I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
When Asa died his son Jehoshaphat took the throne. Jehoshaphat followed the example of his father’s early years and did not worship the Baal’s. Jehoshaphat was deeply committed to following the Lord. He removed all of the pagan shrines and Asherah poles in all of Judah. He sent kingdom officials throughout the land to teach the people from the Book of the Law. Jehoshaphat became more powerful and began receiving tribute from the surrounding peoples.
The mention of sending officials out to teach the people from the Book of the Law reminds me of one of the reasons that the first schools were set up for the common people in Europe and in the U.S.. Many early schools were set up to teach people to read so that they could read the Bible. It looks to me that that is what was happening here. Jehoshaphat sent his officials out to teach the people so that they could read and know God’s law for themselves.
The passage recounts one thing that Jehoshaphat did that I will find fault with. He arranged for his son to marry the daughter of Ahab, king of Israel. In addition, Jehoshaphat allied with Ahab to go to war. Jehoshaphat was visiting Ahab when Ahab enticed him to join him in an attempt to recover the city of Ramoth-gilead. Jehoshaphat agrees, but requests that they first seek the counsel of the Lord. Ahab consents and summons 400 prophets who tell them that they will be victorious. Jehoshaphat is not satisfied and asks if there is not a prophet of the Lord there that they can ask the same question. Ahab says that there is one more man they can ask, but he hates him because he always prophecies trouble for him. Jehoshaphat tells Ahab that that is no way for a king to talk.
They summon Micaiah who comes and answers their question. The officials who went to fetch Micaiah warn him that all of the other prophets have told Ahab that he would be victorious and that he should as well. Initially, Micaiah tells Ahab to go into battle, that he will be victorious, but Ahab challenges him to tell them what God had actually said. It is not clear to me how Ahab knew that Micaiah was not giving him a true prophecy. The New Living Translation suggests that Micaiah spoke sarcastically, but no other translations echo that. Nevertheless, after being challenged by Ahab, Micaiah tells the two kings that, if they go into battle, Ahab will be killed. Despite Micaiah’s prophecy, the two kings went into battle, but Ahab disguised himself in an attempt to avoid the fate prophesied for him by Micaiah. This deception fails to save Ahab’s life and he is killed by a random arrow.
One thing I find interesting about this passage is that Jehoshaphat recognized that the 400 prophets summoned by Ahab were not prophets of God. The passage does not tell us that they were not, yet after they had prophesied, Jehoshaphat requested that they ask for a prophet of the Lord. I think that the reason that the passage does not clearly say the 400 prophets were not prophets of the Lord has to do with the way that Baal worshipers viewed Baal. Looking at the information on Baal worship, it appears to me that Baal worshipers thought that Baal was the same god as the one worshiped by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They claimed that they were worshiping the same god, just as Muslims claim to be worshiping the God that Jews and Christians worship.
Paul continues his discussion of salvation by talking about how God has now made those who were not His people (Gentiles, non-Jews) into His people. He shows us that God had declared that He was going to do this through His prophets. Paul then discusses how Isaiah had prophesied that only a portion of the large numbers of the Israelites would be saved.
What conclusion can we reach from this? Those who did not try to be righteous gained it through faith. While those who tried everything in their power to be righteous failed to obtain it. Why did it happen this way? Because those who were seeking righteousness were continuing to follow in the original sin, they were trying to get right with God by their own efforts, rather than trusting in God. They were trying to be equal with God. They sought to come to God with their own righteousness and Paul tells us that the only way to be able to do that is to never do anything wrong…and only God is capable of that.
Paul tells us that the only way to be made right with God is to accept the righteousness that God is offering to us. Here Paul tells us the key to being saved. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The NIV uses the word “declare” rather than the word “confess”. In both cases there is the implication of both being willing to publicly acknowledge that you believe that Jesus is Lord and that you are willing to actually obey Him as Lord. That conclusion also follows from the second part of Paul’s formula for determining salvation, “believe in your heart…”. If you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead it means that you will realize that He is the one with the ultimate power of life and death over you and act accordingly.
This psalm is a great blessing to say for those on whom we wish good things. I will wish this on all of those reading this.
and make all your plans succeed.
I will further tell you that the way to make this blessing come true for you is to seek to do God’s will with all of your strength, all of your heart, and all of your mind.
It is honorable to avoid a fight, to minimize strife. Only fools seek confrontation and to quarrel.