This passage is now the third in the series of Ahab’s encounters with the Word of God.
• From chapters 20-22 the author recounted some incidents when the King was confronted by the Word of God.
• The Lord has not rejected Ahab (yet) even though he has been stubborn and unbelieving.
The first incident in chapter 20 was when King Ben-Hadad of Aram wanted to invade his palace in Samaria.
• God sent an unnamed prophet and gave him words of promise, caution and assurance. With the Lord’s help he won the battle with Aram, twice.
• But he did not kill his enemy. Instead, at the end of it all, he made a treaty with Ben-Hadad and let him go. He disobeyed God.
The second incident in chapter 21 we see Ahab seizing Naboth’s vineyard. Elijah brought God’s Word of judgment against him for killing an innocent man.
• Ahab (again) was given the chance to response to God’s Word, which he did but just for a moment.
• God showed him mercy and delayed His judgement.
Now in chapter 22, we have the third incident of Ahab’s encounter with God’s Word.
• We are going to see (yet again) Ahab’s unwillingness to believe the Word of God.
• It’s not that God has not spoken; Ahab has chosen NOT to believe His Word.
READ 1 Kings 22:1-9.
Ahab was in a discussion with his officials about retaking Ramoth-gilead. See MAP.
• King Jehosphaphat from JUDAH (S) came visiting. They are in-laws – Jehoshaphat’s son (Jehoram) was married to Ahab’s daughter (Athaliah).
• Ahab asked Jehoshaphat to join him in the war to regain Ramoth-gilead.
• Jehoshaphat said, “No problem with that, but first, let us seek God in this matter.” So Ahab brought in his prophets – 400 of them.
• Quite clearly, they are all his YES men. They approved the idea unanimously.
Jehoshaphat sensed something wasn’t right. Perhaps it was too neat.
• He asked, "Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?" (22:7)
• Ahab: “Yes, there’s one more, but I don’t like him. He never says anything good about me.”
This is clearly a wrong criteria to judge a prophet. A prophet speaks the Word of God. He speaks the truth that God reveals to him. He says what God says.
• It is not about saying “anything good about me” (borrowing Ahab’s words in v.8). It has nothing to do with what is good or bad but what is TRUE.
• Why would you want someone to say something good about you when it is untrue? Like “You look pretty today, when there is this dirt mark on your face!” The good and most caring words to say is, “You need to wash your face!”
• Ahab is self-deceived. He wants these prophets to rubber-stamp his decision.
SEEK THE TRUTH
• Not what we like to hear, not what we wish to hear.
• If Ahab heeds God’s Word, it will save his life, and the lives of many of his men.
• The truth is good! It may not “sounds good” to you but it is good for you.
• We need to see the GOODNESS of the truth of God and SEEK to obey it.
READ 1 Kings 22:10-18.
Against all odds, God still has His faithful prophet to speak the truth and warn Ahab.
• This again is the mercy of God. In the midst of 400 corrupted prophets God still has a faithful servant within Ahab’s courts to provide that solitary LIGHT he needs.
• In fact, from the comments Ahab made in verses 8, 16 and 18 (his comment to Jehoshaphat), it seems like Micaiah has spoken to Ahab many times.
Ahab wasn’t deprived of the truth. He was not cut off from the Word of God.
• His downfall was caused, not because of a LACK of truth but by the REJECTION of the truth.
• God has said all that He needs to say, through His prophets, over the course of his reign. God did not forsake him despite his unbelieving heart. He has forsaken God.
• God has been reaching out to him, again and again, repeatedly telling him what he does not want to hear.
The setting helps us see the great pressure and stress that Micaiah was put through. He has to go against the united voice of the establishment.
• Facing two kings dressed in their royal robes and seated on their thrones.
• With Zedekiah (leader) and his group of prophets prophesying their propaganda.
• Even the messenger is worried and urges Micaiah to follow the crowd and “speak favourably” (22:13). Say what they like to hear.
Micaiah’s response was: “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what the Lord tells me.” (22:14) That’s a true prophet of God.
• His reply demolished the wrong assumption that permeates the scene, that a prophet can say what he likes to say or what the people likes to hear.
• Just say what Ahab wanted to hear, what prophets expected, and what the messenger wished.
• Micaiah says, “I am in bondage to the Word of God. I cannot say anything other than the truth of God.” As a prophet, he is the mouthpiece of God’s truth.
SPEAK THE TRUTH
• We seek the truth and we speak the truth.
Micaiah started off sarcastically, echoing the words of the four hundred prophets: “Attack and be victorious, for the Lord will give it into the King’s hand.” (22:15b)
• This opener was clearly a sarcasm because Ahab knew it immediately: “How many times must I tell you to say the truth, in the Name of the Lord?” (cf. v.16)
• It’s hard for us to catch this by reading the works alone because we don’t have the tone of voice here.
• But this kind of exchanges seemed to have taken place many times, according to Ahab’s reaction.
Micaiah retorted: “So you want the truth? You really want the truth? Let me give it to you…”
• 22:17 …"I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, `These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.'"
• If Israel has no shepherd, no master, it means Ahab will be eliminated in the battle. And notice the implication, when Ahab is dead, Israel will have ‘peace’.
To further affirm what God has said, the prophet went on to tell the King the vision he saw. READ 1 Kings 22:19-23.
We see here a picture of TWO COUNCILS – the earthly one with two kings in royal robes and their prophets churning out human prediction.
• We have another picture of a glimpse of the heavenly council with the sovereign King determining the outcome of the battle and the fate of Ahab.
• Say all you want on earth, but it is the heavenly council that rules. The King of kings will determine the outcome.
• Plan all we want but it’s the Lord that determines our steps. (cf. Prov 16:9)
Micaiah concluded, “The Lord has decreed disaster for you.” (22:23).
• Now we know which council shapes history - not the earthly human council, but the heavenly one.
• It is not the White House, not Donald Trump, not ISIS, but the sovereign Lord who governs history and our destiny.
God’s message to Ahab is crystal clear. These prophets are lying and they are enticing him into battle, where he will perish.
• God reveals everything Ahab needs to know, to prevent him from making the wrong move. Will Ahab listen? No.
• What he does not like to hear, that will save him. The “good” he likes to hear, that in fact will kill him.
It’s sad that this whole “seeking the Lord” thing is just a formality.
• Ahab has no intention of accepting what Micaiah says. God’s Word is irrelevant to him.
• Despite the clarity of the message in the vision, Ahab is not willing to accept the truth.
• He has already decided what he wants to do. His heart is hardened towards God and His Word.
Is this a description of our heart towards God? Are we receptive to the Word of God, or is our heart hardened towards Him? Can we accept the truth?
Learn from Micaiah. READ 1 Kings 22:24-28.
STAND BY THE TRUTH
• We seek the truth, we speak the truth, and we stand by the truth.
We stand by the truth of God’s Word, His only revelation to us.
• “It is better to stand with the truth, than to be wrong with the multitude.”
• The majority is not necessarily right. To have a majority does not make it right.
• Our trust is in the Word of God.
Let me close with these encouraging words from Hebrews.
• The author wrote to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, encouraging them to persevere in the midst of persecution, reminding them of the mistake their ancestors made – Hebrews 3:7-13.
7So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, 8do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 9where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, `Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' 11So I declared on oath in my anger, `They shall never enter my rest.'"
12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
