1 Kings 20:28
And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
The verse belongs to the history of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah in 1 Kings 12-22, covering about eighty years from the revolt of the ten tribes to Jehoshaphat's death. It is part of the historical record in 1 Kings, a sad account that contains important lessons, belonging to a period when the general moral course of Israel and Judah was downward, though there were times of revival when the people sought God and he acted for them and through them. It is part of the account of Ahab, whose recorded life and reign stands as a lesson for later generations, presenting him as a successful ruler who nevertheless chose idolatry and enforced the worship of heathen gods on Israel.
It occurs in the account of the defeat of Ben-hadad, the Syrian king, and shows another effort by God to win the weak Ahab, using a prophet to warn and reprove the king and to win him back to his duty. The Syrians had said and boasted that the LORD is God of the hills but not God of the valleys, thereby wrongly claiming that he ruled only over the hills and wrongly limiting his power. Through a man of God speaking to the king of Israel, the LORD therefore promised to deliver all that great multitude into Israel's hand. He gave Israel victory over the Syrian army, so that Israel would know that he is the LORD, that he is God in every place and everywhere, a victory that taught Ahab it came from Jehovah.