2 Chronicles 18:1-34

EXPOSITION

This chapter, from its second verse, finds its parallel in 1 Kings 22:2-35. It opens with dangerous symptoms, recording in one sentence the event that was to bear ill fruit, if not till "years" afterward (1 Kings 22:2), of Jehoshaphat "joining affinity with Ahab." His son Jehoram married Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (2 Chronicles 21:6). The further steps by which Jehoshaphat became entangled with Ahab are graphically described. He forms an alliance with him in the war with Ramoth-Gilead (1 Kings 22:1-3); be urges Ahab to consult "a prophet of the Lord" (1 Kings 22:4-12). Ahab unwillingly consents, and receives Micaiah's answer (1 Kings 22:13-27); and finally the chapter tells us how Ahah went up to battle, and in battle received his mortal wound (1 Kings 22:28-34).

2 Chronicles 18:1

The purport of the verse is to let us into the secret that the riches and honour in abundance of Jehoshaphat were, in fact, the snare by which he was led to entangle himself with one who, probably only on that account, was willing to be entangled by affinity with him (2 Chronicles 21:6; 2 Chronicles 22:2-4; 2 Kings 8:25-29). It is not hard to see how they would both lead him, if not always out of big and patronizing thoughts, to seek and also lay him open to be sought. When this verse says Jehoshaphat joined affinity, etc; it means that he had done so. to wit, not fewer than nine years before, in promoting or allowing, whichever it was, the marriage of his son Jehoram with Ahab's and Jezebel's daughter Athaliah. For the issue of this marriage, Ahaziah, took the throne at the age of twenty-two years, thirteen years hence from this seventeenth year of his grandfather Jehoshaphat's reign, the year of Ahab's death. But as we are told that Ahaziah was the youngest son of Jehoram and Athaliah (for explanation of which see 2 Chronicles 21:17), the "joining affinity" must have been something earlier than nine years, and very probably came yet nearer the prosperity of the earlier years of Jehoshaphat's reign, with which would agree well the keynote touched again significantly here from our 2 Chronicles 17:5. Comp. 2 Kings 8:17, 2 Kings 8:26; 2 Chronicles 21:20; 2 Chronicles 22:2 (which needs the correction of twenty-two to forty-two). Although it is certain that the act of Jehoshaphat was wrong in principle, disastrous in practice (2 Chronicles 19:2, 2 Chronicles 19:3), and threatened fatal consequences to himself (2 Chronicles 18:31, 2 Chronicles 18:32), yet it is not impossible to suppose his motives were for the most part good, and he may naturally have thought that the sunshine of his own peace and abundance might be the set time to win influence in and over Israel, rather than strengthen Israel in its ungodly independence. On the other hand, nothing could justify Jehoshaphat risking such intimacy of relationship with such a family, heedless of consequences, looking towards idolatry, which he should have known were overwhelmingly probable.

2 Chronicles 18:2

After certain years he went down. In lieu of the italic type "certain" here, the English idiom, "years after," would aptly reproduce the facts of the case. This journey to Samaria to see Ahab was made in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat's reign. What were the precise antecedent circumstances of this visit of Jehoshaphat to Ahab it is interesting to surmise—whether it were the fruit of an invitation direct from Ahab, who had his own designs, or whether it were for diplomatic reasons, that worked in the mind of Jehoshaphat as well as of Ahab, in view of Syria. It is evident that Ahab promptly determined to improve this conference of kings. Persuaded him; i.e. he took steps to induce him. This is the uniform signification of the word here used in the eighteen times of its occurrence, and mostly in doubtful, or worse than doubtful, matter. The form is the hiph. of סוּת, in which conjugation only the verb occurs. The Revised Version renders "moved." The visiting and cooperating of Jehoshaphat and Ahab made a novel departure in the history of the rended kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and continued till the time of Jehu. Ramoth-Gilead. This important city of Gad (Joshua 20:8; Joshua 21:38), in Palestine beyond Jordan, comes into question as one not surrendered to the king-dora of Israel in good faith, according to the promise of Benhadad, Benhadad's father having taken it from Omri, father of Ahab. For "all the might that he showed," and presumably in conflicts with Syria, Omri was evidently a heavy loser. Ramoth-Gilead means "the heights of Gilead."

2 Chronicles 18:3

I am as thou, etc. The same unqualified kind of language was used By Jehoshaphat on another occasion (2 Kings 3:7), two years later, when Jehoram, son of the deceased Ahab, also asked his help against Moab. Whether on the one occasion or the other, it is quite possible that Jehoshaphat thought he was serving common interests, and the cause of his own kingdom, as well as of Israel; nevertheless "Jehu the son of Hanani the seer" ignores the supposed justification (2 Chronicles 19:2).

2 Chronicles 18:4

The wording of this verse is identical with that of the parallel (1 Kings 22:5). Jehoshaphat, if even not quite conscious of it, is throwing some sop to his conscience in essaying to become, and posing as, the godly counsellor of "the ungodly" (2 Chronicles 19:2). At any rate, his counsel is right, even to the point of urging to-day, and significantly deprecating procrastination. It is not, however, so clear that he was, in the first instance, as decided in respect of the necessity of inquiring the will of the Lord at the mouth of a true prophet, in distinction from a prophet merely of Israel, though they should be "four hundred" in number! Compare the following two verses, however, which show as though he was holding himself quite prepared and on the look-out for the expected occasion of having to rein Ahab up!

2 Chronicles 18:5

These four hundred prophets, as Keil justly notes, were not prophets of Ashe-rah, nor of Baal, but strictly of Israel, i.e. of the images of the calf (1 Kings 12:26-33). Their word speedily showed itself not the word of the Lord, but the word that was made up to order of the king, and to suit his known wish at any time.

2 Chronicles 18:6

The Revised Version well at-ranges the words of this verse, "Is there not here besides a prophet of the Lord?" The conscience of Ahab successfully made a coward of him, that he took so quietly this pronounced slight put on his kingdom s prophets (prophetae vitulorum) by his brother-king Jehoshaphat!

2 Chronicles 18:7

The same is Micaiah. This true prophet of the Lord is known only here in recorded history, but it is evident he was otherwise well known to his generation and to Ahab (2 Chronicles 18:25). The outspokenness of Ahab and the sustained courtesy of Jehoshaphat are alike agreeable to notice in this verse.

2 Chronicles 18:9

The contents of this and the following two verses narrate either what had already taken place, or the continuation of the scene that had not come to its end, but had been interrupted in order to carry out fully the urgent exhortation of Jehoshaphat "to-day," so that Ahab sent at once there and then a messenger for Micaiah. Any way, the unreal prophets have their full opportunity and their say at least twice over, as also Micaiah below (2 Chronicles 18:14, 2 Chronicles 18:16, 2 Chronicles 18:18-22, 2 Chronicles 18:27). A void place; i.e. a level floor; Revised Version, an open place. The Hebrew word designates often just a "threshing-floor," גּרֶן; but quite possibly here, a recognized court at the gate of the city, used for judgment, is intended.

2 Chronicles 18:10

Zedekiah (named son of Chenaanah to distinguish him from some now unknown contemporary, or, perhaps, because the father was in some way distinguished) was one of those who knew the truth, nor feared to put it on his lips at the very time that his life. did not incorporate it (Deuteronomy 33:17). For other particulars of him, borrowed from the doubtfulness of Josephus, Bee Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' 3:1836. Had made him horns of iron. It would seem as though Zedekiah had made these "horns of iron" at some previous time, or, perhaps, now simulated some very rough presentation of horns of an impromptu kind. The horns were the symbol of power, and the iron of a power invincible.

2 Chronicles 18:12

This verse bespeaks very clearly the rotten condition of Church and state, prophets and king and "officers" (2 Chronicles 18:8).

2 Chronicles 18:14

This first reply of Micaiah, given in the latter haft of the verse, does not stand for untruth or deceit, but for very thinly veiled, very thinly disguised, very keen taunt and reproof. It has been well described as the ironical echo of the language of the unreal prophets. Micaiah begins by answering a fool according to his folly, i.e. according to his own heart's desire. He had just come from some place of imprisonment or punishment (2 Chronicles 18:25). And he so spoke or so looked that the king should know he had not spoken his last word in answer to the inquiry addressed to him.

2 Chronicles 18:16

The brief parable smote the very heart of Ahab (Numbers 27:17); and Ahab felt it, like "the sentence of death" in him; in a way all different, indeed, from that in which an apostle of many a century afterward felt it.

2 Chronicles 18:17

Ahab's language in this verso shows that, though he had adjured Micaiah, he did not wish to seem to believe that he could speak anything but his own temper.

2 Chronicles 18:19

Who shall entice, etc.? Hebrew piel future פָתָח. This and the following three verses must have told, manifestly did tell, with fearful force of faithful preaching, upon the unreal prophets and the wicked king. How it was that their contents did not avail with Jehoshaphat to throw full energy again into his conscience, and to enable him to break at once with Ahab and his expedition, is inexplicable (and the more as it was his own pressing suggestion that the true prophet should be summoned), except as another illustration of the fearful difficulty that lies so often to human weakness, in the way of retracing a false step. Both these visions (2 Chronicles 18:16, 2 Chronicles 18:18-22) well illustrate how God revealed his truth, will and specific messages to his true prophets in vision. The vision of the throne, grand in all the majesty of its simplicity, of the psalmists (Psalms 9:1-20; Psalms 11:1-7; Psalms 45:1-17; Psalms 103:1-22), of Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-5), of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:26), of Daniel (Daniel 7:9), of Stephen (Acts 7:56), of St. John (Revelation 4:2), is part of heaven's own stamp of authentication of the Bible.

2 Chronicles 18:22

The vision culminating as regards its practical object in this verse is Micaiah's bold explanation of how it comes to pass that he has to boar the brunt of Ahab's "hate," on account of the uniformly unfavourable character of his answers to him, instead of four hundred other men sharing it with him. He declares, on the authority of his rapt vision, that it is because they are possessed by a lying spirit (Romans 1:25, Romans 1:28; 1 Thessalonians 2:12). And, like the true prophet of all time, he declares it at all hazards and at all cost.

2 Chronicles 18:23

Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee? This question of Zedekiah, and Micaiah's answer to him in the following verse, arc both obscure and of doubtful interpretation, but their drift not at all so. Keil and Bertheau correctly say,—in that Zedekiah used the force and the language that he did, it is not a bad sign that he was under a spirit's influence, but in that it was physical force which he used in a moral subject, this was a conclusive sign of the character of the spirit that he was amenable to. Among many possible suggestions as to the exact meaning of the question, "Which way," etc.? it is possible that a sceptical taunt best explains Zedekiah's words, and that he meant that he did not believe the Spirit of the Lord went any way to Micaiah. He will not yield to a doubt or to a suspicion thrown upon it that the Spirit had been with himself, and he will fain throw great doubt, whether he had proceeded from him to Micaiah!

2 Chronicles 18:24

So also, probably, this verse would purport to tell us beforehand distinctly what is not told after the issue of the battle and Ahab's death, that Zedekiah and his co-prophets did what they could, however vainly, to hide and to elude the vengeance of Jezebel (1 Kings 20:30; 1 Kings 22:25; 2 Kings 9:2).

2 Chronicles 18:25

Carry him back. The last of these three words tells, of course, its own tale, of what had already been the treatment accorded to Micaiah. Amon the governor … Joash the king's son. This latter person is found only here and in the parallel, and the designation given him probably does not intend a personal relationship to the king, but an official; so see again 2 Chronicles 28:7; and note the conjunction again of the governor of the house, in the next clause. The Vulgate translates the Hebrew for "the king's," as though it were a proper name, "Amelech." See also Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' under the name "Maaseiah" 17. Nor is Amon the governor known elsewhere except in the parallel (1 Kings 22:26), but these designations, as through some chinks, throw a little scanty light into the subject of the internal administration at this time of the kingdom of Israel. In this kingdom subsequent to the separation, decentralization seems to have been carried to a further point than in Judah, and considering its greater extent, its far inferior metropolitan force, its double place of worship and sacrifice, these largely idolatrous, and in all this the undoubted degraded authority of its central government, this is very explainable. It is true that in both kingdoms history speaks equally of such offices and officers as were distinctly military or looked that way, but it can scarcely be without a reason that for the numerous allusions in Israel (1 Kings 16:8-10; 1 Kings 18:3; 1 Kings 20:7; 1 Kings 21:7-13; 2 Kings 1:8-17; 2 Kings 3:6; 2 Kings 10:5) to councils of elders (well known before the disruption), and governors of palaces, of cities, of houses, and of provinces, there is scarcely one in the records of Judah. Here possibly enough the executive would be more vigorous, more compact, and more direct and close in its action from headquarters, while in both divisions of what should have been the one kingdom, royalty was by profession constitutional, and in its devolution hereditary.

2 Chronicles 18:26

Only the slightest differences are noticeable between this verse and the parallel, this latter using the sign of the objective case (which in this instance would probably lend some contemptuousness of expression), and using the word "come" instead of return.

2 Chronicles 18:27

The courage and fidelity of Micaiah, in not deserting either his prophet-message or his prophet-Master, are admirable, and for his determined appeal to all the people, which was made in the very face of the king or kings, see again Micah 1:2.

2 Chronicles 18:28

It must remain doubtful which of the kings carried with him the uneasier heart. What Jehoshaphat might have gained in less element of personal and physical fear, he by rights should have lost in sensitiveness of conscience.

2 Chronicles 18:29

Ahab does not seem disposed to lose anything again for want of asking, and even vouchsafing apparently (but it is exceedingly likely that this arises from our failing to appreciate exactly the force of the Hebrew forms in the text) to use the tone of directing, to his brother-king of the better part and kingdom. It must be presumed that there was something to relieve Ahab's language of the barefaced disregard for the safety of Jehoshaphat and regard for his own, which lie on the surface of the words he uses. Quite possibly, for instance, both knew that Ahab was to be the mark of the shooters. Also Ahab's disguise may have meant a heavy price to pay to his pride, while Jehoshaphat's dignity was saved intact. So, too, Ahab may have merely purported to say, "You can, without any special risk, wear your royal apparel; but I," etc,

2 Chronicles 18:30

Our had commanded stands rendered in the parallel not so explicitly "commanded," but in both cases the Hebrew text is the same ( צִוָּה). Therefore, if the place of 2 Chronicles 18:29, 2 Chronicles 18:30 were inverted, what reads like the cool suggestion of Ahab in 2 Chronicles 18:29 would seem more tolerable. Mean. time, Benhadad's command argues the intensity of his resentment towards Ahab, and not less ungrateful forgetfulness for the ultimate consideration that Ahab had allowed to him (1 Kings 20:31-34).

2 Chronicles 18:31

Comparing this and following verse minutely with the parallel (1 Kings 22:32, 1 Kings 22:33), the exact correspondence of the latter of each pair of verses only the more clearly points the significance belonging to the two clauses of foreign matter interposed so characteristically by the writer of Chronicles for his own unvarying special objects, viz. the Lord helped him; and God moved them. What the cry of Jehoshaphat was remains uncertain; whether a cry to his own bodyguard and soldiers, or a cry to those who were beginning "to compass him about as bees," to let them know at any rate that he was not the king they sought, or whether most improbably, a cry to the Lord is meant. The cry fulfilled its purpose, and if Jehoshaphat had a sneaking love for Ahab (see the significant "love them," etc; of Jehu in second verse of next chapter), he evidently had not any idea of needlessly dying for him. The happy distinction of perceiving in next verse, as compared with seeing in this verse, is not warranted by the Hebrew text (in both cases כִּרְאוֹת), though it is by the gist of the connection and English idiom,

2 Chronicles 18:33

At a venture; Hebrew, לְתֻמּוֹ; i.e. "in his innocence." The root is the familiar root expressive of uprightness, perfectness, simplicity, and the meaning here is that the shooter was innocent of what a distinguished deed he was doing, of the personality of the man at whom he aimed (for it is not necessary to suppose his shot was quite at random), and of the skill that gave the arrow to reach its ultimate destiny. Between the joints of the harness; literally, between the joints and the harness, i.e. that part called the breastplate. The arrow went through, or by the side of one of the actual articulations of the armour-mail worn. Ahab's direction to the chariot-driver at the spur of the first wounded moment to turn and carry him out of the host, was evidently qualified, when he found that the wound was not immediately fatal. As the heat of the battle grew, and victory did not at once turn one way or the other, he was the more anxious to give the moral support of his presence to the last to his army, and, unable to stand by himself, he was supported by his own orders (so our rendering is not inconsistent with that in the parallel "was stayed" (1 Kings 22:35) in the chariot till he died in the evening. Although the spirit of Ahab, and his fidelity to his own army, kingdom, and self, cannot but appear to advantage in these last incidents of his unworthy life, yet it is probable that they find their record here for the sake of giving clear statement to the fact, that in the chariot his life-bleed collected according to the saying of the parallel. Note, therefore, particularly the truncated history of the writer of Chronicles in this instance. He, no doubt, consciously omitted, and with a purpose, his own usual purpose; but light is lost, and the cross light tends rather to misleading, except for that only correct user of Scripture, which teaches us to compare one Scripture with another, and balance one part against another—a thing easy to do in matters of fact, but too often forgotten in the weightier matter of doctrine. Here our eighteenth chapter closes, less the mention of the proclamation for the self-disbanding of Ahab's army which should fulfil the prophecy of our 2 Chronicles 18:16, and less any mention of Ahab's burial, of the washing of his chariot in the pool of Samaria, of the dogs licking up of the blood there, and of his ivory house, etc. (verses 37-40 of the parallel chapter). All of which omittings accord well with the one clear ecclesiastical and religious intent of the Chronicles, in place of the pursuit of matters of general and merely graphic historic interest, however charged with instruction they too might be.

HOMILETICS

2 Chronicles 18:1-34

The second chapter in Jehoshaphat's career.

This chapter opens with the statement of a fact that portends no good—the "affinity' which Jehoshaphat "joined with Ahab," the King of Israel. This came to pass in the incident of the marriage of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, with Athaliah, daughter of Ahab. Eight years, or a little more, and it seems to bear no evil fruit; but, if so, it was only that it was taking its time to form and ripen, and now too surely is found. Clusters of lessons in this chapter gather round the names of—

I. JEHOSHAPHAT. They now, unfortunately, all descend from that one false position in which he had involved himself and his family with Ahab and his family.

1. Jehoshaphat has become undoubtedly the leading man, and is proportionately exposed to the dangers inherent in, inseparably inherent in, being courted—courted by attentions, by flattery, by luxurious entertainment, by being appealed to for his opinion on great questions, and tacitly treated as arbiter in high questions of state.

2. He must repay these, if possible, in somewhat similar coin, and must use large language, speak after the manner of an entangling generosity (2 Chronicles 18:3), and, before he knows what he means, commit himself to something dangerously near a promise.

3. After this promise, instead of before it, he admonishes the man who is in tact a rival king to inquire "the word of the Lord," and has to wince under the notorious humiliation of listening to the report of four hundred men, well known for false prophets!

4. He has to save, if not his credit, the bare necessities of the truth, by asking for a true prophet, "a prophet of the Lord," without, as it would appear, one word of blank and fiat denunciation of Ahab's troop of prophets, and with only the mildest deprecation (2 Chronicles 18:7) of Ahab's unqualified assertion that he "hates" the true man, and with utter ignoring and neglect of the favourable opportunity of asking how it may be supposed to have come to pass that the true man "never has prophesied good, but always evil unto" Ahab. Yes, but the inconvenience was that he was a guest in his house, and a guest sumptuously entertained and most deferentially treated.

5. He has a long sitting's humiliation, when, clothed in his royal robes, he sat, throne by throne, with Ahab, to see "the prophet of the Lord," Micaiah; to hear his parables, every word of which he knew to be truth; to witness the horror of that true prophet being "smitten on the cheek" of the false, and the royal honour of the Lord God proportionately disparaged; to observe the meek forbearance of Micaiah in his reply; and, to crown all, his sentence and relegation to a bread-and-water imprisonment by Ahab. It ought to have been a long day of torture for the king of the true line of David!

6. Lastly, though it is impossible to doubt that he was in possession of the true state of the whole case, Jehoshaphat has to go on to the end. He does the thing that is wrong (2 Chronicles 19:2); he seems, at last, to be obeying Ahab rather than to lead him-going into battle and, at his suggestion, clothed for a target for the archers—till the undignified cry to be spared is wrung from his lips, because he would have it known he is Jehoshaphat, and not Ahab! All this was dangerously close steering for the conscience; it brought upon him the distinct reproof and very forcibly expressed condemnation of the seer Hanani, so soon as ever he reached Jerusalem; and all was occasioned by his being dragged on, step by step, in a wrong course from the position, originally a false one, in which he had placed himself.

II. AHAB. Things are very near their end for Ahab. The view is that of a man using up to the best advantage the last of his wits, which he had of long time trusted to his disadvantage, which long time had led him wrong, and were now rapidly going to lead him to the fatal end. We notice:

1. How he prepared the way by lavish entertainment of the King of Judah and his retinue, in order to utilize the opportunity to persuade him, apparently, to pass his word "to go up to Ramoth-Gilead," but certainly to pass an opinion favourable to doing so.

2. How immediately he acceded to the proposal of Jehoshaphat that the Lord should be inquired of, but as immediately repaired to and summoned "his" own "prophets" (2 Chronicles 18:21).

3. How the force of circumstances extracted from him a faithful statement of the true state of his feelings towards the true prophet (2 Chronicles 18:7).

4. How the "officer," or "messenger," sent to bring Micaiah quickly, did his endeavour, no doubt at the instigation of Ahab, to pervert (2 Chronicles 18:12, 2 Chronicles 18:13) the testimony which Micaiah should give, but vainly.

5. How certainly he detected the consequent sarcasm, the veiled compliance of Micaiah (2 Chronicles 18:14, 2 Chronicles 18:15), and the rather drew out more fully all the thing as it was from Micaiah, but as he did not want to have it, or to have it uttered!

6. How the wicked action of one of his false prophets suited him exactly (2 Chronicles 18:23-25), and bridged the way both to satisfy his own resentment and to put a fair face on the position in the presence of Jehoshaphat. He was, perhaps, trembling all the while lest Jehoshaphat, hearing and seeing all, should have summoned up the moral courage to have done just the thing which he ought to have done, and withdrawn altogether from the enterprise, or from all association with Ahab in it!

7. Lastly, how Ahab entered the battle-field, ill at ease, dishonouring himself by disguising himself, and with too sure a presage of what was in store for him; and the prophecy of Elijah found its fulfilment (1 Kings 21:19).

III. THE FALSE PROPHETS. These, wherever found, are the prophets who seek to please man; who would divine, a task only too easy, what man wishes them to say. In this case they are emphatically called, on the highest authority (2 Chronicles 18:21, 2 Chronicles 18:22), Ahab's prophets, not those of the Lord. Unfaithfulness in the professed teaching of religion never does anything better than lets through those who accept it. The anger and intemperateness of that one of the false prophets who had been most demonstrative, most dramatic (2 Chronicles 18:10, 2 Chronicles 18:23), are much to be noticed—noticed as marking, as measuring the personal feeling and, in a word, the very temper which should be most utterly absent from the true messenger of God, of his truth, and his will.

IV. THE ONE BLAMELESS, BEAUTIFUL, AND EVEN TYPICAL FIGURE OF THE TRUE PROPHET. He was already, it appears, a marked man, and, had it been possible, marked down by King Ahab. We notice:

1. When all pressure was put on him, and he knew very well what it meant, that he asserted the inviolability of his duty—absolute fidelity to his instructions!

2. We must notice the deep knowledge imparted to him of human nature; how to touch it at its root; how to gain effectively its ear under the most favourable circumstances; how, in the presence of such, even to enlarge its own opportunity for exposition of the truth (2 Chronicles 18:14, 2 Chronicles 18:22). The parable, as we may call it, of the sheep on the mountains without a shepherd, and the vision of the council of heaven, or in heaven, which had been vouchsafed to Micaiah,—what tales they tell to all those who now are listening to him! One against not fewer than four hundred and two! The plainness, the point, the forcibleness, and the fearlessness of his utterance are all the perfection of the true prophet. For us, too, this passage most instructively illustrates the method, or one of the methods, by which prophet and seer of old saw and then announced the real revelations of heaven to earth.

3. But the perfection of the true prophet is yet more intrinsically present in the forbearingness, the patient suffering, the not returning railing for railing, "the fellowship of sufferings" with the One Prophet; as Micaiah was "smitten on the cheek," as he was "thrust into prison," as he was "fed with the bread and water of affliction," as he uttered no provoking word nor murmured, because of the consequences to himself, of his faithful ministry. The day that was fateful and fatal to the wicked king Ahab, who now filled up the measure of his iniquity; that was dismay, confusion, exposure, to four hundred false prophets; that, alas! tarnished even the history and character of Jehoshaphat—was the day in which the blameless Micaiah "shone forth as the sun in the firmament of heaven."

2 Chronicles 18:1

Temporal advancement and spiritual decline.

Writing the biography of Jehoshaphat from a purely religious standpoint, another conjunction than the one used might well have been employed. It might well be written, "Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, but joined affinity with Ahab." For the latter clause affirms that on which we can by no means congratulate the king. Yet such is the common course of things; such is the bent of the human mind and the way that circumstances usually take, that the simple connective "and" is perhaps the more natural of the two. This close association deliberately entered upon between the servant of Jehovah and the devotee of Baal is human enough. The man who has become strong, according to all earthly measurements, seeks to become stronger still, not considering what care he is taking or is neglecting of his deeper and his higher interests. We look at—

I. THE COMMONNESS OF THIS COURSE. How true it is that "much wants more;" that the exchequer never seems full enough to the man who is amassing wealth, nor the rank high enough to him who is pursuing honour, nor the authority great enough to him who is striving after power] Men eat of earthly food and are the hungrier for their feasting. They have "abundance of riches and honour," but they will not be satisfied without that fascinating alliance; they must "join affinity with Ahab." Let no man imagine that when he has reached a certain height of worldly advancement he will be satisfied and will crave nothing more. He will most certainly find that, when he reaches that desired point, he will long to stand on the height that will be still beyond him. And the evil of it is that this thirst for more worldly good is something which so often displaces a nobler longing, a craving for more of goodness and of fellowship with God. It even affects and injures the spirit to such a degree that it positively lessens that better longing, until it is reduced to almost nothing.

II. THE GRAVE UNWISDOM OF IT. What did Jehoshaphat gain by this alliance with the house of Ahab? A measurable, momentary gratification. What did he lose by it? An immeasurable, permanent good. The mistake he then made was one the effects of which stretched far, very far forwards, and affected for evil many hundreds of households beside his own (2 Chronicles 21:4). What do we gain by adding something more to our material prosperity—another thousand pounds to our fortune; another honour to our titles; another position to our acquirement? Something truly, but something the worth of which is quite measurable; possibly very small, as an increase to our life-happiness. But if we are neglecting our higher interests, if we are allowing those sacred obligations to be relaxed, if we are departing from God, what do we lose? Who shall estimate the value of the favour and friendship of Jesus Christ, of the integrity of our Christian character, of the excellency and blessedness of holy usefulness, of that brighter and broader sphere which would have been ours, if we had not let earthly and human interests weigh down and press out the higher and the heavenly ones?

III. ITS GUILT. As God multiplies his gifts to us, of whatever kind those gifts may be, we ought to be thereby more closely attached to him and to be more heartily devoted to his service. When we permit increase of substance or added honour to lead us away from him, we are as guilty as we are unwise; our sin is as sad as our folly.—C.

2 Chronicles 18:2, 2 Chronicles 18:3

Spiritual unwariness.

When Jehoshaphat came into contact with Ahab, he encountered a man who was more than his match in respect of policy. Indeed, he may be said to have fallen readily into the trap which his neighbour laid for him. Ahab received him as his guest with ostentatious hospitality; and when Jehoshaphat was in a grateful and perhaps elated mood, he proposed a combination in which they were to share the risks and losses, but not to divide the gains. To this the King of Judah unwisely consented. The "offensive alliance" was a mistake on his part. Simple straightforwardness needs to be flanked with some wariness or natural sagacity, otherwise it may lead us into compromising and even ruinous situations. In the conduct of our life, it is of very great importance that we should not show unwariness in—

I. THE FORMATION OF OUR FRIENDSHIPS, Jehoshaphat did an unwise thing in forming a friendship with Ahab; intimacy with such a man could not possibly end in his own elevation. We should not "love them that hate the Lord" (see homily on 2 Chronicles 19:2). In nothing is it more needful to show wariness and wisdom than in the choice of our friends; a mistake here means bitter disappointment, unimaginable misery, and, in all likelihood, spiritual deterioration if not positive ruin. Be slow to bind this bend. of friendship, which may, indeed, be a link to every good thing that blesses us, but which may be a fetter that chains us to every bad thing that curses and degrades us.