This is how Micaiah began his prophecy regarding what will happen if Ahab goes to battle: "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, 'These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.'" (1 Kings 22:17, 2 Chronicles 18:16) In this vision the army of Israel is depicted as being scattered on the hills without their commander-in-chief: they are the sheep and the missing shepherd is Ahab. Ahab recognized the prophecy for what it is---a prediction of his death---and he complained to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?" (1 Kings 22:18, 2 Chronicles 18:17)
Ahab seems to believe Micaiah always prophesies bad things about him due to the animosity between the two men. It doesn't appear to occur to Ahab to take the prophecies seriously. If Micaiah is the unnamed prophet from Chapter 21 who already predicted Ahab's impending doom, then it's clear Ahab gave the prophet's words no attention before and it's unlikely he will take the prophet's words to heart now. The remainder of the prophecy is extremely ominous and it's something no man who values his life would dare to speak unless it were true. The Lord warned the Israelites that anyone who speaks a message in His name that He did not speak is worthy of death (Deuteronomy 18:20), plus anyone who speaks an unwelcome message to a wicked king like Ahab is in danger of having his life taken from him.
"Micaiah continued, 'Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around Him on His right and on His left. And the Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?' One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, 'I will entice him.' 'By what means?' the Lord asked. 'I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said. 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the Lord. 'Go and do it.' So now the Lord has put a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The Lord has decreed disaster for you.'" (1 Kings 22:19-23, 2 Chronicles 18:18-22)
What is going on in Micaiah's vision? Why is there a deceiving spirit in the Lord's presence? Why is the Lord allowing this spirit to put false words in the mouths of Ahab's prophets?
I'll tell you what I believe is going on here and I'll encourage you to do further research on the subject if you're interested in doing so. But a clue as to what is happening here can be found in the book of Job, on which we've done a previous study. In the book of Job we learned that the Lord periodically calls both the faithful angels and the fallen angels into His presence to give an account of what they've been doing. When asked to give his account, Satan announced that he'd been roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it. (Job 1:6-7) I assume Satan was doing what the Apostle Peter said he spent his time doing: prowling the earth like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8) So we see that even though Satan rebelled against God, and even though a third of the angels followed Satan in his rebellion (Revelation 12:4), and even though this wicked group of angels no longer has continual access to the Lord's throne room in heaven, they are compelled to appear before Him when He calls. The Lord created the angels and He still has control over them; they must do His bidding.
I want to pause for a moment to point out that Satan is not the Lord's counterpart, though we often see this adversary depicted as the Lord's rival. We see the two of them depicted as if they are locked in a struggle between good and evil. But the Lord and Satan are in no way equals and are in no way evenly matched! The power of the Creator is greater than all created things put together and the victory of good over evil is a foregone conclusion. But what's happening here is, in my opinion, the Lord's ability to use everything He created in His plan. Satan may believe he's his own man, so to speak, but nothing he or any other fallen angel does actually falls outside of God's plan. Nothing any human being does falls outside of God's plan. In today's text we find the Lord allowing a fallen angel to do what a fallen angel likes to do: causing destruction. The Lord is allowing this to happen because it is His will for King Ahab to be removed from the earth.
Some scholars think that Micaiah's reference to seeing the hosts of heaven standing on the right hand of the Lord and standing on the left hand of the Lord means he saw both the faithful angels and the fallen angels. Being at someone's right hand is an ancient symbol of being in a place of honor; therefore the angels standing on the Lord's right side would be the angels who have never disobeyed Him and the angels standing on His left side would be those who disobeyed Him. We still use an expression today for a person who is trustworthy and reliable by calling him the "right hand man". So I think that when the Lord asked for a volunteer to put deceptive words in the mouths of Ahab's prophets, He knew no one from the group at His right would do such a thing, but He also knew at least one from the group on His left would be eager to send a man to his death. After all, the Lord Jesus said of Satan in His parable of the shepherd and the sheep: Satan (represented as a thief) comes to "steal and kill and destroy". (John 10:10a) Stealing, killing, and destroying are what we find Satan doing in the book of Job because this is what Satan loves to do. Satan was only able to interfere in Job's life with the Lord's permission, so we see that the devil is not in command of himself in the way he thinks he is. Here in our study of the kings we find the group of fallen angels unable to act unless the Lord allows them to act. In allowing one of them to affect Ahab's prophets (who are wicked men who are easily influenced to do wrong) the Lord is using the fallen angel to accomplish one of His purposes on the earth.
We don't understand everything the Lord allows to happen in this world but we know nothing happens outside of His control. We will find something bad happening to King Ahab because he's a bad person but there are occasions in the Bible where bad things happen to good people too, such as in the case of Job. In our own lives we've had bad things happen to us because of our own bad choices but we've also had bad things happen to us while we're living in the Lord's will. We won't be able to see and understand the Lord's plan until we are in His presence someday, and although we've had unpleasant things happen to us in this world, when we see His plan in its entirety from His perspective I believe we will understand the purpose for every single thing that ever happened in this life on earth.
In tomorrow's study Micaiah will be ignored and ill-treated for telling the truth. Ahab will ignore his warning and go to war anyway, resulting in the prophecy against him coming true.
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