Chapter 18

1 Jehoshaphat, joined in affinity with Ahab, is persuaded to go with him against Ramoth-gilead. 4 Ahab, seduced by false prophets, according to the word of Micaiah, is slain there.

1. Joined affinity with Ahab. This chapter is parallel to 1 Kings 22:2–35. In Kings the incident appears in connection with the account of the reign of Ahab, while here it occurs in connection with the account of the reign of Jehoshaphat. The word translated “joined affinity” means to form a marriage alliance. The verb is translated “make marriages” in Gen. 34:9; Deut. 7:3; Joshua 23:12. The alliance between the kings was sealed by the marriage of Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, to Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat (see 2 Chron. 21:6; see on 2 Kings 8:26).

2. After certain years. That is, “in the third year” (1 Kings 22:2). This was the third and last year of a three-year period of peace between Israel and Syria (1 Kings 22:1). It was the year of Ahab’s death, 853 b.c., according to the chronology based on the Assyrian limmu list (see Vol. II, p. 159). The alliance between Jehoshaphat and Ahab was probably made in 863 b.c., or shortly before, because Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram and Athaliah (see on v. 1), was 22 years old in the 12th year from Ahab’s death and Joram’s accession (2 Kings 8:25, 26).

Killed sheep and oxen. Ahab overwhelmed Jehoshaphat with hospitality as part of a deliberate plan to win the participation of the king of Judah in the projected campaign against Syria.

3. Said unto Jehoshaphat. This verse is similar to 1 Kings 22:4. From here on the accounts in Chronicles and Kings differ only slightly (see on 1 Kings 22).

My people as thy people. The parallel account adds, “my horses as thy horses” (1 Kings 22:4). Chariots played an important part in the impending battle. At the battle of Qarqar, from which Ahab had just returned, Israel had provided, according to the Assyrian account, 2,000 chariots and 10,000 infantry, while Benhadad of Syria had 1,200 chariots, 1,200 cavalry, and 20,000 infantry.

4. Word of the Lord. Jehoshaphat had rashly agreed to go with Ahab against the Syrians, but now it seems his conscience told him that he should first ascertain the will of the Lord.

5. Prophets four hundred. These were false prophets.

6. Prophet of the Lord. Jehoshaphat was interested not so much in a favorable report as in a true report. He had no confidence in the word of the 400 false prophets of Samaria.

7. Never prophesied good. The prophet of the Lord did not prophesy good concerning Ahab because there was nothing good to prophesy. He delivered messages to Ahab as they were given to him by God. Ahab hated Micaiah because he hated the truth and despised the Lord. Truth is truth, whether it is appreciated or not. What the prophet of the Lord said, would come to pass, whether Ahab desired it or not.

10. Horns of iron. Horns were often used as symbols of strength or power (Deut. 33:17; Jer. 48:25; Amos 6:13).

11. Go up. The prophets prophesied as they did because this was the message that Ahab desired. They were in the service of the king of Israel, not in the service of the Lord of heaven. In telling Ahab to go up to Ramoth-gilead they were telling him to go to his death (see v. 34).

12. Speak thou good. Ahab’s messenger was endeavoring to instruct a prophet of the Lord as to the kind of message he should deliver. But God’s prophets are spokesmen for Heaven and receive their messages from God, not men. Men must have a low regard for a prophet of the Lord when they think they can influence the message he is to deliver.

13. What my God saith. To Jeremiah the Lord said, “Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth” (Jer. 1:9). A true prophet speaks not for himself but for the Lord.

14. Go ye up. See on 1 Kings 22:15. Micaiah seems here to be speaking in dramatic irony, simply repeating the false message of the false prophets (v. 11). Evidently his tone made that clear, as is shown by Ahab’s response (v. 15).

16. No shepherd. The king will fall and the people will be left without a leader.

17. Did I not tell thee? Ahab was a wicked king and knew that he could not expect a good message from the Lord. But he should have known that the Lord’s message was nevertheless a true message. Ahab’s failure to accept it as such cost him his life.

18. I saw. This is a parabolic vision and must be interpreted as such. In it God is represented as doing that which He does not restrain. God does not coerce the will. When evil men willfully choose to follow deception He does not intervene.

Since God is supreme, His refusal to restrain the forces of evil is often represented as though He directly sends the evil. An example may be found in the incident of the fiery serpents (Num. 21:4–9). According to the narrative as related by Moses, “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people” (Num. 21:6). However, these “fiery serpents” were not suddenly created or miraculously transported from some other region for the occasion; they already infested the wilderness area through which the children of Israel were traveling and would have been a source of real danger and the cause of frequent deaths had not God, by miracle, subdued these venomous reptiles. But when the people turned against the God who protected them from the many hazards of the desert, God simply withdrew His protection, and death was the result (see PP 429). Thus it was in the case of Ahab. Satan was already at work through the agency of the false prophets, and God simply did not prevent the course the king had chosen for himself.

21. Do even so. The divine command in the parabolic vision represents divine permission. Satan desired to bring about the death of Ahab, and the Lord did not prevent him. As long as God’s restraining hand is stretched out, Satan is not permitted to kill, but when God’s hand is removed, then Satan goes forth in his work of death and destruction (see GC 614).

22. The Lord hath put. Micaiah, as the prophet of the Lord, is explaining the real nature of the false prophets of Samaria. They speak lies, not truth. Their counsel leads to death, not life. God did not put this lying spirit into the mouths of the false prophets (see on v. 18); He simply permitted these emissaries of Satan to carry out their own ends, because at this time He would do nothing to prevent the death of Israel’s wicked king.

23. Smote Micaiah. This insult to the prophet of the Lord well reveals the spirit of the evil one. In one way or another Satan portrays his nature in the spirit of his emissaries.

24. Thou shalt see. The emissaries of the evil one would themselves see the results of their evil. Zedekiah would soon be forced to seek refuge from the coming disaster by hiding in some inner chamber, where he would have opportunity to reflect upon whether he or Micaiah had told the truth.

26. Return in peace. Ahab was endeavoring to put on a brave front. He tried to show his contempt for Micaiah’s message and was himself assuming the role of a prophet by predicting his return in peace. But he failed both as prophet and as king.

27. If thou certainly return. The prophecy would be tested by its fulfillment (see Deut. 18:22). The death of Ahab (2 Chron. 18:34) was the vindication of the prophet Micaiah.

28. So the king. Jehoshaphat found himself in strange company and in strange circumstances. He had asked for a prophet of the Lord, and that prophet had come and given his message. The failure of the projected campaign had been clearly and emphatically foretold. If Jehoshaphat had now accepted that message and refused to accompany Ahab, he might have been the instrument in sparing the life of Israel’s king and preventing a disastrous and humiliating defeat. Jehoshaphat carried a solemn responsibility on this occasion, but he failed. Good men are not always good and wise men are not always wise.

29. Disguise. By hiding his identity Ahab probably thought that he might escape the evil foretold by Micaiah.

31. The Lord helped him. This detail is not found in Kings. Except for the Lord’s intervention, Jehoshaphat would also have lost his life on this occasion. He had engaged in a foolish venture in which he knew the Lord would have no part. He placed himself on the enemy’s ground, and as a result almost lost his life. But in spite of his foolish mistake, God was merciful, and intervened to save his life.

33. At a venture. The man who shot the arrow that killed Ahab did not know at whom he was shooting, nor did he know that he was fulfilling a prophecy from a messenger of the Lord. But God had foreseen the drawing of that bow and the flight of that arrow, and as the Lord had foretold, so it came to pass.

34. Stayed himself up. That is, he propped himself. Ahab made a brave attempt to carry on, that his forces might go on to victory. He also hoped that he himself might not meet the fate Micaiah had predicted. He had occasion to think seriously of the prophet he had commanded to be shut up in prison till his safe return. But all was in vain. As God had said it would be, so it was. Ahab’s bravery could not atone for his folly in not believing a message from God. At even he died. Although Micaiah was in prison his prediction had been vindicated.

Ellen G. White comments

1–34PK 192–196

1 PK 192

2 PK 195

3 PK 196

3–6PK 195

28, 33, 34 PK 196