1 Kings 22:1-53

He shall be buried with the burial of an ass," etc. (Jeremiah 22:15, Jeremiah 22:19). The cities he built, the victories he won, how poor and empty do these exploits seem as we stand by the pool of Samaria, and see the livid, blood-stained corpse dragged from the chariot! The Latin poet asks what all his pleasures, travels, knowledge, can avail a man who has to die after all; but the question presents itself with tenfold force when life's fitful fever is followed by such a sleep, by such a dream, as Ahab's. "It had been good for that man if he had not been born" (Matthew 26:24).

And the death of Ahab was followed by the dispersion of his army. When the proclamation rang through the host, "Every man to his country," and when the sensed ranks precipitately broke up, and horseman and footman fled for his life, then the share of Israel in the sins of Ahab and Jezebel was in part expiated. There was not a man but knew why "the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies." "There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel." (Joshua 7:12, Joshua 7:13). Baal had troubled them, had made of the heights of Ramoth very valley of Achor.

1 Kings 22:1-8

Bad Company.

According to the order of the chapters in the LXX; which is probably the original or true order, 1 Kings 20:1-43. should immediately precede this. Then, after the history of the war between Ahab and Ben-hadad, this chapter opens naturally: "And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel." In the third year of this peace Jehoshaphat visited Ahab; and from this visit arose serious events, which are admonitory to us that we should avoid the company of the wicked.

I. BAD COMPANY COMPROMISES CHARACTER.

1. It injures morals.

2. It damages reputation.

3. It impairs influence.

(1) This follows. Character is influence. Reputation is influence. Advice will be readily received from a genuine man, which coming from an artificial character would be spurned.

1. Happiness is involved in character.

2. Goodness is grieved in it.

3. It leads the most wary into trouble. For the persuasions of the wicked are subtle.

4. It provokes judgments of God.

1 Kings 22:9-14

The False and the True.

There would be no counterfeit coin if there were no sterling; so neither would there be false prophets if there were no true. Because there are both, their qualities have to be tested, that we may refuse the spurious and value the genuine (see Jeremiah 23:38). To this end let us consider—

I. TESTS WHICH MAY NOT BE TRUSTED.

1. The test of profession.

(a) They used modes usual with prophets to procure information from Heaven. These were sacrifice, prayer, music (see 1 Samuel 10:5, 1 Samuel 10:6; 2 Kings 3:15), and, when time permitted, fasting.

(b) They used modes usual with prophets to communicate the information when received. "Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the Lord, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them" (cf. Jeremiah 27:2; Jeremiah 28:1-17:18). The "horn" was the symbol of a king (see Daniel 7:24; Revelation 17:12). These were "two," to represent Ahab and Jehoshaphat, Israel and Judah. They were of "iron" to express strength (see Daniel 2:40). The prophecy was that, aided by Jehoshaphat, Ahab should push the Syrians to destruction.

2. The test of numbers.

3. The test of unanimity.

4. How does this argument bear upon the authority of the Church?

II. TESTS WHICH MAY BE TRUSTED.

1. The witnesses should be honest.

2. They should have miraculous athentication.

3. Their testimony should be agreeable to the word of God.

1 Kings 22:15-23

Micaiah's Prophecy.

It is evident from the text and from 1 Kings 22:8 that this was not the first time Ahab and Micaiah had met. The Jews suppose, apparently with reason, that Micaiah was that prophet who, when Ahab sent Ben-hadad away with a covenant, said to the king of Israel, "Thus saith the Lord: Because thou hast let go out of thine hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people" (see 1 Kings 20:35-43). In considering the prophecy of Micaiah now before us, we notice—

I. THAT IT IS PREFACED WITH A SALLY OF IRONY.

1. He answers the king in the words of his prophets.

2. But he repeats those words with significant expression.

3. God uses terrible rhetoric in His wrath.

II. THAT IT COMPARES FAVOURABLY WITH THAT OF HIS COMPETITORS.

1. Its burden is the reverse of equivocal.

2. The vision shows that all worlds are under Divine control.

1 Kings 22:24-29

The Argument of Wickedness.

The Bible is a book of texts because it is a book of types. It does not profess to give full histories, but refers to public records for these (see Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18; 1 Kings 11:41; 1 Chronicles 9:1). Inspiration selects from histories typical or representative incidents to bring out the principles of the grace and truth of God. In the scene before us we have types of wickedness in Zedekiah and Ahab, the one ecclesiastical, the other civil, which may be profitably studied in the arguments they use contending with Micaiah, the representative of the truth of God. These arguments are—

I. RAGE AGAINST THE TRUTH. The reason is obvious, viz; because the truth is the worst that can be said of the wicked.

1. It is the worst that can be said of their character.

2. It is the worst that can be said of their doom.

3. They are therefore constrained to hypocrisy.

II. THE RESENTMENT OF VIOLENCE.

1. The logic of the wicked is weak.

2. The strength of the wicked is tyranny.

1 Kings 22:30-38

Lessons of the Battle.

After disposing of Micaiah by sending him to prison with hard fare as the reward of his faithfulness, Ahab and Jehoshaphat gathered their forces and set out together to fight for the recovery of Ramoth-Gilead. The events of the day show—

I. THAT PROPHECY MAY TEND TO ITS OWN FULFILMENT.

1. Micaiah's words influenced Ahab's conduct.

(a) Note the subtlety of the wicked. Ahab's proposal to Jehoshaphat was ostensibly to give him the post of honour in commanding the army. This, too, may have suggested the use of the third person in speaking of himself. Ahab's real purpose was to divert from himself the fury of the battle; and probably he hoped Jehoshaphat might be slain. In that case his son-in-law would succeed to the throne of Judah, and he might be able so to manage him as to serve his own purposes.

(b) In all this we see the danger of bad company. We see it likewise in the sad fact that Jehoshaphat should become a party to a contrivance to falsify the word of God!

2. They also influenced the conduct of the Syrians.

3. Note a remarkable illustration of this principle in the zeal of Jehu in exterminating the house of Ahab (see 2 Kings 9:25, 2 Kings 9:26; 2 Kings 10:10, 2 Kings 10:11, 2 Kings 10:16, 2 Kings 10:17). Those who are "looking for," are thereby "hastening the coming of the day of God" (see 2 Peter 3:12).

II. THAT NEVERTHELESS THE HAND OF GOD IS IN IT.

1. This was evident in the case of Ahab. The purpose of Ben-hadad, should Ahab have fallen into his hands, is not recorded. Would he return Ahab's compliment of releasing him with a covenant? Would he show Ahab how he ought to have treated him?

2. This was also evident in the case of Jehoshaphat.

1 Kings 22:39, 1 Kings 22:40, 1 Kings 22:51-53

Survival.

After the account of Ahab's death and burial, and of the manner in which the dogs of Samaria fulfilled the prophecy of Elijah, the earlier verses of our text follow. In the first of these the reader is referred to the archives of the nation for an account of the "rest of the Ac" and works of this monarch, viz; those to which inspiration was not here specially directed. In the second, the succession of Ahaziah is mentioned. With these verses, because of the unity of the subject, we associate the three verses referring to the reign of Ahaziah, with which the chapter closes. Taking the latter first in order, we see—

I. THAT AHAB SURVIVED IN AHAZIAH.

1. This was legally true.

2. It was also morally true.

(a) A Church is not the more true for being established. Here were two State Churches which were, in the Biblical sense, atheistic.

(b) For concurrent endowment, whatever may be said for its expediency, there can be no moral defence.

3. But there was no necessity for this.

II. THAT AHAB SURVIVES IN HISTORY.

1. He survived in secular history. His acts and works were written in the chronicles of his nation.

2. He survives in sacred history.

(a) the Providence which has preserved the Scriptures evinces their Divine authenticity.

(b) Things are permanent as they stand related to the everlasting God.

(c) The posthumous influence points to the immortality of man.—J.A.M.

1 Kings 22:41-50

Jehoshaphat.

These words give a summary of the life of this king of Judah, and faithfully record, as the Scriptures do to admiration, the good and the bad, as these will be considered in the judgment of the great day. Consider—

I. THE PRAISE OF JEHOSHAPHAT.

1. He came of a good stock.

2. He improved his advantages.

3. This was to his praise.

II. THE BLAME OF JEHOSHAPHAT. This seems all to have been connected with the "peace" which he made "with the king of Israel." It appears to have commenced with—

1. The marriage of his son.

2. His friendship with Ahab.

3. His friendship with Ahaziah.

1 Kings 22:1-28

Crime brings its own punishment.

I. THE WICKED RUSH UPON DESTRUCTION.

1. Ahab provokes the war in which he himself will perish. The peace which had lasted so long might have continued. Every day it was prolonged was a day placed between him and death; and yet with his own hand he brings to an end the period of grace. How often are the calamities of the wicked invoked by themselves, and are the fruit of their own rashness!

2. It came as the prompting of the deepest wisdom. Jehoshaphat's presence afforded the opportunity of forming a league to which success seemed certain. The selfish cunning of the sinful becomes a snare to them.

3. He closes his ear against God's deterring counsel.

II. THE FALSE PROPHETS.

1. They bind the cords which are leading a sinful soul to death. The word which they profess to speak for God is a word which it pleases the king to hear. It is the echo of his own desires (1 Kings 22:6). There are those who by voice and pen proclaim a new gospel It is no longer sought to lead up the world to God and thus reconcile it to Him. It is boldly declared that the reconciliation is already effected. God has come down to it. There is no anger and no threatening and no terrible shadow of judgment. There is nothing but goodness and love. They are the false prophets of today, and these do for the men of their generation what those did for Ahab.

2. Their blasphemy. When a prophet of Jehovah was asked for (1 Kings 22:7), they who have hitherto spoken only of Adonai do not scruple to take the name of the Highest into their lips (1 Kings 22:11, 1 Kings 22:12). We do not escape the false prophets when we appeal from their speech concerning the God of nature to His revealed will, the word of the Lord. They meet us there. It is in vain we seek to rest upon the plainest words; they are explained away. Hell is a superstitious dream, and the cross of the disciples of Christ a mere figure of speech, with no hard, stern reality behind it.

3. They are possessed by a spirit of falsehood (1 Kings 22:21-23). Their position is more a punishment of past sin than conscious transgression. They speak with honesty of a sort, but it is out of their heart's darkness. They were willing to be deceived, and they have been deceived. They did not wish to know God as He is, and they have been left with the god of their own imagination. In which school are we, that of the false prophets, or of the true?

4. They smite the true servants of God. Zedekiah's blow preceded the king's judgment. It proved nothing but his own soul's distance from God. It was the act of a man provoked by zeal for his own honour. He who had been moved by zeal for God's honour would have stood in silent awe of that terrible but certain judgment which the man was braving.

III. THE TRUE SERVANT OF GOD.

1. In a corrupt court his is no welcome presence (1 Kings 22:8). The distance between Ahab and God was reflected in that which separated him from the speaker of God's word. Continued faithfulness, if it may not win, must be repelled and hated. "Woe unto you when all men speak well of you; for so," etc.

2. The necessity laid on him to declare the whole counsel of God (1 Kings 22:14). He cannot turn to the right hand or the left; the world's wealth cannot bribe him, its power and cruelty cannot terrify him. What king or people desire to hear, or courtly prophets or current creeds have said, weighs nothing with him. He cannot speak in God's name aught save what God has said.

3. His message. He speaks first in easily discerned irony (1 Kings 22:15, 1 Kings 22:16). It was an intimation to the king that he desired to hear no prophecy that would run counter to his inclinations. Then, when he is solemnly appealed to, a picture is presented (1 Kings 22:17) of the smitten, shepherdless people, which might well have touched even Ahab's heart. Next king and people are led up to the throne of God. The servant and his words are forgotten in the revelation of his Master. Even the false prophet's utterances are turned to account; they and the reliance which the king is placing on them are part fulfilment of the Divine vengeance. There was deeper tenderness and truer love for Ahab in that one breast than in all the four hundred.

4. The greatness of all true service for God. There is a glory about that despised, persecuted man before which that of both kings pales. It is a glory which nothing can tear from the loyal heart, and which shines the brighter amid the world's darkening hate. It is a glory which may be our own.—U.

1 Kings 22:29-40

The Certainty of God's Threatenings.

I. AHAB'S ATTEMPT TO ELUDE THE DIVINE VENGEANCE.

1. His apprehension of coming evil. If Micaiah's words were not the words of God, why should he take precautions? His heart gives the lie to his own unbelief; the words cling to him. The bold refusal to listen to God's word is no assurance that the soul will not afterwards be shaken by a fearful looking for of judgment.

2. His ungenerousness (1 Kings 22:30). "I will disguise myself; but put thou on thy robes." The effect of the counsel was necessarily to concentrate the enemy's attention upon Jehoshaphat. Sin not only makes a man a coward, it robs him of nobleness.

3. The immediate effect of Ahab's stratagem. Ben-hadad's arrangements for the capture or slaughter of Ahab were rendered of no avail. The captains could not find the man they sought. A momentary success often attends the plans of those who endeavour to flee from God.

4. The chance shot. The success of Ahab's device only served to make the blow come more plainly from the hand of God. Ben-hadad's purpose could be baffled, but not His. There is no escape from God.

II. THE FULFILMENT OF GOD'S WORD.

1. He fell at Ramoth Gilead (1 Kings 22:20).

2. "Israel was scattered upon the hills," and the command was given to return (1 Kings 22:17, 1 Kings 22:36).

3. The dogs licked Ahab's blood (1 Kings 21:19), not in Jezreel, indeed, because the judgment then pronounced was that of the overthrow of the dynasty. This was delayed on account of Ahab's repentance, and happened, as predicted, "is his son's days" (1 Kings 21:29). But the personal part of the prediction, "The dogs shall lick thy blood, even thine," was not revoked. There are prophecies both of evil and of good, within the range of which we set ourselves. God's words are touching us, and will likewise be literally fulfilled.—U.

1 Kings 22:41-53

Two Life Stories.

I. JEHOSHAPHAT'S.

1. He prolonged the good influence of his father's reign. Judah's thought was still kept under the light of truth, and its life more fully led into the ways of God: he completed his father's reforms (1 Kings 22:46). The continuance of God s work anywhere is as important as the origination of it.

2. He was consistent. "He turned not aside from it." He did not merely begin well; over his whole reign there rested the Divine approval; he did "that which was right in the eyes of the Lord." The life which is ever sinning, repenting, forgetting, achieves nothing. It is like a plant uprooted and planted again, to be again uprooted, etc; and which, even should its life be preserved, will never bear fruit. It is like "a backsliding heifer," and with such a life the great Husbandman's work cannot be carried on.

3. There was failure as well as success in his career. "Nevertheless the high places were not taken away." tie had endeavoured to remove them (2 Chronicles 17:6). But "the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places." The mightiest efforts in the great warfare with darkness leave something for other hands to do, and must till He come who alone can perfect all things.

4. He sought to be at peace with his brethren (1 Kings 22:44). He went further in this, indeed, than he ought to have done (2 Chronicles 19:2), but the desire for peace was laudable.

5. He humbled himself under God's rebuke (compare 1 Kings 22:48, 1 Kings 22:49 with 2 Chronicles 20:35-37). At first he had been beguiled into.fellowship with the idolatrous king of Israel without reflecting upon the danger which lay in it for himself and his people. But when God had manifested His displeasure, nothing could make him renew the confederacy. The judgment might mistake, but the heart was loyal to God.

II. AHAZIAH'S.

1. A sinful life. "He did evil in the sight of the Lord." With such a life there was no possibility of blessing for his people. The roots of his usefulness were destroyed. To do, we must first of all become. Our work cannot rise above the level of our life.

2. A disastrous policy (1 Kings 22:52, 1 Kings 22:53). He continued the work of Israel's destruction. The departure made by Jeroboam and perfected by Ahab and Jezebel, he accepted in its full rejection of Jehovah. He did not go beyond them, he simply did "according to all that his father had done," but in doing this his sin was of the deepest dye. His father had been judged, but God was still braved, and Israel was led still nearer to destruction. We may only continue what others have begun; but if we pay no heed to the proofs of God's anger, and take no thought of the inevitable results of the policy we pursue, our persistence may be one of the deepest crimes against God and man.—U.

1 Kings 22:34

The Pierced Armour.

This occurred during the third campaign of Ben-hadad against Israel. Micaiah had forewarned Ahab against the danger he incurred, and was cast into prison for his pains. The warning was, however, taken sufficiently to heart to induce the king to disguise himself. Describe the expedient adopted, and its remarkable failure. Ahab was in many respects a typical sinner. He was an idolater, a persecutor, impenitent, though sometimes touched; and in the plenitude of power he fell. We see here—

I. A MAN ARMED AGAINST GOD. True he was fighting against the Syrians, but as he girded on his armour he remembered and defied the words of the prophet. His ominous prophecy should not be fulfilled, he would yet come back safe and victorious to put Macaiah to death, and with this determination he put Jehoshaphat in command, and clad himself with proof armour. In spirit, therefore, he was fighting not only against the hosts of Syria, but against the word of God. Hence let us depict one who is armed against God. Reverse the description St. Paul gives (Ephesians 6:1-24.) of one armed by God. The impenitent sinner represented by Ahab defends himself.

1. By false hopes (Deuteronomy 29:19, Deuteronomy 29:20). These constitute his "helmet," which wards off true thoughts of self and sin. He blindly trusts in Divine mercy, while sin is unrepented, forgetting that "a God all mercy is a God unjust" (Young). "There is none other name given under heaven whereby we may be saved," etc. "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"

2. By a hardened heart. This is his "breastplate." A man impenitent is a man lost. Some are;' past feeling," their consciences are "seared as with a hot iron," and God gives them over to their "hardness of heart," and to an "impenitent mind." "Who has hardened himself against God, and prospered?" We may become "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."

3. By defiant words. There is a tongue which is set on fire of hell Adduce examples. Ahab defied Micaiah.

4. By an unbelieving mind. The king questioned the truth of the prophet's message. He had more confidence in his own past success and in his military skill than in the declaration of a man who knew something of God but nothing of war. Unbelief ever prevents the inflowing of Divine goodness. Jesus "could do no mighty works because of their unbelief."

5. By a dumb spirit. No asking for pardon, no cry for mercy rose from Ahab's heart, or it would not have proved too late; for the Lord is "not willing that any should perish."

II. A MAN STRICKEN BY GOD. The chance arrow of the Syrian archer fulfilled the Divine purpose.

1. By the arrow of conviction. God's word is sharp and powerful, and pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

2. By the arrow of judgment.

1 Kings 21

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