And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, this day of the word of Jehovah.
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, has just pledged himself and his people to Ahab, king of Israel, for the war at Ramoth-gilead. Only then does he ask Ahab to inquire of the Lord. Commentators ask what it means to seek the Lord after the decision is already made.
The request comes in the wrong order. Jehoshaphat bound himself to the war first and asked about it second. One writer adds that he dragged others in with him.
It was not enough for the king of Judah to put himself in a false position; he put the people of God in a false position too… Jehoshaphat's conscience clearly troubled him a little. After agreeing to be associated with Ahab, the king of Judah wants the mind of the Lord on the venture. He should have sought the mind of the Lord before agreeing to go to Ramoth-gilead.
C. H. Mackintosh hears a struggle behind the words, and turns the lesson on the reader:
Jehoshaphat did not yield to Ahab's pleading without a struggle. You can see conscience at work in the words, "Inquire first for the word of the LORD." But how useless was prayer for guidance! He had already said, "I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war." It is only solemn mockery to ask for guidance when we have made up our minds. Yet how often we do so! How often do we decide on a course of action, and then go and ask the Lord about it!
The request is still a sign of life. Ahab tried to settle his guest with generosity.
Ahab knew him to be a child of God, and, to calm his conscience, had sheep and oxen killed for him in abundance. Ahab did not care what he did, so long as he could persuade Jehoshaphat to go with him to Ramoth-gilead. But all these sheep and oxen did not satisfy Jehoshaphat's conscience. He said to the king of Israel, "Inquire first for the word of the LORD."
H. L. Rossier weighs this unease against a gift only some believers have:
This is not the gift of distinguishing between spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10), which is not given to all. It is a sense which may be weak in a child of God, but it ought never to be missing in him. He feels ill at ease in a setting opposed to God. He feels ill at ease when he hears talk that claims to come from religious tongues but lacks the divine character.
Jehoshaphat asks Ahab to inquire. Ahab brings in prophets who say what he wants to hear.
The prophets knew that Ahab had set this project up himself, so they all agreed that he should go through with it. This was not inquiring of the Lord at all, but inquiring from men who were pleasing to him.
Darby weighs the alliance itself — who came to whom, and how little it cost Ahab:
It is Jehoshaphat who comes to Ahab, and not Ahab to Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat asks Ahab, as a favour, to consult the Lord… To please Jehoshaphat by speaking to him about the Lord was no more than decency required. But it was all that Ahab did for Jehoshaphat, except that he sent for Micaiah against his will.
Darby turns from Jehoshaphat to a mistake we repeat:
Sometimes we seek God's will, wanting to know how to act in circumstances where His only will is that we should not be there at all. If conscience were truly active, its first effect would be to make us leave. It is our own will which puts us there, and we would still like the comfort of God guiding us in a path we ourselves have chosen. This is a very common case.
The story does not end in disaster for Jehoshaphat. Commentators credit that to God, not to the king.
Strict justice would have let Jehoshaphat feel the full effect of his folly, but mercy triumphed. In his danger he cried to the Lord, and the Lord delivered him. He returned to his house in peace. But the Lord's reproof comes after His mercy.
- Order — He pledged first and asked second. Asking for guidance once we have made up our minds is "solemn mockery."
- Conscience — Jehoshaphat's unease was real. Ahab's feast could not quiet it, and that is why he asked at all.
- Discernment — Every child of God should feel ill at ease among religious talk that lacks the divine character. This is a sense, not a special gift.
- Source — Asking men who please us is not inquiring of the Lord. Ahab's prophets only echoed his plan.
- Mercy — God spared the king who had put himself where he did not belong. The reproof came afterwards.
And the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, and the Lord will give it into the king's hand.
Jehoshaphat had already promised Ahab his army before he thought to ask what God wanted. Ahab answered by gathering four hundred men who all said the same thing. Their message matched the plan the king had already made — which raises the question of what it means to "inquire of the Lord" at all.
Commentators read his words as a conscience stirring too late to change anything.
You can see conscience at work in the words, "Inquire first for the word of the LORD." But how useless was prayer for guidance! He had already said, "I am as you are, and my people as your people. We will be with you in the war." It is only solemn mockery to ask for guidance when we have made up our minds; and yet how often we do so! How often do we decide on a course of action, and then go and ask the Lord about it!
The alliance itself had already erased the line between the two kings.
This alliance leads Jehoshaphat to declare that he, the godly king of Judah, is just like wicked Ahab. It makes him throw down the barrier separating the man of God from the world... Alliance with the world, we cannot repeat too often, makes us liable for its iniquity.
Ahab had no shortage of prophets, and they no longer spoke in Baal's name.
We see also the false prophets in power: Ahab had four hundred of them. We may remark also, that they made use of Jehovah's name, and no longer, as it appears, of Baal's... Outwardly the state of things is less offensive; but the heart of Ahab is unchanged.
Their sheer number is itself a puzzle.
Where did they come from when hardly a few isolated prophets could be found in all the territory of Israel? They were few, for only one prophet of the Lord was enough to make known His mind... They were now pretending to speak by the Spirit of God, whereas a lying spirit who served their own interests had taken hold of them. One can wear the uniform of a prophet of the Lord and be lying.
Their unanimous "Go up" was not revelation but calculation. They had read the king before they opened their mouths.
The prophets knew that Ahab had engineered this project and they therefore all agreed that he should go through with it. This was not at all inquiring of the Lord, but inquiring from men who were pleasing to him.
The same writer turns this directly on anyone who speaks in God's name today, and draws a simple rule from it.
There are such smooth talking prophets today who claim to be speaking for God, but are plainly lying! If we have God's clear word in the scriptures, we may declare this with full confidence, but if we do not, then let us not dare to speak as though representing Him. For this we shall have to give account to Him.
Numbers alone did not settle the matter. One writer traces the warning a true heart feels to something more basic than a spiritual gift.
A true heart has a spiritual sense that warns it, though it may not be able to explain why. It senses that certain spiritual displays do not have the Spirit of God behind them. This is not the gift of discerning of spirits (1 Cor. 12:10), which is not given to all, but a sense which, however weak it may be in a child of God, ought never to be missing in him... For him, one man truly separated to God would be enough to outweigh the other four hundred.
The four hundred were meeting a demand. Kelly ties the scene to a prophet's word about a people who ask for smooth messages:
So the case of Israel was as the prophet said: "they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD." They "say to the seers, 'Do not see,' and to the prophets, 'Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions'" (Isa. 30:9-10).
The appetite has its own penalty. Mackintosh asks what a man who has already made up his mind should expect to get.
Instead of getting the guidance we claim to be asking for, may we not rather expect a lying spirit to be sent out to us? (verse 21)
- Order — Guidance you ask for after you decide is not guidance. Jehoshaphat asked about a war he had already agreed to fight.
- Company — The alliance came first; the bad counsel followed. Alliance with the world makes you liable for its wrongdoing.
- Costume — Four hundred men used the Lord's name and prophesied lies. The right vocabulary is no proof of the right spirit.
- Count — Full agreement proves nothing. One prophet truly separated to God outweighs four hundred agreeable voices.
- Consequence — A heart set on its own course may get a lying spirit for an answer. What you want to hear can become the judgment you receive.
But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we might inquire of him?
Jehoshaphat, the godly king of Judah, sits beside Ahab of Israel while four hundred prophets shout one united "Go." Something in him is not satisfied, so he asks for one more voice — after the decision is already made.
He asks out of discomfort, not clear knowledge. One writer explains what that discomfort is:
Jehoshaphat is uncomfortable. There is a spiritual sense that warns a true heart, though perhaps it cannot explain itself, that certain spiritual displays do not have the Spirit of God as their source. This is not the gift of discerning of spirits (1 Cor. 12:10), which is not given to all, but a sense which, however weak it may be in a child of God, ought never to be missing in him. He feels uncomfortable in a setting opposed to God. He is uncomfortable hearing talk that claims to come from religious lips but lacks the divine character... One man truly separated to God would be enough for him, to counterbalance the other four hundred.
But feeling is not the same as acting. Another commentator weighs the man exactly:
Jehoshaphat had godly sensitivities, but he lacked godly energy. Through vanity he fell into serious sin. First he joined himself with Ahab, king of Israel; then he went with Ahab to the battle. But still, he had sensitivities that were spiritual and of divine workmanship. For among the prophets of Baal, he was not at ease. He had a witness inside him that this would not do.
The four hundred were not prophets of Baal. They spoke in the Lord's name:
Everything of God, and therefore good, is counterfeited by Satanic power... In the days of Ahab, even after the destruction of the prophets of Baal, there were about four hundred prophets luring Ahab to his death. Against them stood one prophet, Micaiah the son of Imlah, who told him the truth. And all these prophets spoke not in the name of Baal but said, "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king."
The wording gives Jehoshaphat away. Older translations read "a prophet of the LORD besides," with a margin note "yet one more." That little word grants the four hundred a standing they never had:
Jehoshaphat should not have even appeared to acknowledge them as prophets of the Lord. But he clearly did, by saying, "Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides" (or, as the margin reads, "yet one more?"). Had he been faithful to the Lord, he would at once have denied the right of these false prophets to give counsel. But he was giving full support to the religion of the world, and to these its ministers. He could not bring himself to hurt Ahab's feelings by dealing faithfully with his prophets.
Jehoshaphat had already promised Ahab his people before he asked for the word of the Lord. That order empties the question:
It was not without a struggle that Jehoshaphat gave in to Ahab's requests. His conscience was at work in the words, "Inquire first of the word of the LORD." But how useless was prayer for guidance! He had already said, "I am as you are, my people as your people; we will be with you in the war." It is only solemn mockery to ask for guidance when we have made up our minds; and yet how often we do it!
Jehoshaphat asked for a true prophet — and then still rode out with Ahab. Note who ends up following whom:
The man of God kept himself apart from the four hundred prophets. That was a good example for the king of Judah, who had joined himself to the godless king. The very sad but necessary result of this alliance is that he follows Ahab instead of following Micaiah. Such is the effect of "evil companions" upon the believer. You never see the opposite effect, that is to say, the world following the example of God's children. Someone has said well: "There is no equality in an alliance between truth and error. For by the alliance itself, truth stops being truth and error does not become truth."
Still, the question itself was God's kindness to him. Its outcome shows what compromise costs a believer's judgement:
How good the Lord was to put it into the king of Judah's heart to seek counsel from a prophet of Jehovah! Through it he might have learned about the judgments that were going to happen, and been able to warn his people. But alliance with evil blinds to such a degree that Jehoshaphat did not discern that Micaiah was a true prophet of Jehovah.
- Unease. A true heart feels that religious talk lacks God's character, even when it cannot say why. That sense should never be missing in a believer.
- Question. Asking for one prophet of the Lord was God's kindness to him. Four hundred voices, all speaking in the Lord's name, proved nothing.
- Concession. The word "besides" gave the false prophets a standing they never had. Jehoshaphat would not hurt Ahab's feelings.
- Too late. Asking for guidance after the decision is made is mockery, not prayer.
- Outcome. Truth and error never meet as equals. Jehoshaphat followed Ahab instead of Micaiah — feeling without the energy to act.
And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah; but I hate him, for he prophesies no good concerning me, but evil [it is] Micah the son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
Ahab admits that a prophet of the LORD is within reach, then admits in the same breath that he hates him. His reason is not that Micaiah lies, but that Micaiah never says anything pleasant about him.
Ahab does not dispute that Micaiah speaks for God. His objection is to what God says through him.
He hated him, and he also hated everyone who announced the Lord's judgment on him. He wanted the prophet to "prophesy good concerning him." That will always be the character of the religious world.
One writer names the trait that made Micaiah unbearable at court.
It speaks of Micaiah, the man that the wicked king could not endure because he never had a good thing to say to him. That is, Micaiah was not a flatterer. Kings do not like any but flatterers as a rule, and this prophet greatly vexed the wicked king.
Later the king's men bring Micaiah in and press him to agree with the majority.
They told him that the prophets had all with one voice promised the king success, and they urged him to fall in line with them. He refused outright. "As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak," he firmly replied.
Jehoshaphat had asked for the word of the LORD. Ahab produced four hundred men who told him what he wanted to hear.
It is only solemn mockery to ask for guidance when we have made up our minds. Yet how often we do it! ... Ahab was at no loss for counsellors. He quickly "gathered together four hundred prophets." They were ready to advise him just as his heart wished. This was what he wanted. And we need not be surprised that Ahab was quite satisfied with prophets like these. They suited him well.
Note the numbers — and note whose name these false prophets used.
Everything of God, and therefore good, is counterfeited by Satanic power... Even after the prophets of Baal were destroyed, about four hundred prophets were luring Ahab to his death. Against them stood one prophet, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, who told him the truth. And all these prophets did not speak in the name of Baal. They said, "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king" (1 Kings 22:12).
Ahab's confession was, in effect, a signal flare. Jehoshaphat heard it and stayed anyway.
Ahab's reply should have caused Jehoshaphat to withdraw from the venture... What an exposure of Ahab this was! He hated God's servant, because the word of the Lord through Micaiah was always evil in his sight.
Jehoshaphat does not let those words pass. He answers Ahab in one short sentence.
Honest Jehoshaphat cannot bear these words. He is used to respecting every word that comes from the Lord. "Let not the king say so!" he says.
Jehoshaphat had to choose whom to follow: Ahab or the prophet.
As you would expect, the man of God kept himself apart from the four hundred prophets. That was a good example for the king of Judah, who had tied himself to a godless king. The result of this alliance is sad, but it had to come: he follows Ahab instead of Micaiah... You never see the opposite happen — the world following the example of God's children.
Ahab had once bowed under God's judgment. One writer asks whether it lasted.
Unexpectedly, this man bowed before the announcement of divine judgment... Would this good action be followed up? Alas, we must note that there was not. In chapter 22 it was he again who hated and persecuted the prophet of the LORD. God made him perish by an arrow fired at random, which pierced him through a weak point in his armour. For a moment the fear of judgment seemed to have converted this man. But Satan managed to trap his prey and erase the effect of the Word of God.
- Hated, not doubted. Ahab never denies that Micaiah speaks for God. He hates him for what God says, and hates everyone who announces judgment on him.
- Flattery wanted. He wants good news about himself. So the one man who will not flatter becomes his enemy, and four hundred agreeable voices satisfy him.
- Counterfeit, not opposition. The false prophets do not speak in Baal's name; they use the LORD's name to lure him to his death.
- Warning refused. That open confession should have ended the alliance. Jehoshaphat objected to the words, yet followed Ahab and not the prophet — influence always runs that way.
- Arrow at random. The king who could not bear the word died by a chance shot, and his earlier sackcloth counted for nothing.
Then the king of Israel called a chamberlain, and said, Fetch quickly Micah the son of Imlah.
Ahab, king of the northern kingdom of Israel, has just admitted that one prophet of the Lord is still available — and that he hates him. Now he sends for him anyway, before the two kings go to war, which raises two questions: why was Micaiah not already there, and why the rush from a king who refused to listen?
Micaiah is not standing in the crowd of four hundred. He belongs to a small group in Israel who had not gone along with the nation's idolatry. His plain speaking cost him the king's favour — and his freedom.
Then in 1 Kings 21 we find faithful Naboth; and in 1 Kings 22 we have Micaiah the son of Imlah, whom Ahab hated for his outspokenness, and kept in prison. These are a few samples of the true-hearted minority living in the middle of apostate Israel.
One writer sees in Micaiah's distance a lesson Jehoshaphat, king of the southern kingdom of Judah, failed to learn.
Ahab has but one thought: to show proof of Micaiah's ill will toward himself. Promptly he has him sent for. The man of God naturally kept himself apart from the four hundred prophets. That was a good example for the king of Judah, who had joined himself to the godless king. The very sad but necessary result of this alliance is that Jehoshaphat follows Ahab instead of following Micaiah.
Ahab gave the order, but he had already decided to go to war. One writer weighs what such a consultation was worth.
Ahab's mind was made up, and the king of Judah was bound by his promise. It was no longer time to consult Jehovah. To ask after the truth, in a position like this, was only to learn a judgment they had already decided to treat with contempt. … To please Jehoshaphat by speaking to him of Jehovah was no more than decency required. But it was all that Ahab did for Jehoshaphat, except that he unwillingly sent for Micaiah.
The order came from Ahab, but the pressure behind it came from his guest.
Jehoshaphat is uneasy in this false position. At his request, Ahab sends for the prophet of Jehovah. But Ahab does not listen to him, and he has to meet the consequences.
Ahab already had four hundred prophets on hand. One writer asks where such a crowd had come from.
There were many of them. Where did they come from, when you could hardly find a few scattered prophets in all the territory of Israel? They were few, for only one prophet of the Lord was enough to make known His mind. These four hundred prophets of Ahab's — who were they? … They were now pretending to speak by the Spirit of God, while 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.
One reference work brings the contrast forward to Christians today.
Ahab's four hundred prophets, and Jehovah's one prophet, are an instance of the conflict of spirits which the Christian is now called upon to test.
The officer did more than deliver a message. He also told Micaiah what answer would be welcome.
Micaiah, the son of Imlah, was a prophet in the days of Ahab and well known to the king. He appears only once in the page of history: when Ahab sent for him, at King Jehoshaphat's request, so that they might learn from him the Lord's mind about their planned joint expedition to Ramoth-gilead. The messenger sent to summon him urged him to speak what was good — that is, pleasing to Ahab. The faithful servant of Jehovah replied, "As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak."
- Hated. Ahab knew where to find Micaiah, and he hated him. The prophet stood outside the royal circle because he spoke plainly.
- Summoned. The order was what politeness to a royal guest demanded, nothing more. Ahab's mind was already made up.
- Hurried. The hurry was not eagerness for God's mind. Ahab wanted to prove Micaiah's ill will, and he sent for him only to ignore him.
- Outnumbered. Four hundred agreeing voices proved nothing. One prophet was enough to make God's mind known, and a man can wear a prophet's uniform and still lie.
- Unmoved. The messenger pressed Micaiah to please the king. He would speak only what the Lord gave him — the test of spirits this scene still sets before believers today.
And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, having put on their robes, sat each on his throne, in the open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.
Two thrones stand side by side at the gate of Samaria. Both kings sit in full royal dress, and four hundred prophets prophesy in front of them. One of those thrones belongs to a godly king of Judah who has no business being there. The real question is not what the prophets said. It is how Jehoshaphat ended up sitting beside Ahab at all.
Jehoshaphat did not arrive at that gate by accident. He had already told Ahab that he was his equal and his partner. One writer marks that sentence as the moment the fence came down.
This alliance leads Jehoshaphat to declare that he, the godly king of Judah, is just like wicked Ahab. It leads him to throw down the barrier that separates the man of God from the world. Alliance with the world, we cannot repeat too often, makes us liable for its iniquity. Again and again the historical books show us this solemn truth. To join or work with a system that tolerates or accepts evil is to share the blame for that system.
The scene at the gate was not careless. Ahab knew his guest had scruples, and he planned ahead to settle them.
Ahab clearly had fears about Jehoshaphat's scruples of conscience, and he was ready to meet them. So he gave the feast for Jehoshaphat and his company a religious character (the word for "killed" is "sacrificed"). A people or a church that has turned away from God will go to almost any length of seeming compromise. They want to lure the faithful into fellowship or alliance with them.
The men prophesying before the two thrones spoke in the name of the Lord. One writer asks who they really were.
These four hundred prophets of Ahab's — who were they? Could they perhaps have been the four hundred prophets of Asherah, the goddess, in disguise — men who had not been destroyed at the Kishon? This is quite likely! Whatever the case, if they were the same men, they had changed their dress to suit the circumstances. They were now pretending to speak by the Spirit of God. In fact a lying spirit had taken hold of them, a spirit that served their own interests. One can wear the uniform of a prophet of the Lord and still be lying. How often this has been so in every age, and how much more so today.
Jehoshaphat asked for a true prophet only after he had given his word. One writer weighs what that late unease was worth.
Ahab's mind was made up, and the king of Judah was bound by his promise. It was no longer the time to consult the Lord. To ask after the truth in such a position was only to learn of a judgment they had already decided to despise. Ahab was more consistent than Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat's conscience only made everyone uncomfortable, and proved his own folly.
In his robes at the gate, Jehoshaphat looked every inch a king. One writer asks what he no longer looked like.
He let Micaiah go off to the prison of the king of Israel, while he himself went with that same king of Israel into battle. In that hour, who would have known him to be a saint of God?
The robes did not stay harmless. At Ramoth-gilead Ahab used them against him.
The two kings now go on to Ramoth-gilead, and Ahab's treachery and cowardice appear again. He cunningly disguises himself. At the same time he persuades the unsuspecting Jehoshaphat to go into battle in his royal robes. Base and contemptible trickery!
- Step: The throne at the gate was the end of a road, not the start of one. Telling Ahab he was just like him removed the barrier between the man of God and the world.
- Seat: Sitting there made Jehoshaphat share the blame. To work with a system that tolerates evil is to share in its evil.
- Show: The display was staged to soothe a believer's conscience. Those who have turned from God will go to almost any length of seeming compromise to draw the faithful in.
- Sound: Four hundred voices used the right name and wore the right uniform. A man can wear the dress of a prophet of the Lord and still be lying.
- Suit: The royal robes looked fine at the gate, yet they left Jehoshaphat unrecognisable as a saint of God. Later the same ally turned them against him.
And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron, and he said, Thus saith Jehovah With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have exterminated them.
A prophet stood before the king of Israel and put on a show with a pair of iron horns. The scene raises a hard question. How do you tell a message that carries God's name from a message that truly came from God?
Zedekiah did not just speak. He built a prop to persuade the eye as well as the ear.
We are told also that one false prophet had made horns of iron. They backed up his false message that Ahab would gore the Syrians until they were destroyed (v.11). But Jehoshaphat knew that these prophets were only Ahab's "yes men," with no authority to speak for the Lord at all.
The choice of image was not random. Horns carried a settled meaning for anyone watching.
People in the East wore them as a symbol of exaltation and power. The Lord was David's horn of salvation. He exalted the horn of His people, and broke the horns of the wicked. Ps. 18:2; Ps. 75:10; Ps. 148:14.
Notice whose name the promise carries. Ahab's court had left Baal's name behind and taken up one that sounded safer.
We see also the false prophets in power: Ahab had four hundred of them. We may remark also, that they made use of the Lord's name, and no longer, as it appears, of Baal's. Outwardly the state of things is less offensive; but the heart of Ahab is unchanged. Jehoshaphat is uneasy in this false position and asks for the prophet of the Lord. Ahab sends for him, but does not listen to him, and has to face the consequences.
The iron horns are copied craft. A false prophet works by resembling the real thing well enough to pass.
It was more popular to prophesy smooth things and lies. Nothing is so dear to the human heart as having God's approval on its own desires. So we see the popularity of the prophets who would say, "Thus says the Lord," when the Lord had not spoken. These prophets were not always inventing lies. But they corrupted the word of God and made it suit man's taste (2 Cor. 2:17). They had to imitate the real prophets in many of their expressions. Yet in the end they only produced their own empty speculations.
Ahab already knew what he wanted to hear. He gathered prophets like Zedekiah for cover, not for light.
It is only solemn mockery to ask for guidance when we have made up our minds; and yet how often we do so! All this is wretched; it is only honouring God with the lips, while the heart is in outright rebellion against Him. Instead of the guidance we claim to be asking for, may we not expect a lying spirit to be sent to us? (verse 21) Ahab was at no loss for advisers. He soon "gathered together four hundred prophets." They were ready to advise him just as his heart desired: "Go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hand." This was what he wanted.
So how does a believer spot the fake? Often it starts as unease, not argument.
A true heart has a spiritual sense that warns it when certain spiritual displays do not have the Spirit of God behind them. It may not be able to explain why. This is not the gift of discerning of spirits (1 Cor. 12:10), which is not given to all. It is a sense that can be weak in a child of God, but it should never be missing in him. He feels ill at ease in a setting opposed to God. He is ill at ease when he hears talk that claims to come from religious tongues but lacks the divine character. He is ill at ease faced with boasting like this, here before the king of Israel.
The man who mimed total victory appears again later. His own conduct settles who was moving him.
Zedekiah had played the leading role in this scene. He made himself horns of iron and said to the king: "With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed" (v. 11). This same Zedekiah strikes Micaiah on the cheek and says: "Where now did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?" (v. 24). He claims the Holy Spirit's direction and uses violence to prove it. In doing so he proves what spirit is driving him. He too would come under judgment when he would "go from chamber to chamber to hide" himself (v. 25).
- The prop. Zedekiah made iron horns to prop up a false message. Horns stood for exaltation and power.
- The name. The same men had dropped Baal's name and now spoke in the Lord's name. That made things look better, but Ahab's heart stayed unchanged.
- The imitation. These prophets copy the true prophet's words, even "Thus says the Lord." What they deliver is still their own speculation, shaped to man's taste.
- The audience. A king who has already decided gathers advisers who suit him. Asking for guidance after you have decided invites a lying spirit, not light.
- The exposure. The man with the horns struck the true prophet and claimed the Spirit for himself. That proved which spirit drove him, and judgment would find him hiding.
And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper; for Jehovah will give it into the king's hand.
Four hundred prophets stand before Ahab, king of Israel, and all of them say the same thing: go to war at Ramoth-gilead and win. The verse raises a hard question. What do you do when every religious voice around you agrees, and all of them are wrong?
The danger in this message is not that it sounds pagan. It sounds like the word of God. Baal, the idol their king's house had served, is nowhere in it.
Satanic power counterfeits everything that is of God, and therefore good... In the days of Ahab things had reached such a point that Elijah could say, "I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men" (1 Kings 18:22). Even after the destruction of the prophets of Baal, about four hundred prophets were luring Ahab to his death. Against them stood one prophet, Micaiah the son of Imlah, who told him the truth. And all these prophets spoke not in the name of Baal. They said, "Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king."
Their number should have been the first warning.
There were many of them. Where did they come from, when hardly a few isolated prophets could be found in all the territory of Israel? They were few, for only one prophet of the Lord was enough to make known His mind... They were now pretending to speak by the Spirit of God, while 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.
Ahab was not looking for light. He was looking for agreement.
It is nothing but solemn mockery to ask for guidance when we have already made up our minds. And yet how often we do it! How often do we decide on a course of action, and then go and ask the Lord about it!... Ahab was at no loss for counsellors. He quickly "gathered together four hundred prophets." They were ready to advise him just as his heart desired: "Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king." This was what he wanted. And we need not be surprised that Ahab was quite satisfied with prophets like these. They suited him well.
Their agreement carried no weight with Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah who had come with Ahab.
All the prophets agreed in telling Ahab that the Lord would deliver Ramoth into Ahab's hand. But Jehoshaphat knew that these prophets were only Ahab's "yes men," with no authority to speak for the Lord at all.
What made Jehoshaphat uneasy was an instinct, not an argument.
A spiritual sense warns a true heart that certain spiritual displays do not have the Spirit of God behind them. The heart may not be able to explain why... He feels ill at ease in a setting opposed to God. He feels ill at ease when he hears talk that claims to come from religious tongues but lacks the divine character. He feels ill at ease before boasting like the boasting that takes place here in front of the king of Israel... One man, truly separated to God, would be enough for him to counterbalance the other four hundred.
Micaiah traced this chorus back to its source. What he found turned Ahab's own religion against him.
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, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?" (v. 20). 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 warning does not stay in Ahab's court. It reaches anyone who speaks in God's name today.
They already knew what Ahab wanted. They wanted to please him, with no concern for pleasing the Lord... There are smooth-talking prophets like this today. They claim to speak for God, but they are lying! If we have God's clear word in the Scriptures, we may declare it with full confidence. If we do not, let us not dare to speak as though we represent Him. For this we shall have to give account to Him.
- Borrowed voice. The four hundred never mention Baal; they promise victory in the Lord's name. Counterfeits of what is of God borrow God's own vocabulary.
- Wanted voice. Ahab wanted one answer, and four hundred men gave it to him. Asking for guidance after we have made up our minds is mockery.
- Unanimous voice. Their perfect agreement proved nothing. Jehoshaphat saw men with no authority to speak for God.
- Warned voice. A true heart can feel uneasy among religious talk that lacks God's character, even when it cannot explain why. One man separated to God outweighs four hundred.
- Hidden voice. Behind the flattery stood a lying spirit. The powers Ahab had worshipped became the tools of his own death. The safeguard is refusing to speak for God beyond His clear word.