1 Kings 20:29

29 These encamped opposite for seven days, and it happened on the seventh day that {the battle began}, and the {Israelites} killed the Arameans, one hundred thousand infantry in one day.

1 Kings 20:29 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 20:29

And they pitched one over against the other seven days
Very probably the Israelites pitched upon an hill, and the Syrians waited till they changed their position, not caring to fall upon them, though so very supernumerary to them, for the reason before given:

and so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined;
or they that made war drew nigh, as the Targum, and both sides engaged in battle:

and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians 100,000 footmen in one
day;
which was a prodigious slaughter to be made by so small an army; the hand of the Lord was visible in it.

1 Kings 20:29 In-Context

27 The {Israelites} had been mustered and provisioned, and they went to engage them. The {Israelites} encamped opposite them as two flocks of goats, but the Arameans filled the land.

28 Then the man of God approached, and he spoke to the king of Israel, and he said, "Thus says Yahweh: 'Because Aram has said, "Yahweh [is] a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys," ' I will give all this great crowd into your hand that you may know that I [am] Yahweh."

29 These encamped opposite for seven days, and it happened on the seventh day that {the battle began}, and the {Israelites} killed the Arameans, one hundred thousand infantry in one day.

30 Then those who remained fled to Aphek, to the city, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who had remained, so Ben-Hadad fled and went to the innermost rooms of the city.

31 Then his servants said to him, "Please now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings of mercy. Let us now put sackcloth on around our waists and ropes on our heads. Then let us go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps {he will let you live}."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the battle drew near"
• [b]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"