Micaiah was the son of Imlah, 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. This was three years after the great battle with Ben-hadad, king
of Syria, in which the extraordinary number of 100,000 Syrian soldiers
is said to have been slain, without reckoning the 27,000 who, it is
asserted, were killed by the falling of the wall at Aphek.
Ahab had proposed to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, that they should jointly
go up to battle against Ramoth-gilead, which Ben-hadad was bound by
treaty to restore to Ahab.
Jehoshaphat assented in cordial words to the proposal, but he suggested
that they should first “inquire at the word of Jehovah.” Accordingly,
Ahab assembled four hundred prophets, while in an open space at the gate
of the city of Samaria he and Jehoshaphat sat in royal robes to meet and
consult them.
The prophets gave a unanimously favorable response. Among them was
Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah. He made horns of iron as a symbol, and
announced, as from Jehovah, that with those horns Ahab would push the
Syrians till he consumed them. For some reason which is unexplained, and
can now only be conjectured, King Jehoshaphat was dissatisfied with the
answer, and asked if there was no other prophet of Jehovah at Samaria.
Ahab replied that there was yet one--Micaiah, the son of Imlah; but in
words which obviously call to mind a passage in the “Iliad” (i. 106),
he added: “I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but
evil.”
Nevertheless, Micaiah was sent for; and after a vain attempt had been
made to tamper with him, he first expressed an ironical concurrence with
the four hundred prophets, and then boldly foretold the defeat of Ahab’s
army and the death of Ahab.
In contradiction of the false four hundred, Micaiah said he had seen
Jehovah sitting on His throne, and all the host of Heaven standing by
Him--on His right hand and on His left. He said Jehovah asked: “Who
shall persuade Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?” A Spirit came
forth and volunteered to do so. On being asked “Wherewithal?” the Spirit
answered that he would go forth and be a lying Spirit in the mouth of all
the prophets.
Irritated by the account of this vision, Zedekiah struck Micaiah on the
cheek.
Then Ahab ordered that Micaiah be taken to prison, and be fed on bread
and water till his return to Samaria. But Ahab was killed, and Micaiah’s
fate is unknown.
This incident is found in both the first Book of Kings and in the second
Book of Chronicles.
[Illustration: The Cross From the Painting by Gustave Dore.]
[Illustration: MOSES IN THE BULRUSHES.--Exodus, ii.]