1 Kings 22:13-28 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 1 Kings 22:13-28. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
1 Kings 22:13-14 (NIV)
13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, as one man the other prophets are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably.”
14 But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me.”
On verses 13-14: Despite being pressure to say what the king wants to hear, Micaiah the prophet refuses to utter anything as prophecy unless Micaiah truly believes it is from God. Micaiah had integrity. He understood his role as God’s prophet was not to please people and to speak whatever they want to hear, but to please God and to communicate God’s heart and mind to the people. Like Micaiah, may you be a person of integrity and a lover of truth, seeking to please God over and above pleasing people.
1 Kings 22:15-28 (NIV)
15 When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?” “Attack and be victorious,” he answered, “for the LORD will give it into the king’s hand.”
16 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
17 Then Micaiah answered, “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.'”
18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”
19 Micaiah continued, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left.
20 And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’ “One suggested this, and another that.
21 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’
22 ” ‘By what means?’ the LORD asked. ” ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. ” ‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’
23 “So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you.”
24 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the face. “Which way did the spirit from the LORD go when he went from me to speak to you?” he asked.
25 Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner room.”
26 The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son
27 and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.'”
28 Micaiah declared, “If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Mark my words, all you people!”
On verses 15-28: When King Ahab asks Micaiah whether he should go and attack Ramoth Gilead, Micaiah mockingly and sarcastically repeats what all the false prophets had been telling King Ahab: “Attack and be victorious, for the LORD will give it into the king’s hand”. It must have been quite funny to see, but King Ahab saw through Micaiah’s sarcasm immediately. Then Micaiah tells Ahab what the Lord really told him: that God’s plan was to entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead so that he would be killed there, and that to accomplish this plan the Lord “has put a deceiving spirit into the mouths of the prophets” (v23). That way Ahab would be convinced to go ahead with the attack, because God’s plan was to have Ahab killed during the attack. The king as well as the other prophets — Zedekiah in particular — are offended by Micaiah’s words. After a “How dare you!” slap from Zedekiah (v24), Micaiah is placed in prison by King Ahab, who tells Amon the city governor and Ahab’s son Joash to give Micaiah nothing but bread and water until King Ahab returns safely (v28). Even after being humiliated and imprisoned, Micaiah stands firm on his statement: “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.”
What can we learn from this?
Maybe you’re thinking, “How could God put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of the prophets? How could God send a messenger to speak lies to entice and trap another person? Aren’t all of God’s ways just? How could God act deceitfully?”
Keep in mind that the mindset of people in the Old Testament was that God was the source of everything, both good and bad. That’s why in 1 Samuel 18 when King Saul was tormented by an evil spirit, the Scriptures say that the evil spirit was sent “from God”.
But in the New Testament, we see a more defined picture of God: that everything good is from God, but that there is also a war going on between God’s spiritual forces of good and Satan’s spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12). While God is all-powerful and has the authority to eliminate all evil if He wants to, God in His sovereignty has chosen to allow Satan to temporarily operate in smaller ways until the day Jesus returns. On that day when Jesus returns, He will stamp out evil for good and serve justice for all.
So in verse 21 when a spirit comes before God and presents the idea of putting a deceiving spirit in the mouths of the prophets, I believe that spirit is Satan. God allows Satan — within a limited capacity — to try to deceive Ahab, the prophets and all of Israel with them. At the same time, however, God also sends Micaiah the prophet, who is committed to speaking the truth no matter what (v13-14), to speak the truth to Ahab and to warn Ahab about being deceived by Satan.
God is not suffering from a split personality. He’s not trying to deceive and to warn at the same time. The lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets was Satan’s doing. The sending of Micaiah to speak the truth was God’s doing. By sending Micaiah to warn Ahab, God shows that He always stands on the side of truth and is not in the business of deceiving. But whether Ahab listens to the truth-telling Micaiah sent by God or to the lying prophets sent by Satan, God is so sovereign, wise and powerful that He will use either choice that Ahab makes to accomplish His ultimate purpose no matter what.
So does God put deceiving spirits in people? No. God is full of truth and is not in the business of confusing or deceiving you. Rather, deceit comes from our enemy Satan. But like a master chess player playing against a much less skilled player, God allows Satan to do what Satan wants in a limited way, knowing that He will ultimately use Satan’s moves to further His own purpose in a way that Satan never intended. That’s how good, powerful, wise and sovereign our God is.
Father, thank You that You’re so sovereign, wise and powerful that You will let Satan do his thing, letting him think he is getting somewhere, only to use his moves against him to accomplish Your own purposes. Thank You that You are full of integrity and always stand on the side of truth. May I be a lover of truth and full of integrity as well. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
