It seemed like a suicide mission. They were outnumbered almost 18 to 1. There were only two groups of 3500 against an army that was 127,000+. The Scriptures said of them
“The Israelites camped in front of them like two little flocks of goats, while the Arameans filled the landscape” (1 Kings 20:27).
If you were an Israelite soldier, you feared for your life and were saying your prayers. The slaughter was an inevitability. You questioned why you were ever a soldier in the first place? It was an impossible situation.
But they were there because the King had told them to positions themselves there and fight against the masses. Today everyone would have to a might man or there would be no man left.
They were also there for another reason though. The Lord had told them that he would be handing them over to Israel. It was for three reasons.
- God wanted to show the Israelites that he was the true God (1 Chr 20:13).
- He also wanted to show the Arameans that he was the true God because they believed Yahweh was not God of the earth but rather God of the mountains (1 Chr 20:28)
- The Arameans had acted so wickedly that God was bringing judgment to them through the hand of Israel (1 Chr 20:42)
We don’t know how the battle went down, but we do know that the two small groups of soldiers on the first day defeated 100,000 of the Arameans. And when the remaining Aramean soldiers saw what was happening, 27,000 of them fled into the city. And for whatever reason the city wall fell on those remaining men. It was a stunning and shocking victory for everyone.
But the Aramean king and his officials had survived the collapse of the wall. And when he went to beg for his life from Israel’s King Ahab, Ahab let him live. This was in direct violation of the Lord’s command who was using Israel to bring judgment against Aram (1 Chr 20:42). Because of Ahab’s lack of obedience, the judgment would fall onto Ahab.
It may seem strange that God would hold accountable Ahab for his failing to perform his duties as the commander-in-chief, but this was the way of the ancient military for thousands of years. If a soldier failed to do his duty, the judgment that was to fall on the criminal would fall on the soldier.
Prior to passing judgment on Ahab, God tested Ahab’s understanding of this obvious military order through a story. A man of God bandaged himself and looked like a wounded soldier, and asked Ahab what he was to do:
“”Your servant marched out into the middle of the battle. Suddenly, a man turned aside and brought someone to me and said, “Guard this man! If he is ever missing, it will be your life in place of his life, or you will weight out 75 pounds of silver.’ But while your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared.”
The king of Israel said to him, “That will be your sentence, you have decided it.“” (1 Chr 20:39-40).
Ahab showed he clearly understood. And just as Ahab was about to order his death, the prophet revealed himself and said that Ahab was this man. That the story was a parable to show him what he was doing.
Clearly King Ahab had one standard for his soldiers and a different one for himself. But that doesn’t work with God. God held him accountable for his actions. He would not get by with a double-standard. And the Lord told Ahab that, “It will be your life in place of his life and your people in place of his people” (1 Chr 20:42).
So what can we glean from this ordeal?
1) If God calls us to impossible situations, we obey. Impossible situations is often where God wants to make himself known. Of course we must hear from him clearly and make sure it is Him and not of our doing, but God is a God of the impossible.
2) Full obedience is necessary. How many times did the Israelites think it was Ok to just partially obey? Too many to count. We must fully obey the Lord. It is the parable of total surrender. If a soldier surrenders to another army and he only removed half his weapons, he has not surrendered. No opposing army would accept his surrender. Only total surrender matters. And when we surrender to the Lord, it must be completely to His will.
3) God hates hypocrisy. He holds even kings and leaders accountable for double-standards.
Truly this battle was an epic battle. It was a David against Goliath moment and I’m sure the Israelite soldiers were terrified, wondering if God was coming to through or not. But the King had a clear word of the Lord that they would be delivered, and he acted on that Word.
It was unfortunate in so many ways that he would be willing to sacrifice his soldiers to obey that word, but when it came to him to stand firm, he compromised. But the reality is that all of us are accountable to God. King Ahab thought he was above it all, but he forget that God is the ultimate authority. If people and nations remembered this, everything would change. Everything.
