You'll recall that King Ahab of Israel made a treaty with King Ben-Hadad of Aram, against the Lord's will, and as the terms of that treaty Ben-Hadad promised to return all the cities his father had taken from the tribes of Israel. But Ben-Hadad evidently went back on his word, at least where the city of Ramoth Gilead was concerned. In today's text we'll find Ahab asking Jehoshaphat to help him take Ramoth Gilead by force.
Ramoth Gilead lay about forty miles from Jehoshaphat's capital city of Jerusalem. We were told yesterday that Jehoshaphat had called up and trained over 1,000,000 soldiers to serve him in the area of Jerusalem. These soldiers were in addition to all those he conscripted to man the garrisons situated all around the kingdom of Judah. Ahab knows Jehoshaphat has amassed an impressive army during the first three years of his reign and Jehoshaphat's troops are in a good position to make a move against the enemy soldiers who are occupying Ramoth Gilead. In today's study Jehoshaphat will visit King Ahab and in my opinion he was invited there for the express purpose of gaining his help against the king of Aram. Ahab will throw a large feast for Jehoshaphat and then he will bring up the subject of Ramoth Gilead.
"For three years there was no war between Israel and Aram." (1 Kings 22:1a) For the first three years after Ahab foolishly made a treaty with Ben-Hadad, there were no military conflicts between the two nations. But during that time Ben-Hadad failed to keep all the terms of the treaty and apparently Ahab demanded the return of Ramoth Gilead---a demand that was refused. Ahab has a right to expect the terms of the treaty to be fulfilled but I suspect there's more to it than that. He probably feels like he's been duped. He probably feels humiliated and wonders if he looks weak to the people of his kingdom if he does not enforce the terms of the treaty. I think his pride is wounded. In two earlier battles his outnumbered forces defeated Ben-Hadad's forces but that's because the Lord fought on Israel's side to prove that He is God and to encourage the people to turn away from idolatry. But Ahab didn't kill the enemy king when he had the chance, which he knew the Lord wanted him to do in order to remove this foe from the lives of the people of Israel. If the Lord is not on Ahab's side, Ahab's outnumbered forces can't possibly win against the forces of Ben-Hadad, so Ahab needs an ally in this fight. This is where Jehoshaphat comes into his plan.
"But in the third year Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to see the king of Israel. The king of Israel had said to his officials, 'Don't you know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us and yet we are doing nothing to retake it from the king of Aram?'" (1 Kings 22:2-3) We see that Ahab had already discussed this problem with his officials before Jehoshaphat's visit. When Jehoshaphat arrives, Ahab shows him great honor before he asks him to be his ally against Aram. "Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle for him and the people with him and urged him to attack Ramoth Gilead." (2 Chronicles 18:2b) "So he asked Jehoshaphat, 'Will you go with me to fight against Ramoth Gilead?'" (1 Kings 22:4a, 2 Chronicles 18:3a)
Jehoshaphat is willing to go to battle but first he wants to consult a prophet of the Lord about this endeavor. "Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, 'I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.' But Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, 'First seek the counsel of the Lord.'" (1 Kings 22:4b-5, 2 Chronicles 18:3b-4)
In yesterday's study we were told that Jehoshaphat followed the ways of the Lord as David his forefather had done. Jehoshaphat served only the Lord, not idols, and tore down all the idolatrous altars and images in the land of Judah. Jehoshaphat is not in the habit of making big decisions without consulting the Lord so he insists that Ahab call for some prophets to find out whether or not it's the Lord's will to attack Ramoth Gilead.
"So the king of Israel brought together the prophets---about four hundred men---and asked them, 'Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?' 'Go,' they answered, 'for the Lord will give it into the king's hand.'" (1 Kings 22:6, 2 Chronicles 18:5) These are not prophets of the Lord, as we'll see momentarily; they are probably prophets of Baal or Asherah. Earlier in the book of 1 Kings we found the 450 prophets of Baal being put to death but there's no reason to assume these haven't been replaced. Jezebel has been supporting the prophets of her pagan religion out of the royal treasury and it's doubtful she would have allowed these offices to remain vacant. I feel certain she replaced the men who were lost. In addition to the government-supported prophets of Baal, Jezebel also maintained 400 prophets of Asherah, who was the chief goddess of her religion. I think the 400 prophets Ahab calls to the palace are called from among those who are being supported by himself and his wife. Naturally these prophets are going to tell him exactly what he wants to hear.
Jehoshaphat recognizes these men as heathen prophets, possibly because they immediately give Ahab the go-ahead without making any pretense of prayer or else because they employ some sort of pagan divination rituals to obtain their answer for the king. Ahab may be convinced by these men's words but Jehoshaphat isn't. "But Jehoshaphat asked, 'Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?'" (1 Kings 22:7, 2 Chronicles 18:6)
Previously in our study of the kings we learned that Jezebel went on a rampage against the prophets of the Lord and had many of them slaughtered. But there are still quite a few true prophets left in Israel, for we have seen several of them advising and reprimanding Ahab. There is a prophet of the Lord living nearby but Ahab doesn't want to call him because he won't tell him what he wants to hear. "The 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.'" (1 Kings 22:8a, 2 Chronicles 18:7a)
I can't help picturing the king of Israel frowning ill-humoredly, crossing his arms stubbornly, and pouting like a petulant child as he says the words above. Jehoshaphat answers him as one might answer a whiny child. "'The king should not say such a thing,' Jehoshaphat replied." (1 Kings 22:8b- 2 Chronicles 18:7b)
Having been scolded by the man whose help he needs, Ahab sends for the prophet of the Lord. "So the king of Israel called one of his officials and said, 'Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.'" (1 Kings 22, 2 Chronicles 18:8) In our next study session the prophet will have a message of bad tidings for the kings but in the end the kings will decide to go ahead and make war anyway.
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