The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 536

Vere. 24-29.-The Argument of Wickedness. The Bible is a. book of texts because it is a. book of types. It does not profess to give full histories, but refers to public records for thesa (see Josh. x. 13; 2 Sam. i. 18; 1 Kings xi. 41; 1 Chron. ix. 1). Inspiration selects from histories typical or representative incidents to bring out the principles of tl.ie grace nnd truth of God. In the scene before us we have types of wickedness in Zedekiah and Ahab, the one ecclesiastical, the other civil, which may be profitably studied in the arguments they use contending with Micaiah, the 1·epresentative of the tmth of God. These arguments are- I. RAGE AGAI?sST THE TRUTH. The reason is obvious, viz., because the truth is the worst that can be said of the wicked. 1. It -i8 the worst that can be said of their character. (1) It shows up their selfahness. The one object of Ahab was that "good " might be prophesied for him. •ro gain this he sold himself to bis four hundred liars. These liars, to gain the patronage of Ahab, sold their con- sciences. Because Ahab could not gain flattery from M:icaiah, he hated him. (2) It shows up their folly. For what was the selfishness of Ahab but self-deception? The patronage of liars could not convert falsehood into truth, neither could the persecution of a true man convert truth into falsehood. Zedekial1, in deceiving Ahab, deceived his own soul. All sin is folly. (8) It evinces tl.ieir degradation, for it proves them to be the dupes and serfs of infernal spirits. Can degradation go lower? 2. It is the worst that can be said of their doom. (1) The wicked are to be destroyed in time. Ahab in particular was to fall at Ra.moth-Gilead. From that battle he was "not to return in peace." Zedek:iah was to " go into an inner chamber to hide himself," as Ben-ho.dad had done (eh. xx. 30), and there to meet bis fate. While to the righteous death is an entrance to glory, it is the " king of te1Tors" to the wicked (see 1 Cor. xv. 65-67). The sting is here: (2) The wicked are to be destroyed in eternity. The alarm with which the ancients received pre- dictions of maltreo.tment to their corpses arose from their apprehension that it presaged a posthumous retribution upon the soul. The doge licking the blood of Ahab would suggest that devils would not only be the instigators but ulso the instruments of bis ruin. (8) Who can estimate tha horrors of damnation ? The truth will prove to be the worst that can be said of the lost. Is it wonderful, then, that the wicked should abhor the truth? 3. They are therefore constrained to hypocrisy. (1) For their own sakes they have to play the hypocrite. They conceal their selfishness and affect generosity, conscious that were their base soul-hunger to come honestly to the day, they would become odious. They hide their folly nnd affect wisdom lest they should suffer contempt. (2) For the eake of society wicked men nre hypocrites. Were they to be honestly known to each other, respect and confidence would be at an end ; in fa.et, society would be impossible. There are no friendships in hell. II. '£HE RESENTMENT OF VIOLENCE. 1. The logic of the wicked is 1veak. (1) Zeclekinh's speech was pertinacious : " Which wny went the Spirit of the Lord from me to spank unto thee?" He assumed what Micniah had not conceded, that be e-ver had the Spirit of the Lord. Micaiah had declared him, on the contrnry, to have bean influenced by a " spirit" of a very different description. Zedekiah also denied what he should have disproved, viz., that Micaiah had the Spirit of the Lord. (2) Ahab wanted a prophet of the God of truth to tell lies to please him. He found four hundred to tell him liee, professedly in the name of the Lord. But the one honest mnn who told him the truth he imprisoned, because the truth did not plea~e him. Yet the truth was what he adjured him to tell. What reaeon is thera in nll this? (8) What sinner is there in our day who can clenr himself of folly? (See Prov. xiii. 19; 1 Cor. iii. 19.) 2. The strength of the wicked ia tyranny. (1) The 1·eaeon of Zedekiah was in hie fist (ver. 24), "Which way?" · From the fist to the cheek? The coward us d this arrru1nent with a. council of four hundred eoelesiastioe about him, and the civil p~wer in reserve. So was Jesus insulted (eee Matt. xxvi. 67-68). So were the Protestant confessors. False prophets hnve ever been the worst enemies of the true. Micaia.h did not return the blow, but referred the decision ~o G?d. ~rue proph~ts wield otlier than carnal weapons. (2) The reason of Aho.b was w !us bnbes and pnsone. . Micaio.h could not be cajoled as tha four  352 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [olI, XXII, 1-58,