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not allow it to pass unnoticed. The honor of Jehovah, Whose prophet he was,
required the reply: "If thou comest at all in peace, Jehovah hath not spoken by me."
And then, turning to the multitude around, he summoned them as witnesses between
himself and the king.
We are not told what impression the scene had made upon Jehoshaphat. But we
cannot help feeling that, in spite of his boastful language, it must have had a deep
effect even upon Ahab. The expedition against Ramoth-Gilead would naturally
follow as soon as possible after the popular assembly in Samaria. From the
circumstance, that Jehu the prophet of the LORD delivered the Divine reproof
against the alliance of Jehoshaphat with Ahab only after the return of the former from
the Syrian campaign (2 Chronicles 19), we are inclined to infer that the king of Judah
had not gone back to his own dominions before the joint march upon Ramoth-Gilead.
With this accords another impression derived from the narrative. The whole account
of the battle, the apparently very subordinate part which Jehoshaphat played in it, as
well as the absence of any reference to the army of Judah, and the solitary notice that
Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem in peace (2 Chronicles 19:1), without any
reference to his people - all convey the impression that Jehoshaphat had, without
returning to Jerusalem, merely summoned a small Judaean contingent, so that his
presence and aid - if known at all to the Syrians - were regarded as a very secondary
element in the campaign. And when we compare this with the language of
Jehoshaphat on entering into alliance with Ahab (1 Kings 22:4), and before he had
heard the words of Micaiah, we feel that the contrast between his promises and
performance must have been due to the prophetic warning which he had heard.
And as regards Ahab and his people we have similar indications of inward
misgivings.^76 It was the common practice for kings and leaders to go into battle in
full array (comp. 2 Samuel 1:10).
When Ahab, therefore, made the strange proposal that Jehoshaphat alone should go
in his royal robes, while he disguised himself, this must have been caused by
apprehension of the Divinely threatened judgment, which after his usual manner he
hoped to foil by astuteness. And if it be asked why in such case Jehoshaphat did not
also disguise himself, the obvious answer is, that the Divine message had not
threatened death to the king of Judah, and that, if both monarchs had so disguised
themselves, it would have been virtually an announcement to their followers that
they expected defeat, and the fulfillment of Micaiah's prophecy.
This is one side of the picture; the other is that presented from the Syrian camp. The
military organization, introduced in the former campaign (1 Kings 20:24), now
proved its efficiency. The "thirty and two captains" who commanded "the chariots"
(^)