Context No. 955 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 18:6-10: in context

6But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we may inquire of him?” 7The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil. He is Micaiah the son of Imla.” Jehoshaphat said, “Don’t let the king say so.” 8Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, “Get Micaiah the son of Imla quickly.” 9Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah each sat on his throne, arrayed in their robes, and they were sitting in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 10Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made himself horns of iron and said, “The LORD says, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians, until they are consumed.’”

Two kings, Jehoshaphat of Judah and Ahab of Israel, are deciding whether to go to war, and four hundred prophets have already promised victory. But Jehoshaphat is uneasy and asks, is there not a prophet of the LORD here we can ask? Ahab's answer is revealing: there is one more, Micaiah, but I hate him, because he never prophesies anything good about me, only evil. Jehoshaphat gently rebukes him. While Micaiah is summoned, the two kings sit in their robes on their thrones, and a prophet named Zedekiah puts on a show, making iron horns and declaring, with these you will gore the Syrians until they are finished.

Ahab's sentence is one of the most honest and damning in scripture: I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil. He has reduced the whole question of true and false prophecy to whether the message flatters him. Micaiah's problem, in Ahab's mind, is not that he is wrong but that he is discouraging, and Ahab has surrounded himself with four hundred voices precisely because they say what he wants. It is a portrait of a man who has arranged his entire information supply to confirm him, and who resents the one person who will tell him the truth. Notice too the theater of the false prophets, Zedekiah with his iron horns, a dramatic prop and a confident slogan, everything a person wants their advisors to be, vivid and encouraging and completely wrong. The truth, when it comes, will be plain and unwelcome and from a man the king already admits he hates for telling it.

Have I arranged the voices around me to tell me what I want, and do I quietly hate the one person willing to tell me what I need?

Sources

2 Chronicles 18:7: I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil
Proverbs 27:6: faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful
2 Timothy 4:3: they will accumulate teachers to suit their own passions, having itching ears