Examining what you Hear

 Read 1 Kings 22. 

This is a rare account when the king of Israel and the king of Judah sat down peaceably and planned anything together.  The question at hand was whether to go to war against Syria.  All of Ahab's prophets immediately supported the king's desire to go to war.  But Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, was a godly man and realized that something was not right.  They summoned Micaiah. 

Micaiah was not like the hired prophets of Ahab at all.  He declared, "As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak" (v.14).  This true prophet of God revealed the nature of false prophets.  They "entice" (vv.20-22) the hearers who pay them for what they want to hear, not what God's word says.  Therefore, they are lying when they speak (v.22).  The words sound good to the undiscerning, but they are empty concerning what God wants done.  They become socially acceptable but repugnant to the LORD. 

As Micaiah was led away to prison for telling the truth, he delivered a prophetic word concerning Ahab.  The certainty of the prophecy was that Ahab would not return from the battle in peace.  Indeed, Ahab died as a result of a so-called random arrow that hit the one person in just the right place to fulfill the prophecy.  This was no coincidence.  God took care of the pouting, evil king and fulfilled the original gruesome prophecy of his death in 1 Kings 21:24. 

Just because someone has a religious position or says they know what God wants does not make it so.  Gratefully, today we have God’s word written down for us in the Bible.  There have always been false prophets who do not know the LORD, or His word, and only go through the motions of their religion.  When the Apostle Paul preached in Berea, the people who heard him even checked his message against the Scriptures to see if it was truthful.  

"...they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." (Acts 17:11)