Ahab's Obituary (1 Kings 22:39-40).
Ahab's experiences with the prophets now end with the usual final summary. Anyone interested in his achievements and his secular history could consult the court annals of Israel which had clearly been preserved and brought to Judah. The author was only marginally interested in them.
‘ Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?'
The ivory house would be built of stone, but with ivory inlaid in the royal furniture and decorations with Phoenician, Egyptian and local motifs. Such houses are known to have been popular amongst great kings (e.g. Nimrud), and were seen as very prestigious. See Amos 3:15 for his view of them. Ahab is also credited with fortifying many cites. He would no doubt have completed Samaria when his father Omri died, and we also know from excavations of his building work at Megiddo and Hazor. Jericho was also rebuilt in his time (1 Kings 16:34). No doubt more information awaits.
‘ So Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned instead of him.'
That Ahab ‘slept with his fathers' indicated that he had not been assassinated. His son Ahaziah, third in the dynasty of Omri, (a record in Israel), succeeded him.