1 Kings 22:1
_Israel, from the time when Benadad and Achab had made a league, chap. xx. 34._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Israel, from the time when Benadad and Achab had made a league, chap. xx. 34._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Josaphat. It is wonderful that a prince of so great piety, should be on terms of such strict friendship with a most wicked king. God did not approve of it; and the event was unfortunate, 2 Paralipomenon xx. 37. Achab received the king of Juda with extraordinary magnificence, 2 Paralipomenon xviii.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Syria. Benadad had not restored it; either because he no longer regarded his treaty, or because the city had not been taken by his father. (Calmet)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_One, in concord, (Haydock) and ready to march against the same enemy. --- Lord. This was rather late, if (Menochius) the army was already receiving its pay under the walls of Samaria. (Josephus, [Antiquities?] viii. 15.) --- God ought to have been consulted at first. (Menochius)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Men, probably the prophets of the groves, who had not gone to Carmel, chap. xviii. 19, 22. (Calmet) --- The recent slaughter had not deterred others from imitating the example of the false prophets. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lord. Josaphat knew that these four hundred were addicted to idol worship, (Haydock) and suspected that they only flattered their king. (Josephus)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_One man. Perhaps Micheas alone resided at Samaria. Elias and his disciples were in the country. Josephus and some others think, (Calmet) that the son of Jemla had been cast into prison for what he had said to Achab, when he had dismissed the king of Syria, chap. xx. 43. (Haydock) --- Not so. Good a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Eunuch. Hebrew saris, denotes also "a servant;" or Achab might have purchased this stranger._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Court, or barn floor. They were in or near cities, that they might be so protected from the incursions of enemies, who strove to set the corn on fire, 1 Kings xxiii. 1., and Judges xv. 5._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Push, "with the horn," ( Greek: keratiseis; Septuagint) and throw into the air, (Menochius) like a bull. (Calmet) --- Nothing shall withstand thy power. The actions of Sedecias were of the same import as his words. (Haydock) --- See Jeremias xxvii. 2., and xxviii. 10. --- Such horns were shewn to Z... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go up, &c. This was spoken ironically, and by way of jesting at the flattering speeches of the false prophets: and so the king understood it, as appears by his adjuring Micheas, in the following verse, to tell him the truth in the name of the Lord. (Challoner) --- Micheas had only repeated their wo... [ Continue Reading ]
_No shepherd....no master, clearly intimated (Menochius) that the king should perish in the battle. Paralipomenon reads: These have no masters. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_He, Micheas, added, (Menochius) not fearing the king's displeasure, who seemed to regard his former denunciation as an effect of his ill-will. Hence he explains his vision more at large. God often conforms to our ideas, and even prejudices. The people were then accustomed to look upon him as a king... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord said, &c. God standeth not in need of any counsellor; nor are we suppose, that things pass in heaven in the manner here described: but this representation was made to the prophet, to be delivered by min in a manner adopted to the common ways and notions of men. (Challoner) (St. Gregory, Mo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go forth, and do so. This was not a command, but a permission; for God never ordaineth lies, though he often permitteth the lying spirit to deceive those who love not the truth, 2 Thessalonians ii. 10. And in this sense it is said in the following verse, the Lord hath given a lying spirit in the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
Cheek. Josephus says he had told the king, that if his hand did not wither, like that of Jeroboam, he might conclude that Micheas was a false prophet; particularly as his prediction was at variance with that of Elias; who had asserted that Achab should die at Jezrahel, while Micheas seemed to condem... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go into a chamber, &c. This happened when he heard the king was slain, and justly apprehended that he should be punished for his false prophecy; (Challoner) though this be nowhere recorded, (Calmet) except in Josephus. (Worthington) --- He probably escaped death. (Salien)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Distress, both "in small quantity," (Paralipomenon) and very bad. (Grotius) (Tirinus) (Isaias xxx. 20.) --- Peace, when I will punish thee, as an impostor. (Menochius) --- How grating must this have been to the good king Josaphat; and still he does not abandon the company of such infatuated people!... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER XXII.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy own. Septuagint, "I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; and do thou put on my garment." Hence the Syrians mistook Josaphat for Achab, (ver. 32.; Calmet) as "it had been agreed between them, that he should wear the robes of Achab, to elude more easily the prediction of Micheas." (Josep... [ Continue Reading ]
_Captains of, or mounted "on chariots." There would hardly be so many general officers over the chariots alone. The same number of kings had been in a former engagement, and they had been replaced by these captains, chap. xx. 24. (Calmet) --- Only. Not that the Syrians were to avoid hurting any body... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cried out. Paralipomenon add, to the Lord, and he helped him, and turned them away from him. The Jews (in Seder. Olam xvii.) acknowledge the same thing; and thus it was known that Josaphat was not the king of Israel, who would rather have invoked Baal. (Menochius) --- Perhaps he also declared the t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Stomach. Paralipomenon, between the neck and the shoulders. The arrow went in at the lungs, and came out at the shoulders, as it was shot from a lower ground. (Menochius) --- Some explain the Hebrew, "between the joints and the coat of mail." Protestants, "joints of the harness." Septuagint, "betwe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Evening. Achab had only retired to the hinder ranks, while Josaphat, by his valour, maintained the day, till the death of the former put an end to the war._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of Samaria. Josephus says, of Jezara, (Jezrahel) conformably to the prediction. But God had relented in that particular, on Achab's repentance; (Calmet; Chap. xxi. 24, 29.) unless it regarded his son Joram. (Haydock) (Salien) --- Reins. Hebrew zonoth, may also signify "arms," (Munster) and "harlots... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of ivory. The palace was greatly adorned with it, (see Amos iii. 15., and Psalm xliv. 9.; Calmet) like the palace of Solomon, chap. x. 18. Pliny (xvi. 43.) speaks of bedsteads and vehicles of ivory, in the same sense. (Tirinus)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_He took not away, &c. He left some of the high places, viz., those in which they worshipped the true God: but took away all others, 2 Paralipomenon xvii. 6; (Challoner) and even those also, before the end of his reign; (Calmet) as they were contrary to the law. (Menochius) --- Others think that the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Israel. The five subsequent verses are omitted in the Roman Septuagint._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Effeminate. Men addicted to unnatural lust, chap. xiv. 24., and xv. 12._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Edom. Hebrew and Chaldean, "but a deputy king," or viceroy; (Tirinus) so that the kings of Juda might equip fleets at Asiongaber, as the country of Idumea was subject to them ever since the time of David, 2 Paralipomenon viii. 17. Under Ochozias, the son of Josaphat, the kings of Edom became indepe... [ Continue Reading ]
_Made. Hebrew incorrectly reads hasar, "ten," instead of hasa, "made;" (Calmet) which the Protestants follow, "made ships of Tharshish, to go to Ophir." (Haydock) See chap. iv. 26., and 28._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Would not. He had been reprehended before for admitting such a partner: and therefore would have no more to do with him. (Challoner) --- They had formerly joined in equipping such a fleet, (2 Paralipomenon xx. 36., and 37.; Calmet) and it had been dashed to pieces in the very port. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Years, not complete; as the first is comprized in the reign of Achab, and the last in that of Joram, 4 Kings iii. 1. (Usher, the year of the world 3108.) --- Yet, his very short reign was memorable for many disasters; the revolt of the dependant king of Moad, the ruin of his navy, &c., that he migh... [ Continue Reading ]