Chapter 22
Jehoshaphat Allies with Ahab. 1 For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. 2 But in the third year, Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, came down to the king of Israel. 3 The king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth in Gilead belongs to us? We have kept quiet and have not taken it out of the hands of the king of Aram.” 4 He said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go to Ramoth-gilead to fight with me?” Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am yours, and my people are your people, and my horses are your horses.”
5 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire today concerning the word of the Lord.” 6 [a]The king of Israel gathered together the prophets, four hundred of them, and he said to them, “Shall I go up to fight at Ramoth-gilead or shall I desist?” They answered, “Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into your hands.”
7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not another prophet of the Lord from whom we can inquire?” 8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man by whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good things for me, only evil. He is Micaiah, the son of Imlah.” Jehoshaphat said, “Let the king not say this.” 9 The king of Israel summoned an officer and said to him, “Rush over to Micaiah, the son of Imlah.”
10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, were sitting upon their thrones, wearing their robes, at a threshing floor at the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All of the prophets were prophesying before them. 11 Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made some iron horns for himself and said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You will gore the Arameans[b] with these until they are consumed.’ ” 12 All the prophets prophesied in the same way, saying, “Go to Ramoth-gilead and triumph! The Lord will deliver it into the hands of the king.”
13 Micaiah Prophesies Doom. The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets are consistently favorable to the king. Let your pronouncement be like their words and speak favorably.” 14 But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, I will only say what the Lord says to me.”
15 When he arrived before the king and the king said to Micaiah, “Shall we go to fight at Ramoth-gilead or shall we desist,” he answered, “Go and triumph, for the Lord will deliver it into the hands of the king.” 16 But the king said to him, “How many times do I have to warn you not to tell me anything in the name of the Lord other than what is true.” 17 So he said, “I saw all of Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These have no master, let them return to their homes in peace.’ ”[c]
18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you, he will not prophesy what is good for me, only what is evil?”
19 He said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, with all of the hosts of heaven standing on his right and his left. 20 The Lord said, ‘Who will convince Ahab to go up to Ramoth-gilead so that he might fall?’ One said one thing, another said another. 21 Then a spirit came forth and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will convince him.’ 22 The Lord said to him, ‘How?’ He said, ‘I will go out and put a lying spirit in the mouths of all of his prophets.’ He said, ‘You must convince him too, and you will succeed. Go and do it.’ 23 Now therefore, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouths of all of these prophets. The Lord has spoken evil concerning you.”
24 Then Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, approached Micaiah and struck him on the cheek. He said, “How did the Spirit of the Lord depart from me to speak to you?” 25 Micaiah answered, “Behold, the day will come when you will enter an inner chamber to hide yourself.”
26 The king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him to Amon, the city leader, and to Joash, the king’s son 27 and say, ‘Thus says the king: Put this man in prison and feed him with punishment rations of bread and give him punishment rations of water to drink until I return in safety.’ ” 28 Micaiah said, “If you return in safety, then the Lord has not spoken through me.” He also added, “Listen, all you people!”
29 Ahab’s Death. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-gilead. 30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will go into battle disguised, but you go into battle dressed in your robes.” So the king of Israel went into battle disguised.
31 Now the king of Aram had commanded the captains of his thirty-two chariots, “Do not fight with the small nor the great; save yourselves for the king of Israel.” 32 When the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “This is certainly the king of Israel.” They turned to attack him, but when Jehoshaphat cried out, 33 the captains of the chariots realized that it was not the king of Israel. They turned away from pursuing him.
34 But someone drew his bow, and by chance he hit the king of Israel in the joints of his armor. He said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”[d] 35 As the battle grew more savage that day, they propped the king up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound dripped onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died.
36 As the sun was setting, there was a cry that spread through the army: “Everyone to his own city, everyone to his own land.” 37 And so the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. 38 Someone washed out the chariot at the pool in Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood while the prostitutes were bathing. This fulfilled what the word of the Lord had said.
39 Are not the rest of the deeds of Ahab and all that he did, the ivory house and all of the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 40 Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah, his son, reigned in his stead.
41 Jehoshaphat’s Reign. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, began to reign during the fourth year of the reign of Ahab, the king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi. 43 [e]He walked in the ways of Asa, his father. He did not turn away from them, from doing what was right in the sight of the Lord. Still, he did not do away with the high places, and the people offered sacrifices and burned incense upon the high places. 44 Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
45 Are not the rest of the deeds of Jehoshaphat, his achievements, and how he fought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
46 As to the rest of the sacred prostitutes who remained in the days of Asa his father, he expelled them from the land. 47 There was no king in Edom, only a representative of the king.
48 Jehoshaphat built merchant ships that went to Ophir for gold, but in fact they never sailed, for the ships sank at Ezion-geber. 49 Then Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, “Let your servants go with my servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat would not allow it.
50 Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the City of David, his father, and then Jehoram, his son, reigned in his stead.
51 Ahaziah’s Reign. Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel in Samaria during the seventeenth year of the reign of Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah. He reigned over Israel for two years. 52 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. 53 He served Baal and worshiped him, and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel to anger, just as his father had.
Footnotes
- 1 Kings 22:6 Elijah had the 450 prophets of Baal put to death (1 Ki 18:19); he did not kill all of the false prophets. Jehoshaphat’s request for another prophet implies that he was rejecting the 400 remaining, but in the end, both he and Ahab listen to the heathen prophets.
- 1 Kings 22:11 Gore the Arameans: the symbolism here with horns represents the two kings Ahab and Jehoshaphat in their unified battle against a common enemy.
- 1 Kings 22:17 Micaiah’s prophecy includes the reference to being without a shepherd and master which may be referring to the deaths of both Ahab and Jehoshaphat in battle.
- 1 Kings 22:34 All of Ahab’s attempts to ensure his survival in battle are pointless. His disguise did not change the evil in his heart where God sees and judges a person. The random arrow that struck him was the ultimate punishment for his evil deeds.
- 1 Kings 22:43 Jehoshaphat’s reign is a return to the Lord in many ways, but although he tried, he did not entirely eradicate the heathen shrines (see 2 Chr 20:33).