Sunday Sermons

Micaiah

Mark Dunagan
08/13/06 - Sunday Evening

Micaiah

The Honest Prophet

The prophet Micaiah (mie Kay yah) who predicted the death of King Ahab (1 Kings 22:8-28) was a contemporary of Elijah, and for a short period, Elisha. “Among these three uncompromising prophets, Micaiah received little biblical notoriety” (The Little Known Prophet, Dennis C. Abernathy, Focus Magazine Issue 66, p. 13). Micaiah was just an everyday person, but he demonstrated extraordinary character. “Character does right no matter if anyone applauds it or not. Character walks straight no matter if anyone builds a monument to our endeavors. And such character changes the world because God does not let others forget” (p. 7).

The Unholy Alliance: 1 Kings 22:2

During this time the King who ruled over Israel was Ahab. “The biblical summation of Ahab’s reign was that he did evil and more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him (1 Kings 16:30-33). The King over Judah was Jehoshaphat. The text says that he followed the example of David, did not seek the Baals (2 Chronicles 17:3), and took great pride in the ways of the Lord (17:6). Yet for one who’s heart delighted in God’s ways and sought to walk in His commandments, Jehoshaphat’s actions appear very strange. “By marriage he allied himself with Ahab (2 Chronicles 18:1). He gave his son, Jehoram, in marriage to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel (2 Kings 8:16-18). Thus, the son of the one of the best kings of Judah married the daughter of the worst king Israel ever had” (p. 14). This marriage brought the advantage of a military alliance between the two nations, but one wonders how Jehoshaphat justified it in his own mind. Yet this alliance quickly gets Jehoshaphat involved in a battle that is not really his to fight (1 Kings 22: 3. The time period here is probably after the Battle of Qarqar (853 B.C.) in which Ahab had joined Syrian forces to fight Shalamaneser III of Assyria. After this battle Ahab had waited for Ben-Hadad to make good on the promise of restoring former Israelite cities (1 Kings 20:34). Ahab had waited for three years for the Syrian king to make good his promise to restore Ramoth Gilead (about thirty miles SE of the Sea of Galilee). Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat to join forces with him and attack the Syrians. Jehoshaphat answered Ahab’s request with, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses” (22:3). Yet, Jehoshaphat and Judah really did not have that much in common with Ahab and the northern tribes. Later Jehoshaphat will be rebuked for this alliance, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?” (2 Chronicles 19:2).

Wanting Approval after the Fact

“After he had already decided to join forces with Ahab, Jehoshaphat decided to inquire of the Lord about the matter (1 Kings 22:5). For a servant of God, that’s sort of in reverse, don’t you think?” (p. 14). Yet, David made the same mistake when it came to moving the Ark of the Covenant (1 Chronicles 15:13-15). “When will we ever learn to inquire of the Lord first about what and how to do a thing before we embark on some grand scheme or work?” (p. 14).

The Ear Ticklers

Ahab’s 400 court prophets were all too eager to tell Ahab anything that he wanted to hear (2 Timothy 4:3), and they all claimed to speak for Jehovah (1 Kings 22:6). Yet Jehoshaphat is unimpressed; he evidently saw through the charade produced by these false prophets. There was something about these prophets that did not impress Jehoshaphat. Yes, they used the name of the “Lord”, but he could tell that they were not genuine. And all that Jehoshaphat wanted is just “one” real prophet to speak(22:7). Ahab was impressed with numbers, while Jehoshaphat was looking for truth.

Micaiah: The Disliked Prophet

Ahab knew of such of prophet, but whined and complained that such a man never had told him what he wanted to hear (I wonder why?). Ahab’s self-consumed temperament emerges again. Consider Ahab’s view of prophets. He thought that a prophet existed to give him encouragement in what he had already wanted to do. Many people today have the same attitude. They think that it is the job of religious leaders to make them feel good and preach sermons which do not require any change, but which instead pat them on the back. “I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me” (1 Kings 22:8). Compare with John 3:20 and Galatians 4:16.

Micaiah: The Honest Prophet

While they are waiting for Micaiah, the false prophets are doing their best to please Ahab. Zedekiah demonstrated that showmanship did not start with modern television evangelists. He takes iron horns that represent how the Israelite armies will gore the Syrians to death (1 Kings 22:11-12). Micaiah is immediately pressured to go along with what all the other prophets have said (1 Kings 22:13). The kings messenger urged Micaiah to “go along with the crowd, and don’t upset the boat”. Yet like any faithful servant of God, this man realizes that he can only speak what the Lord says to him—regardless of what people want to hear and regardless of whether or not it spoils the entire mood (1 Peter 4:11). “Outnumbered 400-1, Micaiah knew that truth cannot be put to the vote and carried by the majority. He knew that one man united with God on truth was preferable to four hundred men united with a wicked king on error. Error does not become truth because a majority believes it” (p. 14).

Micaiah: The Ridiculed Prophet

Evidently Ahab sensed sarcasm in Micaiah’s first reply (1 Kings 22:15). “Even Ahab recognized that Micaiah was mocking them all with biting irony and sarcasm. He was mimicking the baseless optimism of the smooth-talking court preachers of Samaria”(Dilday p. 244). Ahab demands to hear the truth, which makes him look good before the king of Judah, but Ahab had never wanted to hear the truth prior to this. “Before he realized what he was saying, Ahab blurted out that what he wanted was the word of Yahweh. This was a tacit admission that what he had heard from the four hundred was not the word of the Lord” (Smith p. 531). Micaiah’s first response is that he saw a vision of Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep which have no shepherd, and which must find their own way home. Ahab clearly understood that Micaiah was saying that Ahab (the leader/shepherd) of Israel would be killed in the battle. Once again Ahab is whining, “See, he never supports any of my decisions!” The insinuation that Micaiah spoke out of malice brought forth a vigorous rebuttal from the prophet.

Lying Prophets and a Big Ego

In his second vision, Micaiah described a heavenly scene in which the Lord and His hosts discussed the best way to get Ahab to Ramoth Gilead so that he might fall in battle. It was decided that false prophets, possessed by a lying spirit, would feed Ahab’s ego by assuring him of victory in the projected battle. God allows men to believe a lie, if they do not want to believe the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). God is not the author of falsehood or error, but He allows deception to occur. Ahab wished to be guided by false prophets, and the justice of God permitted him to be so guided. “God only allowed lying spirits to bolster what was already his (Ahab’s) hearts’ firm intent” (Winters p. 163). We cannot link God with falsehood in this section, for God iswarning Ahab in advance that this is exactly what is presently happening. He had announced before Ahab even goes into battle that a lying spirit has been placed in the mouths of his prophets!

How Error often Reacts to Truth

God is giving Ahab one more chance to break from idolatry, dismiss the false prophets and turn to Him. At this point Zedekiah tries to save face and do some damage control. He slapped Micaiah on the face, inquiring as to how the Spirit of the Lord had gone from himself to go to Micaiah. Micaiah had a prophecy for Zedekiah, also. Zedekiah would understand Micaiah’s prophecy fully in that day when he would hide himself from the enemy in an inner room (25). “Like so many whose error is justly exposed, Zedekiah resorted to the back of his hand and a sharp, cutting, sarcastic tongue” (p. 15). Ahab has had enough of Micaiah and orders him thrown into prison and placed on a starvation diet of bread and water—until he safely returns. Micaiah gets in the last word, if Ahab does safely return, then he has not spoken through Micaiah.. “He stakes his calling and reputation on the veracity of his comments” (House p. 238). “Micaiah did not respond with violence, but let Zedekiah know that when the dust cleared and all was said and done, he would know who the truth prophet of God really was” (p. 15). “Truth counted to him. As one writer stated: ‘The truth cannot be burned, beheaded or crucified. A lie on the throne is a lie still and truth in a dungeon is still truth” (p. 15).

The Prophecy Fulfilled

Despite Jehoshaphat’s insistence on hearing the word of God, it appears that he had a greater loyalty to Ahab than to God, or he had already made so many compromises, and proclaimed his loyalty to Ahab (my people are your people), he figured he could not back out at this point. On the eve of the battle Ahab come up with what he thought was an ingenious plan to frustrate the dire predictions that had been made against him. Micaiah had seen Israel scattered as sheep having no master. To thwart this prediction, Ahab decided in effect to relinquish his role of leader of the host. He decided not to lead the army, in his royal robes, rather he would disguise himself as a lesser officer. I am amazed that Jehoshaphat went along with this plan! Yet when we make one compromise, we become dulled in our senses. Ahab’s character is that he willing hazarded Jehoshaphat’s life to save his own.

The Random Arrow

Once the battle started, the Syrian officers headed straight for Jehoshaphat and were convinced that they were pursuing Ahab. The Judean king panics and cries out, and the Syrian officers perceived that this wasn’t Ahab after all. God is not mocked nor fooled. A Syrian archer who was simply shooting at random happened to hit Ahab right in the joints of his armor, perhaps between the breastplate and the abdomen and thigh armor. When word spread through the army that Ahab was dead, the call went forth to retreat. Ahab was buried in Samaria, while at the city pool, where harlots customarily bathed; they washed the chariot of the king. Packs of scavenger dogs licked up the blood that had been flushed from the chariot. This fulfilled the word that God had spoken concerning him through Micaiah, and through Elijah as well. Smith notes, “By his arrogant disregard for the word of God spoken by Micaiah, Ahab brought back upon himself the penalty which Elijah had foreseen, but which had been set aside as a result of Ahab’s repentance (1 Kings 21:29)” (pp. 537-538).

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017