1 Kings 22:14

1 Kings 22:14

God's truth is broader than any human statement of it, or than any systems which men, in perfect honesty of heart, may build on their conceptions of it; hence the existence of godly non conformity in every age of the world. In the region of political as well as spiritual life, the great impulses which have been the commencement of a vital expansion and progress have mostly come from men outside the established order of things, from men dissatisfied with it, and who saw something more true, more fair, in their visions, which they would not resign the hope of seeing established visibly in our world.

Micaiah, son of Imlah, is a nonconformist of the grandest type. Ahab had his regular college of prophets. Zedekiah prophesied in the name of the Lord, and was familiar, at any rate, with His Spirit as the agent of inspiration. He may have believed that he and his fellows were the recognised organs of the Divine voice, and that what they uttered had the sanction of the Divine name. The pious king of Judah did not venture to question their title to the name "prophet," but he felt that they were blind guides, more perilous in that they were masked by a sacred name. Ahab recognised Micaiah, too, as a prophet. He does not recognise any formal official distinction between him and the rest. The difference was within and vital. To stand well with the "powers that be" was the glory of Zedekiah; to stand well with the heavenly powers, to hear the Lord's "Well done," was the glory of Micaiah. A supreme loyalty to truth was the essential element of Micaiah's position, as the nonconformist prophet in Israel; and this is the one vital element in all nonconformity which has been worth anything to, or done anything in, our world.

J. Baldwin Brown, Christian' World Pulpit,vol. xiii., p. 406.

References: 1 Kings 22:15; 1 Kings 22:16. J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 353. 1 Kings 22:20. H. Melvill, 2he Golden Lectures,1854 (Penny Pulpit,No. 2194); J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College,vol. ii., p. 200.