And Ben-ha'dad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.
Ben-hadad the king of Syria. This monarch was the son of that Ben-hadad who, in the reign of Baths made a raid on the northern towns of Galilee (1 Kings 15:20). The 32 kings that were confederate with him were probably tributary princes. The ancient kings of Syria and Phoenicia ruled only over a single city, and were independent of each other, except when one great city, as Damascus, acquired the ascendancy; and even then they were allied only in time of war. The Syrian army encamped at the gates, and besieged the town of Samaria.