“Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s” Obadiah 1:21

“Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!” Psalm 82:8

“That they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.” Psalm 83:18

The same theme emerges in these three passages and also control the other readings for today.

God is the sovereign judge. He rules over all.

In the 1 Kings passage, the wicked King Ahab has surrounded himself with hundreds of prophets who always tell him what he wants to hear. But Micaiah is the only prophet who speaks truth and Ahab knows it. At first Micaiah mockingly answers the king according to what all the others say, but King Ahab sees right through that.

“But the king said to him, ‘How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?'” 1 Kings 22:16

The king wants the truth and he gets the truth. Micaiah prophesies that King Ahab will die in the upcoming battle. King Ahab responds by putting Micaiah in prison and boasts that he will come back safely from the battle.

But Ahab knows the prophet has spoken the truth. Why else would he go into battle in disguise?

And as the prophet has said, and according to the sovereign judgment of the Lord, Ahab is killed in battle. Jehoshaphat escapes death by crying out to the Lord but Ahab is struck by a random arrow between the plates of armor.

God’s judgment will prevail. It is indeed better to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes.