1 Kings 20:28

28 Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, "Thus says the Lord: 'Because the Syrians have said, "The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys," therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.' "

1 Kings 20:28 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 20:28

And there came a man of God
The same as before, ( 1 Kings 20:13 1 Kings 20:22 ) or had come ^F16 before the little army went out to meet the Syrians; though he might go to Ahab when encamped, for his encouragement:

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; (See Gill on 1 Kings 20:23).

therefore will I deliver, all this great multitude into thine hand;
not for Ahab's sake would the Lord do this, who does not appear thankful to God for the former victory, nor to be reformed from his idolatry, and the better for it, but for the honour of his own name, which had been blasphemed by the Syrians:

and ye shall know that I am the Lord;
both of hills and valleys, the omnipotent Jehovah, the only true God.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (vgyw) "accesserat", Vatablus.

1 Kings 20:28 In-Context

26 So it was, in the spring of the year, that Ben-Hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel.

27 And the children of Israel were mustered and given provisions, and they went against them. Now the children of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, while the Syrians filled the countryside.

28 Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, "Thus says the Lord: 'Because the Syrians have said, "The Lord is God of the hills, but He is not God of the valleys," therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.' "

29 And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day.

30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; then a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left. And Ben-Hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner chamber.