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2 Chronicles 18

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Jehoshaphat Allies with Ahab 1–3

1
Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab. ​
2
And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramothgilead.
3
And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramothgilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war. ​

Consulting the False Prophets 4–11

4
And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day. ​
5
Therefore the king of Israel gathered together of prophets four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the king's hand. ​
6
But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?
7
And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always evil: the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. ​
8
And the king of Israel called for one of his officers, and said, Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imla.
9
And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah sat either of them on his throne, clothed in their robes, and they sat in a void place at the entering in of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. ​
10
And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made him horns of iron, and said, Thus saith the LORD, With these thou shalt push Syria until they be consumed. ​
11
And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.

Micaiah Predicts Defeat 12–27

12
And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one assent; let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good.
13
And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak.
14
And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand. ​
15
And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the LORD?
16
Then he said, I did see all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master; let them return therefore every man to his house in peace. ​
17
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good unto me, but evil?
18
Again he said, Therefore hear the word of the LORD; I saw the LORD sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. ​
19
And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.
20
Then there came out a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will entice him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith?
21
And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so. ​
22
Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil against thee.
23
Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?
24
And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.
25
Then the king of Israel said, Take ye Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;
26
And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace. ​
27
And Micaiah said, If thou certainly return in peace, then hath not the LORD spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, all ye people.

Ahab Is Slain at Ramoth-gilead 28–34

28
So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead.
29
And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and will go to the battle; but put thou on thy robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went to the battle. ​
30
Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of the chariots that were with him, saying, Fight ye not with small or great, save only with the king of Israel.
31
And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God moved them to depart from him. ​
32
For it came to pass, that, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back again from pursuing him.
33
And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: therefore he said to his chariot man, Turn thine hand, that thou mayest carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. ​
34
And the battle increased that day: howbeit the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even: and about the time of the sun going down he died.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for 2 Chronicles 18

Verse 1

joined affinity with Ahab — Chathan is to contract affinity by marriage, from the word for a son-in-law. The marriage is told in 21:6 and 2 Kings 8:18: Jehoshaphat’s son Jehoram ‘had the daughter of Ahab to wife’. Jehu the seer later asks the king, ‘Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD?’ (19:2).

Verse 3

Ramothgilead — Ramoth in Gilead was a city of refuge in the lot of Gad (Deut 4:43), and Ahab claims it as lost to Syria: ‘Ramoth in Gilead is ours’ (1 Kings 22:3). Jehoshaphat’s reply, ‘I am as thou art, and my people as thy people’, is the one he gives Ahab’s son Jehoram in 2 Kings 3:7.

Verse 4

Enquire… at the word of the LORD — Darash, the verb of 17:3–4 where Jehoshaphat ‘sought’ the LORD and not Baalim, is used here for inquiring, as in 1 Sam 9:9, ‘to enquire of God’. Jehoshaphat asks for a word from the LORD before the march, ‘to day’.

Verse 5

four hundred men — Their answer is ‘God will deliver it into the king’s hand’, using the general name Elohim, where Jehoshaphat had asked for ‘the word of the LORD’. His reply in v.6 is ‘Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides?’ Verse 21 explains the unanimous answer: ‘a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets’.

Verse 7

Micaiah the son of Imla — Ahab’s ‘I hate him’ recalls his words to Elijah, ‘Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?’ (1 Kings 21:20). Isaiah describes the same demand made of seers, ‘Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things’ (Isa 30:10). Jehoshaphat answers, ‘Let not the king say so.’

Verse 9

a void place — The Hebrew is goren, a threshing floor, here meaning an open space at ‘the entering in of the gate of Samaria’. The two kings sit on their thrones in their robes, the same robes Ahab tells Jehoshaphat to keep on in v.29. The prophets prophesy ‘before them’, and Micaiah is brought to this place.

Verse 10

horns of iron — Zedekiah acts out his message. Nagach, to push or gore, is the verb of Deut 33:17, where Joseph’s horns ‘push the people together to the ends of the earth’. He claims the LORD’s name for it, ‘Thus saith the LORD’, and Micaiah answers him in vv.23–24.

Verse 14

Go ye up, and prosper — Micaiah repeats the words of the other prophets in v.11 (‘Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper’), and the messenger had asked him to speak like them (v.12). The king’s reply shows he did not take it as meant: ‘How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the LORD?’ (v.15).

Verse 16

as sheep that have no shepherd — The figure is Moses’ prayer in Num 27:17, ‘that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd’, and Christ uses it of the crowds in Matt 9:36. ‘Master’ is adon, the king. The sheep are sent home ‘in peace’, and Ahab hears evil in it: ‘Did I not tell thee…?’ (v.17).

Verse 18

I saw the LORD sitting upon his throne — The ‘host of heaven’ (tsava) stand at his right and left. The vision is of the kind Isaiah describes, ‘I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne’ (Isa 6:1). Micaiah sets it against the court prophets with ‘hear the word of the LORD’, and the scene asks, ‘Who shall entice Ahab… that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead?’ (v.19).

Verse 21

a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets — Pathah, to entice, is the verb of v.20 and of Ezek 14:9, ‘I the LORD have deceived that prophet’. The spirit acts only on the word ‘go out, and do even so’. Paul speaks of a like judgment: ‘God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie’ (2 Thess 2:11).

Verse 26

bread of affliction and with water of affliction — Lachats is pressure or oppression, the word of ‘the water of affliction’ in Isa 30:20. The order begins ‘Thus saith the king’, in answer to Micaiah’s ‘Thus saith the LORD’, and it ends ‘until I return in peace’, the peace the LORD said to the sheep in v.16. Micaiah answers in v.27.

Verse 29

I will disguise myself — Chaphas, in the reflexive form, is the verb used of Saul going to the woman of Endor (1 Sam 28:8) and of Josiah before Megiddo (35:22). Ahab disguised himself and told Jehoshaphat to ‘put thou on thy robes’. The king of Syria’s order in v.30 was to fight ‘only with the king of Israel’.

Verse 31

Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him — The clause ‘the LORD helped him; and God moved them to depart from him’ has no counterpart in 1 Kings 22:32. ‘Helped’ is azar, the verb of Asa’s prayer, ‘help us, O LORD our God’ (14:11). ‘Moved’ is sut, to incite, and v.32 says the captains turned back when they ‘perceived that it was not the king of Israel’.

Verse 33

at a venture — The Hebrew is le-tummo, ‘in his simplicity’, a bow drawn without aim at any man. The arrow found the king of Israel ‘between the joints of the harness’, so the disguise of v.29 did not hide him from the word of v.22, ‘the LORD hath spoken evil against thee’. The wording matches 1 Kings 22:34.