1 Kings 15:19

19 A bond of peace is betwixt me and thee, and betwixt my father and thy father, and therefore I sent to thee gifts, gold, and silver; and I ask, that thou come, and make void the bond of peace, that thou hast with Baasha, king of Israel, and that he go away from me. (There is a covenant between me and thee, and between my father and thy father, and so I sent gifts of gold and silver to thee; and I ask that thou come, and dissolve the covenant, that thou hast with Baasha, the king of Israel, so that then he shall go away from me.)

1 Kings 15:19 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 15:19

There is a league between me and thee, and between my
father and thy father
For though Hezion, if he is the same with Rezon, was an adversary to Israel in the days of Solomon, ( 1 Kings 11:25 ) , yet it seems his son was not, but was a confederate with the kings of Israel and Judah:

behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold;
taken out of the treasury of the temple and his own treasury:

come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may
depart from me;
it was sinful in him to take the money out of the temple, to which it was dedicated; it was more so to make use of it to bribe an Heathen to break his covenant and alliance with another, in order to serve him; in which he betrayed great distrust of the Lord, and of his power to help him; which was the more aggravated, when he had had such a wonderful appearance of God for him against the Ethiopians, see ( 2 Chronicles 16:7 2 Chronicles 16:8 ) .

1 Kings 15:19 In-Context

17 And Baasha, king of Israel, went up into Judah, and builded Ramah, that no man of the part of Asa, king of Judah, might go out, either go in. (And Baasha, the king of Israel, went up to Judah, and fortified Ramah, so that no man of Asa, the king of Judah, could come in, or go out.)

18 Therefore Asa took all the silver and gold, that (were) left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king's house, and gave it into the hands of his servants; and he sent it to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, son of Hezion, the king of Syria, that dwelled in Damascus (who lived in Damascus), and said,

19 A bond of peace is betwixt me and thee, and betwixt my father and thy father, and therefore I sent to thee gifts, gold, and silver; and I ask, that thou come, and make void the bond of peace, that thou hast with Baasha, king of Israel, and that he go away from me. (There is a covenant between me and thee, and between my father and thy father, and so I sent gifts of gold and silver to thee; and I ask that thou come, and dissolve the covenant, that thou hast with Baasha, the king of Israel, so that then he shall go away from me.)

20 Benhadad assented to king Asa, and sent the princes of his host into the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel, the house of Maachah (and Abelbethmaachah), and all Cinneroth, that is, all the land of Naphtali.

21 And when Baasha had heard this thing, he left (off) to build Ramah, and turned again into Tirzah. (And when Baasha had heard of this thing, he stopped fortifying Ramah, and returned to Tirzah.)