Anger and indignation filled the heart of the king; he went to his house "heavy and displeased." The phrase, twice applied to him and never used of another, shows that he was liable to characteristic moods of overwhelming sullenness, the result of an uneasy conscience, and of a rage which was compelled to remain impotent. It is evident that he did not dare to chastise the audacious offender, though the Jews say that the prophet was Micaiah, the son of Imlah, and that he was imprisoned for this offence.[742] As a rule the prophets--like Samuel and Nathan, and Gad and Shemaiah, and Jehu the son of Hanani--were protected by their sacrosanct position. Now and then an Urijah, a Jeremiah, a Zechariah son of Berechiah, paid the penalty of bold denunciation, not only by hatred and persecution, but with his life. This, however, was the exception. As a rule the prophets felt themselves safe under the wing of a Divine protector. Not only Elijah in his sheepskin mantle, but even the humblest of his imitators in the prophetic schools might fearlessly stride up to a king, seize his steed by the bridle, as Athanasius did to Constantine, and compel him to listen to his rebuke or his appeal.
[725] 1 Kings xx. 24. LXX., σατράπας.
[726] R.V., "and were victualled," not, as in A.V., "and were all present." Alex. LXX., διοικήθησαν; Vulg., _acceptis cibariis_.
[727] Why two? No explanation is given. It has been conjectured that Judah had sent a separate contingent to help them in their distress.
[728] Some have supposed that an earthquake occurred, and Canon Rawlinson mentions (_Speaker's Commentary_) that the earthquake of Lisbon is said to have destroyed sixty thousand persons in five minutes.
[729] בְּחֶדֶר חֶדֶר. Comp. for similar phrases, (Heb.) Lev. xxv. 53; Deut. xv. 20; 1 Kings xxii. 25; 2 Chron. xxviii. 26. Klostermann, with one of his amazing conjectures, reads "by the spring Harod in Harod"! LXX., εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ κοιτῶνος, εἰς τὸ ταμεῖον; Vulg., _in cubiculum quod erat intra cubiculum_. Josephus makes it a cellar (εἰς ὑπόγαιον οἶκον ἐκρύβη), "like the modern _serdaubs_ in which the inhabitants of many Eastern cities live in the summer" (Rawlinson).
[730] The accidental sigh of the engineer was sufficient to prevent the colossal Egyptian statue of a Pharaoh from being moved to its destination. Even Rome shared the immemorial superstition.
[731] Suet., _Claud._
[732] xx. 33, יֲנִחֲשׁוּ, from נַחַשׁ, "an augury"; LXX., ἀνελέξαντο τὸν λόγον (οἰωνίσαντο); Vulg., _quod acceperunt viri pro omine_.
[733] Layard, _Nineveh_, 317-19.
[734] The compact is vainly dignified with the name of a בְרִית, or "covenant."
[735] חֻצֹות. Compare the _Lombard_ Streets, and the _Jewries_ in London and Paris.
[736] Clericus says, rightly: "Factum Ahabi, quamvis clementiæ speciem præ se ferret, non erat veræ clementiæ, quæ non est erga latrones exercenda; qui si dimittantur multo magis nocebunt."
[737] The object and necessity of this for his purpose is by no means apparent. Perhaps it was to figure the wound which Ahab had by his conduct wilfully inflicted on himself or on Israel.
[738] Verse 38. This, and not "with ashes upon his face," is the meaning of the Hebrew אֲפֵר. LXX., τελαμών, "a headband"; Vulg., _aspersione pulveris_; and so, too, Peshito, Aquila, and Symmachus.
[739] 1 Kings xx. 39. שַׂר in the sense of סַר, according to Ewald's reading.
[740] About £350. Evidently, therefore, the captive is supposed to be a very important person.
[741] חֵרְמִי אִישׁ.
[742] וְזָעֵף סַר; Vulg., _indignans, et frendens_, a phrase only used of Ahab (xxi. 4-5). Josephus (_Antt._, XIII. xv. 5) says that Ahab imprisoned and punished the prophet, whom, with the Rabbis, he identifies with Micaiah.