Prophets Faithfull to God's CovenantCourageous Prophets of Change
Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) Micaiah: Speaking Truth to Power2 Kings 3:9-19
The Message9 The king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom started out on what proved to be a looping detour. After seven days, they had run out of water for both army and animals. 10 The king of Israel said, “Bad news! God has gotten us three kings out here to dump us into the hand of Moab.” 11 But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of God anywhere around through whom we can consult God?” One of the servants of the king of Israel said, “Elisha, son of Shaphat, is around somewhere—the one who was Elijah’s, right-hand man.” 12 Jehoshaphat said, “Good! A man we can trust!” So the three of them—the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom—went to meet him. 13 Elisha addressed the king of Israel, “What do you and I have in common? Go consult the puppet-prophets of your father and mother.” “Never!” said the king of Israel. “It’s God who has gotten us into this fix, dumping all three of us kings into the hand of Moab.” 14-15 Elisha said, “As God-of-the-Angel-Armies lives, and before whom I stand ready to serve, if it weren’t for the respect I have for Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I wouldn’t give you the time of day. But considering—bring me a minstrel.” (When a minstrel played, the power of God came on Elisha.) 16-19 He then said, “God’s word: Dig ditches all over this valley. Here’s what will happen—you won’t hear the wind, you won’t see the rain, but this valley is going to fill up with water, and your army and your animals will drink their fill. This is easy for God to do; he will also hand over Moab to you. You will ravage the country: Knock out its fortifications, level the key villages, clear-cut the orchards, clog the springs, and litter the cultivated fields with stones.” For Reflection We tend to compartmentalize God's affairs and civil affairs. But in the days of the Old Testament, God and geopolitical affairs were analogous. The king of Israel made a half-hearted attempt to appease God by ending the worship of Baal but retaining the idolatry of the calf. Edom was not always a friend of Judah but was united with Israel and Judah to oppose the Moab's rebellion against Israel and minimize Edom's possible rebellion against Israel.
This was an unlikely triad to be favored by God. The defeat of Moab cemented the faithful Jesohaphat's rise to power. The people of the Old Testament were convinced that God's hand animated worldly affairs. PrayPray and contemplate the ways God has had a hand in forming or adjusting the political, social, and economic conditions of the world you know.
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