Who was Micaiah? Why was he hated by the king? The Bible history question
Answers
Micaiah was also a prophet of the Lord and served in Israel. In those days there were actually two countries of Jewish people: Israel was the original, but several generations prior two of the tribes rebelled and formed Judah. Eventually, both nations turned from God and so they were conquered.
As the larger and more advanced of the two, Israel turned from God first. At the time of Micaiah's career, Ahab was their king and he still regularly tops the list of "worst Israelite leaders." Ahab was known for his general horribleness and that fact that, to put it mildly, he did not wear the pants in the family.
That honor went to his wife Jezebel, a murderer and idolater that for some reason is now a role model for ladies who say "you go girl" without a hint of irony. King Ahab did not like Micaiah because Micaiah spoke the words of the Lord, which were generally negative performance reviews.
Now King Ahab wanted to go to war against Aram for some reason involving land acquisition. So he went to the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, to ask for assistance. "Sounds interesting," Jehoshaphat probably said, "but you should first seek the counsel of the Lord." Jehoshaphat was a good king. Be like Jehoshaphat.
So the two of them went to Ahab's court, and Ahab paraded by his four hundred (!) prophets - paid yes-men - to discern the will of God. They all prophesied the king's victory, of course. Jehoshaphat rolled his eyes and said "No really, let's hear from a real prophet of the Lord"
"There's one," Ahab said, "but I hate him and his stupid face. He only says bad things about me."
Enter Micaiah. The prophet had already been warned what to say, and knew very well the danger of following the Lord. "Micaiah," said the king Ahab in the presence of Jehoshaphat and the other prophets, "should we go to war against the Arameans?"
"Sure, whatever, I don't care," Micaiah replied.
This made the king angry. "Dammit, I told you a million times never to lie to me."
"Fine," Micaiah replied. "The Lord is not with you. If you go to war you will die. Your prophets have been enticed by evil spirits to draw you out to battle where you will be killed."
Ahab smugly looked at Jehoshaphat. "I told you he only prophesies bad things about me."
And then the king ordered that Micaiah is put in prison and be given nothing but bread and water until the day he returned safely from battle. That's the last we hear of Micaiah. By the way, Ahab dies at the battle, just as the Lord said.
this story is skipped over in Sunday School ... they barely teach this ..