Contents ▼▲
Front Matter The Story of a Beautiful Garden The First Baby in the World and His Brother The Great Ship That Saved Eight People The Tower That Was Never Finished The Story of a Long Journey How Abram's Choice Brought Blessing The Angel by the Well The Rain of Fire That Fell on a City The Boy Who Became an Archer How an Angel's Voice Saved a Boy's Life The Story of a Journey after a Wife How Jacob Stole His Brother's Blessing Jacob's Wonderful Dream A Midnight Wrestling Match The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave From the Prison to the Palace How Joseph's Dream Came True A Lost Brother Found From the Land of Famine to the Land of Plenty The Beautiful Baby Who Was Found in a River The Voice from the Burning Bush The River That Ran Blood The Night When a Nation Was Born How the Sea Became Dry Land and the Sky Rained Bre The Mountain That Smoked and Words That Were Spoke How Aaron Made a Golden Calf and What Became of It The Tent Where God Lived Among His People How They Worshipped God in the Tabernacle What Strong Drink Brought to Aaron's Sons The Scapegoat in the Wilderness The Cluster of Grapes from the Land of Canaan How the Long Journey of the Israelites Came to an What a Wise Man Learned from an Ass How Moses Looked upon the Promised Land The Story of Job The Story of a Scarlet Cord How the River Jordan Became Dry The Story of a Wedge of Gold How Joshua Conquered the Land of Canaan The Old Man Who Fought Against the Giants The Avenger of Blook and the Cities of Refuge The Story of an Altar Beside the River The Presnt That Ehud Brought to King Eglon How a Woman Won a Great Victory Gideon and His Brave Three Hundred Jephthah's Rash Promise and What Came from It The Strong Man: How He Lived and How He Died The Idol Temple at Dan and Its Priest How Ruth Gleaned in the Field of Boaz The Little Boy with a Linen Coat How the Idol Fell Down Before the Ark The Last of the Judges The Tall Man Who Was Chosen King How Saul Saved the Eyes of the Men of Jabesh The Brave Young Prince Saul's Great Sin and His Great Loss The Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem The Shepherd Boy's Fight with the Giant The Little Boy Looking for the Arrows Where David Found the Giant's Sword How David Spared Saul's Life The Last Days of King Saul The Shepherd Boy Becomes a King The Sound in the Treetops The Cripple at the King's Table The Prophet's Story of the Little Lamb David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne The Angel with the Drawn Sword on Mount Moriah Solomon on This Father's Throne The Wise Young King The House of God on Mount Moriah The Last Days of Solomon's Reign The Breaking Up of a Great Kingdom The King Who Led Israel to Sin The Prophet Who Raised a Boy to Life The Prayer That Was Answered in Fire The Voice That Spoke to Elijah in the Mount The Wounded Prophet and His Story What Ahab Paid for His Vineyard The Arrow That Killed a King Elijah's Chariot of Fire A Spring Sweetened by Salt The Pot of Oil and the Pot of Poison The Little Boy at Shunem How a Little Girl Helped to Cure a Leper The Chariots of Fire around Elisha What the Lepers Found in the Camp Jehu, the Furious Driver of His Chariot Elisha and the Bow; Jonah and Nineveh How the Ten Tribes Were Lost The First Four Kings of Judah The Little Boy Who Was Crowned King Three Kings and a Great Prophet The Good King Hezekiah The Lost Book Found in the Temple The Last Four Kings of Judah and the Weeping Proph What Ezekiel Saw in the Valley The Jewish Captives in the Court of the King The Golden Image and the Fiery Furnace The Tree That Was Cut Down and Grew Again The Writing upon the Wall Daniel in the Den of Lions The Story of a Joyous Journey The New Temple on Mount Moriah The Beautiful Queen of Persia The Scribe Who Wrote the Old Testament The Nobleman Who Built the Wall of Jerusalem Ezra's Great Bible Class in Jerusalem The Angel by the Altar The Manger of Bethlehem The Star and the Wise Men The Boy in his Father's House The Prophet in the Wilderness Jesus in the Desert, and beside the River The Water Jars at the Wedding Feast The Stranger at the Well The Story of a Boy in Capernaum and a Riot A Net Full of Fishes The Leper and the Man Let Down through the Roof The Cripple at the Pool and the Withered Hand The Twelve Disciples and the Sermon on the Mount The Captain's Servant, the Widow's Son, and a Sinn Some Stories Jesus Told by the Sea "Peace, Be Still" The Little Girl Who Was Raised to Life A Dancing Girl and What Was Given Her The Feast beside the Sea and What Followed It The Answer to a Mother's Prayer The Glory of Jesus on the Mountain The Little Child in the Arms of Jesus At the Feast of Tabernacles The Man with Clay on His Face The Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan Lazarus Raised to Life Some Parables in Perea The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man Jesus at Jericho Palm Sunday The Last Vistis of Jesus to the Temple The Parables on the Mount of Olives The Last Supper The Olive Orchard and the High Priests Hall The Crown of Thorns The Darkest Day of All the World The Brightest Day of All the World The Stranger on the Shore The Church of the First Days The Man at the Beautiful Gate The Right Way to Give, and the Wrong Way Stephen with the Shining Face The Man Reading in the Chariot The Voice That Spoke to Saul What Peter Saw by the Sea How the Iron Gate Was Opened The Earliest Missionaries The Song in the Prison Paul's Speech on the Hill Paul at Corinth Paul at Ephesus Paul's Last Journey to Jerusalem The Speech on the Stairs Two Years in Prison The Story That Paul Told to the King Paul in the Storm How Paul Came to Rome and How He Lived There The Throne of God The City of God

Story of the Bible Told for Young and Old - Jesse Hurlbut




The Arrow That Killed a King


After the two victories which King Ahab gained over the Syrians (see Story Six in this Part), there was peace between Syria and Israel for three years. But in the third year the Syrians became strong once more, and they seized a city of Israel on the east of Jordan, called Ramoth-gilead. At that time there was peace and friendship between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; and Ahab, the king of Israel, sent to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, saying, "Do you know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, and yet we have done nothing to take it out of the hands of the king of Syria? Will you go up with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?" And King Jehoshaphat sent word to the king of Israel, "I am with you, and my people are with your people, and my horses with your horses."

So the king of Israel and the king of Judah gathered their armies for war against the Syrians, and King Jehoshaphat came to Samaria to meet King Ahab. Jehoshaphat was a good man, and a worshipper of the Lord. He said to Ahab, "Let us ask the prophets to give us the word of the Lord before we go to battle."

Then the king of Israel called together his prophets, four hundred men, not prophets of the Lord, but false prophets of the idols, and he asked them, "Shall I go up to battle at Ramoth-gilead, or shall I remain at home?" And the prophets of the idols said, with one voice, "Go up; fro the Lord will give Ramoth-gilead to you."

But Jehoshaphat was not satisfied with the words of these men. He asked, "is there not here a prophet of the Lord of whom we can ask the Lord's will?"

"There is one prophet," answered Ahab; "his name is Micaiah, the son of Imlah; but I hate him; for her never prophesies any good about me, but always evil."

"Let not the king say that," said Jehoshaphat. "Let us hear what Micaiah will speak."

Then King Ahab sent one of his officers to bring the prophet Micaiah. And the officer said to Micaiah, "All the prophets have spoken good to the king; now, I pray you, let your words be like theirs, and do you speak good also.?

And Micaiah said, "as the Lord lives, what the Lord say to me, that I will speak, and nothing else."

The king of Israel and the king of Judah were seated together in their royal robes, at an open place in front of the gate of Samaria. And King Ahab said to Micaiah, "Micaiah, speak to me nothing but the truth, in the name of the Lord."

Then Micaiah said, "I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let every man go back to his own house."

Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Did I not tell you that Micaiah would prophesy about me no good, but only evil?"

For Ahab knew that the words of Micaiah meant that he would be slain in the battle.

And Micaiah went on and said, "Hear thou the word of the Lord; I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing around him, on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, ‘Who will go and deceive Ahab, so that he will go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?" And one spirit came forth and said, ‘I will go, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all Ahab's prophets.' And the Lord said to the spirit, ‘Go and deceive him.' Now, there fore, the Lord has let all these false prophets deceive you; and the Lord has spoken evil against you."

Then the king of Israel said to his guards, "Take Micaiah, and lead him to the governor of the city, and say, ‘Put this fellow in prison, and let him have nothing to eat but dry bread and water until I come again in peace.' "

And Micaiah said, "If you return at all in peace, then the Lord has not spoken by me. Hear my words, all ye people."

So the kings of Israel and Judah led their armies across the river Jordan and up the mountains on the east, to battle at Ramoth-gilead. Ahab felt afraid after the prophecy of Micaiah, and he said to Jehoshaphat, "I will dress as a common soldier before going into the battle; but do you wear your royal robes."

Now the king of Syria had given word to all his captains to look out especially for the king of Israel, and to fight him, and kill him, even if they should kill no other man. When they saw Jehoshaphat in his kingly garments standing in his chariot, they thought that he was King Ahab, and they turned all battle toward him. But Jehoshaphat cried out, and then they found that he was not the king of Israel, and they left him. In the battle one soldier of the Syrians drew his bow, and shot an arrow, not knowing that he was aiming at the king of Israel. The arrow struck King Ahab just between his breastplate and his lower armor. He was badly wounded, but they held him up in his chariot, so that the men might not see him fall; and his blood was running out of the wound upon the floor of the chariot, until the sun set, when Ahab died. And the cry went through all the host of Israel, "Every man to his city, and every man to his country."

And then all knew that the king of Israel was dead. They brought his body to Samaria, and buried him there. And at the pool of Samaria they washed the king's chariot and his armor. And there the wild dogs of the city licked up Ahab's blood, according to the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

Thus died King Ahab, the son of Omri. He was not a bad man at heart, but he was weak in the hands of his wife, Jezebel, who led him and his kingdom into wickedness in the sight of the Lord.