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[Reconnoiter]

What an interesting chapter!

Long story short, King Ahab of Israel is not in good standing with the Lord. He is deciphering whether or not he should go to war. All of his prophets tell him that he will surely win if he goes to war, however, he wants to hear from the prophet of the Lord, Micaiah. Ahab is not too thrilled about this because Micaiah always tells Ahab things he doesn't want to hear. This makes sense because Ahab was far from YHWH and not following as he should. Despite this, Ahab summons for Micaiah and the prophet of the Lord prophesies his death from a vision he saw. This is where it gets bizarre. Micaiah explains a vision where the Lord is sitting on his heavenly throne with the armies of heaven surrounding him. The Lord asks, "Who can entice Ahab to go into battle so he can be killed?" A spirit approaches the Lord and says, "I can do it." The spirit says, "I will go out and inspire all Ahab's prophets to speak lies." YHWH then gives this spirit his blessing and tells him to do it and that he will be successful.

So all Ahab's prophets told him to go to war because they were tricked into gives bad advice? What is this spirit? I find it interesting that this spirit would use lies to his advantage. Would a spirt of the Lord use this method? This is such an interesting way for YHWH to intervene.

One prophet in particular felt angry when hearing these words. He couldn't believe he had been tricked. Micaiah was thrown into jail for saying what he said, but he was correct.

Was this vision only symbolic?

[jimwalton]

In the ancient Near East (ANE), the gods had councils: a committee of gods to figure out how to do things and to decide who was going to do what. Israel uses the same language but doesn't believe that YHWH had a council. Instead, YHWH's community were the host of heaven who carry out His sovereign assignments (1 Ki. 22.19). In the Bible, as different from the rest of the ANE, no one on the council is equal to YHWH (PS. 89.6-8), nor do they carry any of their own divine authority. Whatever authority they have has been delegated by God.

It is the day of Ahab's judgment for years of godlessness, perversion, and leading the people away from the true God. The mechanism is to make Ahab make a poor military decision.

So let's look at v. 22. The kingdom of Israel (the northern 10 tribes), has been disobedient to God from the beginning. It's been 150 years, and they still have godless kings and false prophets, no matter how many true prophets God has sent them. They have persisted in wallowing in their godlessness and ignoring true messages from God. To get advice for battle, the king assembles 400 false prophets: agents of magic who were the king's yes-men, using magic to give false predictions to the king. Jehoshaphat knows right away that Ahab is consulting liars (22.7) and suggests they consult a real prophet. Ahab doesn't want to ask the real prophet, because the real prophet tells the truth (v. 8). Reluctantly he summons the real prophet. While they're waiting, the false prophets give a false message (vv. 9-10). Then they try to strong-arm the real prophet into agreeing with the liars (v. 13). Of course, he refuses (14). Micaiah, the true prophet, then mocks the false prophets, mimicking their flatterable lies (15). The king is not amused (16). Micaiah then gives the true prophecy: You face disastrous defeat (17). The king is angry about hearing the truth (18). Seriously?? Right. He doesn't want the truth, but a good message; he wants to be told what he wants to hear.

Therefore Micaiah speaks a word of judgment: If all you want to hear are lies, then lies are what you'll get (vv. 20-22). And Micaiah gets slapped and insulted for daring to speak truth (24), as well as thrown into prison (27).

Do you see what's going on here? God is not deceiving the king. God is not lying to anyone. God has not "put a lying spirit in the mouths of the prophets." The king just wants to hear lies, and the false prophets are glad to accommodate him. The writer uses the language of irony and satire to show rebuke to the king's rejection of God and truth.

My brother, Dr. John Walton, in his book The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, says, "This is a 'mole' operation. When David wanted to undermine the success of his rebellious son, Absalom, he plants one of his advisors, Hushai, in Absalom’s inner circle. His assignment is to suggest a strategy that will suit Absalom’s natural inclinations, but will actually work to David’s advantage and accomplish David’s plan (2 Sam. 15.32-37; 16.15-17.14). Here the same process is at work. God has planned to act against Ahab who is seen as being led to his intended doom through the strategies suggested by trusted advisors (the prophets) that will coincide with his natural inclinations."

Also, my brother John and his son, Jonathan, in their book Demons and Spirits in Biblical Theology, add, "Here the prophet Micaiah observes the divine council in session plotting the downfall of Ahab. One of those present volunteers to 'be a deceiving spirit' and trick Ahab’s prophets into predicting victory so Ahab will go to his death. There is no real indication that this spirit (whatever it is) is a spirit of falsehood co-opted by God for His purposes; neither can it be seen as inherently sinful, because it is credited to God in v. 23). No sin is here involved. The false prophets will persuade the king into a disastrous situation. Ezk. 14.9 also show false prophets being used as an instrument of destruction.

"The point is not that YHWH is a liar or deceiver, nor that YHWH is sovereign enough to occasionally make use of His enemies to suit His purposes. The message is that the misfortunes experienced by Ahab are manifestations of the judgment of God for specified offenses. The means by which that judgment is carried out is not especially significant; the details are not meaningless, but the actions fall within the understanding of what gods could and would do to dispense judgment in the context of the cognitive environment of the ANE. The audience is supposed to understand God’s manifested anger and its cause, not speculation about the operations of cosmic beings."

So YHWH is allowing Ahab’s false prophets to guide him falsely so that he would be judged. If he was so set on following false prophets, the Lord would turn him over to them.

I don't think the vision was symbolic.