2 Chronicles 18:4-14

2 CHRONICLES—NOTE ON 2 Chronicles 18:4 Jehoshaphat, in contrast to Ahab, at least wanted to seek the word of the LORD about the mission to recapture Ramoth-gilead (vv. 2 Chronicles 18:4, 2 Chronicles 18:6, 2 Chronicles 18:7). Ahab’s four hundred men were called prophets (see note on 1 Kings 22:6–7), but they were also government officials, probably connected with the Baal worship that Jezebel had introduced into the northern kingdom (see 1 Kings 18:19). Jehoshaphat knew they were not Yahweh’s prophets, so he persisted in his request (2 Chronicles 18:6). Micaiah the son of Imlah was one of the authentic prophets of Yahweh (in a kingdom where they had recently been persecuted; see 1 Kings 18:4). His initial words to Ahab (2 Chronicles 18:14) were apparently spoken ironically, as Ahab’s reaction (v. 2 Chronicles 18:15) suggests.