Ahab sent this message to the king of Syria, and he became angry. He said, “I’ll totally destroy Samaria! When I’m done, it’ll only be a trash heap.” With that, he got drunk with some other kings who were with him.

As Ahab made preparations for battle, a prophet went to him and said, “The army of Syria is much bigger than yours, but the Lord is going to help you defeat them. You are to personally lead your men into battle so you’ll see firsthand that the Lord is in control.”

The king of Syria was still drunk when he heard that Ahab was marching his army out of Samaria. He told his soldiers “Take the men of Israel alive. I want them as slaves.”

The army of Israel hit the Syrians so hard that they ran from the battlefield. It was a crushing defeat for the Syrian army. Even their king just barely escaped.

The prophet walked up to Ahab and said, “Get ready. They’re coming back next spring.”

The officials of Syria met with their king and said, “Their god is the god of the mountains. You were defeated because you fought them in the hills. You’ll win if you fight them on flat land.”

So in the spring, he once again invaded Israel. Ahab’s army was like a small flock of goats next to a vast army.

The prophet said to Ahab. “They think the Lord is a god of the hills, and has no power on flat land. Therefore, you’ll defeat them, and then you’ll know that the Lord—he is in control.”

The battle started and the Syrian army suffered a massive defeat. 100,000 of their men died. They rushed back to their city, but suddenly a wall fell and killed another 27,000.

The king of Syria ran and hid in a closet. Finally, his officials decided to humble themselves and go ask Ahab to have mercy on their king. Ahab said, “Oh, is my brother still alive? Bring him here.” The two kings met together and worked out an agreement.

When the prophet heard about this, he turned to a friend and said, “God wants you to hit me.”

The friend was shocked. He said, “I’m not going to hit you.”

The prophet said, “You disobeyed the Lord. Therefore, a lion will kill you.” It happened just as he said. Soon after the friend left, a lion jumped on him and killed him.

The prophet said to another man, “God wants you to hit me.” So the man beat him up. The prophet then covered his wounds with bandages and stood by the road.

Soon Ahab came by, but didn’t know who this man was. The prophet yelled, “Your Majesty. During the battle, I was paid to guard a prisoner. I was told I’d be killed if he got away. Oh, I got distracted and the prisoner escaped.”

The king said, “You fool! You’ll get exactly what you said you’d get.”

The prophet then pulled off his bandages and Ahab saw who he was. He said, “The Lord told you to kill the king of Syria, and you didn’t do it. So now you’ll die in his place! And your people will die instead of his people.”

Ahab left the prophet and went back to Samaria, but he was no longer happy about his victory. Instead he became angry and depressed.