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evidently formed the first line of attack. To them Ben-hadad gave special orders to
direct their movements exclusively against the king of Israel,^77 in the hope that, with
his capture or death, alike the battle and the campaign would be ended.
The disguise of Ahab had almost defeated this plan. For when the Syrians pressed
around the only chariot which bore one in royal apparel, in the belief that they fought
with Ahab - and this also seems to imply that they were not aware of the presence of
the king of Judah - Jehoshaphat "cried out," on which the Syrians, recognizing that it
was not the voice of Ahab, desisted from the pursuit.^78 It is impossible to determine
whether Jehoshaphat had appealed to his pursuers, or called for the support of his
men.
But the fact itself is of sufficient importance to be recorded alike in the Book of
Kings and in that of Chronicles (2 Chronicles 18:31) and in precisely the same terms.
But the writer of the Book of Chronicles, who tells this history from the standpoint of
Judah, as in the Book of Kings it is related from that of Israel, adds that the
providential deliverance which Jehoshaphat experienced was from Jehovah. It is
scarcely= necessary to add that this reflection is not in any way inconsistent with the
briefer Israelitish record, nor implies divergent sources of information.
But the disguise of Ahab, so far from frustrating the judgment predicted, only served
the more clearly to show the Divine agency in his destruction. As the battle
continued, a man, "drew a bow in his simplicity" - that is, without taking aim at any
definite person - when the arrow struck the king of Israel "between the joints and the
breastplate," that is, where the cuirass which covered the breast met the jointed armor
that protected the lower part of the body. Such a wound would, of necessity, be
mortal, and the king directed the driver of the chariot to take him away from the
fight. But the Syrians were unaware that the king of Israel had received his fatal
wound. Thicker and hotter grew the fight, and the command of Ahab could not be
obeyed. And all day long had he to be stayed in his chariot while his life was slowly
ebbing away. It was a ghastly spectacle, the disguised king, mortally struck despite
his disguise, now held up in his chariot, to continue against his will in the battle.
Rarely has history so visibly and in every detail taught its Divine lessons. The sun
was going down, and his slanting rays fell on the dying Ahab - more royal now than
in his life.^79 Presently the sound of battle was stilled, and the rest of darkness fell on
the combatants.
But as the tidings spread of the death of their king, the people must have recalled the
prophecy of Micaiah. And the very remembrance of it led to its literal fulfillment.
For through the host ran the proclamation which scattered them as sheep that have
not a shepherd: "Every man to his city, and every man to his own country."
(^)