TRV
Translation
King James Version
And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
KJV (with Strong's)
Complete Jewish Bible
Meanwhile, the servants of the king of Aram said to him, "Their God is a God of the hills; that's why they were stronger than we were. But if we fight them on level ground, we will certainly be stronger than they are.
Berean Standard Bible
Meanwhile, the servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they prevailed over us. Instead, we should fight them on the plains; surely then we will prevail.
American Standard Version
And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their god is a god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we: but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
World English Bible Messianic
The servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their god is a god of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Then the seruants of the King of Aram said vnto him, Their gods are gods of the moutaines, and therefore they ouercame vs: but let vs fight against them in the playne, and doubtlesse we shall ouercome them.
Young's Literal Translation
And the servants of the king of Aram said unto him, `Gods of hills are their gods, therefore they were stronger than we; and yet, we fight with them in the plain--are we not stronger than they?
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In the KJVVerse 9,432 of 31,102
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Commentary on 1 Kings 20 verses 22–30
22 ¶ And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.
23 And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.
24 And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms:
25 And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so.
26 And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Benhadad numbered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek, to fight against Israel.
27 And the children of Israel were numbered, and were all present, and went against them: and the children of Israel pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; but the Syrians filled the country.
28 And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
29 And they pitched one over against the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined: and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians an hundred thousand footmen in one day.
30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon twenty and seven thousand of the men that were left. And Benhadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber.
We have here an account of another successful campaign which Ahab, by divine aid, made against the Syrians, in which he gave them a greater defeat than in the former. Strange! Ahab idolatrous and yet victorious, a persecutor and yet a conqueror! God has wise and holy ends in suffering wicked men to prosper, and glorifies his own name thereby.
I. Ahab is admonished by a prophet to prepare for another war, Kg1 20:22. It should seem, he was now secure, and looked but a little way before him. Those that are careless of their souls are often as careless of their outwards affairs; but the prophet (to whom God made known the following counsels of the Syrians) told him they would renew their attempt at the return of the year, hoping to retrieve the honour they had lost and be avenged for the blow they had received. He therefore bade him strengthen himself, put himself into a posture of defence, and be ready to give them a warm reception. God had decreed the end, but Ahab must use the means, else he tempts God: "Help thyself, strengthen thyself, and God will help and strengthen thee." The enemies of God's Israel are restless in their malice, and, though they may take some breathing-time for themselves, yet they are still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the church. It concerns us always to expect assaults from our spiritual enemies, and therefore to mark and see what we do.
II. Ben-hadad is advised by those about him concerning the operations of the next campaign. 1. They advised him to change his ground, Kg1 20:23. They took it for granted that it was not Israel, but Israel's gods, that beat them (so great a regard was then universally had to invisible powers); but they speak very ignorantly of Jehovah - that he was many, whereas he is one and his name one, - that he was their God only, a local deity, peculiar to that nation, whereas he is the Creator and ruler of all the world, - and that he was a God of the hills only, because David their great prophet had said, I will lift up my eyes to the hills whence cometh my help (Psa 121:1), and that his foundation was in the holy mountain (Psa 87:1; Psa 78:54), and much was said of his holy hill (Psa 15:1; Psa 24:3); supposing him altogether such a one as their imaginary deities, they fancied he was confined to his hills, and could not or would not come down from them, and therefore an army in the valley would be below his cognizance and from under his protection. Thus vain were the Gentiles in their imaginations concerning God, so wretchedly were their foolish hearts darkened, and, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. 2. They advised him to change his officers (Kg1 20:24, Kg1 20:25), not to employ the kings, who were commanders by birth, but captains rather, who were commanders by merit, who were inured to war, would not affect to make a show like the kings, but would go through with business. Let every man be employed in that which he is brought up to and used to, and preferred to that which he is fit for. Syria, it seems, was rich and populous, when it could furnish recruits sufficient, after so great a defeat, horse for horse, chariot for chariot.
III. Both armies take the field. Ben-hadad, with his Syrians, encamps near Aphek, in the tribe of Asher. It is probable that Asher was a city in his own possession, one of those which his father had won (Kg1 20:34), and the country about it was flat and level, and fit for his purpose, Kg1 20:26. Ahab, with his forces, posted himself at some distance over against them, Kg1 20:27. The disproportion of numbers was very remarkable. The children of Israel, who were cantoned in two battalions, looked like two little flocks of kids, their numbers small, their equipage mean, and the figure they made contemptible; but the Syrians filled the country with their numbers, their noise, their chariots, their carriages, and their baggage.
IV. Ahab is encouraged to fight the Syrians, notwithstanding their advantages and confidence. A man of God is sent to him, to tell him that this numerous army shall all be delivered into his hand (Kg1 20:28), but not for his sake; be it known to him, he is utterly unworthy for whom God will do this. God would not do it because Ahab had praised God or prayed to him (we do not read that he did either), but because the Syrians had blasphemed God, and had said, He is the God of the hills and not of the valleys; therefore God will do it in his own vindication, and to preserve the honour of his own name. If the Syrians had said, "Ahab and his people have forgotten their God, and so put themselves out of his protection, and therefore we may venture to attack them," God would probably have delivered Israel into their hands; but when they go upon a presumption so very injurious to the divine omnipotence, and the honour of him who is Lord of all hosts, not only in hills and valleys, but in heaven and earth, which they are willingly ignorant of, they shall be undeceived, at the expense of that vast army which is so much their pride and confidence.
V. After the armies had faced one another seven days (the Syrians, it is likely, boasting, and the Israelites trembling), they engaged, and the Syrians were totally routed, 100,000 men slain by the sword of Israel in the field of battle (Kg1 20:29), and 27,000 men, that thought themselves safe under the walls of Aphek, a fortified city (from the walls of which the shooters might annoy the enemy if they pursued them, Sa2 11:24), found their bane where they hoped for protection: the wall fell upon them, probably overthrown by an earthquake, and, the cities of Canaan being walled up to heaven, it reached a great way, and they were all killed, or hurt, or overwhelmed with dismay. Ben-hadad, who thought his city Aphek would hold out against the conquerors, finding it thus unwalled, and the remnant of his forces dispirited and dispersed, had nothing but secresy to rely upon for safety, and therefore hid himself in a chamber within a chamber, lest the pursuers should seize him. See how the greatest confidence often ends in the greatest cowardice. "Now is the God of Israel the God of the valleys or no?" He shall know now that he is forced into an inner chamber to hide himself, see Kg1 22:25.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 22–30. Public domain.
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Ephrem the SyrianAD 373
ON THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS 20:1
Here the Scripture relates the two battles of the king of Israel against the Arameans, at which we have already hinted, and the twin slaughters of the Arameans, of which the second caused the death of 127, men, as God took his revenge on the impious voice of the Arameans, who said about the true God worshiped by the Israelites, “The Lord is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys.”
Ambrose of MilanAD 397
LETTER 80
Thus the saints go up to the Lord, the wicked go down to sin; the saints are on the mountains, the guilty in the valleys. “For he is the God of the mountains and not the God of the valleys.” Those who dwelt in the houses of the plain where God does not dwell could not have the house of God within them, for this is the house that God sought from them so that they might build up themselves and rear within themselves the temple of God from living stones of faith. He did not want buildings made with earthen walls or wooden roofs, for the hand of an enemy would have been able to overthrow them. He wanted that temple that is built in human hearts, to whom it might be said, “You are the temple of God,” in which the Lord Jesus might dwell and from there set out to redeem all humankind. There also could be prepared a sacred chamber in the womb of the Virgin where the King of heaven might live and a human body become the temple of God, which, though it was destroyed, might yet be restored to life on the third day.
Salvian the PresbyterAD 500
THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 7.8
Did not the Lord wish Ben-hadad, king of Syria, whom besides countless thousands of his own people, thirty-two kings and armies of the same number of kings served, to be conquered by a few foot soldiers of the princes in order that he who was the author of such victory would be acknowledged?
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
This verse encapsulates the deeply flawed strategic and theological reasoning of the Syrian king Ben-hadad's advisors after their unexpected defeat by Israel. Seeking to rationalize their loss, they attribute Israel's victory to their God being a localized deity, powerful only within the mountainous terrain. Based on this pagan, geographically limited understanding of divine power, they confidently propose a shift in battleground to the open plains, asserting that in such an environment, their own gods would grant them a decisive and overwhelming advantage over Israel.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse primarily employs Irony, Contrast, and a form of negative Anthropomorphism. The central Irony lies in the Syrian advisors' attempt to limit the omnipotent God of Israel to a specific geographical domain ("gods of the hills"). Their rationalization of their initial defeat, intended to explain away a miraculous divine intervention, inadvertently sets the stage for an even greater demonstration of Yahweh's universal sovereignty, as He proceeds to defeat them on the very "plain" where they expected victory. This highlights the profound futility of human wisdom when it attempts to circumscribe divine power. The Contrast between the "hills" and the "plain" is stark and serves as both the literal and metaphorical battleground for differing theological worldviews. It underscores the pagan belief in localized deities versus the biblical truth of a transcendent, omnipresent God. The advisors' statement also represents a form of negative Anthropomorphism, where they project human limitations, territoriality, and strategic thinking onto the divine, demonstrating their profound misunderstanding of Yahweh's infinite and unconstrained nature.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse, though spoken from a position of profound theological ignorance, serves as a crucial theological statement within the biblical narrative. It highlights the stark contrast between the localized, limited deities of pagan polytheism and the boundless, universal sovereignty of Yahweh, the God of Israel. The Syrians' attempt to confine God's power to specific geographical "hills" underscores a fundamental misunderstanding of His omnipresence and omnipotence. This pagan worldview, which sought to control or predict divine action based on physical conditions or geographical boundaries, is directly challenged and ultimately refuted by God's subsequent actions in the narrative, demonstrating unequivocally that He is Lord over all creation, not just a particular terrain. This narrative thus powerfully reinforces the biblical truth that God's power is not bound by human logic, geographical limitations, or strategic planning, but operates according to His sovereign will across the entire earth.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
The flawed reasoning of the Syrian advisors in 1 Kings 20:23 offers a profound and timeless lesson for believers today. Just as they attempted to confine God's power to the "hills," we too can subtly limit God in our minds, perhaps by believing He is only active in "spiritual" matters, or only in certain seasons of our lives, or only when conditions are ideal and favorable. We might attribute our struggles or perceived failures to external circumstances, forgetting that God's sovereignty extends over every "plain" and "hill" of our existence. This verse challenges us to expand our understanding of God's boundless power and omnipresent presence. He is not a God who is limited by our circumstances, our perceived weaknesses, our geographical location, or the overwhelming challenges we face. Whether we are in a season of victory (the "hills") or facing overwhelming odds and unfamiliar territory (the "plain"), God remains sovereign, capable of delivering, sustaining, and working His purposes. Our faith should not be contingent on favorable conditions or human strategies, but on the unshakeable truth of His infinite power and unwavering faithfulness. We are called to trust in a God who transcends all human limitations and expectations, actively working in every sphere of our lives.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why did the Syrians believe Israel's God was a "god of the hills"?
Answer: The Syrians' belief stemmed from the prevailing polytheistic worldview of the ancient Near East, where deities were often associated with specific geographical domains or natural phenomena. Israel's initial victory over the Syrians occurred in the hilly region around Samaria. From their limited, pagan perspective, they rationalized that Israel's God must be a powerful local deity, effective only in mountainous terrain, much like their own gods might have specific spheres of influence. This reflected their profound ignorance of Yahweh as the one true, universal God, sovereign over all creation, not bound by location or physical environment.
Did the Syrians' strategy of fighting in the plain work?
Answer: No, their strategy utterly failed. Despite their belief that fighting on the plain would give them an advantage, God again intervened decisively on behalf of Israel. In 1 Kings 20:28-30, God explicitly declares through a prophet, "Because the Syrians have said, 'The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys,' therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord." This second, even more devastating defeat for the Syrians on the plain served as a powerful and undeniable demonstration that Yahweh's sovereignty extends over all creation, not just specific terrains or environments.
What does this verse teach us about God's nature?
Answer: This verse, through the Syrians' incorrect assumption, powerfully teaches us about God's omnipresence and omnipotence. It reveals that God is not a localized deity confined to specific places or circumstances, but is sovereign over all the earth, in every situation, and at all times. He is the God of the "hills" and the "plains," the God of comfort and challenge, the God who transcends all human limitations and categories. His power is not diminished by our environment or our understanding, and He acts according to His will in all creation, as seen in passages like Psalm 115:3 and Isaiah 45:7.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
The pagan misconception of God as a localized deity in 1 Kings 20:23 finds its ultimate refutation and glorious fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Syrian advisors' limited view of God as "gods of the hills" is shattered by the Incarnation, where the infinite, omnipresent God steps into human history, not confined to a mountain or a temple, but dwelling among us, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Jesus, as the Son of God, demonstrates God's universal sovereignty over all creation, not just specific terrains. He calms raging storms on the sea (Mark 4:39), walks on water (Matthew 14:25), heals the sick in every village and city (Matthew 9:35), and ultimately conquers death itself, demonstrating power over all realms—heaven, earth, and under the earth (Philippians 2:10). The "God of the hills" becomes the God who descends into the "plain" of human suffering, humiliation, and death on the cross, only to rise again, proving His unconstrained dominion over all things. Through Christ, we understand that God's power is not limited by our circumstances, our geography, or our understanding, but is universally applicable and eternally redemptive, offering salvation to all who believe, regardless of their location or background (Romans 10:12-13).