24. After this. How long it was from the time that Joram prepared his feast for the Syrian invaders of Israel till the time that Benhadad besieged Samaria is not recorded. It must, however, have been a number of years, for the old spirit of enmity had again sprung up between the two nations. What the cause for this new war between Israel and Syria might have been is not revealed.
Ben-hadad. That is, Benhadad II. The first Benhadad was a contemporary of Asa (1 Kings 15:18-20). Benhadad II is the same king whom Ahab had twice defeated, and to whom he had shown such unseasonable lenity that he had received a prophetic rebuke (1 Kings 20:1-42). It was in battle with this same king three years later that Ahab lost his life (1 Kings 22:1-37). Benhadad is mentioned a number of times in the records of Shalmaneser III of Assyria, where he appears in cuneiform text in a form that may be read either Addu-’idri or Bir-’idri. The latter form is preferred by Assyriologists. In an Aramaic inscription from Hamath he is called Bar-hadad. The Assyrians may have thought that the Bar stood for the Babylonian god Bir, and also misread the Hadad for Hadar, since d and r may easily be confused in Aramaic script. Whatever the correct explanation for the origin of difference between the two names, there is no doubt that the Ben-hadad of the Bible, the Bar-hadad of the Aramaic inscription, and the Bir-’idri of the Assyrian texts refer to the same person. The Ben-hadad, means “son of Hadad,” Hadad being the name of the well-known west Semitic storm god. Bir-’idri appears on the Assyrian inscriptions as king of Syria as late as the 14th year of Shalmaneser, when the Assyrian king claims to have won a great victory over him and his allies.
Besieged Samaria. This was not a minor border raid but serious war of the utmost intensity. Benhadad probably took advantage of a time when Shalmaneser was not engaged in active campaigns in the Mediterranean area.