2 Chronicles 18:6














We may take Micaiah as the type of the true prophet, i.e. of the man who speaks for God; he is not merely the man who has a vision of the future - that is the smaller part of his function; he is the one who is charged with a Divine message, and who faithfully delivers it, however it may be received. Thus regarding him, we learn that the spokesman for God must be -

I. UNCONCERNED ABOUT NUMBERS. There may be "four hundred men" on one side (ver. 5), and only one on the other; or see 1 Kings 18:19. The prophet of the Lord may be in a most honourable but most decisive minority, but he must not consider that. "Truth cannot be put to the vote "and carried by a majority. Many a time it has been overwhelmingly outnumbered, and yet ultimately triumphant. We must not count heads when we undertake to speak for the Eternal. "A man with truth on his side can never be in a smaller minority than Almighty God and himself."

II. INACCESSIBLE TO HUMAN BLANDISHMENTS, The messenger that summoned Micaiah and attended him to the king seems to have employed his opportunity in trying to persuade the prophet to give a pleasant and courtly answer (ver. 12). He did not succeed. Many times have men sought to tamper with the ministers of the truth; sometimes they have succeeded. But when they have done so, there has been a lamentable failure. "We seek not yours, but you;" "If I pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ." These are the sentiments and this is the spirit of the true prophet. No human whisper in the ear as he goes before his audience will make him change one word or tone in the message he delivers from his Master.

III. FEARLESS OF HUMAN AUTHORITY. Micaiah had caused Jehoshaphat to "hate" him (ver. 7); and once again he drew upon him the king's resentment. There were two kings now present, arrayed in royal apparel and seated on thrones (ver. 9); there was much in the position to constrain a deliverance that would answer to their known wishes; but Micaiah was unmoved by fear. He acted as honourably and as heroically as if he had witnessed the example and heard the exhortation of the Lord himself (Luke 12:4, 5). To be condemned of man is a small thing when we are commended and honoured of God. We can afford to incur the hatred even of kings when we rest in the loving favour of our heavenly Father.

IV. UNMOVED BY ILL TREATMENT. Micaiah responded to Zedekiah in a spirit that showed no shade of submission or withdrawal (ver. 23); and when the vexed and passionate king ordered him to be imprisoned and fed with the bread and water of affliction, he still manifested a fearless spirit, totally unmoved by the ill usage he was receiving (ver. 27). The minister of Christ, who is (or should be) the successor of the Hebrew prophet, will not use the language or cherish the spirit of retaliation, but he will be utterly undisturbed in his aim and in his purpose by any unjust or unkind treatment he may receive. Nothing of this kind will move him from his resolve, will turn him from his high and noble task. Acting under the inspiration of God, and conscious that he is "partaking of the afflictions of Christ," the "bread and water of affliction" will be sweet to his taste. In that day he will "rejoice and be exceeding glad" (Matthew 5:10-12).

V. WHOLLY ATTENTIVE TO THE DIVINE VOICE. "Even what my God saith, that will I speak" (ver. 13). So spoke the faithful witness. One greater far than he described himself as "a Man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God" (John 8:40). What has God said to us that we can tell our brethren? What do we learn of Christ and in his service? What do we read in his Word, by a careful, reverent, and intelligent study of it? What sacred lessons have we gleaned, as his holy providence has led and his Divine discipline has taught and trained us? This, nothing else and nothing less, will we carry to the minds of men, to redeem them from sin, to succour them in sorrow, to prepare them for the burden and battle of life, to make them ready for the time of judgment and the long day of eternity. - C.

There is yet one man, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him.
Jehoshaphat's is the wise and reverent question to ask, amid the illusions of every fashionable opinion, amid all smooth and flattering promises. It marks the devout habit of looking behind the outward show and of searching every matter to its depths in the fear of God. Let us notice the frame of mind revealed in Ahab's reply.

I. Note THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THAT ONE OBDURATE VOICE, rising clearly above the four hundred unanimous in their approval.

1. That is a voice which we hear again and again in our life; we hear it most loudly at special crises of our career.

2. When one solitary voice flatly contradicts the voice of a multitude, and contradicts it on matters of serious moment — which voice are we to believe? Sometimes the question is practically decided, as in Ahab's case, by the mood with which we come to think of the unsilenced prophet. "I hate him."(1) That tribute of hatred sprang from Ahab's conscience. It is the precise method by which weak and cruel men are wont to confess that not the man, but the message has found them out.(2) Notice also Ahab's device for suppressing an unwelcome truth.

II. THIS NARRATIVE SYMBOLISES MAN'S FREQUENT ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE TRUTH. It is a test case.

1. Young men and women starting in life with abundant promise, amid the acclamation of hosts of friends, you may be irritated by perhaps one grim, dissenting voice, critical, dissatisfied, implacable, which sadly challenges the place in this universe to which general opinion reads your title clear. Be very careful how you treat that voice! It may be the voice of an ignorant, envious, churlish man, but, on the other hand, it may be the voice of one who has pierced to the secret of your inner life, and who, if you would only listen, might spare you an idle journey, might rescue you from misery and shame.

2. Again, there are books or teachers whom we have to deal with, and who sadly irritate us, and we say, like Marguerite to Faust, but often, alas, without her simplicity: "Thou art not a Christian." Let us patiently ask: are we really angry in the name of the Lord of hosts? or, are we angry because these books or voices spoil our own theories, wound our prejudices, smile at our favourite catch-words, wither our ideas of success, and are, in the name of the Truth of God, relentless amid our flatterers? Do they simply offend our self-love, and rebuke our calculated prudence? Let us be careful. These books and voices may be wrong; if so, their's the loss and the penalty. But, very often, conscience would tell us there is a possibility that they are right.

3. There is one solemn application of this incident which has, no doubt, occurred to us already. In every human heart disobedient to Christ, impenitent and unreconciled, there is a voice as of Micaiah the son of Imla; but it is really the voice of the Lord Himself, speaking to that heart, amid all its distractions and its earthly pleasures, the message of evil and not of good. And men may come to chafe so angrily under that patient, ever-haunting warning, and appeal, that finally they may cry: "I hate it, I hate it!" If that be so, remember Ahab's doom.

(T. Rhys Evans.)

Close sympathy with his kind, personal lowliness, self-suppression pushed even to pathetic extremes, unshakable loyalty to the teaching of the Spirit of God, and calm indifference to fashionable moods of flattery or disapproval — these are virtues necessary to every religious worker. If he deferentially consults the noble of this world what message he may utter; if he asks the man of affairs, whose difficult lifo reminds him always, not only of Jacob's wrestling, but also of Jacob's subtlety, and who is fiercely tempted to give his vote for a gospel of compromise; if he asks the poor and becomes spokesman, not of their wrongs, but of a maddened despair which does not represent their truer self, he passes from the side of Micaiah to that of the four hundred.

(T. Rhys Evans)

I. THE ESTIMATION IN WHICH HE WAS HELD. "I hate him." Hatred, inveterate and strong, often the reward of fidelity. Am I then become your enemy because I tell you the truth?"

II. THE STAND WHICH HE TAKES (ver. 13).

1. Dependence upon God.

2. Expectation of God's help (Matthew 10:18, 19).

3. Determination to utter God's Word.

III. THE PLEAS URGED TO MOVE FROM THIS STAND.

1. The opinion of the majority.

2. The difficulty of judging who is right.

"Which way went the Spirit of the

Lord from me to thee?"

3. The employment of physical force. (J. Wolfendale.)

I. What an appalling illustration is this of the fact that MEN LOVE TO BE FLATTERED AND ENCOURAGED EVEN AT THE EXPENSE OF EVERYTHING HOLY AND TRUE. "A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so."

II. What a vivid illustration is this of THE SUBLIME FUNCTION OF AN INCORRUPTIBLE TRUTH-TELLER! This is not Micaiah's first appearance before the king. He had established his reputation as a God-fearing and truth-speaking man, and Ahab's denunciation was in reality Micaiah's highest praise.

1. No wicked man should be quite easy in the sanctuary.

2. Do you suppose that it is pleasant for a minister to be always opposing any man?

3. A man is not your enemy because he tells you the truth. Opposition will come.

(J. Parker, D.D.)

As the Turk taunted some Christians at Constantinople, who said that they came thither to suffer for the truth, telling them that they needed not to have come so far for that; for had they but told the truth at home, they could not have missed suffering for it. Telling truth needs not travel far for enmity; enmity will encounter it at home, wheresoever it be. Hence is that definition that Luther made of preaching, "Proedicare nihil eat quam derivare in se furorem," etc. — that to preach, and preach home, as he did, was nothing else but to stir up the furies of hell about their ears.

(J. Spencer.)

Suppose a number of persons were to call on a minister on the Sabbath-day morning, and being admitted into his study, one of them should say to him, "I hope, sir, you do not mean to-day to be severe against avarice, for I love money, and my heart goes after my covetousness." Suppose another should say, "I trust you will not be severe against backbiting, for my tongue walketh with slanderers, and I consider scandal to be the seasoning of all conversation." Suppose another should say, "Do not represent implacability as being inconsistent,, with Divine goodness, for I never did" forgive such an one, and I never will. And so of the rest. What would this minister say to these men? Why, if he were in a proper state of mind he would say, "Oh, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?"

(W. Jay.)

People
Ahab, Amon, Aram, Chenaanah, Imla, Imlah, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Micah, Micaiah, Syrians, Zedekiah
Places
Jerusalem, Ramoth-gilead, Samaria, Syria
Topics
Besides, Directions, Enquire, Inquire, Isn't, Jehoshaphat, Jehosh'aphat, Prophet, Seek, Yet
Outline
1. Jehoshaphat, joined in affinity with Ahab, is persuaded to go against Ramoth Gilead
4. Ahab, seduced by false prophets, according to the word of Micaiah, is slain there

Dictionary of Bible Themes
2 Chronicles 18:1-27

     7774   prophets, false

2 Chronicles 18:5-6

     1175   God, will of

2 Chronicles 18:5-8

     8648   enquiring of God

Library
That the Employing Of, and Associating with the Malignant Party, According as is Contained in the Public Resolutions, is Sinful and Unlawful.
That The Employing Of, And Associating With The Malignant Party, According As Is Contained In The Public Resolutions, Is Sinful And Unlawful. If there be in the land a malignant party of power and policy, and the exceptions contained in the Act of Levy do comprehend but few of that party, then there need be no more difficulty to prove, that the present public resolutions and proceedings do import an association and conjunction with a malignant party, than to gather a conclusion from clear premises.
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Poor in Spirit are Enriched with a Kingdom
Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3 Here is high preferment for the saints. They shall be advanced to a kingdom. There are some who, aspiring after earthly greatness, talk of a temporal reign here, but then God's church on earth would not be militant but triumphant. But sure it is the saints shall reign in a glorious manner: Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.' A kingdom is held the acme and top of all worldly felicity, and this honour have all the saints'; so says our Saviour, Theirs is the
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

He Does Battle for the Faith; He Restores Peace among those who were at Variance; He Takes in Hand to Build a Stone Church.
57. (32). There was a certain clerk in Lismore whose life, as it is said, was good, but his faith not so. He was a man of some knowledge in his own eyes, and dared to say that in the Eucharist there is only a sacrament and not the fact[718] of the sacrament, that is, mere sanctification and not the truth of the Body. On this subject he was often addressed by Malachy in secret, but in vain; and finally he was called before a public assembly, the laity however being excluded, in order that if it were
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

The Assyrian Revival and the Struggle for Syria
Assur-nazir-pal (885-860) and Shalmaneser III. (860-825)--The kingdom of Urartu and its conquering princes: Menuas and Argistis. Assyria was the first to reappear on the scene of action. Less hampered by an ancient past than Egypt and Chaldaea, she was the sooner able to recover her strength after any disastrous crisis, and to assume again the offensive along the whole of her frontier line. Image Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief at Koyunjik of the time of Sennacherib. The initial cut,
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 7

Chronicles
The comparative indifference with which Chronicles is regarded in modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been shared by the ancient Jewish church. Though written by the same hand as wrote Ezra-Nehemiah, and forming, together with these books, a continuous history of Judah, it is placed after them in the Hebrew Bible, of which it forms the concluding book; and this no doubt points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than they. Nor is this unnatural. The book
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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