Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
1 Kings 22:30-34
The Failure Of The Subterfuge To Prevent The Fulfilment Of Micaiah's Prophecy (1 Kings 22:30).
With what Micaiah had prophesied in mind Ahab was determined to demonstrate that he was wrong. Both he and Jehoshaphat had heard the prophecy, and he thus suggested to Jehoshaphat that in the light of it he should go into the battle disguised, while Jehoshaphat led the attack in full royal armour. Jehoshaphat, who probably believed Micaiah's prophecy would understand that this was not because of cowardice. It was because Ahab was seeking to change the pattern of life hoping thereby to overturn ‘fate'.
It was always policy to seek to slay the opposing king, because thereby the battle would be ended quickly, the king's will no longer being relevant. It was, however, never a simple thing to accomplish, as he went into battle surrounded by his elite bodyguard, and was in a well protected chariot, amid other chariots. And by diverting the attention to Jehoshaphat the risk would be even more minimised. There would have seemed to him little reason why he should not come out unscathed, especially as by altering the usual pattern, there was hope that the prophecy, made on the basis of that pattern, might be disrupted. After all, it was four hundred prophets to one! And four hundred were supporting his safety.
Analysis.
a And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself, and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle (1 Kings 22:30).
b Now the king of Aram (Syria) had commanded the thirty and two captains of his chariots, saying, “Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel” (1 Kings 22:31).
c And it came about, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “Surely it is the king of Israel,” and they turned aside to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out (1 Kings 22:32).
b And it came about, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him (1 Kings 22:33).
a And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the armour, which was the reason why he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn your hand, and carry me out of the host, for I am sore wounded” (1 Kings 22:34).
Note that in ‘a' the king of Israel carried out his subterfuge, and in the parallel the subterfuge failed and he was fatally wounded. In ‘b' the king of Aram's command was to concentrate on slaying the king of Israel, and in the parallel as soon as they discovered that the man that they were attacking was not the king of Israel they turned their attention elsewhere. Centrally in ‘c' the chariot captains concentrated on Jehoshaphat, thinking that he was the king of Israel, until his war cry revealed him not to be so.
‘ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself, and go into the battle, but you put on your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.'
Both parties knew the reason for Ahab's decision. It was simply an act of common sense. While royal leadership needed to be visible, that visibility could be provided by Jehoshaphat. (A king would always be a target and they would not be aware that he was to be an unusually special target) Meanwhile Ahab in his disguise would be recognised by his men while being ‘invisible' to the opposition, and would thereby hopefully upset the prophecy. In Mesopotamia it was believed that if a king abstained from wearing his royal robes he could divert evil activities on certain days of ill omen. Perhaps Ahab, steeped in paganism, held a similar view).
‘ Now the king of Aram (Syria) had commanded the thirty and two captains of his chariots, saying, “Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.” '
Meanwhile the strategy of the king of Aram was that all his chariot captains should avoid general conflict as much as possible and concentrate on attacking the king of Israel in person. The hope was that by working together they could break though the bodyguard surrounding the king until the opportunity arose for them to attack him in person.
It is probably not a coincidence that the king of Aram had previously had thirty two ‘rulers' (1 Kings 20:1), and now had thirty two captains of chariots. Each ruler possibly had his chariot arm. Or it may be that ‘thirty two' was the Aramaean basis for organising and dividing their forces. Either way the thought is that Ahab had wrongfully spared the thirty two captured rulers, and now thirty two chariot captains were set to kill him. He was reaping what he had sown.
‘ And it came about, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, “Surely it is the king of Israel,” and they turned aside to fight against him, and Jehoshaphat cried out.'
Thus when the captains saw Jehoshaphat clothed in royal armour and with banners flying, riding in his chariot at the head of the charge, they assumed that it was the king of Israel, and they all converged on the royal party with a view to killing him.
Meanwhile, elated by the battle Jehoshaphat rallied his men by crying out his war cry, which would be something like, ‘YHWH for Jehoshaphat and Judah'. This was both a prayer for YHWH's assistance, and a rallying cry (which the Chronicler tells us that YHWH heard).
‘ And it came about, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him.'
Once the chariot captains heard his war cry they realised immediately that this could not be the king of Israel, and baffled in their objective turned their attentions elsewhere. The king of Judah was not considered to be of sufficient importance to take up their expertise.
‘ And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the armour, which was the reason why he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn your hand, and carry me out of the host, for I am sore wounded.” '
One of the Aramaean archers, however, fired his arrow ‘at a venture' (literally ‘in his simplicity, i.e. at random, not aiming at any particular target, but hoping that it would hit someone. Little did he realise what he would accomplish). His arrow struck Ahab at the point where pieces of his armour met. All armour had such weak points so as to retain flexibility. The arrow caused a deep wound, so much so that Ahab commanded his chariot driver to turn about and take him out of the heat of battle because he was sore wounded. All his attempts to defeat YHWH's prophecy had failed.