The Explanation

King Jehoshaphat was rich and lived in peace. But one day he went to visit King Ahab, and Ahab wanted his help in a war. "Will you go with me to Ramoth Gilead?" Ahab asked. Jehoshaphat said yes right away. But then he remembered something important. "Please inquire first for Yahweh's word," he said. He wanted to know what God thought before they went to fight.

So Ahab called his prophets. Four hundred men came, and every single one said, "Go up! God will give you the victory!" One prophet even made iron horns and shouted that they would push down their enemies like a bull.

But Jehoshaphat felt something was wrong. Four hundred voices, all saying yes, all sounding the same. "Isn't there another prophet of Yahweh?" he asked. Ahab sighed. "There is one more. Micaiah. But I hate him, he never says anything good about me, only bad things."

They sent for Micaiah anyway. On the way, a messenger warned him, "Everyone else says good things. You should say good things too." But Micaiah answered, "I will say what my God says." Not what people wanted to hear.

At first Micaiah joked, "Go up, you will win!" But the king knew he was mocking him. "Tell me the truth!" he demanded. So Micaiah told the truth. He said he saw Israel's army scattered like sheep without a shepherd. He said God had let a lying spirit fool the other prophets, so that Ahab would fall in battle.

One prophet slapped Micaiah in the face for saying this. Ahab was furious and threw Micaiah in prison, giving him only bread and water. Micaiah was not afraid. "If you return safely," he said, "then Yahweh has not spoken through me."

What Does This Mean?

Ahab did not want the truth, he wanted to hear yes. Four hundred men told him what he liked. Only one man, Micaiah, dared to speak what God actually said, even though it cost him a slap in the face and a prison cell. Real truth is not always popular. Sometimes the loudest voices are wrong, and the one lonely voice is right.

Jehoshaphat did something wise too. He did not just trust the crowd. He asked, "Isn't there a prophet of Yahweh?" He wanted God's real word, not comfortable words.

The Common Thread

Micaiah suffered for telling the truth about God. Struck on the cheek, thrown into prison, given only bread and water. Many years later, another truth teller would be struck on the cheek too, and given vinegar to drink, and put to death for speaking God's word perfectly. Jesus was mocked and rejected exactly because he told the truth about God and about people. Micaiah's lonely stand points forward to Jesus, who stood utterly alone for the truth, and who was proven right by rising from the dead.

For You

When your friends all want to do something, do you ever stop and ask if it is really right? It is hard to be the one who says something different. But Jehoshaphat's question is a good one for you too: what does God actually say? You do not have four hundred false prophets around you, but you do have moments where everyone says "just go along with it" and something inside you knows better. Being honest, even when it is uncomfortable, is what Micaiah did. God noticed.

Talk About It

Why do you think all four hundred prophets said the same thing, but Micaiah said something different?

Has it ever been hard for you to tell the truth, even when others did not want to hear it?

Praying Together

Dear God, thank you that your word is always true, even when it is hard to hear. Give us courage like Micaiah, to say what is right even when others disagree. Help us to ask what you think, like Jehoshaphat did, before we decide what to do. Amen.