Useful Bible Studies > 1 Kings Commentary > chapter 22
It astonishes us that King Jehoshaphat of Judah joined Ahab for the battle against Ramoth-Gilead. Jehoshaphat served only the true God. He had heard the message from God that Micaiah had declared. That message clearly said that the battle would not succeed. However Jehoshaphat still chose to lead his army into battle, to support Ahab’s army.
So on this occasion, Jehoshaphat chose to believe the words of false prophets - people who brought a wrong message from the spirit world. He was wrong to listen to them and he was wrong to support the evil king Ahab in war (2 Chronicles 19:1-2).
Ahab also chose to believe the false prophets. That should surprise nobody; Ahab constantly followed wrong religions. However, he also thought about Micaiah’s words. In Micaiah’s message, God said that Ahab would die in the battle. Ahab did not want to die, so he made a plan to avoid God’s judgment. The plan was that Ahab would dress as an ordinary soldier, and not as a king. If God was directing Aram’s soldiers to kill Israel’s king, they would suppose Jehoshaphat to be that king. Jehoshaphat would die, and Ahab would escape. That seems to be what Ahab thought.
Ahab had to persuade Jehoshaphat to agree to this plan. Perhaps Ahab said that Jehoshaphat deserved greater honour on this occasion. Jehoshaphat’s army was much larger than Ahab’s army (2 Chronicles 17:12-19; 1 Kings 20:27).
Next part: The king of Aram orders that Ahab must die (1 Kings 22:31-33)
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