"They knew not... the voices of the
prophets which are read every sabbath" (Acts 13:27).
"How many times
shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that
which is true in the name of the Lord?" (1 Kings
22:16).
This is a thrilling
story, and it reads like a drama. Micaiah is - so far as
the record goes - a minor of the Minor Prophets, but
quite evidently he was of some serious account in Israel,
even if not very popular. It is something to be noted
that his accountability was because of his unpopularity.
He was evidently taken seriously even if he was in a very
small minority. Among the Prophets of Israel his ratio
was
Four
Hundred to One
That is the first
impressive thing of which to take note. It is possible
for a servant of God, or 'voice' for God, to be just one
over against a disparity of four hundred! But not just
the ratio, but the one to be right and, in the end,
vindicated. So this story shows.
Of course, this does
not mean that singularity is necessarily a virtue, and
that being different from everyone else is inevitably
right. But, given that it is the kind of aloneness of
Micaiah, it can very well be the 'voice' of truth.
Our verse above
contains a suggestion and implication which is quite
enlightening. Said Ahab, to Micaiah: "How many times
shall I adjure thee...?" This, then, is far from the
first time that Micaiah had toyed with Ahab, or taunted
him. The Prophet evidently knew his man. He knew full
well that Ahab was a man who, if he set his heart on
having, or doing, something, he would have it at any
cost, even the cost of principle, or the life of a good
man, as in the case of Naboth and his vineyard. The
deliberate tone of unreality in Micaiah's voice, which
even a selfish and wicked man could not fail to detect,
had provoked Ahab again and again, and made him, in
spite of himself, demand the truth; although
he had no intention of accepting it.
The voice of this
Prophet, in the first place, shows that it is possible to
be so set upon one's own course, and determined to have
one's own way, as to pursue that end against the
knowledge of the truth and all faithful warning and
counsel. Such an attitude has at its very core the seeds
of doom. It is very impressive that this very strength of
self-will became characteristic of Israel in the years
following Ahab and ended in the seventy years of
captivity. Worse still, it was this very thing that led
finally to their being set aside as a nation through the
rejection of Him who was the Truth. Micaiah first played
with Ahab, like a cat with a mouse, and then slew him.
The reason for Ahab's terrible doom? Knowing the truth
but refusing to obey it!
But what of Micaiah?
The four hundred Prophets had tuned in to the popular
strain. The ruling power wanted a certain theme. Policy
demanded alignment. The current vogue required
acquiescence. The day and the hour said that adjustment
to its fashion was essential. Safety and freedom from
trouble said - 'Fall into line'. The four hundred
time-servers and opportunists were only concerned with,
and actuated by, how things would affect their own
interests and prospects. There was, however, the
embarrassing presence of Jehoshaphat who, while he
eventually smothered his better judgment, had a sense
that all this noise and clamour was hollow and lacking in
genuineness. He asked Ahab if there was not another
'voice' that ought to be heard. This put Ahab into a
peevish mood, because Jehoshaphat, by his question, had
brought a discord into the music and a cloud on the gay
horizon. Yes, there was that fellow who had not been
invited to the convocation because - well - he spoke the
unpopular truth. Jehoshaphat insisted that Micaiah should
be fetched, and the messengers sought to persuade him to
play the popular tune, sing the popular song, and to fall
into line. We know what Micaiah replied.
But Micaiah had every
reason to know what would be the consequences of any
failure to comply. He knew Ahab quite well, that he was
not a man to take pleasantly to having his ambitions
thwarted or questioned. Moreover, behind Ahab there was
that evil genius, his wife Jezebel. If Jezebel had
succeeded in making a stalwart like Elijah run for his
very life, Micaiah would suffer no less a fate. He was
already in Ahab's bad books. To oppose him on this
supreme occasion would not make things easier. With his
eyes wide open to consequences, after taunting Ahab, he -
at all costs - said what he knew to be the word of the
Lord. There are more details, as you can see by reading
the story, but the hammer fell and for a time he was in a
prison of discredit, ostracism, privation, and exclusion.
But eventually his word was proved to be the truth. What
Ahab's thoughts were when he was borne away, mortally
wounded, to linger out the miserable day until he died at
sundown, we do not know, but we can guess. We do know
what Jehu did to the four hundred and to Jezebel. From
this we see that if Micaiah had compromised, his fate
would have been very much worse than it was under Ahab.
We come back to our
general object in these messages. Our basic passage in
Acts 13:27 focuses the voices of all the Prophets on
Christ. He is the inclusive, full, and final 'Voice'. How
true He was to the way of all the Prophets, and how true
today! He, as the Truth of God, stood alone,
"despised and rejected of men". He was offered
bribes in the wilderness, and in His last agonies on the
Cross, He refused to "come down" and have an
easier path. "He endured the cross, despising the
shame."
It is the way of all
who have a prophetic anointing which stands against the
accepted and popular current; who really have a
message from God. Not a 'slant', a 'singularity', an
idiosyncrasy, an eccentricity. There are plenty of these.
Micaiah's stand was for reality! This is what
all the Prophets stood for, and if there was one thing
more than another that drew out the white heat of Jesus,
it was unreality, hypocrisy, falsehood, and compromise
with 'the prince of this world', in principle or system.
Unless we are mistaken,
the Spirit of God is forcing the issue of reality in a
very utter and ultimate way in our day. The 'four
hundred' may seem to triumph for a little while; the
Micaiahs may be in an ostracized minority; but reality
will issue triumphant at the end.
So says the 'voice' of
this Prophet.