2 Chronicles 18:1-27 English Standard Version Jehoshaphat Allies with Ahab 18 Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor, and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. 2 After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead. 3 Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.” 4 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the LORD.” 5 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.” 6 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?” 7 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” 8 Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.” 9 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes. And they were sitting at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 10 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’” 11 And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph. The LORD will give it into the hand of the king.” 12 And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” 13 But Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, what my God says, that I will speak.” 14 And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And he answered, “Go up and triumph; they will be given into your hand.” 15 But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?” 16 And he said, “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 home in peace.’” 17 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” 18 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. 19 And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. 20 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ 21 And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ 22 Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The LORD has declared disaster concerning you.” 23 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?” 24 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.” 25 And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son, 26 and say, ‘Thus says the king, Put this fellow in prison and feed him with meager rations of bread and water until I return in peace.’” 27 And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, all you peoples!” Jehoshaphat makes a grave mistake in marrying into the family of King Ahab of Israel (Ahab is the husband of Jezebel and is probably one of the names that people most associate with evil--right up there with Judas Iscariot). Jehoshaphat thinks that by marrying into his family that it will make peace between Israel and Judah, but all that happened was that Israel demanded that Judah ally with them in all their wars. This time the war was in Gilead across the Jordan in a place called Ramoth-gilead.
Jehoshaphat wouldn't go to war without first inquiring of a prophet of the LORD (of course all the false prophets that were on Ahab's payroll agreed with whatever Ahab wanted to do). Ahab only knew of one true prophet of the LORD left in Israel named Micaiah, and Ahab hated him, for he always spoke the opposite of the false prophets of Ahab and said things that Ahab didn't want to hear--for Micaiah would speak the word of the LORD and the false prophets spoke the words that the demons put in their mouths and hearts. A messenger went to Michaiah and explained that the 400 prophets of Ahab had already all prophesied in agreement one way and all Michaiah had to do was join in their "prophesy," (remember that the king and his officials think that "prophesy" is something you pay a bribe to get the prophet to say to make the gods do what you want them to do), but Michaiah said he can only speak the words that the LORD puts in his mouth. Yet, when he first came, he spoke words in agreement with the prophets of Ahab, probably out of fear and because he knew that's what Ahab wanted to hear. However, Ahab knew this wasn't the message the LORD had given him and said, "How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?" Strange words coming from Ahab who seems to know that the words coming out of the mouths of his prophets are lies, and that the LORD speaks truth, even though he hates the truth that the LORD speaks because it doesn't agree with what he wants to do, since his heart is set on evil. Michaiah then tells of a vision he had of the LORD holding court and the various spirits (including evil spirits) were there. The LORD asks the spirits who will entice King Ahab to go to war at Ramoth-gilead that he may fall in battle and die there (for Ahab was very evil and the LORD intended for Ahab to die in battle that day). One of the spirits offered to help by saying that he would put a false prophesy in the mouths of the prophets of Ahab and that Ahab would believe them (which is exactly what happened). The chief of these prophets then struck Micaiah and asked how the Holy Spirit left him to enter Michaiah so that Michaiah would speak the word of the LORD--the answer is simple, the Holy Spirit was never in Zedekiah the false prophet because he prophesied by the power of demons. Michaiah only answered him that he would know the answer to his question on the day that he would go into an inner chamber to hide himself (prophesying about the day that Zedekiah would be killed). Ahab had heard enough and thought that he could change things by arresting Michaiah and holding him in prison until he returned from battle (which Michaiah just said wasn't going to happen). This was intended to put God to the test to save His prophet or to save the life of Ahab, but Michaiah was ready to die as he knew Ahab was not coming back from the battle that day. We'll look at the fulfillment of this prophesy and the death of King Ahab next time. Comments are closed.
|
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
January 2025
Categories
All
|