1Now Jehoshaphat had great wealth and honor, and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage. 2Some years later he went down to see Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle for him and the people with him and urged him to attack Ramoth Gilead. 3Ahab king of Israel asked Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me against Ramoth Gilead?”
Jehoshaphat replied, “I am as you are, and my people as your people; we will join you in the war.” 4But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, “First seek the counsel of the Lord.”
5So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I not?”
“Go,” they answered, “for God will give it into the king’s hand.”
6But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”
7The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one prophet through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”
“The king should not say such a thing,” Jehoshaphat replied.
27Micaiah declared, “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, all you people!”
28So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead. 29The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
30Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.” 31When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, “This is the king of Israel.” So they turned to attack him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him, 32for when the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.
33But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the breastplate and the scale armor. The king told the chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” 34All day long the battle raged, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. Then at sunset he died.
Thoughts: Ahab was married to Jezebel who was a great advocate of Baal worship. She was the one who tried to kill Elijah the prophet of the Lord. Ahab liked his prophets who were "yes men" to him. He knew they would go along with whatever he wanted to do. Micaiah the prophet wouldn't back down and spoke God's Word even if he wasn't popular and his message wasn't popular. Jehoshaphat was likely motivated to try to reach Ahab with the faith. They were Israelites after all and had the same common faith memory. Jehoshaphat insisted on listening to a prophet from the Lord. Micaiah prophesied that Ahab would die. Ahab, who didn't fully believe was superstitious enough to disguise himself, but he still was killed by a "random arrow." So God foresaw and put into his plan the shooting of a random arrow to achieve His purposes. God uses the chaos and randomness of life to fulfill His great purposes for His creation and His subjects.
Prayer: Lord, you know all and govern all. Help me to grow in my faith regarding your knowledge and power as the Almighty.
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