King Asa was oppressed by King Baasha who fortified Ramah as a stronghold against the South. Hence he took silver to convince Ben-Hadad to generate a counter-pressure against Israel. As proven by the bribe and the covenant the Aramean king answered the request positively and conquered Ijon, Abel-beth-maacha, „all Chinneroth“, and the land of Naphtali. Some decades ago the confidence in the historical reliability of the story was unabated. Many archaeological strata were also attributed to the Aramean foray. The situation changed by the redefinition of the Iron IIA-IIB strata in the North. Only Hazael was held responsible for almost all destruction levels in the 9th century. The paper discusses the exegetical, historical and archaeological background of 1 Kgs 15 and the role of Ben-Hadad I as the early Aramean king. It reads 1 Kgs 15:17-20 in contrast to the portrayal of the expansion of Tiglath-Pileser III in 2 Kgs 15:29, and discusses the counter arguments which were most recently pointed out against the challenge of Ben-Hadad’s impact.