adulterer, "It is not right that thou shouldst have| MENKEN: Woe to the man who, through the pow thy brother's wife." Where to-day are the prophets er which love gives him over the heart of another, who thus use the sword of the Spirit? Thou hast by meaus of which he might become a ministering slain.- MENKEN: Observe, that evil which thou angel, is to him as a misleading fiend. How many couldst hinder, and didst not, and from which thou fires of ruinous passion, of anger, of discord, of unshouldst have shrunk, and for which thou didst righteousness and of hatred, might and should be neither exhibit horror, nor didst punish-all quenched and extinguished by the power of loveshall, in future, be laid to thy account, as if the power of one heart over another-and especially thou hadst committed it in thine own person. by the mildness and gentleness peculiar to woman: Therefore warns the apostle: Neither be partaker and yet so often, by this means, they are kindled of other men's sins (2 Tim. v. 22).-V. 20. Hast and fanned. This belongs to the catalogue of unthou found me, O mine enemy? CALW. B: One confessed sins of many men, and especially of many can readily imagine that the hard impenitent, women.-What gave Ahab's repentance its worth, meeting the pious preacher and soul-director, re- and wherein it was defective. (a) It was not meregards the high-principled, soul-saving address of ly ostensible, feigned; it was a wholesome dread the prophet as evidence of personal enmity, and and fear of the judgment of God which came replies with personal enmity. He is not thine upon him, causing him to fear and tremble; he enemy who finds thee out, charging thee with bowed beneath the mighty hand of God, and was thine unrecognized sins, with thy God-forgetting not ashamed to confess this outwardly, but laid life, until thou dost think and tremble. not aside crown and purple, and put on sackcloth, thine enemy, the disturber of thy peace and unheeding if he thus exposed himself to the rest, but thy true friend, who leads thee through scorn of the courtiers and idol worshippers. the narrow gates of repentance, to the way Therefore the Lord looked in mercy upon his rewhere alone true joy is to be found.-I have pentance. Would that, in our day, many would found thee. This word of sentence must be heard go even as far as Ahab did in this case. (b) It by all, even by those who have come before no bore no further fruits. He retained the stolen human tribunal-often in this world, certainly vineyard, he desisted not from idol worship, he at the last day, "for the Lord will bring to light," allowed full sway to Jezebel. Everything in his &c. (1 Cor. iv. 5), and cause every man to find accord- house, at his court, and in his kingdom, remained ing to his ways (Job xxxiv. 11). But there is as of old. He did not hunger and thirst after also a sentence of mercy, which pursues the sin- righteousness. Fleeting impressions and emotions ner and seeks him until it finds him (Luke xv.). are not true repentance. The tree which brings Well for all who have thus been caught and found forth no fruits, is and remains a corrupt tree and can say: "Unter allen frohen Stunden, die im (Matt. iii. 8). How wholly different the repentance Leben ich empfunden," &c. He who will not be of David (Ps. li.).-How many go to confession sought out by mercy, will be found by justice. before the communion, bow the knee, and confess Vers. 20-29.-KRUMMACHER: The penitence of their sins before God and man, without being inAhab. (a) What called it forth; (b) what was its wardly bowed down and humiliated, to bring forth nature; (c) what were its consequences.-Vers. fruits meet for repentance (Joel ii. 13; Is. lviii. 5). 21-26. The predicted judgments of God upon-RICHTER: Since God looks with pardoning mer Ahab and his house. (a) Its cause; (b) its accom-cy upon an outward humble abasement, how much plishment (chap. xxii. 38; Kings ix. and x.). more upon a righteous repentance. Therefore "Buying for money" amongst sins. What is to be pray: Lord, grant true penitence and grief.— understood by this? How one can be made bought | KRUMMACHER: Ahab was, and is, an example to and made free (John viii. 33 sq.; 1 Cor. vi. 20; vii. 23; Rom. vii. 14). It is a great misfortune when one man can be bought by another as a chattel or merchandise, but a still greater one if he allows himself to be bought with a price to sin against the Lord. One may be, like Ahab, lord and king, and yet a purchased slave.--Ver. 25. His wife stirred him up. |

warn us how it is possible that notwithstanding the most remarkable visitations of God, the strong est incentives, the liveliest emotions, and in spite of a certain sort of repentance and wonderful granting of prayer, a man may still, at the very last, be lost.

C.-Ahab's expedition against the Syrians, undertaken with Jehoshaphat, and his death.

CHAP. XXII. 1-40 (2 CHRON. XVIII. 1–34).

1 AND they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. 2 And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came 3 down to the king of Israel. And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of 4 the hand of the king of Syria? And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.

5

And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the

6 word of the Lord [Jehovah] to-day. 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 7 shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord [Jehovah] besides,' that we might inquire of him? 8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord [Jehovah]: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat 9 said, Let not the king say so. Then the king of Israel called an officer, and 10 said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets pro11 phesied before them. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron and he said, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah], With these shalt thou push the 12 Syrians, until thou have consumed them. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper: for the Lord [Jehovah] shall deliver it into the king's hand.

13 And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak 14 that which is good. And Micaiah said, As the Lord [Jehovah] liveth, what the 15 Lord [Jehovah] saith unto me, that will I speak. 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 [Jeho16 vah] shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which 17 is true in the name of the Lord [Jehovah]? And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the Lord [Jehovah] 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 19 prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? And he said, Hear thou therefore' the word of the Lord [Jehovah]: I saw the Lord [Jehovah] sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him' on his right hand and on his 20 left. And the Lord [Jehovah] said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said 21 on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord 22 [Jehovah], and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord [Jehovah] 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. Ánd he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and pre23 vail also go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord [Jehovah] hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord [Jeho24 vah] hath spoken evil concerning thee. But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of 25 the Lord [Jehovah] from me to speak unto thee? And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide 26 thyself. And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto 27 Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son; and say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction 28 and with water of affliction, until I come in peace. And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the Lord [Jehovah] hath not spoken by me. "And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.

29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth30 gilead. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised 31 himself, and went into the battle. But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with 32 small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king

33 of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it 34 was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. And a cer tain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine 35 Land," and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syri ans, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the 36 chariot. And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country. 37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in 38 Samaria. And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armor [and the harlots washed"]; ac39 cording unto the word of the Lord [Jehovah] which he spake. Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles 40 of the kings of Israel? So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL.

1 Ver. 6.-[The Alex. Sept. reduces the number to three hundred.

2 Ver. 6.-The Sept. emphasizes the assurance of the prophets: kai didoùs dwσei kúpios

- אֲדֹנָי but , יְהוָה c. It is noticeable that the prophets do not say&

the Lord will surely deliver,

3 Ver. 7.-[The Sept., by neglecting the word jy (besides, yet) here and in ver. 8, makes it evident that they understood by the other prophets men who were not really prophets of the LORD. In ver. 8, however, the Alex. Sept. has in. The Vulg. also: non est hic propheta Domini quispiam. The other VV. follow the Heb. very exactly.

4 Ver. 9.--[The Sept. has evvouxov eva, but whether because it was known in the time of the translators that such persons were officers under Ahab, or whether simply because they were usual in the courts of their own time, does not appear.

Ver. 12.-[The Sept. changes the last clause of ver. 12 into "Shall deliver into thy hands even the king of Syria” (Alex. omits the word Syria), as if Zedekiah would promise Ahab a repetition of his formerly neglected opportunity.

Ver. 13.-The singular, which Chronicles, the k'ri, and many MSS. have, is to be preferred to the k'tib. [All the VV., except the Sept., which has another construction, follow the k'ri.

7 Ver. 19.—[The author (Exeg. Com.) considers the oux ourws of the Sept. here as a mistranslation of the Heb. taken for. The same expression, however, is introduced by it into ver. 17, kai elnev oùx outws· éŵpaka κ. τ. λ., and the full reading here is καὶ εἶπε Μιχαίας οὐχ οὕτως, οὐκ ἐγώ· ἄκουε ρῆμα κ. τ. λ.

8 Ver. 19.-[Sept. the God (Alex. the Lord God) of Israel.

9 Ver. 19.

the primary idea of by above, seems to be here purposely preserved; "the ministers standing behind or even beside their sitting Lord are raised above him, and thus appear to the beholder as standing over him. Isai. vi. 2; Gen. xviii. 8," Keil.

10 Ver. 26.-[For" Amon the governor" the Vat. Sept. has "Semer the king."

11 Ver. 28.-The Vat. Sept. omits the latter part of ver. 28.

12 Ver. 34.-The A. V., like the Vulg., follows the singular of the k'ri in preference to the plural of the k'tib, which is adhered to by the Vat. Sept.

13 Ver. 85.- [nban ny, lit."the battle rose," perhaps, as Keil suggests, a figure from the rising of a river, growing more rapid as it swells. The expression of increase by words of the general sense of rising is, however, very common in many languages.

14 Ver. 88.―in. The A. V. is here certainly wrong, although following the Chald. and Syr. Not less erroneous is the Vulg. habenas laverunt. must be the subject of the verb, and can only mean harlots. The Sept.

has here translated rightly, but has unwarrantably inserted the same words also in the prediction (xx. 42) of which this is the fulfilment. Here, as there, they associate ai ves with oi kúves. What these harlots washed-whether them selves, or the chariot, or clothes-has been much questioned, nor is its determination at all necessary to the translation like the English wash, may be either transitive or intransitive.-F. G.]

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.

Ver. 1. And they continued, &c., i. e. Syria and Israel. The three years are those which had elapsed since the war mentioned in chap. xx., that is, since the release of Ben-hadad. In this interval fell the murder of Naboth. The XXIId chap. is a continuation of the XXth, and is derived from the same original document. Chap. xxi. is from some other authority, but appears here in its proper chronological position. The ground of Jehosha phat's visit to Ahab, according to the parallel

account in Chronicles, was the marriage relationship which had been formed between them, viz., Ahab's daughter, Athalialı, had become the wife of Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram. Chronicles also states that Ahab slaughtered a large number of sheep and oxen for Jehoshaphat and his numerous escort, i. e., he entertained them generously. Ahab profited by this opportunity, so soon as he had made sure of the support of his generals who had come to the entertainment, to persuade Jehshaphat into making an expedition against the Syrians in alliance with him.-On Ramoth (ver. 3)

see notes on chap. iv. 13. Ben-hadad, contrary to his promise (xx. 34), had not given up this stronghold, from which, as a base, he could easily make incursions into Israel, and Ahab became more and more uneasy as years passed by, and the promised surrender was not consummated. His words (ver. 3) mean: This important city belongs to Israel as of right, and besides that Ben-hadad has solemnly promised to give it up; yet he has not done this, but, on the contrary, menaces us on that side, while "we rest satisfied with this state of things, instead of taking what is ours by a double right" (Thenius).

In

Ver. 4. And he said unto Jehoshaphat. stead of we find in Chronicles n'p", the same expression which is used in chap. xxi. 25 in regard to Jezebel and her influence on Ahab; he seduced him (cf. Jer. xxxviii. 22; Deut. xiii. 7). This shows that Jehoshaphat ought not to have agreed to the proposition. However, he did not enter into the plan "after dinner," thoughtlessly (Richter), but because he wished to confirm the good understanding which had just been established between Judah and Israel, and because he also saw danger to himself in Ramoth, so long as it was in the hands of the Syrians. The horses are especially mentioned, because they formed the essential part of the military power (Ps. xxxiii. 16, 17; Prov. xxi. 31).

Ver. 5. And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, &c. Jehoshaphat had some scruples. He wished first to be certain that the undertaking was conformed to the will of Jehovah, a thing in regard to which no anxiety had entered Ahab's. mind. He ought to have considered this before giving his consent (ver. 4). The prophets whom

Ahab summoned were not, as some of the old ex

calf-worship, who at the same time filled, like the Baal and Astarte priests, the functions of proph ets. (See notes on xviii. 19.)

Ver. 8. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, &c. Micaiah is called once only, in the parallel passage (2 Chron. xviii. 14), Micha, and is certainly not, as Josephus and the rabbis assert, the man who is mentioned in chap. xx. 35 as a prophet-disciple. Ahab could not at the moment give the name of any other whom he could summon at short notice. It was very natural that he should not mention Elijah, even aside from the fact that he did not know where he was. Micaiah was in Samaria, and even, as it appears, on account of some previous prophecy which was unfahence he could be at once brought forward.-To vorable and displeasing to Ahab, in confinement; the words, but evil, the chronicler adds: “all his days," i. e., so long as he has filled the office of a prophet. Von Gerlach aptly remarks: We find in Ahab the same heathen conception of the relation between the prophet and Jehovah, as we find in the case of Balak (Numb. xxiii. 11). He ascribes fore makes him responsible for his unfavorable to the seer some power over his God, and thereoracles. Agamemnon says to Calchas (Iliad i. 106), "Seer of evil! how hast thou never foretold to me good! Thou prophesiest to me with pleasure only evil in thy trance, and hast never declared to me a favorable oracle." Jehoshaphat's Ahab's words: I hate him; I will not now listen answer: "Let not the king say so! refers to to him. Jehoshaphat's words, therefore, have not this sense: vaticinabitur prospere (Vatablus, Keil), but they are a reply to his remark, and contain such an encouragement as this: Let him come, though--and this Ahab then does.

was held

positors inferred from the number four hundred, 10-12 carry out into detail that which had been Ver. 10. Sat each on his throne, &c. Vers. the Astarte-prophets who had not been upon Carmel (chap. xviii. 19, 22), for their chief, Zedekiah, think here of the same assemblage as there. It hinted at briefly in ver. 6. We must, therefore, affirmed that he had the spirit of Jehovah (ver. 24), is now only described more fully in what a and all the others unite in this assertion (ver. 12). solemn manner this assemblage Nevertheless, they were not "certainly genuine Jehovah-prophets" (Clericus), nor "pretended" (see Bertheau on 2 Chron. xviii. 9). That Jehovah-prophets (Schulz), nor prophet-disciples means "in their official (royal) robes" is (Thenius), for the definite article does not refer to such as these, but to a definite class, different from clear from Levit. xxi. 10, where it is said of the these, the prophets of Ahab. Hence Junius and high-priest: 7-ns was, i. e., "clad in the Tremellius translate correctly according to the sense: Ahab congregavit prophetas suos. So Micaiah designates them in vers. 22 and 23, when he calls them "thy" or "his" prophets. Moreover, how could Ahab ever have brought himself to tolerate four hundred prophets, adherents of Elijah, in his immediate circle, when he had not been converted to Jehovah? No one will assert that they belonged to the number of those who wore the well-known penitential robe of the prophets, and went about in goat-skins or in hair-cloth (Zach. (since the word for threshing-floor makes no sense) xiii. 4; Hebr. xi. 37). It remains that we can and joins it with D, "particolored, that is, think of them only as adherents of Jeroboam's probably, vestes distinctæ, acu picta;" but this conJehovah-worship, that is, of the calf-worship.jecture is as unnecessary as it is violent. Ewald Hence Jehoshaphat did not recognize them as also joins the word with 73, and says that it genuine Jehovah prophets. Although they all can from the connection (?), have here only the agree, yet he asks for another, a true worshipper meaning, armor, war-dress, but there is no eviof Jehovah; and Ahab calls for such a one, dence to support this, for the though with inward dissatisfaction. Since in chap. is not a translation of xviii. 19, 22, 25, 40, the priests of Baal and As-discussed above "". tarte are always called, the conjecture is

official (priestly) garments." is repeated before in the parallel passage 2 Chron. xviii. 9. It can, therefore, only mean: in area. means a "smooth open place" (Gesenius); hence a threshing-floor, which is such a smooth open place. However, "threshing-floor " is not the sole mean. ing, as Thenius asserts. He reads for

vonλo of the Sept. but of the words

Ver. 11. And Zedekiah, the son, &c. Zedesuggested that these persons were priests of the kiah, following the method of the true prophets,

performs a symbolical action before the declaration of his oracle (see on chap. xi. 29). He intended thereby to show himself a prophet of the northern kingdom. He put on horns of iron, which would not break, for Deut. xxxiii. 17 says of Ephraim: "His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of uni

corns; with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth." By a physical reference to this prophecy he intended to represent his present declaration as certain. However, he forgot that "the entire fulfilment of Moses' blessing depended on the fidelity with which Israel adhered to the commandments, and to the Lord. But Ahab, least of all, had been careful to be thus faithful" (Keil). Of the two imperatives by command and the second an encouragement, as in Gen. xlii. 18; Prov. xx. 13; Ps. xxxvii. 27; Job xxii. 21; Isai. xxxvi. 16 (Gesen. Grammar § 127).

the first is, וְהַצְלָה

19) states, by describing another vision, the rea son why the four hundred prophets had prophesied falsely and deceitfully.

Ver. 19. Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord. has here its regular signification: for this reason. (Keil: "Because thou thinkest my declaration the result of mere malice], there fore.") It is not," according to the Sept., oux oi equivalent to: veruntamen " (Thenius). The speech in vers. 19-23 is indeed addressed to the heard it and were intended to hear it. king in the first instance, but evidently all around In Chroni

cles we find for you, you, as in ver. 28.-I saw the Lord sitting on His throne. What Micaiah describes in vers. 19-22 is not a mere parable invented by him, but a prophetic vision which he saw, and which, as the Berleburger Bibel says, represents God and His government and providence in an appropriate symbolical manner. Peter MarVer. 15. So he came to the king. Ahab tyr says: Omnia hoc dicuntur άνθρωποπαθῶς. The meant by his question to Micaiah to represent separate expressions are not, therefore, to be himself to Jehoshaphat as never having attempted strained or interpreted in a "gross and materialto exert any influence upon the declarations of the istic manner" (Richter).-And all the host of prophet (Thenius). He took up the attitude to heaven, &c. The old expositors, Peter Martyr, Micaiah "of holding himself ready for any Jo. Lange, Starke and others suppose that the answer, and of demanding only to know the prophet described God seated on the throne of divine will, although he had really made up his heaven and surrounded by the heavenly hosts, in mind, and would be pleased only with one answer contrast with the two kings sitting on their (Jo. Lange). Hence we may understand the thrones surrounded by the band of false prophets. prophet's answer, which is not irony (Keil), nor It appears, however, that this cannot be correct, spoken with ironical gestures and a sarcastic tone" for if it were correct, then Micaiah must have had (Richter), but certainly a reproof for the hypocritical his vision after he came to stand before the kings question. The sense is: How camest thou to the and to see how they were arrayed, but the reve idea of consulting me, whom thou dost not trust?lation, doubtless, came to him some time before Thy prophets have answered thee as thou desirest. this. He rather saw God as the ruler of all in Do, then, what they have approved. Try it. March heaven or earth, and as the judge in the full glory out. Their oracles have far more weight with of His majesty, entirely independently of the two thee than mine. "Since Micaiah, who, in ver. 14, kings. The host of heaven are not, of course, had distinctly declared that he would not speak here the stars, as in Deut iv. 19, but all the higher simply according to the king's pleasure, neverthe-heavenly powers who serve as His organs in the less repeats almost exactly the words of the king's prophets, he must have spoken in a tone which made it clear to Ahab that what he said was not in earnest (Bertheau). Therefore Ahab adjured him to speak only the word of Jehovah, but did not promise to follow the counsel which he should give him in the name of Jehovah. He was not in earnest to learn the truth, but only to convince Jehoshaphat that what he had said (ver. 8) about this prophet was true and just, and that no authority ought to be ascribed to him. Micaiah now refuses no longer, but makes known the vision which he has had (ver. 17). The meaning of this vision was clear. Ahab understood it. The king would fall, and Israel would be scattered without being pursued. Each one would take his own way home, and so the war would end. Perhaps Numbers xxvii. 17 floated before the prophet's mind, as Deut. xxxiii. 17 was in the mind of Zedekiah in ver. 11. Luther erroneously took the as a question. The sense is: Since these have no longer any master, let each return. Ahab now assures Jehoshaphat (ver. 18; cf. chap. xxi. 20), in order, i. e., not a spirit (Luther, and E. V., followthat he may not be influenced by this oracle, ing the Sept.), but the spirit, a definite one, and that it springs from the malice which he had it can be, according to the entire connection, none before declared this prophet to entertain. Then, other than the spirit of prophecy (Thenius; Keil). in order to refute this imputation, Micaiah (ver. the power which, going forth from God, and tak

לֹא־אֲדֹנִים לָאֵלָה words of Jeliovali

administration of the universe (Heb. i. 14; 2 Sam. xxiv. 16; 2 Kings xix. 35). Some of the older expositors incorrectly say that those on the right were the good, and those on the left the bad. The latter are nowhere included in the host of heaven." All surround Him and wait for His commands.-The question in ver. 20: Who shall persuade [delude] Ahab? shows that the fall of Ahab, who had heaped sin upon sin, was deter mined in the counsels of God (cf. Isai. vi. 8). The only question which still remained open was as to the way in which his fall should be brought about. "Who is able to delude Ahab, so that he may march against Ramoth to his own destruction?" (Bertheau). And one said on this manner and another said on that manner. Peter MartyT says on these words: Innuit varios providentia Dei modos, quibus decreta sua ad exitum perducit. The dramatic-figurative form of representation corresponds fully to the character of the vision, in which inner and spiritual processes are regarded as real phenomena, nay even as persons.

Ver. 21. And there came forth a spirit.—