Miciah

The prophet Miciah gives an interesting insight into how God accomplishes his purposes in situations where he does not have authority.

Jehoshaphat was a good king, but he had formed an alliance with Ahab through marriage. Ahab was keen on war and persuaded Jehoshaphat to join him in a war against Aram. The court prophets urged the two kings to go to war and promising that they would win easily (1 Kings 22:1-6).

Ahab and Jehoshaphat went to war, but were easily defeated. Ahab was killed and Jehoshaphat nearly lost his life (1 Kings 22:29-37).
God had a purpose to achieve in this situation. He worked through his prophet Miciah to accomplish this purpose. Miciah explained what God would do to advance his plans.

I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the multitudes of heaven standing around him on his right and on his left. And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?’

“One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’

“‘By what means?’ the LORD asked.

“‘I will go out and become a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said.

“‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it’ (1 Kings 22:19-22).

There are two important things to note.

• The spirit that deceived the court prophets came from God. It was a good spirit. However, it went and became a deceiving spirit in the mouths of the court prophets. God gave these prophets a false message by sending a good spirit to deceive them.

• God said that this spirit would be successful in deceiving the court prophets. The reason why knew a deceiving spirit would succeed was that a warring violent spirit was already at work amongst them. This spirit was revealed when one of the leaders of the court prophets (Zedekiah son of Kenaah) confronted Miciah. He struck Miciah on the face (1 Kings 22:24). The warring, violent spirit had such a stronghold in his life, that he could not respond to someone challenging his point of view without resorting to violence.

There is an important lesson here. Prophets with violence in their hearts and prophets who love war are vulnerable to a spirit of deception.

The same mechanism seems to be at work in Pompeo and Bolton.