And then, turning to the multitude around, he summo ned them as witnesses between himself and the king.

We are not told what impression the scene had made upon Jehoshaphat. But we cannot help feeling that, in spite of his

boastful language, it must have had a deep effect even upon Ahab. The expedition against Ramoth-Gilead would

naturally follow as soon as possible after the popular assembly in Samaria. From the circumstance, that Jehu the

prophet of the LORD delivered the Divine reproof against the alliance of Jehoshaphat with Ahab only after the return

of the former from the Syrian campaign (2 Chronicles 19), we are inclined to infer that the king of Judah had not gone

back to his own dominions before the joint march upon Ramoth-Gilead.

With this accords another impression derived from the narrative. The whole account of the battle, the apparently very

subordinate part which Jehoshaphat played in it, as well as the absence of any reference to the army of Judah, and the

solitary notice that Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem in peace (2 Chronicles 19:1), without any reference to his people

- all convey the impression that Jehoshaphat had, without returning to Jerusalem, merely summoned a small Judaean

contingent, so that his presence and aid - if known at all to the Syrians - were regarded as a very secondary element in

the campaign. And when we compare this with the language of Jehoshaphat on entering into alliance with Ahab (1

Kings 22:4), and before he had heard the words of Micaiah, we feel that the contrast between his promises and

performance must have been due to the prophetic warning which he had heard.

And as regards Ahab and his people we have similar indications of inward misgivings.76 It was the common practice

for kings and leaders to go into battle in full array (comp. 2 Samuel 1:10).

When Ahab, therefore, made the strange proposal that Jehoshaphat alone should go in his royal robes, while he

disguised himself, this must have been caused by apprehension of the Divinely threatened judgment, which after his

usual manner he hoped to foil by astuteness. And if it be asked why in such case Jehoshaphat did not also disguise

himself, the obvious answer is, that the Divine message had not threatened death to the king of Judah, and that, if both

monarchs had so disguised themselves, it would have been virtually an announcement to their followers that they

expected defeat, and the fulfillment of Micaiah's prophecy.

This is one side of the picture; the other is that presented from the Syrian camp. The military organization, introduced

in the former campaign (1 Kings 20:24), now proved its efficiency. The "thirty and two captains" who commanded "the

chariots" evidently formed the first line of attack. To them Ben-hadad gave special orders to direct their movements

exclusively against the king of Israel,  77 in the hope that, with his capture or death, alike the battle and the campaign

would be ended.

The disguise of Ahab had almost defeated this plan. For when the Syrians pressed around the only chariot which bore

one in royal apparel, in the belief that they fought with Ahab - and this also seems to imply that they were not aware of

the presence of the king of Judah - Jehoshaphat "cried out," on which the Syrians, recognizing that it was not the voice

of Ahab, desisted from the pursuit.78 It is impossible to determine whether Jehoshaphat had appealed to his pursuers, or

called for the support of his men.

But the fact itself is of sufficient importance to be recorded alike in the Book of Kings and in that of Chronicles (2

Chronicles 18:31) and in precisely the same terms. But the writer of the Book of Chronicles, who tells this history from

the standpoint of Judah, as in the Book of Kings it is related from that of Israel, adds that the providential deliverance

which Jehoshaphat experienced was from Jehovah. It is scarcely= necessary to add that this reflection is not in any way

inconsistent with the briefer Israelitish record, nor implies divergent sources of information.

But the disguise of Ahab, so far from frustrating the judgment predicted, only serv ed the more clearly to show the

Divine agency in his destruction. As the battle continued, a man, "drew a bow in his simplicity" - that is, without taking

aim at any definite person - when the arrow struck the king of Israel "between the joints and the bre astplate," that is,

where the cuirass which covered the breast met the jointed armor that protected the lower part of the body. Such a

wound would, of necessity, be mortal, and the king directed the driver of the chariot to take him away from the fight.

But the Syrians were unaware that the king of Israel had received his fatal wound. Thicker and hotter grew the fight,

and the command of Ahab could not be obeyed. And all day long had he to be stayed in his chariot while his life was

slowly ebbing away. It was a ghastly spectacle, the disguised king, mortally struck despite his disguise, now held up in

his chariot, to continue against his will in the battle. Rarely has history so visibly and in every detail taught its Divine