HAB AND Jehoshaphat decided to go up against Ramoth-Gilead. Then they called in the prophets to get the word of the Lord on the matter. Thus they reversed the true order just as Chris tians do today who decide what to do and then ask God to bless it instead of first asking God what to do. Four hundred prophets gathered, for what preacher would miss an opportunity to speak before two kings at the same time? But these sycophants, these hirelings of Jezebel, were extremely monotonous; they all said, “Go up: for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.” These time-serving politicians said what they were told to say and it must have been wearisome to Jehoshaphat. He asked, “Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, besides, that we might inquire of him?” Any time that four hundred preachers agree, something is sure to be wrong! Jehoshaphat sensed it and won dered if there was an “odd number.” There was. Ahab said, “There is yet one man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concern ing me, but evil.” And therein lies the eternal distinc tion of Micaiah. Thank God, no matter how dark the times, there is always “yet one man,” Moses, Gideon, Elijah, John the Baptist, Savonarola, Luther, Knox— there is always “yet one man.” And Ahab always hates him. It is an honor to be hated by some people. No prophet can be true to God and stand in with Ahab at the same time. Why did Ahab hate Micaiah? “He doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” Let this forever silence these optimists who, are trying to keep up with the trends, pulpit Pollyannas painting the clouds with sun shine. Micaiah could have feathered his nest and fared well if he had danced to Jezebel’s fiddle. At least he could have kept silent in an evil time. If you don’t like the times, you don’t have to cry out against them. Any way it isn’t good psychology to declare that the days are evil. “There’s so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us . . .” you know how it goes. Why didn’t Micaiah just pray for Ahab instead of prophesying evil? Well, he lived before our era of sweetness and light when prophets have learned to catch the spirit of the times instead of condemning it. We’ve learned to be “wise guys” in these days, find which way the wind is blowing and set our sails to catch the breeze. Micaiah wasn’t “on his toes,” but he had been on his knees. And that man who has been on his knees knows how to stand on his feet. He hadn’t read some textbooks on positive preaching, so he was a negativist. He prophe sied evil . . . too bad. The four hundred prophets were positive boys, they looked on the bright side. But, strangely enough, nobody remembers them . . . and we are still writing about Micaiah! While Micaiah, who was probably In jail, was being sent for, one of the false prophets, Zedekiah, added a dramatic flourish. He had equipped himself with horns of iron and with these he livened the proceedings with a bit of the theatric: “Thus saith the Lord, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.” It was bad enough to be a false prophet, but he adds to that being a ham actor, and on top of it all, he drags in the name of God Himself. There are no limits to which a pawn of Jezebel will not go. And in this Hollywood era, you need not be surprised that many a Zedekiah with no word from heaven turns showman SEPTEMBER, 1947
and makes a stage of the pulpit. The less a preacher knows of God, the more tricks he has to think up to please a jaded audience with itching ears. The officer who went after Micaiah could not under stand why he insisted on being an odd number. “All the other prophets declare good to the king with one mouth. Why don’t you make it unanimous? What is it getting you, this policy of being the exception to the rule? You can t expect promotion in your profession if you insist on preaching hard times while all the other preachers are singing ‘Happy Days Are Here Again’.” Well, the centuries have passed and Micaiahs are still a puzzle to the success boys who believe you just mustn't tell the king the truth. And they never learn from history. They would have Luther play up to the Diet and Knox stand in with the Queen. Nor do they go farther back and learn from the Bible. They might gather a few pointers from Moses before Pharaoh, Nathan before David, Elijah and Ahab, John the Baptist and Herod. But success boys never learn anything until they are reborn, and made over, and join the immortals like Paul, who asked, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” To the suggestion of the officer, Micaiah made the reply that has always been linked with his name and fame: “As the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.” Here is a man who gets his orders from headquarters. He would never have put first the favor of some ecclesiastical overlord as his hope of pro motion. He would have agreed with the Psalmist that promotion cometh neither from east, west, north or south, but God is the Judge who puts down one and sets up another. His first loyalty would never have been merely to some religious program. If two kings could not faze him, what difference would “those who seem to be pillars” make on his decisions? God give us more of his sort! When he arrived before the kingly court, Micaiah started off with irony; he said the same thing the four hundred had chanted: “Go, and prosper.” Irony is a lost weapon in the pulpit today. Ahab was not slow to1 catch on; he demanded the truth and got it! Micaiah told Ahab of his doom. Then he called the false prophets liars. He put it in the form of two visions, but anybody with his ears half open would have no trouble getting the application. It was not the clever device often used to say something and still leave everybody blissfully un conscious of what you meant. Micaiah was not that kind of pulpiteer. He could have missed a term in jail by doing that, but jails "have been the habitat of some of the world’s greatest souls. It is conceivable that even today a Macaiah may come to the same end. Zedekiah, the dramatic, resented being called a liar. He struck Micaiah on the cheek and asked, "Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?” Micaiah’s answer was a center shot, and a classic in repartee: “Thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to bide thyself.” Of course, it ended in the bread and water of affliction for Micaiah. But he delivered his soul. A man like that can stand to live with himself even if it is in jail. Bet ter be in prison with a clear conscience like Micaiah than creeping around with Zedekiah trying to hide not only from foes without, but from your own craven, cowardly soul. Micaiah, the Odd Number! “There is yet one man” ! PAGE SEVENTEEN
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