Reflections on 1 Kings 22

1 Kings 22 (Contemporary English Version)

1. For the next three years there was peace between Israel and Syria.
   
2. During the third year King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit King Ahab of Israel.
   
3. Ahab asked his officials, "Why haven't we tried to get Ramoth in Gilead back from the Syrians? It belongs to us."
   
4. Then he asked Jehoshaphat, "Would you go to Ramoth with me and attack the Syrians?" "Just tell me what to do," Jehoshaphat answered. "My army and horses are at your command.
   
5. But first, let's ask the LORD."
   
6. Ahab sent for about four hundred prophets and asked, "Should I attack the Syrians at Ramoth?" "Yes!" the prophets answered. "The Lord will help you defeat them."
   
7. But Jehoshaphat said, "Just to make sure, is there another of the LORD's prophets we can ask?"
   
8. "We could ask Micaiah son of Imlah," Ahab said. "But I hate Micaiah. He always has bad news for me." "Don't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied.
   
9. Then Ahab sent someone to bring Micaiah as soon as possible.
   
10. All this time, Ahab and Jehoshaphat were dressed in their royal robes and were seated on their thrones at the threshing place near the gate of Samaria. They were listening to the prophets tell them what the LORD had said.
    
11. Zedekiah son of Chenaanah was one of the prophets. He had made some horns out of iron and shouted, "Ahab, the LORD says you will attack the Syrians like a bull with iron horns and wipe them out!"
    
12. All the prophets agreed that Ahab should attack the Syrians at Ramoth, and they promised that the LORD would help him defeat them.
    
13. Meanwhile, the messenger who went to get Micaiah whispered, "Micaiah, all the prophets have good news for Ahab. Now go and say the same thing."
    
14. "I'll say whatever the living LORD tells me to say," Micaiah replied.
    
15. Then Micaiah went to Ahab, and Ahab asked, "Micaiah, should I attack the Syrians at Ramoth?" "Yes!" Micaiah answered. "The LORD will help you defeat them."
    
16. "Micaiah, I've told you over and over to tell me the truth!" Ahab shouted. "What does the LORD really say?"
    
17. He answered, "In a vision I saw Israelite soldiers walking around in the hills like sheep without a shepherd to guide them. The LORD said, 'This army has no leader. They should go home and not fight.' "
    
18. Ahab turned to Jehoshaphat and said, "I told you he would bring bad news!"
    
19. Micaiah replied: Listen to this! I also saw the LORD seated on his throne with every creature in heaven gathered around him.
    
20. The LORD asked, "Who can trick Ahab and make him go to Ramoth where he will be killed?" They talked about it for a while,
    
21. then finally a spirit came forward and said to the LORD, "I can trick Ahab." "How?" the LORD asked.
    
22. "I'll make Ahab's prophets lie to him." "Good!" the LORD replied. "Now go and do it."
    
23. This is exactly what has happened, Ahab. The LORD made all your prophets lie to you, and he knows you will soon be destroyed.
    
24. Zedekiah walked up to Micaiah and slapped him on the face. Then he asked, "Do you really think the LORD would speak to you and not to me?"
    
25. Micaiah answered, "You'll find out on the day you have to hide in the back room of some house."
    
26. Ahab shouted, "Arrest Micaiah! Take him to Prince Joash and Governor Amon of Samaria.
    
27. Tell them to put him in prison and to give him nothing but bread and water until I come back safely."
    
28. Micaiah said, "If you do come back, I was wrong about what the LORD wanted me to say." Then he told the crowd, "Don't forget what I said!"
    
29. Ahab and Jehoshaphat led their armies to Ramoth in Gilead.
    
30. Before they went into battle, Ahab said, "Jehoshaphat, I'll disguise myself, but you wear your royal robe." Then Ahab disguised himself and went into battle.
    
31. The king of Syria had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders to attack only Ahab.
    
32. So when they saw Jehoshaphat in his robe, they thought he was Ahab and started to attack him. But when Jehoshaphat shouted out to them,
    
33. they realized he wasn't Ahab, and they left him alone.
    
34. However, during the fighting a soldier shot an arrow without even aiming, and it hit Ahab where two pieces of his armor joined. He shouted to his chariot driver, "I've been hit! Get me out of here!"
    
35. The fighting lasted all day, with Ahab propped up in his chariot so he could see the Syrian troops. He bled so much that the bottom of the chariot was covered with blood, and by evening he was dead.
    
36. As the sun was going down, someone in Israel's army shouted to the others, "Retreat! Go back home!"
    
37. Ahab's body was taken to Samaria and buried there.
    
38. Some workers washed his chariot near a spring in Samaria, and prostitutes washed themselves in his blood. Dogs licked Ahab's blood off the ground, just as the LORD had warned.
    
39. Everything else Ahab did while he was king, including the towns he strengthened and the palace he built and furnished with ivory, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel.
    
40. Ahab died, and his son Ahaziah became king.
    
41. Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king of Judah in Ahab's fourth year as king of Israel.
    
42. Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled from Jerusalem for twenty-five years. His mother was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
    
43. Jehoshaphat obeyed the LORD, just as his father Asa had done, and during his rule he was at peace with the king of Israel. He got rid of the rest of the prostitutes from the local shrines, but he did not destroy the shrines, and they were still used as places for offering sacrifices. Everything else Jehoshaphat did while he was king, including his brave deeds and military victories, is written in The History of the Kings of Judah.
    
44. (SEE 22:43)
    
45. (SEE 22:43)
    
46. (SEE 22:43)
    
47. The country of Edom had no king at the time, so a lower official ruled the land.
    
48. Jehoshaphat had seagoing ships built to sail to Ophir for gold. But they were wrecked at Ezion-Geber and never sailed.
    
49. Ahaziah son of Ahab offered to let his sailors go with Jehoshaphat's sailors, but Jehoshaphat refused.
    
50. Jehoshaphat died and was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem, and his son Jehoram became king.
    
51. Ahaziah son of Ahab became king of Israel in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat's rule in Judah, and he ruled two years from Samaria.
    
52. Ahaziah disobeyed the LORD, just as his father, his mother, and Jeroboam had done. They all led Israel to sin.
    
53. Ahaziah worshiped Baal and made the LORD God of Israel very angry, just as his father had done.
    

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In the previous chapter, Ahab received a judgment from the Lord for killing the man Naboth and taking his vineyard. This judgment stated that "In the place where the dogs licked Naboth's blood, the dogs will also lick your blood!" We see this prophecy fulfilled in this chapter.

In the third year of Ahab's reign, Jehoshaphat had become king in Judah, succeeding his father Asa. Both Asa and his son Jehoshaphat were godly kings. But being human, they did not always make wise choices. This is the case in the events of this chapter. Jehoshaphat renewed the relationship with Israel, making a peace treaty with Ahab, king of Israel. Because of this treaty Ahab asked Jehoshaphat to join him in going up against the king of Aram to retake the city of Ramoth-gilead which had been taken from Israel by Aram. Jehoshaphat agreed but suggested they first "ask what the LORD's will is." (22:5) Ahab agreed and gathered 400 of his prophets who gave the answer they knew Ahab wanted to hear: "March up, and the Lord will hand it over to the king." (22:6)

Jehoshaphat was not satisfied, though, and asked if there wasn't "a prophet of Yahweh here any more?" (22:7) Ahab said there was but he hated him because he never prophesied good about him. Obviously Ahab was more interested in hearing what he wanted to hear than to know the truth. Nevertheless, he called for the prophet Micaiah to please Jehoshaphat. The word of the Lord that Micaiah relayed to Ahab told of how a spirit had given the prophets of Ahab a lying spirit causing them to speak lies to the king. In this way Ahab would be enticed to go up against the king of Aram against the Lord's will. Furthermore, Micaiah told Ahab that "the Lord has pronounced disaster against you." (22:23)

This prophecy displeased Ahab and he had Micaiah put in prison until he returned from battle safely. But Micaiah told him, "If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me." (22:28) Ahab and Jehoshaphat went together against the king of Aram. It is puzzling why Jehoshaphat did this after asking to know the will of the Lord and hearing the prophecy of Micaiah. In the battle an arrow shot at random hit Ahab between his armor inflicting a fatal wound. Though he survived throughout the day propped up in his chariot where he could view the battle, at evening he died and the battle was called off. It was then that the Lord's prophecy was fulfilled. As Ahab's blood was washed from his chariot, "The dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed in it, according to the word of the LORD that He had spoken." (22:38)

The chapter closes with details concerning the transition of leadership that took place following Ahab's death.