Scripture Daily

Context No. 472 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 18:21-26: in context

21“He said, ‘I will go, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ “He said, ‘You will entice him, and will prevail also. Go and do so.’ 22“Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets; and the LORD has spoken evil concerning you.” 23Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the LORD’s Spirit go from me to speak to you?” 24Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day, when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.” 25The king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son; 26and say, ‘The king says, “Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace.”’”

This is the aftermath of the prophet Micaiah telling King Ahab the truth. Ahab's four hundred court prophets had all promised him victory, but Micaiah alone declared that Ahab would fall in the coming battle, and that God had allowed a lying spirit into the mouths of the flattering prophets. And for telling that unwelcome truth, Micaiah pays immediately. Zedekiah, the leader of the false prophets, walks up and slaps him across the face, sneering, which way did the Spirit of the LORD go when it left me to speak to you? And Ahab, unwilling to hear it, orders Micaiah thrown in prison and fed nothing but the bread and water of affliction until the king returns safely from the war.

Notice what telling the truth costs Micaiah, and what it costs the liars. Zedekiah, the flatterer who told the king exactly what he wanted, is comfortable, respected, and free. Micaiah, who told the truth, is struck in the face and locked up on prison rations. In the short term, the flatterer prospers and the truth-teller suffers, and that is exactly how it usually looks in the moment. But watch what Micaiah does under that pressure. He does not trim his message to buy his freedom. Elsewhere he stakes everything on it, telling the king that if you return in peace at all, then the LORD has not spoken through me. He is willing to be imprisoned, and to hang his entire credibility on whether the hard word he spoke comes true, rather than adjust it to what the king wanted. And it does come true; Ahab dies in the battle, and Micaiah is vindicated, though the text leaves him in prison as the story moves on.

That poses a hard question about my own courage. Telling an unwelcome truth to someone with the power to punish me for it, a boss, an authority, a crowd, is costly, and the flatterer beside me who says the comfortable thing will often look freer and more rewarded in the moment. Would I do what Micaiah did, tell the truth even when it earns me a slap and a cell, and stake my integrity on the truth being true, or would I trim my words like Zedekiah to stay comfortable and in favor with whoever holds the power?

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