“The waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them” (Prov 1:32, ISV).
This episode showcases the proverb that “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished” (Prov 22:3). Believers tend to be trusting, although it’s a hard fact that some people shouldn’t be trusted. But we’d rather be misled or disappointed than become unloving and cynical. That’s why we need to embrace Paul’s prayer for the saints, “that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment” (Php 1:9). Now to our story. Jehoshaphat, good king that he is, has already run several red lights. There’s the awful decision to go along with marrying his son to Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah, a step that would prove almost terminally fatal to the Messianic line. There is his ill-advised trip north to visit with the Israelite monarch, and agreeing at dinner to go to war in league with a demon-worshipping ally. There is the fiasco with the false prophets, and the revelation that this raid on Ramoth Gilead was arranged in heaven to bring God’s judgment on Ahab. Now with Micaiah back in prison, his words still echo across the hills of Samaria: “If you ever return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me” (2 Chron 18:27). In other words, Ahab, if you survive this trip, I give you permission to execute me as a false prophet. And then? Ignoring all the warnings, “the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead” (v 28). But Ahab has an idea. Say, Jehoshaphat, how would you like to be king-for-a-day of all 12 tribes, like the glory days of David? I’ll wear common garb, and you wear a bullseye, I mean, your royal robes. And so naively Jehoshaphat accepts the role of the one chess piece that the enemy wanted to capture. Lord, save us from our own stupidity!