2. silver and gold] In 1 Kings, “all the silver and the gold that were left.”
Ben-hadad] At least three kings of Syria bore this name, the two others being severally (1) a contemporary of Ahab (1 Kings xx. 1 ff.), (2) a contemporary of Jehoash the grandson of Jehu, 2 Kings xiii. 25.
that dwelt at Damascus] The epithet distinguishes the king of Damascus from other kings of Syria, e.g. from the king of Hamath.
Damascus] Hebrew “Darmesek”; see note on 1 Chronicles xviii. 5.
⁴And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store cities[¹] of Naphtali.
[¹] Hebrew storehouses of the cities.
4. and they smote] The places smitten were all in the extreme north of Israel.
Ijon] The city cannot be identified, but the name is preserved in Merj ‘Iyūn, a table-land north of the Jordan valley. Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 291.
Abel-maim] In 1 Kings, “Abel-beth-maacah”; compare 2 Samuel xx. 14, 15. No doubt the two names designate one place.
all the store cities] In 1 Kings, “all Chinneroth ” (i.e. the district west of the Sea of Galilee). As this was a very fruitful district, the “store cities” of the Chronicler may be only another name for it.