The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 225

wiehecl Divine permission, if not approbation. Cf. Bala.am with the messengers of Balak (Numb. xxii. 7, 8). II. A11An's CONSUJ,'l'ATION, (Ver. 5.) 1. The oracle inqwired at. (1) Seemingly safe. The advisers were "prophets," whose calling was to pronounce upon cases of conscience, and deliver authoritative utterances concerning Heaven's will (Exod. vii. 1; Deut. xviii. 22; Ezek. xiv. 7). The recognized media. of communication between Jehovah the theocratic King and his subjects; they were likewise four hundred in number, and had not Solomon saicl, "In the multitude of counsellors there is safety"? (Prov. xi. 14; xv. 22; xxiv. 6). (2) Really doubtful. "These four hundred privy councillors were prophets, not of Jehovah, but of the calves introduced by Jeroboam, who gave themselves out, indeed, as prophets of Jehovah worshipped under the symbol of the calves," but who "came forward of their own accord without a. Divine call, and were, if not in the pay, at least in the service of the idolatrous king" (Keil). (3) Wholly misleading. Not being in the secret of Jehovah (Ps. xxv. 14), Ahab's prophets could not reveal Jeho-rah's mind. Merely calling their answer, or believing it to be, Jehovah's would not make it so. Men have been known to dignify as "revelations" and "visions" from God what was purely the product of their own imaginations or the whisperings of lying spirits. (4) Perfectly useless. Since Ahab's prophets could not tell the mind of Jehovah, they were not the advisers Jehoshaphat wanted. Their answer would shed no light upon the problem that perplexed him. 2. The question proposed. (1) Wrongly expressed. Instead of asking, "Shall we go to Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall we forbear?" Ahab should have said, "Have we done right in deciding to go to Ra.moth-Gilead? or have we clone wrong?" When. men consult God they should state the case submitted to his judgcnent with accuracy. Perhaps, however, so far as Ahab was concerned, the statement was correct enough, as it cannot be supposed the rightness or wrongness of the contemplated expedition would much trouble him. That Jehoshaphat did not check his royal brother looked suspicious. (2) Insincerely moved. Ahab did not want to know the mind of Jehovah upon the subject; J ehosha.pha.t secretly wished that mind to accord' with his own. inclinations. With both the Ra.moth campaign was a. foregone conclusion. Under such circumstances to have asked Jehovah at a.II was hypocrisy and insult. Compare the conduct of the Jewish remnant who pretended to consult God through Jeremiah about going into Egypt (Jer. xiii. 20). 3. The answer returned. (1) Wha.t the two kings wanted: "Go up to Ra.moth-Gilead." To Jehosha.pha.t's uneasy conscience this ought to have given relief, though it did not. (2) What Jehovah intended: that Ahab should at Ra.moth receive his death-stroke. (3) What the prophets invented : they derived it from their own deceived imaginations. 4. The reason given. (1) A fiction, framed by the speakers to please their royal patron. (2) A falsehood, since it was not the Divine purpose at this time to permit the recovery of Ramoth-Gilead. III. JEHOSHAPHAT's QUESTION. (Ver. 6.) 1. Dictated by suspicion. The King of Judah was not satisfied with the answer of the prophets; which was not wonderful, considering: (1) Whose prophets they were-Ahab's: "Like master like man." (2) What sort of prophets they were : "of the ca.l ves," not "of Jehovah." Men usually become like the deities they worship; so do prophets. (3) What inducements they had to return such an answer to Ahab's interrogation. Ahab being their master, by whose favour they lived, their interest clearly was to please Ahab. (4) What reason he had to suspect their deliverance-it was too like the response he himself desired. 2. Prompted by caution. Jehoshaphat would not act precipitately. If possible, he would have Jehovah's mind upon the matter. He would imitate David, and urge Ahab to inquire at Jehovah again (1 Sam. xxiii. 4). Good men should ponder the paths of their feet (Prov. iv. 26), remembering that he who ha.steth with his feet sinneth (Prov. xix. 2), and that the prudent man looketh well to his going (Prov. xiv. 15). IV. AHAB's ANSWER. (Ver. 7.) 1. Promptly given. To Jehoshaphat's inquiry, "ls there not here a. prophet of Jehovah besides?" etc. (ver. 6), Ahab responded there was one. Ahab probably at the moment did not know where Elijah was, or was af, aid of the Tishbite. Most likely he mentioned Mica.ia.h because he expected either that Jehoshaphat, hearin" Micaia.h was in jail, would never dream of proposing he should be called, or that Micaia.h, though snmmoned, would not have cour~ge to speak in presence of two kings and four hundred prophets. In both expectations Ahab mis- II, CHRONICLES. Q  :?26 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [on. xvm. 1-34.