Context No. 2715 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 18:1-5: in context

1Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance; and he allied himself with Ahab. 2After some years, he went down to Ahab to Samaria. Ahab killed sheep and cattle for him in abundance, and for the people who were with him, and moved him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead. 3Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth Gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, and my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.” 4Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire first for the LORD’s word.” 5Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?” They said, “Go up, for God will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

Jehoshaphat is a good king, rich in honor, but he marries into the house of Ahab and gets pulled toward Ahab's war at Ramoth Gilead. To his credit, before he commits his army he says the right thing: please inquire first for the word of the LORD.

So Ahab gathers four hundred prophets, and they answer in one voice exactly what he wants to hear: go up, God will give it into your hand. Jehoshaphat's instinct was sound, but asking for God's word is not the same as wanting it. He is now entangled with Ahab, and a chorus of four hundred agreeable voices can easily drown out the one true one. He will have to ask again, is there not still a prophet of the LORD here, because the size of the agreement told him nothing about the truth of it.

When I seek guidance, do I want God's actual word, or a crowd that will confirm what I have already decided to do?

Sources

2 Chronicles 18:13: "As the LORD lives, what my God says, that will I speak."
Jeremiah 23:16: "Don't listen to the words of the prophets... They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD."
1 John 4:1: "Don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God."