And Jehovah said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt entice [him], and also succeed go forth, and do so.
Micaiah answered a king who wanted encouragement by describing a council in heaven. How can the God of truth send out a lying spirit, and still hold Ahab guilty?
Ahab was about to march on Ramoth-gilead. Micaiah's vision shows who really decided that war.
Jehovah sat on His throne, surrounded by the host of heaven. His patience with Ahab was now exhausted. He called for a volunteer who would make the doomed man willing to go to war to his own ruin. After much discussion, a spirit proposed to go down and put a lie in the mouths of all the king's prophets. "Go out, and do so," said the great God. No words can say how solemn this is. Israel's war with Syria was arranged in the spirit world, as many a war has been since.
Ahab had worshipped demonic spirits for years. His judgment came through them.
He points out the satanic lying spirit that has taken hold of all the prophets to make Ahab go up to Ramoth. The Lord had said, "Who will entice Ahab so that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?" This was the judgment of God, prepared beforehand against Ahab. It was an indirect judgment: the demonic spirits he had worshipped became the instruments of their victim's doom.
Another writer links this scene with the strong delusion in 2 Thessalonians 2.
This may seem a strange situation, but it shows that the Lord allows evil spirits to do their evil work of lying, so that ungodly people will be deceived. In the same way, 2 Thessalonians 2 shows the folly of those deceived by the strong delusion. The Lord sends it through the antichrist, because people refuse to believe the truth of God. So, because Ahab had refused God's Word, he would accept the falsehood of Satan's prophets.
God asks the spirit by what means, and the spirit must answer. It acts only when God says go. One writer sets this beside other cases where God allowed an evil power to act.
Satan is a creature, so God can and does use him to carry out His wise purposes in His dealings with men. God permitted a lying spirit to lure Ahab on to his death at Ramoth-gilead. A messenger of Satan, a thorn in the flesh, buffeted Paul, so that he would not become proud. Paul could deliver a man to Satan, so that he might learn not to blaspheme.
The strangest part of the story is that Micaiah told Ahab the plan in advance. Ahab heard it and jailed him for it.
The Lord's prophet now sets before them his vision of a scene in heaven. He sees the lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets, luring him to his death. But this is more than Ahab can bear. He orders at once that they throw Micaiah into prison. There he is to live on the bread and water of affliction until the king returns from his campaign in peace. And Micaiah said, "If you return at all in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me."
These prophets did not speak in the name of an idol.
They were now pretending to speak by the Spirit of God. In fact a lying spirit that served their own interests had taken hold of them. One can wear the uniform of a prophet of the Lord and be lying. How often this has been so in every age, and how much more so today.
The majority was wrong, and the battle proved it.
Ahab disguised himself, but an arrow wounded him and he died. Ahab's four hundred prophets and the Lord's one prophet are an instance of the conflict of spirits. The Christian is now called upon to test that conflict.
- Refused truth. Ahab had already turned away God's Word; the lie he later swallowed was the harvest of that refusal.
- Given delusion. The spirits he had worshipped brought him down. The judgment matched the sin.
- Under permission. The lying spirit is only a creature. It must ask permission, and it works inside God's purposes, never outside them.
- Still warned. Micaiah told Ahab the plot to his face, and Ahab jailed him for it. The lie never cancelled his responsibility.
- Test the voices. Four hundred men used the Lord's name and lied; one man told the truth. Believers are called to test which spirit is speaking.
And now, behold, Jehovah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and Jehovah has spoken evil concerning thee.
Micaiah has just told Ahab what he saw in heaven: a throne, an assembly, and a question about who would lure the king to his death. Now he says it plainly — the prophets Ahab liked to hear were lying, and God had already announced his ruin.
The verse pulls back a curtain. Two kings planned this war on earth. Another world had settled it first.
Ahab — Israel's wicked and wilful king — wanted to go to war with Syria to recover Ramoth-gilead. His misguided ally Jehoshaphat, king of Judah — godly but weak — wanted to know what the Lord would say about the plan. In time they brought faithful Micaiah out of prison, and in a few words he described a scene in heaven. The Lord was seated on His throne surrounded by the host of heaven. His patience with Ahab was now exhausted. He called for a volunteer who would push the doomed man into a war that would ruin him. A spirit then proposed to go down and put a lie in the mouths of all the king's prophets. "Go out and do so," said the great God. Israel's war with Syria was arranged in the spirit world, as many a war since.
The lying spirit did not come out of nowhere. Ahab had a long history of refusing the truth.
Ahab's humiliation was soon forgotten; it bore no real and lasting fruit. In the next war with Syria we find him with false prophets again. He had gained nothing from the testimony given on Mount Carmel. There were four hundred false prophets and one true prophet. "But," says Ahab, "I hate him." This one prophet told the truth, and Ahab did not love the truth. God sends a lying spirit to him, proof that Ahab was given up. He loved a lie, and the lie led him to destruction.
God had prepared this judgment in advance. It came through the very powers Ahab had spent his reign serving.
The prophet does not stop there. He points out the satanic lying spirit that has taken hold of all the prophets in order to make Ahab go up to Ramoth. The Lord had said: "Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?" This was the judgment of God, prepared beforehand against Ahab. It was an indirect judgment: the demonic spirits he had worshipped became the instruments of their victim's doom.
The wording matters. God did not invent the lie; He left these men in the power of the one who did.
The term "lying spirit" is significant. In the scene already mentioned, the false prophets prophesy before Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Scripture says plainly that the Lord put a "lying spirit" in their mouths. That is, He left them, or as an act of judgment placed them, in the power of Satan, so that they might lure Ahab on to his destruction. But here is the point we want the reader to notice. A "lying spirit" drives false prophets. They are not just ignorant of the truth, following the bent of their own evil hearts. They are completely in the power and control of the evil one.
Ahab still had a conscience. Even a hardened man cannot silence it.
Here we see what conscience is, even a hardened one. It speaks within the heart, telling Ahab: what Micaiah is saying cannot be his real opinion! And even though Ahab is looking for a lie, his conscience forces him to want the truth. He will not follow it or obey it. But the unease his conscience produces gives him no rest until he hears, knows and sees it. He is like a murderer who is drawn back to the scene of his crime despite himself.
This was not a one-off. The same pattern returns at the end of the age.
The king of Israel was happy with what the lying prophets said. God punished Pharaoh by giving him up to a delusion, and He did the same to Ahab. The same thing will happen to many others at the end of this age. Men will preach "peace, peace," and judgment will break out on them. Here is a solemn truth. This is why we should first be very grateful that the Lord has revealed Himself to us. Then we should take care not to become like Jehoshaphat, who allied himself with Ahab.
The numbers matter. A majority voice is not proof of a true one.
Ahab's four hundred prophets and the Lord's one prophet are an example of the conflict of spirits. The Christian is now called on to test that conflict.
- Refused — Ahab had heard true warnings for years and hated the one prophet who gave them; he did not love the truth.
- Given — he loved a lie, so God gave him a lie and left the false prophets in the power of the evil one.
- Judged — the sentence came through the spirits he had worshipped; they became the instruments of his death.
- Warned — even so, Micaiah told him the truth to his face, and his conscience gave him no rest until he heard it.
- Tested — a majority proved nothing; believers must test the same conflict of spirits today.