2 Chronicles 18:2
And some years later he went down to visit Ahab in Samaria, where Ahab sacrificed many sheep and cattle for him and the people with him, and urged him to march up to Ramoth-gilead.
Sermons
The False Steps of a Good KingT. Whitelaw 2 Chronicles 18:1-3
Spiritual UnwarinessW. Clarkson 2 Chronicles 18:2, 3














When Jehoshaphat came into contact with Ahab, he encountered a man who was more than his match in respect of policy. Indeed, he may be said to have fallen readily into the trap which his neighbour laid for him. Ahab received him as his guest with ostentatious hospitality; and when Jehoshaphat was in a grateful and perhaps elated mood, he proposed a combination in which they were to share the risks and losses, but not to divide the gains. To this the King of Judah unwisely consented. The "offensive alliance" was a mistake on his part. Simple straightforwardness needs to be flanked with some wariness or natural sagacity, otherwise it may lead us into compromising and even ruinous situations. In the conduct of our life, it is of very great importance that we should not show unwariness in -

I. THE FORMATION OF OUR FRIENDSHIPS, Jehoshaphat did an unwise thing in forming a friendship with Ahab; intimacy with such a man could not possibly end in his own elevation. We should not "love them that hate the Lord" (see homily on 2 Chronicles 19:2). In nothing is it more needful to show wariness and wisdom than in the choice of our friends; a mistake here means bitter disappointment, unimaginable misery, and, in all likelihood, spiritual deterioration if not positive ruin. Be slow to bind this bend. of friendship, which may, indeed, be a link to every good thing that blesses us, but which may be a fetter that chains us to every bad thing that curses and degrades us.

II. THE ENCOUNTERING OF SOCIAL PERILS. Whether or not Jehoshaphat suffered from the blandishments and allurements of the court where Jezebel was queen, we do not know. Certainly he ought to have thought twice before he exposed himself and his attendants to that serious peril. How much of social peril can we meet and master? That is a question which every man must answer for himself. But it is clear that a very large number of human souls have overestimated their capacity for resistance. The degenerating influences of a society which is not Christian, but worldly, or vicious, are a power which we must only encounter with the utmost circumspection. We may take counsel here of Ahab himself (1 Kings 20:11). Men go airily and easily to the contest with those social forces, and they come out of the conflict worsted and wounded, perhaps even unto death. Be wary here, for you stand in a "slippery place."

III. THE UNDERTAKING OF OUR ACHIEVEMENTS. Very readily, to all appearance, Jehoshaphat acceded to Ahab's proposal (ver. 2). But it was one involving himself, his family, his princes, and his people in great hazards. Syria was a power not at all to be despised, and, except the Lord appeared on their behalf, they would most likely be defeated. And what reason had Jehoshaphat to conclude that he would have the arm of Jehovah on his side when he was going hand-in-hand with such a man as Ahab? It was a very doubtful procedure; and the haste with which it was agreed. upon showed no sagacity at all. Before we adopt our neighbour's proposal we should weigh well all its probable and, so far as we can tell, its possible consequences; and not those which affect ourselves only, but those also which affect our kindred and connections. We may go "with a light heart ' into an enterprise that means nothing less than disaster. Before undertaking anything of importance, there should be

(1) careful consideration, looking at the subject from all points of view;

(2) consultation with the wise and good;

(3) prayer for Divine guidance.

IV. THE REGULATION OF OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE. Some men leave the retention of their spiritual integrity almost wholly to their good impulses. But this is a rash and perilous course. It is, indeed, the foolish and often fatal absence of all method. He who has the wariness which is wisdom, will adopt and maintain carefully regulated habits of devotion and of self-culture. - C.

Then he said, I see all Israel scattered.
Micaiah declared the visions revealed to him by the Spirit of God.

I. THE SHEEPHERDLESS PEOPLE.

II. THE PARABOLIC PROVIDENCE.

1. A picture of God's supremacy.

2. An insight into supernatural ministry. "All the host of heaven" ready to serve.

3. An interpretation of the events of history.

(J. Wolfendale.)

People
Ahab, Amon, Aram, Chenaanah, Imla, Imlah, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Micah, Micaiah, Syrians, Zedekiah
Places
Jerusalem, Ramoth-gilead, Samaria, Syria
Topics
Abundance, Ahab, Attack, Cattle, Death, Feast, Gilead, Got, Induced, Jehoshaphat, Killed, Lapse, Later, Moved, Numbers, Oxen, Persuaded, Persuadeth, Putting, Ramoth, Ramothgilead, Ramoth-gilead, Sacrificeth, Samaria, Sama'ria, Sheep, Slaughtered, Urged, Visit
Outline
1. Jehoshaphat, joined in affinity with Ahab, is persuaded to go against Ramoth Gilead
4. Ahab, seduced by false prophets, according to the word of Micaiah, is slain there

Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Chronicles 18:2

     5976   visiting

2 Chronicles 18:1-3

     7233   Israel, northern kingdom

2 Chronicles 18:1-27

     7774   prophets, false

Library
That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful.
That The Employing Of, And Associating With The Malignant Party, According As Is Contained In The Public Resolutions, Is Sinful And Unlawful. If there be in the land a malignant party of power and policy, and the exceptions contained in the Act of Levy do comprehend but few of that party, then there need be no more difficulty to prove, that the present public resolutions and proceedings do import an association and conjunction with a malignant party, than to gather a conclusion from clear premises.
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Poor in Spirit are Enriched with a Kingdom
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3 Here is high preferment for the saints. They shall be advanced to a kingdom. There are some who, aspiring after earthly greatness, talk of a temporal reign here, but then God's church on earth would not be militant but triumphant. But sure it is the saints shall reign in a glorious manner: Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.' A kingdom is held the acme and top of all worldly felicity, and this honour have all the saints'; so says our Saviour, Theirs is the
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

He Does Battle for the Faith; He Restores Peace among those who were at Variance; He Takes in Hand to Build a Stone Church.
57. (32). There was a certain clerk in Lismore whose life, as it is said, was good, but his faith not so. He was a man of some knowledge in his own eyes, and dared to say that in the Eucharist there is only a sacrament and not the fact[718] of the sacrament, that is, mere sanctification and not the truth of the Body. On this subject he was often addressed by Malachy in secret, but in vain; and finally he was called before a public assembly, the laity however being excluded, in order that if it were
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria
Assur-nazir-pal (885-860) and Shalmaneser III. (860-825)--The kingdom of Urartu and its conquering princes: Menuas and Argistis. Assyria was the first to reappear on the scene of action. Less hampered by an ancient past than Egypt and Chaldaea, she was the sooner able to recover her strength after any disastrous crisis, and to assume again the offensive along the whole of her frontier line. Image Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief at Koyunjik of the time of Sennacherib. The initial cut,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 7

Chronicles
The comparative indifference with which Chronicles is regarded in modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been shared by the ancient Jewish church. Though written by the same hand as wrote Ezra-Nehemiah, and forming, together with these books, a continuous history of Judah, it is placed after them in the Hebrew Bible, of which it forms the concluding book; and this no doubt points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than they. Nor is this unnatural. The book
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
2 Chronicles 18:2 NIV
2 Chronicles 18:2 NLT
2 Chronicles 18:2 ESV
2 Chronicles 18:2 NASB
2 Chronicles 18:2 KJV

2 Chronicles 18:2 Bible Apps
2 Chronicles 18:2 Parallel
2 Chronicles 18:2 Biblia Paralela
2 Chronicles 18:2 Chinese Bible
2 Chronicles 18:2 French Bible
2 Chronicles 18:2 German Bible

2 Chronicles 18:2 Commentaries

Bible Hub
2 Chronicles 18:1
Top of Page
Top of Page