Old Sandals

Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Therefore please let your word be like  the word of  one of them, and speak encouragement. And Micaiah said,  As  the Lord lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak. Then he came to the king; and the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain? And he said, Go and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand! So the king said to him, How many times shall I make you swear that you tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord? Then he said, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? Then  Micaiah  said, Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and His left. And the Lord said, Who will persuade Ahab king of Israel to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead? So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. The Lord said to him, In what way? So he said, I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And  the Lord  said, You shall persuade  him  and also prevail; go out and do so. Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you. Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way did the spirit from the Lord go from me to speak to you? And Micaiah said, Indeed you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide! Then the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the kings son; and say, Thus says the king: Put this  fellow  in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I return in peace. But Micaiah said, If you ever return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me. And he said, Take heed, all you people!

Micaiah is my favorite Old Testament figure, bar none. My second son, Micah, was named with him in mind. He was brought forth to prophesy at the urging of King Jehoshaphat of Judah, who wanted to be certain that the Lord would be with him and with King Ahab of Israel in a pending conflict with the Syrians. Apparently not satisfied with the encouraging words spoken by four hundred of King Ahab’s prophets, Micaiah is called in. Ignoring the advice of the king’s messenger, Micaiah exclaims, “As the Lord lives,  whatever my God says, that I will speak!”

After Micaiah prophesies destruction, King Ahab is furious and has him thrown into prison; a starvation diet is prescribed until the king’s victorious return from battle. But King Ahab never returns, as Micaiah had prophesied. What, then, was the fate of the prophet?  We are not told; he likely suffered an ignominious death in prison.

Also in the third year of his reign [Jehoshaphat] sent his leaders, Ben-Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah. So they taught in Judah, and  had  the Book of the Law of the Lord with them; they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people.

Jehoshaphat did one better than his son Asa. He not only removed the high places, but he sent teachers throughout the land to instruct the people in the law of the Lord, that their hearts might be turned toward the true and living God, and away from false and dead idols.

And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”

Even in this stern rebuke by the prophet Hanani, there is an implied word of encouragement.  This is always the case in Scripture.  Seek the Lord, turn to the Lord, forget those things which are behind…

The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

If there is in your heart a desire to seek God, rejoice! It is the Holy Spirit working.

If you are troubled because you are not seeking Him, be thankful!  This too is the working of the Holy Spirit.

If you are discouraged because you feel it is too late to seek God,  be careful!  This is not the Holy Spirit; this could be the devil at work.

It is never too late.

Asa did  what was  good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, for he removed the altars of the foreign  gods  and the high places, and broke down the  sacred  pillars and cut down the wooden images. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment.

Asa was king of Judah and Solomon’s great-grandson.  He was one of the good kings; he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He took decisive action in destroying the idols that polluted the land. If only all of Judah’s kings could have been like Asa!

And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. Then Abijah and his people struck them with a great slaughter; so five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell slain.

Five hundred thousand men—Jeroboam’s finest—were slain in the campaign.  That is an astounding number. Five hundred thousand men, with names, faces, personalities, souls, eternal destinies.

Now when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, “They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. 

Here is another example of the graciousness of our God, who turns away His wrath and shows mercy on His people.  He saw their remorse, and that they humbled themselves before the Lord.

That is really the Lord is looking for.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, for He is merciful.

But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, “Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not go up or fight against your brethren! Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me.'” Therefore they obeyed the words of the Lord, and turned back from attacking Jeroboam.

King Rehoboam wisely listened to the prophet.  His kingdom prospered (in the short term at least) because he did so.

So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events was from God, that the Lord might fulfill His word, which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

The turn of events was from God.  God is Sovereign over all.  And yet, His sovereignty does not negate our choices.  King Rehoboam foolishly decided to take the advice of the young men around him, and come down hard on his subjects.  He made that decision.  The Lord sealed the deal, so to speak.  How do God’s sovereignty and human responsibility coincide? It is ultimately a mystery.

So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

This was indeed the high water mark for Israel.  The kingdom was rich beyond comparison; the king was wiser than all of the kings of the earth.

When the kings of the earth came to inquire of Solomon , did he, I wonder, share the good news of the glorious God with them?