Study Desk

but Asa and his troops chased them as far as Gerar. It was a total defeat—the Ethiopians could not even fight back! The soldiers from Judah took everything that had belonged to the Ethiopians.

He placed in the temple all the silver and gold objects that he and his father had dedicated to God.

When Asa heard about this, he took the silver and gold from his palace and from the Lord 's temple. Then he sent it to Damascus with this message for King Benhadad of Syria:

When Baasha heard about it, he stopped his work on the town of Ramah.

When Asa heard this, he was so angry that he put Hanani in prison. Asa was also cruel to some of his people.

In the thirty-ninth year of his rule, he got a very bad foot disease, but he relied on doctors and refused to ask the Lord for help.

Earlier, Asa had his own tomb cut out of a rock hill in Jerusalem. So he was buried there, and the tomb was filled with spices and sweet-smelling oils. Then the people built a bonfire in his honor.

Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king and strengthened his defenses against Israel.

He assigned troops to the fortified cities in Judah, as well as to other towns in Judah and to those towns in Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.

When Jehoshaphat's father had first become king of Judah, he was faithful to the Lord and refused to worship the god Baal as the kings of Israel did. Jehoshaphat followed his father's example and obeyed and worshiped the Lord . And so the Lord blessed Jehoshaphat

and helped him keep firm control of his kingdom. The people of Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, but even after he became very rich and respected,

from the Judah and Benjamin tribes. These soldiers were grouped according to their clans. Adnah was the commander of the troops from Judah, and he had three hundred thousand soldiers under his command.

Eliada was a brave warrior who commanded the troops from Benjamin. He had two hundred thousand soldiers under his command, all of them armed with bows and shields.

Jehoshaphat was now very rich and famous. He signed a treaty with King Ahab of Israel by arranging the marriage of his son and Ahab's daughter.

One day, Jehoshaphat went to visit Ahab in his capital city of Samaria. Ahab slaughtered sheep and cattle and prepared a big feast to honor Jehoshaphat and the officials with him. Ahab talked about attacking the city of Ramoth in Gilead,

Micaiah replied: I then saw the Lord seated on his throne with every creature in heaven gathered around him.

The king of Syria had ordered his chariot commanders to attack only Ahab.

So when they saw Jehoshaphat in his robe, they thought he was Ahab and started to attack him. But Jehoshaphat prayed, and the Lord made the Syrian soldiers stop.

However, during the fighting a soldier shot an arrow without even aiming, and it hit Ahab between two pieces of his armor. He shouted to his chariot driver, "I've been hit! Get me out of here!"

The fighting lasted all day, with Ahab propped up in his chariot so he could see the Syrian troops. He stayed there until evening, and by sundown he was dead.