29-30 The two armies were poised in a standoff for seven days. On the seventh day fighting broke out. The Israelites killed 100,000 of the Aramean infantry in one day. The rest of the army ran for their lives back to the city, Aphek, only to have the city wall fall on 27,000 of the survivors.
30-31 Ben-Hadad escaped into the city and hid in a closet. Then his advisors told him, “Look, we’ve heard that the kings of Israel play by the rules; let’s dress in old gunnysacks, carry a white flag of truce, and present ourselves to the king of Israel on the chance that he’ll let you live.”
32 So that’s what they did. They dressed in old gunnysacks and carried a white flag, and came to the king of Israel saying, “Your servant Ben-Hadad said, ‘Please let me live.’”Ahab said, “You mean to tell me that he’s still alive? If he’s alive, he’s my brother.”
33 The men took this as a good sign and concluded that everything was going to be all right: “Ben-Hadad is most certainly your brother!”The king said, “Go and get him.” They went and brought him back by chariot.
34 Ahab said, “I am prepared to return the cities that my father took from your father. And you can set up your headquarters in Damascus just as my father did in Samaria; I’ll send you home under safe conduct.” Then he made a covenant with him and sent him off.
35 A man who was one of the prophets said to a bystander, “Hit me; wound me. Do it for God’s sake—it’s his command. Hit me; wound me.” But the man wouldn’t do it.
36 So he told him, “Because you wouldn’t obey God’s orders, as soon as you leave me a lion will attack you.” No sooner had the man left his side than a lion met him and attacked.