Our Bible study met at our house on Monday, and we talked about this super interesting (and somewhat weird) scene in 1 Kings 22. Someone raised the question: who were the prophets in 1 Kings 22? Were they prophets of Yahweh or of some other god?
On Monday I wasn’t sure, but now I think they are not prophets of Yahweh.
Verse 6 of chapter 22 says, Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men.” Four chapters earlier, there were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah in the showdown with Elijah (1 Kings 18.19). After Elijah’s victory, he says in verse 40, “Seize the prophets of Baal; don’t let any man of them escape!” He then executed them.
So the 450 prophets of Baal are out of the picture, but it seems the 400 prophets of Asherah were not executed. Perhaps this makes sense, as Elijah’s contest was between Yahweh and Baal; Asherah wasn’t directly involved.
The next reference we have in 1 Kings to 400 prophets is here in chapter 22. In verse 5, Jehoshaphat asks, “Inquire first for the word of the LORD” — he wants to year from Yahweh. Ahab then gathers 400 prophets, who tell him, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king” (verse 6). The word “Lord” here is “Adonai”, not the divine name. My Logos Bible app has a footnote saying that some manuscripts have the prophets invoking the name of Yahweh, but the majority have the prophets saying “Adonai,” which is a generic term of respect used for God and for men in the Old Testament. The point here is not lost: these 400 prophets are not speaking for Yahweh. It seems to me that these are the 400 prophets of Asherah from four chapters earlier.
I think this is cemented in verse 7, where Jehoshaphat says, “Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we might still inquire from him?” He recognizes that these 400 prophets are not even claiming to speak in the name of Yahweh. He asked to hear from Yahweh and this has not yet happened.
In the previous paragraph, I used the Lexham English Bible’s translation of verse 7. I think it’s interesting that the ESV has Jehoshaphat saying, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?” My Bible app has a note on the word “another” saying, “This word was added by translators for clarity.” That’s right, the word “another” is not in the Hebrew. I don’t know why the ESV translators chose to imply that the 400 prophets were prophets of Yahweh when they 1) did not invoke his name; and 2) were wrong!
Far from providing clarity, I think adding the word “another” actually confuses who these prophets are. The NIV says, “Is there no longer a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?” This makes sense of the story.
The spirit which Micaiah, a prophet of Yahweh, saw in his vision did succeed in his mission: he became a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets. The prophet of Yahweh spoke what came to pass, and the 400 prophets who all prophesied Ahab’s victory were proven to be untrustworthy.