1Ki 22:34 | KingComments | STEP | Just as Jehoshaphat is spared by a miracle of the LORD, so Ahab is killed by a miracle of the LORD. Without the soldier, who at random draws the bow and shoots the arrow away, knowing who he strikes, he strikes Ahab deadly. Ahab is not killed by a stray arrow. No soldier shoots in the wild. It is an arrow controlled by the LORD to strike Ahab deadly. Ahab is not instantly dead. He instructs the driver of his chariot to drive away from the battle. The wound appears to result in death. Ahab loses more and more blood, life flows away from him. He remains in the turmoil of battle, without opportunity to dress the wound. Finally, he dies because the blood continues to flow from the wound. It shows how accurately the LORD fulfills His word. When Ahab has died, he is taken to Samaria and buried there. The car with the blood of Ahab is washed “by the pool of Samaria”. The pool is given a further indication: it is the place where “the harlots bathed themselves”, these are the temple harlots, women who serve as temple prostitutes in Baal’s service. By this we are reminded at the death and funeral of this wicked king of this horrible religion and its deep depravity. In this way Ahab disappears from the stage and so he remains in the memory.

‏ 1 Kings 22:34

The Death of Ahab

Just as Jehoshaphat is spared by a miracle of the LORD, so Ahab is killed by a miracle of the LORD. Without the soldier, who at random draws the bow and shoots the arrow away, knowing who he strikes, he strikes Ahab deadly. Ahab is not killed by a stray arrow. No soldier shoots in the wild. It is an arrow controlled by the LORD to strike Ahab deadly.

Ahab is not instantly dead. He instructs the driver of his chariot to drive away from the battle. The wound appears to result in death. Ahab loses more and more blood, life flows away from him. He remains in the turmoil of battle, without opportunity to dress the wound. Finally, he dies because the blood continues to flow from the wound.

It shows how accurately the LORD fulfills His word. When Ahab has died, he is taken to Samaria and buried there. The car with the blood of Ahab is washed “by the pool of Samaria”. The pool is given a further indication: it is the place where “the harlots bathed themselves”, these are the temple harlots, women who serve as temple prostitutes in Baal’s service. By this we are reminded at the death and funeral of this wicked king of this horrible religion and its deep depravity. In this way Ahab disappears from the stage and so he remains in the memory.