TWO BATTLES, TWO KINGS, TWO YEARS, AND ONE CHAPTER - KINGS 1 CH:20

 

A few weeks ago, on a visit to the Jordan Valley near the remains of the bridge called Gesher Damiya, the bridge at Adam, I listened to Binyamin Tropper explain a novel interpretation of the first half of this chapter in the Book of Kings. It made quite a lot of sense to me, and I would like to try and explain why it made such an impression on me. The interpretation was attributed to the soldier, politician, and archaeologist, Yigal Yadin, who passed away in 1984. He was also an astute student of Tanach (the Bible). I encourage you to read Chapter 20 word by word to familiarize yourself with it. That exercise will allow you to follow the following monograph more easily.

As you will notice on the right side of the contour map above, we see the relatively flat beige expanse we refer to as the Jordan valley. The Jordan river itself is depicted as a dashed black line winding its way from north to south. On the east side to the valley, you will notice a Jordanian town called Dayr Allah and most researchers agree that this is the location of the Biblical town of Sukkot. Sukkot sits at the mouth of a riverbed canyon called Nahal Yabok that stretches east into modern day Jordan so that the water spills out into the Jordan river right at the bottom edge of the map where the ancient city of Adam was located. This area of the Jordan river tends to be quite shallow, and this area has historically been an easy place to cross and travel from Syria and Aram into the mountains of the Shomron.

We recognize this route because it is exactly the route followed by our forefather Yaakov hundreds of years before these wars between Yisrael and Aram, after he left Lavan on the mountains of the Gilead to the north and crossed the Yabok to its southern shore. It is there that he met with Eisav and from there he went to Sukkot and camped there for a period of time at the mouth of the Yabok River.  From there the Torah tells us he travelled to Shechem, likely following the river crossing at Adam, travelling up the riverbed canyon of Tirtsah (where you see the modern road 578), continuing up the river on a gradual incline until a relatively narrow canyon (north of the modern town of Izmut) with tall steep cliffs on either side. There he travelled south through the narrow canyon and arrived at the city of Shechem (Nablus on the map). For Ben Hadad it would have been a short trip on the same route from Shechem, about 12 km up the canyon to the west of Shechem, to Sebastia in the upper left-hand corner of our map.  This is the stage upon which the first half of Chapter 20 takes place. Sebastia is the Roman name for the Capital city of the Shomron, a walled fortress where King Ahav his family and his army were Located.

The text reads as follows:

וּבֶן־הֲדַ֣ד מֶֽלֶךְ־אֲרָ֗ם קָבַץ֙ אֶת־כׇּל־חֵיל֔וֹ וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֨ים וּשְׁנַ֥יִם מֶ֛לֶךְ אִתּ֖וֹ וְס֣וּס וָרָ֑כֶב וַיַּ֗עַל וַיָּ֙צַר֙ עַל־שֹׁ֣מְר֔וֹן וַיִּלָּ֖חֶם בָּֽהּ׃ ..........

וַיְהִ֗י כִּשְׁמֹ֙עַ֙ אֶת־הַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֔ה וְה֥וּא שֹׁתֶ֛ה ה֥וּא וְהַמְּלָכִ֖ים בַּסֻּכּ֑וֹת וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֶל־עֲבָדָיו֙ שִׂ֔ימוּ וַיָּשִׂ֖ימוּ עַל־הָעִֽיר׃ ........   וַיֵּֽצְא֖וּ בַּֽצׇּהֳרָ֑יִם וּבֶן־הֲדַד֩ שֹׁתֶ֨ה שִׁכּ֜וֹר בַּסֻּכּ֗וֹת ה֧וּא וְהַמְּלָכִ֛ים שְׁלֹשִֽׁים־וּשְׁנַ֥יִם מֶ֖לֶךְ עֹזֵ֥ר אֹתֽוֹ׃   וַיֵּצְא֗וּ נַעֲרֵ֛י שָׂרֵ֥י הַמְּדִינ֖וֹת בָּרִֽאשֹׁנָ֑ה וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח בֶּן־הֲדַ֗ד וַיַּגִּ֤ידוּ לוֹ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר אֲנָשִׁ֕ים יָצְא֖וּ מִשֹּׁמְרֽוֹן׃   וַיֹּ֛אמֶר אִם־לְשָׁל֥וֹם יָצָ֖אוּ תִּפְשׂ֣וּם חַיִּ֑ים וְאִ֧ם לְמִלְחָמָ֛ה יָצָ֖אוּ חַיִּ֥ים תִּפְשֽׂוּם׃

וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ יָצְא֣וּ מִן־הָעִ֔יר נַעֲרֵ֖י שָׂרֵ֣י הַמְּדִינ֑וֹת וְהַחַ֖יִל אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַחֲרֵיהֶֽם׃   וַיַּכּוּ֙ אִ֣ישׁ אִישׁ֔וֹ וַיָּנֻ֣סֽוּ אֲרָ֔ם וַֽיִּרְדְּפֵ֖ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיִּמָּלֵ֗ט בֶּן־הֲדַד֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ אֲרָ֔ם עַל־ס֖וּס וּפָרָשִֽׁים׃   וַיֵּצֵא֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וַיַּ֥ךְ אֶת־הַסּ֖וּס וְאֶת־הָרָ֑כֶב וְהִכָּ֥ה בַאֲרָ֖ם מַכָּ֥ה גְדוֹלָֽה׃

 

And Ben Hadad, King of Aram assembled his entire army, he and his 32 allies, and all their horses and chariots and they went up to Shomron and he lay siege and made war on the city. ……..

Here, negotiations take place between Hadad and Ahav.

And so it was, when he (Hadad) heard this message, and he was drinking, he and the kings that with him in Sukkot, and he said “Lay siege” and they lay siege on the city.  ……….     

Here, a prophet instructs Ahav that he will win with 232 young officers in training and with himself in the lead. Ahav counted his forces and there was an army of 7,000 plus the 232 young officers.

And they (the 232 officers) went out in the afternoon, and Ben Hadad was drunk in Sukkot, he and the 32 kings that were assisting him. And the young officers went out first and messengers were sent to Ben Hadad saying “Men have gone out of the city” and Ben Hadad drunkenly replied, “If they went out in peace, capture them alive and if they went out to fight, alive capture them.” And they (the 232 officers) went out of the city and the army followed after them. And each man (of the young officers) killed his adversary and the Aramites fled and Yisrael chased after them and Ben Hadad escaped on horses and with his guards. And the king of Israel went out and destroyed the horses and the chariots and delivered to Aram a mighty defeat.

The traditional interpretation of the text is that the words “IN SUKKOT” refer to huts or tents that were built in the battlefield outside the city of Shomron to comfortably house Ben Hadad and his allies while they made themselves comfortable and drunk and waited for the victory. The young officers left the city unexpectedly, and attacked suddenly and routed the guards throwing everyone into a panic that led to a sudden victory. After that the 7,000 soldiers of the regular army followed and continued the rout of Ben Hadad and his army.

However, Yigal Yadin offers a very different interpretation. He claims that the words “IN SUKKOT” mean that Ben Hadad and his allies were comfortably ensconced half a day’s ride to the east in the city of Sukkot that we referred to in the paragraphs above. Ben Hadad had brought his large army, who all needed food and water, and marched them surreptitiously in the depth of Nahal Yabok along the same route that Yaakov had once followed. Ben Hadad had easily taken the city of Sukkot and set up his headquarters there. When he sent messengers, he sent them from the city of Sukkot in the Jordan valley up a half day’s ride by horse across the Jordan river up Nahal Tirtsah and down through the narrow canyon north of Shechem. From Shechem it was an easy ride west through the valley where Shechem is located, and then over to the city of Shomron all the way across the width of the map above. When Ben Hadad gave the order to lay siege his officers led the army up the same route to follow their orders and lay a siege around the city of Shomron, except that when they arrived at the top of the narrow canyon just north of Shechem they found the 232 young officers in training had set up a barrier in the narrow defile of the canyon and tactically removed the advantage of numbers that the army of Ben Hadad enjoyed. In the narrow canyon, only a limited number of soldiers could advance at one time on the 232 (Perhaps Yigal Yadin was inspired by the legend of the Greek battle of Thermopylae against the Persians). Here in the narrow canyon, the army of Ben Hadad was thrown into confusion and began to retreat and that is when the 7,000 regular soldiers of the Israelite army fell on them from the rear as they retreated in Nahal Tirtsah. Thus, King Ahav was able to destroy the heavily laden force of horses and chariots. When Ben Hadad received word of the rout, he was forced to flee from Sukkot with all his entourage and allied kings in fear of what might ensue.

Note how much more neatly this interpretation fits the wording of the text. The word ויצאו, and they went out, in its various grammatical forms appears 7 times in the text. Seven is a typological number whose underlying message here is to emphasize that Ahav followed the prophetic advice and did not hide behind the walls of Shomron but left the city to set a careful trap for Ben Hadad. Three times the word ויצאו is used in the exchange between the drunken Ben Hadad and his soldiers. FOUR times the text uses the word ויצאו and describes how the Israelite soldiers WENT OUT. First it says “And they went out in the afternoon”, to let you know that the 232 waited until the afternoon when commanders of the army and the kings would all be drunk. Then it says, “And the young officers went out first”. This also refers to the first exit of the 232 young officers to set up the roadblock in the canyon a few hours ride away. Then it says, “And they went out of the city and the army followed after them”. This indicates that after the 232 left to take up their positions, Ahav deployed the 7,000 soldiers along the hilltops of Nahal Tirtsah. And then in the final reference it says, “And the King of Israel went out and destroyed ….”. This refers to the ambush set by Ahav to decimate the forces of Ben Hadad as they fled. Once you think about it this interpretation fits the text in an extraordinarily precise fashion. If the story was a simple as the traditional interpretation implies, why does the word ויצאו repeat itself so many times?

In summary, Ahav won this first battle with the help of prophecy and by utilising a daring strategy that took advantage of the topography and used the mountainous terrain to his advantage. He took full advantage of the canyon topography which took the shape of a capital V like this q, with two steep cliffs on either side and a narrow defile below.

In the next half of the chapter, ironically, we find that Ahav was able to use a similar strategy to defeat Ben Hadad. The Aramite army came to the conclusion that Hashem was powerful on the mountains but perhaps he was not so powerful on the plains. Consequently, they attacked using a different route from Damascus, over the Golan heights intending to cross over the Jordan at the southern end of the Kinneret. Again, the prophet advised Ahav that Hashem was with him, but his time he left the strategic planning to Ahav alone. Ahav set up his line of defense near a village named Afek.

Many researchers identify Afek with a spring in the southern Golan Heights called Ein Pik by the local Arabs. Nearby sits the modern village of Afek. Note in the above map that near this spot the topography is again quite unique. Along the lower right-hand portion of the map of the lower Golan Heights, note the dark brown line representing Highway 98 moving from the southwest past Kfar Haruv northeast past Yaar Haruv. Note that between these two sites on the map the contour elevation lines indicate that the road follows a very narrow passage between two very steep ravines. Many researchers argue that Ahav chose this spot for his confrontation with the army of Aram in order to force them once again into a narrow defile where their superiority in numbers was neutralized, and where he could once again claim a decisive victory. However, this time, the victory came as a result of topography in the shape of an inverted capital V, something like this p, with a narrow defile in the middle and two steep ravines on either side of the road.

The chapter ends with a description of how King Ahav foolishly wasted the advantage achieved by these two victories and the miraculous prophecies that he had benefitted from. He strikes a treaty with the captured Ben Hadad and in return receives the prophecy predicting his own violent doom.