1 Kings 22:1-40
Jehoshaphat, who was a good king, made an alliance with the wicked king Ahab. It was an abnormal alliance - an unnatural confederacy. Later we see that Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, married Athaliah, the daughter of the wicked king Ahab.
This was a case of the
Genesis 6:4 "sons of God marrying the daughters of men."
A boy with a godly heritage married a girl with a wicked one. The wicked influence prevailed.
When a believer marries a non believer, you can always be sure that they are going to have trouble.
When we marry a child of the devil, our father in-law will see to it that we have trouble.
1 Kings:22:3-4 "And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we are still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria.
And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses."
Ramoth in Gilead was one of the cities of the tribe of Gad and it had been lost to Syria.
Jehoshaphat should have stayed out of it. He should have listened to the prophet of the Lord. He should not have made an alliance with the devils man - it was not his fight.
Gilead belonged to Ahab and it was Ahab's quarrel, not his. But because Jehoshaphat was God's man, he wanted to know what the will of God was and he suspected that they were not getting it through these false prophets.
He has real discernment so he asks,
1 Kings 22:7 "Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we may inquire of him?"
Ahab then introduced Micaiah and he did it in a strange way. He says,
1 Kings 22:8 "There is yet one man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, BUT I HATE HIM: for he doth not prophecy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so."
A man is rather known by his enemies than his friends, and here we see clearly that Micaiah was the enemy of king Ahab. This ought to have been a warning to Jehoshaphat. Anyone who is in the Lord's work, will have enemies. We need to be sure that the enemies we have are right enemies.
May God have mercy on those who say that they are in the Lord's work, and they do not have any enemies.
Micaiah was the best friend Ahab ever had, and it is so sad that Ahab did not know it.
Micaiah could say as apostle Paul said in
Galatians 4:16 "Am I , therefore, become your enemy, because I tell you the truth."
Ahab had been keeping Micaiah in prison so he was close at hand.
1 Kings 22:10-12 "And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.
And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the Lord, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.
And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into the king’s hand."
You can just imagine those four hundred prophets running around saying to Ahab, "Go up against the king of Syria."
One of the prophets was especially dramatic. Zedekiah ran around with iron horns, pushing at everyone with them, saying, "This is the way you are going to do it."
What a scene - two kings on their thrones and all those prophets running about crying, "Go up and fight. You will win."
The messenger that went to get Micaiah said to him,
"All of the prophets are prophesying something good. They are telling the king to fight because he will win. That is what he wants to hear. You should join with them. Then you could get back into the king’s favor. Here’s your chance, Micaiah."
I suppose, this guard thought he was helping Micaiah.
1 Kings 22:13 "And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.
And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak."
Micaiah’s answer was not only dramatic, it was humorous. He said, "Whatever the Lord tells me to say, that is what I am going to say. I will tell it like it is."
When Micaiah came in he saw the two kings on their thrones and all of the false prophets of Baal running around the room. They were all saying nice things to Ahab.
They had all read the book,
How to Win Friends and Influence People.
Micaiah had not read that book. Neither had he read
The Power of Positive Thinking.
In fact, he was pretty negative.
Actually there is a lot of power in negative thinking. We need more of it today.
1 Kings 22:15 "So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king."
Notice what Micaiah said to the kings. To him it is a humorous scene, so he joins in just for fun. I think he was as sarcastic as any man could be - just as sarcastic as Elijah could be.
They were cut out of the same piece of cloth.
Micaiah said, "Go, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king."
The king saw at once that he was being ridiculed.
1 Kings 22:16 "And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?"
The king said to Micaiah,
"I know you are joking with me because you have never been on the side of the false prophets."
Suddenly Micaiah became serious.
1 Kings 22:17 "I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil."
This is a parable by contrast, and we do not find parables like this, until we come to our Lord's teaching - for example in Luke, the unjust judge - God is not an unjust judge. Ahab told Jehoshaphat that he told him that Micaiah would prophecy no good concerning him, but evil.
Then Micaiah spoke out,
1 Kings 22:19-22 "I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left.
And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will go forth, And I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.
And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also; go forth, and do so."
This is simply ridiculous.
Can we imagine God, calling a meeting of the board, to ask the directors what He should do in a case like this?
God already knew what He was going to do.
He does not ever need any advice.
This is also the nicest way that Micaiah could tell these false prophets, that they are a BUNCH OF LIARS.
Zedekiah, one of the false prophets, smote Micaiah on the cheek.
This was an extreme insult and Micaiah responded by saying that the day would come when they would all hide themselves in terror.
The day would come when Ahab would be dead and Israel would be defeated, then Zedekiah would know what the truth was.
Micaiah told Ahab that he would not come back, and that if he did, then the Lord had not spoken through him.
1 Kings 22:28 "If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O, people, every one of you."
ISRAEL WENT TO BATTLE.
THEY LISTENED TO THE FALSE PROPHETS.
All the way through, Ahab proved that he was a deceiver.
The only man, who had on a king's robe, was Jehoshaphat.
This made him a marked man
Ahab disguised himself.
I think that Ahab put Jehoshaphat up like a clay pigeon, so that he could be slain in battle.
Jehoshaphat almost did not come out of this fight alive.
Jehoshaphat almost lost his life in the battle because of Ahab's deception..
Ahab was slain by one lost arrow.
That arrow had his name on it.
In God's record, this was not an accidental death.
It was a providential arrow.
God still uses the bow and arrow.
Psalm 64:7 "But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded."
There are those today who think they have escaped the hand of God.
God is not mocked, no one ever escapes the hand of God.
That is what happened to Ahab.
1 Kings 22:37-38 "So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria. And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the Word of the Lord which He spake."
That which God had predicted through Elijah came to pass: Ahab died, and his blood was licked up by dogs in the same place that Naboth had died. Of course, Ahab had tried to stay away from that place, but his chariot was brought into Naboth’s vineyard, and the blood was washed out of it. The dogs were right there to lick it up.
The prophecy was literally fulfilled.
Whatever a man sows, he will reap.
Why?
Because God is not mocked.
No one ever gets by with sin;
absolutely no one, gets by with it.
God sees to that;
He is still on the throne.
If today you are perhaps covering over your sin with lies and deception why not turn to God our Father and accept Christ Jesus who will lead you to true repentance and He will deliver you from all the lies in your life.
We today cannot look to statesman or politicians.
We have to look to God just as king David did, and Israel will do in the future.
GOD IS OUR ONLY HOPE TODAY.
To God be the glory! Great things He has done!
So loved He the world That He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life An atonement for sin,
And opened the Life-gate That all may go in.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the people rejoice!
Oh come to the Father, Through Jesus the Son;
And give Him the glory - Great things He has done.
Oh perfect redemption, The purchase of blood!
To every believer The promise of God;
The vilest offender Who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus A pardon receives
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the people rejoice!
Oh come to the Father, Through Jesus the Son;
And give Him the glory - Great things He has done.
Great things He hath taught us, Great things He has done,
And great our rejoicing, Through Jesus the Son;
But purer, And higher, And greater will be,
Our wander, Our rapture, When Jesus we see!.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Let the people rejoice!
Oh come to the Father, Through Jesus His Son;
And give Him the glory - Great things He hath done.
Amen!
Are you willing to stand for the truth today?
Reply to Caryl@cherith.co.za.
THIS PAGE UPDATED:
19-7-2008.