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disastrous occasion when Ahab asked him to go up against Ramoth-gilead (1 Kings
22:4). Perhaps, however, it was a common mode of expression in such
circumstances, or else the sacred historian may have wished to emphasize the folly
and wrong of Jehoshaphat's conduct by using the same terms as formerly in the
unhappy alliance with Ahab. The plan agreed upon by the two monarchs was to
make invasion of Moab from the south. This, not only in order to ensure the co-
operation of the king of Edom, who had now joined the anti-Moabite league, and to
protect their rear and their communications, but also for important strategic reasons.
Northern Moab was, indeed, subject to Israel, but the Arnon marked the boundary,
and no prudent commander would attempt to force such a position as the line of the
Arnon in the face of a general like Mesha. On the other hand, by fetching "a seven
days' compass," and advancing front the south and through Edom, alike their retreat
was covered and supplies would be secured. And if Mesha could be drawn into the
wilderness which separated Edom from Southern Moab, and belonged partly to the
one, partly to the other country, the whole of Moab might be overrun, and the
invading army from the south join hands with the Israelitish garrisons north of the
Arnon.
But once more the incapacity, if not the treachery, of Edom defeated the plans of the
allies. Mesha refused to be drawn into the wilderness of Edom. As we understand it,
his army was posted on the Moabite side of the boundary, which is here formed by
the Wady 'el Ahsa,^152 while higher up it passes into the Wady Tufileh.
We suppose that it was here, or in some other dried-up wady close by, that the allies,
who were now suffering from want of water, suddenly found themselves in presence
of an enemy that swarmed the tangled brushwood and thicket around. Unable to
cross the Wady and engage the enemy, who seemed ubiquitous, or to retreat into the
wilderness, the position of the allies seemed, humanly speaking, hopeless.
It was in these circumstances that the grand difference in principle between the king
of Israel and pious Jehoshaphat appeared, as it always does in seasons of trial and
decision between the servants of the LORD and those of "strange gods." Joram could
descry nothing but impending ruin, and his only thought concerning Jehovah was
that He had brought the three kings together for their destruction. Jehoshaphat,
though often and sadly failing through weakness of character, was yet true in the
inmost direction of his heart. In his distress he instinctively turned to the LORD for
guidance. His inquiry for a "prophet of Jehovah" brought out two facts of infinite
comfort: that Elisha, known as the attendant of Elijah,^153 was - no doubt by Divine
direction - present in the camp; and that there was one in the following of the king of
Israel - probably one of the superior officers - who knew of it, being evidently in
sympathy with that which the prophet represented, as Obadiah had been in the days
of Ahab (1 Kings 18:3).
(^)