1 Kings 22
Following the defeat by Ahab of Ben Hadad there is peace between Israel and Aram for 3 years.
In the third year it appears that Judah's king Jehoshaphat, paid a visit to Ahab the king of Israel.
Ahab wants to recover the town of Ramoth Gilead from the king of Aram who has apparently held it for some years and they have not done anything to re take the town, and Ahab requested the aid of King Jehoshaphat in the attempt.
In principle Jehoshaphat agreed, but asked to enquire of God before committing, so Ahab bought in his tame prophets - about 400 of them and asked them "Should I attack Ramoth in Gilead"
The unanimous answer was "Yes, go."
Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of God there, and Ahab reluctantly admits that there is Micaiah, but he never prophesies anything nice and has rather fallen out of favour as a result.
Some of the prophets had gone to rather extreme lengths, one of them had made a pair of horns out of iron and said that Ahab would gore the enemy with them until they are destroyed.
The messenger told Micaiah that all the other prophets are prophesying good things and encouraging the kings to attack, and why can he not do the same thing?
Micaiah tells the 2 kings of Israel and Judah dressed in their royal robes to go ahead and attack.
Ahab does not believe this and orders Micaiah to tell the truth.
Micaiah saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd and let all the leaderless men go home in peace.
It seems that Ahab is a tad smug when he told Jehoshaphat that Miciah never says anything good!
Micaiah also told a story of how God would entice Ahab into destruction - eventually one suggested that he could do it by placing a lying spirit in his prophets, a plan God approved of.
Ahab ordered Micaiah to be locked up until he returned from Ramoth Gilead. To which Micaiah replied "If you return then you can be sure that God did not speak through me".
Ahab persuaded Jehoshaphat to go into battle wearing his royal regalia while Ahab went in as an ordinary soldier in a chariot.
The King of Aram had given orders to his chariot units that they were to attack the king of Israel and nobody else, and when they saw a man in royal robes they attacked him.
Only when Jehoshaphat cried out did they realise their mistake and stopped pursuing him.
Ironically an archer at random fired an arrow and hit Ahab at a gap in his armour.
The battle raged all day and Ahab died in the evening causing despair in his troops who left the battlefield.
After bleeding in his chariot for several hours Ahab had made a mess, and they washed out the chariot of his blood at the pool reserved for prostitutes to bathe and dogs licked up the blood in the same place that Naboth had been murdered.
Ahab is recorded as a very evil king who was anti God.
He was succeeded by his son Ahaziah became king.
Jehoshaphat was the son of King Asa of Judah - he was recorded as a good king he followed God but he did not remove alternative worship sites from the land. He built a fleet of ships to trade. Ahab had asked to help man the ships and share the profits but Jehoshaphat refused. the ships were actually wrecked before the even set sail!
Jehoshaphat was king for 25 years before he died and was buried in Jerusalem.
Ahaziah in Israel lasted a whole 2 years as king and followed the example of his father and king Jeroboam
I do like the irony in this chapter and the death of Ahab - he went disguised into battle while Jehoshaphat went to battle in royal regalia (which would surely make him a target)
Ahab is killed anyway by an anonymous archer who may have been shooting generally into the lines, his shot was really a fluke.
Following the defeat by Ahab of Ben Hadad there is peace between Israel and Aram for 3 years.
In the third year it appears that Judah's king Jehoshaphat, paid a visit to Ahab the king of Israel.
Ahab wants to recover the town of Ramoth Gilead from the king of Aram who has apparently held it for some years and they have not done anything to re take the town, and Ahab requested the aid of King Jehoshaphat in the attempt.
In principle Jehoshaphat agreed, but asked to enquire of God before committing, so Ahab bought in his tame prophets - about 400 of them and asked them "Should I attack Ramoth in Gilead"
The unanimous answer was "Yes, go."
Jehoshaphat asked if there was a prophet of God there, and Ahab reluctantly admits that there is Micaiah, but he never prophesies anything nice and has rather fallen out of favour as a result.
Some of the prophets had gone to rather extreme lengths, one of them had made a pair of horns out of iron and said that Ahab would gore the enemy with them until they are destroyed.
The messenger told Micaiah that all the other prophets are prophesying good things and encouraging the kings to attack, and why can he not do the same thing?
Micaiah tells the 2 kings of Israel and Judah dressed in their royal robes to go ahead and attack.
Ahab does not believe this and orders Micaiah to tell the truth.
Micaiah saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd and let all the leaderless men go home in peace.
It seems that Ahab is a tad smug when he told Jehoshaphat that Miciah never says anything good!
Micaiah also told a story of how God would entice Ahab into destruction - eventually one suggested that he could do it by placing a lying spirit in his prophets, a plan God approved of.
Ahab ordered Micaiah to be locked up until he returned from Ramoth Gilead. To which Micaiah replied "If you return then you can be sure that God did not speak through me".
Ahab persuaded Jehoshaphat to go into battle wearing his royal regalia while Ahab went in as an ordinary soldier in a chariot.
The King of Aram had given orders to his chariot units that they were to attack the king of Israel and nobody else, and when they saw a man in royal robes they attacked him.
Only when Jehoshaphat cried out did they realise their mistake and stopped pursuing him.
Ironically an archer at random fired an arrow and hit Ahab at a gap in his armour.
The battle raged all day and Ahab died in the evening causing despair in his troops who left the battlefield.
After bleeding in his chariot for several hours Ahab had made a mess, and they washed out the chariot of his blood at the pool reserved for prostitutes to bathe and dogs licked up the blood in the same place that Naboth had been murdered.
Ahab is recorded as a very evil king who was anti God.
He was succeeded by his son Ahaziah became king.
Jehoshaphat was the son of King Asa of Judah - he was recorded as a good king he followed God but he did not remove alternative worship sites from the land. He built a fleet of ships to trade. Ahab had asked to help man the ships and share the profits but Jehoshaphat refused. the ships were actually wrecked before the even set sail!
Jehoshaphat was king for 25 years before he died and was buried in Jerusalem.
Ahaziah in Israel lasted a whole 2 years as king and followed the example of his father and king Jeroboam
I do like the irony in this chapter and the death of Ahab - he went disguised into battle while Jehoshaphat went to battle in royal regalia (which would surely make him a target)
Ahab is killed anyway by an anonymous archer who may have been shooting generally into the lines, his shot was really a fluke.
No comments:
Post a Comment