1 Kings 22:29 - Meaning and Application

The dispute between God’s prophet and Ahab’s prophets is soon settled here, and it becomes clear who was right. The two kings then marched with their forces to Ramoth-gilead (1 Kings 22:29). It is no surprise that the king of Israel, who hated God’s prophet, ignored the warning and kept to his plan. But it is shocking that Jehoshaphat, a godly king who had asked to hear from a prophet of the Lord because he did not trust Ahab’s prophets, still went on after such a clear warning.

Jehoshaphat was drawn in by his easygoing nature, just as Barnabas was carried away by his friends’ false behavior (Galatians 2:13). He gave too much weight to Ahab’s prophets because they also claimed to speak for God, and in his own land he had never been tricked by men like them. He was ready to go along with the crowd and think the odds were 400 to 1 that they would succeed. Micaiah had not forbidden them to go. In fact, he first said, “Go and prosper.” If the worst came, only Ahab’s fall was foretold, so Jehoshaphat thought he could safely take the risk.

Ahab then came up with a plan to protect himself and put his friend in danger. He said he would disguise himself and go in the clothes of a common soldier, while Jehoshaphat wore his royal robes and appeared as the commander (1 Kings 22:30). He pretended this was a way to honor Jehoshaphat and give him full command of the army. In truth, he wanted to make God’s prophet look like a liar, as if changing his clothes could let him escape God’s notice and the judgment chasing him. He also wanted to make a fool of a good king whom he did not truly love, because Jehoshaphat stayed faithful to God and exposed Ahab’s turning away from Him.

Ahab knew, too, that if anyone perished, it would be the shepherd, as Micaiah had said. He may also have heard that the enemy had been told to fight especially against the king of Israel. So he shamefully meant to leave Jehoshaphat exposed while he protected himself. Ahab was marked for ruin. No one would have wanted to stand in his place for any price, yet he tried to persuade this godly king to march with him. See what comes to those who join themselves to wicked people, whose consciences are corrupted and who have lost all sense of honor. How can a man be true to a friend if he has already been false to God?

Jehoshaphat had more devotion than wisdom, so he took the place of honor, though it was also the place of danger, and his life was put at risk. Yet God graciously delivered him. The king of Syria ordered his captains to aim not at the king of Judah, with whom he had no quarrel, but only at the king of Israel (1 Kings 22:31). They were to strike at his person, as if they had a special hatred for him. Ahab was being paid back for sparing Ben-hadad, who, like the offspring of the serpent usually do, turned and stung the hand that had fed and saved him.

Some think the Syrians meant only to capture Ahab alive, so they could now treat him as kindly as he had once treated Ben-hadad. Whatever the reason, the officers carried out the order and tried to please their king. When they saw Jehoshaphat in royal clothing, they mistook him for the king of Israel and surrounded him. In his danger, God showed Jehoshaphat that He was displeased with him for joining himself to Ahab. Jehoshaphat had said, in a flattering way, “I am as you are” (1 Kings 22:4), and now he was in fact taken for him. Those who keep company with evildoers run the risk of sharing their punishments.

By delivering him, God also showed that He had not abandoned him, even though He was displeased. Some of the captains who knew Jehoshaphat saw their mistake and pulled back. In 2 Chronicles 18:31 it says God moved them to leave him, for God holds all hearts in His hand. Jehoshaphat cried out, not from panic but in prayer, and his rescue came from God. Ahab did nothing to help him. God is the friend who will not fail us when other friends do.

Ahab received his fatal wound in battle, even though he had tried to protect himself by dressing like an ordinary soldier. No one should think they can hide from God’s judgment, even in disguise. God’s hand will find all His enemies, whatever costume they wear (1 Kings 22:34). The Syrian who shot the arrow did not know he was serving God and his own king. He drew his bow at random, aiming at no one in particular, yet God guided the arrow so that it hit the right man, the one marked for destruction, who might have been spared if taken alive, as they intended. No one can escape with life if God has appointed death for them.

The arrow also struck the right place, between the joints of the armor, the only weak spot where death could enter. No armor can stop God’s judgment. Cover a guilty man in steel, and it makes no difference. God, who made him, can make His sword reach him. What seems to us completely accidental is done by God’s settled purpose and foreknowledge.

Then the army was scattered by the enemy and sent home by the king. Either Jehoshaphat or Ahab ordered the retreat after the shepherd had been struck: “Every man to his city, for the battle is over” (1 Kings 22:36). Ahab lived long enough to see Micaiah’s prophecy begin to come true, that all Israel would be scattered on the mountains of Gilead (1 Kings 22:17). Perhaps with his dying breath he even gave the order himself, because though he was carried out of the battle to have his wounds treated (1 Kings 22:34), he still wanted to be held up in his chariot to see whether his army would win.

But when he saw the battle turning against them, his courage failed, and he died. His death was slow enough that he could feel himself dying. We can only imagine the fear with which he thought back on the evil he had done, the warnings he had ignored, Baal’s altars, Naboth’s vineyard, and Micaiah’s imprisonment. He now saw that flatterers had led him into his own ruin, and that Zedekiah’s iron horns had been pushing not the Syrians, but himself, toward destruction. So he was brought to the king of terrors with no hope in his death.

The royal body was carried back to Samaria and buried there (1 Kings 22:37). The bloody chariot and the bloody armor in which he died were also brought there (1 Kings 22:38).

One particular detail is noted because it fulfilled a prophecy. When they brought the chariot to the pool of Samaria to be washed, the dogs, and even swine, according to the Septuagint, gathered around it and licked up the blood. Or, as some think, they licked the water the chariot was washed in, since the blood had mixed with it. Dogs make no distinction between royal blood and any other blood.

In this way, Naboth’s blood was avenged (1 Kings 21:19), and David’s words, as well as Elijah’s, were fulfilled (Psalm 68:23): “That your foot may be dipped in the blood of your enemies, and the tongues of your dogs in the same.” The dogs licking that guilty blood may also have been meant to picture the fears and horrors that torment a guilty soul after death.

Finally, Ahab’s story ends in the usual way (1 Kings 22:39, 1 Kings 22:40). Among his works, mention is made of an ivory house, so called because many parts of it were decorated with ivory. It may have been meant to rival the grand palace of the kings of Judah, which Solomon built.