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THE KING’S BUSINESS
will deliver it into thine hand this day.” God makes to us exactly the same promise regarding the multitude of Satan’s hosts that encamp against us (Eph. 6:12). If we only trust God, He will deliver the enemy into our hand no matter how innumerable it may seem. Our enemies are more than a match for us, but they are no match at all for Jehovah. God’s purpose in delivering Ahab was that Ahab might know that He was, indeed, Jehovah, i. e., the self-existent One, the God of Redemption, the covenant making and covenant-keeping God of Israel. Ahab himself had wandered far from God; nevertheless Jehovah was still “the God of Israel” against all her enemies, and He wished Ahab to know this. Ahab came to know it that day; but alas, Ahab soon forgot it again, as did his successors, and there fore Jehovah withdrew himself from His people for a time, but not forever (Rom. 11:25-29). Ahab appears at his very best in this lesson. v. 14. “And Ahab said, By whom?” Ahab does not seem to have doubted for a mo ment Jehovah’s promise that He would de liver; he simply asks directions as to his own procedure. “And he said, Thus saith the LORD, EVEN by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou.” To Ahab’s question, “By whom?” Jehovah gave what appeared like a strange answer: “By the young men of the princes of the provinces.” There were only two hundred and thirty-two of these (v. 15) ; but two hundred and thirty-two with God are suffi cient against a countless host (cf. Judges 7: 7, 16-22; 1 Sam. 14:6; 2 Chron. 14:11-13; Rom. 8:31) ; and it is always God’s delight to work through the “young men” (cf. 1 John 2:13, 14). To Ahab’s question, “Who shall begin the battle?” God gave a very brief answer, “Thou.” There is a deep sig nificance in this. The servant of God should never wait until he is attacked; he should begin the assault upon the enemy; carrying the battle into the enemy’s territory is the very best defense of one’s own territory.
v. 15. “ Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two; and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thou sand.” Israel was, indeed, greatly reduced in numbers, only seven thousand fighting men left, while as once they had numbered their forces by the million. They had come to this low estate because they had forsaken Jehovah (Ps. 106:39-48). V. 16. “And they went out at noon." For the time being at least, both Ahab and the young men had faith; though the sun was in mid-heaven, they went put into the burn ing sun to begin the battle against appar ently overwhelming odds. “But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions; he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him." Ben-hadad and his allies were doing every thing they could to incapacitate themselves for the conflict, they were drinking them selves drunk. A vast host filled with in toxicating liquor is no match for a handful of sober men. It is true that Ben-hadad had thirty and two kings on his side, but they were drunken kings and a drunken king is no match for a sober commoner. The one that would win victories over his enemies must put away strong drink, from the king down to the commonest soldier. England today is finding strong drink a more dangerous enemy than the Germans, or the Austrians, or the Turks. The man who drinks himself drunk courts defeat (Prov. 23:29-32; Eccle. 11:10, 16, 17; Hosea 4:11). The thirty and two kings are described as “the thirty and two kings that helped him,” but they helped very little when they were full of drink. Unfortunate, indeed, is the man whose helpers are drunk ards. v. 17. “And the young men of the princes of the provinces went our first; and Ben- hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.” Ahab conducted the battle exactly as Jehovah had directed him (v. 14). If we are to fight Jehovah’s battles, we must do it in
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