Conspiracy: A Biblical View, by Gary North - EntreWave

COURT HISTORIANSCOURT HISTORIANSFor they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far fromyour land; and that I should drive you out, and ye shouldperish (Jeremiah 27:10).In Israel, there were priests who taught the people and whoadministered the sacrifices of the temple. When they periodicallygrew lax and fell into disbelief, God would raise up prophets whocame before the rulers and the people. These prophets would remindthem of what God had done for them, what God had done to theirenemies, and what God would surely do to them in the future if theypersisted in acting like their religious enemies.The rebellious kings did not appreciate the message of the prophets.To counter this message, and to comfort the rulers, the kings wouldsurround themselves with false prophets. These men would declare inthe name of God all the good news that the kings wanted to hear.Some kings may even have begun to believe these court prophets, butnot all of them did.The worst of the bunch, King Ahab, plotted with King Jehoshephat ofJudah against the king of Syria. Jehosephat wanted Ahab to ask theprophets if God was going to give them a victory. All the 400 of thecourt prophets predicted victory. But Jehoshaphat wanted "a secondopinion." Wasn't another prophet available for consultation? OnlyMicaiah, said Ahab, "but I hate him; for he doth not phophesy goodconcerning me, but evil" (I Kings 22:8). But Ahab called him to thecourt anyway.Micaiah gave the standard, "you're a winner, king" prophecy. It wasfake, and both of them knew it. "And the king said unto him, Howmany times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that whichis true in the name of the Lord? (22:16). So Micaiah told him thetruth: he would be killed. "And the king of Israel said untoJehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no goodconcerning me, but evil?" (22:18). Ahab knew the difference betweena true prophet of God and his 400 hired prophets. He went to battlehttp://freebooks.commentary.net/freebooks/docs/html/gnco/html/5.htm (1 of 15) [5/26/2000 1:48:13 PM]