1 Kings 20:29-3229 And they encamped opposite each other for seven days. So it was that on the seventh day the battle was joined; and the children of Israel killed one hundred thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians in one day. 30 But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; then a wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who were left.
And Ben-Hadad fled and went into the city, into an inner chamber.
31 Then his servants said to him, “Look now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Please, let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.” 32 So they wore sackcloth around their waists and put ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’”
And he said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”
The Syrians were defeated, but King Ahab made the mistake of cutting a covenant with the defeated King. This allowed the Syrians to hang around a little longer and eventually become an irritant to Israel...this is not the first or last close call Syria has had with Israel...
2 Kings 13:14-19
14 Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, “O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!”
15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and some arrows.” So he took himself a bow and some arrows. 16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. 17 And he said, “Open the east window”; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot”; and he shot. And he said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them.” 18 Then he said, “Take the arrows”; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground”; so he struck three times, and stopped. 19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”
I brought up Syria because of one critical point of fact; Syria is the harboring place for ISIS. I can't help but wonder if we would have had peace in this area, had not Syria been dealt with generations before.
As you can see, your decision to allow the enemy live, will eventually come back to haunt you! I'm telling you just as Elisha told him - 'You must shoot, so that the others will know who you are.'
It's amazing to note, that his impromptu handshake and your sudden appearance as Father. The Syrian Commander will never be the same after that
encounter.
