The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 481

forthwith by the visitation of God. What equivalent of i;)V.. Ashes cannot be put a lesson was this to king o.nd conntry-:-for on the eyes, and even on the head would be no donbt the incident would be brwted but a poor disguise. This bandage was at o.broo.d, o.nd the very stra~geness of ~be the same time in keeping with the prophet's whole proceeding would be1gb_te~ the im- role as a wounded man, 11.Ild an effective pression it me.de. Indeed, 1t 1s bo.rdly means of concealment. It would almost possible to conceive e. wo.y in which the duty seem as iI this prophet was personally of unquestioning obedience coul~ be more known to the king.] empho.tically taught. When this prophet Ver. 39.-And as the king passed by, he appeared before the !cl,ng,_ e. man had crted unto the king [in his capacity of smitten and wounded him, disagreeable and supreme judge; see on eh. iii. 9] : and he painful as the task must have been, because said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the word of the Lord ; whilst o. brother or the battle [i.e., the rccen t battle] ; and, prophet, who declined th~ office b~cause it behold, a man turned aside [ii;); cf. cli. xxii. was painful, had been slom by e. WIid beast. 43; Exod. iii. 3; xxrii. 8. But Ewald, al. It is easy to see that there was here e. solemn lesson for the king, and that the would read, ii;;) prince or captain (properly wounding gave it its edge.] And the man i\:I), a change which certninly lends force refused to smite him. to the 11pologue, and makes the ano.logy Ver. 36.-Then said he unto him, Because more complete. Only such nu officer wa~ thou hast not obeyed the voice of the Lord, entitled to give such o.n order. Moreover, behold as soon as thou art departed from just as a co=on soldier ought to obey his me, a lion [Ilcb. tM lion, perhaps the lion captain, so should Ahab ha'l'e obeyed God. appointed already to this office, or one that But ns our present text yields II good and bad lately been seen in the neighbourhood] sufficient meaning, we are hnrdly warranted shall elay thee. And as soon as he was de- in mnking nny change], and brought a man parted from him, a. [Heh. the] llon found unto me, and said, Keep th1ll man : 1f by him [sume word as in eh. xiii. 24, where see a.ny means he be missing, then shall thy note] and slew him. [For the same sin life be for h1s life, or else thou Rhalt pa.y ns th~t of'' the man of God_(ch. xiii. 21, 26), [Heh. weigh. There wns then no coinnge. viz., disobedience (Deut. xxxu. 24; Jer. v. 6), Payments were ma.de by means of bars of and disobedience, too, under circUD1sto.nces silver or gold] a. talent or silver. [A con- remarkably similar to those. In fact, the siderable sum-about £400. " '.l'he prisoner two histories run on almost parallel lines. is thus represented to be a very im portnnt In ea.eh case it is a prophet who disobeys, personage" (Tl.ienius). There is a hint at nnd disobeys the " word of the Lord ; " in Ben-ho.d11d, Ewald holds thnt the wounds ea.eh case the disobedience appears e.l.most represented the peno.Ity inflicted instend of excnsnble; in ea.eh cnse the prophet appears the to.lent which a co=on soldier n11tumlly to be hardly dealt with, nnd suffers instant oould not pny.J punishment, whilst the king escnpes; in Ver, 10.-And n.s thy servant was busy each case the punishment is foretold by 11, [Heb. doing. The LXX. 1rtp<E/3Ai1/mro o prophet; in ench case it is effected by the oo;i:>..6!.' aov, o.nd tlie Vulgate dum ego t11rbatus instruruentalHy of n lion. And in each hue illucque me ·verterem, hnvo lcll some cnse the lesson is the same-that God's cummnnds must be kept, whatever the cost, critics to urgo the substitution of n,s turn- ing, or ;;yl;i looking, for niiJJ doing, in the or that stem retribution will inevita.bly follow.) toxt. niit no 11lterntion is needed) here and there [or hither and thither-the i1 is Ver. 37.-Then he found another man, generally local-ns iu Josh. viii. 20. But and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the sometimes it is merely cle111011strntive, "here man smote him, so that 1n smiting he and there," 11s in Gen. xxi. 29, Dan. xii. 6, wounded him. [Heh. smiting and wounding. 11nd so it rnny be understood here (Go- Tliis lo.st particular is o.pparently recorded scnius)J, he wa.s gone [Heb. he is not]. And to show how promptly o.nd thoroughly this the king of Iorael s:ud unto him, So sh:i.11 "other mo.n," who is not said to have been thy Judgment be; thyself hast decided it. 11 prophet, obeyed the charge. Probably he [Cf. 2 Sl\m. xii. 6-7, Ahab hl\s hirusell h11d the fe.to of the othc:: before bis eyes.] pronounce,! tli11t his judgrnont is just, nnd Ver. 38.-So the proi,het departed, and what it shall be.] waited ror the king by the way, and dis- Ver. 41.-And he hasted, and took the guised himself with ashes upon h1B f:!.ce. ashes away from his face [Hob. removed the [Rather, a bandage upon his eyes. i;l~ covering from upon his eyes] ; a.nd the king there can be no doubt, denotes some sort of of Israel discerned him that he was of the covering (LXX, n>..aµwv), nnd is prob11bly the prophets. [Thnt is, he was one of the 49!1 THE FIRST IlOOK OF KINGS. [ CB, XlC., 1--48.