Dear Friends,

I Kings 22 is one of the greatest chapters in the Old Testament. Read the chapter through, then go back over it using the note to help you understand it. God bless you.

Because of Calvary,

John Janney

Adult SS Elective: I Kings 22:1-53                                                                                                                                                    May 29, 2016

j.  The King Judged (22:1-40)

“…Now that war begins which shall make an end of Ahab. …Because Ahab gave Benhadad his life, Benhadad shall take Ahab’s…. He that begged but his life, receives his kingdom, and now rests not content with his own bounds.” [Hall, Contemplations II, p. 230]

“Some chapters of the Bible are certainly greater than others, and it is by no means derogatory to the authority of Scripture to recognize their special greatness. The doctrine of plenary inspiration does not mean, as its opponents often represent it as meaning, that all parts of the Bible are equally valuable ― it only means that all parts of the Bible are equally true….

“A great chapter of the Bible,… a Pisgah height of vision, is found in the twenty-second chapter of the First Book of Kings.” [J. Gresham Machen, God Transcendent and Other Selected Sermons edited by Ned B. Stonehouse, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1949), p. 108]

“Remember that this passage is now the third in a series of Ahab’s judgment-encounters with the word of God… First an unnamed prophet rebukes him (1 Kings 20:35ff.); next, Elijah denounces him (21:17ff.); and now Micaiah pronounces his doom (22:17ff.). This passage then depicts Ahab’s third failure in relation to the word of God. In broad terms the passage consists of two major sections: (1) the repudiation of Yahweh’s word (vv. 1-28); and (2) the fulfillment of Yahweh’s word (vv. 29-40). The principal contention of the passage is that the word of God destroys the man who defies it.” [Davis, p. 317]

i.   Jehoshaphat the Compromiser (22:1-6)

“The three-year period in verse 1 is measured from the second defeat of Ben-hadad at Aphek described in chapter 20.” [Dilday, p. 242]

“Ben-hadad is one of those princes that think themselves bound by their word no further and no longer than it is for their interest. Whether any other cities were restored we do not find, but Ramoth-Gilead was not, a considerable city in the tribe of Gad, on the other side Jordan, a Levites’ city, and one of the cities of refuge.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 544]

“This visit indicates an entire change in the relations which we have hitherto found subsisting between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It is probable that the common danger to which the two kingdoms were exposed from the growing power of Syria had induced them to forget their differences, and, remembering their common origin, to join together in a close alliance. It must have been tolerably early in the reign of Jehoshaphat that he sought, or accepted, as a wife for his eldest son, Jehoram, Athaliah, the daughter. Jehoram, whose youngest son was two-and-twenty (2 K. viii.26; 2 Chr. xxii.1) when he himself died at forty (2 K. viii.1), must have married when he was fifteen or sixteen; that is to say, in his father’s eighth or ninth year. The bond between the two families dates, therefore, at least from this time; but apparently it had not hitherto led to any very close intimacy, much less to any joint military expeditions. Jehoshaphat seems to have taken no part in the former Syrian wars of Ahab, not did he join in the great league against the Assyrians… Now, however, during a time of peace, he went on a visit to the father of his son’s wife ― a visit which on his part was probably one of mere friendliness, without any political object. Ahab, however, determined to turn the visit to political advantage. Having sumptuously feasted both Jehoshaphat and his retinue (2 Chr. xviii.2), he led the conversation to the subject of a war with Syria, and then suddenly demanded of Jehoshaphat whether he would accompany him or no. Thus addressed, the Jewish monarch could not well refuse without coming to an open breach with he connection. He therefore consented with a good grace, placing his whole force at Ahab’s disposal.” [Rawlinson, p. 615]

“The answer is one of complete acquiescence, without reserve of any kind. Jehoshaphat was afterwards rebuked by Jehu, the son of Hanani, for this consenting to ‘help the ungodly.’ (2 Chr. xix.2).” [Rawlinson, p. 616]

ii.  Ahab the Rebel (22:7-28)

“Ahab thought it enough to consult with his statesmen, but Jehoshaphat moves that they should enquire of the word of the Lord…” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 544]

“It was a little late, since they had already made up their minds…” [Havner, Why Not Just Be Christians? p. 74]

“He was like many Christians who have already decided what they are going to do, but still want to see if they can get the Lord’s approval.” [James Montgomery Boice, Philippians: An Expositional Commentary, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2000), p. 94]

“Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.” [Erica Jong, How to Save Your Own Life in Reader’s Digest, (August 2009), p. 183]

“Like many politicians Ahab knew the value of religious opinion.” [Boice, Philippians, p. 94]

“These prophets have been supposed to be, 1. Prophets of Baal, like those slain on Carmel (1 K. xviii.40). 2. Prophets of the groves (1 K. xviii.19). 3. Prophets attached to the worship of the calves. And 4. Real prophets of Jehovah, unconnected with the calf-worship. The first and second of these views, which are those of the Jewish and older Christian commentators, seem to be precluded both by the original demand of Jehoshaphat, which was for inquiry at the word of Jehovah, and by the phraseology which the prophets themselves use in verses 11 and 12, where we read, ‘Thus saith Jehovah,’ ‘Jehovah shall deliver it into the hand of the kings.’ The choice, therefore, lies between the third and fourth theories. Of these the third is greatly to be preferred, both on account of Jehoshaphat’s dissatisfaction, as shown in verse 7, and on account of the strong antagonism which is apparent between the truth Jehovah-prophet Micaiah, and these self-styled prophets of the Lord’ (verses 22-25).”  [Rawlinson, p. 616]

“Ahab had clergy enough, such as it was… These are now consulted by Ahab… These care not so much to inquire what God would say, as what Ahab would have them say; they saw which way the king’s heart was bent, that way they bent their tongues… False prophets care only to please…” [Hall, Contemplations II, p. 232]

“Ahab’s 400 prophets….designed only to humor the two kings. To please Jehoshaphat, they made use of the name of the Lord… To please Ahab they said, Go up.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 545]

“They had indeed probabilities on their side: Ahab had, not long since, beaten the Syrians twice; he had now a good cause, and was much strengthened by his alliance with Jehoshaphat. But they pretended to speak by prophecy, not by rational conjecture, by divine, not human, foresight: ‘Thou shalt certainly recover Ramoth-Gilead…. Here were 400 men that prophesied with one mind and one mouth, and yet all in an error.’” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 545]

“‘The Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.’ What king? ‘The king’ may mean either Ahab or Ben-hadad. What? This is not clear; for the word ‘it’ is supplied. Is it Ramoth-Gilead or something else that is to be delivered into the hand of the king (of Israel?) or is it the king of Israel or something else to be delivered into the hand of the king (of Syria)?” [Gray & Adams Bible Commentary I, p. 907]

“It is never difficult, in any age, to find prophets who will pat the leader on the back, curry his favor, and tell him to ‘do whatever you think is best.’” [Dilday, p. 243]

“Those that love to be flattered shall not want flatterers.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 545]

“Jehoshaphat is not so soon satisfied…. Truth may not ever be measured by the poll. It is not number, but weight, that must carry… A…verity in one mouth is worthy to preponderate …falsehood in a thousand.” [Hall, Contemplations II, p. 232]

“That was the answer he wanted, but he suspected that it was probably not really an answer from the Lord.” [Boice, Philippians, p. 94]

“…Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it; but there it is.” [Winston S. Churchill’s Maxims and Reflections, p. 170]

“Ahab hated Micaiah. Why? Because Micaiah told him what would come to him as the fruit of his own actions. That was….absurd, because Micaiah did not make the evil, but Ahab made it; and Micaiah’s business was only to tell what he was doing. …The only question to be asked is, Are the warnings true?… Would you think it wise for a sea-captain to try to take the clapper out of the bell that floats and tools above a shoal on which his ship will be wrecked if it strikes? Would it be wise to put out the lighthouse lamps, and then think that you had abolished the reef? Does the signalman with his red flag make the danger of which he warns, and is it not like a baby to hate and to neglect the message that comes to you and says, ‘Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die’?” [Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture II, p. 312]

“Does that remind us of the Greatest Prophet of all, who said, ‘…me it [the world] hateth because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil’ (John 7:7)?” [Havner, Why Not Just Be Christians? p. 74]

“There is a great craving today…for a religion which shall be toothless, and have no bite in it; for a religion that shall sanction anything that it pleases our sovereign mightiness to want to do…. But a religion which does not put up a strong barrier between you and many of your inclinations is not worth anything.” [Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture II, p. 310-311]

“What takes place in verses 10-12 helps us see what tremendous pressures Micaiah will face should he go against the united voice of the establishment.

“The scene is vivid. The two kings are sitting on temporary thrones in all their regalia at the gate of Samaria (10a)…. All the prophets go on prophesying before the kings with their heartening propaganda (10b). Suddenly Zedekiah son of Chenaanah takes center stage, sporting a pair of iron horns and performing a goring-ox charade (v. 11)…. Prophets frequently combined parabolic action with verbal declaration (see, e.g., 2 Kings 2:19-22 and Jer. 19:1-13, among many)…. Zedekiah accompanies his antics with a prophetic word: ‘With these [i.e., the horns] you will gore Aram until they are finished off’ (v. 11b). Zedekiah may well have Deuteronomy 33:17 in mind. That text is part of Moses’ blessing upon the Joseph tribes, Ephriam and Manasseh, the tribes that constituted the heart and core of the northern kingdom in Ahab’s time. These tribes, Moses says, have horns like those of a wild ox, and ‘with them he [=Joseph, represented in Ephriam and Manasseh] gores the peoples.’… Can we not believe, he says, that when Moses speaks of Joseph’s goring ‘peoples,’ the present day Aramaeans are to be among the gored?…

“These prophets, especially Zedekiah speak with parabolic action (v. 11a), using the prophetic formula (v. 11b, traditionally ‘Thus says Yahweh’), anchored in a biblical promise (v. 11c; cf. Deut. 33:17), and with multiple attestation (v. 12, ‘And all the prophets kept prophesying that way’).

“…The king’s messenger….counsels the prophet….to fall in with the majority for once and ‘speak positively’ (lit., ‘good’; v. 13b). Micaiah can recognize pressure when he hears it and shoots back a solemn retort: ‘By the life of Yahweh, what Yahweh says to me — that’s what I’ll speak’ (v. 14).

“Micaiah has just nailed something which neither Ahab nor his messenger understands. Look back at Ahab’s words in verse 8 and the messenger’s in verse 13. What do both assume about the word of Yahweh. They assume that the prophet controls or can control that word…. If he wanted to, he could speak a kinder, gentler word…. They do not understand Micaiah’s position, which he states in verse 14: He is in bondage to the word of God.” [Davis, p. 322-323]

“…Micaiah was determined to be faithful, not popular.” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary II, p. 489]

“Micaiah arrives and Ahab asks him about Operation Ramoth. Like a natural-born yes-man Micaiah answers, ‘Go up and succeed, and Yahweh shall give it into the king’s hand’ (v. 15b)…. I’ve no doubt Micaiah spoke in sarcasm in verse 15b, and Ahab’s response in verse 16 supports my view…. ‘Then the king said to him, “How many times must I keep on putting you on oath that you not speak to me anything but truth in the name of Yahweh?’…

“This sort of interchange has happened repeatedly in the past. It’s an almost stock routine Micaiah goes through with Ahab. Ahab asks Micaiah for counsel, Micaiah spouts the party line of Ahab’s bootlickers; Ahab puts Micaiah under oath to tell the truth; then Micaiah turns from sarcasm to sobriety and tells Ahab true truth. As he does in verse 17, where he so much as says, ‘All right, you want the real truth? ‘I saw all Israel being scattered to the hills like sheep without a shepherd; and Yahweh said, “These have no mater; let them each go back to his house in peace.”’ If Israel has no shepherd, no master, it means that Ahab will be eliminated in battle. Note also the biting implication: when Ahab is dead, Israel can have ‘peace’. There you have it, O king. Should you go up to Ramoth-gilead? What do you think?…

“It is not a flippant but a sad sarcasm Micaiah uses. Micaiah spouts the party line in verse 15 because it docent make any difference what the word of Yahweh is — since Ahab will not heed it. Ahab has come to the point where it doesn’t matter whether Micaiah speaks truth, falsehood, or gobbledygook. If Ahab is beyond following truth why should he have it in the first place?…

“The doom of verse 17 is fleshed out in more detail in this strange vision of verses 19-23…. Micaiah portrays Yahweh conducting a kind of contest in the heavenly council. ‘Who,’ Yahweh asks, ‘will lure Ahab, that he might go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ (v. 20). Three times a form of the verb patah (to lure, entice, seduce, deceive) occurs (vv. 20, 21, 22). That is the task: who can lure Ahab to his destruction? Several inadequate suggestions are submitted (v. 20b). Finally, a particular spirit claims he can succeed (v. 21) by being a lying spirit in the mouth of all Ahab’s prophets (v. 22a). Yahweh acclaims his plan as a prize ruse and commissions him to go to work…. So that Ahab cannot claim the message is fuzzy, Micaiah adds a terse summary: ‘Yahweh’ [emphatic in Heb.] has declared disaster against you’ (v. 23b)….

“Some may ask, ‘Is it not unfair of Yahweh to deceive Ahab?’… There is no deception, for Yahweh clearly tells Ahab exactly what is going on, that is, that he is being lured to ruin by his own prophets. Yahweh candidly tells Ahab what he, Yahweh, is doing. Yahweh cannot be charged with deception because he clearly tells Ahab about the deception by which he is deceiving him! How could Yahweh be clearer, more transparent? The point is that it will make no difference; Ahab is beyond the point of heeding Yahweh’s word, however clear, full, and detailed it may be. Micaiah might as well say ‘Go up and succeed’ (v. 15) for the word of God is an irrelevance for Ahab.” [Davis, p. 324-327] Cf. II Thessalonians 2:8-12

“The same subtle pressure today would persuade preachers to get in step with the times and ride the wave of the future. What we need are more preachers out of step with the times… We are told that we must adjust. Adjust to what? What is there in this world set-up to adjust to? God’s man needs to adjust only to God’s Word and God’s will.” [The Best of Vance Havner, p. 107]

“True to his oath (v. 14), Micaiah had spoken what Yahweh had told him to speak. What reward does the faithful prophet receive? He gets cuffed on the cheek by his rival (v. 24) and thrown in the slammer by the king, with orders to keep him on the most meager of rations (vv. 25-26). With royal bravado Ahab implies he will return from Ramoth-gilead victoriously and/or safely (v. 27b). Micaiah does not quit: if Ahab comes back a living king than he himself is a false prophet…. He simply says, ‘We’ll see how things turn out.’” [Davis, p. 328-329]

“Was not this he that advised Benhadad not to boast in the putting on his armor, as in the ungirding it; and doth he now promise himself peace and victory, before he buckle it on?” [Hall, Contemplations II, p. 237]

“As Micaiah had been brought from prison (verse 16), it is probable that his hands were bound. The prophet, thus standing before the great ones of the earth, bound and helpless, bearing testimony to the truth, and for his testimony smitten on the face by an underling, whose blow he receives without either shame or anger, is a notable type of our Lord before Caiaphas suffering the same indignity.” [Rawlinson, p. 619]

iii. God the Judge (22:29-40)

“Ahab, disregarding Micah’s prophecy, went on with the expedition, and was even joined by Jehoshaphat, of whom we should have thought that, after what had occurred, he at any rate would have drawn back. He was probably deterred by false shame, however, from retracting the unconditional promise of help which he had given to Ahab, merely in consequence of a prophetic utterance, which Ahab had brought against his own person from Micah’s subjective dislike. But Jehoshaphat narrowly escaped paying the penalty for it with his life (v. 32), and on his fortunate return to Jerusalem had to listen to a severe reproof from the prophet Jehu in consequence (2 Chron. 19: 2).” [Keil, p. 197]

“Ahab adopts a contrivance by which he hopes to secure himself and expose his friend (v. 30): ‘I will disguise myself, and go in the habit of a common soldier, but let Jehoshaphat put on his robes… He pretended thereby to do honor to Jehoshaphat, and to compliment him with the sole command of the army in this action. He shall direct and give orders, and Ahab will serve as a soldier under him. But he intended, 1. To make a liar of a good prophet. Thus he hoped to elude the danger, and so to defeat the threatening, as if, by disguising himself, he could escape the divine cognizance and the judgments that pursued him. 2.  To make a fool of a good king, whom he did not cordially love, because he was one that adhered to God and so condemned his apostasy.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 548]

“How could King Jehoshaphat not discern what Ahab was doing to him? If Ahab had put a target on Jehoshaphat’s back, he would not have made it easier for the enemy to kill him. If Jehoshaphat had died, then his son would have taken the throne, and Ahab’s daughter would have been the Jezebel of Judah!” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary II, p. 489]

“If Micaiah’s word was so much rubbish, why was Ahab going into battle disguised as a buck private (v. 30)? Apparently Ahab had a secret foreboding that Micaiah was not all wet. Taking precautions might outsmart providence…” [Davis, p. 330]

“The king of Syria gives charge to his captains to fight against none but the king of Israel. Thus doth the unthankful infidel repay the mercy of his late victor; ill was the snake saved, that requites the favor of his life with a sting…” [Hall, Contemplations II, p. 238]

“Apparently, his own defeat and captivity were still rankling in his mind, and he wished to retaliate on Ahab the humiliation which he considered himself to have suffered.” [Rawlinson, p. 621]

“Ahab was plated all over with iron and brass, but there is always a crevice through which God’s arrow can find its way; and, where God’s arrow finds its way, it kills.” [Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture II, p. 313]

“Accidents are accidents only to ignorance.” [George Santayana in The Book of Unusual Quotations, p. 2]

“Those cannot escape with life whom God hath doomed to death…. No armor is of proof against the darts of divine vengeance.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 548]

“His death was kingly, and became him better than his life. When mortally wounded, he directed his chariot to be quietly driven aside that he might have his wound dressed; and then returned to the battle, supported in his chariot until the evening, when he died.” [Kitto in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary I, p. 910]

“The record is an example of accurate relating of human complexity; the bravery in battle, the weakness, half excused by acknowledgement of Jezebel’s evil genius, the stirring of conscience, anguished repentance, the underlying rejection of Yahweh’s authority, all find mention.…a convincing picture of a ‘double-minded man’ (Jas. 1:7-8).” [Martin, p. 366]

“Ahab was disguised and yet was killed, while Jehoshaphat was in his royal robes and never touched. Ahab had set the king of Syria free when he should have destroyed him, and now the Syrians killed Ahab.” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary II, p. 489]

“Too late doth Ahab now think of the fair warnings of Micaiah, which he unwisely contemned; of the painful flatteries of Zedediah, which he stubbornly believed: that guilty blood of his runs down, out of his wound, into the midst of his chariot, and pays Naboth his arrearages…. Who had not rather be a Micaiah in the jail, than Ahab in the chariot?… The chariot is washed in the pool of Samaria; the dogs come to claim their due; they lick up the blood of the king of Israel. The tongues of those brute creatures shall make good the tongue of God’s prophet: Micaiah is justified, Naboth is revenged, the Baalites confounded, Ahab judged; ‘Righteous art thou, O God, in all thy ways and holy in all thy works.’” [Hall, Contemplations II, p. 239]

“In this way was the word of the Lord through Elijah (1 Kings 21:19) and the unknown prophet (1 Kings 20:42) fulfilled; also the prediction of Micah (v. 17). Ahab had paid the penalty with his own life for sparing the life of Benhadad (1 Kings 20:42), and his blood was licked up by the dogs (1 Kings 21:19). The fact that the dogs licked up the blood and the harlots were bathing in the pool, when the chariot that was stained with the blood of Ahab was being washed, is mentioned as a sign of the ignominious contempt which was heaped upon him at his death.” [Keil, p. 199]

“…The biblical writer….by merely mentioning the king’s accomplishments…tacitly admits Ahab’s greatness but bluntly tells you he has included none of it. Why not? Because it doesn’t matter…. Look over the six-plus Ahab chapters and you cannot miss the focus of the biblical writer. For him there is only one question about Ahab that has any consequence: How did he stack up beside the word and commandments of God?… The word of God ignores what we regard as significant and prizes what we regard as mundane. …Verse 39 is designed to leave your success in tatters and to lead you to repentance.” [Davis, p. 333-334]

“First Kings begins with the death of King David and ends with the death of King Ahab…. The world of David and Ahab was nothing like our world today, but human nature hasn’t changed and the basic principles of life are quite stable.” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary II, p. 490]

2. The Reign of Jehoshaphat in Judah (22:41-50)

“The history of the kingdom of Israel has occupied the writer for the last seven chapters. He now returns to the history of the kingdom of Judah (connect this verse with ch. xv. Verse 24), briefly sketching the reign of Jehoshaphat. A very much fuller account of this reign is given by the writer of Chronicles, where is fills four chapters (2 Chr. xvii-xx).” [Rawlinson, p. 622]

“…The writer….has told of Israel’s suffering through the turbulent reigns of seven kings and one pretender: Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri (and Tibni), and Ahab. Now Ahab is dead, and the writer returns to Judah’s history. Asa’s forty years on the throne in Jerusalem came to an end with his death from natural causes, and his son Jehoshaphat was crowned in his place (v. 41).” [Dilday, p. 251]

Jehoshaphat “observed the commands of his God, and trod in the steps of his good father; and he persevered therein.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 549]

“…Every man’s character has some but or other…” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 549]

“His confederacy with Ahab in war we have already found dangerous to him, and his confederacy with Ahaziah his son in trade sped no better. He offered to go partner with him in a fleet of merchant-ships, that should fetch gold from Ophir, as Solomon’s navy did, v. 49. See 2 Chron. 20:35, 36. But, while they were preparing to set sail, they were exceedingly damaged and disabled by a storm (broken at Ezion-geber), which a prophet gave Jehoshaphat to understand was a rebuke to him for his league with wicked Ahaziah (2 Chron. 20:37)…” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 549]

“Ophir made him a better king. There is no record of his again making an alliance with one of the wicked kings of Israel, and in that way helping the ungodly.” [Macartney, The Woman of Tekoah, p. 49]

3. The Reign of Ahaziah in Israel (22:51-53)

“Ahaziah walked in the way of his father and his mother, who had introduced the worship of Baal into the kingdom, and in the way of Jeroboam, who had set up the calves (cf. 1 Kings 16:30-33). — In v. 53 it is again expressly added, that he adored and worshipped Baal, as in 1 Kings 16:31. — With this general description of his character not only is the chapter brought to a close, but the first book of Kings also…” [Keil, p. 200]

“Some sinners God makes quick work with.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 550]

“Miserable are the children that not only derive a stock of corruption from their parents, but are thus taught by them to trade with it; and unhappy, most unhappy parents, are those that help to damn their children’s souls.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary II, p. 550]