“MICAIAH AND
THE FALSE PROPHETS”
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A sermon preached Readings I
Kings 22:10-18, Matthew 16:1-12 |
As we
work our way through the passages
in the Old Testament lectionary, Micaiah gets rather
ignored,
even though he is centre stage for a whole chapter – 1 Kings 22
So I thought
this series on the prophets in the Books of Kings
would give us a chance to look at an often overlooked life.
I must confess that I now have a rather better understanding
of why they left Micaiah out of the lectionary.
1
Kings 22 is an immensely complex chapter.
Scholars do not all agree on how this chapter came to be as it is,
but it is certainly arguable that we have here two quite different stories,
one written around 800 BCE, the other around 700 BCE –
stories which have later been interwoven to make one narrative –
a process which might explain
some of the apparent oddities and inconsistencies in the text.
Furthermore, most of the chapter refers
simply to the King of Israel and the King of Judah without naming either.
The editor of 1 Kings seems to have decided
that the story or stories relate to King Ahab of Israel
and his counterpart Jehoshapat of Judah.
In fact they don’t fit the story which demands their death,
indeed their gruesomely recorded death at Ramoth
Gilead.
The original prophecy must have related
to Ahab’s son Joram and Jehoshaphat’s son Ahaziah.
Now
we could spend the whole sermon
wrestling with some of these Biblical critical conundrums.
But we won’t.
Rather
let’s look at the basic story
as we might reasonably reconstruct it
and see what it might say to us.
A
King of Israel (probably Joram) has 400 prophets at
court.
He asks them whether he should attack Syria at Ramoth
Gilead.
They say “Yes” – Israel will be victorious.
Then the King asks Micaiah, who replies -
we have to assume with heavy sarcasm in his voice - meaning
“You’re only prepared to hear one answer to that question”.
Micaiah accordingly says
“Oh sure – you’ll wipe the floor with the enemy”.
The King – for all his desire for good news –
can’t resist saying “Tell me what you really think”.
And Micaiah – whose loyalty to the People of Israel
does not extend to endorsing
foolhardy and misguided military expeditions -
says “You’ll be defeated.
You’ll be killed and the dogs will lick you blood”
The
question for us – and for every generation – is this:
How do you know in situations like this
who is revealing the real Word of the Lord –
is it the 400 court prophets or is it Micaiah?
There
is no foolproof way of knowing.
You
can’t just take a vote on it.
One of my favourite bits of graffiti says
“100,000 lemmings can’t be wrong”.
The
point of course being that the crowd can very often be wrong.
Voters can and do frequently elect tyrants and fools to high office.
And even Church Conferences and Synods can seek God’s guidance
but ignore or misunderstand it when they come to make decisions.
Certainly
in Micaiah’s case,
the Bible writer is clear that the one man got it right
and the 400 got it wrong.
Nor
can we glibly say that
“True Prophecy is consistent with the message of Scripture”
That
is doubtless true –
but this presupposes we all agree on what the message of scripture is.
In fact many serious and deeply thoughtful and spiritual people
manage to disagree in their interpretation of the scriptural message
So we
are back to square One:
How do we know who is hearing and speaking God’s word?
We
all see the signs – but who interprets them correctly?
And
of course in every generation we are faced with questions like
“Shall we attack at Ramoth Gilead?”
For
our generation questions include:
What is God’s Word about –
Gay
Sexuality, Interfaith Dialogue, War, Divorce, Abortion, Mercy Killing…..
You
can’t take a vote or read off the answer from a Scripture slide rule.
God
does not give us certainty.
Following
Jesus is ultimately a matter of faith.
And
we may sometimes get it wrong.
But
that is not to say that we make decisions at random –
or that we can just pick
the answers
which are easiest or most
comfortable.
There
are many criteria of truth,
and we need to use them all.
No
single one is guaranteed accurate – but together they can guide us.
So when
401 tell us what God’s will is,
we need to ask a number of
questions,
no one of which will solve
the dilemma, or give us certainty –
but all of which will lead
us to a view:
1.
What
does the Bible say?
2.
What
does the Christian Community say?
(Both the immediate community – my congregation, my house group,
and also the wider Church community –
scholars and saints of the past and present
whose views I can study and weigh).
3.
Is
the position I am taking one which makes sense
in terms of mind, heart and soul?
Is it both logical and compassionate?
4.
How
do different solutions reflect the Gospel and Kingdom values
of love, peace, justice and truth?
5.
What
are the fruits of this doctrine?
i.e. If I look at those who live their
lives
according to a particular view,
do their lives reflect the love, peace and joy of the Gospel?
6.
Does
the view I espouse reflect my personal experience of God?
When I try to live my life in terms of this doctrine or viewpoint,
do I feel nearer to God,
and does my life make more sense as a result?
7.
Does
my decision arise just from thought,
or have I prayed about it?
All
of which (for those of you who prefer theological shorthand)
really amounts to an appeal to
Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience.
And
none of which guarantees we’ve got it right.
I
often think that religious decision making
is a matter of going round and round a circle –
reading scripture,
reflecting on it within our community,
and in the context of my own experience of God.
Out of that reaching a provisional decision regarding what to do,
and seeing how that works out.
Then going back round the circle again
in the light of our action and its outcome-
reading scripture, reflecting in community,
re-evaluating my life in the light of all that.
Then going around the circle again.
And
however often we do that,
we never reach more than a provisional truth.
We are always on the road, trying to question and learn and review.
But
in all this there is the great joy of going forward in faith,
of wrestling with God, and travelling with Jesus.
So
the poor King was faced with Micaiah and the
400.
We don’t know whether he went with a futile war
because of the weight of numbers –
or more likely because liked the idea of a victory –
With
hindsight we know he did not hear the true word of God.
If
perhaps he had spent more time praying
and humbly reflecting on how God worked with Israel,
he might have read the signs differently
and heeded Micaiah’s counsel.
Maybe
it does not befit us to be too critical of the King.
How
often do we hear what we want to hear from God?
How
often do we prefer a simple palatable answer to a complex true answer?
Let
us travel in faith and seek the truth.
We
may not this side of Heaven find our true destination,
nor absolute certainty we have got it right –
But
God will be with us in the struggle –
and that will make it a great journey into the unknown!