Ahab knew very well what Jehoshaphat meant when he asked the counsel of a prophet of the Lord.
But Ahab did not dare to listen to Yahweh, the living God, for Ahab had turned his back upon Him. He had made himself a god of whom he could be sure: this god would always favor him.
But if Jehoshaphat insisted… there was still one prophet of Yahweh, but Ahab had jailed this prophet, because ‘he never prophesied anything good about Ahab, but always bad’ (:7).
Really, nothing has changed, for we too hate servants of God if they speak about His righteous judgments which are certain to come over this world when we do not turn to God and subject ourselves to Him. We prefer sweet words about humanitarianism and charity. We hate the words ‘sinner’ and ‘repentance’: they are not modern. And those who are not completely alienated from the living God (Yahweh) often accomplish nothing more than the wavering Jehoshaphat. They smile a little timidly and at most they say, ‘Oh, you should not say such a thing…’ (:7b).
The world is not doomed chiefly because of the people like Ahab who create a god after their own wishes. The world suffers most from the halfheartedness of believers who have abandoned the plain devotion to the God of their youth. They are captivated by the wealth and honor of this world. They feel obliged to become a little more broad-minded: less primitive, they say… They are disdainful, even ashamed of the time they still trusted God, and they prefer to become foot soldiers of the trendy cult of Baal.