Micaiah and Jehoshaphat

The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he followed the early ways of his ancestor David and did not go seeking the Baals. Instead he sought the God of his father and lived by his commands, not by the ways of Israel.

So the Lord made the kingdom secure in Jehoshaphat’s hands. All Judah paid him tribute, and he had great wealth and honor. His heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord, and he took away the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah.

In his third year as king he sent five of his officials, with nine Levites and two priests, to teach in the towns of Judah. They took the book of the Lord’s law with them and went from town to town through all Judah, teaching the people.

The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms in the lands around Judah, so none of them made war against Jehoshaphat. Some of the Philistines brought him presents, and silver as tribute. The Arabians brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats.

Jehoshaphat grew greater and greater. He built fortresses in Judah, and cities for storing supplies. He had a great deal of work going on in the towns of Judah, and he kept mighty fighting men in Jerusalem.

His fighting men were counted by their families. From Judah there were three commanders. The first led three hundred thousand brave warriors, the second two hundred eighty thousand, and the third two hundred thousand. The third was Amasiah son of Zichri, who had offered himself freely to the Lord. From Benjamin there were two commanders. One led two hundred thousand men armed with bow and shield, and the other a hundred eighty thousand, ready for war. These men served the king, not counting the troops he had placed in the walled cities throughout Judah.

In the third year Jehoshaphat went down to visit the king of Israel in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered great numbers of sheep and cattle for him and the people who came with him, and he urged Jehoshaphat to go up with him against Ramoth Gilead.

“You know that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us,” the king of Israel said to his officials, “and yet we do nothing to take it back from the king of Syria.”

He asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you come with me to battle for Ramoth Gilead?”

“You and I are one,” Jehoshaphat answered. “My people are your people, and my horses are your horses. We will be with you in the war.”

Then Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “But first, please find out what the Lord says.”

So the king of Israel brought the prophets together, about four hundred men. “Should I go to war against Ramoth Gilead,” he asked them, “or should I hold back?”

“Go up,” they said. “The Lord will hand the city over to the king.”

But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there also a prophet of the Lord here that we could ask?”

“There is still one man who could ask the Lord for us,” the king of Israel told Jehoshaphat. “He is Micaiah son of Imlah. But I hate him. He doesn’t prophesy good things about me, only bad.”

“The king shouldn’t say that,” said Jehoshaphat.

So the king of Israel called one of his officers. “Quick,” he said, “bring Micaiah son of Imlah.”

The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat on their thrones, dressed in their royal robes, in an open space at the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying in front of them.

One of them, Zedekiah son of Chenaanah, had made himself iron horns. “This is what the Lord says,” he announced. “‘With these you will push the Syrians back until they are wiped out.’”

All the prophets were saying the same thing. “Go up to Ramoth Gilead and win! The Lord will hand it over to the king.”

Micaiah answered, “As the Lord lives, I will speak whatever the Lord says to me.”

When he came before the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war at Ramoth Gilead, or should we hold back?”

“Go up and win,” Micaiah answered. “The Lord will hand it over to the king.”

“How many times do I have to make you swear,” the king said to him, “to tell me nothing but the truth in the Lord’s name?”

Then Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered across the mountains, like sheep with no shepherd. The Lord said, ‘These have no master. Let each of them go back to his own house in peace.’”

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he wouldn’t prophesy anything good about me, only bad?”

Micaiah went on. “So listen to the Lord’s word. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, with the whole army of heaven standing beside him, on his right and on his left. The Lord said, ‘Who will lure Ahab into going up to Ramoth Gilead, so that he falls there in battle?’ One said one thing, and another said something else.

“Then a spirit came out and stood before the Lord. ‘I will lure him,’ he said. ‘How?’ the Lord asked him. He answered, ‘I will go out, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord said, ‘You will lure him, and you will succeed. Go and do it.’

“And now the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of every one of these prophets of yours. The Lord has said that harm will come to you.”

Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up and slapped Micaiah on the cheek. “Which way did the Lord’s Spirit go when he left me to speak to you?” he asked.

“You will see,” said Micaiah, “on the day you go into an inner room to hide.”

“Take Micaiah,” said the king of Israel, “and send him back to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king’s son. Tell them, ‘This is what the king says: Put this man in prison. Give him only a little bread and a little water until I come back safe.’”

“If you ever come back safe,” said Micaiah, “the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he called out, “Listen, all you people!”

The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into the battle.

Now the king of Syria had given orders to the thirty-two commanders of his chariots. “Don’t fight with anyone else, small or great,” he had said. “Fight only with the king of Israel.”

When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “That must be the king of Israel!” and they came over to fight against him. Jehoshaphat cried out, and when the commanders saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back and stopped chasing him. 2 Chronicles says that when he cried out, the Lord helped him, and God drew them away from him.

Then someone drew his bow and shot at random, and the arrow struck the king of Israel in a gap between the pieces of his armor. “Turn around and take me out of the battle,” the king told his chariot driver. “I am badly wounded.”

The battle grew fiercer that day. The king was propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrians, and in the evening he died. Blood had run out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. 2 Chronicles says he propped himself up there until evening and died at about sunset.

As the sun was going down, a shout went through the army: “Everyone go home! Back to your own towns and your own land!”

So the king died, and he was brought to Samaria and buried there. They washed his chariot at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood there, where the prostitutes washed, just as the Lord had said.

The Lord had sent Elijah to meet Ahab in Naboth’s vineyard with this word: “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, yes, yours.”

The rest of what Ahab did is written in the records of the kings of Israel. They tell about the ivory house he built and all the cities he built. Ahab died and joined his ancestors, and his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.

Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and he said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked, and love those who hate the Lord? The Lord is angry with you because of this. Still, there is good in you. You have cleared the Asherah poles out of the land, and you have set your heart on seeking God.”

Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. He went out again among the people, from Beersheba all the way to the hill country of Ephraim, and led them all back to the Lord, the God of their ancestors.

He appointed judges throughout the land, in each of the walled cities of Judah, city by city. “Think about what you are doing,” he told them, “because you are not judging for people but for the Lord. He is with you when you give judgment. So fear the Lord. Be careful what you do, because with the Lord our God there is no wrongdoing, no favoritism and no taking bribes.”

In Jerusalem, too, Jehoshaphat chose some of the Levites, some priests and some heads of Israel’s families to give judgment for the Lord and to settle disputes. And they returned to Jerusalem.

He gave them their orders. “You must do this as people who fear the Lord, faithfully and with all your heart. Sometimes your own people who live in the cities will bring a dispute to you. It may be about bloodshed, or about the law and its commands, rules and rulings. Whenever that happens, warn them not to become guilty before the Lord, or his anger will come on you and on them. Do this, and you will not be guilty.

“Amariah the chief priest is over you in every matter that concerns the Lord. Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the tribe of Judah, is over you in every matter that concerns the king. The Levites will serve you as officers. Be brave in what you do, and may the Lord be with the good.”

Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and he made up his mind to seek the Lord. He announced a fast for all Judah, a time of going without food. The people of Judah gathered to ask the Lord for help. They came out of all the towns of Judah to seek the Lord.

Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the Lord’s house, in front of the new courtyard. “Lord, God of our ancestors,” he prayed, “aren’t you God in heaven? Aren’t you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, so no one is able to stand against you. Our God, didn’t you drive out the people who lived in this land ahead of your people Israel? Didn’t you give it to the descendants of Abraham your friend, to keep forever?

“They have lived in it, and they built you a sanctuary in it for your name. They said, ‘If disaster comes on us, whether war, judgment, disease or famine, we will stand in front of this house and in front of you, because your name is in this house. We will cry out to you in our trouble, and you will hear and save us.’

“And now here are the people of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir. When Israel came out of Egypt, you would not let Israel invade their lands. Israel turned away from them and didn’t destroy them. Now look how they reward us: they are coming to drive us out of what is yours, the land you gave us to inherit. Our God, won’t you judge them? We have no strength against this huge army that is coming against us. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

All Judah stood there in the Lord’s presence, with their little ones, their wives and their children.

Then the Lord’s Spirit came on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, a Levite of the family of Asaph, there in the middle of the assembly. “Listen, all Judah, and you people of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat!” he said. “This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Don’t be afraid, and don’t lose heart because of this huge army. The battle is not yours, but God’s.

“‘Tomorrow, go down against them. They will be coming up the slope at Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, toward the wilderness of Jeruel. You won’t need to fight this battle. Take your places, stand still, and watch the Lord save you, Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t be afraid, and don’t lose heart. Go out against them tomorrow, because the Lord is with you.’”

Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem fell down in the Lord’s presence and worshiped him.

Then Levites from the families of Kohath and Korah stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, at the top of their voices.

After he had talked it over with the people, he chose men to sing to the Lord and to give praise in holy array as they marched out ahead of the army. They were to say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his loving kindness endures forever.”

When they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushers against the people of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were struck down. The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the people of Mount Seir to kill and destroy them completely. When they had finished with the people of Seir, they all set about destroying one another.

When Judah came to the place that looks out over the wilderness, they looked at that huge army, and every one of them lay dead on the ground. Not one had escaped.

Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the plunder. Among the fallen they found plenty of riches, and dead bodies with precious jewels on them. They stripped the jewels off for themselves, more than they could carry away. There was so much that they spent three days gathering it.

On the fourth day they gathered in a valley and blessed the Lord there. That is why the place is called the Valley of Beracah to this day. Beracah means “blessing”.

Then every man of Judah and Jerusalem turned back toward Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them. They were full of joy, because the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. So they entered Jerusalem with harps and other stringed instruments and with trumpets, and went to the Lord’s house.

All the kingdoms of those lands were afraid of God when they heard that the Lord had fought against Israel’s enemies. So Jehoshaphat’s kingdom was at peace, because his God gave him rest on every side.

He followed all the ways of his father Asa and never turned from them, doing what was right in the Lord’s eyes. But the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on them, and 2 Chronicles says they had still not fixed their hearts on the God of their ancestors.

Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

The rest of what Jehoshaphat did is written in the records of the kings of Judah. They tell about the strength he showed and the wars he fought. 2 Chronicles says it is all written, from first to last, in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is part of the book of the kings of Israel.

He drove the last of the male shrine prostitutes out of the land. They were the ones still left from the days of his father Asa.

At that time there was no king in Edom. A deputy ruled there.

Jehoshaphat built ships of Tarshish to sail to Ophir for gold, but they never went, because they were wrecked at Ezion Geber. Then Ahab’s son Ahaziah said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my men go with your men in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat would not.

2 Chronicles tells it differently. There, after all this, Jehoshaphat joined with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted very wickedly. Jehoshaphat joined with him to build ships to sail to Tarshish, and they built them at Ezion Geber. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat: “Because you have joined with Ahaziah, the Lord has destroyed what you made.” The ships were wrecked, and they could not sail to Tarshish.

Jehoshaphat died and joined his ancestors, and he was buried with them in David’s city. His son Jehoram reigned in his place.

In Israel, Ahab’s son Ahaziah had become king in Samaria in Jehoshaphat’s seventeenth year. He reigned over Israel for two years, and he did what was evil in the Lord’s eyes. He followed the ways of his father and his mother, and the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin. He served Baal and worshiped him, and he made the Lord, the God of Israel, angry, just as his father had done.