Biblical Oddities: The Council of Heaven

In the book of I Kings we find one of the strangest passages in the entire Bible:

I Kings 22:19: “And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
20 And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him.
22 And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.”

To say that this is unexpected is a vast understatement. It is quite shocking.

First, we need to understand that this is not a bizarre fantasy dreamed up by the prophet Micaiah; he makes it clear that he is saying nothing less than “the word of the Lord” (v19). This scene actually happened. God actually asked “Who will trick Ahab into going out and dying in battle?” and then took suggestions; He then picked the one that would work and sent the spirit to do the job.

Before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion, I want to point out that God knows all things. God didn’t ask this because He was at a loss and genuinely didn’t know what to do, nor was God asking this because He needed help. He knew exactly how He would handle this situation before He created the world, and He was fully capable of handling it without assistance from anyone.

No, what we’re seeing here is something different. We know that God works through people on Earth to accomplish His will; He uses us, and works through us, to do as He pleases. What we are glimpsing here is that God does something similar in Heaven with the angels. I don’t know how often this happens, but God apparently brings situations before His angels and asks for their input, then dispatches them to do His work.

What we have here is a truly odd passage that gives a little glimpse at the way things are done in Heaven. It’s not at all what we would expect – which is what makes it so fascinating.