March 30, 2020: Day 58 – I Kings 22

The final chapter of I Kings brings us to the defeat of both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom in a battle.  It  seems that consistently the northern kingdom does evil and the southern kingdom does what is right in the sight of the Lord.  I guess that makes sense since in the south we find Jerusalem and we find the temple.  There, you would think, is the desire and the pull to do what is God’s wish for the nation.

This chapter gives us the alliance between the north and the south as they look to take out the king of Aram.  The chapter begins with the statement that there had been peace between the north and Aram for years.  But the south asks for help in going against the king of Aram.  They agree and all of their prophets tell them that all will go well and that God was on their side.  Well, all of the prophets except for one.

The prophet was Micaiah, whom the northern king Ahab said he hated.  He complained because he said Micaiah was always saying not nice things about him.  Again, it seems like he is complaining and whining just like he was in the previous chapters.  Micaiah says that God is setting them up for failure by having the other prophets say that God was going to bring victory, while in fact God was setting a trap.  

No king likes what Micaiah has to say so they put him in prison until after the battle when he would be tried as a traitor.  The battle begins with the northern king disguising himself and the southern king going into battle as a king.  The soldiers of Aram target the one who looks like a king and Jehoshaphat runs away.  They realize he was not really that much to be afraid of, but in the process the northern king is wounded and killed.  

The chapter ends with the northern kingdom changing over its ruler and the southern kingdom continuing with Jehoshaphat who followed God’s commands and the northern king who did not.  Pretty common trend.  The north bad the south good.