2 Chronicleschapter 18
34 verses · BSB2 Chronicles book hub →
Speaks with:1 Kings 22×102 Chronicles 18×31 Kings 20×32 Kings 3×2Micah 2×21 Kings 18×2
Summary
Chapter summary
Jehoshaphat's one great mistake: he joins affinity with Ahab by marriage, and is drawn into the campaign for Ramoth-gilead. Four hundred prophets promise victory; Jehoshaphat asks for a prophet of Jehovah besides, and Micaiah son of Imlah is fetched with a coaching to agree. His answer: 'As Jehovah liveth, what my God saith, that will I speak.' He sees Israel scattered on the mountains as sheep that have no shepherd, and a lying spirit sent to fill the mouths of the prophets. Imprisoned on bread and water of affliction, he is vindicated within the day: Ahab goes in disguise, and 'a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the armor.'
Context
History · Ezra — 2 Chronicles overview
- A. 1–11 Joined by marriage to Ahab and drawn toward Ramoth-gilead
- B. 12–22 Micaiah alone: sheep with no shepherd, and a lying spirit
- C. 23–27 Struck on the cheek and fed the bread of affliction
- D. 28–34 A disguise cannot stop an arrow shot at a venture
The outline
A.Joined by marriage to Ahab and drawn toward Ramoth-gileadvv. 1 to 11
Read vv. 1 to 11 →B.Micaiah alone: sheep with no shepherd, and a lying spiritvv. 12 to 22
Read vv. 12 to 22 →C.Struck on the cheek and fed the bread of afflictionvv. 23 to 27
Read vv. 23 to 27 →D.A disguise cannot stop an arrow shot at a venturevv. 28 to 34
Read vv. 28 to 34 →
The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 18The history
The alliance is sealed by a marriage: Jehoshaphat's son married Ahab's daughter Athaliah. Dynastic marriage was how treaties were made binding, and this one nearly destroyed the house of David within twenty years.
The consultation scene is staged in a real place. The two kings sat in their robes on thrones in the open threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. The flat, swept area just inside a city gate was where courts sat, contracts were witnessed, and public business was done, and a threshing floor at the gate gave the space for a crowd.
The four hundred prophets are court prophets — salaried men attached to the palace, which is exactly why Jehoshaphat asks whether there is another. Zedekiah's iron horns are a prophetic sign-act, a physical performance of the message, the same technique the true prophets used.
Micaiah's answer comes in two stages: first the sarcastic echo of what everyone else said, then the vision of the LORD on his throne with the host of heaven, and a spirit permitted to become a lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets. Scripture presents this as God handing a king over to the counsel he has already chosen to want.
The end is grimly ordinary. Ahab disguises himself so the enemy will hunt the other king; a man draws a bow at random and the arrow finds the join between the sections of scale armor, the one gap in the plating; and the wounded king is propped up in his chariot until evening so the army will not break.
What it meant to them
The first hearers' own history had turned on this exact scene. Jeremiah stood against a chorus of prophets promising peace, and the men who believed the chorus were the ones carried to Babylon.
The writer's question, though, is aimed at the good king in the story. Jehoshaphat prayed, asked for a true word, heard it, and went into the battle anyway. Getting the right answer is not the same as obeying it.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 18. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.