Ahab Dispatched: The house of Ahab stands under the prophetic curse. The full outworking of God’s wrath is to be delayed until the reign of Ahab’s son, because of the king’s response to Elijah (21:27–29). Ahab’s own death, however, has now been foretold by two different prophets, with no delay in prospect (20:41–42; 21:19), and we thus anticipate an early fulfillment of their prophecy. The appearance now of a third prophet brings us to that fulfillment, as Ahab marches out to meet the Arameans at Ramoth Gilead and falls in battle.

22:1–5  The peace that followed the battle of Aphek (20:26–34) lasted three years (v. 1). Even after such a crushing defeat, however, the king of Aram was still able to hold on to the strategically important city of Ramoth Gilead in Transjordan (v. 3). Ahab now wi…