Ahab follows God’s battle plan.

1 Kings 20.13-21:

20.13‏והנה נביא אחד	Look: One prophet
נגש אל אחאב מלך ישראל	comes near King Achavα of Isra’el.
‏ויאמר כה אמר יהוה	He says, “Yahweh says this:
‏הראית את כל ההמון הגדול הזה	See all this great commotion?
‏הנני	Look at Me.
‏נתנו בידך היום	I give it to your hand today.
‏וידעת כי אני יהוה׃	Know that I am Yahweh.”
20.14‏ויאמר אחאב במי	Achav says, “By whom?”
‏ויאמר כה אמר יהוה	The prophetβ says, “Yahweh says this:
‏בנערי שרי המדינות	By the boys of the provincial princes.”
‏ויאמר מי יאסר המלחמה	Achavβ says, “Who commands the battle?”
‏ויאמר אתה׃	The prophetβ says, “You.”
20.15‏ויפקד את נערי שרי המדינות	Achavβ visits the boys of the provincial princes.
‏ויהיו מאתים שנים ושלשים	There are 232.
‏ואחריהם פקד את כל העם	He visited all the people who would follow them,
‏כל בני ישראל	all the sons of Isra’el,
‏שבעת אלפים׃	seven companies.γ
20.16‏ויצאו בצהרים	They go out at midday.
‏ובן הדד שתה שכור בסכות	Benhadadδ drinks to drunkenness in the shrines,
‏הוא והמלכים שלשים ושנים	he and the 32 kings
‏מלך עזר אתו׃	that rule and help him.
20.17‏ויצאו נערי שרי המדינות בראשנה	The boys of the provincial princes go out first.
‏וישלח בן הדד	Benhadad sends out patrols.
‏ויגידו לו לאמר	They tell him, saying,
	“Men come out from Shomron.”ε
20.18‏ויאמר	Benhadadβ says,
‏אם לשלום יצאו תפשום חיים	“If they come out for peace, capture them alive.
‏ואם למלחמה יצאו חיים תפשום׃	If they come out for battle, capture them alive.”
20.19‏ואלה יצאו מן העיר	These come out of the city:
‏נערי שרי המדינות	boys of the provincial princes,
	and the army which follows them.
20.20‏ויכו איש אישו	Man kills his man.
‏וינסו ארם	Aramζ runs away.
‏וירדפם ישראל	Isra’el chases.
‏וימלט בן הדד מלך ארם	Benhadad, king of Aram, escapes
‏על סוס ופרשים׃	on a horse with his horsemen.
20.21‏ויצא מלך ישראל	The king of Isra’el goes out.
‏ויך את הסוס ואת הרכב	He destroys the horses and chariots.
‏והכה בארם מכה גדולה׃	They strike Aram with a great wound.

Some years ago a Hebrew linguist figured out that ‏אלף, the word for “thousands,” is the same as the word for “companies.” This is sorta important because there were some strange lists of figures in the books of Moses—lists of the Hebrews in the desert—where the population of the Hebrews didn’t match up with the number of young men in the army. There appeared to be millions of them in one passage; hundreds of thousands in another. But once you understand that ‏אלף has two meanings, the numbers work.

Of course, this means that biblical translators have been misjudging the size of biblical armies for thousands of years. In this passage, it appears that Ahab has 7,232 men, fighting against 32 Syrian kings and their companies (however big their companies are; the historian doesn’t say). But it’s more likely that Ahab had a lot fewer men—which makes this victory all the more miraculous.

People tend to remember Ahab as a greedy or spineless pagan, but in this story we see his backbone. Previously, he dismissed Hadadezer’s god as useless. Now, he’s listening to one of God’s prophets, who explains to him that God wants him to send... slaves.

Specifically, these are the slave-boys who work for the princes of Israel’s provinces. “Prince” could mean mayor, or appointed governor, or chief of a tribe, or any of the more important members of the society. The point is that instead of sending the best and brightest of Israel to take on the Syrians, God wants their servant boys to lead the battle.

How very like Him... and how very logical, too. The princes were likely the ones ready and willing to lead the fighting, and they were also likely the ones in the worst shape of all the Israelis. In contrast, their slaves were probably in great shape. (God has commands, you know, against mistreating slaves.) Many of them functioned as bodyguards; the Syrians would underestimate them because of their social status and youth; and apparently they did just that.

This prophet is, it seems, not Elijah. No word as to what Elijah’s up to; we don’t see him again until 1 Kings 21. The prophet is either one of the hundred that Obadiah kept in hiding, or a new guy. Either way, Ahab is pretty convinced that God speaks through him, and follows his directions. Slaves up front; regular troops in back; Ahab in command.

Some more of God’s timing is indicated by Hadadezer being drunk by now. He’s been toasting Ba’al since the morning; he’s been overconfident that it’s going to be a long seige; he’s pretty farshikkert. When his patrols warn him that people are coming out of Samaria, his response is, “If they come out for peace, capture them alive; if they come out for battle... capture them alive.” Sounds like a plan that wasn’t thought through at all. Sounds like he’s hammered.

Which is what he gets as the unexpected attack quickly overwhelms the Syrians, who run. Hadadezer manages to get a horse—indicating that the chaos of the attack was so great that there was no time for him to get his chariot hitched up so that he could leave properly—and get out of there with his horsemen. Meanwhile, Ahab trashes the chariots, making sure the Syrians won’t be back anytime soon.

α. Ahab.

β. Lit. “he.”

γ. Or “thousands.” Companies were called the same thing, but could be of any size, even more than a thousand.

δ. Hadadezer, king of Syria, whose title was Barhadad (Heb. “Benhadad.”)

ε. Samaria.

ζ. Syria.