Michiana Covenant Presbyterian Church

1 Kings ends with three stories about Ahab that tell of his sins: first in relation to the nations (chapter 20), then in relation to Israel (chapter 21) and finally in relation to the prophet of the LORD and the king of Judah (chapter 22). At the end of chapter 19 we heard that Elijah was commissioned to anoint the three agents of God's judgment against Israel. First, he was to anoint some guy named Hazael as king over Syria. That provided the hint that Syria is going to be an instrument of God's judgment against Israel. And sure enough we already see this at work in the days of Ahab. At the beginning of chapter 20, Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, is preparing an assault on Israel. Hadad is the name of a Syrian deity – so "ben-Hadad" means effectively "son of god" – and so you find many kings of Syria who go by the title "Ben-Hadad." The Syrian capital was Damascus – in present day Syria. The Assyrians (modern day Iraq) were pushing Syria from the east, and so Ben-Hadad is trying to consolidate his territory in