1st Kings Chapter 20 verse 1 Holy Bible
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 fought against it.
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Now Ben-hadad, king of Aram, got all his army together, and thirty-two kings with him, and horses and carriages of war; he went up and made war on Samaria, shutting it in.
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And Ben-Hadad king of Syria assembled all his host; and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots; and he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.
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And Benhadad 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.
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And Ben-hadad the king of Syria collected all his army: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.
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Ben Hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together; and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it.
read chapter 20 in WEB
And Ben-Hadad king of Aram hath gathered all his force, and thirty and two kings `are' with him, and horse and chariot, and he goeth up and layeth siege against Samaria, and fighteth with it,
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 1. - And Ben-hadad [See on 1 Kings 11:14 and 1 Kings 15:18. The LXX. uniformly spells the name Ader (υἱὸςἌδερ). The form אֲדַד is found in 1 Kings 11:17, and ד and ר are frequently interchanged; cf. Genesis 25:15; Genesis 36:39 with 1 Chronicles 1:30, 46. We learn from ver. 34 that this prince was the son of a Syrian king who had conquered some of the cities of Israel, but we cannot nevertheless be certain that he was the son of that Ben-hadad (1 Kings 15:18) who invaded Israel in the reign of Baasha (Ewald), See on ver. 34.] the king of Syria gathered all his host [See note on 1 Kings 10:2, where we have same word] together: and there were thirty and two kings with him [Evidently these were vassals, not allied powers. The number alone proves that they must have been petty princes or chieftains of Hittite tribes, ruling over very limited districts' and all acknowledging the suzerainty of the king of Damascus, all paying tribute (1 Kings 10:25) and furnishing a contingent in time of war "The Assyrian inscriptions show that this country was, about the period in question, parcelled out into a number of petty kingdoms," etc. (Rawlinson. See "Records of the Past," vol. 12. p. 20)], and horses, and chariots [Heb. horse and chariot; cf. ver. 21 and 1 Kings 1:5; 1 Kings 10:26; 1 Kings 16:9, etc. Both are collective nouns. We see here the fruit and retribution of Solomon's irreligious policy (1 Kings 10:29 and Homiletics, p. 216). "A king who has been probably identified with this Ben-hadad brought into the field against Assyria nearly 4000 chariots" (Rawlinson)]: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. [The object of this expedition was clearly to humble and to plunder the kingdom of Samaria. It would almost appear, from the animus of the Syrian king and the studied offensiveness of his messages, as if Ahab or Israel must have given him dire offence. But Ben-hadad was clearly a vain and overbearing and tyrannical prince, and the only crime of Israel may have been that it was independent of him, or had refused to do him homage.]
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(1) Ben-hadad.--This is the inherited title of the Syrian kings. (See Amos 1:4; Jeremiah 49:27.) From the allusion in 1Kings 20:34 it appears that this Ben-hadad was the son of a king who had been victorious against Omri--possibly pushing still further the advantage gained in the time of Baasha. It is evident that he assumed, perhaps by inheritance, a sovereignty over Israel.Thirty and two kings.--All the notices of Syria show it as divided into small kingdoms, confederated from time to time under some leading power. In the days of David this leading power was that of Hadadezer of Zobah (2Samuel 8:3-13; 2Samuel 10:19), although Hamath was apparently independent. Now Damascus, under the dynasty of Hadad, assumes a most formidable predominance. Ahab cannot stand before it, but shuts himself up, probably after defeat, within the strong walls of Samaria. . . .
