Throughout Israel’s history, the Lord God used prophets to communicate His Word to His people. The prophet Micaiah served the Lord God during a divisive time in Israel’s history.
When Did Micaiah Live in Old Testament History?
Since Micaiah served the Lord as a prophet, we need to regard the historical account of Israel in the Old Testament.
As recorded in 1 Kings, King David died (circa 1015 BC), and Adonijah (one of David’s sons) laid claim to the throne. Adonijah found the support of David’s former army commander, Joab, and Abiathar, the priest, yet Solomon, David’s son, inherited the unified kingdom with which God blessed his father.
Solomon reigned for forty years as a wise king. However, he fell into idolatry, stemming from his marriages to foreign wives (according to 1 Kings 11:3, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines). He knew the law, yet committed the egregious sin against God (Exodus 34:15-16 clearly warned the Israelites not to intermarry with foreign women). This sin caused Solomon’s son to lose much of his kingdom, and Israel became a divided nation (circa 975 BC).
The prophecy regarding the divided nation is found in 1 Kings 11:11-12:
“Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, ‘Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.’”
God is a covenant-keeping God, despite Solomon’s faithless acts.
Just as predicted, God tore most of the kingdom away from Solomon’s line during the time of his son, Rehoboam. Jeroboam was the son of Solomon’s servant (1 Kings 11:26), and Solomon had previously given Jeroboam a lofty position as head of his labor force of the tribes of Joseph. The prophet Ahijah met Jeroboam on a road outside Jerusalem and spoke God’s prophetic word to Jeroboam as reported to Solomon—Jeroboam would receive ten tribes from Israel—yet for David’s sake, he (his ancestor) would have one tribe in Judah (1 Kings 11:26-40). God added He would humble David’s descendants (who had done evil), but not forever (1 Kings 11:39). Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. Jeroboam fled to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon’s death.
The history of the divided kingdom began with Jeroboam ruling the northern nation of Israel and Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) ruling the southern nation of Judah. The evils of Jeroboam as king continued through to Ahab, who is described as doing “more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any before him” (1 Kings 16:3), and Israel continually warred with Judah. A defining narrative regarding Ahab’s evil ways may be found in 1 Kings 21. By this time, Ahab had married “Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him” (1 Kings 16:31). A Jezreelite, Nabal, owned a vineyard close to Ahab’s palace in Samaria. Ahab approached him and asked for his vineyard so he could install a vegetable garden. Nabal refused, and Jezebel later found her husband sullen and vexed. She vowed to gain the vineyard for him, and through an evil plan, she conspired against and had Nabal murdered.
The prophet Elijah confronted Ahab about this evil, and the Lord had him prophesy to Ahab, “I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have aroused My anger and have caused Israel to sin.” Elijah went on to say dogs would devour Jezebel by the Jezreel’s wall, that “dogs would eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds will feed on those who die in the country” (1 Kings 21:23-24). Ahab humbled himself before the Lord, who said the disaster foretold would not happen in his days but in his son’s days (1 Kings 21:28-29).
Micaiah also lived and prophesied to Israel during the reign of Ahab. At that time, Jehoshaphat was king of the southern nation of Judah. He entered the scene during a three-year period of peace between Syria and Israel. “But in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel (1 Kings 22:1, circa 853 BC). This was in response to Ahab asking Jehoshaphat to ally with him against Ben-Hadad II, king of Syria. But Jehoshaphat aligned himself with Ahab for political reasons; he should have deferred for spiritual reasons because he had been a godly king, faithful to the Lord.
Why Did King Ahab Seek Micaiah’s Advice?
1 Kings 22:1-12 gives us the account of King Ahab seeking Micaiah’s advice. Before Jehoshaphat went to war against Ben Hadad II with Ahab to gain the important city of Ramoth in Gilead, he requested divine counsel from the Lord. Ahab gathered the prophets (about 400 of them) and sought their counsel to satisfy himself. They said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” Jehoshaphat questioned their counsel and asked, “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” Ahab admitted there was another, namely Micaiah, son of Imlah, “but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” Jehoshaphat argued against this, and Ahab acquiesced and called for Micaiah. Meanwhile, the other prophets kept stating the kings should go up, for victory awaited them.
The messenger sent to Micaiah told him to come and “let your words be like one of them [the 400 prophets], and speak favorably. But Micaiah refused to speak anything but what the Lord told him. When Ahab asked him if they should go up to battle, Micaiah replied with an obvious taunt of the other prophets. He tells the kings to “Go up and triumph…” which mocks the other prophets who tell the king what he wants to hear. We discern this because Ahab answers, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak nothing but the truth to me in the name of the Lord?” (1 Kings 22:1-12).
What Happened When Micaiah Prophesied King Ahab’s Future?
Micaiah told Ahab, “I saw Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each one return to his home in peace.’” Micaiah continued, telling Ahab what the Lord had shown him, that the hosts of heaven were before the Lord, who asked who would entice Ahab to “go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead.” A spirit came before the Lord and said he would be a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets. The Lord said, “You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.” Micaiah continued, “The Lord has declared disaster for you” (1 Kings 22:17-23).
Ahab had Micaiah seized, sent to the governor and the king’s son, and put into prison and fed with meager rations of bread and water. The king said this would continue until he came in peace (meaning until he won a victory against Ben-Hadad II). Micaiah replied, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me” (1 Kings 22:24-28).
Did Micaiah’s Prophecy Come True?
As the Lord speaks truth through His true prophets, there is no doubt of the outcome. The prophesy Micaiah spoke to Ahab came true, even though Ahab disguised himself in battle. The King of Syria commanded his captains to fight only against the king of Israel. Thinking Jehoshaphat was Ahab, the Syrian forces turned to fight against him, but when Jehoshaphat cried out, his Judean shout proved he was not Ahab. A random arrow shot Ahab, and he later died, “and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord that He had spoken” (1 Kings 22:37-38, c.f. 1 Kings 21:19)
Jehoshaphat lived and continued his reign in Judah. Micaiah’s words proved true. So, what can we learn from this very dark story?
What Can We Learn from the Story of Micaiah?
True prophets were governed and moved to action by a Word from the Lord, which came to them for God’s purposes and in His time. Jeremiah chapter 23 has much to say about prophets who are not of the Lord, especially verse 18, which states, “For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear His word, or who has paid attention to His word and listened?”
A few marks of a true prophet were:
- A call from God
- They brought a message from God
- Their prophecies were fulfilled.
Deuteronomy 18:22 gives us the words of Moses about this non-negotiable marker of a true prophet of the Lord, “when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
Nowadays, many false prophets proclaim signs and wonders. They promise health and wealth if a person has enough faith (and most times give enough money to the false prophet’s organization). But our faith is in the truth of God’s Word—that all God has promised has been or will be fulfilled in His time and for His purposes. We have God’s Word to guide us in all wisdom and discernment. His Word says God’s Word is “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12), and it is enough (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We have no cause to seek anything else.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/B-C-Designs
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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