Reference: Micaiah
American
1. A faithful and fearless prophet, consulted by King Ahab at the demand of Jehoshaphat as to the issue of their proposed campaign against the Syrians. He was imprisoned to abide the event, which coincided with his predictions and probably secured his release, 1Ki 22:8-38. Ahab's conduct in this matter displays the amazing folly of sins against light.
2. A prince of Judah, who seconded the efforts of Jehoshaphat to instruct and reform the people of Judah, 2Ki 17:7-9.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man who can ask the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied. So the king of Israel called an officer and said, "Hurry [and get] Micaiah son of Imlah!" read more. Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor at the entrance to Samaria's gate, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them. Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns and said, "This is what the Lord says: 'You will gore the Arameans with these until they are finished off.' " And all the prophets were prophesying the same: "March up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king." The messenger who went to call Micaiah instructed him, "Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable for the king. So let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably." But Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives, I will say whatever the Lord says to me." So he went to the king, and the king asked him, "Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should we refrain?" Micaiah told him, "March up and succeed. The Lord will hand it over to the king." But the king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord?" So Micaiah said: I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, 'They have no master; let everyone return home in peace.' So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster?" Then Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and the whole heavenly host was standing by Him at His right hand and at His left hand. And the Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' So one was saying this and another was saying that. "Then a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord, and said, 'I will entice him.' "The Lord asked him, 'How?' "He said, 'I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' "Then He said, 'You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.' "You see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you." Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up, hit Micaiah in the face, and demanded, "Did the Spirit of the Lord leave me to speak to you?" Micaiah replied, "You will soon see when you go to hide yourself in an inner chamber on that day." Then the king of Israel ordered, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, and say, 'This is what the king says: Put this guy in prison and feed him only bread and water until I come back safely.' " But Micaiah said, "If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me." Then he said, "Listen, all you people!" Then the king of Israel and Judah's King Jehoshaphat went up to Ramoth-gilead. But the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal attire." So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. Now the king of Aram had ordered his 32 chariot commanders, "Do not fight with anyone at all except the king of Israel." When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they shouted, "He must be the king of Israel!" So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. But a man drew his bow without taking special aim and struck the king of Israel through the joints of his armor. So he said to his charioteer, "Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!" The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. He died that evening, and blood from his wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot. Then the cry rang out in the army as the sun set, declaring: Each man to his own city, and each man to his own land! So the king died and was brought to Samaria. They buried the king in Samaria. Then someone washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria. The dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes bathed [in it], according to the word of the Lord that He had spoken.
[This disaster] happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt and because they had worshiped other gods. They had lived according to the customs of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites and the customs the kings of Israel had introduced. read more. The Israelites secretly did what was not right against the Lord their God. They built high places in all their towns from watchtower to fortified city.
Easton
who is like Jehovah?, the son of Imlah, a faithful prophet of Samaria (1Ki 22:8-28). Three years after the great battle with Ben-hadad (1Ki 20:29-34), Ahab proposed to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, that they should go up against Ramoth-Gilead to do battle again with Ben-hadad. Jehoshaphat agreed, but suggested that inquiry should be first made "at the word of Jehovah." Ahab's prophets approved of the expedition; but Jehoshaphat, still dissatisfied, asked if there was no other prophet besides the four hundred that had appeared, and was informed of this Micaiah. He was sent for from prison, where he had been confined, probably on account of some prediction disagreeable to Ahab; and he condemned the expedition, and prophesied that it would end, as it did, in disaster. We hear nothing further of this prophet. Some have supposed that he was the unnamed prophet referred to in 1Ki 20:35-42.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
They camped opposite each other for seven days. On the seventh day, the battle took place, and the Israelites struck down the Arameans-100,000 foot soldiers in one day. The ones who remained fled into the city of Aphek, and the wall fell on those 27,000 remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled and went into an inner room in the city. read more. His servants said to him, "Consider this: we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings [who show] special kindness. So let's put sackcloth around our waists and ropes around our heads, and let's go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life." So they dressed with sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, went to the king of Israel, and said, "Your servant Ben-hadad says, 'Please spare my life.' " So he said, "Is he still alive? He is my brother." Now the men were looking for a sign of hope, so they quickly latched onto the hint and said, "Yes, your brother Ben-hadad." Then he said, "Go and bring him." So Ben-hadad came out to him, and Ahab had him come up into the chariot. Then Ben-hadad said to him, "The cities that my father took from your father I restore to you, and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus, like my father set up in Samaria." [Ahab responded],"On the basis of this treaty, I release you." So he made a treaty with him and released him. One of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow prophet by the word of the Lord, "Strike me!" But the man refused to strike him. He told him, "Because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord, mark my words: When you leave me, a lion will kill you." When he left him, a lion found him and killed him. The prophet found another man and said to him, "Strike me!" So the man struck him, inflicting a wound. Then the prophet went and waited for the king on the road. He disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. As the king was passing by, he cried out to the king and said, "Your servant marched out into the midst of the battle. Suddenly, a man turned aside and brought someone to me and said, 'Guard this man! If he is ever missing, it will be your life in place of his life, or you will weigh out 75 pounds of silver.' But while your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared." The king of Israel said to him, "That will be your sentence; you yourself have decided it." He quickly removed the bandage from his eyes. The king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets. The prophet said to him, "This is what the Lord says: 'Because you released from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, it will be your life in place of his life and your people in place of his people.' "
The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man who can ask the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied. So the king of Israel called an officer and said, "Hurry [and get] Micaiah son of Imlah!" read more. Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor at the entrance to Samaria's gate, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them. Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns and said, "This is what the Lord says: 'You will gore the Arameans with these until they are finished off.' " And all the prophets were prophesying the same: "March up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king." The messenger who went to call Micaiah instructed him, "Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable for the king. So let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably." But Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives, I will say whatever the Lord says to me." So he went to the king, and the king asked him, "Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should we refrain?" Micaiah told him, "March up and succeed. The Lord will hand it over to the king." But the king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord?" So Micaiah said: I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, 'They have no master; let everyone return home in peace.' So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster?" Then Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and the whole heavenly host was standing by Him at His right hand and at His left hand. And the Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' So one was saying this and another was saying that. "Then a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord, and said, 'I will entice him.' "The Lord asked him, 'How?' "He said, 'I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' "Then He said, 'You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.' "You see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you." Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up, hit Micaiah in the face, and demanded, "Did the Spirit of the Lord leave me to speak to you?" Micaiah replied, "You will soon see when you go to hide yourself in an inner chamber on that day." Then the king of Israel ordered, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, and say, 'This is what the king says: Put this guy in prison and feed him only bread and water until I come back safely.' " But Micaiah said, "If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me." Then he said, "Listen, all you people!"
Fausets
MICAIAH or MICHAIAH. Son of Imlah (1Ki 22:8). Consulted by Ahab at Jehoshaphat's request when undertaking the joint expedition against Ramoth Gilead, which Benhadad had engaged to restore (1Ki 20:34). The 400 prophets whom Ahab gathered together to "inquire the word of Jehovah" (1Ki 22:5) were prophets of Jeroboam's symbolic calf worship of Jehovah not of Baal. (See JEROBOAM.) Jehoshaphat begged for some "prophet of Jehovah besides," unconnected with the calf symbolism forbidden by the second commandment. Ahab mentioned Micaiah, adding "I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me but evil" (compare 1Ki 21:20; Jer 36:28).
Ahab had Micaiah already in prison, as 1Ki 22:26 implies, "carry him back ... prison." Josephus (Ant. 8:15, sec. 6) says that it was Micaiah who predicted ("in the word of Jehovah," Hag 1:13) death by a lion to the neighbor who would not smite him, and who, disguised with ashes, under the parable of one letting go a prisoner entrusted to him made Ahab in his hour of triumph, when the mortification would be the greater, condemn himself out of his own mouth, to lose his life for letting Benhadad escape (1Ki 20:35-43). Zedekiah, one of the 400, at the gate of Samaria where the two kings sat in state, symbolically putting horns or iron spikes on his head, foretold the transfer of Ephraim's blessing (De 33:17) to Ahab; "with the horns of the buffalo (or wild ox, reem) he shall push the people."
So all the rest said, "go up and prosper." Micaiah, though prompted to imitate their prophecies of good, would say only what Jehovah said (Nu 22:38). Ironically and in parody he repeated at first their parrot-like cry, "go and prosper," to show Ahab how easy such prophesying is if worldly interest were one's aim. Then, being adjured in Jehovah's name, Micaiah said "I saw all Israel scattered ... as sheep that have no shepherd (quoted by the Lord Jesus Himself, Mt 9:36, as it is previously the basis of Eze 34:5; Zec 10:2), and Jehovah said, these have no master (Ahab falling), let them return every man to his house." Instead of Moses' blessing on Ephraim awaiting Ahab, as Zedekiah had said, Moses' picture of what Israel would be at his death, "Jehovah's congregation as sheep having no shepherd," if no successor were appointed, would be realized (Nu 27:17). Ahab, though he had asked Micaiah to speak the truth, attributed it when spoken to Micaiah's ill will.
Micaiah therefore revealed the source unseen of the 400 prophets' falsehood; Jehovah, seen in real vision on His throne amidst His hosts, asked, who shall persuade Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead? A lying spirit undertook to influence the 400 to Ahab's ruin (Zec 13:2; 1Jo 4:6). The access of Satan to the heavenly court in Old Testament times appears here and Job 1:6; 2:1 (but compare Re 12:7-10 as to the New Testament times). God said to the lying spirit, "go forth and do so." It was no invention of fancy, but a supernatural agency under Satan, by God's overruling appointment, which in righteous retribution gives over to a lie those who love not the truth (Jg 9:23; Job 12:16; Eze 14:9; 2Th 2:11-12).
God does not will or tempt to evil (Jas 1:13); but, as Ahab would not heed the true prophet, gives him over to the false (Ro 1:24-28; 9:17-23; Ex 7:3,13; 14:4,17; 10:20,27). The words "thou shalt persuade and prevail also" show that the human will was left free; God makes one stage in the sinner's downward course the sequel and punishment of the foregoing one; Ahab might have resisted the tempter. Zedekiah, conscious that he had not invented his lying prophecy, smote Micaiah on the cheek, asking "which way went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak unto thee? .... Thou shalt see in the day when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide," namely, from the vengeance of those misled by thee to their defeat.
Ahab commanded, "take Micaiah back unto Amon ... in the prison, feed him with bread and water of affliction (in more severe imprisonment than before) until I come in peace." Micaiah replied: "if thou return at all in peace Jehovah hath not spoken by me; hearken, O nations, every one of you"; appealing not only to Israel but to the Gentile world, to which Ahab had conformed, and which may heed, since Israel will not, so as when the event should come to pass to discern the truth of Jehovah (Mic 1:2).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
But I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.
However, Pharaoh's heart hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the Israelites go.
I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." So the Israelites did this.
I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all his army, and his chariots and horsemen.
Balaam said to him, "Look, I have come to you, but can I say anything I want? I must speak only the message God puts in my mouth."
who will go out before them and come back in before them, and who will bring them out and bring them in, so that the Lord's community won't be like sheep without a shepherd."
His firstborn bull has splendor, and horns like those of a wild ox; he gores all the peoples with them to the ends of the earth. Such are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.
so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean to you?'
God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Shechem. They treated Abimelech deceitfully,
Then Ben-hadad said to him, "The cities that my father took from your father I restore to you, and you may set up marketplaces for yourself in Damascus, like my father set up in Samaria." [Ahab responded],"On the basis of this treaty, I release you." So he made a treaty with him and released him. One of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow prophet by the word of the Lord, "Strike me!" But the man refused to strike him. read more. He told him, "Because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord, mark my words: When you leave me, a lion will kill you." When he left him, a lion found him and killed him. The prophet found another man and said to him, "Strike me!" So the man struck him, inflicting a wound. Then the prophet went and waited for the king on the road. He disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. As the king was passing by, he cried out to the king and said, "Your servant marched out into the midst of the battle. Suddenly, a man turned aside and brought someone to me and said, 'Guard this man! If he is ever missing, it will be your life in place of his life, or you will weigh out 75 pounds of silver.' But while your servant was busy here and there, he disappeared." The king of Israel said to him, "That will be your sentence; you yourself have decided it." He quickly removed the bandage from his eyes. The king of Israel recognized that he was one of the prophets. The prophet said to him, "This is what the Lord says: 'Because you released from your hand the man I had devoted to destruction, it will be your life in place of his life and your people in place of his people.' " The king of Israel left for home resentful and angry, and he entered Samaria.
Ahab said to Elijah, "So, you have caught me, my enemy." He replied, "I have caught you because you devoted yourself to do what is evil in the Lord's sight.
But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "First, please ask what the Lord's will is."
The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man who can ask the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied.
Then the king of Israel ordered, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son,
One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.
One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the Lord.
True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
"Take another scroll, and once again write on it the very words that were on the original scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.
"But if the prophet is deceived and speaks a message, it was I, the Lord, who deceived that prophet. I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.
They were scattered for lack of a shepherd; they became food for all the wild animals when they were scattered.
Listen, all you peoples; pay attention, earth and everyone in it! The Lord God will be a witness against you, the Lord, from His holy temple.
Haggai, the Lord's messenger, delivered the Lord's message to the people, "I am with you"-the Lord's declaration.
For the idols speak falsehood, and the diviners see illusions; they relate empty dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore [the people] wander like sheep; they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.
On that day"-the declaration of the Lord of Hosts-"I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd.
Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. read more. This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual intercourse for what is unnatural. The males in the same way also left natural sexual intercourse with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty for their perversion. And because they did not think it worthwhile to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong.
For the Scripture tells Pharaoh: For this reason I raised you up: so that I may display My power in you, and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth. So then, He shows mercy to whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills. read more. You will say to me, therefore, "Why then does He still find fault? For who can resist His will?" But who are you-anyone who talks back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, "Why did you make me like this?" Or has the potter no right over His clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction? And [what if] He did this to make known the riches of His glory on objects of mercy that He prepared beforehand for glory-
No one undergoing a trial should say, "I am being tempted by God." For God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn't tempt anyone.
Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, but he could not prevail, and there was no place for them in heaven any longer. read more. So the great dragon was thrown out-the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Messiah have now come, because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown out: the one who accuses them before our God day and night.
Hastings
Morish
Micai'ah
Son of Imla. When Ahab was joined by Jehoshaphat, and all Ahab's prophets foretold his success against Ramoth-gilead, Jehoshaphat asked if there was not yet another prophet of Jehovah of whom they could inquire. Then Micaiah was sent for, though Ahab said that he hated him, for he always prophesied evil unto him. At first Micaiah said, "Go ye up, and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand." The way in which this was said apparently convinced Ahab that it was spoken in irony, for he said, "How many times shall I adjure thee that thou say nothing but the truth to me in the name of the Lord?" Micaiah at once said that he saw all Israel scattered, having no shepherd. Jehovah said they had no master.
Then he relates that he had seen, probably in a vision, Jehovah sitting on His throne, and asking who would persuade Ahab to go to Ramoth-gilead and fall there. A spirit volunteered to accomplish it by being a lying spirit in the mouth of all Ahab's prophets. This had come to pass. Zedekiah, one of Ahab's prophets, struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, "Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?" Micaiah replied, "Behold, thou shalt see on that day when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself." Ahab disguised himself, but was wounded by an arrow and died. Ahab's four hundred prophets, and Jehovah's one prophet are an instance of the conflict of spirits, which the Christian is now called upon to try. 1Ki 22:8-28; 2Ch 18:7-27.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man who can ask the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied. So the king of Israel called an officer and said, "Hurry [and get] Micaiah son of Imlah!" read more. Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor at the entrance to Samaria's gate, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them. Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns and said, "This is what the Lord says: 'You will gore the Arameans with these until they are finished off.' " And all the prophets were prophesying the same: "March up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king." The messenger who went to call Micaiah instructed him, "Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable for the king. So let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably." But Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives, I will say whatever the Lord says to me." So he went to the king, and the king asked him, "Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should we refrain?" Micaiah told him, "March up and succeed. The Lord will hand it over to the king." But the king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord?" So Micaiah said: I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, 'They have no master; let everyone return home in peace.' So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster?" Then Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and the whole heavenly host was standing by Him at His right hand and at His left hand. And the Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' So one was saying this and another was saying that. "Then a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord, and said, 'I will entice him.' "The Lord asked him, 'How?' "He said, 'I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' "Then He said, 'You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.' "You see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you." Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up, hit Micaiah in the face, and demanded, "Did the Spirit of the Lord leave me to speak to you?" Micaiah replied, "You will soon see when you go to hide yourself in an inner chamber on that day." Then the king of Israel ordered, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, and say, 'This is what the king says: Put this guy in prison and feed him only bread and water until I come back safely.' " But Micaiah said, "If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me." Then he said, "Listen, all you people!"
Smith
Mica'iah
(who is like God?). Micahiah, the son of Imlah, was a prophet of Samaria, who in the last year of the reign of Ahab king of Israel predicted his defeat and death, B.C. 897.
...
See Verses Found in Dictionary
There was a lull of three years without war between Aram and Israel. However, in the third year, Jehoshaphat king of Judah went to visit the king of Israel. read more. The king of Israel had said to his servants, "Don't you know that Ramoth-gilead is ours, but we have failed to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?" So he asked Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to fight Ramoth-gilead?" Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, "I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses." But Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "First, please ask what the Lord's will is." So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about 400 men, and asked them, "Should I go against Ramoth-gilead for war or should I refrain?" They replied, "March up, and the Lord will hand it over to the king." But Jehoshaphat asked, "Isn't there a prophet of Yahweh here any more? Let's ask him." The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man who can ask the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." "The king shouldn't say that!" Jehoshaphat replied. So the king of Israel called an officer and said, "Hurry [and get] Micaiah son of Imlah!" Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, clothed in royal attire, were each sitting on his own throne. They were on the threshing floor at the entrance to Samaria's gate, and all the prophets were prophesying in front of them. Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns and said, "This is what the Lord says: 'You will gore the Arameans with these until they are finished off.' " And all the prophets were prophesying the same: "March up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed, for the Lord will hand it over to the king." The messenger who went to call Micaiah instructed him, "Look, the words of the prophets are unanimously favorable for the king. So let your words be like theirs, and speak favorably." But Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives, I will say whatever the Lord says to me." So he went to the king, and the king asked him, "Micaiah, should we go to Ramoth-gilead for war, or should we refrain?" Micaiah told him, "March up and succeed. The Lord will hand it over to the king." But the king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear not to tell me anything but the truth in the name of the Lord?" So Micaiah said: I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, 'They have no master; let everyone return home in peace.' So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you he never prophesies good about me, but only disaster?" Then Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and the whole heavenly host was standing by Him at His right hand and at His left hand. And the Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab to march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' So one was saying this and another was saying that. "Then a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord, and said, 'I will entice him.' "The Lord asked him, 'How?' "He said, 'I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' "Then He said, 'You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.' "You see, the Lord has put a lying spirit into the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has pronounced disaster against you." Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came up, hit Micaiah in the face, and demanded, "Did the Spirit of the Lord leave me to speak to you?" Micaiah replied, "You will soon see when you go to hide yourself in an inner chamber on that day." Then the king of Israel ordered, "Take Micaiah and return him to Amon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, and say, 'This is what the king says: Put this guy in prison and feed him only bread and water until I come back safely.' " But Micaiah said, "If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me." Then he said, "Listen, all you people!" Then the king of Israel and Judah's King Jehoshaphat went up to Ramoth-gilead. But the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal attire." So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. Now the king of Aram had ordered his 32 chariot commanders, "Do not fight with anyone at all except the king of Israel." When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they shouted, "He must be the king of Israel!" So they turned to fight against him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. But a man drew his bow without taking special aim and struck the king of Israel through the joints of his armor. So he said to his charioteer, "Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!" The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. He died that evening, and blood from his wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.