1 Kings 22:29-50 - Ahab killed

22:29-40

Ahab fears that there might be something in Micaiah’s words, so tries to avoid the word of God, he gets Jehoshaphat to disguise himself as king, and he, himself, as not king. However, it is futile to try and outdo the word of God, and so it proves. The enemy soldiers recognise that Jehoshophat is not Ahab, and a “random” arrow gets Ahab and he died. Ahab was buried in Samaria, and, true to the earlier prophecy, dogs licked up his blood. Ahab was succeeded by his son, Ahaziah.

22:41-50

Meanwhile Jhoshophat became king of Judah and reigned for twenty five years. Jehoshophat followed the ways of his father, Asa, ridding the land of the male shrine prostitutes. He was succeeded by Jehoram.

1 Kings 22:21-28 - An enticing spirit

22:21-23

A spirit comes forward and offers to do the deed. God asks him how he will do it, and he says he will get the prophets to prophesy lies. Note that the false prophets were happy to do this, and Ahab was happy to be deceived. God tells the spirit to get on with it.

22:24-28

One of the false prophets, Zedekiah, slapped Micaiah, and mocked him. This is much the same way that Jesus was treated, and this faux indignation is a common tactic of the enemy. Micaiah’s response is that all will become clear when the events turn out as he has said.Ahab orders for Micaiah to be imprisoned, only to be released on Ahab’s return, Micaiah replies that if Ahab does return he, Micaiah, has not spoken the word of the Lord. Micaiah believes that the word of the Lord will prove true.

1 Kings 22:10-20 - False prophecies

22:10-18

Ahab and Jehoshaphat are dressed in royal robes and sat on thrones, but do not have any real power. Zedekiah, one of the false prophets makes a dramatic declaration, but none of this changes the fact that he is not a true prophet. All the false prophets backed him up in his lies.Micaiah is then summoned. First he  treats Ahab with contempt saying “Attack and be victorious”. Ahab knows that this is not the word of the Lord and rebukes Micaiah, who then gives him the truth, Ahab continues to complain about it.

22:19,20

We then get a glimpse of heaven, God is looking for someone to entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and so to meet his death.

1 Kings 22:6-9 - Shall I go to war?

22:6

It seems that Ahab had reformed his school of prophets, for he brings in four hundred of them. They were prophets of baal. So Ahab’s repentance of the previous chapters does not seem to have been very deep.

22:7-9

Jehoshaphat knew that Ahab’s prophets were not men of God so asks Ahab if there is not a real prophet about. Ahab betrays his true character by saying there is one, Micaiah, but he doesn’t like him because “he never prophesies anything good about me”. Ahab does not want to hear the truth. Jehoshaphat scolds the king for saying that. Ahab then sends for Micaiah.

1 Kings 22:1-5 Will you fight with me against Aram?

22:1-3

This is one of my favourite passages in Kings. There are three main characters in it: Ahab, Jehishaphat, and the coolest prophet in the Bible, Micaiah.  There was peace between Aram and Israel, but Ahab wanted to get some of the land back. T\he current tensions in the Middle East are nothing new. 

22:4,5

Ahab seeks Judah’s help in this enterprise. Ahab was a thoroughly bad king, both morally bad, and weak as well. Jehoshaphat was a generally good king, but far from perfect. \he readily agrees to help Ahab, but tells him to seek the counsel of the Lord first.

1 Kings 21:25-29 - He repents!

21:25-29

A note is added that Ahab was the worst king Israel ever had, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. However, there is a surprising turn in that Ahab repents, and 17:28,29 shows that this was genuine, so God delays the sentence. If only other kings had responded like Ahab.

1 Kings 21:15-24 - Take possession!

21:15,16

Ahab was not the most go-ahead of men, so Jezebel urged him to seize the opportunity and take the vineyard, which he did.

21:17-24

God told Elijah what had happened and gave him a word to give to Ahab. Ahab would meet a terrible fate. Ahab was not pleased to see Elijah. Elijah takes no nonsense, and speaks to Ahab plainly, pronouncing judgement upon him. Ahab’s house would be decimated. Jezebel would be devoured by dogs, as would Ahab’s family, and birds "will feed on those who die in the country”.