(13) Then a certain prophet went up to King Ahab of Israel and said, “Thus said the LORD: Do you see that great host? I will deliver it into your hands today, and you shall know that I am the LORD.” (14) “Through whom?” asked Ahab. He answered, “Thus said the LORD: Through the aides of the provincial governors.” He asked, “Who shall begin the battle?” And he answered, “You.” (15) So he mustered the aides of the provincial governors, 232 strong, and then he mustered all the troops—all the Israelites—7,000 strong. (16) They marched out at noon, while Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk at Succoth together with the thirty-two kings allied with him. (17) The aides of the provincial governors rushed out first. Ben-hadad sent [scouts], who told him, “Some men have come out from Samaria.” (18) He said, “If they have come out to surrender, take them alive; and if they have come out for battle, take them alive anyhow.” (19) But the others—the aides of the provincial governors, with the army behind them—had already rushed out of the city, (20) and each of them struck down his opponent. The Arameans fled, and Israel pursued them; but King Ben-hadad of Aram escaped on a horse with other horsemen. (21) The king of Israel came out and attacked the horses and chariots, and inflicted a great defeat on the Arameans. (22) Then the prophet approached the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, keep up your efforts, and consider well what you must do; for the king of Aram will attack you at the turn of the year.” (23) Now the ministers of the king of Aram said to him, “Their God is a God of mountains; that is why they got the better of us. But if we fight them in the plain, we will surely get the better of them. (24) Do this: Remove all the kings from their posts and appoint governors in their place. (25) Then muster for yourself an army equal to the army you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. And let us fight them in the plain, and we will surely get the better of them.” He took their advice and acted accordingly. (26) At the turn of the year, Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and advanced on Aphek to fight Israel. (27) Now the Israelites had been mustered and provisioned, and they went out against them; but when the Israelites encamped against them, they looked like two flocks of goats, while the Arameans covered the land. (28) Then the man of God approached and spoke to the king of Israel, “Thus said the LORD: Because the Arameans have said, ‘The LORD is a God of mountains, but He is not a God of lowlands,’ I will deliver that great host into your hands; and you shall know that I am the LORD.” (29) For seven days they were encamped opposite each other. On the seventh day, the battle was joined and the Israelites struck down 100,000 Aramean foot soldiers in one day. (30) The survivors fled to Aphek, inside the town, and the wall fell on the 27,000 survivors. Ben-hadad also fled and took refuge inside the town, in an inner chamber. (31) His ministers said to him, “We have heard that the kings of the House of Israel are magnanimous kings. Let us put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads, and surrender to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.” (32) So they girded sackcloth on their loins and wound ropes around their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘I beg you, spare my life.’” He replied, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” (33) The men divined his meaning and quickly caught the word from him, saying, “Yes, Ben-hadad is your brother.” “Go, bring him,” he said. Ben-hadad came out to him, and he invited him into his chariot. (34) Ben-hadad said to him, “I will give back the towns that my father took from your father, and you may set up bazaars for yourself in Damascus as my father did in Samaria.” “And I, for my part,” [said Ahab,] “will let you go home under these terms.” So he made a treaty with him and dismissed him. (35) A certain man, a disciple of the prophets, said to another, at the word of the LORD, “Strike me”; but the man refused to strike him. (36) He said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the LORD, a lion will strike you dead as soon as you leave me.” And when he left, a lion came upon him and killed him. (37) Then he met another man and said, “Come, strike me.” So the man struck him and wounded him. (38) Then the prophet, disguised by a cloth over his eyes, went and waited for the king by the road. (39) As the king passed by, he cried out to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the thick of the battle. Suddenly a man came over and brought a man to me, saying, ‘Guard this man! If he is missing, it will be your life for his, or you will have to pay a talent of silver.’ (40) While your servant was busy here and there, [the man] got away.” The king of Israel responded, “You have your verdict; you pronounced it yourself.” (41) Quickly he removed the cloth from his eyes, and the king recognized him as one of the prophets. (42) He said to him, “Thus said the LORD: Because you have set free the man whom I doomed, your life shall be forfeit for his life and your people for his people.” (43) Dispirited and sullen, the king left for home and came to Samaria.

(1) There was a lull of three years, with no war between Aram and Israel. (2) In the third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah came to visit the king of Israel. (3) The king of Israel said to his courtiers, “You know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and yet we do nothing to recover it from the hands of the king of Aram.” (4) And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you come with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “I will do what you do; my troops shall be your troops, my horses shall be your horses.” (5) But Jehoshaphat said further to the king of Israel, “Please, first inquire of the LORD.” (6) So the king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Shall I march upon Ramoth-gilead for battle, or shall I not?” “March,” they said, “and the Lord will deliver [it] into Your Majesty’s hands.” (7) Then Jehoshaphat asked, “Isn’t there another prophet of the LORD here through whom we can inquire?” (8) And the king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is one more man through whom we can inquire of the LORD; but I hate him, because he never prophesies anything good for me, but only misfortune—Micaiah son of Imlah.” But King Jehoshaphat said, “Don’t say that, Your Majesty.” (9) So the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.” (10) The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were seated on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, on the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. (11) Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had provided himself with iron horns; and he said, “Thus said the LORD: With these you shall gore the Arameans till you make an end of them.” (12) And all the other prophets were prophesying similarly, “March upon Ramoth-gilead and triumph! The LORD will deliver it into Your Majesty’s hands.” (13) The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him: “Look, the words of the prophets are with one accord favorable to the king. Let your word be like that of the rest of them; speak a favorable word.” (14) “As the LORD lives,” Micaiah answered, “I will speak only what the LORD tells me.” (15) When he came before the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we march upon Ramoth-gilead for battle, or shall we not?” He answered him, “March and triumph! The LORD will deliver [it] into Your Majesty’s hands.” (16) The king said to him, “How many times must I adjure you to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?” (17) Then he said, “I saw all Israel scattered over the hills like sheep without a shepherd; and the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let everyone return to his home in safety.’” (18) “Didn’t I tell you,” said the king of Israel to Jehoshaphat, “that he would not prophesy good fortune for me, but only misfortune?” (19) But [Micaiah] said, “I call upon you to hear the word of the LORD! I saw the LORD seated upon His throne, with all the host of heaven standing in attendance to the right and to the left of Him. (20) The LORD asked, ‘Who will entice Ahab so that he will march and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ Then one said thus and another said thus, (21) until a certain spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘How?’ the LORD asked him. (22) And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You will entice and you will prevail. Go out and do it.’ (23) So the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours; for the LORD has decreed disaster upon you.” (24) Thereupon Zedekiah son of Chenaanah stepped up and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and demanded, “Which way did the spirit of the LORD pass from me to speak with you?” (25) And Micaiah replied, “You’ll find out on the day when you try to hide in the innermost room.” (26) Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and turn him over to Amon, the city’s governor, and to Prince Joash, (27) and say, ‘The king’s orders are: Put this fellow in prison, and let his fare be scant bread and scant water until I come home safe.’” (28) To which Micaiah retorted, “If you ever come home safe, the LORD has not spoken through me.” He said further, “Listen, all you peoples!” (29) So the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah marched upon Ramoth-gilead. (30) The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Disguise yourself and go into the battle; but you, wear your robes.” So the king of Israel went into the battle disguised. (31) Now the king of Aram had instructed his thirty-two chariot officers: “Don’t attack anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel.” (32) So when the chariot officers saw Jehoshaphat, whom they took for the king of Israel, they turned upon him to attack him, and Jehoshaphat cried out. (33) And when the chariot officers became aware that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. (34) Then a man drew his bow at random and he hit the king of Israel between the plates of the armor; and he said to his charioteer, “Turn the horses around and get me behind the lines; I’m wounded.” (35) The battle raged all day long, and the king remained propped up in the chariot facing Aram; the blood from the wound ran down into the hollow of the chariot, and at dusk he died. (36) As the sun was going down, a shout went through the army: “Every man to his own town! Every man to his own district.” (37) So the king died and was brought to Samaria. They buried the king in Samaria, (38) and they flushed out the chariot at the pool of Samaria. Thus the dogs lapped up his blood and the whores bathed [in it], in accordance with the word that the LORD had spoken.

[The mishna lists among those liable to be executed as a false prophet] one who prophesies that which he did not hear. For example, Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, as it is written: “And Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, made for him horns of iron, (I Kings 22:11). The Gemara asks: What was he to do? Why was he held responsible? After all, the spirit of Naboth misled him, as it is written: “And the Lord said: Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead…and there came forth the spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will entice him. And He said…You shall entice him, and shall prevail also; go forth, and do so” (I Kings 22:20–22). Rav Yehuda says: What is the meaning of the apparently unnecessary term “Go forth”? Could the Lord not have sufficed with telling the spirit: Do so? The term means: Go forth from My proximity. Since the spirit volunteered to engage in deceit, it was no longer fit to stand in proximity to God. What is the identity of the spirit? Rabbi Yoḥanan says: the spirit of Naboth the Jezreelite, who was eager to take revenge upon Ahab. The Gemara now answers its question above: It was incumbent upon Zedekiah to discern between actual prophecies and false prophecies in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Yitzḥak, as Rabbi Yitzḥak says: A prophetic vision relating to one and the same subject matter [signon] may appear to several prophets, but two prophets do not prophesy employing one and the same style of expression. ... And with regard to these false prophets, from the fact that in their case all the prophets are saying their prophecies like each other, i.e., employing an identical style, conclude from it that they are saying nothing of substance and that it is a false prophecy. The Gemara asks: Perhaps Zedekiah, son of Chenaanah, did not know this statement of Rabbi Yitzḥak, and therefore should not have been held responsible? The Gemara answers: Jehoshaphat, king of Judea, was there, and he said to them that they were false prophets, as it is written: “But Jehoshaphat said: Is there not here besides a prophet of the Lord, that we might inquire of him?” (I Kings 22:7). Ahab said to him: But aren’t there all these prophets here? Why seek others? Jehoshaphat said to Ahab: This is the tradition that I received from the house of the father of my father, the house of David: A prophetic vision relating to one and the same subject matter may appear to several prophets, but two prophets do not prophesy employing one and the same style of expression. They are false prophets, as they employed the same language when stating their prophecy. ...

The mishna also lists: And one who forgoes the statement of a prophet. The Gemara comments: For example, [89b]

the colleague of the prophet Micah, son of Imla (see II Chronicles 18:7–8), as it is written: “And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his colleague by the word of the Lord: Strike me, please. And the man refused to strike him” (I Kings 20:35). And it is written: “Then he said he to him: Because you have not listened to the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you leave me, a lion shall slay you. And as soon as he left from him, a lion found him; and slew him” (I Kings 20:36). ...

The Gemara asks: In the case of one who forgoes the statement of a prophet, from where does he know that the one prophesying is actually a prophet and that he will be punished for failing to comply with the prophecy? The Gemara answers: It is referring to a case where the prophet provides him with a sign indicating that he is a prophet. The Gemara asks: But in the case of Micah, who did not provide him with a sign, and yet he was punished, how could he have known that Micah was a prophet? A case where he has already assumed the presumptive status of a prophet is different, and no sign is necessary.

Apropos the death of Ahab, the verse states: “And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood; and the harlots also washed themselves there, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke” (I Kings 22:38). Rabbi Elazar says: “The harlots [hazzonot]” can be read as visions [ḥezyonot], and the verse means: To cleanse, i.e., to fulfill, two visions, one of Micaiah and one of Elijah. This fulfills a vision of Micaiah, as it is written: “If you return at all in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me” (I Kings 22:28). Once Ahab died, Micaiah’s vision was fulfilled. This also fulfills a vision of Elijah, as it is written: “In the place where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall the dogs lick your blood, even yours” (I Kings 21:19). Rava says: The verse is speaking of actual harlots. Ahab was a frigid man, who did not lust for women. And Jezebel, his wife, fashioned two forms of harlots for him in his chariot, in order that he see them while traveling and become aroused. Accordingly, one would understand the verse as stating that the harlots were washed, not that they washed themselves. The verse describing the death of Ahab states: “And a certain man drew a bow offhandedly [letummo] and smote the king of Israel” (I Kings 22:34). Rabbi Elazar says: “Letummo” should be understood as offhandedly [lefi tummo], without aiming for Ahab. Rava says: This alludes to the fact that the killing of Ahab served to make whole [letammem] two visions, one of Micaiah and one of Elijah.

(2) The Holy One, blessed be He, ponders the matter in question and asks: What should the law be? Whereupon they respond: It should be such-and-such. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, decrees, as you may learn from Micaiah: And Micaiah said: “Therefore hear thou the word of the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left hand (I Kings 22:19). But is there actually a left hand on high? No; it means that those on the right (side of God) balance the scale on the side of merit, and those on the left balance the scale on the side of guilt. And the Lord said: “Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?” And one said: On this manner; another said: On that manner (ibid., v. 20). This teaches us that they considered every decision with regard to the law, and the Holy One, blessed be He, discussed the law with them.

(3) What is meant by But He is at one with Himself, and who can turn Him? (Job 23:13). It means that after the law was determined, the Holy One, blessed be He, would enter the place in which they were not permitted to go and seal the judgment, as it is said: He is at one with Himself, and who can turn Him? That is, He knows the opinions of all His creatures, and there are none who could challenge His words.

(3) You find that the Holy One, blessed be He, sits in judgment upon every transgression of man, and asks: What decision shall be rendered? Whether the man is a thief, an adulterer, or a transgressor, the Holy One, blessed be He, sits in judgment upon him. And so you find that in the time of Ahab, Micah said: I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the hosts of heaven standing by Him on His right hand and on His left (I Kings 22:19). Is there a left hand on High, since it is written: Thy right hand, O Lord, glorious in power; Thy right hand, O Lord, dasheth in pieces the enemy (Exod. 15:16), and also: The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly (Ps. 118:16)? What, then, is the meaning of on His right hand and on His left? Those who plead in behalf of a sinner are called His right hand, and those who argue against him are called His left.

(4) And the Lord said: “Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?” (I Kings 22:20). This verse indicates that He discussed the law with them (the heavenly hosts). One said: On this manner; and another said: On that manner. And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord, and said: “I will entice him” (ibid., v. 20–21). He asked him: “Do you know the cause of the sin?” And He replied: “Yes.” Then He began to discuss His decision with them, as it is said: And one said: On this manner; and another said: On that manner. but in regard to the one who lends money on interest, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not discuss His decision, for it is said: Hath given forth upon interest, and hath taken increase; shall he then live? He shall not live (Ezek. 18:13). He renders His verdict immediately, and the ministering angels declare: He hath done all these abominations; he shall surely be put to death, his blood shall be upon him, he shall not live (ibid.). Thus Moses said: If thou lend.

Judah Halevi (c. 1075-1141)

... As to the Agādās, many serve as basis and introduction for explanations and injunctions. For instance: the saying, 'When the Lord descended to Egypt,' etc. is designed to confirm the belief that the deliverance from Egypt was a deliberate act of God, and not an accident, nor achieved with the assistance of human plotting, spirits, stars, and angels, jinn, or any other fanciful creation of the mind. It was done by God's providence alone. Statements of this kind are introduced by the word kibejākhōl, which means: If this could be so and so, it would be so and so. Although this is not to be found in the Talmud, but only in a few other works, it is to be so understood wherever it is found. This is also the meaning of the words of Micaiah, when he said to Ahab: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne . . . host of heaven. And the Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab. . . . And there came forth a spirit,' etc. (I Kings 22:19 sqq.) As a matter of fact all that he intended conveying was: Behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets. Verses of this kind serve as a fulcrum and induction, rendering a subject eloquent, apposite, and showing that it is based on truth.

(8) (7) In a prophetic dream it appears to the prophet as if God spoke to him. Thus Isaiah says, "And I saw the Lord, and I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isa. 6:1, 8). Micaiah, son of Imla, said likewise, "I saw the Lord" (1 Kings 22:19).

You will perhaps ask this question: among the different degrees of prophecy there is one in which prophets, e.g., Isaiah, Micaiah, appear to hear God addressing them; how can this be reconciled with the principle that all prophets are prophetically addressed through an angel, except Moses our Teacher, in reference to whom Scripture says, "Mouth to mouth I speak to him" (Num. 12:8)? I answer, this is really the case, the medium here being the imaginative faculty that hears in a prophetic dream God speaking; but Moses heard the voice addressing him "from above the covering of the ark from between the two cherubim" (Exod. 25:22) without the medium of the imaginative faculty. In Mishne-torah we have given the characteristics of this kind of prophecy, and explained the meaning of the phrases, "Mouth to mouth I speak to him"; "As man speaketh to his neighbour" (Exod. 33:11), and the like. Study it there, and I need not repeat what has already been said.