The last chapter of the first book of Kings includes a remarkable truce between two kings, followed by their funerals.
Ahab, King of Israel, dies heroically in battle. His son Ahazaia takes over. Not for long. After a mysterious fatal fall the crown will be worn by his brother, Yehoram. Jezebel retains control as the queen mother.
On the Southern side, Jehoshophat inherits Asa’s throne and rules Judah for 25 years. His son Yehoram will take over. Just to keep things even more complex and celebratory - Yehoram from the South will marry the sister of Yehrom from the North - the Israelite princess Atalia who will soon star in a story of her own, will become the first Northerner to live in the palace of the South. But not yet…
The important aspect of this chapter in which the King of Aram launches his third, and successful assault on Israel, is the temporary truce. United by the need to defend their kingdoms from the common enemy - Israel and Judah briefly join forces and fight together - after several generations of animosity. The Truce won’t last but it’s a hopeful moment of inspiration - sometimes unity can overcome discord. Joined war will bring more shared commerce - and a royal wedding.
It seems that the political prudence of Ahab meets that of his neighbor.
Jehoshaphat son of King Asa and Queen Azubah was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, four years after Ahab inherited the throne from his father Omri.
Jehoshaphat stayed true to his father’s religious mainline maintenance of the Jerusalem Temple and remained loyal to YHWH. But he didn’t turn away from his brother in the north despite religious differences. When Ahab extends an invitation for military collaboration, Jehoshaphat (his name means ‘YHWH will be the Judge’ - the first regal name in the south to contain YHWH’s name — responds with poetic affirmation:
Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you come with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “I will do what you do; my troops shall be your troops, my horses shall be your horses.”
Although they seem to start off on the same page when it comes to warfare, their religious differences set up a conflict before the battle even begins. The role of the prophetic voices - and how far those can go in predicting the future or offering guidance to kings is at the heart of this story.
“The last chapter of I Kings begins with a profound lesson in the nature of prophecy.
Ahab, the Baal-worshipping King of Israel has joined forces with Jehoshaphat, the God-fearing king of Judah to make war on the king of Aram.
Jehoshaphat asks Ahab to inquire of the Lord about their prospects for success. The latter gathers together a band of 400 prophets who predict victory for Judah and Israel.
But Jehoshaphat smells a rat and requests a second prophetic opinion.
Ahab reluctantly produces Micaiah son of Imlah, explaining his reticence thus: “I hate him because he never prophesies anything good for me.” (v.8) Michaiah duly predicts Israel’s defeat, and so it turns out.
How did Jehoshaphat know that the 400 prophets were suspect? The Talmud (Sanhedrin 89a) answers: “Jehoshaphat said to Ahab: This is the tradition that I received from the house of the father of my father, the house of David: A prophetic vision relating to the same subject matter may appear to several prophets, but two prophets do not prophesy using the same style of expression.”
God may send the same message to more than one prophet but will not send it in the same way. Identical formulations are evidence of forgery.
The great American thinker Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed the nature of spiritual inspiration in terms similar to the Talmud’s:
“Yet see what strong intellects dare not yet hear God himself, unless he speaks the phraseology of I know not what David, or Jeremiah, or Paul…We are like children who repeat by rote the sentences of grandames and tutors…painfully recollecting the exact words they spoke… When they come into the point of view which those had who uttered these sayings, they understand them, and are willing to let the words go; for, at any time, they can use words as good when occasion comes. If we live truly, we shall see truly.”
Emerson stakes out the uniqueness of genuine inspiration. As long as one uses other men’s language it is a sign that we do not “hear God himself.” If one rises to their level and perceives the truths they beheld, one may let go of their style of expression and use one’s own words. ‘
Michiyahu, the reluctant prophet of doom was the one who had it right, even if his vision was far from popular and not what the kings wanted to hear. Sometimes speaking truth to power, when connecting to the deeper source of all, yields inconvenient truth that must be listened to. Ahab jails the prophet telling him to stay there until the king comes back alive - or not. We never hear of him again but presume that when the king does not come back alive this truth-teller is liberated, with little fanfare.
Ahab tried to trick the Aramites by dressing up as a simple solider, but nevertheless, he was shot in the back with an arrow, stood tall in his chariot while the battle raged on, bleeding to death but urging his army on. Ahab’s body was then brought back to Samaria for royal burial but the chariot on which he died was washed of the blood by the public pools and the dog, as prophesied by Elijah, lick the blood clean.
Jehoshophat makes it alive back to Judah. He’ll rule for many more years, the dynasties of south and north continued. But not the truce. It’ll take some time before the two sides work together again. By then it’ll be too late.
The book ends mid dynastic hand-over, the prophetic words echo in the air, the religious tensions deepen, and Elijah, stay tuned, as he always do, is about to return.
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