Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 234
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anyone else!” So when the Aramean chario t commanders saw Jehoshaphat
in his royal robes, they went after him. “There is the king of Israel!” they
shouted. But when Jehoshaphat called out, the chariot commanders realized he was not the king of Israel, and they stopped chasing him.
An Aramean soldier, however, randomly shot an arrow at the Israelite
troops and hit the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. “Turn the
horses and get me out of here!” Ahab groaned to the driver of his chariot.
“I’m badly wounded!”
The battle raged all that day, and the king remained propped up in his
chariot facing the Arameans. The blood from his wound ran down to the
floor of his chario t, and as evening arrived he died. Just as the sun was setting, the cry ran through his troops: “We’re done for! Run for your lives!”
So the king died, and his body was taken to Samaria and buried there.
Then his chariot was washed beside the pool of Samaria, and dogs came
and licked his blood at the place where the prostitutes bathed, just as the
Lord had promised.
The rest of the events in Ahab’s reign and everything he did, including
the story of the ivory palace and the towns he built, are recorded in The
Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. So Ahab died, and his son Ahaziah
became the next king.
Jehoshaphat son of Asa began to rule over Judah in the fourth year of King
Ahab’s reign in Israel. Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother was
Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.
Jehoshaphat was a good king, following the example of his father, Asa. He
did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. During his reign, however, he
failed to remove all the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices
and burned incense there. Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of
Israel.
The rest of the events in Jehoshaphat’s reign, the extent of his power, and
the wars he waged are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings
of Judah. He banished from the land the rest of the male and female
shrine prostitutes, who still continued their practices from the days of his
father, Asa.
(There was no king in Edom at that time, only a deputy.)
Jehoshaphat also built a fleet of trading ships to sail to Ophir for gold.
But the ships never set sail, for they met with disaster in their home port