I Kings 22
Dear RTB’ers,
Ahab is dead, but his legacy lives on – sadly. There was one unusual item that caught my eye: Ahaziah … did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. (vv. 51-52) Typically the authors write that a king did “whatever” in the way of his father, but in the case of Ahaziah the mother is also mentioned. Why? His mother was Jezebel!
Jehoshaphat is generally regarded as a good king. (vv. 43a, 44) He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. … Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel. I don’t recall that there is further war between Israel and Judah after Jehoshaphat, but I’m not certain of that. His major failure was that … the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. (v. 43b) For that he is not regarded as highly as other kings of Judah.
First we have 400 prophets speaking: And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king.” (vv. 12) Then we compare their words to those of Micaiah: Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you. (v. 23) And I wonder how often I have gone along with a speaker or an action or a proposal simply because I didn’t want to be verbal in my opposition or, even more challenging, to be alone with a different perspective. It can be a tough question – when is it time to speak out and when is it time to stay silent? My thoughts hearken back to WWJD, “What would Jesus do?”, but in this case, WWJS, “What would Jesus say?” And the rest of you, speaking out or staying silent? Got any stories to tell…??
Blessings.
See also: May 25 (2023) / I Kings 20-22:50.