The name of three kings of Aram.
1. Ben-Hadad I – son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion (I Kgs 15:18) was a contemporary of Kings Asa of Judah and Baasha of Israel. When war broke out between Israel and Judah, he ignored his treaty obligations to Baasha, responding to Asa's bribes by occupying and plundering Israel's territory in Transjordan and eastern Galilee (I Kgs 15:17-20); this forced Baasha to abandon further attempts at expansion. Ben-Hadad did not follow up his victory, due to the grave threat to his own northern border posed by the Assyrian king Adad-Nirari II's renewed campaigns. Perhaps this Ben-Hadad set up the votive stele dedicated to the Tyrian god Melqart (9th century B.C.) found near Aleppo, Syria.
2. Ben-Hadad II – (in Assyrian inscriptions Adad-Idri, probably Hadadezer) a contemporary of King Ahab of Israel, against whom he waged war three times. In the first battle he was accompanied by 32 vassals, but Ahab nevertheless succeeded in defeating him (I Kgs 20:2ff). He was defeated a second time at Aphek and taken prisoner (I Kgs 20:26ff), but subsequently concluded a treaty of friendship with Ahab, returning territories occupied by him, and heading an alliance with the kings of Syria, Phoenicia and Israel in a war against King Shalmaneser III of Assyria, at Karkar in 853 B.C. But this coalition broke up three years later when Ahab, with the assistance of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, waged war against Aram at Ramoth Gilead, where Ahab met his death (I Kgs chap. 22). After Jehu's accession to the throne of Israel, Ben-Hadad II was assassinated by Hazael (II Kgs 8:15) who seized the throne of Aram (I Kgs 19:15; II Kgs 8:7-15).
3. Ben-Hadad III – son of Hazael, a contemporary of Kings Jehoahaz and Joash of Israel. During the early years of his reign, he occupied the greater part of the kingdom of Israel (II Kgs 13:3-6) imposing conditions so repressive, that King Adad-Nirari III of Assyria was proclaimed "deliverer" when he renewed his war against Aram and broke Ben-Hadad's power in 802 B.C. (II Kgs 13:5).
Concordance
BEN-HADAD 1:
I Kgs 15:1820. II Chr 16:2, 4
BEN-HADAD 2:
I Kgs 20:1-2,5, 9-10, 12,16-17, 20, 26,30, 32-34. II Kgs 6:24; 8:7, 9
BEN-HADAD 3:
II Kgs 13:3,24-25. Jer 49:27. Amos 1:4
