The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 537

hundred were, therefore" the king of Israel said, Take Mica.ia.h, carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to J oash the king's son, and say, Thus saith the kiug, put this fellow iu prison, and feed him with bread of affliction, and with water of a.ffliction, until I come in peace." (3) But truth is not vanquished thus. How confident was Ahab that he should "come in peace " I And this is that Ahab who three or four years before so sagaciously said to Ben-hadad, " Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off." Persistency in sin does not sharpen men's wits. Time vindicates truth. To this vindicator Micaiah called the attention of the people (ver. 29). (4) But where was Jehoshaphat? He was silent when he should have spoken for the prophet of God. See the influence of bad company. "So the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ra.moth-Gilead." Alas, _Jehoshaphat 1-J, A, M. Vers. 30-88. Lessons of the Battle. After disposing of Micaiah by sending him to prison wi~h hard fare as the reward of hie faithfulness, Ahab and Jehoshaphat gathered the1.r forces and set out together to fight for the recovery of Ramoth-Gilead. The events of the day show- I. THAT PROPHECY MAY TEND TO ITS OWN FULFILMENT. 1. Micaiah's words in- fluenced Ahab's conduct. (1) Though Ahab had imprisoned the prophet he could not shake off the influence of his prophecy. So with a view to obviating its effect he proposed to disguise himself. He speaks of himself in the third person (ver. 30), thus (~Eln1'li'1), '' He will [strip] disguise himself "-a. form of speech, perhaps, con- sidered suitable to an action in which he was to appear a.s a. third person. To com- plete the deception, if we follow the LXX., he induced Jehoshaphat to put on his (Ahab's) robes. (a) Note the subtlety of the wicked. Ahab's proposal to J ehoshapha.t was ostensibly to give him the post of honour in commanding the army. This, too, may have suggested the use of the third person in speaking of himself. Ahab's real purpose was to divert from himself the fury of the battle ; and probably he hoped Jehoshaphat might be slain. In that case bis son-in-law would succeed to the throne of Judah, and he might be able so to manage him as to serve his own purposes. (b) In all this we see the danger of bad company. We see it likewise in the sad fact that J ehosha.phat should become a. party to a contrivance to falsify the word of God I (2) But how useless a.re disguises when the providence of Omniscience is concerned! Ahab might hide himself from the Syrians, but he could not hide himRelf from God. Neither could he hide himself from angels and devils, who a.re instruments of Divine Providence, ever influencing men, and even natural laws, or forces of nature. Note: No disguise will avail to evade the scrutiny and retributions of the judgment-day. (3) Yet by his disguise Ahab, unwittingly, helped the prophecr. " The king of Syria commanded his thirty and two capta.ins that had rule over Ins chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel." Suppose Ahab had been in Jehoshaphat's place, and had fallen into the hands of the captains, what would have become of the w:ords of Elijah? (See eh. xxi. 19.) But as things worked out these words became literally true. 2. They also influenced the conduct of the Syrians. (1) The Syrians would be a.ware of the prophecy of Micaiah dooming Ahab to_ fall. at B:amoth-Gilead. For in_a country about the size of North Wales, Samana. bemg distant from Ramoth-G1lcad only thirty miles, the news of this public meeting of kings and contest of prophets could not be a. secret. Ahab would facilitate the publication of the encouragement he had from the four hundred, to strike terror into the Syrians ; but where the news of his encouragement went the words of Micaiah also would travel. (2) Probably this intelligence determined the Syrians to "fight only age.inst the king of forael,'' in which they would have the God of Israel with them, the formidableness of whose hostility they had experienced in the last t~o battles (compare ~ Chron._ xx~v. 21, 22). To this Jehoshaphat probably wa.e mclebted for the sparing of his life, for "God moved the Syrians to depart from him" (see 2 Chron. xviii. 31). Aud prob- ably they were influenced by it to agree to the proclamation to disband, when the death of Ahab became known (cf. vere. 17, 36). 8. Note a remarlmble illuetre.- tio.n of this principle in ~he zeal of J ehu in e'li:terminating the house of Ahab (see OH, XXII, 1-58.) THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 553