Treasury of Scripture
Ben-hadad
1 Kings 20:11,12 And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girds on his harness boast himself as he that puts it off...
1 Kings 16:7 And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house...
Proverbs 23:29-32 Who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has babbling? who has wounds without cause? who has redness of eyes...
Ecclesiastes 10:16,17 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes eat in the morning!...
Hosea 4:11 Prostitution and wine and new wine take away the heart.
the thirty
Isaiah 54:15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whoever shall gather together against you shall fall for your sake.
The Syrians, the besiegers, had their directions from a drunken king, who gave orders over his cups, while he was drinking at noon. Drunkenness is a sin which is most detestable in all, but more so in a king than in a private individual, inasmuch as the greater weight a man's situation carries, whether from accumulated riches, family connections, hereditary authority, or invested command, so is the influence which his vices must have on those around him. Perhaps it may be said, from past experience, that drunkenness, which is a most heinous sin in the sight of God, may be charged on those who indulge {only now and then} in that which may eventually lead them into drunkenness; for they shut their eyes against the most palpable facts, and rather than give up the paltry gratification of a debach, involve thousands by their example to positive harm. Ben-hadad's drunkenness was the forerunner of his fall. Belshazzar also, we read, drank wine with his princes, his wives, and his concubines, and praised the gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone: and in the {same hour} came forth the finger of a man's hand and wrote his doom on the plaster of the wall. Those who fancy themselves perfectly secure, and above the possibility of falling, are commonly nearest their destruction: there is always an Ahab read to take advantage of and improve the self-imposed imbecility.