MICAIAH mĭ kā’ yə (מִיכָיָ֑הוּ, Who is like the Lord [Yahu]? LXX Μιχαίας); a variant of the name borne by the canonical prophet Micah and a common Heb. name found on scarabs, etc. Also borne by several lesser figures, a prince under Jehoshaphat (2 Chron 17:7) and a contemporary of Jeremiah (Jer 36:11, 13). The latter, being the grandson of Shaphan, a scribe attached to the Temple, carried Jeremiah’s message to the princes gathered at the palace of King Jehoiakim. The princes then called for the sermon to be read to them. In the Heb. Bible the same spelling appears (Judg 17:1, 4) where the ASV and RSV give Micah as the name of the Ephraimite, because this passage has the name spelled in both the short (17:5ff.; 18:2ff.) and long form (17:1, 4).

The figure usually associated with this name is the prophet Micaiah, the son of Imlah in 1 Kings 22:8-26 (2 Chron 18:7-25). This man performed a deed which took great courage and unwavering faith in the Lord as God. Ahab and his idolatrous wife Jezebel were determined to suppress those who called for the worship of the Lord only. On this occasion Ahab sought to regain control of the frontier city Ramoth-gilead from his old enemy Benhadad, the Aramean. He sought and needed the assistance of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. On the occasion of a formal state visit Ahab put the question bluntly to the Judean king, and was given an affirmative answer with the condition that they inquire of the Lord His will in the matter (1 Kings 22:4, 5). The king of Israel obligingly gathered four hundred prophets, presumably prophets of the Lord (Yahweh) and asked, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead or shall I forbear?” They all gave this wicked man the answer he wanted to hear, “Go up; for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” One of them even acted out the victory with a set of iron horns (v. 11). Jehoshaphat sensed their perfidy and asked for a true prophet of the Lord. Reluctantly he was told of Micaiah and informed by Ahab, “But I hate him; for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.”

As he was summoned Micaiah was warned to conform, but like Luther at Worms he said, “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak” (v. 14).

When questioned this true prophet began by giving an affirmative answer in obvious contempt (v. 15). Ahab sensed that he was being mocked and called for the truth, whence Micaiah painted two word pictures in unmistakable clarity. The first showed Israel as a scattered flock without a shepherd, and the second depicted the council of heaven with the Lord seated on His throne and before all the host of heaven, one of whom volunteered to become a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets. The picture is similar to Job 1 and 2 where Satan (the Accuser) stands before the Lord, and presses for permission to attack Job. The prophecy had such forcefulness that the same false prophet who had demonstrated with iron horns, Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah, smote Micaiah on the cheek and accused him of being the false one. Jehoshaphat, a good but weak man, said nothing; but Ahab had had enough and might well have taken the bold prophet’s life if Jehoshaphat had not been present. Instead he returned Micaiah to prison to be fed on bread and water. As Micaiah was led away he drove his darts of truth in deeper by warning that if Ahab came back from the battle alive then the Lord had not spoken by him (v. 28).

Although Ahab had rejected Micaiah’s words by declaring he would come again in peace (v. 27), yet the words so lingered in his mind that he disguised himself as he went into battle. The Scripture makes clear that wholly by the Lord these words were fulfilled. The Arameans could not find Ahab to kill him, but an archer simply shot an unaimed arrow into the air and when it descended it hit Ahab in a small unprotected spot between his scale armor and breastplate. The king fell mortally wounded and Micaiah’s prophecy was vindicated (cf. Deut 18:22).

Bibliography J. Bright, A History of Israel (1959), 225-227; E. J. Young, My Servants the Prophets (1961), 136-142.