The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 226

c-aknl~t.,,d nnd outwitted himself, as wicked men usually do. 2. Instantly qualified. 'l'hc prophet's name was M:icaiah, the son of Imlah~onjectured, without historical foun<lati,,n, to have been the disguised prophet who had announced to Ahab his doom for permitting Benhadad to escape (1 Kings xx. 38), and by the rabbis to have been t'ither he or the unnamed prophet mentioned earlier (1 Kings xx. 13, 22, 28). 'l'hat Aha.b disliked him was a point in his favour, it being a dubious commendation to be liked by a bad man. Moreover, the ground of Ahab's displeasure was an additional ccrtiticate to Micaiah, though a heavy condemnation of Ahab. Unless Micaiah had been a true prophet he would not so invariably have spoken evil of Ahab; that he did so wa~ un;11istakable evidence th~t A~ab 'Was_ a bad man (Isa. _iii. 11; xlviii. 22). Then M1caiah at the moment was m pnson, which Ahab probably imagined would end the matter. But it did not, Jehoshaphat perhaps remembering that good men were often imprisoned unjustly (Gen. xx.xiL 20), and that Micaiah's incaroeration, like Hanani's (eh. xvi. 10), might be to his credit rather than the opposite. "V. JEHOSHAPHAT's REMONSTRANCE. (Ver. 7.) The speech of Ahab told of: 1. A great wrong to J,ficai,a,h. Ahab would have sinned in hating Micaiah even had Micaiah been an offender (Lev. xix. 17); much more when Micaiah was innocent and Ahab's ancrer was without a cause (Ps. x.xxv.19; Matt. v. 22); most of all when Micaiah was a prophet of Jehovah (Ps. cv. 15), who bad only spoken the words Jehovah put into hie mouth (,Jer. i. 7; vii. 27). 2. A greater wrong to Jehovah. Just because Micaiah's words were not his own so much as Jehovah's, a reflection on Micaiah was a virtual reflection on Jehovah. ,Vhen Ahab charged Micaiah with always speakiag evil concerning him, he practically charged Jehovah with being malignant towards him. But if Micaiah prophesied calamity for Ahab that was conditional on Ahab's disobediencP, and would have been averted by repentance and reformation (Ezek. xxxiii. 14)); if Jehovah put minatory languag;e into his prophet's mouth ;-this was out of love to Ahab, to turn him from his evil ways. VI. AHAn's sUDMISSION. (Ver. 8.) An officer (or eunuch) was hastily despatched to fetch Micaiah from his cell. The haste may have indicated: 1 . .Ahab's sense of the importance of the question 'IJlfLder consideraticm; and certainly nothing can be of greater moment for any than to understand what the will of the Lord is. Only this can be ascertained by none but renewed hearts (Rom. xii. 2). More likely, however, it marked: 2. Ahab's sense of his own importance, which could brook no delay in the execution of his royal commands. An earthly king's business, even when insignificant, is commonly supposed to require haste (1 Sam. :x:xi. 8); how much more the business of the King of kings (John ix. 4; Rom. xii. 11) ! The haste may even have been due to: 3. Ahab's inward irritation with Jehoshaphat, to whom he had submitted, possibly not with the best grace. It requires a large amount of magnanimity to enable even good men to accept the rebukes and yield to the persuasions of others. ],eam : 1. The propriety and wisdom of consulting God in everything (Prov. iii. 6; Phil. iv. 6; Jas. i. 5). 2. The unlikelihood of learning God's mind from the world's proiw.ets or teachers (John iii. 31). 3. The certainty that God's faithful servants will not be liked by their contemporaries, and that in exact proportion to their faith- fuln1;1;s (John vii. 7; xv. 19). 4. The danger of playing fast and loose with con- scien ie.-W. Vets. 9-27.-Mwai,a,h, the son of Imlar--<1111, Old Testament hero. I. THE COURAGE Bl!I DJBPLAYED. (Vers. 9-13.) He delivered Jehovah's meRsage under circumstances that might and probably would have intimidated him had be not been a hero. 1. Before two hings to whom tlw,t message was 'u1r,n,cceptab'le. The scene was calculated to steal awPy Micaiah's fortitude, could anything have done so. In an open space or tbreehing- fbor at the entering in of the gate of Samaria, Ahab and Jehoshaphat, arrayed in royal robe;, sat each upon bis throne. Immediately encircling them were the four hundred prophets• while each king was attended by his army (Josephus, '.Ant.,' viii. 15. 8). Ordinaril~, "there's such a divinity doth hedge a king," that Micaiah might have been excused bad be trembled when ushered into the presence of two such royal personages, decked out with the trappings of lofty station, waited on by bowing courtiers, and escorted by battalions of warriors; much more when one of them was Ahab, whose displeuure he had already felt, and the might of whose arm he had lately experienced, cm. xvm. 1-34.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 227