Ahab conveniently ignores the fact that he was lenient to Ben-hadad and let him go when he should have executed him. Ben-hadad made promises (1 Kings 20:34) to get his freedom but obviously had not fulfilled all those promises. Ahab has no one to blame but himself for Ramoth being in Syria’s hands. “Jehoshaphat … came down to the king of Israel [Ahab] … wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead?… I am as thou art, my people as thy people” (1 Kings
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