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Who was now king of Judah?
Asa was dead, and his son Jehoshaphat reigned in Jerusalem.
Jehoshaphat was a good man like his father; but he was friendly with
wicked Ahab, and came to see him at Samaria. The Syrians were
fighting again against Israel, and Ahab wished very much to go to
Ramoth-Gilead, and take it back from the king of Syria; and he asked
Jehoshaphat to go with him. The king of Judah was very willing to
go: he said, "I am as thou art; my people as thy people; my
horses as thy horses." Was this right? No; Jehoshaphat
was a servant of God, and Ahab was a wicked idolator; and it is wrong for
God's people to choose their friends among Satan's people, and to love
their company. Jehoshaphat did not like to go to the battle without
asking God's blessing: and he wished Ahab to ask the prophets in
Israel then; and Ahab called for some of these, and asked, "Shall I
go to Ramoth-Gilead, or no?" Then they all said, "Yes, go;
God will give the city into thy hand." But Jehoshaphat feared
that these wicked prophets were deceiving Ahab: so he said, "Is
there not a prophet of the Lord here? Let us ask of Him."
Then Ahab answered, "Yes; there is one man, named Micaiah; but I do
not like him, because he always prophesies evil about me, and not
good." But Jehoshaphat still wished to see Micaiah, so Ahab
sent a messenger to call him. When
the messenger came to Micaiah, he said, "Go now to Ahab, and prophesy
as the other prophets do; they all tell Ahab to go to Ramoth-Gilead to
conquer; speak like them: try to please the king; do not make him
angry." But Micaiah answered, "I shall speak the truth
which God tells me to speak." Micaiah was not afraid of Ahab's
anger; but he was very much afraid of making God angry, by speaking lies
and deceit. Pray that you, like good Micaiah, may never be afraid of
speaking the truth. The two
kings were sitting upon their thrones, dressed in their robes; and all the
wicked prophets stood and prophesied before them. The prophets said,
"Go to Ramoth-Gilead, and conquer; God shall give it into the king's
hand." When Micaiah came in, Ahab said to him, "Tell me
now the truth; shall I go to Ramoth-Gilead, and fight and conquer there,
or no?" Then Micaiah began to tell Ahab the fearful message God
had sent to him. He said, "I saw, in a vision, the Lord sitting
on his throne, and all the holy angels standing around him. And the
Lord said, who will tempt Ahab to go to Ramoth-Gilead, that he may fall
and die there? Then a wicked spirit came to the Lord, and said, I
will tempt Ahab to go to Ramoth-Gilead. I will teach his prophets to
lie, and deceive him; and they shall persuade him to go. And the
Lord said to the wicked spirit, Go, and do as thou hast said."
Then Micaiah turned to Ahab, and said, "These prophets who stand
around, are lying prophets. The wicked spirit I saw in the vision,
has taught them to deceive; they are tempting thee to go to the battle,
and thou shalt fall and die there; for God Himself has spoken evil about
thee." Then Ahab grew very angry; and one of the wicked
prophets struck Micaiah on the face, and laughed at what he said.
Ahab turned to his servants, and said, "Take Micaiah away, and put
him in prison, and feed him with bread and water, till I return in
peace." But Micaiah said, "Thou wilt never return in peace
again;" and then he turned to the people, and said, "Hearken, O
people, every one of you." The
good prophet was carried to his prison: and wicked Ahab went with
Jehoshaphat to Ramoth-Gilead. But Micaiah was happy and peaceful in
the prison, because God was with him there to bless and comfort him.
He was more happy than Ahab; for Ahab felt frightened and uncomfortable,
because he knew that he was doing wrong, and that God's blessing was not
with him. When the two
kings and their armies came to the battle-field, Ahab said to Jehoshaphat,
"I will disguise myself when I go to fight; but put thou on thy
robes." Ahab was afraid the Syrians would try to kill him; and
he thought he should be safer in disguise, because no one could know him
then. When the Syrians saw Jehoshaphat in his robes, they said,
"That is the king of Israel; let us fight him, and kill
him." But Jehoshaphat cried, "No, I am not Ahab; I am the
king of Judah;" so the Syrians turned away, for they did not want to
kill Jehoshaphat. Could they find Ahab? They did not know him
in his disguise; but God saw him all the time: Ahab could not hide
himself from his eye. One of the Syrians drew a bow, and let the
arrow fly. The Syrian could not tell where the arrow might go, nor
whom it might shoot: but God knew; He directed the arrow, and it
smote Ahab to the heart in his chariot, where he was sitting in
disguise. The king felt that he must soon die, and he said to the
man who drove the chariot, "Carry me out of the battle, for I am
wounded." His friends followed him, and held him up in his
chariot, and tried to heal the wound; but they could not cure their
master; he died in the evening, and they carried the dead body home to
Samaria, and buried it. The chariot was full of blood; and the
servants washed it in the pool of Samaria, and the dogs came and licked up
the blood, as God had said by Elijah. Ahab was dead now. All
his possessions and riches were gone; and he was gone too, to be judged
for all his wickedness; his cruelty, and idolatry, and disobedience to
God.
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