Day 176 – Ahab #5

• Today is the last story in the sad life of King Ahab. Three years have passed since the events we read about yesterday.
• Ahab makes an alliance with the new king of Judah, a man named Jehoshaphat. We’ll read more about this southern king tomorrow, but it’s important to know that he is a good king. He is clearly at peace with Ahab following the fighting of their predecessors. Their relationship is such that their families were connected by marriage (one of Ahab’s sons married one of Jehoshaphat’s daughters), as today’s opening passages teach.
• Ahab wants Jehoshaphat to help him defeat the city of Ramoth-gilead, which is still in the hands of the Syrians. What does Jehoshaphat say in 1 Kings 22:4-5, especially in verse 5?
• Flick back to 1 Kings 18:19. Notice that there were 450 prophets of Baal (who were killed) and a further 400 prophets of Asherah. It’s likely that the prophets that Ahab called together in 1 Kings 22:6 were these false prophets. This is even more likely when the wiser Jehoshaphat asked for a real prophet in the next verse! This prophet is called Micaiah. Does Ahab want to speak to him?
• What prophecy does Micaiah bring in 1 Kings 22:13-23? You may be surprised at his words in verses 15-16; it’s likely that Micaiah’s words here were a mocking imitation of the false prophets.
• Ahab put on a disguise during the battle to help him from being pinpointed and attacked. Did it help him? The author even makes a point of saying that the arrow hit him “at random”, indicating perhaps that the shot was directed by God. Can you remember another recent story of someone who tried to fool God by putting a disguise on? Crazy!
• Jehoshaphat nearly got killed himself in battle because the attackers thought that he was Ahab. Do you think, now you’ve read the full account, that it was wise for Jehoshaphat to make the close alliance with the ungodly king Ahab?

God’s plans will always work out, regardless of what we do to try and stop them. We might try disguising ourselves, or hiding our activities, to hide from God. Or we might ignore the advice we should be listening to, and surround ourselves instead with false-speaking people who tell us what we want to hear. Both were tried in this passage, and of course neither worked.

We didn’t read it, but in 2 Chronicles 19:2, Jehoshaphat is rebuked for entering into this alliance with Ahab. It wasn’t wise, and it led to a dangerous situation which he was lucky to escape from. I’ve spoken before of the dangers of romantic relationships with non-Christians, and it would be wise to extend a caution to the regular friendships you have with non-Christians too. This isn’t a call to drop those friendships, for we all have them and you may be the only way they hear the good news of Jesus, but simply to be cautious about allowing yourself to be tempted into ungodly or dangerous behaviour. The desire to fit into a non-Christian friendship circle can easily become a snare which pulls you slowly away from a Jesus-centred life.