71. Don't shoot the Messenger

If It Feels Good - Prophesy It

It is hard to believe that some people used to believe that if you stopped those who prophesied bad news the bad events they predicted would not happen.  One still gets glimpses of this way of thinking when the weatherman predicts bad weather; people make it sound as if the bad weather is the weatherman's fault.

1. At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, the king of Judah, saying, ... "You have done foolishly in this; therefore from now on you shall have wars." And Asa was angry with the seer and put him in a prison-house. For he was in a rage with him because of this. 2 Chron. 16:7-10.

2. A similar thing happened to Jeremiah, the prophet.  The princes of Judah said to the king, "So says Jehovah: 'This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, and he shall capture it.'" And the rulers (princes) said to the king, "Please let this man, Jeremiah, be put to death. ... For this man does not seek the good of this people, but the hurt." Then Zedekiah the king said, "Behold, he is in your hand." Jer. 38:3-5.

Actually, they thought they had a good reason to silence him because he was discouraging the soldiers and the common folk by saying that they would lose the war in any case.  However, silencing him made no difference because the "die was cast", and Jehovah had decided to destroy Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.   With the king's supposed permission the princes put Jeremiah into a pit (a cistern), hoping that he would be forgotten there and consequently starve to death.

3. The king of Israel, Ahab, gathered four hundred men of the prophets and said to them, "Shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I wait?" And they said, "Go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hand."  They said what he wanted to hear.  It is just that he wanted to hear it from the prophets because that way he could go to war under the guise of religion; like the Crusaders did during the dark ages.  They went out to pillage and murder with the blessing of the pope on them.

But Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, said, "Is there not a prophet of Jehovah here besides, so that we might ask of Him?"  And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah. But I hate him, for he never prophesied good to me, but always evil."  Do our priests and pastors also preach only those things we love to hear?  Do they never reproach us for our lifestyle; and if they do, do we change the church we attend?

Against his wishes the king of Israel sent a messenger to Micaiah, the prophet and the messenger said to him, "All the prophets prophesied so, saying, 'Go up to Ramoth-Gilead and be blessed. For Jehovah shall deliver it into the king's hand' ... please let your word be like one of theirs, and speak good."  Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives, even what my God says, that I will speak."

Or Prophesy The Truth

And he (Micaiah) came to the king. And the king said to him, "Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I wait?" And he, Micaiah, said, "Go up and be blessed. And they shall be delivered into your hand."  Micaiah had a reputation of honesty and his reputation preceded him.  When Micaiah answered the king he agreed with the other prophets and immediately king Ahab was suspicious of him and said, "How many times shall I warn you that you say nothing but the truth to me in the name of Jehovah?" 

And he, Micaiah, said, "you want the truth, here it is, I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd. And Jehovah said, 'These have no master.'"  The words, these have no master, of course, imply that Ahab, the king of Israel, the shepherd of the flock of Israelites, would die in the war.  Ahab felt it, like "the sentence of death" in him; The Pulpit Com.  

Many years before this, Moses, in his prayer, had painted a similar picture, saying, Let Jehovah, ... set a man over the congregation who ... may lead them out, and who may bring them in, so that the congregation of Jehovah may not be as sheep which have no shepherd. Num. 27:15-17.  Now Ahab, an unworthy leader of the northern tribes of Israel, stands face to face with the prediction that, because of his wicked lifestyle, he is about to die.  So what does he do?

 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, "Did I not tell you he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?"  Then the king of Israel said, ... "Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction until I return in peace."   Just before the prophet was "hauled" away to prison he cried out to the king, "If you certainly return in peace, then Jehovah has not spoken by me."  2 Chron.18:5-27.

The fact that the prophet was in prison did not stop his prophecy from coming to pass.    And a certain man, a soldier, drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel ... and about the time of the sunset he died. 2 Chron. 18:33-34.