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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Kings 22:15–28, “So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead 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. 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? And he said, 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? And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: 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 Ramothgilead? 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 persuade him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he 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. Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee. But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee? And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself. And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son; And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace. And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.”
When Micaiah came to Ahab, the king asked him whether they should go to war or not. Micaiah knew what Ahab wanted to hear so he told him to go and fight. Ahab knew that the message hadn’t come from the Lord, deep down he must have known that he was in conflict with the Lord. When Micaiah gave the message he said that Israel would be soundly defeated in battle and left leaderless. Micaiah went on, further, to say that he had a vision of the Lord in heaven with his angels and the Lord asked the angels who would persuade Ahab to go into battle and be killed. One spirit said that he would come down and teach all Ahab’s prophets to lie. We read about a similar situation in the beginning of Job’s history. In that case the Lord was speaking with his angels and Satan came to that meeting a spoke to the Lord, making lies for the Lord, however the Lord didn’t believe those lies. In this case the spirit went to Ahab’s prophets and told them to lie. They had no understanding of the true God of heaven and were easily taken in by the lies. When Micaiah told the king about this vision, from the Lord, the other prophets were enraged because they didn’t want to lose their positions of influence. One of the leading prophets hit Micaiah on the cheek but Micaiah told him that he would see the truth of this prophecy. Ahab told one of his administrators to put Micaiah in prison until they came back from the battle. Micaiah told everyone that if Ahab wasn't defeated then the Lord wasn’t speaking through him.
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