GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 18:14-17
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14 When he arrived, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth Gilead for war or shall I hold back?” “Go up and bring success,” he answered, “for they will be given into your hand.” 15 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?” 16 Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’” 17 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?”
The first prophecy Micaiah gives is this: “Go and attack, and you will have victory.” The second prophecy is this: “Israel will be scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and God will send them home in peace.” Think again about the difference between these prophecies. There can be victory, and there can be peace.
Can both be true? Or, put another way, can’t both be true? As far as Ahab’s life goes, and whether he would come back from this battle living or dead, there does not need to be any difference. Israel will drive away Aram from Ramoth Gilead, but this could be achieved with Ahab’s death just as easily as it could with his survival. In 1805, a great naval battle was waged between more than thirty ships of a combined French and Spanish fleet, and less than thirty somewhat smaller ships of the British navy. British Admiral Horatio Nelson used his ships’ greater speed to dash through the Franco-Spanish line and to pound them with his cannons. The battle destroyed Napoleon’s ambitions to invade Britain and established British dominance of the high seas until World War I. However, Nelson himself was killed in the fighting. He died, and yet he won. This could have happened to King Ahab: Victory, but with the death of the king.
The other prophecy was more clearly about the death of the king, but without any clear message about the outcome of the battle, whether won or lost. The people of Israel would be leaderless, and yet the Lord would proclaim that they could live in peace.
The first prophecy was enticing, Victory could come. But the second prophecy was also a proclamation of God’s comfort for the nation: The people will have peace. Ahab’s judgment was that if the people have peace, that’s bad for me.
He was an altogether wicked king. He thought that the power of the king existed for the benefit of the king. He did not understand that the power of a king, just as the authority of any leader, including a family’s father, is not for his own enjoyment, but for the protection of his people.
If we extend the analogy of the family to the kingdom, then we go from this: The father is head of the family to protect and provide for his family as the family is both nurtured and is nurturing. So it is with a king. He is head of the nation to protect and provide for the nation. He does not do this so that he can get his way or boss people around, but to help them. And as he does this, they are nurtured and thrive, and they nurture one another, as long as the king does his duty. When he fails, they die. In some countries, this is seen happening, and a king might be overthrown before too many of the people die. But God’s will is that he would serve them so that they will be protected and thrive. Only the very worst of kings fails to see this, and thinks, “What’s good for me is good for the country.” Or as Ahab said, “He never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad.”
For each of us there is a danger of falling into sins against the Fourth Commandment, whether we are discontent with the nation, or discontent with our place in the home, or we find ourselves in a position of leadership but tempted to abuse our position for personal gain instead of the benefit of our family. Let us reach out to God for his mercy and forgiveness, and pray that he would enable to us to serve him according to his will, so that all our doings and life may please him.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 18:14-17 Fourth Commandment sins