1 Kings 20:16
And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him. And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.
The verse stands in the record of Ahab's reign, which was successful in civil affairs but a moral failure because he chose idolatry and enforced it upon his people. It belongs to the account of Ben-hadad, king of Syria, besieging Samaria and suffering defeat, one of two times he was driven off in confusion. In that surrounding history God declared that Israel would be delivered through the young princes acting under Ahab's direction. That small band of Israelites then put the Syrian host to flight and won the victory.
When Ahab's forces went out at noon, Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions together with the thirty-two kings allied with him. His drinking at that hour shows that in the early history of the Hebrews the principal meal was eaten about noon. God gave Ahab this victory over Ben-hadad after a prophet had warned him, so that Ahab would know the deliverance came from Jehovah. The chapter thus shows God making another effort to win the weak Ahab.