Historical
15 Then the Spirit of God came upon Azariah (son of Oded), 2 and he went out to meet King Asa as he was returning from the battle.
“Listen to me, Asa! Listen, armies of Judah and Benjamin!” he shouted. “The Lord will stay with you as long as you stay with him! Whenever you look for him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 For a long time now, over in Israel, the people haven’t worshiped the true God and have not had a true priest to teach them. They have lived without God’s laws. 4 But whenever they have turned again to the Lord God of Israel in their distress and searched for him he has helped them. 5 In their times of rebellion against God there was no peace. Problems troubled the nation on every hand. Crime was on the increase everywhere. 6 There were external wars and internal fighting of city against city, for God was plaguing them with all sorts of trouble. 7 But you men of Judah, keep up the good work and don’t get discouraged, for you will be rewarded.”
8 When King Asa heard this message from God, he took courage and destroyed all the idols in the land of Judah and Benjamin and in the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim, and he rebuilt the altar of the Lord in front of the Temple.
9 Then he summoned all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the immigrants from Israel (for many had come from the territories of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon in Israel when they saw that the Lord God was with King Asa). 10 They all came to Jerusalem in June of the fifteenth year of King Asa’s reign 11 and sacrificed to the Lord seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep—it was part of the plunder they had captured in the battle. 12 Then they entered into a contract to worship only the Lord God of their fathers 13 and agreed that anyone who refused to do this must die—whether old or young, man or woman. 14 They shouted out their oath of loyalty to God with trumpets blaring and horns sounding. 15 All were happy for this covenant with God, for they had entered into it with all their hearts and wills and wanted him above everything else, and they found him! And he gave them peace throughout the nation.
16 King Asa even removed his mother Maacah from being the queen mother because she made an Asherah idol; he cut down the idol and crushed and burned it at Kidron Brook. 17 Over in Israel the idol-temples were not removed. But here in Judah and Benjamin the heart of King Asa was perfect before God throughout his lifetime. 18 He brought back into the Temple the silver and gold bowls that he and his father had dedicated to the Lord. 19 So there was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of King Asa’s reign.
16 In the thirty-sixth year of King Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel declared war on him and built the fortress[a] of Ramah in order to control the road to Judah. 2 Asa’s response was to take the silver and gold from the Temple and from the palace, and to send it to King Ben-hadad of Syria at Damascus with this message:
3 “Let us renew the mutual security pact that there was between your father and my father. See, here is silver and gold to induce you to break your alliance with King Baasha of Israel, so that he will leave me alone.”
4 Ben-hadad agreed to King Asa’s request and mobilized his armies to attack Israel. They destroyed the cities of Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all of the supply centers in Naphtali. 5 As soon as King Baasha of Israel heard what was happening, he discontinued building Ramah and gave up his plan to attack Judah. 6 Then King Asa and the people of Judah went out to Ramah and carried away the building stones and timbers and used them to build Geba and Mizpah instead.
7 About that time the prophet Hanani came to King Asa and told him, “Because you have put your trust in the king of Syria instead of in the Lord your God, the army of the king of Syria has escaped from you. 8 Don’t you remember what happened to the Ethiopians and Libyans and their vast army, with all of their chariots and cavalrymen? But you relied then on the Lord, and he delivered them all into your hand. 9 For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them. What a fool you have been! From now on you shall have wars.”
10 Asa was so angry with the prophet for saying this that he threw him into jail. And Asa oppressed all the people at that time.
11 The rest of the biography of Asa is written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel and Judah. 12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became seriously diseased in his feet, but he didn’t go to the Lord with the problem but to the doctors. 13-14 So he died in the forty-first year of his reign and was buried in his own vault that he had hewn out for himself in Jerusalem. He was laid on a bed perfumed with sweet spices and ointments, and his people made a very great burning of incense for him at his funeral.
17 Then his son Jehoshaphat became the king and mobilized for war against Israel. 2 He placed garrisons in all of the fortified cities of Judah, in various other places throughout the country, and in the cities of Ephraim that his father had conquered.
3 The Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he followed in the good footsteps of his father’s early years and did not worship idols. 4 He obeyed the commandments of his father’s God—quite unlike the people across the border in the land of Israel. 5 So the Lord strengthened his position as king of Judah. All the people of Judah cooperated by paying their taxes, so he became very wealthy as well as being very popular. 6 He boldly followed the paths of God—even knocking down the heathen altars on the hills and destroying the Asherim idols.
7-9 In the third year of his reign he began a nationwide religious education program. He sent out top government officials as teachers in all the cities of Judah. These men included Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah. He also used the Levites for this purpose, including Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tobadonijah; also the priests, Elishama and Jehoram. They took copies of The Book of the Law of the Lord to all the cities of Judah to teach the Scriptures to the people.
10 Then the fear of the Lord fell upon all the surrounding kingdoms so that none of them declared war on King Jehoshaphat.
11 Even some of the Philistines brought him presents and annual tribute, and the Arabs donated 7,700 rams and 7,700 male goats. 12 So Jehoshaphat became very strong and built fortresses and supply cities throughout Judah.
13 His public works program was also extensive, and he had a huge army stationed at Jerusalem, his capital. 14-15 Three hundred thousand Judean troops were there under General Adnah. Next in command was Jehohanan with an army of 280,000 men. 16 Next was Amasiah (son of Zichri), a man of unusual piety, with 200,000 troops. 17 Benjamin supplied 200,000 men equipped with bows and shields under the command of Eliada, a great general. 18 His second in command was Jehozabad, with 180,000 trained men. 19 These were the troops in Jerusalem in addition to those placed by the king in the fortified cities throughout the nation.
18 But rich, popular King Jehoshaphat of Judah made a marriage alliance for his son[b] with the daughter of King Ahab of Israel. 2 A few years later he went down to Samaria to visit King Ahab, and King Ahab gave a great party for him and his aides, butchering great numbers of sheep and oxen for the feast. Then he asked King Jehoshaphat to join forces with him against Ramoth-gilead.
3-5 “Why, of course!” King Jehoshaphat replied. “I’m with you all the way. My troops are at your command! However, let’s check with the Lord first.”
So King Ahab summoned 400 of his heathen prophets and asked them, “Shall we go to war with Ramoth-gilead or not?”
And they replied, “Go ahead, for God will give you a great victory!”
6-7 But Jehoshaphat wasn’t satisfied. “Isn’t there some prophet of the Lord around here too?” he asked. “I’d like to ask him the same question.”
“Well,” Ahab told him, “there is one, but I hate him, for he never prophesies anything but evil! His name is Micaiah (son of Imlah).”
“Oh, come now, don’t talk like that!” Jehoshaphat exclaimed. “Let’s hear what he has to say.”
8 So the king of Israel called one of his aides. “Quick! Go and get Micaiah (son of Imlah),” he ordered.
9 The two kings were sitting on thrones in full regalia at an open place near the Samaria gate, and all the “prophets” were prophesying before them. 10 One of them, Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah), made some iron horns for the occasion and proclaimed, “The Lord says you will gore the Syrians to death with these!”
11 And all the others agreed. “Yes,” they chorused, “go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper, for the Lord will cause you to conquer.”
12 The man who went to get Micaiah told him what was happening and what all the prophets were saying—that the war would end in triumph for the king.
“I hope you will agree with them and give the king a favorable reading,” the man ventured.
13 But Micaiah replied, “I vow by God that whatever God says is what I will say.”
14 When he arrived before the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead or not?”
And Micaiah replied, “Sure, go ahead! It will be a glorious victory!”
15 “Look here,” the king said sharply, “how many times must I tell you to speak nothing except what the Lord tells you to?”
16 Then Micaiah told him, “In my vision I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountain as sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘Their master has been killed. Send them home.’”
17 “Didn’t I tell you?” the king of Israel exclaimed to Jehoshaphat. “He does it every time. He never prophesies anything but evil against me.”
18 “Listen to what else the Lord has told me,” Micaiah continued. “I saw him upon his throne surrounded by vast throngs of angels.
19-20 “And the Lord said, ‘Who can get King Ahab to go to battle against Ramoth-gilead and be killed there?’
“There were many suggestions, but finally a spirit stepped forward before the Lord and said, ‘I can do it!’
“‘How?’ the Lord asked him.
21 “He replied, ‘I will be a lying spirit in the mouths of all of the king’s prophets!’
“‘It will work,’ the Lord said; ‘go and do it.’
22 “So you see, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours, when actually he has determined just the opposite of what they are telling you!”
23 Then Zedekiah (son of Chenaanah) walked up to Micaiah and slapped him across the face. “You liar!” he yelled. “When did the Spirit of the Lord leave me and enter you?”
24 “You’ll find out soon enough,” Micaiah replied, “when you are hiding in an inner room!”
25 “Arrest this man and take him back to Governor Amon and to my son Joash,” the king of Israel ordered. 26 “Tell them, ‘The king says to put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread and water until I return safely from the battle!’”
27 Micaiah replied, “If you return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then, turning to those around them, he remarked, “Take note of what I have said.”
28 So the king of Israel and the king of Judah led their armies to Ramoth-gilead.
29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I’ll disguise myself so that no one will recognize me, but you put on your royal robes!” So that is what they did.
30 Now the king of Syria had issued these instructions to his charioteers: “Ignore everyone but the king of Israel!”
31 So when the Syrian charioteers saw King Jehoshaphat of Judah in his royal robes, they went for him, supposing that he was the man they were after. But Jehoshaphat cried out to the Lord to save him, and the Lord made the charioteers see their mistake and leave him. 32 For as soon as they realized he was not the king of Israel, they stopped chasing him. 33 But one of the Syrian soldiers shot an arrow haphazardly at the Israeli troops, and it struck the king of Israel at the opening where the lower armor and the breastplate meet. “Get me out of here,” he groaned to the driver of his chariot, “for I am badly wounded.” 34 The battle grew hotter and hotter all that day, and King Ahab went back in, propped up in his chariot, to fight the Syrians, but just as the sun sank into the western skies, he died.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.