6<\/strong>. gathered the prophets together, about four hundred<\/em> ] These cannot have been the prophets of Baal, for their ringleader, Zedekiah, in 1Ki 22:11<\/span>, begins his speech, ‘Thus saith Jehovah,’ and in 1Ki 22:24<\/span> speaks of ‘the spirit of Jehovah’ as being with him. But they were not true adherents of the Lord, otherwise Jehoshaphat would certainly have been content with their words. He went on with the project of the expedition even after Micaiah’s prophetic warning; he never would have sought for more satisfaction, had he heard four hundred true prophets of Jehovah say, ‘the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.’ These men were therefore the prophets who served in the worship of the calves. They would use Jehovah’s name, just as constantly as the men who had not forsaken His commandment, and throughout the whole of Israel this number of them could no doubt be readily gathered, and these, though not his Baal-priests, Ahab would bring before Jehoshaphat.<\/p>\n Go up<\/em> ] The land of Gilead was all mountainous.<\/p>\n the Lord shall deliver<\/em> it] It is remarkable that in this first form of answer, the word for “Lord” is Adonai<\/em>, not the word which we represent by Jehovah<\/em>, and which is generally rendered Lord. In the repetition, in 1Ki 22:12<\/span>, Jehovah<\/em> is used, and of course in Micaiah’s speech. This word ‘Adonai’ is what the Jews use now instead of pronouncing the sacred name, but their reason could not have weighed with Ahab’s priests in Israel. In the parallel place in Chronicles ‘God’, Elohim<\/em>, is used in the first answer, and ‘Jehovah’ in the others.<\/p>\n The prophets – <\/B>i. e., In all probability the prophets attached to the worship of the calves; not real prophets of Yahweh. This seems evident both from Jehoshaphats dissatisfaction 1Ki 22:7<\/span>, and from the strong antagonism apparent between the true Yahweh-prophet Micaiah, and these self-styled prophets of the Lord 1Ki 22:22-25<\/span>.<\/P> The Lord shall deliver it – <\/B>In the Hebrew the word here used for Lord is <\/span> ‘adonay<\/I>. Later (i. e., in 1Ki 22:11-12<\/span>) Lord or <\/span> y<\/I>e<\/I><\/SUP>hovah<\/I> is used. It would seem as if the idolatrous prophets shrank from employing the latter title until they found that Jehoshaphat insisted on learning the will of Yahweh in the matter.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 6<\/span>. About four hundred men<\/B><\/I>] These were probably the prophets of Asherah<\/I> or Venus<\/I>, maintained by Jezebel, who were not present at the contention on Mount Carmel. See 1Kg 18:19<\/span>, &c.<\/P><\/p>\n The prophets<\/B> doubtless were his own false prophets, or the priests of Baal; probably those very four hundred men whom Jezebel preserved from that great slaughter, 1Ki 18<\/span>, who yet gave in their answer in the name of Jehovah, not of Baal; either in compliance with Jehoshaphat; or rather, by Ahabs direction, that good Jehoshaphat might be deceived by them into a good opinion of the war. <\/P> <\/p>\n Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men<\/strong>,…. False prophets, as the Targum and Arabic version; and they are called Ahab’s prophets, and not the Lord’s, 1Ki 22:23<\/span> perhaps these were the prophets of the groves, that ate at Jezebel’s table, and were preserved when the prophets of Baal were destroyed, since the number agrees with them, see 1Ki 18:19<\/span><\/p>\n and said unto them, shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear<\/strong>? which would you advise to? signifying he should take their advice:<\/p>\n and they said, go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king<\/strong>: which words are very ambiguous, like the oracles of the Heathens; for they do not express who or what should be delivered up, for the word it is a supplement, nor to what king the delivery should be made; whether the Syrians, and the place they held should be given up to king Ahab, which they would have understood; or whether the Israelites should be delivered up to king Benhadad; so that, whichever had been the case, the credit of their prophecy would be secured. They used the word “Lord”, and not Baal, in complaisance to Jehoshaphat, and perhaps as directed by Ahab.<\/p>\n B. THE PREDICTIONS OF THE COURT PROPHETS 22:612<\/p>\n TRANSLATION<\/strong><\/p>\n (6) And the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and he said unto them, Shall I go up against Ramoth-gilead to war, or shall I desist? And they said, Go up, and the Lord will give it into the hand of the king. (7) And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not yet here a prophet of the LORD, that we may inquire from him? (8) And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, but I hate him for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evilMicaiah the son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say thus. (9) And the king of Israel called an officer and said, Hasten to Micaiah the son of Imlah. (10) Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting each man upon his throne clothed with robes on the flat place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. (11) And Zedekiah and the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, Thus says the LORD: With these you shall thrust through Aram until you have consumed them. (12) And all the prophets were prophesying thus, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead and you will prosper, and the LORD will give it into the hand of the king.<\/strong><\/p>\n COMMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n Having primed his court prophets previously, Ahab was not unwilling to comply with the request of Jehoshaphat. The king assembled four hundred prophets, and put to them the question as to whether or not the campaign against Ramothgilead should be undertaken. The four hundred dutifully and unanimously urged Ahab to go up to Ramoth-gilead, and promised him that the Lord (adonai) would give the city into the hands of the king (1Ki. 22:6<\/span>). These prophets were not the prophets of Asherah or of Baal, but were renegade prophets of Yahweh who were part of the apostate official calf worship of the Northern Kingdom.[496] They were king-called rather than God-called prophets.<\/p>\n [496] It would appear that Jezebels persecution of the prophets was limited to prophets of Yahweh who were not amenable to her purposes. The prophets called in by Ahab were those who had saved their lives by compromising with the crown.<\/p>\n It is perhaps significant that at first these prophets hesitated to use the name Yahweh in this perverted prognostication, and used instead the more general term adonaiLord. Since a true prophet always spoke in the name of Yahwek, Jehoshaphat became suspicious of the four hundred, and asked if there might not be another prophet of Yahweh whose advice might be solicited (1Ki. 22:7<\/span>).<\/p>\n Indeed there was one prophet[497] yet to be consultedMicaiah the son of Imlah.[498] Ahab frankly admitted that he hated this man of God because he consistently had prophesied evil concerning the king. By this statement Ahab insinuates that Micaiah was motivated by personal dislike for the king and that therefore he was unreliable. Jehoshaphat did not accept this explanation, but instead administered a mild rebuke to Ahab for making such an insinuation about a prophet of God (1Ki. 22:8<\/span>). Under the circumstances Ahab could hardly refuse to permit his guest to hear what Micaiah might have to say, and so he dispatched an officer to fetch the man of God (1Ki. 22:9<\/span>).<\/p>\n [497] What has become of Elijah or his successor Elisha? Probably Ahab simply meant there was but one other prophet readily available in the capital. 1Ki. 22:10-12<\/span> depict the scene into which the prophet Micaiah was about to enter. The two kings dressed in their royal robes were sitting on thrones which had been set up on an elevated flat place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. The four hundred prophets continued their prophesyings even while Micaiah was being summoned (1Ki. 22:10<\/span>). In order to convince the dubious king from Judah, Zedekiah, one of the four hundred, hastily constructed horns of iron.[499] These symbolic horns may have been nothing more than two iron spikes held on the forehead. The horn of an animal in the Old Testament times was symbolic of power. The symbol was doubly appropriate here because Moses had compared Ephraim, chief tribe of the North, to a bullock, and had made explicit mention of the horns by which Ephraim would push the people together to the ends of the earth (Deu. 33:17<\/span>). Zedekiah also underscored his prediction by using for the first time the sacred name Yahweh, probably in deference to the incredulity of Jehoshaphat at the first prediction (1Ki. 22:11<\/span>). The rest of the four hundred continued to repeat their initial promises of success except that they followed the lead of Zedekiah in substituting the name Yahweh for adonai hoping thus to satisfy the king of Judah (1Ki. 22:12<\/span>).<\/p>\n [499] Zedekiah was following customary procedure in thus concretizing his message. Cf. the rending of a new garment by the prophet Ahijah, 1Ki. 11:30<\/span> ff.<\/p>\n (6) Prophets . . . four hundred.<\/strong>These were clearly not avowed prophets of Baal, or the Asherah (groves), as is obvious from the context and from their words in 1Ki. 22:12<\/span>. But Jehoshaphats discontent makes it equally clear that they were not in his view true prophets of Jehovah. Probably they were devoted, like the old prophet of Bethel, to the service of the idolatry of Jeroboam.<\/p>\n 6<\/strong>. <\/strong> About four hundred men <\/strong> “These four hundred prophets were neither the four hundred prophets of Asherah, (1Ki 18:19<\/span>,) who did not appear before Elijah on Carmel, nor the prophets of Baal, as many old expositors thought, for by these Ahab could not inquire at the word of the Lord; <\/em> but they were the prophets of the calves, <\/em> that is, prophets of the kingdom of Israel, who complied with the calf worship, and gave themselves out as prophets of Jehovah, worshipped under the symbol of the calves.” Keil.<\/p>\n 1Ki 22:6<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>The prophets together, about four hundred men<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> It is clear enough, from the 7th and 23rd verses, that these were idolatrous and false prophets; most probably the worshippers of Baal, and the tools of Ahab and Jezebel. Some have thought, since the number so exactly hits, that these false prophets were the four hundred prophets of the groves, <\/em>who were constantly fed at Jezebel’s table, chap. 1Ki 18:19<\/span>. But it appears not likely that Ahab would presume to affront Jehoshaphat in so gross a manner, by bringing Jezebel’s prophets (prophets probably of Astarte, <\/em>and known idolaters) before him, and making them speak in the name of Jehovah the true God. Neither, on the other hand, does it appear at all probable, that they were such as had been bred up in the schools <\/em>of the prophets, under Elijah, or any other true prophet of God. For, besides that one may reasonably suppose such to have been better men, Jezebel <\/em>but a little before had made so great slaughter of them, that there could hardly be any such number as four hundred left, though some, indeed, might have been hid at that time, whom Elijah knew not of. It remains, therefore, that they might, very probably, be Ahab’s own prophets, such as he had set up by rewards and promises, and who accordingly knew how to suit his humour, and to flatter his vanity, all agreeing to a man in the same fawning compliances, and the same treacherous counsels which pleased and tickled for the present, but proved fatal in the end. <\/p>\n (6) Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n I think that these 400 men were the false prophets who were fed at Jezebel’s table. By such the Lord never speaks. Though they used the Lord’s name, yet they were not the Lord’s servants. The Lord himself hath marked, in very plain terms, the character of such: His account of such will, for the most part, serve all ages of the church, as well now as then: see Jer 23:21<\/span> to the end.<\/p>\n 1Ki 22:6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king.<\/p>\n Ver. 6. About four hundred men.<\/strong> ] Baal’s prophets all; perhaps those prophets of the groves, Jezebel’s trencher-flies, 1Ki 18:19 who yet pretended the name of the Lord. Their number showeth that truth may not ever be measured by the poll: Non numeranda sed expendenda suffragia.<\/em> A solid verity in one mouth is worthy to preponderate light falsehood in a thousand. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Go up.<\/strong> ] Pithanologiae nunquam desunt pseudotheologis.<\/em> The devil had deceived these prophets, and they deceive Ahab: quem in decipulam caedis quasi murem inducunt,<\/em> who perished by his credulity and for his cruelty. 1Ki 21:5-16 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.<\/strong> ] Yea, but of which king, thou lying spirit? Of Ahab, or of Benhadad? The particle ‘it’ is not in the original; the word ‘thee’ may be as well supplied. This answer, therefore, was ambiguous, like that Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse:<\/em> or that Croesus Halyn penetrans magnam disperdet opum vim.<\/em> Howbeit the devil here hath more ingenuousness than have the Jesuits; for he confesseth his equivocating oracle to be a lie. “I will go and be a lying spirit,” saith he, “in the mouth of all his prophets.” 1Ki 22:22 <\/p>\n prophets: i.e. Ahab’s false prophets. <\/p>\n for = and. <\/p>\n the Lord*. This is one of the 134 places where “Jehovah” was changed to “Adonai” by the Sopherim. See App-32. <\/p>\n the prophets together: 1Ki 18:19, 2Ti 4:3 <\/p>\n Go up: 1Ki 22:15, 1Ki 22:22, 1Ki 22:23, 2Ch 18:14, Jer 5:31, Jer 8:10, Jer 8:11, Jer 14:13, Jer 14:14, Jer 23:14-17, Jer 28:1-9, Eze 13:7-16, Eze 13:22, Mat 7:15, 2Pe 2:1-3, Rev 19:20 <\/p>\n the Lord: This prophecy is couched in the ambiguous terms in which the heathen oracles were delivered. It may mean, either “The Lord will deliver it (Ramoth Gilead) into the king’s (Ahab’s) hand;” or, “The Lord will deliver (Israel) into the king’s (of Syria) hand.” So in the famous reply of the Delphian oracle to Pyrrhus: Aio te Aacida, Romanos vincere posse: Ibis redibis nunquam in bello peribis; “I say to thee, Pyrrhus the Romans shall overcome. Thou shalt go, thou shalt return never in war shalt thou perish.” <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Gen 3:5 – God Num 22:6 – I wot Jos 20:8 – Ramoth Jdg 1:4 – Lord Jdg 18:6 – Go in peace 2Sa 5:19 – And the Lord 1Ki 12:9 – General 1Ki 16:33 – did more to provoke 1Ki 18:22 – I only 1Ki 22:12 – Go up 2Ki 3:13 – the prophets 2Ki 10:11 – his priests 2Ki 10:19 – all the prophets 1Ch 14:10 – Go up 2Ch 10:9 – What advice 2Ch 18:4 – Inquire Pro 11:9 – An hypocrite Pro 17:4 – General Pro 27:14 – He that Jer 28:11 – Thus Eze 13:6 – made Dan 2:9 – for Hos 7:3 – General Hos 9:8 – but Mic 2:11 – I will Mic 3:2 – hate Luk 6:26 – so Luk 10:2 – are Rev 16:14 – which<\/p>\n DIVINE ENLIGHTENMENT AND GUIDANCE NEEDED<\/p>\n Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? etc.<\/p>\n 1Ki 22:6-8<\/p>\n As against Benhadad, Ahab was in the right when he sought to capture Ramoth-gilead. But he had also to reckon with God. Face to face with God, Ahabs real position at this period of his life was that of a condemned criminal, and he therefore was not in a moral position to represent and act on behalf of the rights of Israel. Ahabs mind at this the last crisis of his sad and eventful life is seen in two respects: in his willingness to consult the prophets of the calves; in his prejudice against Micaiah. They are the two sides of a disposition towards religion, which in its principle is one and the same. It is not downright, contemptuous, bitter opposition; still less is it the loyalty of faith and love. It is a willingness to welcome religion, if religion will only sanction the views, projects, and passions of its patrons.<\/p>\n Ahab welcomed the four hundred because he knew exactly what the four hundred would say. He disobeyed a voice which he could not silence, which willingly he would not have heard. He took his own way, and his tragical end was the consequence of his doing so.<\/p>\n Let us learn two lessons from this story.<\/p>\n I. The first is a principle of Church polity: the importance of making religious teachers, if you can, independent of those whom they have to teach.The clergyman who, with a number of children depending on him, has to think from the first day of the year about the collection that will be made for him at the end of it, must be heroic if he never yields to the softening down of a truth which will be unwelcome to his paymasters or the extenuating a fault which is notoriously popular among them. It is the laity who suffer much more by a dependent clergy than the clergy themselves.<\/p>\n II. Notice here a lesson of religious practice.They who do not seek false teachers may yet take only so much of true teaching as falls in with their true inclinations. If God will only say what His creature approves of, His creature will be well content; but if the Gospel or the Creed, like Micaiah of old, has its warning clauses, so much the worse for Creed or Gospel when Ahab has made up his mind, come what may, to go to Ramoth-gilead. In the last contest with death, which is before every one of us, we shall know that He Who spoke by Micaiah was surely right.<\/p>\n Canon Liddon.<\/p>\n Illustration<\/p>\n Ahab goes out to meet his fate, hoping against hope; determined to do his utmost to avoid his doom, and yet inwardly knowing he could not. Probably he went out to battle with the same feeling as that other who, haunted by the unquenchable remembrance of an evil life, met his doom saying<\/p>\n I gin to be a weary of the sun,<\/p>\n And wish the estate o the world were now undone,<\/p>\n Blow, wind! come wrack<\/p>\n At least well die with harness on our back.<\/p>\n The end of Ahab seems intended to show us how impossible it is for a man to evade his fate when his time has come.<\/p>\n 1Ki 22:6. The king of Israel gathered the prophets together Doubtless his own false prophets, such as he had set up by rewards and promises, and who accordingly knew how to suit his humour, and flatter his vanity, and who yet gave in their answer in the name of Jehovah; either in compliance with Jehoshaphat, or by Ahabs direction, that Jehoshaphat might be deceived by them into a good opinion of the war.<\/p>\n 22:6 Then the king of Israel gathered the {f} prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king.<\/p>\n (f) Meaning the false prophets, who were liars and served for money whom Jezebel had assembled and kept after the death of those whom Elijah slew.<\/p>\n Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king. 6. gathered the prophets together, about four hundred ] These … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 22:6”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
[498] To conclude that Micaiah was a professional prophet at the beck and call of the king is to misjudge the man. He simply was availablepossibly under house arrest in the capital. There is no reason to think he served regularly in the court of Ahab. His independence is manifested by his courage to speak the truth regardless of consequences. How had Micaiah been able to escape the persecution by Jezebel? Probably that persecution was of short duration and confined to the earlier years of Ahab. During the latter years of his reign there does not appear to have been any interference with the inviolable right of a prophet to speak the Word as he perceived it.<\/p>\nFuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"