2 Chronicles 18:28-34--The Defeat and Death of Ahab

2 Chronicles 18:28-34
English Standard Version
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The Defeat and Death of Ahab
28 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 29 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into battle. 30 Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.” 31 As soon as the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; God drew them away from him. 32 For as soon as the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 33 But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.” 34 And the battle continued that day, and the king of Israel was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians until evening. Then at sunset he died.

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Even after hearing what the prophet of the LORD said, Jehoshaphat decided to go into battle with Ahab, and Ahab convinced Jehoshaphat that he should wear his royal robes into battle, but Ahab would be disguised (so that all the enemies would mistake Jehoshaphat for Ahab).  The king of Syria was only interested in fighting with King Ahab, and, at first, they did mistake Jehoshaphat for Ahab, but Jehoshaphat cried out to the LORD for help and God drew the Syrians away from him.

The fatal blow to King Ahab came from an arrow that was shot randomly into the air and fell just right to strike Ahab between his scale armor and his breastplate.  The is no "random chance" with the LORD as the book of Proverbs tells us, and since the Israelites believed that all random outcomes were determined by the LORD, then this is a way of saying that the LORD caused the arrow to fall and hit Ahab in just the right place and the LORD was the one responsible for Ahab's death.

Ahab orders his chariot to turn around and take out of the battle as soon as he realizes he is wounded.  The text tells us that the battle continued all day with Ahab propped up in his chariot, but as evening came, Ahab died at sunset.  We'll have a little more to the story of the reign of Jehoshaphat, but this was a turning point where Judah went from being at peace to being at war.  Jehoshaphat had no business marrying into Ahab's family to make an alliance with them--Israel never should have been attacking Judah if they obeyed the Law of the LORD.  All that marriage did was make Jehoshaphat a pawn on Ahab's chessboard that Ahab could manipulate (much like he thought he could manipulate the LORD by paying "prophets" to say what he wanted).  The LORD was going to use the Syrians to take care of Ahab, and Jehoshaphat nearly got caught up in the judgment that was meant for Ahab.  Let us learn from this that we are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.