“Then King Joram set out from Samaria and mustered all Israel. He went and sent word to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah: ‘The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you go with me to attack Moab?’ Jehoshaphat replied, ‘I will go; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.’ And he asked, ‘By which route shall we attack?’ Joram replied, ‘By way of the wilderness of Edom.’

So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out. After a seven-day march, they ran out of water for the army and the animals with them. Then the king of Israel said, ‘Alas! The Lord has called these three kings to deliver them into the hands of Moab.’ But Jehoshaphat asked, ‘Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?’ One of the servants of the king of Israel answered, ‘Elisha, son of Shaphat, is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.’ And Jehoshaphat said, ‘The word of the Lord is with him.’ So the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom went down to him.

Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘What do we have in common? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.’ But the king of Israel said to him, ‘No! Because the Lord has called these three kings to deliver them into the hands of Moab.’ Elisha said, ‘As surely as the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, if I did not have respect for Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not pay any attention to you. But now, bring me a harpist.’

While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, and he said, ‘This is what the Lord says: Dig ditches all over this valley! For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle, and your other animals will drink. But this is a small thing in the eyes of the Lord.

He will also deliver Moab into your hands. You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town, you will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.’ The next morning, at the time of the offering, water came from the direction of Edom, and the land was filled with water.

Meanwhile, all the Moabites had heard that the kings had come to fight against them. So they mobilized everyone able to bear arms, young and old, and stationed themselves on the border. When they got up early in the morning, the sun shone on the water, and to the Moabites, the water looked red like blood. They said, ‘That is blood! The kings have fought one another and struck one another down. Now, Moab, to the plunder!’ But when they reached the Israelite camp, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, who fled before them. They invaded the land and struck down the Moabites.

They destroyed the cities, threw stones on every good field until they were covered, stopped up all the springs, and cut down every good tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left with its stones, but even it was surrounded and attacked by slingers.

When the king of Moab saw that the battle was lost, he took seven hundred swordsmen with him to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. Then he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and sacrificed him as a burnt offering on the wall. The wrath against Israel was great; they withdrew and returned to their own land.” (2 Kings 3:6-27)

King Joram, son of King Ahab, allied with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, to go to war against the king of Moab. After seven days of marching, they lacked water for themselves and their animals. They were all exhausted and thought that God had led them there to deliver them to the king of Moab. But King Jehoshaphat spoke up and said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Someone responded that there was the prophet Elisha.

So they decided to go and see the prophet Elisha to know what awaited them. But when Elisha saw King Joram, he became very angry because Joram was the son of Ahab. And we know from the Holy Scriptures that Ahab did not walk uprightly before the Lord but worshiped Baal and Asherah.

“Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel for twenty-two years. Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.“ (1 Kings 16:29-33)

In his anger, Elisha could not consult God; he had to call for a harpist. Don’t we often say that music soothes the soul? When you are angry, your spirit cannot be connected to God’s to receive anything from Him. The prophet Elisha was not in the right condition at that moment; his spirit could receive nothing. The Word of God declares:

“In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.“ (Ephesians 4:26)

When the harpist began to play, Elisha’s anger subsided, and his spirit began to receive from God. After that, prophecy came forth. They had gone to see Elisha because of the water problem, but Elisha went beyond their initial concern. He prophesied about how they would defeat Moab. As the prophecy unfolded and the people were winning the war, something happened. The king of Moab, seeing that he was losing the battle, sacrificed his own son.

This altar prevented Israel from winning the war and possessing what God had declared through His prophet. The sacrifice of the king of Moab stopped the prophecy from being fulfilled. The altar he built turned the battle in his favor. Israel did everything but could not take Moab. The altar stopped the prophecy! Yet the prophecy had said: “I will deliver Moab to you!”

But Israel returned to their land without possessing Moab. The altar changes everything in your life; the altar positions you in the spiritual world. The altar places you in a position of strength; the altar changes the course of your destiny; the altar changes the course of your battles; the altar changes everything in your life. The altar holds incredible power; the altar is a terrible force. There is no real battle in this world except the battle of altars…

This text is an excerpt from the book “BREAKING THE CHAINS OF CURSES – Volume 1” written by Gutemberg AMOUSSOU-ABLO.

We invite you to read the next article “THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ALTARS”.

THE POWER OF THE ALTAR. THE POWER OF THE ALTAR. THE POWER OF THE ALTAR. THE POWER OF THE ALTAR