Biblical Prophets - Bible Study OnlineLocated at the Bottom of Page In the last article we learned that Ben-Hadad the king of Aram had decided to wage war against the Ahab and the city of Samaria. The Aram king would bring along with him thirty-two kings who were found to be in alliance with him. Personally I like to call them "The Thirty-Two Kings of Mass Destruction."
Needless-to-say we find Ahab looking at Ben-Hadad and his "Thirty-Two Kings of Mass Destruction" and quickly realized that the odds were totally against him. When he had first arrived, Ben-Hadad had issued his first set of demands to Ahab the Israel king. Initially, Ahab had agreed to them and was willing to become a vassal that would serve under the Aramean king. But the Sacred Record reveals that Ben-Hadad wanted a lot more than Ahab agreeing to serve under him by becoming his vassal. For we find that the Aramean king wanted to strip Ahab of all that he had. And it was this that caused Ahab to refuse Ben-Hadad's demands altogether. Now after the Aramean king had heard Ahab's refusal, he makes a vow to annihilate the city of Samaria, and would immediately declare war against Ahab. Now in the meantime, we find that God has sent a prophet to come and help aid the Israel king in his war campaign against Ben-Hadad. Now when it comes to this prophet that God had sent to aid Ahab - its not made clear on who he was. But we do know that it wasn't the prophet Elijah or his newly acquired prophet apprentice Elisha. Simply know that this prophet was a servant that God had dispatched in order to help Ahab's fight against Ben-Hadad and his "Thirty-Two Kings of Mass Destruction." However as we move forward we find that the unnamed prophet starts with this prophesy: "This is what the Lord says: 'Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the Lord.'" After Ahab had heard this, he asked the prophet: "Who will do this?" Then the unnamed prophet replied: "The young officers of the provincial commanders will do it." Then Ahab asked: "Who will start the battle?" The unnamed prophet responded: "You will." Now after Ahab had heard all that the unnamed prophet had to say, he assembled all the provincial commanders which were numbered to be 232. After doing this, Ahab would next, go out and assemble the rest of the Israelites and their number came to be 7000. And with the provincial commanders leading the way, the Israelites began advancing upon the Aramean army. Now keep in mind that this was a bold and crucial move on Ahab's part. Now personally I find this move to be bold - for the mere fact that Ben-Hadad didn't think that the Israel king had it in him to attack a force as large and powerful as his. And I also find the move to be crucial, simply because of its timing. Understand that Ben-Hadad was with his thirty-two kings and they were all getting drunk within their pavilions at this particular time. Now we can only assume that the rest of Ben-Hadad men were getting drunk right along with him and his commanders. And if this was the case, this would render them useless when it came to having to do combat at that particular moment. Now when the Aramean king had received word that men were advancing from Samaria, he responded from his drunken state of mind (while making no sense at all) and gave the orders: "If they have come out for peace, take them alive; if they have come out for war, take them alive." So now we have both sides engaging one another in warfare and it would be at this time, the Sacred Record reveals that the provincial commanders had struck down every drunken Aramean they'd came in contact with. Know that this resulted in heavy casualties for Ben-Hadad and his powerful army, therefore causing the Arameans to immediately retreat. And in spite of this, the Israelites would continue to pursue the Arameans and because of their aggression, this caused more heavy losses for Arameanian king. Now in the meantime, we find that doing this whole ordeal Ben-Hadad was able to escape on horseback. Afterwards the unnamed prophet had caught up with Ahab and advised him to immediately review his situation and regroup his men. He'd also warned Ahab that Ben-Hadad will regroup his men and attack Israel again next spring. In the meantime, Ben-Hadad had a meeting with his officials, in which they told the king: "Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they were too strong for us. But if we fight them on the plains, surely we will be stronger than they. Do this: Remove all the kings from their commands and replace them with other officers. You must also raise an army like the one you lost - horse for horse and chariot for chariot - so we can fight Israel on the plains. Then surely we will be stronger than they." Now after Ben-Hadad had heard their advice he was found to be in total agreement with them. And when spring returned, the Arameanian king had a new army with new leaders. Know that these leaders weren't like the thirty-two kings that had come before them, for the rank that they held was not by birthright - but by merit. Ben-Hadad would take his army to encamp in Aphek - which was located from within the tribe of Asher. This area was not in the hills, but was found to be level and flat just like Ben-Hadad's officials had advise him to use. The Sacred Record reveals that their army was vast in size, for it covered the whole countryside. As for the Israelites - we find that they were camped opposite of the Arameans. The Scriptures tells us that when both armies were compared in size, the Israelites looked like two small flocks of goats when compared to the Arameanian army. However, we find that the unnamed prophet had went to Ahab and told him this: "Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a God of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord." So for seven days they camped opposite of each other and on the seventh day they finally fought. And it was found that this time around the Israelites had inflicted 100,000 casualties on the Arameanian army when they'd clashed the very first day. And because of this the rest of the Arameanians retreated back to the fortified city of Aphek, and it was there, where they would they to reinforce a wall in order to keep the Israelites at bay. But this wouldn't be enough, for the Sacred Record reveals that this wall would end up falling on the Arameanian army, in which 27,000 of them were killed. In the meantime we find Ben-Hadad fleeing again, and this time, he'd hid himself in an inner room, while his top war officials were looking to surrender to Ahab and the Israelites. Ben-Hadad's officials would do this by dressiing themselves in sackcloth, and with ropes around their heads, while they'd approached the Israel king begging for mercy. Crying out: "Please let me live?" Ahab responded by saying: "Is he still alive? He is my brother." Now after hearing how the king responded, the Arameanian officials took this as a good sign and answered: "Yes, your brother Ben-Hadad!" Then Ahab said: "Go and get him." So they did, and when Ben-Hadad had came out of hiding - Ahab ordered him to come up to the chariot. And upon doing so, Ben-Hadad quickly made a proposition to Ahab by saying: "I will return the cities my father took from your father. You may set up your own market areas in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria." And Ahab responded to this proposal by saying: "On the basis of a treaty I will set you free." So the king of Israel made a treaty with him and set him free. And after Ahab had released Ben-Hadad - the Lord had the unnamed prophet to deliver a message to the Israel king, and this time around the unnamed prophet had disguised himself: "Your servant went into the thick of the battle, and someone came to me with a captive and said, 'Guard this man. If he is missing, it will be your life for his life, or you must pay a talent of silver.' While your servant was busy here and there, the man disappeared." And Ahab responded by saying: "That is your sentence, you have pronounced it yourself." Then the unnamed prophet revealed his true identity to the king and Ahab quickly recognized him to be one of the Lord's prophets. Then the prophet said: "You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people." And after hearing this judgment that had been placed against him, Ahab went home sullen and angry. Now that Ahab was unhappy and angry to hear the judgment that had been passed against for disobeying God. What will the Israel king do next?
**YOUR CURRENT BIBLICAL PROPHETS SERIES WOULD BE HERE** 02) Obadiah and the Caves of Refuge 03) The Fire Contest Between God & Baal 04) The Gift of Rain That Came From The Heavens 05) Elisha The Prophet Apprentice 06) The Thirty Two Kings of Mass Destruction 07) <-CURRENT BIBLICAL PROPHETS PAGE-> 09) The Prophets of the Groves 10) Micaiah The One True Prophet 13) Elijah and the Chariot of Fire 14) Elisha the Miracle Prophet  |
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