The Prophet Micaiah

In 1 Kings 22 we read about a prophet by the name of Micaiah in hebrew his name would be pronounced Me-keye-yeh-who which means "who is like God".

1 Kings 22 deals with King Ahab of Israel, (the same Ahab who had the wife by the name of Jezebel who exalted baal above the one true God.) and also king Jehoshaphat of Judah. We know that the northern kingdom of Israel(Ahab) was far from following God, and the southern kingdom Judah(Jehoshaphat) was the line of David and was generally shown mercy.

Now Jehoshaphat went to visit King Ahab, and while visiting, Ahab tells him that the Ramoth Gilead which is under control of Syria is theirs, and Ahab asks Jehoshaphat to come with him to fight Syria for Ramoth Gilead.(1 Kings 22: 3-4)

Jehoshaphat tells King Ahab "my people are you people, my horses are your horses" essentially agreeing to help Ahab with Syria, but Jehoshaphat also tells King Ahab to inquire of the LORD this day. (1 Kings 22:5) Jehoshaphat was saying simply..of course I'll help but first lets go see what the LORD has to say about this battle.

Now King Ahab had about four hundred "prophets" come to him, this is stated in 1 Kings 22:6. But interesting thing is, we know Ahab was more of a follower of baal then he was God, these prophets that he gathered around him were just a bunch of puppets that would tell Ahab exactly what he wanted to hear. So when Ahab asks them "Shall I go again Ramoth Gilead to fight, or shall I refrain?" (1 Kings 22:6)

They all agree and say "Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king."

(1 Kings 22:6)

The funny thing is Jehoshaphat sees this and he must realize quickly that these are not prophets of God but false prophets, wolves in sheep's clothing if you will, I don't know, think of them as a bunch of Joel Osteen's or Rick Warrens just tickling your ears telling you what you want to hear. So Jehoshaphat being not convinced quickly says "Is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of Him?" (1 Kings 22:7)

Jehoshaphat disregards the words of 400 men and is just seeking to hear from the LORD, he didn't care that 400 men said to go up and fight(Ahab didn't care to hear from any prophets at all) Jehoshaphat wanted one legit man of God who would speak truth. So Ahab tells Jehoshaphat " there is still one man, and his name is Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the LORD; but I hate him, because he does not prophecy good concerning me, but evil"(1 Kings 22:8)

"I hate him, he does not prophecy good for ME, but evil" tell me this doesn't sound familiar. It is, as if it wasn't before, easily seen that King Ahab only cares about himself, and the good of him. Ahab doesn't care what God has to say, and why would he? Ahab and his wife Jezebel follow the doctrines of demons and worship baal. Worship of anything other then the ONE true God ends up being the same mindset of self worship and self-pleasure, I don't care if you say you worship the sun or moon or stars or baal,krishna,buddha,the virgin mary,prosperity ect ect…anything other then the biblical foundation and the worship of the ONE true God is nothing but doctrines of demons following the satanic motto of "Do what thou wilt".

Ahab didn't want to give up his gods, didn't want to give up the right to himself and all that he had, so this is exactly why he hated hearing from this prophet Micaiah. 

In response to hearing this from Ahab, Jehoshaphat says "let not the king say such things!" 1 Kings 22:8

So Ahab sends an officer to go fetch Micaiah. This messenger finds Micaiah and says to him "listen, all the other prophets with one accord encourage the king, let your words be like theres speak nothing but encouragement." (1 Kings 22:13)

Micaiah says, "As the LORD lives, whatever the LORD says to me, that I will speak."

(1 Kings 22:14)

So Micaiah comes before the king and Ahab says to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall we refrain?" (1 Kings 22:15)

Micaiah's reply seems awkward at first because he says "Go and prosper, for the LORD will deliver it into the hand of the king!" (1 Kings 22:15) exactly what the false prophets said to Ahab. Sometimes it's hard to read sarcasm/mocking but that is exactly what Micaiah is doing, Micaiah already knows that Ahab already has his mind made up and doesn't care what the Lord has to say. So Micaiah is essentially like "here..this is what you want me to say, your going to go and attack no matter what I say, so here…i'll tell you what all these false prophets of yours have already said"

King Ahab knows that Micaiah is being a smart ass which is why he replies with "How many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?" (1 Kings 22:16)

So Micaiah says "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, "These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace." (1 Kings 22:17) to which Ahab quickly whines to Jehoshaphat "See! I told you he only prophecies evil for me!" (1 Kings 22:18)

Then [Micaiah] said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. "And the LORD said, 'Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?' So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner.

"Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and said, 'I will persuade him.' "The LORD said to him, 'In what way?' So he said, 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And the LORD said, 'You shall persuade [him], and also prevail. Go out and do so.'

"Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has declared disaster against you."

(1 Kings 22:19-23)

The Lord gave Ahab exactly what he wanted, Ahab didn't care what God honestly had to say, he wanted to go to war with Syria regardless. Micaiah was saying LOOK! all your prophets are not speaking from God they are full of lying spirits! but Ahab was so blind with pride and selfishness that he only had ears to hear what was pleasing to him.

Now Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, "Which way did the spirit from the LORD go from me to speak to you?"

And Micaiah said, "Indeed, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide!"

So the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son; "and say, 'Thus says the king: "Put this [fellow] in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I come in peace." 

But Micaiah said, "If you ever return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me." And he said, "Take heed, all you people!"

1 Kings 22:24-28

God through Micaiah warned Ahab but he refused to listen and threw Micaiah into prisoner for speaking the truth. Ahab dies in the battle for Ramoth Gilead (1 Kings 22:34-37) In 1 Kings 22:37 the prophecy of Elijah is fulfilled that was said of Ahab in 1 Kings 21. Now why Jehoshaphat after hearing from the Lord through Micaiah still decided to go to war against Syria for Ramoth Gilead is beyond me, maybe because he felt he already promised Ahab? or maybe because he knew the prophecy was against Ahab and not himself, I'm not sure.

What I do know is we need to be biblical, and we need to beware of wolves in sheep's clothing, to be careful not to become comfortable. We can't ignore God because what He says isn't what we want to hear, we can't settle for the tickling of our ears and claim to be walking in light.