Read 1 Kings 22 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
21:28-22:1 {p} The word of YHVH: because Ahab humbled himself, the calamity will not come in his day
22:2-18 {s} Ahab asks Jehoshaphat to join him in war with Syria/false prophets and Micaiah
22:19-40 {p} Ahab imprisons Micaiah/ he is killed in the battle that day
22:41-50 {s} The reign of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, 25 years, who did good in the eyes of YHVH
22:51-2 Kin 1:2 {s} …
The Strong themes:
21:1-22:1 {px4} The crimes of Ahab and Jezebel, so that YHVH prophesied against them, but Ahab humbled himself
22:2-40 {s+p} Ahab initiated war with Aram, but he was killed in the battle
1 Kin 18:15-22:40 Chiastic structure:
Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, to the third and to the fourth generation. Exo 34:7
The key takeaway from Exo 34:7 is that God does not clear the guilty. Scripture treats the house of Ahab as a unit; and Ahab’s idolatry (1 Kin 21:26) poisons his line. Ahaziah is raised in the ways of his parents, so he inherits their sin and doubles down on it (1 Kin 22:53, “according to all his father did”). Ahaziah isn’t innocent; he also “did evil … and walked in the way of his father… and served the Baal” (1 Kin 22:52-53). He chose Ahab’s path for himself, so the judgment of YHVH which is coming, is against a guilty house, and not an innocent one.
Now about that spirit of falsehood … Ahab had already decided what he was going to do. It was Jehoshaphat’s suggestion to inquire of YHVH through His prophets. The text clues us in that both Jehoshaphat (1 Kin 22:7) and Ahab (1 Kin 22:16) knew they were hearing a false prophecy. And when Micaiah revealed the true prophecy, Ahab chose to ignore it and go into battle anyway. All the spirit of falsehood did was ensure that Ahab’s own desires set him on the course which would end his life and fulfill God’s decree concerning his blood (1 Kin 21:19).
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