1 Kings 20:26-30

1 Kings 20:26-30

[26] 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.  [27] And the children  of Israel  were numbered,  and were all present,  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,  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.  [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 Benhadad  fled,  and came  into the city,  into an inner 

What does 1 Kings 20:26-30 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The battle of Aphek (873 B.C.) took place on the tableland east of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee), the modern Golan Heights. This was not the same Aphek where Saul battled the Philistines ( 1 Samuel 4:1; 1 Samuel 29:1). The Arameans greatly outnumbered Israel ( 1 Kings 20:27), but God promised Ahab victory so he and all Israel, as well as the Arameans, would know that Yahweh was the true God ( 1 Kings 20:28). God enabled the soldiers of Israel to defeat their enemy ( 1 Kings 20:29), but He also used supernatural means to assist them ( 1 Kings 20:30; cf. Joshua 6; et al.). One hundred casualties a day in ancient warfare was considered heavy, [1] but God gave His people100 times that number that day.
"The striking parallels to the conquest of Jericho, as the interval of seven days before the battle and the falling of the city walls, clearly identified the battles at Samaria and Aphek as holy war." [2]