1 Kings 22:24-28 – The need to discern the truth

Micaiah’s words affected the professional prophets of Ahab, especially Zedekiah who was probably the leader of the pack. It could well be that he was threatened by Micaiah’s genuine ministry. Isn’t this what would happen when a person knows that his own ministry is spurious?  He would always be afraid that someone would come to expose his falsehood. That explains why he did what he did in 1 King 22:24. He approached Micaiah and struck him on the cheek saying, “How did the Spirit of the Lord pass from me to speak to you?” He was subtly insinuating that Micaiah’s words were not from the Lord. His aim was to intimidate the latter, but what he did was pointless.

Instead of being intimidated, Micaiah was even more emboldened. He responded to him challengingly, saying in 1 Kings 22:25, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you enter an inner room to hide yourself.”  What he meant was that there would be no room where he could hide when the truth of what he had said came true. Micaiah was so certain that he was speaking on behalf of Yahweh. He was confident that God would bring his prophetic words to pass.

At this point, King Ahab commanded that Micaiah be handed to Ammon, the governor of the city, and Joash, one of his own sons for incarceration. He was to be fed sparingly with water and bread only. So Micaiah was to be thrown into prison till Ahab’s return. He presumed that he would succeed in his expedition and return safely. Before he was dragged to prison, Micaiah probably hollered out loudly saying, “If you indeed return safely the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Listen, all you people.”

The church today is also filled with preachers asserting that they are preaching the truth. Of course most of them are. And we can be confident that what God has said will always come to pass. However, there is still a need for us to prayerfully discern every message that we hear so that we will not fall prey to a false prophet and his message. None of us wants to fall hook, line, and sinker to a false message. So be sure to check every message we hear with the Word of God. Be like the Bereans. In Acts 17:11, we are told that after they had heard Paul’s preaching, “…they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.”