1 Kings 22:14
But Micaiah said, "As surely as the LORD lives, I will speak whatever the LORD tells me."
But Micaiah said
Micaiah, whose name means "Who is like Yahweh?" in Hebrew, stands as a prophet of God during a time when false prophets were prevalent. His introduction here is significant, as it sets him apart from the other prophets who were willing to tell King Ahab what he wanted to hear. Micaiah's role is crucial in demonstrating the courage and integrity required to speak God's truth, regardless of the consequences. Historically, prophets like Micaiah were often marginalized or persecuted for their unwavering commitment to God's message.

As surely as the LORD lives
This phrase is a solemn oath, invoking the living God as a witness to the truth of Micaiah's words. The Hebrew word for "LORD" here is "Yahweh," the covenant name of God, emphasizing His eternal and unchanging nature. This declaration underscores the seriousness and sincerity of Micaiah's commitment to speak only what God reveals. In the ancient Near Eastern context, oaths were binding and sacred, and invoking the name of Yahweh added a profound weight to Micaiah's promise.

I will speak
Micaiah's resolve to speak indicates his role as a mouthpiece for God. The Hebrew verb used here conveys a sense of determination and purpose. In a time when many prophets were swayed by political pressures, Micaiah's commitment to speak God's word highlights the prophetic calling to be a conduit of divine truth, regardless of personal risk or opposition.

whatever the LORD tells me
This phrase emphasizes Micaiah's submission to divine authority. The Hebrew root for "tells" suggests a direct communication from God, reinforcing the idea that true prophecy is not born of human imagination but is a revelation from God. Micaiah's statement reflects the biblical principle that God's word is supreme and must be delivered faithfully. In the broader scriptural context, this aligns with the prophetic tradition of receiving and conveying God's messages without alteration or compromise.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Micaiah
A prophet of the LORD who is known for his commitment to speaking God's truth, regardless of the consequences.

2. King Ahab
The king of Israel, known for his wickedness and idolatry, who seeks counsel from prophets before going to battle.

3. Jehoshaphat
The king of Judah, who allies with Ahab and insists on seeking a true prophet of the LORD.

4. Ramoth-gilead
The location of the battle that Ahab and Jehoshaphat are preparing to engage in against the Arameans.

5. Prophets of Ahab
A group of prophets who falsely assure Ahab of victory, contrasting with Micaiah's commitment to truth.
Teaching Points
Commitment to Truth
Micaiah's example teaches us the importance of unwavering commitment to God's truth, even when it is unpopular or dangerous.

Courage in the Face of Opposition
Micaiah demonstrates the courage required to stand firm in faith, encouraging believers to trust in God's protection and provision.

Discernment in Seeking Counsel
The contrast between Micaiah and Ahab's prophets underscores the need for discernment in seeking and heeding godly counsel.

Faithfulness Over Favor
Micaiah's account reminds us that faithfulness to God should take precedence over seeking favor or approval from others.

The Power of God's Word
Micaiah's reliance on God's word highlights its power and authority, encouraging believers to prioritize Scripture in their lives.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Micaiah's commitment to speaking only what the LORD tells him challenge us in our daily lives?

2. In what ways can we demonstrate courage like Micaiah when faced with pressure to conform to worldly standards?

3. How can we discern between true and false counsel in our spiritual journey, as illustrated by the contrast between Micaiah and Ahab's prophets?

4. What are some practical steps we can take to prioritize faithfulness to God over seeking approval from others?

5. How does the power and authority of God's word, as demonstrated by Micaiah, influence our approach to reading and applying Scripture in our lives?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Jeremiah 1:7-9
This passage highlights the calling of Jeremiah, emphasizing the importance of speaking God's words, similar to Micaiah's commitment.

Acts 5:29
Peter and the apostles declare their intention to obey God rather than men, reflecting Micaiah's resolve to speak only what the LORD tells him.

Matthew 10:19-20
Jesus instructs His disciples not to worry about what to say when they are brought before authorities, for the Spirit will speak through them, akin to Micaiah's reliance on God's message.
Crime Brings its Own PunishmentJ. Urquhart 1 Kings 22:1-28
Character of JehoshaphatR. S. Candlish, D. D.1 Kings 22:2-50
The Character of AhabR. S. Candlish, D. D.1 Kings 22:2-50
The False and the TrueJ.A. Macdonald 1 Kings 22:9-14
Enmity to TruthHomiletic Magazine1 Kings 22:13-14
Prophets of Smooth SpeechJ. J. Ingram.1 Kings 22:13-14
Resisting Conviction1 Kings 22:13-14
People
Ahab, Ahaziah, Amon, Aram, Asa, Azubah, Chenaanah, David, Geber, Imlah, Jehoram, Jehoshaphat, Jeroboam, Joash, Micah, Micaiah, Nebat, Ophir, Shilhi, Sodomites, Syrians, Tarshish, Tharshish, Zedekiah
Places
Edom, Ezion-geber, Jerusalem, Ophir, Ramoth-gilead, Samaria, Syria, Tarshish
Topics
Micah, Micaiah, Micai'ah, Says, Speak, Surely, Tells, Whatever
Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Kings 22:14

     1412   foreknowledge

1 Kings 22:1-28

     7774   prophets, false

1 Kings 22:1-38

     8131   guidance, results

1 Kings 22:10-28

     1469   visions

1 Kings 22:12-14

     7778   school of prophets

1 Kings 22:12-23

     8129   guidance, examples

1 Kings 22:13-14

     5811   compromise

Library
Unpossessed Possessions
'And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?'--1 KINGS xxii. 3. This city of Ramoth in Gilead was an important fortified place on the eastern side of the Jordan, and had, many years before the date of our text, been captured by its northern neighbours in the kingdom of Syria. A treaty had subsequently been concluded and broken a war followed thereafter, in which Ben-hadad, King of Syria,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Ahab and Micaiah
'And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him? 8. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.'--1 KINGS xxii. 7,8. An ill-omened alliance had been struck up between Ahab of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah. The latter, who would have been much better in Jerusalem, had come down to Samaria
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Poetical Books (Including Also Ecclesiastes and Canticles).
1. The Hebrews reckon but three books as poetical, namely: Job, Psalms, and Proverbs, which are distinguished from the rest by a stricter rhythm--the rhythm not of feet, but of clauses (see below, No. 3)--and a peculiar system of accentuation. It is obvious to every reader that the poetry of the Old Testament, in the usual sense of the word, is not restricted to these three books. But they are called poetical in a special and technical sense. In any natural classification of the books of the
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

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

Use to be Made of the Doctrine of Providence.
Sections. 1. Summary of the doctrine of Divine Providence. 1. It embraces the future and the past. 2. It works by means, without means, and against means. 3. Mankind, and particularly the Church, the object of special care. 4. The mode of administration usually secret, but always just. This last point more fully considered. 2. The profane denial that the world is governed by the secret counsel of God, refuted by passages of Scripture. Salutary counsel. 3. This doctrine, as to the secret counsel of
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

The Shepherd of Our Souls.
"I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep."--John x. 11. Our Lord here appropriates to Himself the title under which He had been foretold by the Prophets. "David My servant shall be king over them," says Almighty God by the mouth of Ezekiel: "and they all shall have one Shepherd." And in the book of Zechariah, "Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts; smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered."
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Of Councils and their Authority.
1. The true nature of Councils. 2. Whence the authority of Councils is derived. What meant by assembling in the name of Christ. 3. Objection, that no truth remains in the Church if it be not in Pastors and Councils. Answer, showing by passages from the Old Testament that Pastors were often devoid of the spirit of knowledge and truth. 4. Passages from the New Testament showing that our times were to be subject to the same evil. This confirmed by the example of almost all ages. 5. All not Pastors who
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

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

Of Passages from the Holy Scriptures, and from the Apocrypha, which are Quoted, or Incidentally Illustrated, in the Institutes.
TO THE AUTHORS QUOTED IN THE INSTITUTES PREFATORY ADDRESS TO HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY, THE MOST MIGHTY AND ILLUSTRIOUS MONARCH, FRANCIS, KING OF THE FRENCH, HIS SOVEREIGN; [1] JOHN CALVIN PRAYS PEACE AND SALVATION IN CHRIST. [2] Sire,--When I first engaged in this work, nothing was farther from my thoughts than to write what should afterwards be presented to your Majesty. My intention was only to furnish a kind of rudiments, by which those who feel some interest in religion might be trained to
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

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

Sovereignty of God in Administration
"The LORD hath prepared His Throne In the heavens; and His Kingdom ruleth over all" (Psa. 103:19). First, a word concerning the need for God to govern the material world. Suppose the opposite for a moment. For the sake of argument, let us say that God created the world, designed and fixed certain laws (which men term "the laws of Nature"), and that He then withdrew, leaving the world to its fortune and the out-working of these laws. In such a case, we should have a world over which there was no intelligent,
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God

Tit. 2:06 Thoughts for Young Men
WHEN St. Paul wrote his Epistle to Titus about his duty as a minister, he mentioned young men as a class requiring peculiar attention. After speaking of aged men and aged women, and young women, he adds this pithy advice, "Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded" (Tit. 2:6). I am going to follow the Apostle's advice. I propose to offer a few words of friendly exhortation to young men. I am growing old myself, but there are few things I remember so well as the days of my youth. I have a most
John Charles Ryle—The Upper Room: Being a Few Truths for the Times

General Principles of Interpretation. 1 Since the Bible Addresses Men in Human Language...
CHAPTER XXXIV. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. 1. Since the Bible addresses men in human language, and according to human modes of thinking and speaking, the interpreter's first work is to ascertain the meaning of the terms employed. Here he must proceed as in the case of other writings, seeking by the aid of grammars, lexicons, cognate languages, ancient versions, ancient interpreters, and whatever other outward helps are available, to gain a thorough knowledge of the language employed by
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Figurative Language of Scripture.
1. When the psalmist says: "The Lord God is a sun and shield" (Psa. 84:11), he means that God is to all his creatures the source of life and blessedness, and their almighty protector; but this meaning he conveys under the figure of a sun and a shield. When, again, the apostle James says that Moses is read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day (Acts 15:21), he signifies the writings of Moses under the figure of his name. In these examples the figure lies in particular words. But it may be embodied
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Instruction for the Ignorant:
BEING A SALVE TO CURE THAT GREAT WANT OF KNOWLEDGE, WHICH SO MUCH REIGNS BOTH IN YOUNG AND OLD. PREPARED AND PRESENTED TO THEM IN A PLAIN AND EASY DIALOGUE, FITTED TO THE CAPACITY OF THE WEAKEST. 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'--Hosea 4:6 ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This little catechism is upon a plan perfectly new and unique. It was first published as a pocket volume in 1675, and has been republished in every collection of the author's works; and recently in a separate tract.
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.),
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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