Going against God’s warning, Ahab decides to retake Ramoth-gilead.
READ 1 Kings 22:29-38.
Ahab has a battle plan - disguise himself. No one will be able to identify him, if they are out to kill him.
• It’s strange. He did not believe prophet Micaiah’s words and yet somehow feared that it might be true. It’s like ‘half believing’, which is actually unbelief.
• If the prophet’s words are untrue, then he does not need to hide. If it is true, then no disguising can help him hide from God.
• For some strange reason, King Jehoshaphat went along with Ahab’s idea.
The enemy, King of Aram, too has his own battle plan – ignore the small fry and go for the big fish. Just look for the King of Israel and kill him.
• That’s easy if he can be identified but not now. It is almost impossible to find him if he’s dressed like one of the soldiers.
• The cover-up can fool man, no doubt. The chariot commanders saw someone in his royal robes and thought it was Ahab.
• When they realised it wasn’t, they let him go. The instruction was clear: Go for Ahab, not anyone else, whether small or great.
We see here man’s attempt at covering up in trying to thwart God’s judgement.
• But we see also the sovereignty of God in fulfilling His purposes.
• God led the King of Aram to a specific strategy – go only after Ahab.
• It wasn’t in God’s plan to have King Jehoshaphat die in this battle.
And almost casually, 22:34 says “But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the sections of his armour.”
• Someone, we don’t even know who, took a random shot with his bow and arrow.
• He wasn’t aiming at any particular target but the arrow found Ahab.
• And it struck him at just the right place, through the gap between the sections of his armour.
• If it had been on the armour itself, it would have likely bounced off. But the arrow found the one place that matters.
• It was a fatal shot. And that very night, Ahab died, just as the Lord said.
Lest we feel too sorry for Ahab, we should remember that he has been a wicked King and God has already given him many chances to mend his ways.
• This going into the battle was an outright disobedience to God’s warning. He has been shown mercy but he chose to ignore the warnings.
• And so he now he now bore the consequences of his own choice.
We see the fulfilment of God’s Word. No disguise, no armour can prevent that from happening. 1 Kings 22:35 “… and that evening he died.”
• Micaiah’s prophecy is true and did come true. As Micaiah said, “If you even return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” (22:28)
• If the Lord has spoken, it is the truth and it will come true.
• Ultimately, it is not the order of the King of Aram that got Ahab, but the decree of God.
And it can happened in the most “accidental” way, almost casually, so it seems.
• A random arrow (with no specific target in mind) can accomplish God’s purpose.
• Nothing is random to God. God is sovereign and He is in control, at all times and in all ways.
• Nothing in our lives can be coincidental to God. Therefore nothing is by chance or worst still, by luck. There is no such thing.
Ahab’s attempts were futile. His disguise and his armour cannot save him.
• The truth is, only God can. And He has been warning Ahab, many times, but he has chosen not to believe Him.
• God is his true protection, actually. “He is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps 46:1), that is, if we trust Him.
• But many cannot, or refuse to. People still believe that they know better and their ways are best. Like Ahab, they reject God’s role in their life.
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The author wants us to see something else. He writes it in greater detail.
• After Ahab was shot, he ordered his driver to get him away from the fighting. He could only watched from afar.
• 22:35 “All day long the battle raged, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died.”
• 22:38 “They washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria (where the prostitutes bathed), and the dogs licked up his blood, as the word of the LORD had declared.”
His blood flowed onto the floor of the chariot. It was brought back to wash and at the place where it was being washed, the dogs licked up his blood.
• As the Word of the Lord had declared in 21:19 when God judges Ahab for the murder of Naboth.
• “This is what the LORD says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood-yes, yours!”
Everything falls in line with what God has said. Nothing happens outside of God’s knowledge and will.
• The flight of the arrow is in His hands. The dogs licking up his blood is His prophesy.
One more point, just in case we are still not convinced that God’s Word is true and will come true.
Ahab’s death is the fulfilment of THREE prophesies, actually.
• One, in chapter 20 when Ahab let Ben-Hadad go without killing him - 20:42 the prophet said to Ahab: “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people.’” GENERAL STATEMENT
• Two, in chapter 21 when Elijah confronts him after the killing of Naboth - 21:19 “Say to him, `This is what the LORD says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?' Then say to him, `This is what the LORD says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth's blood, dogs will lick up your blood-yes, yours!'” MORE SPECIFIC PROPHECY
• Three, in chapter 22 we read last week, the words of Micaiah. 22:28 “Micaiah declared, "If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me." REFERRING TO THE BATTLE ITSELF
Everything happens according to God’s plan and purpose.
This week I was reflecting on the Christmas passage in Luke 1, when Mary first received God’s Word about Jesus from the angel. I saw this great CONTRAST.
• For us reading about it, it’s easy to say the Christmas message is a good news, a joyful one, but not so initially for Mary when she first heard it.
• Luke 1:29 Mary was greatly troubled at the angel’s greetings.
• What do you think? You are a virgin engaged to Joseph, about to be found with child outside of wedlock and this child is to be called the Son of the Most High.
What was revealed to her was, humanly impossible, socially unacceptable, and completely incomprehensible.
• It’s not even a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ thing but ‘once-in-a-all-time’ thing because it has never happened before and will never happen again.
• How are you going to take this? How are you going to explain this? And imagine the weight of the responsibility of carrying the Son of God?
• The best words of comfort that the angel could afford is this - “For nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)
Although God’s message was so difficult, it would mess up her own plans and takes a lot from her, Mary BELIEVED.
• In contrast to the harden heart of Ahab we see here in 1 Kings.
• Luke 1:38 Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
• There was no, “I give you some time to think about it!”
• When she visited Elizabeth, her cousin said – Luke 1:45 “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”
That’s Mary. For Ahab, it’s “Curse is he who has not believed that what the Lord has said to him will be accomplished.”
There are no accidents with God. When Peter addresses the Jewish crowd in Acts 2:
• Peter puts it this way. Acts 2:22-24 “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (NIV 1984)
• It is “by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge.” ESV says God’s definite plan, NASV God’s predetermined plan, NIV God’s deliberate plan, NKJV God’s determined purpose…
• No action by the Romans, the religious leaders, Judas, or anyone else can keep God’s plan from unfolding exactly the way He purposed it.
I like the story of the cowboy who applied for health insurance. The agent asked him, ‘Have you ever had any accidents?’
The cowboy replied, ‘Well no, I’ve not had any accidents. I was bitten by a snake once, and a horse did kick me in the ribs. That laid me up for a while, but I haven’t had any accidents.’
The agent said, ‘Wait a minute. I’m confused. A snake bit you, and a horse kicked you, Weren’t those accidents?’
‘No, they did that on purpose.”
So the random arrow wasn’t so random after all. God has the flight of the arrow in His hands. God knew where the chariot will be washed ultimately.
• When things are messy and the circumstances in chaos, come back to the One who alone is in control.
• God is sovereign and He works everything in our lives to fulfil His good purposes.
• Learn from Mary, BELIEVE Him and TRUST Him for what He says.
Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”
