However, a certain man drew his bow without taking special aim, and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So the king said to his charioteer, "Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!" However, a certain manThis phrase introduces an element of divine providence and unpredictability. The Hebrew word for "certain" (אִישׁ, 'ish) emphasizes the anonymity and ordinariness of the archer, suggesting that God can use anyone to fulfill His purposes. This reflects the biblical theme that God’s plans often unfold through seemingly random or insignificant events, underscoring His sovereignty over human affairs. drew his bow
The act of drawing a bow (קָשַׁת, qashat) is a common military action, yet here it is imbued with divine significance. In ancient warfare, archery was a skill requiring precision and strength. The phrase suggests a routine action that God uses to accomplish His will, reminding believers that God can work through everyday actions to achieve His divine purposes. without taking special aim
This phrase highlights the randomness of the shot, emphasizing that the archer did not intentionally target the king. The Hebrew text implies a lack of deliberate intention, which serves to magnify the miraculous nature of the event. It illustrates the biblical principle that God’s will can be accomplished even when human intentions are absent or contrary. he struck the king of Israel
The king of Israel, Ahab, is the target of this seemingly random arrow. Historically, Ahab was a king who led Israel into idolatry, and his death was prophesied by the prophet Micaiah earlier in the chapter. This phrase fulfills that prophecy, demonstrating the certainty of God’s word and the inevitability of divine justice. between the joints of his armor
The phrase describes a precise and vulnerable point in the king’s armor, indicating a miraculous accuracy. The Hebrew word for "joints" (דְּבָקִים, debaqim) refers to the connections or seams in the armor, symbolizing the idea that no human protection can thwart God’s will. It serves as a metaphor for the futility of relying on worldly defenses against divine judgment. So the king said to the driver of his chariot
This part of the verse shifts the focus to the king’s immediate reaction. The chariot driver, a subordinate, becomes a witness to the king’s vulnerability. The king’s command to his driver reflects a moment of human frailty and desperation, highlighting the transient nature of earthly power and authority. Turn around and take me out of the battle
The king’s command reveals his desire to escape the battlefield, symbolizing a retreat from the consequences of his actions. The Hebrew verb for "turn around" (הָפַךְ, haphak) can also mean to change or transform, suggesting a deeper spiritual need for repentance and change, which Ahab ultimately fails to achieve. for I am badly wounded
This admission of being "badly wounded" (חָלָל, chalal) is both a physical and spiritual acknowledgment of defeat. The wound signifies the culmination of Ahab’s disobedience and the fulfillment of God’s judgment. It serves as a sobering reminder of the consequences of sin and the importance of aligning oneself with God’s will. Persons / Places / Events 1. Ahab, King of IsraelThe king of Israel at the time, known for his idolatry and opposition to the prophets of God. His reign is marked by conflict with the prophet Elijah and alliances with pagan nations. 2. The ArameansThe opposing army in the battle, often at war with Israel during this period. They were led by King Ben-Hadad. 3. Ramoth-gileadThe location of the battle, a city of strategic importance that was contested between Israel and Aram. 4. The Unnamed ArcherA soldier in the Aramean army who, without specific intent, shot the arrow that mortally wounded King Ahab. 5. Jehoshaphat, King of JudahAllied with Ahab in this battle, he was a king who generally followed the ways of the Lord but made questionable alliances. Teaching Points God's SovereigntyDespite human plans and strategies, God's will prevails. Ahab's attempt to disguise himself in battle could not prevent God's judgment. The Certainty of God's WordThe prophecy concerning Ahab's death was fulfilled precisely as spoken by the prophet Micaiah, demonstrating the reliability of God's word. The Consequences of DisobedienceAhab's life and reign were marked by disobedience to God, leading to his downfall. This serves as a warning about the consequences of turning away from God's commands. The Role of Divine ProvidenceThe seemingly random shot by the archer was guided by divine providence, showing that God can use any means to accomplish His purposes. The Importance of Godly AlliancesJehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab, despite Ahab's ungodliness, serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of choosing alliances wisely. Bible Study Questions 1. How does the account of Ahab's death illustrate the concept of divine sovereignty, and how can this understanding impact our daily decision-making? 2. In what ways does the fulfillment of prophecy in this passage encourage us to trust in the promises of God found throughout Scripture? 3. Reflect on a time when you experienced the consequences of disobedience. How can Ahab's account serve as a warning or lesson for you? 4. How does the concept of divine providence, as seen in the "random" arrow striking Ahab, influence your view of events in your own life? 5. What can we learn from Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahab about the importance of forming godly relationships and partnerships? How can this be applied in our personal and professional lives? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 32:35This verse speaks of God's sovereignty and justice, emphasizing that vengeance belongs to the Lord. Ahab's death, despite his attempts to disguise himself, illustrates God's ultimate control over human affairs. Proverbs 21:30-31These verses highlight that no wisdom, understanding, or counsel can prevail against the Lord. Ahab's strategic planning could not thwart God's will. 2 Chronicles 18:33-34This parallel account provides additional context to the events of 1 Kings 22, emphasizing the fulfillment of prophecy and divine intervention. People Ahab, Ahaziah, Amon, Aram, Asa, Azubah, Chenaanah, David, Geber, Imlah, Jehoram, Jehoshaphat, Jeroboam, Joash, Micah, Micaiah, Nebat, Ophir, Shilhi, Sodomites, Syrians, Tarshish, Tharshish, ZedekiahPlaces Edom, Ezion-geber, Jerusalem, Ophir, Ramoth-gilead, Samaria, Syria, TarshishTopics Armor, Battle, Bow, Carry, Chariot, Drew, Driver, Fighting, Hit, I've, Joints, Random, Sections, Severely, Struck, Turn, Wheel, WoundedDictionary of Bible Themes 1 Kings 22:34 5206 archers
5209 armour
5236 bow and arrow
5237 breastplate 1 Kings 22:1-38 8131 guidance, results 1 Kings 22:17-38 6708 predestination 1 Kings 22:29-37 5837 disguise 1 Kings 22:34-38 4912 chance Library Unpossessed Possessions
'And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?'--1 KINGS xxii. 3. This city of Ramoth in Gilead was an important fortified place on the eastern side of the Jordan, and had, many years before the date of our text, been captured by its northern neighbours in the kingdom of Syria. A treaty had subsequently been concluded and broken a war followed thereafter, in which Ben-hadad, King of Syria, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureAhab and Micaiah
'And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him? 8. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.'--1 KINGS xxii. 7,8. An ill-omened alliance had been struck up between Ahab of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah. The latter, who would have been much better in Jerusalem, had come down to Samaria …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Poetical Books (Including Also Ecclesiastes and Canticles).
1. The Hebrews reckon but three books as poetical, namely: Job, Psalms, and Proverbs, which are distinguished from the rest by a stricter rhythm--the rhythm not of feet, but of clauses (see below, No. 3)--and a peculiar system of accentuation. It is obvious to every reader that the poetry of the Old Testament, in the usual sense of the word, is not restricted to these three books. But they are called poetical in a special and technical sense. In any natural classification of the books of the …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible 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 Use to be Made of the Doctrine of Providence.
Sections. 1. Summary of the doctrine of Divine Providence. 1. It embraces the future and the past. 2. It works by means, without means, and against means. 3. Mankind, and particularly the Church, the object of special care. 4. The mode of administration usually secret, but always just. This last point more fully considered. 2. The profane denial that the world is governed by the secret counsel of God, refuted by passages of Scripture. Salutary counsel. 3. This doctrine, as to the secret counsel of …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII Of Councils and their Authority.
1. The true nature of Councils. 2. Whence the authority of Councils is derived. What meant by assembling in the name of Christ. 3. Objection, that no truth remains in the Church if it be not in Pastors and Councils. Answer, showing by passages from the Old Testament that Pastors were often devoid of the spirit of knowledge and truth. 4. Passages from the New Testament showing that our times were to be subject to the same evil. This confirmed by the example of almost all ages. 5. All not Pastors who …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion 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 Of Passages from the Holy Scriptures, and from the Apocrypha, which are Quoted, or Incidentally Illustrated, in the Institutes.
TO THE AUTHORS QUOTED IN THE INSTITUTES PREFATORY ADDRESS TO HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY, THE MOST MIGHTY AND ILLUSTRIOUS MONARCH, FRANCIS, KING OF THE FRENCH, HIS SOVEREIGN; [1] JOHN CALVIN PRAYS PEACE AND SALVATION IN CHRIST. [2] Sire,--When I first engaged in this work, nothing was farther from my thoughts than to write what should afterwards be presented to your Majesty. My intention was only to furnish a kind of rudiments, by which those who feel some interest in religion might be trained to …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion 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 Sovereignty of God in Administration
"The LORD hath prepared His Throne In the heavens; and His Kingdom ruleth over all" (Psa. 103:19). First, a word concerning the need for God to govern the material world. Suppose the opposite for a moment. For the sake of argument, let us say that God created the world, designed and fixed certain laws (which men term "the laws of Nature"), and that He then withdrew, leaving the world to its fortune and the out-working of these laws. In such a case, we should have a world over which there was no intelligent, …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God Tit. 2:06 Thoughts for Young Men
WHEN St. Paul wrote his Epistle to Titus about his duty as a minister, he mentioned young men as a class requiring peculiar attention. After speaking of aged men and aged women, and young women, he adds this pithy advice, "Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded" (Tit. 2:6). I am going to follow the Apostle's advice. I propose to offer a few words of friendly exhortation to young men. I am growing old myself, but there are few things I remember so well as the days of my youth. I have a most …
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times General Principles of Interpretation. 1 Since the Bible Addresses Men in Human Language...
CHAPTER XXXIV. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. 1. Since the Bible addresses men in human language, and according to human modes of thinking and speaking, the interpreter's first work is to ascertain the meaning of the terms employed. Here he must proceed as in the case of other writings, seeking by the aid of grammars, lexicons, cognate languages, ancient versions, ancient interpreters, and whatever other outward helps are available, to gain a thorough knowledge of the language employed by …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Figurative Language of Scripture.
1. When the psalmist says: "The Lord God is a sun and shield" (Psa. 84:11), he means that God is to all his creatures the source of life and blessedness, and their almighty protector; but this meaning he conveys under the figure of a sun and a shield. When, again, the apostle James says that Moses is read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day (Acts 15:21), he signifies the writings of Moses under the figure of his name. In these examples the figure lies in particular words. But it may be embodied …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Instruction for the Ignorant:
BEING A SALVE TO CURE THAT GREAT WANT OF KNOWLEDGE, WHICH SO MUCH REIGNS BOTH IN YOUNG AND OLD. PREPARED AND PRESENTED TO THEM IN A PLAIN AND EASY DIALOGUE, FITTED TO THE CAPACITY OF THE WEAKEST. 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'--Hosea 4:6 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This little catechism is upon a plan perfectly new and unique. It was first published as a pocket volume in 1675, and has been republished in every collection of the author's works; and recently in a separate tract. …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.), …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 1 Kings 22:34 NIV1 Kings 22:34 NLT1 Kings 22:34 ESV1 Kings 22:34 NASB1 Kings 22:34 KJV
1 Kings 22:34 Commentaries
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