Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 22:15
So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king.
15. So he came to the king. And the king said ] R.V. And when he was come to the king, the king said. Conforming to 2 Chron. where the Hebrew is precisely the same. The change also represents the events in rather more close sequence, as no doubt they happened.
Micaiah, shall we go against [R.V. to ] Ramoth-gilead ] Another slight variation to make Kings and Chronicles accord, as closely as they do in the original.
Go, [R.V. Go up ] and prosper ] The words are the same as were used by the other prophets in 1Ki 22:6. Ahab had however asked his question this time in the plural number, ‘Shall we go?’ and in 2 Chron. Micaiah’s answer is given in accordance therewith ‘Go ye up,’ &c.
It is quite clear from the tone of Ahab’s language in the next verse, that, though Micaiah, in words, repeated what had been said by Ahab’s own prophets, yet by tone and gesture he made it evident that his speech was not in earnest.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And he answered him … – Micaiah speaks the exact words of the 400 in so mocking and ironical a tone, that the king cannot mistake his meaning, or regard his answer as serious. The kings rejoinder implies that this mocking manner was familiar to Micaiah, who had used it in some former dealings with the Israelite monarch. Hence, in part, the kings strong feeling of dislike (compare 1Ki 22:8).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Go, and prosper] This was a strong irony; as if he had said, All your prophets have predicted success; you wish me to speak as they speak: Go, and prosper; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. These were the precise words of the false prophets, (see 1Kg 22:6; 1Kg 22:12), and were spoken by Micaiah in such a tone and manner as at once showed to Ahab that he did not believe them; hence the king adjures him, 1Kg 22:16, that he would speak to him nothing but truth; and on this the prophet immediately relates to him the prophetic vision which pointed out the disasters which ensued.
It is worthy of remark that this prophecy of the king’s prophets is couched in the same ambiguous terms by which the false prophets in the heathen world endeavoured to maintain their credit, while they deluded their votaries. The reader will observe that the word it is not in the original: The Lord will deliver IT into the hand of the king; and the words are so artfully constructed that they may be interpreted for or against; so that, be the event whatever it might, the juggling prophet could save his credit by saying he meant what had happened. Thus then the prophecy might have been understood: The Lord will deliver (Ramoth-gilead) into the king’s (Ahab’s) hand; or, The Lord will deliver (Israel) into the king’s hand; i.e., into the hand of the king of Syria. And Micaiah repeats these words of uncertainty in order to ridicule them and expose their fallacy.
The following oracles among the heathens were of this same dubious nature, in order that the priests’ credit might be saved, let the event turn out as it might. Thus the Delphic oracle spoke to Croesus words which are capable of a double meaning, and which he understood to his own destruction:-
Croesus, Halym penetrans, magnam subvertet opum vim,
Which says, in effect: –
“If you march against Cyrus, he will either overthrow you, or you will overthrow him.”
He trusted in the latter, the former took place. He was deluded, and yet the oracle maintained its credit. So in the following: –
Aio te, AEacida, Romanos vincere posse
Ibis redibis nunquam in bello peribis.
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, understood by this that he should conquer the Romans, against whom he was then making war; but the oracle could be thus translated: “The Romans shall overcome thee.” He trusted in the former, made unsuccessful war, and was overcome; and yet the juggling priest saved his credit. The latter line is capable of two opposite meanings: –
“Thou shalt go, thou shalt return, thou shalt never perish in war.”
Or,
“Thou shalt go, thou shalt never return, thou shalt perish in war.”
When prophecies and oracles were not delivered in this dubious way, they were generally couched in such intricate and dark terms that the assistance of the oracle was necessary to explain the oracle, and then it was ignotum per ignotius, a dark saying paraphrased by one yet more obscure.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He answered him; not seriously, but ironically, using the very words of the false prophets, in way of derision; as appears, first, From his omission of that solemn preface,
Thus saith the Lord, or, This is the word of the Lord, which the prophets generally used, and which himself useth when he comes to his serious answer, 1Ki 21:19.
Secondly, From Ahabs reply, 1Ki 21:16, which shows that he suspected Micaiahs sincerity in that answer, and gathered by his gesture or manner of speaking that he spake only mimically, as representing and traducing the false prophets for their answer. See the like ironical passages Gen 3:22; Jdg 10:14; 1Ki 18:27; Ecc 11:9; Eze 20:39; Amo 4:4,5; all which expressions are not used to lead men into mistakes, but to bring them to the sight of their sin and duty, which may be done sometimes most efficaciously in this way. So Micaiahs meaning is plainly this, Because thou dost not seek to know the truth, but only to please thyself, go to the battle, as all thy prophets advise thee, and expect the success which they promise thee, and try the truth of their prediction by thy own costly experience.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
So he came to the king,…. Being introduced by the officer:
and the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go up against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? the same question in the same words that was put to the other prophets, 1Ki 22:6, only there he uses the singular number, here the plural, including Jehoshaphat with him:
and he answered him, go, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king; he answered not in the name of the Lord, saying, “thus saith the Lord”, nor did he speak his own sense and in his own words, nor seriously, but by way of derision; he took up the words of the prophets, and bantered them; it is as if he should say, the prophets bid you go, and tell you that you shall “prosper”, and that the city will be delivered into the king’s hand; do as they direct you, and see what the issue will be, no doubt it will be good, since they are all agreed; but he delivered the above words with such gestures, and such a tone, and with a contemptuous smile in his countenance, which showed that he spoke not seriously, but sarcastically; and this the king plainly discovered, as appears by what follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Micaiah’s Prediction. | B. C. 897. |
15 So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king. 16 And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD? 17 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace. 18 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? 19 And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. 20 And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. 21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. 22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. 23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee. 24 But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee? 25 And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself. 26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king’s son; 27 And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace. 28 And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.
Here Micaiah does well, but, as is common, suffers ill for so doing.
I. We are told how faithfully he delivered his message, as one that was more solicitous to please God than to humour either the great or the many. In three ways he delivers his message, and all displeasing to Ahab:–
1. He spoke as the rest of the prophets had spoken, but ironically: Go, and prosper, v. 15. Ahab put the same question to him that he had put to his own prophets (Shall we go, or shall we forbear?) seeming desirous to know God’s mind, when, like Balaam, he was strongly bent to do his own, which Micaiah plainly took notice of when he bade him go, but with such an air and pronunciation as plainly showed he spoke it by way of derision; as if he had said, “I know you are determined to go, and I hear your own prophets are unanimous in assuring you of success; go then and take what follows. They say, The Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king; but I do not tell thee that thus saith the Lord; no, he saith otherwise.” Note, Those deserve to be bantered that love to be flattered; and it is just with God to give up those to their own counsels that give up themselves to their own lusts. Eccl. xi. 9. In answer to this Ahab adjured him to tell him the truth, and not to jest with him (v. 16), as if he sincerely desired to know both what God would have him to do and what he would do with him, yet intending to represent the prophet as a perverse ill-humoured man, that would not tell him the truth till he was thus put to his oath, or adjured to do it.
2. Being thus pressed, he plainly foretold that the king would be cut off in this expedition, and his army scattered, v. 17. He saw them in a vision, or in a dream, dispersed upon the mountains, as sheep that had no one to guide them. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, Zech. xiii. 7. This intimates, (1.) That Israel should be deprived of their king, who was their shepherd. God took notice of it, These have no master. (2.) That they would be obliged to retire re infecta–without accomplishing their object. He does not foresee any great slaughter in the army, but that they should make a dishonorable retreat. Let them return every man to his house in peace, put into disorder indeed for the present, but no great losers by the death of their king; he shall fall in war, but they shall go home in peace. Thus Micaiah, in his prophecy, testified what he had seen and heard (let them take it how they pleased), while the others prophesied merely out of their own hearts; see Jer. xxiii. 28. “The prophet that has a dream let him tell that, and so quote his authority; and he that has my word, let him speak my word faithfully, and not his own; for what is the chaff to the wheat?” Now Ahab finds himself aggrieved, turns to Jehoshaphat, and appeals to him whether Micaiah had not manifestly a spite against him, v. 18. Those that bear malice to others are generally willing to believe that others bear malice to them, though they have no cause for it, and therefore to put the worst constructions upon all they say. What evil did Micaiah prophesy to Ahab in telling him that, if he proceeded in this expedition, it would be fatal to him, while he might choose whether he would proceed in it or no? The greatest kindness we can do to one that is going a dangerous way is to tell him of his danger.
3. He informed the king how it was that all his prophets encouraged him to proceed, that God permitted Satan by them to deceive him into his ruin, and he by vision knew of it; it was represented to him, and he represented it to Ahab, that the God of heaven had determined he should fall at Ramoth-Gilead (1Ki 22:19; 1Ki 22:20), that the favour he had wickedly shown to Ben-hadad might be punished by him and his Syrians, and that he being in some doubt whether he should go to Ramoth-Gilead or no, and resolving to be advised by his prophets, they should persuade him to it and prevail (1Ki 22:21; 1Ki 22:22); and hence it was that they encouraged him with so much assurance (v. 23); it was a lie from the father of lies, but by divine permission. This matter is here represented after the manner of men. We are not to imagine that God is ever put upon new counsels, or is ever at a loss for means whereby to effect his purposes, nor that he needs to consult with angels, or any creature, about the methods he should take, nor that he is the author of sin or the cause of any man’s either telling or believing a lie; but, besides what was intended by this with reference to Ahab himself, it is to teach us, (1.) That God is a great king above all kings, and has a throne above all the thrones of earthly princes. “You have your thrones,” said Micaiah to these two kings, “and you think you may do what you will, and we must all say as you would have us; but I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, and every man’s judgment proceeding from him, and therefore I must say as he says; he is not a man, as you are.” (2.) That he is continually attended and served by an innumerable company of angels, those heavenly hosts, who stand by him, ready to go where he sends them and to do what he bids them, messengers of mercy on his right hand, of wrath on his left hand. (3.) That he not only takes cognizance of, but presides over, all the affairs of this lower world, and overrules them according to the counsel of his own will. The rise and fall of princes, the issues of war, and all the great affairs of state, which are the subject of the consultations of wise and great men, are no more above God’s direction than the meanest concerns of the poorest cottages are below his notice. (4.) That God has many ways of bringing about his own counsels, particularly concerning the fall of sinners when they are ripe for ruin; he can do it either in this manner or in that manner. (5.) That there are malicious and lying spirits which go about continually seeking to devour, and, in order to that, seeking to deceive, and especially to put lies into the mouths of prophets, by them to entice many to their destruction. (6.) It is not without the divine permission that the devil deceives men, and even thereby God serves his own purposes. With him are strength and wisdom, the deceived and the deceivers are his, Job xii. 16. When he pleases, for the punishment of those who receive not the truth in the love of it, he not only lets Satan loose to deceive them (Rev 20:7; Rev 20:8), but gives men up to strong delusions to believe him, 2Th 2:11; 2Th 2:12. (7.) Those are manifestly marked for ruin that are thus given up. God has certainly spoken evil concerning those whom he had given up to be imposed upon by lying prophets. Thus Micaiah gave Ahab fair warning, not only of the danger of proceeding in this war, but of the danger of believing those that encouraged him to proceed. Thus we are warned to beware of false prophets, and to try the spirits; the lying spirit never deceives so fatally as in the mouth of prophets.
II. We are told how he was abused for delivering his message thus faithfully, thus plainly, in a way so very proper both to convince and to affect. 1. Zedekiah, a wicked prophet, impudently insulted him in the face of the court, smote him on the cheek, to reproach him, to silence him and stop his mouth, and to express his indignation at him (thus was our blessed Saviour abused, Matt. xxvi. 67, that Judge of Israel, Mic. v. 1); and as if he not only had the spirit of the Lord, but the monopoly of this Spirit, that he might not go without his leave, he asks, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak to thee? v. 24. The false prophets were always the worst enemies the true prophets had, and not only stirred up the government against them, but were themselves abusive to them, as Zedekiah here. To strike within the verge of the court, especially in the king’s presence, is looked upon by our law as a high misdemeanour; yet this wicked prophet gives this abuse to a prophet of the Lord, and is not reprimanded nor bound to his good behaviour for it. Ahab was pleased with it, and Jehoshaphat had not courage to appear for the injured prophet, pretending it was out of his jurisdiction; but Micaiah, though he returns not his blow (God’s prophets are not strikers nor persecutors, dare not avenge themselves, render blow for blow, or be in any way accessory to the breach of the peace), yet, since he boasted so much of the Spirit, as those commonly do that know least of his operations, he leaves him to be convinced of his error by the event: Thou shalt know when thou hidest thyself in an inner chamber, v. 25. It is likely Zedekiah went with Ahab to the battle, and took his horns of iron with him to encourage the soldiers, to see with pleasure the accomplishment of his prophecy, and return in triumph with the king; but, the army being routed, he fled among the rest from the sword of the enemy, sheltered himself as Ben-hadad had done in a chamber within a chamber (ch. xx. 30), lest he should perish, as he knew he deserved to do, with those whom he had deluded, as Balaam did (Num. xxxi. 8), and lest the blind prophet should fall into the ditch with the blinded prince whom he had misled. Note, Those that will not have their mistakes rectified in time by the word of God will be undeceived, when it is too late, by the judgments of God. 2. Ahab, that wicked king, committed him to prison (v. 27), not only ordered him to be taken into custody, or remitted to the prison whence he came, but to be fed with bread and water, coarse bread and puddle-water, till he should return, not doubting but that he should return a conqueror, and then he would put him to death for a false prophet (v. 27)– hard usage for one that would have prevented his ruin! But by this it appeared that God had determined to destroy him, as 2 Chron. xxv. 16. How confident is Ahab of success. He doubts not but he shall return in peace, forgetting what he himself had reminded Ben-hadad of, Let not him that girdeth on the harness boast; but there was little likelihood of his coming home in peace when he left one of God’s prophets behind him in prison. Micaiah put it upon the issue, and called all the people to be witnesses that he did so: “If thou return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me, v. 28. Let me incur the reproach and punishment of a false prophet, if the king come home alive.” He ran no hazard by this appeal, for he knew whom he had believed; he that is terrible to the kings of the earth, and treads upon princes as mortar, will rather let thousands of them fall to the ground than one jot or tittle of his own word; he will not fail to confirm the word of his servants, Isa. xliv. 26.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(15) Go, and prosper.Micaiah is a true disciple of Elijah in the defiant irony of the tone in which he takes up and mocks the utterance of the false prophets so bitterly as at once to show Ahab his scorn of them and him. But his message is couched in metaphor and symbolic vision, unlike the stern directness of the style of Elijah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Ki 22:15. Go, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver, &c. Supposing Micaiah had spoken in earnest, his answer does not at all contradict the other prophets: but the words, it is most likely, were spoken ironically, and in mockery to the equivocal promises which the other prophets made to Ahab. Accordingly, we may observe by Ahab’s reply, that he suspected Micaiah’s sincerity, and gathered, either from his gesture or manner of speaking, that his meaning was to ridicule and traduce these false prophets for their answers: so that Micaiah’s answer is in effect as if he had said, “Since thou dost not seek to know the truth, but only to please thyself, go to the battle, as all thy prophets advise thee; expect the success which they promise thee, and try the truth of their predictions by thy dear-bought experience.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Ki 22:15 So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king.
Ver. 15. Go, and prosper. ] Ironice pseudo prophetas fingit. And Ahab perceived that he spake it scoffingly, and in a tone of derision. See the like, Gen 3:22 2Ch 25:8 Ecc 11:9 Lam 4:21 Amo 4:4-5 1Ki 18:27 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Go, and prosper. Figure of speech Eironeia. App-6. Doubtless repeating the words he had heard in verses: 1Ki 22:6, 1Ki 22:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
shall we go: 1Ki 22:6
Go and prosper: This was strong irony; they were the precise words of the false prophets; but were spoken by Micaiah in such a tone and manner as at once shewed Ahab that he did not believe, but ridiculed these words of uncertainty. The reply of the Delphian oracle to Crosesus was as ambiguous as that returned to Pyrrhus, Croesus Halym penetrans magnam pervertet opum vim, “If Croesus crosses the Halys, he will overthrow a great empire.” This he understood of the empire of Cyrus; the event proved it to be his own: he was deluded, yet the oracle maintained its credit. 1Ki 18:27, Jdg 10:14, 2Ki 3:13, 2Ch 18:14, Ecc 11:9, Mat 26:45
Reciprocal: Jdg 1:4 – Lord Jdg 18:6 – Go in peace 1Sa 14:37 – Shall I go 2Sa 5:19 – And the Lord 2Ki 8:10 – Thou mayest 1Ch 14:10 – Go up Eze 20:1 – that certain Mar 14:41 – Sleep
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 22:15-16. He answered him, Go, and prosper He gave the very same answer, and in the same words, which the other prophets had done; but spake them in such a manner, that Ahab plainly discerned he derided and mocked him: his meaning being evidently this: Because thou dost not seek to know the truth, but only to please thyself, go to the battle, as all thy prophets advise thee, and try the truth of their prediction by thy own experience. The king said, How many times shall I adjure thee? He had not adjured him before, but now he does; as, probably, observing something in the countenance and gesture of Micaiah, which persuaded him that what he said was rather ironical than the real sentiments of his mind.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
22:15 So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, {n} Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king.
(n) He speaks this in derision, because the king attributed so much to the false prophets, meaning that by experience he should discern that they were liars.