1Kings 22
Sunday Evening Bible Study
July 14, 2002
Introduction
King Ahab of Israel had been at war against Benhadad, the king of Syria (1Kings 20). They had a couple of years of wars, and God was gracious to wicked King Ahab to give him victory over the Syrians. After the last victory, Benhadad had made a promise to Ahab:
(1 Ki 20:34 KJV) And Benhadad said unto him, The cities, which my father took from thy father, I will restore …
:1-4 War plans
:1 And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel.
The Syrians seemed to have had the upper hand for years. One time they had laid siege to Ahab’s capital, Samaria. Yet God showed kindness to Ahab, and his outnumbered little army was able to route the superior Syrian force.
The next year, the Syrians came back, but challenged the Israelite army out on the plain rather than the hills of Samaria. And though they were outnumbered, God once again showed grace to Ahab, and the Syrians were defeated.
After this second defeat, Ahab was able to capture Benhadad, and rather than destroying his enemy, Ahab let him go. We might look at this as being merciful, but God had been wanting Ahab to bring judgment on Benhadad, and Ahab had frustrated God’s designs.
Ahab was rebuked for this by one of the prophets:
(1 Ki 20:42-43 KJV) And he
said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a
man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his
life, and thy people for his people. {43} And the king of Israel went to his
house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.
:2 Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.
Jehoshaphat – Y@howshaphat – “Yahweh has judged”
Jehoshaphat was considered a “good” king. He followed the Lord. He brought about a lot of good spiritual reforms in the southern kingdom of Judah.
The parallel account tells us that at this time, good Jehoshaphat made an alliance by marriage to wicked Ahab (2Chr. 18:1). He formed this alliance by having his son Joram marry Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.
:3 Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours
Ramoth in Gilead – about fifty miles east from Samaria, across the Jordan River.
Benhadad had promised to return the cities to Ahab, but hadn’t kept that promise.
It was one of the “Cities of Refuge”.
(Deu
4:43 KJV) Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the
Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the
Manassites.
It was originally a part of the tribe of Gad.
Even though it was a part of the area belonging to Gad, the actual city itself was populated by Levites of the Merari family.
(1
Chr 6:80 KJV) And out of the tribe of Gad; Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs,
and Mahanaim with her suburbs,
It would be fought over many times, being traded back and forth between Israel and Syria.
:4 I am as thou art, my people as thy people
Jehoshaphat is committed to Ahab because of the marriage. He has to go.
:5-23 Asking the prophets
:5 Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.
the LORD – Yahweh – When the English text is in all capital letters, this tells us that the underlying Hebrew word is God’s name, Yahweh. Jehoshaphat wants to know what God (Yahweh) thinks about this war.
:6 gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men
These seem to be generic/multipurpose “prophets”.
I wonder if this group is related to the four hundred prophets of the “groves” (the goddess Asherah) that had not been executed by Elijah? (1Ki. 18:19,40)
There had been two groups of prophets invited to the showdown on Mt. Carmel.
(1 Ki 18:19 KJV) Now
therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets
of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred,
which eat at Jezebel's table.
Yet Elijah only challenged, and then executed, the 450 prophets of Baal.
(1 Ki 18:40 KJV) And Elijah
said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they
took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them
there.
Could these men be the prophets of the “groves”, or, the Asherah?
:6 Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
the Lord – ‘Adonay – lord. At first, these prophets do not use God’s name, Yahweh. Instead, they simply use the generic title, “Lord”.
:7 Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides
the LORD – Yahweh – this is God’s name.
There must be something about Ahab’s four hundred prophets that tells Jehoshaphat that they are not prophets of Yahweh.
:8 I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me
Lesson
Be willing to listen to hard things
Ahab has had a problem every time someone reminds him he needs to change.
(Eph 4:14-15 KJV)
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about
with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive; {15} But speaking the truth in love, may
grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
We learn to grow up when we speak the truth in love to each other.
I think it helps that we be honest and specific with each other. I don’t think it’s helpful to just say that “you have problems”. Sometimes we can’t see our own problems.
(1 Cor 13:6 KJV) Rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Love isn’t glad to hear about a person stumbling or falling into sin.
Love is glad when it hears the truth. Sometimes the truth is a difficult thing for us to listen to, but if it’s the truth, then we ought to be glad we’re hearing it because that’s how we grow.
I don’t know many people who like to be criticized. We especially don’t like it when there are people like Micaiah in our lives who always say something negative. But be careful to ask yourself the question, “Is there any truth in this?”
:9 Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.
Micaiah – Miykay@huw “who is like God”
:10 each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place
a void place – goren – threshing-floor; barn, barn floor, corn floor, void place; A typical place for the kings to sit with their subjects, with plenty of open space for the people.
It’s a grand scene. A big, open area with lots of pomp and color.
:11 And Zedekiah …made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the LORD …
Zedekiah – Tsidqiyah – “Yahweh is righteous”
horns of iron – It wasn’t unusual for a prophet to use a prop. Jeremiah used a wooden, then an iron yoke to signify the servitude to Babylon.
the LORD – Yahweh – this is God’s name.
This man is claiming to speak for Yahweh, yet he is one of the false prophets. He is one of the four hundred. Perhaps he wants to be the one that will satisfy Jehoshaphat. He’s heard that Jehoshaphat wants to hear from Yahweh, so he “speaks” for Yahweh.
:12 all the prophets prophesied …prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it
prosper – tsalach – to advance, prosper, make progress, succeed, be profitable
the LORD – Yahweh – this is God’s name. The rest of the prophets also claim to be speaking for Yahweh.
:13 let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them
The messenger just wants Micaiah to go along with the program and not rock the boat.
:16 And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?
Somehow Ahab can tell that Micaiah isn’t being sincere. Perhaps it was something in the tone of voice. I kind of get the idea that is Micaiah is being sarcastic, that he’s displayed this attitude before to Ahab.
:17 I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd
Micaiah shares a vision he’s had. Micaiah is saying that Israel will lose its king. Ahab will die in this battle.
:19 I saw the LORD sitting on his throne …
Ahab and Jehosphaphat, who are listening to Micaiah, are also sitting on their thrones right now. They aren’t the only kings sitting on thrones.
:20 And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead?
The Lord’s intention is for Ahab to die at Ramothgilead.
:21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
There are two kinds of angels in heaven, good angels and bad angels.
Satan himself still has access to heaven, and presents himself before God.
(Job 1:6-7 KJV) Now there
was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and
Satan came also among them. {7} And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest
thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the
earth, and from walking up and down in it.
He is called the “accuser of the brethren”, and works night and day against us (Rev. 12:10)
:23 the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth ...
This is a hard phrase. We need to be careful how we handle this.
Lesson
God is not evil
While this may seem like I'm playing with words, we have to be careful to see the difference between God using evil to accomplish His purposes, and attributing evil directly to God.
The Bible says:
1John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of
him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted
of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Lesson
God may allow evil to occur to accomplish His will.
The decree was made that Ahab would fall at Ramoth Gilead. God had run out of patience with Ahab. It was time for his judgment. Judgment is not evil, it’s good.
God will be allowing an evil spirit to work in Ahab's life, so the purpose will be accomplished.
Why does God allow evil to exist in the first place?
God allows evil for man to have a choice.
Without evil, there is no possibility of loving from a free will choice.
Without a choice, how can that be love?
God doesn’t create us to be robots that love Him when He pushes a button. He has created us with free will so that we could choose to love Him or not to love Him. And to be able to make a choice, there has to be something to choose from. And so God allows Satan to continue to offer a choice.
If there weren’t a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the chance that man could disobey, then there wouldn’t have been a chance for man to obey.
Lesson
God may allow some to be deceived.
But there’s a reason for it.
We see that this will happen during the coming Great Tribulation on the earth, when the antichrist is revealed.
(2 Th 2:8-12 KJV) And then
shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: {9} Even him,
whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying
wonders, {10} And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. {11} And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie: {12} That they all might be damned who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
God will send a strong delusion because people have made a choice of not believing the truth. Ahab is definitely in this category.
The ultimate truth is the truth about Jesus. If you choose to reject the truth about Jesus, don’t be surprised that you start believing in flying saucers and all kinds of silly things.
Lesson
False prophecy
Jeremiah had a problem in his day. God was about to allow Jerusalem to be destroyed, but there were men who claimed to be prophets who kept telling the people that they were okay and nothing bad was going to happen. As a result, the people weren’t paying attention to Jeremiah’s warnings, which WERE from God.
(Jer 23:16-32 KJV) Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. {17} They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
These prophets were saying nice things to people who needed to change their behavior.
{18} For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? {19} Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. {20} The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. {21} I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
God is saying that these people are not speaking for Him.
{22} But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. {23} Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? {24} Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. {25} I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. {26} How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; {27} Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. {28} The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
Chaff is the husk on the kernel of wheat. It’s not the real deal. God wants us paying attention to the real deal. God’s Word is the real deal. The Bible is the Real Deal.
{29} Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? {30} Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. {31} Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. {32} Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
I think that sometimes we can use the phrase “God told me” a little too lightly.
Sometimes it’s just our own ideas. They may not be bad ideas, but they’re our ideas, not God’s.
God does not take kindly to people who will claim to speak for Him when He isn’t speaking.
Do I believe God speaks to people today?
I certainly do. But I think we ought to be VERY careful and very cautious about saying that God told us something if it’s just our own ideas.
What if someone says to me that they have a word from God for me?
I will listen to it. I will tell them that I will pray about it. I will read God’s Word. I will trust that if God is speaking to me, that He will speak TO ME as well.
:24-33 The battle begins
:24 Which way went the spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?
NAS "How did the Spirit of the LORD pass from me
to speak to you?"
:25 thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself
There would be a day when Zedekaiah would be looking for a place to hide, like after the battle when the king is killed after following his advice.
:27 feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction
bread … water of affliction – bad bread, foul water, barely enough to survive.
:28 And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me.
Lesson
Testing prophetic words
1. Does it come to pass?
(Deu 18:21-22 KJV)
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath
not spoken? {22} When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing
follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken,
but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
If a person says that something will happen, but it doesn’t, then God wasn’t speaking.
2. Does the person lead you closer to the Lord? Do they lead you to study the Bible?
Sometimes there will be miraculous things happening, but that doesn’t mean that something is from the Lord.
It’s important to know what the person thinks about God.
(Deu 13:1-5 KJV) If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, {2} And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
This is why it is dangerous to follow Mormonism or Jehovah’s Witnesses. They don’t teach about the God of the Bible. They twist what God says about Himself.
{3} Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. {4} Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
Someone who is speaking for God will cause you to listen to the Scripture and do the things it says.
{5} And that prophet, or
that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn
you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt,
and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way
which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil
away from the midst of thee.
The punishment for being a false prophet was death. It’s not something you want to be messing with.
:29 so the king ... went up to Ramothgilead
Ahab decides to go up and fight anyway. Perhaps he figured that 400 in favor and 1 opposed was good enough for him. The problem is that the majority was not correct.
:30 I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes.
Perhaps Ahab is thinking that if he doesn’t dress like the King of Israel, then the King of Israel can’t be slain.
Perhaps Ahab presented it to Jehophaphat as if he was just hungry for a little action, and rather than just sit back in his chariot like a king, he wanted to get down into the battle.
Perhaps it seemed to Jehoshaphat that Ahab is going to give him the honor of being the commanding king in this battle, but he will also be the target of the enemy.
But Ahab’s disguise isn’t going to work.
Also, how come Jehoshaphat is going at all!
Maybe Jehoshaphat wasn’t worried since the focus was on Ahab’s death, and not on himself.
:33 they turned back from pursuing him.
The writer of Chronicles gives us one more important detail:
2Chronicles 18:31 And it came to pass, when the captains of the
chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore
they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD
helped him; and God moved them to depart from him.
Lesson
You’re never too far away to cry for help.
Here’s Jehoshaphat in an alliance he shouldn’t be in, in a battle he shouldn’t be in, and he calls to God for help.
If I were God, I might say, “Well buddy, you made your bed, now lie in it!”
But God is much more gracious than that.
All God is waiting for is for us to call upon Him.
Psalms 34:4 I sought
the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
God doesn’t promise to deliver us from our bad situation necessarily, but He promises to deliver us from our fears.
If we but learn how to seek the Lord.
Lesson
Be careful who influences you
Jehoshaphat gets himself into a messy situation because he has made this ungodly alliance with the wicked king Ahab.
When he finally gets home after this whole episode, he will be rebuked:
(2 Chr 19:1-4 KJV) And
Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. {2}
And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king
Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD?
therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD. {3} Nevertheless there are
good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the
land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God. {4} And Jehoshaphat dwelt at
Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount
Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD God of their fathers.
Now don’t misunderstand me. God wants us to love sinners. Jesus was the friend of sinners.
But the question is, are you influencing them, or are they influencing you?
If they took you to a party last night, you’re probably headed for trouble. If you took them to the Harvest Crusade last night, you’re probably headed in the right direction.
:34-40 Ahab dies
:34 And a certain man drew a bow at a venture …
I think the arrow had an Ahab-seeking sensor on it.
Ahab has made all these plans to protect himself. But his time has come, and it’s his time to die.
Ahab gets the point. He can’t outsmart God.
:36 Every man to his city, and every man to his own country.
This is a common way to express that the war’s over. It’s like saying, “Hey guys, the games over, time to go home”
It’s used in 1Sa 4:10; 2Sa 19:8; 2Ki 14:12
:38 the dogs licked up his blood
A partial fulfillment of the prophecy against Ahab.
1Kings 20:19 And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus
saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt
speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the
blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.
But because of Ahab’s partial repentance, the rest of the prophecy wouldn’t actually occur until the time of Ahab’s son. (1Ki.21:29)
Lesson
God’s Word
The surest place we can know what God is saying is in the Bible.
God’s Word will direct our life.
(Psa 119:105 KJV)
NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
(2 Tim 3:16-17 KJV)
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: {17} That the
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Even the kings were instructed to make their own personal copy of God’s Word, and read it all his life so that he would learn to do what was right (Deut. 17:18-20)
Jesus said that the way to survive the storms of life was to hear His Word, and obey it.
(Mat 7:24-27 KJV)
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken
him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: {25} And the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house;
and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. {26} And every one that heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man,
which built his house upon the sand: {27} And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and
great was the fall of it.
Map
:41-53 Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah
:41 began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab
Jehoshaphat and Ahab were roughly contemporaries.
Ahab ruled for 22 years, Jehoshaphat for 25 years.
:42 he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem
So he died at the age of 60, pretty good for those days.
:43 the high places were not taken away.
Apparently, early on in his reign, he made an attempt to take away the high places:
2Chronicles 17:6 And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the
LORD: moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.
But the hearts of the people weren’t in the changes, and they put the high places back up.
2Chronicles 20:33 Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for
as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers.
Lesson
True reforms start in the heart.
There are lots of Christian “political bandwagons” to jump on these days.
Issues like: Abortion, pornography
I think it’s a good thing when Christians get involved in politics.
And we need to take our privilege of voting seriously too.
We are the salt of the earth.
But we need to keep in mind that true reform in our country is only going to come when true revival comes and changes the hearts of the people.
Even having a President like George Bush isn’t going to change our nation. True change requires that the people of America changes, not just the President.
The truth is that there’s too much unchecked depravity in human hearts to really make a difference.
What we need is not just outwardly enforced righteousness (though that is a fine idea), but we need inward changes in the hearts of the people.
We had a lot of laws enacted during the Reagan years, and though they helped to an extent, if there had been true revival, the changes would have lasted.
In the revival that took place in America in the 1850’s under Charles Finney, the saloons closed because there simply were no customers.
How do we bring revival?
Illustration:
A man once asked Gipsy Smith, the famed evangelist, how to have a revival. Smith asked, “Do you have a place where you can pray?” The man answered that he did.
“Tell you what you do,” Smith said. “You go to that place, and take a piece of chalk along. Kneel down there, and with the chalk, draw a complete circle all around you. Then pray for God to send a revival to everything inside of the circle. Stay there until He answers... and you will have revival.”
Gipsy Smith knew that true revival begins in the heart of each person.
Illustration:
I can give a prescription that will bring revival—revival to any church, or community, or any city on earth.
First: Let few Christians get thoroughly right with God. If this is not done, the rest will come to nothing.
Second: Let them bind themselves together to pray for revival until God opens the windows of heaven and comes down.
Third: Let them put themselves at the disposal of God for His use as He sees fit in winning others to Christ. That is all. I have given this prescription around the world... and in no instance has it failed.
It cannot fail.
- R.A. Torrey
:44 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
Jehoshaphat was rebuked by a prophet after having gone to battle with Ahab at Ramoth Gilead.
(2 Chr 19:1-4 KJV) And
Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. {2}
And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king
Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD?
therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD. {3} Nevertheless there are
good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the
land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God. {4} And Jehoshaphat dwelt at
Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount
Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD God of their fathers.
I like the fact that Jehoshaphat was able to respond in a positive way to the prophet. He didn’t kill the prophet. He even worked extra hard from that time on to serve the Lord and bring the nation closer to God.
:45 the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah
You can read more about Jehoshaphat in 2Chronicles 17-20
Among his accomplishments:
He set up traveling teachers who went through the kingdom of Judah teaching God’s Word to the people (2Chr.17:7-9).
He became wealthy and had a great army, due to God’s blessings on him for his obedience. (2Chr.17:10-14)
He set up judges to keep justice in the land (2Chr.19)
He was faced with the armies of Moab, Ammon, and Edom, and instead of sending the army out, God told him that He would take care of the battle, so Jehoshaphat sent the worship leaders out to praise the Lord. And God routed the enemy as the people stood to praise the Lord (2Chr.20).
:46 the remnant of the sodomites ... he took out of the land
qadesh - male temple prostitute
NIV: male shrine prostitutes
There were men who, in the service of their idol, practiced homosexuality.
This removal of the male temple prostitutes was something that his dad, Asa, had also done.
1Kings 15:11-12 And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of
the LORD, as did David his father. 12 And he took away the sodomites out of the
land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.
God had forbidden such activity.
Deuteronomy 23:17 There shall be no whore of the daughters of
Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.
:47 There was then no king in Edom
Edom was the nation to the south east of Israel (Ammon, Moab, Edom).
The Edomites had been conquered by king David
2Sa 8:14 And he put
garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom
became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.
They remained a tributary kingdom to Judah until the reign of Jehoshaphat’s son.
Because their wasn’t a king in place, Jehoshaphat was able to set up a fleet of ships in Eziongeber, which was located in Edom, on the north tip of the Gulf of Aqaba (between the Sinai and Egypt), about 155 miles south of Jerusalem.
:48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish
Gill: Tarshish is used for the sea in general (Ps 48:7 Isa 2:16)
NIV: a fleet of trading
ships
:48 to Ophir for gold
Ophir is thought to have been probably in southwestern Arabia.
This is what Solomon had done. (1Ki.9:28)
Solomon had brought back 16 tons, or 32,000 pounds with his navy.
:48 for the ships were broken
Ezion-geber = “backbone of a man”
Gill: they were broken to pieces against the rocks near the harbour, which stood up like a man's backbone, whence the port had its name.
What happened?
We're told in Chronicles:
(2 Chr 20:35-37 KJV) And
after this did Jehoshaphat king of Judah join himself with Ahaziah king of
Israel, who did very wickedly: {36} And he joined himself with him to make
ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Eziongaber. {37} Then
Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying,
Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works.
And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish.
Lesson
The blessings of chastisement.
Jehoshaphat is getting a spanking from the Lord.
God had already warned him about making these alliances with wicked people.
The last time God warned him after he had gone to the battle at Ramoth-gilead:
2Chronicles
19:2-3 And Jehu
the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat,
Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is
wrath upon thee from before the LORD. 3 Nevertheless there are good things
found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and
hast prepared thine heart to seek God.
After that warning, Jehoshaphat got his act together and started bringing people back to the Lord:
2Chronicles
19:4 And
Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from
Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD God of their
fathers.
But here he goes again, doing the same old thing, making a bad choice of friends.
There are times when God has to do something serious to get our attention.
It’s called “chastisement”.
It’s not punishment in the idea of wrath, destruction, etc.
But it's a kind of correction, a discipline from the Lord, meant to get us back on track.