Ben-Hadad I

{{Short description|King of Aram-Damascus from 885 BCE to 865 BCE}}

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| name = Ben-Hadad I

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| succession = King of Aram Damascus

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| reign = 885–865 BCE

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| predecessor = Hezion (or Tabrimmon)

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| successor = Ben-Hadad II

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| father = Tabrimmon

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Ben-Hadad I ({{langx|he|בֶּן־הֲדַד|translit=Ben-Hăḏaḏ}}),{{cite web |title=BDB, בֶּן־הֲדַד 1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/BDB%2C_%D7%91%D6%B6%D6%BC%D7%9F%D6%BE%D7%94%D6%B2%D7%93%D6%B7%D7%93.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |website=www.sefaria.org}} son of Tabrimmon and grandson of Hezion, was king of Aram-Damascus between 885 BCE and 865 BCE. Ben-Hadad I was reportedly a contemporary of kings Baasha of the Kingdom of Israel and Asa of the Kingdom of Judah.

According to the biblical book of Kings, Asa called on Ben-Hadad I to aid him in attacking northern Israel while Baasha restricted access to Jerusalem through border fortifications. Ben-Hadad took the towns of "Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maachah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali" ({{bibleverse|1|Kings|15:20}}). This acquisition gave Aram-Damascus control of the trade route to southern Phoenicia. By the time of the reign of Ahab, the area was back in Israelite hands.{{cite book |last=Freedman |first=David Noel |title=Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2000 |page=[https://archive.org/details/eerdmansdictiona0000unse/page/165 165] |isbn=978-0-8028-2400-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/eerdmansdictiona0000unse/page/165}}

According to the archaeologist William Foxwell Albright, the Melqart stele should be attributed to Ben-Hadad I.{{Cite journal|last=Albright|first=W. F.|date=1942-10-01|title=A Votive Stele Erected by Ben-Hadad I of Damascus to the God Melcarth|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/1355460|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|volume=87|issue=87|pages=23–29|doi=10.2307/1355460|jstor=1355460|s2cid=163203878|issn=0003-097X}} However, Kenneth Kitchen disagrees and states that there is no actual evidence that connects that stele to this particular king.{{Cite book|last=Kitchen|first=K. A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kw6U05qBiXcC&q=on+the+reliability+of+the+old+testament|title=On the Reliability of the Old Testament|date=2006-06-09|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-0396-2|pages=12|language=en}}