1 Kings 20:23

23 King Benhadad's officials said to him, "The gods of Israel are mountain gods, and that is why the Israelites defeated us. But we will certainly defeat them if we fight them in the plains.

1 Kings 20:23 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 20:23

And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him
His ministers of state, his privy counsellors:

their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we;
and beat them in the last battle; this notion they might receive from what they had heard of Jehovah delivering the law on Mount Sinai to Moses, and of the miraculous things done lately on Mount Carmel, as well as of their worship being in high places, especially at Jerusalem, the temple there being built on an hill, as was Samaria itself, near to which they had their last defeat; and this notion of topical deities very much obtained among the Heathens in later times, some of which they supposed presided over rivers, others over woods, and others over hills and mountains F5: so Nemestinus the god of woods, Collina the goddess of hills, and Vallina of valleys F6; and Arnobins F7 makes mention of the god Montinus, and Livy F8 of the god Peninus, who had his name from a part of the Alps, so called where he was worshipped; and there also the goddess Penina was worshipped; and Lactantius F9 speaks of the gods of the mountains the mother of Maximilian was a worshipper of; and even Jupiter had names from mountains, as Olympius, Capitolinus and such was the great god Pan, called mountainous Pan {k}:

but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be
stronger than they;
and prevail over them, and conquer them.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 "Dii fumus agrestes, et qui dominemur in altis montibus.----" Ovid. Fast. l. 3.
F6 Vid. D. Herbert de Cherbury de Relig. Gent. c. 12. p. 198, 112.
F7 Adv. Gentes, l. 4.
F8 Hist. l. 21. c. 38.
F9 De Mort. Persecutor. c. 11. p. 22. Vid. Ovid. Metamorph. l. 1. Fab. 8. ver. 320. "Et numina montis adorant". See Ep. 4. ver. 171.
F11 Sophoclis Oedipus Tyr. ver. 1110.

1 Kings 20:23 In-Context

21 King Ahab took to the field, captured the horses and chariots, and inflicted a severe defeat on the Syrians.
22 Then the prophet went to King Ahab and said, "Go back and build up your forces and make careful plans, because the king of Syria will attack again next spring."
23 King Benhadad's officials said to him, "The gods of Israel are mountain gods, and that is why the Israelites defeated us. But we will certainly defeat them if we fight them in the plains.
24 Now, remove the thirty-two rulers from their commands and replace them with field commanders.
25 Then call up an army as large as the one that deserted you, with the same number of horses and chariots. We will fight the Israelites in the plains, and this time we will defeat them." King Benhadad agreed and followed their advice.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.