Chapter 18

This chapter tells us at the beginning that Jehoshaphat made a marriage alliance with Ahab.  This must be how he brought about peace with Israel.  From there, it is nearly exactly the same account as in 1 Kings as to the prophets that predicted victory in R-G.  Indeed, the rest of the chapter is almost interchangeable with 1K22.

Jehoshaphat was a good King.  He built up the army and the defense of Judah, he worshiped as David had worshiped. As a result, he had "great riches and honor".  God was blessing Jehoshaphat and all of Judah through him.  So what possessed him to ally himself with someone like Ahab?  Jehoshaphat even goes to Samaria to visit Ahab, and Ahab convinces J to help him in a war against Ramoth-Gilead.

2021 - From this map, it would appear that Ramoth-Gilead was on the main - or maybe the only viable - route from Syria going south.  To control this city, and to tax whatever came through it, would make a king quite wealthy.  I suspect that Ahab would have promised Jehoshaphat a cut of those taxes in exchange for his help in taking the city.

But Jehoshaphat says this:

4 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "Inquire first for the word of the LORD." [2Ch 18:4 ESV]  So at least Jehoshaphat has this right.  Ahab gathers up 400 prophets and puts the question to them.  To a man, they say to go up and fight because God will give them a win.  But Jehoshaphat still hesitates, and asks if  there isn't just one more prophet to consult.  Why does J do this?  A check in his spirit?  Suspicion of Ahab?  Maybe J already knew of this other prophet and knew that this other one was the most credible?  We don't really know why J did this, but we know 400 prophets giving the same answer were insufficient to make him go to war.

Ahab admits there is one more prophet but that he hates this one, because he always prophesies ill toward Ahab.  Jehoshaphat asks to see him.  Ahab sends for him - Micaiah - and while they wait, the 400 prophets continue ranting and raving and doing things to prove the two kings should go to war against Ramoth-Gilead. 

When Micaiah shows up, first he says go up.  But Ahab knows this must be a lie since Micaiah never prophesies good for Ahab.  Ahab presses Micaiah for the truth, and sure enough, the prophesy changes.  They should not go up.  And Ahab looks over at Jehoshaphat, and basically says "See, I told you he never predicts any good thing for me!". 

Micaiah explains the prophecy.  It seems that Micaiah saw a vision of God on his throne in heaven, seeking a way to entice Ahab to go to war with R-G.  The whole host of heaven is assembled.  Many plans are proposed, but apparently rejected.  Finally, "a spirit" comes forward and says he knows how to entice Ahab.  He will do so by "becoming" a lying spirit in the mouths of all Ahab's prophets, telling Ahab to go to war, when in fact doing so will lead to his God-ordained destruction. 

This is not the first time we have seen a prophet lie.  Remember the one who lied to the man of God, enticing him to come back to his house to eat and drink, claiming and angel had given him this word to speak?  It  happens.  How are we to guard against this?  By consulting ALL the prophets?  Can we be sure that one at least will speak the truth?  And the point of all of this is that God wanted Ahab destroyed and the battle with R-G was the vehicle that would accomplish this.  God could have turned Ahab's heart, but he does not?  Is this an example of spiritual battle?  Were there demonic forces watching over Ahab, keeping him from death, so that he would continue to wreak havoc with Israel, continue false worship, false religion, and corruption in that kingdom?  And God chose to fight back on this very ground, and so have his own forces fight with Satan's forces rather than just do it Himself?  We certainly cannot speculate as to why God would do things this way.  MSB has nothing about all this in 2Ch 18, but discusses it in the notes to 1Kg 22.  It looks like speculation to me. 

2021 - God does not need to consult with angels to determine a good strategy.  That does not follow.  Angels are messengers, angels carry out God's will.  They are sent by Him to do His will.  What seems to be going on here is that there is a discussion of the best way to "intervene" in the affairs of men to bring about the desired result - the fall of Ahab.  God could just strike him dead.  For some reason this was not acceptable.  Ahab needed to die, but to do so in the normal progression of history.  So history had to be written.  The MSB note says the 400 prophets of Ahab were not Levites.  They were priests who were worshiping the golden calves of Jeroboam.  It was not 400 true prophets who were deceived but 400 false prophets.  Jehoshaphat recognizes that these are not prophets of God, and that is why he asks for one more. 

MSB does say of this chapter that Jehoshaphat's marriage alliance and military alliance with Ahab has tragic results for Judah.  The marriage of Jehoshaphat's son to Athaliah, Ahab's daughter, will eventually see Athaliah on the throne as Queen of Judah.  This is the only time the throne had a woman in charge.  She brings the idols of Israel into Judah, and so corrupts the southern kingdom that it is eventually destroyed by Babylon.  These events under Jehoshaphat - a "good" king - start the slide of Judah into destruction, culminating with Manasseh.

After all this, Jehoshaphat STILL decides to go with Ahab to R-G after all!  Why would he after insisting that this last prophet, this one true prophet, be located and brought forward?  This is all inexplicable. 

2021 - Not really.  We have this verse that explains it all:

19 And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said one thing, and another said another. [2Ch 18:19 ESV]  God had decided that Ahab was going to fall.  Perhaps Ahab was too crafty to go up with just his own army.  Perhaps he wanted to make sure that if his army was weakened, so would Jehoshaphat's army be weakened.  So for this to come about, Jehoshaphat had to go with him.  Perhaps the reason it seems so unwise to us is because the true battle was spiritual in nature.  The decisions, manipulations, protections and over-comings were the tactics and strategies of angels - of some to keep Ahab in place and continue his reign of evil, and of others to move him out and give Israel some room to repent.  Perhaps this is always the case.  The more inexplicable the actions of these Kings /Presidents/Prime Ministers/Generals seems in hindsight, the more certain we can be that it was a spiritual battle of far greater implications than we can know.  How many times in history could this apply?  Both Napoleon and Hitler split their armies to attack Russia.  Stupid the first time, double stupid the second.  Why did Hitler keep fighting?  To bring about the total destruction of Germany because of the horror they perpetrated on the Jews.  There must be many many others.

It gets crazier.  Ahab disguises himself, so he will not be recognized as a king, but convinces Jehoshaphat to keep his regal robes on.  How stupid is Jehoshaphat at this point?  Even so, God protects him.  But Ahab gets hit with a random arrow, not really even intended for him.  He stays propped up in his chariot for the rest of the day, but at sunset, Ahab dies.

First notes, 8/25/18

Ahab  dies of a war wound, and as they wash his blood from the chariot where  he died, the dogs lick up the blood as harlots bathed in the wash  water.  So the prophecy did come to pass, even though his  descendants were not all killed before him.

This is written about Jehoshaphat:

And the rest of the perverted persons, who remained in the days of his father Asa, he banished from the land.

I Kings 22:46 NKJV

Another  verse about homosexuals being sent out of the country.  They didn't  kill them for homosexuality, but they excluded them from the land.