Benhadad

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

the son of Tibrimon, king of Syria, came to the assistance of Asa, king of Judah, against Baasha, king of Israel, obliging the latter to return home and succour his own country, and to abandon Ramah, which he had undertaken to fortify,  1 Kings 15:18 . This Benhadad is thought by some to have been the same person with Hadad the Edomite, who rebelled against Solomon toward the end of that prince's reign,  1 Kings 11:25 .

2. BENHADAD, king of Syria, son of the preceding, made war upon Ahab, king of Israel, but was defeated. In the following year, however, he came with a most powerful army to Aphek, where Ahab again engaged him, killed a hundred thousand of his men, and the remainder endeavouring to take refuge in Aphek, the walls of the city fell upon them, and killed twenty-seven thousand more. Thus completely defeated, Benhadad submitted to beg his life of the king of Israel, who not only granted his request, but gave him his liberty, and restored him to his crown upon certain conditions, 1 Kings 20. Twelve years afterward, A.M. 3115, Benhadad declared war against Jehoram, the son and successor of Ahab,   2 Kings 6:8; but his designs were made known to Jehoram by the Prophet Elisha, and they were accordingly frustrated. Suspecting some treachery in this affair, Benhadad was informed that all his projects were revealed to his enemy by Elisha, and getting intelligence that the latter was at Dothan, he sent a detachment of his best troops to invest the city and apprehend the prophet; but they were struck with blindness at Elisha's prayer, so that they were unable to distinguish him, when he was in the midst of them and held a conversation with them. He then led them into the city of Samaria, and having conducted them safely there, he prayed to God again to open their eyes, and induced Jehoram to dismiss them without violence. Generous as this conduct was, it produced no salutary effect on the infatuated Benhadad; for about four years afterward, he laid close siege to Samaria, and reduced the city to such distress that the head of an ass, which the Israelites considered to be an unclean animal, was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, about 2 l . 9 s . sterling; and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung, or rather three quarters of a pint of chick pease, as Bochart understands the word, for five pieces of silver. In fact, such was the pressure of the famine at this time in Samaria, that mothers were constrained to eat their own children. Jehoram, hearing of these calamities, attributed them to Elisha, and sent orders to have him put to death; but before his messengers could reach the prophet's house, he came thither himself. Elisha predicted that the next day, about the same hour, a measure of fine flour would be sold at the gate of Samaria for a shekel, which, however incredible at the moment, proved to be the case; for in the night, a general panic, supernaturally induced, pervaded the Syrian camp; they imagined that Jehoram had procured an army of Egyptians to come to his assistance, and, abandoning their horses, tents, and provisions, they all took to flight. Four lepers, whose disease did not permit them to live within the city, and being ready to perish with hunger, ventured into the Syrian camp; and finding it deserted, and at the same time abounding with all sorts of provisions, communicated the information to Jehoram. The king immediately rose, though in the middle of the night; but reflecting that probably it was only a stratagem of Benhadad to draw his people out of the town, he first sent parties to reconnoitre. They, however, speedily returned, and informed him that the enemy was fled, and that the roads were every where strewed with arms and garments which the Syrians had abandoned to facilitate their flight. As soon as the news was confirmed, the Samaritans went out, pillaged the Syrian camp, and brought in such quantities of provisions, that a measure of fine flour was, at the time specified by Elisha, sold at the gate of Samaria for a shekel, 2 Kings 7.

The following year, A.M. 3120, Benhadad fell sick, and sent Hazael, one of his officers, with forty camels, loaded with valuable presents, to the Prophet Elisha, to interrogate him, whether or not he should recover of his indisposition. Elisha fixed his eyes steadfastly on Hazael, and then burst into tears: "Go," said he, "and tell Benhadad, Thou mayest certainly recover; though the Lord hath showed me that he shall assuredly die." He at the same time apprised Hazael that he himself would reign in Syria, and do infinite mischief to Israel. Hazael on this returned and told Benhadad that his health should be restored. But on the next day he took a thick cloth which having dipped in water, he spread over the king's face and stifled him. He then took possession of the kingdom of Syria, according to the prediction of Elisha, 2 Kings 8.

3. BENHADAD, the son of Hazael, mentioned in the preceding article, succeeded his father as king of Syria,   2 Kings 13:24 . During his reign, Jehoash, king of Israel, recovered from him all that his father Hazael had taken from Jehoahaz, his predecessor. He defeated him in three several engagements, and compelled him to surrender all the country beyond Jordan,  2 Kings 13:25 .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

This appears to be the royal title of the kings of Syria. There are three mentioned in scripture bearing this name, and the last apparently not a relative of the other two. The title may signify 'son of Adad' one of the gods of Syria.

1. Son of Tabrimon. He was induced, by a present from Asa king of Judah, to attack Baasha king of Israel.  1 Kings 15:18,20;  2 Chronicles 16:2,4 .

2. Another king of Syria in the time of Ahab. He fought against Israel, but was defeated and taken prisoner. Ahab called him 'brother,' and spared his life, for which he was rebuked by a prophet: God had devoted Ben-hadad to death and Ahab's life should go for his life. Benhadad again besieged Samaria in the reign of Jehoram, causing a great famine, but God made the Syrians flee when no man pursued, leaving plentiful provisions for His people. Afterwards when Ben-hadad was sick he sent Hazael to Elisha, who had come to Damascus, to know whether he would recover. Elisha said Hazael could tell the king he might surely recover, though Elisha knew he would die. He also told Hazael that he would be king of Syria. Hazael told the king that he would certainly recover; but the next day smothered him with a wet cloth, and reigned over Syria in his stead.  1 Kings 20:1-33;  2 Kings 6:24;  2 Kings 8:7-15 .

3. Son of the above-named Hazael. Because of Israel's sin, God delivered them into the hands of this king; but eventually Ben-hadad was defeated three times and the cities of Israel were recovered.  2 Kings 13:3,24,25;  Jeremiah 49:27;  Amos 1:4 .

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

King of Syria; the son of Hadad. ( 1 Kings 20:1)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ben - hā´dad ( בּן־הדד , ben - hădhadh  ; Septuagint υἱὸς Ἁδέρ , huiós Hadér ):

The Name

I. Benhadad I

1. The Kingdom of Syria Founded

2. Syria and Judah

3. Shortsightedness of Asa

II. Benhadad II

1. Hadad-'idri of the Monuments

2. Expeditions Against Israel

3. Alliance with Ahab

4. Biblical History Confirmed by the Monuments

5. Alliance Broken Off

6. Benhadad and Elisha

7. Panic of Syrians at Samaria

8. Murder of Benhadad

III. Benhadad III

1. His Contemporaries

2. The Assyrians in the West

3. Downfall of Damascus before Ramman-Nirari III

4. Breathing Space for Israel

The Name

The name of three kings of Syria mentioned in the historical books. Hadad is the Syrian god of storms, and is apparently identical with Rimmon ( 2 Kings 5:18 ), the Assyrian Rammânu, "the Thunderer," whose temple was in Damascus. The name Benhadad, "son of Hadad," accords with the custom which obtained in Semitic mythology of calling a king or a nation the son of the national god, as we have Mesha', son of Chemosh, and the Moabites, children of Chemosh. Benhadad seems to have become a general designation for the kings of Syria ( Amos 1:4;  Jeremiah 49:27 ).

I. Benhadad I

1. The Kingdom of Syria Founded

Benhadad I was the son of Tabrimmon, who is called ( 1 Kings 15:18 ) "the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus." Hezion has been with some plausibility identified with Rezon ( 1 Kings 11:23 ,  1 Kings 11:25 ) who founded the kingdom of Damascus and imparted to Syria that temper of hostility to Israel which became hereditary. Meanwhile the Arameans had shaken themselves free from the rule of the Hittites, and with Damascus for a center had planted strong settlements in the plains westward from the Euphrates. By the time that Benhadad entered into this succession, Syria was the strongest power in this region of Western Asia, and ready to take advantage of every opportunity of increasing her dominions.

2. Syria and Judah

Such an opportunity presented itself in the appeal of Asa, king of Judah, for help against Baasha king of Israel. The two Hebrew kingdoms had been at feud ever since their disruption. Baasha had pushed his frontier southward to Ramah, within 5 miles of Jerusalem, and this commanding eminence he proceeded to fortify. The danger of a hostile fortress overlooking his capital, and the humiliation of his rival's presence so near, were more than Asa could bear. It was at this juncture that he bethought him of Benhadad. Taking all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasury of the house of the Lord, and the treasury of the king's house, he sent them to Benhadad with a request for an alliance begging him at the same time to break off the league he had with Baasha and Thus enable Asa to dislodge his enemy. Benhadad saw an opening for the aggrandizement of his kingdom and broke off the alliance he had had with Jeroboam and Baasha. By an invasion of Northern Israel he obliged Baasha to withdraw from Ramah and confine himself to the neighborhood of his own capital ( 1 Kings 15:16 ). Judah obtained relief, but the price paid for it was too great. Asa had surrendered his treasures, and very likely some of his independence.

3. Shortsightedness of Asa

For his shortsightedness in laying himself under obligation to Benhadad and relying upon the help of Syria rather than upon the Lord his God, Asa was rebuked by the prophet Hanani ( 2 Chronicles 16:1 ). Benhadad had extended his territories by the transaction and seems to have exercised henceforward some sort of sovereignty over both the Hebrew kingdoms.

Literature

McCurdy HPM , I, 256; H. P. Smith, Old Testament History , 186.

II. Benhadad II

1. Hadad-'idri of the Monuments

Benhadad Ii was in all probability the son of Benhadad I. He is the Hadad-ezer, or Hadad-'idri, of the monuments. He comes first upon the scene of the Biblical history invading the land of Israel with a large host, in which were 32 tributary kings, and horses and chariots. He had penetrated as far as Samaria, the newly built city of Omri, now the capital of his son Ahab. Benhadad and his Syrian host had laid siege to Samaria and Ahab had been summoned to surrender. Ahab was disposed to come to terms, but the intolerable proposals made by Benhadad drove him to resistance. Encouraged by the elders of the people, and acting on the counsel of a prophet, Ahab made a sortie and falling upon the carousing Syrians put them so completely to rout that Benhadad himself only escaped on a horse with the horsemen.

2. Expeditions Against Israel

Next year the Syrians resolved to retrieve their defeat saying of the Israelites, "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." Ahab had been warned to expect the return of the Syrians and was prepared for the fresh attack. For seven days the two armies faced each other, the Israelites "like two little flocks of kids" before a host that filled the country. On the seventh day they joined battle near to Aphek, and the Syrians met again an overwhelming defeat. Yahweh was proved to be God both of the plains and of the hills. Benhadad was taken prisoner, and appealing to the clemency of the victor, he persuaded Ahab to spare his life.

3. Alliance with Ahab

A treaty was agreed upon between the two monarchs under which Ahab's people were to have bazaars of their own in Damascus, as it would appear Benhadad I had had for his subjects before in Samaria (1 Ki 20:1-34). The treaty was denounced by a prophet, and Ahab was warned that this man whom God had devoted to destruction would be the destruction of himself and his people. Under the treaty, however, there were three years without war between Syria and Israel.

4. Biblical History Confirmed by the Monuments

The treaty and the resulting period of peace receive striking confirmation from the monuments. From the monolith inscription of Shalmaneser Ii we learn that this Assyrian king in the 6th year of his reign (854 bc) had crossed the Tigris and made his way across the Euphrates on boats of sheepskin into Syria to Ḥalman (Aleppo). At Karkar he encountered the combined forces of Damascus, Hamath, Israel and the states which had united to oppose his progress westward. Achabbu Sir - 'lai , Ahab of Israel Damascus are Dad'idri Hadadezer (Benhadad II) of Damascus are named in the inscription with chariots, horsemen and infantry, making common cause against Shalmaneser and fighting on the same side. It was Benhadad, as we gather, that bore the brunt of the assault, but the result of the battle was the complete rout of the allies with the loss of 14,000 men. That the assistance of Israel on the occasion was the outcome of the treaty between Ahab and Benhadad, and that the combination against Shalmaneser took place dur ing the three years of peace, are in the highest degree probable.

5. Alliance Broken Off

The disaster to the allies, however, seems to have broken up the confederacy. When the king of Syria is next mentioned in Biblical history, it is defending the city of Ramoth-Gilead against the attack made upon it by Ahab, who is found now in alliance with Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, attempting unsuccessfully and with fatal results to himself, to recover this city of Israel from the weakened power of Damascus. At Ramoth-Gilead Benhadad is not said to have 32 tributary kings in his train, but 32 military commanders who have taken their place ( 1 Kings 22:2 ,  1 Kings 22:29-31 ).

6. Benhadad and Elisha

The peace between Israel and Syria having been broken, there was frequent, if not continuous, war between the kingdoms, in which the prophet Elisha is a prominent figure. He healed of his leprosy Naaman, Benhadad's commander-in-chief. He disclosed to the king of Israel the places wherever Benhadad pitched his camp. He smote with blindness a great host whom Benhadad had sent with horses and chariots to seize him at Dothan, and led them into Samaria where he saw them treated kindly and sent back to their master (2 Ki 6:8-23).

7. Panic of Syrians at Samaria

Some time after Benhadad again assembled all his host and laid siege to Samaria. So great was the famine that women ate their own children. The king of Israel sent one of his men to put Elisha to death, but Elisha closed his house against him and announced that on the morrow there would be great plenty in the city. And so it happened. Certain lepers, despairing of relief, had gone into the Syrian camp and learned that the Syrians had abandoned their camp in a panic, believing that the king of Israel had hired the kings of the Muṣri and the northern Hittites to raise the siege (2 Ki 6:24 through 7:20; compare Burney's note,   2 Kings 7:6 ).

8. Murder of Benhadad

Still another notice of Benhadad Ii is found in the Annals of Shalmaneser, who records that in the 11th year of his reign he defeated a combination of 12 kings of the Hittites with Benhadad at their head, and slew 10,000 men. Of this. there is no record in Biblical history, but it must have been shortly before the tragedy which ended the career of the Syrian king. Benhadad had fallen sick and sent his commander-in-chief, Hazael, to inquire as to the issue of his sickness of the prophet Elisha, who was visiting Damascus. Elisha foretold the king's death, and wept as he read to Hazael the cruel purpose which the Syrian commander was even then maturing. Hazael professed to be incredulous, but he departed from Elisha and the very next day in cold blood put his master to death and ascended the throne ( 2 Kings 8:7-15 ). Thus ingloriously ended the reign of one of the most powerful of the Syrian kings.

Literature

McCurdy, HPM , I, 267ff; Schrader, COT , I, 179 if; Winckler, Geschichte Israels , Theil I, 133-55.

III. Benhadad III

1. His Contemporaries

Benhadad Iii was the son of the usurper Hazael, and though not in the dynastic succesion, assumed on the dent h of his father the dynastic name. He was contemporary with Amaziah, king of Judah; Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel; and Ramman-Nirari III, king of Assyria. The fortunes of Israel had fallen low in the days of Jehoahaz, and Hazael and Benhadad Iii were the instruments of Yahweh's displeasure with the nation. At this time Jehoahaz had no more than 53 horsemen and 10 chariots and 10,000 footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust in threshing ( 2 Kings 13:7 ). It was when the fortunes of Israel were at the lowest ebb by reason of the oppression of the king of Syria - by this time Benhadad - that help came to them and Yahweh gave Israel a savior, so that Israel went out from under the hands of the Syrians, "and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents (in their homes) as beforetime" ( 2 Kings 13:5 ).

2. The Assyrians in the West

The "saviour" of the Biblical narrative is the one allusion in Scripture to the king of Assyria of that day, Ramman-Nirari III, whose inscriptions record his victorious expedition to the West. "From the Euphrates to the land of the Hittites," runs an inscription, "the west country in its entire compass, Tyre, Zidon, the land Omri, Edom, Philistia as far as the Great Sea of the sunsetting, I subjected to my yoke; payment of tribute I imposed upon them. Against Syria of Damascus I marched; Mari, the king of Syria, in Damascus his royal city I besieged." He then proceeds to tell of the subjugation of the monarch and of the spoils obtained from his capital. That Mari which means in Aramaic "lord," is Benhadad III, the son of Hazael, is now generally believed.

3. Downfall of Damascus Before Ramman-Nirari III

With the capture of Damascus and the collapse of the Syrian power under Marl (Benhadad III), an era of recuperation and prosperity became possible to Israel and Judah. So it came to pass that "Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz by war. Three times did Joash smite him, and recovered the cities of Israel" ( 2 Kings 13:25 ).

4. Breathing Space for Israel

Israel was able to breathe freely for a time and Jeroboam Ii restored the Northern Kingdom to its former extent and glory. But the flame of war which had been sent into the house of Hazael and which devoured the palaces of Benhadad ( Amos 1:4 ) was only waiting the time when the Assyrians would be free to renew their expeditions to the West and carry Samaria and Israel "into captivity beyond Damascus" ( Amos 5:27 ).

Literature

McCurdy, HPM , I, 291ff; Schrader, COT , I, 202-ff.

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Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Benha´dad (son of Hadad), the name of three kings of Damascene-Syria. As to the latter part of this name, Hadad, there is little doubt that it is the name of the Syrian god Adad.

1. Benhadad, the king of Syria who was subsidized by Asa king of Judah to invade Israel, and thereby compel Baasha (who had invaded Judah) to return to defend his own kingdom ( 1 Kings 15:18) [ASA]. This Benhadad has, with some reason, been supposed to be Hadad the Edomite who rebelled against Solomon ( 1 Kings 11:25).

2. Benhadad, king of Syria, son of the preceding. His earlier history is much involved in that of Ahab, with whom he was constantly at war [AHAB]. He owed the signal defeat in which that war terminated to the vain notion that assimilated Jehovah to the local deities which the nations of Syria worshipped, deeming Him 'a God of the hills,' but impotent to defend his votaries in 'the plains' ( 1 Kings 20:1-30). Instead of pursuing his victory, Ahab concluded a peace with the defeated Benhadad, which was observed for about twelve years, when the Syrian king declared war against Jehoram the son of Ahab, and invaded Israel: but all his plans and operations were frustrated by being made known to Jehoram by the prophet Elisha ( 2 Kings 6:8, ad fin.). After some years he however renewed the war, and besieged Jehoram in his capital, Samaria, until the inhabitants were reduced to the last extremities and most revolting resources by famine. The siege was then unexpectedly raised, according to a prediction of Elisha, through a panic infused into the besiegers, who concluding that a noise which they seemed to hear portended the advance upon them of a foreign host procured by Jehoram, thought only of saving themselves by flight. The next year Benhadad, learning that Elisha, through whom so many of his designs had been brought to nought, had arrived at Damascus, sent an officer of distinction named Hazael with presents, to consult him as to his recovery from an illness under which he then suffered. The prophet answered, that his disease was not mortal, but that he would nevertheless die. This was accomplished a few days after by this very Hazael, who smothered the sick monarch in his bed, and mounted the throne in his stead, B.C. 884 ( 2 Kings 8:7-15). [[[Elisha; Hazael; Jehoram]]]

3. Benhadad, king of Syria, son of the Hazael just mentioned. He was thrice defeated by Jehoash, king of Israel, who recovered from him all the territories beyond Jordan which Hazael had rent from the dominion of Israel ( 2 Kings 13:3;  2 Kings 13:24-25).