1 Kings 22:24

INSULTED BY ZEDEKIAH; AND AGAIN SENT TO PRISON; MICAIAH CALMLY SAID THAT AHAB WOULD DIE IN THE BATTLE

"Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak to thee? And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself. And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; and say, Thus saith the king, put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace. And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hear ye, all of you."

"Whether the prophets tell the truth or not, it is acknowledged that they are inspired of Jehovah."[22] Any such statement as this is untrue. It is the grossest kind of error to equate the ravings of some deluded false prophet with the sober pronouncements of one who is truly inspired. Falsehoods from a blinded, hardened and deluded false prophet are not inspired of Jehovah. It is true, of course, that Zedekiah himself believed that God had spoken to him; but with God's permission, Satan had deceived him. "Zedekiah knew that he had not invented his prophecy, and that enabled him to rise up in animosity and slap Micaiah; but that only proved that it was not the Spirit of God that inspired him. If he had truly been inspired of God, he would not have felt that he needed to support his words with violence, but he would have left the defense of his words quietly to the Lord, as did Micaiah."[23]

"Then Zedekiah ... smote Micaiah on the cheek" (1 Kings 22:24). "This holy prophet standing perhaps with his hands bound, bearing testimony to the truth of God, and yet sustaining that cruel and painful insult without either shame or anger is a worthy type of Our Lord before Caiaphas, suffering the same indignity."[24]

"Thou shalt see ... on that day when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself" (1 Kings 22:25). Cook gave the meaning of this: "When the news of Ahab's death, caused by his following your false prophecy, reaches Samaria and you must hide yourself from the vengeance of Jezebel and Ahaziah --in that day, you will know which of us is the false prophet."[25]

"Feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace" (1 Kings 22:27). Since it appears that Micaiah was already a prisoner, this amounted to an additional sentence of such a diet.

"If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah hath not spoken by me" (1 Kings 22:28). This was a flat declaration that Ahab would die at Ramoth-gilead, and in such an announcement, which he called all of the people to hear, "Micaiah accepted the test of all true prophecy, namely, that it will come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:20-22; Jeremiah 28:9)."[26]