did hastily catch it: and they said, Thy brother Ben-hadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth to him; and he caused him to come up into the chariot.

34 And Ben-hadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore; and thou shalt make streets for thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send thee away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away. [ The Israelite army is victorious again and Ahab enters an agreement with the King of Syria and lets him go. Now Ahab was not supposed to do this, God was trying to deliver to Israel their enemies so that they could live in peace. Letting the opposing armies go will only allow them to regroup and return another day. Did you not see that last year. This is misplaced mercy. God provided and prepared a way for Israel to be free and the plan was not followed through. At what point does this mercy become an enabling factor. If they try to kill you and you keep letting them off the hook at what point are you enabling them if you let them off every time. Much like Saul who left the best for sacrifice, which cost him as that was not what he was told to do. OBEDIENCE. ]

35 ¶ And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbour in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray thee. [ So it appears that a prophet (someone who follows God), tells his neighbor to hit him (in the name of the Lord, so he is doing what the Lord wants him to do). ] And the man refused to smite him. [ The man says are you kidding there is no way I am not going to just hit you. ]

36 Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, [ So the prophet tells him that this is misplaced mercy because God needs and has asked you to do this. Nephi had to kill Laban. Even if you do not understand why, we need to do as God asks. ] behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee. [ Your life will be forfeited as a result. Is this story here to re in act the story of Ahab here? ] And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him.

37 Then he [ This unknown un named prophet. ] found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, [ This man goes well you are a prophet so if that is what I am supposed to do well here goes. So he hits him as requested. ] So that in smiting he wounded him.

38 so the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes upon his face.

39 And as the king [ King Ahab. ] passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; [ So the reason for being hit is so that he can show that he has been wounded in the battle as well. ] and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man: if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver.

40 And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, so shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it.

41 And he hasted, and took the ashes away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.

42 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.

43 And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.