1 Kings 20:13-24

¹³At the same time a prophet came up to Ahab, king of Israel, and told him, “This is what the Lord says: You see this massive army? Just watch, because I will make you victorious today, and you will be convinced that I am the Lord.”

¹⁴“But who's going to do this?” Ahab asked. The prophet answered, “This is what the Lord says: It will be the young officers under the district commanders.” “And who's going to start the battle?” he asked. The prophet replied, “You are!”

¹⁵So Ahab called up the 232 young officers of the district commanders, and assembled the 7,000 soldiers that made up Israel's army.

¹⁶They left at noon while Ben-hadad and the thirty-two kings with him were busy getting drunk in their tents.

¹⁷The young officers of the district commanders took the lead. The scouts Ben-hadad had sent out came and reported to him, “Enemy soldiers are advancing from Samaria.”

¹⁸“If they're coming in peace, take them alive,” he ordered. “If they're coming to attack, take them alive.”

¹⁹The young officers of the district commanders advanced from the city, followed by the army.

²⁰Each man killed his opponent, and the Arameans ran away. The Israelites chased them, but Ben-hadad, king of Aram, escaped on horseback with his cavalry.

²¹Then the king of Israel came out and attacked the horses and chariots. He inflicted a great defeat on the Arameans.

²²Later on the prophet came to the king of Israel and told him, “Go and reinforce your defenses, and check what you need to do, because in the spring the king of Aram will come and attack you again.”

²³In the meantime the king of Aram's officers told him, “Their gods are gods of the mountains. That's why they could defeat us. But if we fight them in the lowlands, we can beat them.

²⁴You should do this: remove each of the kings from their positions and replace them with commanders.