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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Kings 22:29–40, “So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle. But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country. So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake. Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.
The kings of Judah and Israel went, with their armies, to take Ramoth in Gilead from the Syrians. When they arrived at the place and were ready to go into battle, Ahab told Jehoshaphat that he would go in disguise while Jehoshaphat went in his kingly battle dress. It is hard to image why Jehoshaphat agreed to such a request without, at least, being a bit suspicious. Perhaps Jehoshaphat was pure hearted and assumed everyone else was too. (Titus 1:15, “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”) On the other hand, Ahab knew that there was history between himself and the Syrians so he was hoping that they would go to Jehoshaphat and he would be saved. When they went to the battle thirty two of the Syrians officers were committed to killing Ahab. This was the reward that Ahab earned for himself when he let Benhadad go after an earlier victory. The officers when straight to Jehoshaphat and tried to kill him but Jehoshaphat cried out, probably to the Lord. The officers realised that they weren’t attacking Ahab so they let the other king go. One man had a spare arrow so he just shot it in the air at random and the arrow hit Ahab between the joints of his armour so he was mortally wounded. When it was evening time everyone went home because it was hard to fight a battle in the dark. Ahab died in his chariot which came back to Samaria. They buried Ahab with honour as a king and washed out his chariot. The dogs licked up his blood just as they had licked up Naboth’s blood. Ahaziah, Ahab’s son became king instead.
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