1 Kings 22:7-28 “And Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of Him?" (8) So, the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." And Jehoshaphat said, "Let not the king say such things!" … (14) And Micaiah said, "As the Lord lives, whatever the Lord says to me, that I will speak." … (23) Therefore look! The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, and the Lord has declared disaster against you." … (26) So the king of Israel said, "Take Micaiah, and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son; (27) and say, 'Thus says the king: "Put this fellow in prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and water of affliction, until I come in peace." ‘“(28) But Micaiah said, "If you ever return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me." And he said, "Take heed, all you people!”
We said earlier that even the king, who had the Holy Spirit upon him, would go to the prophet to enquire from the Lord. In the above quoted account, Jehoshaphat the king of Judah and Ahab the king of Israel, were trying to decide whether they should go to war or not. Ahab had all his prophets of Baal telling him to go to war, but Jehoshaphat was not convinced. And so the king of Judah suggested that they should enquire from one of the Lord’s prophets as to what the Lord’s counsel was. And so the prophet Micaiah was called so that they could inquire of God through him. As it turned out, both kings decided to follow the guidance of the false prophets, which is what the Lord had decreed should happen. And Ahab was judged by the Lord in the battle that followed. But again the main point that I wanted to highlight from this passage, is that it was standard practice under the old covenant for everyone, including kings, to go to the prophet to receive guidance from the Lord.
1 Samuel 3:1-11 “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. (2) And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, (3) and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, (4) that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, "Here I am!" (5) So, he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." And he said, "I did not call; lie down again." And he went and lay down. (6) Then the Lord called yet again, "Samuel!" So, Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." He answered, "I did not call, my son; lie down again." (7) (Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.) (8) And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. So, he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you did call me." Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. (9) Therefore, Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, 'Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.' “So, Samuel went and lay down in his place. (10) Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel answered, "Speak, for Your servant hears." (11) Then the Lord said to Samuel: "Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.”
We have seen thus far that it was common practice under the old covenant for the saints to seek the Lord’s guidance through the office of the prophet. So just how did the old covenant prophets hear from God, in order to be able to give clear and accurate guidance to the saints? The answer is very simple. They heard the audible voice of God. In fact one could not stand in the office of the prophet under the old covenant unless they heard the audible voice of the Lord. In the above quoted account in scripture we see that Samuel heard the audible voice of God for the first time, as he started out in his ministry as a young prophet. Because it was his first encounter with the Lord however, he did not recognize who was speaking at first and he needed some guidance from Eli. Eli could give him instruction as to how to respond to the voice of the Lord, because the Lord had also spoken to Eli in time past. This is a very vivid account of just how the prophets under the old covenant heard the voice of God. Notice that because it was Samuel’s first encounter with the voice of God, that he did not recognize who had spoken to him. As the prophets grew in their ministries, they learnt to more readily recognize the voice of God.
Michael E.B. Maher
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