The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 522

now o.ppeo.ls to them ae e. proof of the Ver. 21.-And there came forth a. spirit latter's me.lice.] [Heb. the spirit. By some, especially of Ver. 19.-And he said, Bea.r thou [in the earlier commentators, understood of 2 Chron. xviii. 18, Hear ye] therefore [The the evil spirit. But the view now gene- LXX. has ovx ovrwr, whence it would almost rally adopted (Thenius, Keil, Bahr) is that " the spirit of prophecy" is meant, " the appear that they had the text 1:i! t(? before power which, going forth from Goel and them (Bii.hr). But );;>7 ie every way to be ta.king possession of a man, makes him a preferred. It is emphatic by position, and prophet (1 Sam. x. 6, 10; xix. 20, 23). the meaning is, " Since you will have it The ~•:J1 is the IJ~iO ~•-~ (Hosea ix. 7) " that my words a.re prompted by mu.lice, Bii.hr. This power is here personifiecl], a.nd hee.r the message I have for you," &c.] the stood before the Lord, a.nd sa.1d, I [emphatic word of the Lord. I sa.w the Lord [It is in the Hebrew) w1ll persuade [or entice] not implied (Wordsworth) that he had any him. direct and objective vision of God, such as Ver. 22.-And the Lord said unto him, Moses (Exod. xxxiv. 5), Elijah, or St. Ste- Wherewith? [Eeb. By what !] And he phen. Ee here declares what he may have said, I w1ll go forth, a.nd I will be a lying seen in dream or trance. (Of. Rev. i. 10 ; epirtt [Heh. a spirit of a lie. CI. Zech. iv. 2; Isa.. vi. 1; Ezek. i. 1.) It was a. rea.l xiii. 2; 1 John iv. 6] 1n the mouth o! all but inner vision (Keil). In its interpreta- h1s prophets. [Eis prophets, not God's. tion the caution of Peter Martyr is carefully Cf. 2 Kings iii. 13.J And he said, Thou to be borne in mind ; Omnia haec dicuntur &halt persuade him, a.nd preva.ll also : go av9pw1ro1ra9wr] Bitting on his throne [It forth, a.nd do so. wa.s natural for some of the commentators to see in these words a. reference to the two Ver. 23.-Now therefore, behold, the kings then sitting in their royal apparel, Lord ha.th put a. lying spirit 1n the mouth each upon his throne. But it is very of all these thy [Cf. o o,,co, vµwv, Matt. doubtful whether any such thought was xxiii. 38) prophets [This statement, espe- present in the mind of the speaker, who cially to those who have ta.ken the no.rra- simply relates a vision of the past], a.nd all tive litero.lly, e.nd who have seen in "the the host of hea.ven [The celestiol powers, spirit" either one of the o.ngels of God, or cherubim, a.ngels, a.rchangels, who surround Se.tan himself, has presented almost in- the Lord of glory. That there can be no superable difficulties. The main difficulty reference to the sun, moon, and stars, not- lies in the fo.ct that the Almighty and All withstanding that these a.re called " the Holy is here ma.de to give His sanction host of heaven" in Dent. iv. 19, xvii. 3, is to deceit and lying, for the purpose of clear from the next words. The expression tempting Ahab to his death. We have is to be explo.ined by Gen. Xll.i.i.. 1, 2] precisely the same difficulty, though, if pos- sible, more directly expressed in Ezek. xiv. standblg by him [''~l/; for the meaning, see 9 : "If the prophet be deceived . . . I the Gen. xviii. BJ on h1s right ha.nd a.nd on Lord have deceived th11t prophet.'' Cf. his left. [The resemble.nee of this vision Jer. xx. 7; 1 Sam. xvi. 16. But this diffi- to that of Isaiah (oh. vi. 1--8) must not be culty vo.nishes if we remember that this is overlooked. J anthropopo.thio language, o.nd is merely Ver. 20.-A.nd the Lord said, Who shall meant to convey tho.t God had "taken the persua.de [Sa.me word in Exod. xxii. 16, house of Isro.el m their own heart," because Heb.; Judg. xiv. 16; xvi 6; Prov. i. 10, they were "estranged from Him through &o.; in o.11 of which insto.nces it is tro.ns- their idols" (Ezek. xiv. 5). Ahnb wishecl Io.ted "entice." Compo.re with this ques. to be guided by fo.lse prophets, nud the tion that of Isa.. vi. 8.) Ahab, tha.t he may justice of God decreed that ho should be go up and fall a.t Ramoth-Gllea.d ? [The guided by them to his ruin. Sin is pun- meo.ning is that Ahab's death in battle had ished by sin. " God proves Eis holiness been decreed in the counsels of God, and most of o.11 by this, tho.t He punishes evil that the Divine Wisdom had devised means by evil, o.nd destroys it by itself" (13,ihr). for o.ccomplishing His purpose.) And one Ahab had ohosen lying instc11d of truth: sa.1d on this ma.nner, and another ea.id by lying-according to the lex talio11i.<-he [Heb. saying] on that manner. [Bii.hr age.in should be destroyed. Tho difficulty, in fact, quotes from Peter Martyr: "Innuit varios is tho.t of the permission of ev ii in tho providentiae Dei modos, quibu.s decreta sua world; of tho nso of existent evil by God ad exit11m perducit, o.nd adds that in this to accomplish Eis purposes of gootl] , a.nd vision "inner and spiritual processes are the Lord [not I alone, ver. 18] ha.th regarded as real phenomena., nay, even as spoken [i.e., decreed] evil concerning thee. persons."] Ver. 24.-But Zedekiab. the son of c11e. 536 TIIE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. tCllt. XXli. l--03. ------- ----------------------------- naa.na.h [Rawlinson holds thit he was a this prediction fulfilled? Probe.bly when sort of ooryphaeus of the false prophets. It the news of the defeat reaohed Same.rie., or is more probable that, having put himself on the de.y after Ahe.b's death. Jezebel for"ard on a former occasion (ver. 11), he would e.lmost certainly te.ke summary now feels specially aggrieved at Micaiah's vengeance upon the false prophets who were blunt assertion, that he and the rest have responsible for her husband's death and the been possessed by a spirit of lies] went reverses of the army. Or if she did not, near, and smote Mica.ia.h [A thoroughly the prophets had good reason to fear that natural touch. But the whole narrative she would, and would hide e.ccordingly. has every mark of naturalness and veracity. Ver. 26.-Alld the king of Israel said, It is easy to see how enraged Zedekiah Take [Sing. Take tlwu. This co=and would be at the slight cast upon his pro- was probably addressed to the eunuch men- phetic powers. Apparently this gross in- tioned in ver. 9] Mica.iah, and carry h1m dignity elicited no protest or word of dis- back [Heb. make him return. This shows pleasure from either of the kings. Mico.iah, clearly the.the had come from prison] unto like Elijah, was left alone], on the cheek Amon the governor [i~ chief; same word [cf. Job xvi. 10 ; Lam. iii. 30; Luke vi. in chs. iv. 2; xi. 24 ; xvi. 9; Gen. xxxvii. 29 ; and above all Matt. xxvi. 67; Luke 36; xl. 9, 22, &c. The" chief of the city" xxii. 64 ; Acts xxiii. 2. Herein Micaiah is also mentioned 2 Kings xxiii. 8 ; cf. had " the fellowship of sufferings " (Phil. Neh. xi. 9] of the city [who would iii. 10) with our blessed Lord. Raw- naturally have charge of the town prison. linson thinks that his ha.nds would be Probably the prison was in his house. Cf. bound, but this is extremely improbable. Gen. xl. 3; Jer. xxxvii. 20], and to Joe.eh In that case Ahab could hardly have asked the king's son. [Thenius supposes the.t him to prophesy (ver. 15), or if he did, this prince had been entrusted to Amon for Jehoshaphat would know beforehand what his military education, and refers to 2 Kings to expect], and saJd, Which way [Heb. x. 1. But in that case he would hardly What, or where. The chronicler supplies have been mentioned as associated with him "way," thereby bringing the expression in the charge of so important a prisoner. into unison with eh. xiii. 12 ; 2 Kings iii. Whoever Joe.sh was, he we.a a man in 8; Job mviii. 24] went [Heb. passed, authority. It is curious that we find crossed, -,~.rn the Spirit of the Lord [These another prophet, Jeremiah, put into the words a.re important, as showing that the prison of Malchiah, the son of the king speaker had not identified " the spirit_" of (A. V. the son of Hammelech; se.me expres- ver. 21 with the evil spirit: Job. i. 6 sqq.] sion as here), Jer. xxxviii. 6; cf. xxxvi. 26. from me to speak nnto thee ? [It is pretty Some have seen in this designation a ne.me clear from these words, in connexion with of office, and Bii.hr thinks that "Joash was ver. 23, that Zedekiah had been conscious not probably a. son of Ahab, but a prince of an inspiration, of a spirit not his own, of the blood." But when we remember which impelled him to speak and act as he what a number of sons Ahab had (2 Kings did. We must not attach too much import- x. 1), no valid ree.son can be assigned why ance to a taunting and passionate speech, Joash should not have been one of thorn. but its meaning appears to be: I have He may have been billeted upon Amon, and spoken in the name and by the spirit of yet associated with him in the govemmeni Jehovah. Thou claimest to have done the of the city.] same. How is it that the Spirit of God Ver. 27.-Alld eay [Heb. thou shalt say], speaks one thing by me, another by thee? Thus se.lth the king, Put this fellow 1n the Thou hast seen (ver. 19) the secret counsels prison [Heb. house of the prison. Bii.hr of Heaven. Tell us, then, which way, &c. thinks that Mice.iah he.d formerly been in Ver. 25.-And Mlca..l.a.h saJd, Behold, thou arrest under Amon'e charge, and now was to aha.lt see [Keil understands, "that the Spirit be committed to the prison proper. But of the Lord had departed from thee." But more probably the words mean, " put him in the meaning rather appears to be, " Thou the prison age.in." His superadded punish- shalt see which was a. true prophet." He ment was to be in the sho.pe of prison diet. does not answer the insolent question, but It ie probable that it wae owing to the pre- says," Thou wilt o.lter thy miud in the day," sence of Jehoshaphat that Micaiah escaped &c. With this may be compared our Lord's with no severer sentence], and feed h1m words, Matt. xxvi. 64. He also manifests our Lord's spirit (1 Peter ii. 22 sqq.) "as if with bread of aflliction [or oppression, l'O? the Great Example had already appeared pressit; cf. Exod. iii. 9 ; Num. xxii. 25 ; 2 before him" (Bii.hr)] 1n that day when thou Kings vi. 32], and with water of afll1ct1on shalt go into an inner chamber [see note on [Josephus (Ant. viii. 15. 4) r~latee th~t eh. xx. 30) to hide thyseli. [When was after Micaiah'e prediction the king was Ill 4lil. xlm. 1-58.j 'i'HE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 687