1 Kings 20:22-30
"22 Then the prophet came near to the king of Israel and said to him, “Come, strengthen yourself, and consider well what you have to do, for in the spring the king of Syria will come up against you.”
23 And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills, and so they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. 24 And do this: remove the kings, each from his post, and put commanders in their places, 25 and muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.” And he listened to their voice and did so.
26 In the spring, Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. 27 And the people of Israel were mustered and were provisioned and went against them. The people of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Syrians filled the country. 28 And a man of God came near and said to the king of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because the Syrians have said, “The Lord is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’” 29 And they encamped opposite one another seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle was joined. And the people of Israel struck down of the Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day. 30 And the rest fled into the city of Aphek, and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left. Ben-hadad also fled and entered an inner chamber in the city."
Some men never learn: Ben-hadad had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Israel; but rather than face facts, he must needs concoct some highly improbable explanation of the rout his army had suffered. (It is of course one of the hardest things in the world to accept full responsibility when something goes wrong; any explanation or excuse will do, if it saves our face and prevents us seeing the dismal truth about ourselves. This is as true in individual ex- perience as in armies). And so he tried again, assembling another great army that eclipsed the puny strength of Israel (27) in unmistakeable fashion. Again the man of God (not apparently Elijah, but some un-named prophet) came to King Ahab assuring him of the Lord's interven- tion for His own great Name's sake, and an even greater disaster befell the hapless Ben-hadad, who fled in terror from the unnerving spectacle and hid himself in an inner chamber. Various readings are given for the phrase in 30 'inner chamber'. One says, 'he fled from chamber to chamber', another, 'a chamber within a chamber'. Well might the Scriptures say 'He that is in the heavens shall laugh.' Who would not laugh at the sight of the mighty Ben-hadad hopping from room to room and hiding himself in a cupboard or a pantry from the arm of the Lord. How are the mighty fallen!