1 Kings 22:29-40
"29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. 31 Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.” 32 And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is surely the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 34 But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.” 35 And the battle continued that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, until at evening he died. And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.36 And about sunset a cry went through the army, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”
37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria. And they buried the king in Samaria. 38 And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken. 39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did, and the ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 40 So Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place."
Ahab is set upon his own wilful course, and is determined to thwart God's purposes and the warnings of Micaiah. He thinks to deceive the Syrians by disguising himself in the battle line. But more penetrating eyes are upon him than those of the Syrian hosts – the hosts of the Lord are watching him. He learned too late that all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do. A chance arrow - if there are any chance arrows in the battles of the Lord - sought out the hapless king and slew him, and the dogs licked his blood from the chariot as it was washed at the pool of Samaria, in fulfilment of Elijah's prophecy (21:19); an ignominious end to an inglorious career of sin and shame. We should not miss the sense of final precipitation in Ahab's doom; in the end he hastened his own death by the unholy determination to have his own way in spite of all the warnings around him. There is that in sin which is self-destroying, and in its further expressions, it gains momentum until, like the Gadarene swine careering down the slope into the sea, it rushes to ultimate doom. When it comes to this, everything contributes to the final disaster, and archers drawing bows at a ven- ture are pressed into service and no kind of disguise or shield will protect. How truly fearful are the wages of sin!