According to

1 Kings 20 1 Kings 20 is the 20th chapter of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by ...

:1–34 and 2 Kings 6:8–7:16, the Israelite–Aramean War was an armed conflict between the Northern Israelites and the Arameans and

Amorites The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...

that took place in the Levantine regions of

Aram Aram may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Aram'' (film), 2002 French action drama * Aram, a fictional character in Japanese manga series '' MeruPuri'' * Aram Quartet, an Italian music group * ''Aram'' (Kural book), the first of the three ...

and

Bashan Bashan (; he, הַבָּשָׁן, translit=ha-Bashan; la, Basan or ''Basanitis'') is the ancient, biblical name used for the northernmost region of the Transjordan during the Iron Age. It is situated in modern-day Syria. Its western part, now ...

. It is generally considered to have taken place around the year 874

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

. The war resulted in a victory for the Israelites and saw the Kingdom of Israel conquer the Biblical city of

Golan Golan ( he, גּוֹלָן ''Gōlān''; ar, جولان ' or ') is the name of a biblical town later known from the works of Josephus (first century CE) and Eusebius (''Onomasticon'', early 4th century CE). Archaeologists localize the biblical ...

, a vital landmark that is widely believed to have historically stood on the site of the village of

Saham al-Jawlan Saham al-Jawlan ( ar, سحم الجولان, ''Saḩam al Jawlān''), also known as Saham el-Golan, is a Syrian village in the Daraa Governorate, in the Hauran region. It had a population of 6,572 in 2004.

in modern-day Syria.

Conflict and figure estimates

The

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

had initially planned to invade and conquer

to halt

Aramean The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. The Aramean ...

military offensives that were being carried out from that region. However, they came into conflict with the

in a battle for control over all of the strategic land in

. Following their victory against the Amorites in Bashan, the Israelites invaded

to subdue the Arameans. The Aramean monarch

Ben-Hadad I Ben-Hadad I ( he, בן הדד, translit=bn hdd; arc, בר הדד, translit=br hdd), son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion, was king of Aram-Damascus between 885 BC and 865 BC. Ben-Hadad I was reportedly a contemporary of kings Baasha of the K ...

led a fierce standoff between his

Kingdom of Aram-Damascus The Kingdom of Aram-Damascus () was an Aramean polity that existed from the late-12th century BCE until 732 BCE, and was centred around the city of Damascus in the Southern Levant. Alongside various tribal lands, it was bounded in its later y ...

and the invading forces of the Kingdom of Israel; there are no reliable estimates for both sides' casualties, but some sources put Aramean casualties as high as 127,000 troops. The conflict saw the Israelite king

Ahab Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bib ...

crush the Arameans and successfully take over the Golan to complete Israel's later conquests.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israelite-Aramean War Military history of Asia Hebrew Bible battles History of the Middle East 9th century BC 9th-century BC conflicts Omrides Wars of ancient Israel Military history of Aram-Damascus

Conflict and figure estimates

See also

References