GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 18:22-26
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22 “Now,” said Micaiah, “the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you.” 23 Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up, slapped Micaiah in the face, and said, “Where is the way that the spirit from the LORD took when he went from me to speak to you?” 24 But Micaiah said, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner room.” 25 Then the king of Israel commanded: “Seize Micaiah and send him back to Amon the ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son, 26 and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this man in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.’”
Zedekiah was the prophet with his own set of iron horns (verse 10). Enraged by Micaiah’s words, he decided that the best thing to do was to slap the other prophet. But just what do his words mean in verse 23?
The NIV’s translation, “Which way did the spirit go…?” is a little confusing to some readers. He is asking which path or road (Hebrew derek) that the spirit went on after Zedekiah spoke, before he finally landed on Micaiah. This isn’t a reference to the slap, but a claim that if Micaiah was speaking through the spirit of God just as Zedekiah claimed that he, too, was speaking, then how was it possible that the spirit changed messages from one man to the next? The answer to a reader of the Bible is obvious: Zedekiah was mistaken; only Micaiah was truly speaking the word of the Lord. This leads us to wonder about errors from the ministers of the church.
Consider these passages: “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). And again, “False Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect– if that were possible” (Mark 13:22). From these, we understand that the one holy church of God (the holy Christian church) (1) is infallible, and (2) cannot perish before the end of time (“God’s household, the church of the living God, is the pillar and foundation of the truth,” 1 Timothy 3:15), (3) but also that the church’s ministers can make mistakes. This is especially for the Christian’s comfort, knowing that outside the Christian church there is no salvation. Compare the statement of Paul: “At one time you were separated from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel… without hope and without God” (Ephesians 2:12).
But this does not mean that a minister of God (such as Zedekiah in our text) cannot fall into error. The history of the church is littered with controversies that came about because various ministers, priests, and popes fell into error. What the passages of the Scriptures teach is that although some can and will err, the entire church will never fall.
1, In the account before us, the four hundred prophets were mistaken, but only Micaiah believed and proclaimed the truth (2 Chronicles 18).
2, In 1 Kings 19:10, Elijah said, “I am the only one left,” but he himself was mistaken and didn’t believe that there were any believers left in Israel, but the Lord had to correct him by saying: “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel– all whose knees have no bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:18).
3, In Isaiah 56:10, the prophet declares: “Israel’s watchmen are blind; they all lack knowledge.” Certainly they were in error. The very fact that they didn’t understand this or believe it proved their error.
4, The darkest moment must surely be Mark 14:64, when the entire ministry of the Word of God, all of the high priests and the other priests with them, condemned Jesus Christ their Lord, while at the same time all of his own apostles lost their faith (Mark 16:14; Matthew 26:31).
What few were left in the church when those leaders all fell? Lazarus and his sisters, a few women in Jerusalem who had also followed him, and a few here and there who believed, like the man in the Gerasenes who was telling people how much Jesus had done for him (Mark 5:15). So, yes, it would be possible for all of the ministers of the church to fall into error, and yet the church will survive. This was very nearly the case (with one exception) at the time of the flood, nearly the case at the time of the divided kingdom (our text), it was the case at the moment of the crucifixion, and was nearly the case once again especially at the close of the medieval period in the church, when Luther alone stood up to begin the Reformation.
Micaiah was thrown into prison for his words, even though he had been summoned by the king and had not come of his own free will. Did the incident open the eyes of King Jehoshaphat? Not quite. The King of Judah was a good king, a very godly king, but he had a blind spot when it came to Ahab. So the godly prophet was sent into custody with just enough food to live on. But he made one more prophecy for Zedekiah: “You will find out (about the spirit of God) on the day you go to hide in an inner room.” We do not have any record of the fulfillment of that prophecy, but we can be certain that it happened. There surely came a day when Zedekiah, afraid for his life, hid in some small closet or inner room when he was afraid for his life. A rush of air as the door was pulled open, the light on his face, the look in the eyes of an attacker– and he would remember Micaiah’s words, and know at last and too late that they were true.
Holy Father, do not let our pastors and professors err in their understanding of your holy word. But when any one of them might happen to stumble even in the smallest way, let him have the wisdom and the faith to be able to say, “I was mistaken,” and to change his mind to what is right. In this way, Lord, let him be an example for the rest of us as we are guided and corrected with your holy word, so that we will come to the pure knowledge of your eternal truth. Amen.
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 18:22-26 To err and to admit