Micaiah Brings Word from God
12 Then the messenger who went to summon Micaiah spoke to him saying, “Behold, the words of the prophets are uniformly favorable to the king. So please let your word be like one of them and speak favorably.” 13 But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what my God says, that I will speak.”
14 When he came to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” He said, “Go up and succeed, for they will be given into your hand.” 15 Then the king said to him, “How many times must I adjure you to speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” 16 So he said,
“I saw all Israel
Scattered on the mountains,
Like sheep which have no shepherd;
And the Lord said,
‘These have no master.
Let each of them return to his house in peace.’”17 Then the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?”
18 Micaiah said, “Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right and on His left. 19 The Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this while another said that. 20 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘How?’ 21 He said, ‘I will go and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and prevail also. Go and do so.’ 22 Now therefore, behold, the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of these your prophets, for the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you.”
23 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “[c]How did the Spirit of the Lord pass from me to speak to you?” 24 Micaiah said, “Behold, you will see on that day when you enter an inner room to hide yourself.” 25 Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son; 26 and say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this man in prison and feed him [d]sparingly with bread and water until I return safely.”’” 27 Micaiah said, “If you indeed return safely, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Listen, all you people.”
It’s ironic that Ahab knew Micaiah was lying when he told Ahab he would surely succeed, and yet when Micaiah tells him the truth, Ahab throws him in prison. Another interesting thing here is that Zedekiah claims to have the Spirit of the Lord, but Ahab was not a godly king, so it seems a little doubtful that he ever had God’s blessing.
That said, he was certainly used by God to bring disaster on Ahab for his wickedness. So what can we learn here? First, don’t discount the source just because they don’t follow God, since he might use anyone to accomplish his will. Second, don’t believe just anyone who claims to have a message from God. Instead, seek God’s face and listen to his voice in all things. When you do that, He will let you know if the message is true or not.
Ahab knew the message from Micaiah was true, but would he listen? Sometimes the message isn’t easy to swallow, but when God speaks, listen and obey!