A Lying Spirit

I've got to be honest, I really don't know where to go with this post. It is just something I read the other day, that continues to stick with me. Let me set the stage a bit for you....

Ahab was not a choir boy...not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, 1 Kings 16:30 tells us that he did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. He served Baal, and had a rather infamous wife named Jezebel (not something most parents think of naming their little girls to this day). At the bidding of Elijah, he gathers 450 prophets of Baal for a showdown, only to have them lose. Elijah kills every one of them (1 Kings 18:40). Ahab then runs and tells his wife, and she threatens to kill Elijah....not exactly a model of bravery on his part. He later makes a deal with a Syrian king which God tells him to kill (allowing him to live) , which brings a death sentence on him from God (1 Kings 20:42).

For three years there is no further war with Syria, but then he tries to convince the king of Judah (Jehoshaphat) to go to war with him against Syria in order to take a town. He inquires of the Lord via 400 prophets, asking if he should go to war with Jehoshaphat against Syria...and every one of them give him the green light. Even the prophet Micaiah, who nearly always gives Ahab bad news, initially tells him to go up. It is only upon further prodding by the King that Micaiah tells him that he will die there should he go. Then he goes further.

He states that he saw the Lord on his throne, with all the host of Heaven in attendance. The Lord asks for someone to volunteer to entice Ahab into going into battle, and thus to his death. In 1 Kings 22:21-23 we learn that one of the spirits volunteers, and the Lord asks him how he intends to do it. He states that he will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. The Lord tells him to go and do it, and that he will succeed. Verse 23 is clear on this point, that it is the Lord himself who puts the lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets by sending this spirit on its mission.

Now this isn't some fallen angel, but a spirit serving the Lord of Heaven himself. And God approves of this method, and sends that spirit on it's way. By means of this, the king goes into battle, and is killed by the random shot of an arrow into the air, thus fulfilling the will of the Lord concerning this wicked king.

While God will not and can not lie, He apparently can and has sent others to lie in order to achieve his purposes. It is not that he could not have achieved his purposes by simply filling Ahab with pride so that he didn't even consult his prophets, or even to consult them but then ignore them. He could have killed him instantly with a heart attack, or slowly with any number of diseases. Instead, he causes (via a sent spirit) 400 prophets to speak falsely to the king's demise.

Having read a few commentators try to "talk around" this text, I simply find it interesting what the text actually says.

Certainly the 400 sycophant prophets surrounding Ahab were just saying what he wanted to hear, and would be more than willing to believe a lie and retell it.

Certainly God doesn't take advice from spirits and go with the best option presented.

And it causes one to pause to think that God would encourage a lie. However, we do find in 2 Thessalonians 2:11 that God will one day send "a strong delusion" on people, so that they will believe a lie, so the concept is not without biblical warrant.

Ultimately, our theology must bend to the content of scripture itself, without our "helpful warping" of it. So what does this tell us?

I'd like to tell you I've found the answer. I have not. Clearly, some of God's ways are beyond my understanding at this point...and may always be so.

What do you think...?