seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Chronicles 18:28 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead.29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will enter the battle in disguise, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
30 Now the king of Aram had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight with anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.” 31 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they thought, “This is the king of Israel.” So they turned to attack him, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him. God drew them away from him, 32 for when the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.
33 But someone drew his bow at random and hit the king of Israel between the breastplate and the scale armor. The king told the chariot driver, “Wheel around and get me out of the fighting. I’ve been wounded.” 34 All day long the battle raged, and the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot facing the Arameans until evening. Then at sunset he died.
Machaiah told Ahab he was toast. Ahab thought he could outsmart God by outsmarting humans. God made humans.... so he's a whole lot smarter. Besides.... when Machaiah told them what God said.... he was describing a fact... not a desire. God controls time... so he knew Ahab was going to try this little stunt before he did it. Ahab's death was not God's desire.... It was a result.
This is from the enduringword.com site.
Now a certain man drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel: This seemed to be pure chance. It was a certain man, and he pulled his bow at random – but it struck as if it were a sin-seeking missile, hitting right between the joints of his armor. God orchestrated the unintended actions of man to result in an exercise of His judgment.
“Men may secrete themselves so that other men may never find them; but when the hour of their judgment has come, God takes hold on some ordinary event and makes it the highway on which He comes to carry out His purpose. ‘It just happened,’ says the man of the world. ‘God did it,’ says the man of faith.” (Morgan)
The king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot, facing the Syrians until evening: Ahab faced the end of his life bravely, dying propped… up in his chariot to inspire his troops. When his death became known the battle was over.
“It appears that the Israelites and Jews maintained the fight the whole of the day; but when at evening the king died, and this was known, there was a proclamation made, probably with the consent of both Syrians and Israelites, that the war was over.” (Clarke)
The easy English site has a reminder about the previous fight with the Syrians.Ben-Hadad was the king of Aram. In a previous battle, Ahab had defeated the army of Ben-Hadad. Ahab should have killed Ben-Hadad but he let him go. Because of this, the LORD said that Ahab would die (1 Kings 20:42).
See.... in a previous battle the stage was set. Ben-Hadad tricked Ahab into letting him live. There was a plan that Ben-Hadad would die in battle.... but Ahab intervened and when God saw that Ahab would choose that path.... God knew Ahab would be the one gone.... and with that decision.... Ahab put himself in the cross hairs. When Ahab's number was up.... Ahab tried to "trick" the humans and "trick" God.... but Ahab's number was definitely up.... and you can't trick God.... He knows how everything will turn out. God can guide an arrow..... God controls everything.