POLEMICS: PUBLIC OR PRIVATE (PART 8)
[LESSONS FROM PROPHET MICAIAH (C)]
[3. HE ACTED GENTLY (A)]
PROPHET ZEDEKIAH’S HOSTILITY
A quick recap: 400 prophets prophesy victory for Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Micaiah comes and prophesies doom, revealing the 400 prophecies to be false. This is how Zedekiah, possibly the leader of the 400, reacted.
‘Now Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the spirit from the Lord go from me to speak to you?” And Micaiah said, “Indeed, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide!”’ (1 Kings 22:24-25, NKJV)
The third lesson from Prophet Micaiah concerns his gentility in the face of Zedekiah’s hostility. Micaiah’s offensiveness resided in his declaration of divine truth – nothing more. If speaking the truth is adversarial, then Micaiah was happily violent. But the actual aggressor was Zedekiah who walked to Micaiah and slapped him in the face for saying that the former prophesied a lie.
Those who forbid apologetics and polemics are often more hostile than apologists and polemists. Often times, those who would not be corrected or allow doctrinal correction are aggravated by diametrical opinions. Thus, their idea of peaceful coexistence rests in uncritical doctrinal tolerance, the death of truth. It is a bond of uneasy silence, compulsory and feigned agreement, and no freedom to dissent.
This is how some heralds of this peace may rather lead the offensive against people who express disagreement. Their peace is conditioned on their lie. As long as you let sleeping dogs lie, the facade of friendship flourishes. Don’t rock the boat; and the phony placation prospers. These tolerate silence and support, not spit. This is not the kind of peace and unity Jesus wants for His Church. This is the kind of unity He wants:
[11] And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, [12] for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, [13] till we all come to THE UNITY OF THE FAITH AND OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; [14] THAT WE SHOULD NO LONGER BE CHILDREN, TOSSED TO AND FRO AND CARRIED ABOUT WITH EVERY WIND OF DOCTRINE, BY THE TRICKERY OF MEN, IN THE CUNNING CRAFTINESS OF DECEITFUL PLOTTING, [15] but, SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— [16] from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16, NKJV, emphasis mine)
Biblical unity is consistent with “the faith”, “the knowledge of the Son of God” and “the truth”. It allows for speaking the truth in love instead of being “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting”. This is clearly not the kind of unity that comes from accommodating wrong beliefs and doctrine. Biblical unity speaks the truth in love, the polemic way.
When Zedekiah had almost 400 prophets agree with him, he was happy. When one prophet disagreed, he was livid. He walked to Micaiah and slapped him! We continue in the next episode, God willing.
With love,
PDS.