he deployed his lines on the plain of Jezreel, near the town of Aphek.  His servants had counselled him to change his tactics:  “The God of the Hebrews is a God of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.”  The advice, however, proved futile, for he sustained on the open plain a still more severe defeat than he had met with in the mountains, and the Hebrew historians affirm that he was taken prisoner during the pursuit.  The power of Damascus was still formidable, and the captivity of its king had done little to bring the war to an end; Ahab, therefore, did not press his advantage, but received the Syrian monarch “as a brother,” and set him at liberty after concluding with him an offensive and defensive alliance.  Israel at this time recovered possession of some of the cities which had been lost under Baasha and Omri, and the Israelites once more enjoyed the right to occupy a particular quarter of Damascus.  According to the Hebrew account, this was the retaliation they took for their previous humiliations.  It is further stated, in relation to this event, that a certain man of the sons of the prophets, speaking by the word of the Lord, bade one of his companions smite him.  Having received a wound, he disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes, and placed himself in the king’s path, “and as the king passed by, he cried unto the king:  and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man:  if by any means he be missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shalt pay a talent of silver.  And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.  And the King of Israel said unto him, So shall thy judgment be; thyself has decided it.  Then he hasted, and took the headband away from his eyes, and the King of Israel discerned him that he was one of the prophets.  And he said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.  And the King of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.”  This story was in accordance with the popular feeling, and Ahab certainly ought not to have paused till he had exterminated his enemy, could he have done so; but was this actually in his power?

We have no reason to contest the leading facts in this account, or to doubt that Benhadad suffered some reverses before Samaria; but we may perhaps ask whether the check was as serious as we are led to believe, and whether imagination and national vanity did not exaggerate its extent and results.  The fortresses of Persea which, according to the treaty, ought to have been restored to Israel, remained in the hands of the people of Damascus, and the loss of Ramoth-gilead continued to be a source of vexation to such of the tribes of Gad and Reuben as followed the fortunes of the house of Omri:* yet these places formed the most important part of Benhadad’s ransom.