1 Kings 22:8

1Ki 22:8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, [There is] yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

Ver. 8. There is yet one man.] Even king Ahab - as bad as he was - kept count of his prophets, and could give account of one that was missing.

But I hate him.] Evildoers hate the light, because it stands in the light of their wicked ways, as the angel did in Balaam’s way to his sin. But, Micaiah, could not you, to avoid Ahab’s hatred, meddle only with toothless truths, as Balak bid Balaam neither curse nor bless at all? Cannot you preach placentia? Know you not that truth breeds hatred?

For he doth not prophesy good concerning me.] Yes, once he did (if at least this were the same, as Pellican holdeth that he was), when he told you once and again that the Syrians should be given into your hands. Howsoever, it is very probable that Micaiah was that disguised prophet who brought to Ahab the fearful message of displeasure and death for dismissing Benhadad, for which he was ever since fast in prison, deep in disgrace.

But evil.] Ahab was not, as Vespasian was said to be, patientissimus veri, {a} most willing to hear the truth.

And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.] This was a too cold reproof, which should ever be warm, but not scalding.

{a} Quintilian.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki_22:8

There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah.

Loyalty to truth

In all the course of my acquaintance with Sir Robert Peel, I never knew a man in whose truth and justice I had a more lively confidence. In the whole course of my communication with him, I never knew an instance in which he did not show the strongest attachment to truth, and I never saw, in the whole course of my life, the smallest reason for suspecting that he stated anything which he did not firmly believe to be the fact. (The Duke of Wellington.)

Micaiah prophesying evil

I. You are in danger of committing Ahabs folly, in the choice of your acquaintances and friends. You find some ready to give you countenance, by their example and conversation, in all the evil which your heart desires; willing, whatever be your besetting sin, to help you in excusing it to your conscience; forward, however unholy be your enterprise, to say with the false prophets of Samaria, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king (Verse 6) There are others who warn you of evil, who recommend you to desist from sinful courses, whose very example is a reproof to you, though their tongue be silent; Now which sort of friends do you most highly esteem?

II. A lively warning against the unwise conduct of many persons in the choice of their religion. But be ye well assured, that one kind of religion only can be right; and that this must be one which prophesieth evil concerning you, which tells you that you are lost if you sin, and which bids you seek for heaven, not by show of piety, not by dissension one with another, not by resorting to images, and saints, and masses; but by secret wrestling with your own desires, by fervent spiritual prayer, and by painful denial of yourselves, in the faith and by the strength of Jesus Christ your Saviour.

III. To profess the right faith is one thing; to apply it rightly in our practice is another. It may be you fall not into the error of running after false systems of faith, and yet regard not as you ought to do the prophets of the truth. And into this error you may fall, either in regard to the public preaching, or to the private exhortations, of the ministers of religion. He doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil, is a reflection with which you often probably return home from church. (C. Girdlestone, M. A.)

Standing alone

When Archbishop Abbot was visited by one of James I.s emissaries, who came to persuade him to do evil to please the court, he stood boldly in defiance of the royal request, and asked: Shall I, to please King James, and to shelter and satisfy his vile favourites, shall I send my soul to hell? No, I will not do it! So he stood alone in that unholy court, and sought to be true to the King of kings. The price for becoming traitor to God is too great for us to afford (H. O. Mackey.)

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I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.--

The hated prophet of evil

I. A guilty conscience makes men fear the truth. And yet, how senseless and impolitic is this! Whatever the reality of things may be, is it not better that we should know it, rather than live in a fools paradise of flattering self-delusions, crying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace? It was a wise and noble spirit that said, I will seek after the truth, by which no man was ever injured. We have mastered one of the grandest lessons of life when we have learnt to welcome the truth from whatever quarter it may come.

II. Fear of truth may often develop into personal hate of him who is the messenger and minister of It. I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. There is nothing strange in this. A very subtle connection exists between the conditions of mind here indicated. Fear leads to hate, and is itself a form of hate. The feeling of aversion is readily transferred from the thing dreaded to him who is the means of bringing it upon us;.and when a man hates the light, he is not likely to have much love for the human medium through whom it shines.

III. Divine laws and purposes are surely accomplished, in spite of human fear and hate. The lying spirit in the pretended prophets may utter its persuasive flatteries (verse 22); Zedekiah may add violence to falsity (verse 24); Micaiah may be imprisoned and fed with the bread and water of affliction (verse27),--but the fatal decree has gone forth, and must be fulfilled. The king shall return no more from Ramoth-Gilead. (J. Waite, B. A.)

Hostility to truth lies in the will

Many an objector to Christianity in our day, if he said out what he really thinks, would say, I disbelieve Christianity, because it does not prophecy good concerning me, but evil; it makes such serious demands, it sets up so high a standard, it implies that so much I say and do is a great mistake that I must away with it. I cannot do and be what it enjoins without doing violence to my inclinations, to my fixed habits of life and thought. This, before his conversion, was the case with the great Augustine. Augustine tells us in his Confessions how completely he was enchained by his passions, and how, after lie had become intellectually satisfied of the truth of the creed of the Christian Church, he was held back from conversion by the fear that he would have to give up so much to which he was attached. In the end, we know, through Gods grace he broke his chains--those chains which held poor Ahab captive. In such cases lasting self-deceit is only too easy. Men treat what is only a warp of the will as if it were a difficulty of the understanding, while the real agent--ought I not to say the real culprit?--is almost always the will. The will sees religion advancing to claim the allegiance of the will, it sees that to admit this claim will oblige it to forego much, and to do much that is unwelcome to flesh and blood, and so it makes an effort to clog or to hinder the direct action of the understanding. Its public language is, I cannot accept religion because it makes this or that assertion, which to my mind is open to historical or philosophical or moral objections of a decisive character; but, if it saw deeper into itself, it would say, I dislike this creed, for it doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil, while I continue to live as I do. (Canon Liddon.)

An unpleasant view blocked up

It was an old joke against Lord Islay, who formerly lived at Hounslow, that ordering his gardener to cut an avenue to open a view, the landscape disclosed a gibbet with a thief on it; and several members of the Campbell family having died with their shoes on, the prospect awoke such ominous and unpleasant reminiscences that Lord Islay instantly ordered the avenue to be closed up again with a clump of thick Scotch firs. The amusing incident has a moral side of it. Certain doctrines of the Gospel bear very heavily upon proud human nature, and therefore many are determined to block up the view which they open up. Curiosity impelled them to hear, but perceiving that the truth condemns them they wish to hear no more. The preachers teaching would be all very well, but it brings sin to remembrance and reveals the hell which will follow it, and therefore the self-convicted hearer cannot abide it. It is, however, no joke to block up our view of eternity. The gibbet is there even if the sinner refuses to see it. (Sword and Trowel.)

Preachers for the times

The class of sermons which, according to Mr. Gladstone, is most needed, is the class one of which so offended Lord Melbourne tong ago. He was one day seen coming from a church in the country in a great fume. Meeting a friend, he exclaimed, It is too bad! I have always been a supporter of the Church, and I have always upheld the clergy. But it is really too bad to have to listen to a sermon like that we have had this morning. Why, the preacher actually insisted upon applying religion to a mans private life! (Quiver.)

Truth most required

The truth which a man or a generation requires most is the truth which he or they like least; and the true Christian teachers adaptation of his message will consist quite as much in opposing the desires and contradicting the lies, as in seeking to meet the felt wants of the world. Nauseous medicines or sharp lancets are adapted to the sick man quite as truly as pleasant food and soothing ointment. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Aim in preaching

A sailor just off to a whaling expedition asked where he could hear a good sermon. On his return from the church his friend asked him, How did you like the sermon? Not much, it was like a ship leaving for the whale fishing; everything shipshape; anchors, cordage, sails, and provisions all right, but there were no harpoons on board.

Dislike to the preacher

One excuse a man makes for not heeding the message is, I did not like the man himself; I did not like the minister; I did not like the man who blew the trumpet, I had a personal dislike to him, and so I did not take any notice of what the trumpet said. Verily, God will say to thee at the last, Thou fool, what hadst thou to do with that man; to his own master he stands or falls; thy business was with thyself. What would you think of a man? A man has fallen overboard from a ship, and when he is drowning some sailor throws him a rope, and there it is. Well, he says, in the first place. I do not like that rope; I do not think the rope was made at the best manufactory; there is some tar on it, too; I do not like it; and in the next place, I do not like that sailor that threw the rope over; I do not like the look of him at all, and then comes a gurgle and a groan, and down he is at the bottom of the sea; and when he was drowned, they said that it served him right. On his own head be his blood. And so shall it be with you at the last. You are so busy with criticising the minister and his style, and his doctrine, that your own soul perishes. Remember you may get into hell by criticism, but you will never criticise your soul out of it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Whereby we see that the wicked cannot abide to hear the truth, but hate the Prophets of God and molest them.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 8. Micaiah the son of Imlah] The Jews suppose that it was this prophet who reproved Ahab for dismissing Ben-hadad, 1Kg 20:35, &c. And that it was because of the judgments with which he had threatened him, that Ahab hated him: I hate him, for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(8) Micaiah (“who is like Jehovah”)—the name being the same as Micah. According to Josephus, he was the prophet of 1Ki_20:35-43, who had “prophesied evil” of Ahab for his rash action towards Benhadad, and had already been imprisoned by him. The whole description, and especially the words of 1Ki_22:26, seem to confirm this account.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. There is yet one man] In the R.V. immediately after these words are placed ‘by whom we may inquire of the Lord.’ This order of words, which corresponds more nearly with the Hebrew arrangement, shews that Ahab understood what his guest required, and why he was not satisfied with the prophets that had already come before him. Even Ahab recognized the difference between Micaiah and the rest.

Let not the king say so] i.e. That he hates Micaiah.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron,.... Horns are emblems of power and might, and iron ones of greater strength still; the prophets sometimes made use of visible signs, to represent the things they prophesied of should come to pass, see Isa 20:2, and the same method this prophet took:

and he saith, thus saith the Lord; imitating the true prophets: with these shall thou push the Syrians until thou hast consumed them: Abarbinel thinks he had in view the blessing of Joseph by Moses, Deu 33:17 where he is compared to a bullock with horns; and these said to be the ten thousands of Ephraim, and the thousands of Manasseh; and Ahab being of the tribe of Joseph, and ruling in Ephraim and Manasseh, the prophet chose to make use of this emblem for his encouragement.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

There is yet one man, Micaiah - Elijah, it appears, had withdrawn again after the events of the last chapter, and there was no known prophet of Yahweh within reach of Samaria except Micaiah.

He doth not prophesy good concerning me but evil - Whether the tradition in 1Ki 20:41 note be true or not, it is certain that Ahab had imprisoned him 1Ki 22:26, and probable that the imprisonment was on account of threatening prophecies. Ahab suggests to Jehoshaphat that Micaiah is one who allows his private feelings to determine the utterances which he delivers as if from Yahweh. Hence, the force of Jehoshaphat’s answer, “Let not the king say so;” i. e., “Let not the king suppose that a prophet would be guilty of such impiety,” - an impiety from which even Balaam shrank Num 22:18.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

One man. Perhaps Micheas alone resided at Samaria. Elias and his disciples were in the country. Josephus and some others think, (Calmet) that the son of Jemla had been cast into prison for what he had said to Achab, when he had dismissed the king of Syria, chap. xx. 43. (Haydock) --- Not so. Good advice should be followed, though it be not pleasant. (Menochius) --- Josaphat justly suspected the schismatical false prophets. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

There is yet one, to wit, in this place, for whom I can speedily send; for there were also other prophets elsewhere in the kingdom, as Elijah, Elisha, and others; but these were not at hand for the present occasion.

Micaiah; not one of the twelve prophets, who lived about one hundred and fifty years after this time, but another of that name.

He doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil; he is always a messenger of evil tidings; which was true, but no sufficient reason why he should hate him, because Micaiah was purely God’s instrument in all his messages; and whatsoever evil he threatened, Ahab himself was the cause and procurer of it.

Let not the king say so; do not presage evil to our enterprise: let us neither hate his person, nor despise his message; but first hear it, and then do as we see cause.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. I hate him — Some suppose that it was this Micaiah who uttered against Ahab the oracle recorded 1Ki_20:42. Certain it is that he had spoken concerning Ahab before, and so displeased the king that he had been committed to prison. See 1Ki_22:26-27.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, (Cf. 1Ki_18:22) Micaiah The name (=Who is like Jehovah?) is as appropriate to the man who bore it as Elijah"s name was to 1Ki_17:1; cf. 18:39). But it is not an uncommon name in the Old Testament it is borne by eight different persons. Compare Michael, "Who is like God?" the son of Imiah The chronicler writes the name Imla, almyi, by whom we may inquire of the Lord Ahab evidently had wished Jehoshaphat to understand that the prophets already consulted were prophets of Jehovah, as no doubt they claimed to be. One of them bore a name in which the sacred Jah formed a part: but I hate ytianec (cf. odi), have learned to hate him Ahab had good reasons for not caring to consult a man whom he had put into prison (see ver. 26, and compare, (Mat_14:3) because of his reproofs or unwelcome predictions. Josephus, and Jewish writers generally, identify Micaiah with the nameless prophet of; (1Ki 21) for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil The chronicler adds wymyAlK; i.e., persistently, throughout his whole career. Ahab insinuates that Micaiah is actuated by personal dislike. The commentators refer to Homer. I1. 4., 106-108. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. He does not mean that the prophet cannot say just what he will, but suggests that Ahab is prejudiced against him. Perhaps he suspected that there might be a very different reason for Micaiah"s sinister predictions.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

One man - In this place, for whom I can speedily send: for there were also other prophets elsewhere in the kingdom, but these were not at hand. Micaiah - Not one of the twelve prophets, who lived about a hundred and fifty years after this time, but another of that name. Let not, &c. - Let us neither hate his person, nor despise his message; but first hear it, and then do as we see cause.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

But only evil. For he said to me, “Because you released the man whom I condemned, etc.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.