Useful Bible Studies > 1 Kings Commentary > chapter 22
Clearly, only a very powerful lie would convince Ahab to fight for Ramoth-Gilead, where he would die. It needed to be powerful enough for Ahab to continue to believe it, even after he had heard the truth. God had declared that Ahab would die there. Even after Ahab knew that, he still wanted to go.
God and his angels, his special servants in heaven, never speak lies. So, clearly, the spirit who would speak such a lie, must be an evil spirit. Of course, such a spirit has no proper place in heaven. Like Satan in Job 1:6 to 2:7, that spirit went there to ask God to permit it to carry out an evil act. The devil and his servants always want to carry out evil acts. Sometimes God permits it in order to carry out his good plans (Romans 9:17-18).
Here, that plan was to cause Ahab’s death and so to bring him to God’s judgment. So, God permitted the spirit to cause Ahab’s false prophets to speak lies to Ahab. These false prophets were men who claimed to speak messages from God, or from the spirit world. However, they were not loyal to God and they did not follow God’s law. That allowed the evil spirit to cause them to speak lies.
The powerful lie was this: that Ahab would have success in his battle for Ramoth-Gilead. That was something that Ahab very much desired. It was a lie because it would not happen. It was also a lie because God had not said it. God had said that Ahab would die in that battle.
Next part: Micaiah alone speaks for the true God (1 Kings 22:23-25)
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