Is there no other prophet to consult?
At the end of 1 Kings, the writing is on the wall. King Ahab has a war with the Arameans to the north, and the prophet Micaiah has prophesied his death. Ahabs response makes me wonder if there are some parallels to our own moment, when we see empires and systems and people wrestling against their ends. The writing is on the wall in so many spaces of our world. The shifting demographics in the United States, a political system in which gridlock props up the legacies of White supremacy, the frequent reminders of climate change, a global economic system that relies on poverty wages and voracious consumption of natural resources. If the pandemic has made anything clear, it is that the lives we were living before this were not sustainable. Brian Bantum Brian Bantum is professor of theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and author of Redeeming Mulatto and The Death of Race. See All Articles Jul 14, 2021 issue  Ahab, even after repenting for theft and the murder of Naboth, sees the perpetuation of his life only in terms of accumulation. They do not need to make room for dissent or uncertainty. They dont have to account for science or facts or motivation, for whether a tweet is a diversion or whether a war is a political stunt. Institutions accumulate power by becoming the locus of a narrative and a gatekeeper of information. They seek to exist in a space where something is true because they want it to be true. But while Ahab wants only confirmation of his own ambitions, King Jehoshaphat of Judah, who has been asked to accompany Ahab, sees whats happening. He sees the quality of the counsel Ahab has called in, and he asks, Is there no other prophet? Perhaps there is wisdom in expanding counsel. Oh, theres Micaiah, Ahab replies, but he never says anything good about me. Reluctantly, he summons Micaiah anyway. Micaiah tries to toe the line, but when pressed he says, I saw all Israel scattered . . . says Ahab. I told you. Ahab does not hear what Micaiah is saying but instead reduces his words to a personal attack. Theres nothing truthful in his experience or knowledge, Ahab is saying. Hes just playing the race card again! Its always about gender with her! Too often, institutions are built upon presuppositions that preclude other possibilities. They maintain their power by trying to become a singular truth, by being the one that offers the resources and credentials and authority to approve or disapprove, to hire or fire. And when that doesnt work, they just move the goalposts, making what was secondary now primary. Confronted by new ways of seeing, reading, hearing, and being, institutions minimize the wisdom of prophets and try to paint them as woke warriors, people more shaped by culture than by scripture, people who just want to do whatever they want and call it God. But they cant see God working in our words, experiences, and struggles. They dont want to, because to acknowledge the truth of our experience is also to reckon with the limitations of the institution, that it cant keep going on as it always has, that it cant simply go out and accumulate more and more land, an ever-expanding empire. It cant keep on churning out the same churches, hiring the same dudes, recycling tired arguments. So instead, institutions try to paint us like were ignorant. Even though we learned their material and taught ourselves ours as well. The refusal is never just rhetorical. After belittling the very advice Ahab cajoled Micaiah to offer, he sends him to jail with limited rations. Confronted with an alternative experience and a word about his own folly, Ahab punishes Micaiah for his words of truth. In the face of these powers, we can only speak the words God has given us, describe the world as it is, and hold onto the truth and beauty of our people. Amid dying empires and institutions, we may only be able to speak for a moment and try to survive as the king struggles against his inevitable end. In the end, Micaiahs words are true. I wonder what Ahab is thinking as he sits in a chariot, disguised in common soldiers clothes but mortally wounded anyway. He tried to cheat death, yet here he is. It feels like little solace. Death is never the same thing as peace. But perhaps there is hope in the possibility that our words are never our own, that our witness is never an individual affair, and that regimes built on death cannot escape what they have sown. In the meantime, we can speak the words weve been given and listen as best we can to the prophets when they come near and have the courage to speak what God has given to them. A version of this article appears in the print edition under the title Is there no other prophet?