Heights and Highs - Part 3
- Bible Prophet
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Moreover, Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the word of the LORD.” Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not yet a prophet of the LORD here that we may inquire of him?” [1 Kings 22:5-7]
King Jehoshaphat wanted to hear from a prophet of the LORD. King Ahab had no choice but to send for Micaiah, even though he hated the dude. So he dispatched the guard to the dungeon to fetch Micaiah from his jail cell. Before the guard left though, King Ahab bent over and whispered in the guard’s ear, “Be sure to warn him in no uncertain terms that he had best agree with what my own prophets have proclaimed.”
So the guards fetched Micaiah ben Imlah, the Lord’s prophet, from the dungeon and read him the riot act. Standing before the two august kings, Micaiah spoke the words of a sycophant…but he did so with the utmost sarcasm. “Go, O King Ahab, to Ramoth-gilead. The Lord gives it to you, like your toadies said.”
King Ahab snapped at him, “I told you to never tell me lies, Mike! Let’s hear the truth.”
So Micaiah ben Imlah gave him the unadulterated Word of God, “I saw all Israel on the heights of Gilead, wandering about without a shepherd.” Uh, the shepherd of Israel was old King Ahab. That didn’t sound to promising for the king’s longevity.
“See!” Ahab bellowed at Jehoshaphat. “I told you he never says anything good about me. Not even by accident! Why’d you have to ruin a perfectly good day by insisting on hearing from him anyway?”
Micaiah wasn’t finished with the Word of the Lord yet. He added,
I saw the throne room of God in heaven. The angels were gathered around the throne, and the Lord asked, “Who will go and convince King Ahab to march off to Ramoth to face his death there?”
Well, one angel had this idea and another angel had a different one. They couldn’t seem to come up with a plausible plan. Then this other angel stepped forward and boldly declared to the Lord, “I’ll do it!”
The Lord wanted to know the angel’s plan, so the angel told him, “I’ll go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s false prophets. He always listens to them because they always say what he wants to hear.”
The Lord responded, “Go. You’ll certainly succeed with that plan.”
Now be sure to take in the scenario in the throne room of Ahab in Samaria. There were the 400 false prophets and there was Micaiah, the lone true prophet. Did you catch what he said about all 400 of those rascals? Could you be so bold and audacious as to confront 400 deceivers and denounce their deception? Only the Lord Himself inside Micaiah could instill such confidence, that Micaiah didn’t even flinch when the false prophets attacked him.
King Ahab ordered Micaiah sent back to the dungeon, and to be left there with his needs unattended to, until Ahab returned from Ramoth. Micaiah got off a parting shot, “If you ever return from Ramoth, then the Lord didn’t speak through me!” Folks, that is holy boldness in the extreme!
And that spells a fine time to call it a day. We’ll return to this spot on the morrow. Now let’s betake ourselves to the prayer closet.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please click on the "Shop" tab at the top of this page, where you will find a complete list of my books. Each book is available in both paperback (Createspace) and eBook (Kindle).
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