Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 20-22.

Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, made war against King Ahab.  He besieged Samaria and demanded tribute from King Ahab.  When King Ahab acceded to his demands, Ben-Hadad increased them to demand that Ahab allow his soldiers to loot the city.  King Ahab resisted this latter demand and defeated Ben-Hadad’s forces.  The following year, Ben-Hadad attacked Israel again.  This time, King Ahab not only defeated Ben-Hadad’s forces, he captured Ben-Hadad.  Despite Ben-Hadad’s repeated unprovoked attacks on Israel, Ahab treated him as a friend and made a treaty with him.  We see here that Ahab had more fellow-feeling with the ruler of his nation’s enemy than he did for his own people.  In a similar manner, King Saul had spared the life of the king of the Amalekites after he defeated them.  Again and again, we see that those who rise to leadership positions in one nation make common cause with the leaders of other nations, against the interests of their own people.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.