1 Kings 22:27

1Ki 22:27 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.

Ver. 27. Put this fellow in the prison.] So Savanarola was served for his plain dealing with the Pope; but Mancinell much worse; who, for reproving Pope Alexander VI in a sermon at Rome, had first his hands cut off and then his tongue cut out; of which wound he died. {a} Livy {b} boasteth of the ancient Romans, that no nation had more gentle punishments for offenders than they; and that for the first seventy years, till the reign of Ancus Martius, they were without a prison. But the modern Romists, as they are noted for their cruelty - witness the bloody inquisition - so it is said to be a like difficult thing amongst them to find a wicked man in their prisons, or a good man out of them.

And feed him with bread of affliction.] With prisoners’ pittance; such as may keep him alive only, for further punishment at my return. The martyrs in the Marian times were fed, many of them, with bread made most part with sawdust; this was bread of affliction, worse than that in Deu 16:3. Bonner allowed William Hunter a half penny a day in bread and drink in prison. {c} Dr Martin bid the keeper give Elizabeth Young one day bread, and another day water. {d} The Bishop of Norwich kept Robert Samuel without meat and drink, whereby he was unmercifully vexed, saving that he had every day allowed two or three morsels of bread, and three spoonfuls of water. How oft would he have drunk his own water! but his body was so dried up with long emptiness, that he was not able to make one drop of water. {e}

{a} Jac. Revius.

{b} Lib. i.

{c} Act. and Mon., 1397.

{d} Ibid., 1872.

{e} Ibid., 1547.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki_22:27

Put this fellow in the prison.

Persecuting the truth-teller

One evening, at a small literary gathering, a lady, famous for her muslin theology, was bewailing the wickedness of the Jews in not receiving our Saviour, and ended a diatribe by expressing regret that He had not appeared in our own time. How delighted, said she, we should all be to throw our doors open to Him, and listen to His Divine precepts! Dont you think so, Mr. Carlyle? The sturdy philosopher thus appealed to, said, in his broad Scotch, No, madam, I dont. I think that, had He come very fashionably dressed, with plenty of money, and preaching doctrines palatable to the higher orders, I might have had the honour of receiving from you a card of invitation, on the back of which would be written, To meet our Saviour; but if He had come uttering His sublime precepts, and denouncing the Pharisees, and associating with publicans and lower orders, as He did, you would have treated Him much as the Jews did, and would have cried out, Take Him to Newgate and hang Him!

Imprisoned conscience

Do we not all know that honest friends have sometimes fallen out of favour, perhaps with ourselves, because they have persistently kept telling us what our consciences and common sense knew to be true, that if we go on that road we shall be suffocated in a bog? A man makes up his mind to a course of conduct. He has a shrewd suspicion that his honest friend will condemn, and that the condemnation will be right. What does he do, therefore? He never tells his friend, and if, by chance, that friend may say what was expected of him, he gets angry with his adviser and goes his road. I suppose we all know what it is to treat our consciences in the style in which Ahab treated Micaiah. We do not listen to them because we know what they will say before they have said it. And we call ourselves sensible people! Martin Luther once said: It is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. But Ahab puts Micaiah in prison, and we shut up our consciences in a dungeon, and put a gag in their mouths, and a muffler over the gag, that we may hear them say no word, because we know what we are doing, and we are doggedly determined to do, is wrong. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let him be pined away with hunger, and be fed with a small portion of bread and water.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

bread of affliction, water of affliction--that is, the poorest prison fare. Micaiah submitted, but reiterated aloud, in the presence of all, that the issue of the war would be fatal to Ahab.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 27. Feed him with bread of affliction.] Deprive him of all the conveniences and comforts of life; treat him severely; just keep him alive, that he may see my triumph.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(27) Bread of affliction . . .—Comp. Isa_30:20. This is a command of severe treatment, as well as scanty fare. Ahab’s affectation of disbelief—which his subsequent conduct shows to be but affectation—simply draws down a plainer and sterner prediction, accompanied moreover, if our text be correct by an appeal to the whole assembly to bear witness of it. Of Micaiah’s fate we know nothing; but it is hard to suppose that his bold and defiant testimony could escape the extreme penalty of death, when Ahab’s fall gave opportunity of revival to the ruthlessness of Jezebel.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

27. bread of affliction] Prison fare. The expression is found in Isa_30:20, of the suffering of Israel in captivity. Hence it indicates the food which would be procurable in a time of siege, or by prisoners in captivity.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had the rule over his chariots,.... This was the number of his kings in the first battle with Israel, and of his captains in the second, Kg1 20:1, and the same number he had now, being very probably not only the number of his chariots, but the division of his army was into so many battalions, under the command of these captains of chariots:

saying, fight neither with small nor great; of those that belonged to Jehoshaphat:

save only with the king of Israel; and his men; for it can hardly be thought that his orders were to fight with none, nor kill any in the battle but Ahab personally; though it is very probable he might give them directions to aim at him chiefly, knowing that, if he was killed or taken, his army would flee or surrender; and he might be desirous of getting him into his hands, as he had been in his; and the rather his spite was against him, as he was the mover of the war.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Feed him with bread of affliction ... - Micaiah is to be once more put in prison, but, in order to punish him for his uncomplying spirit, upon a poorer and scantier diet than he had been previously allowed. This is to continue until Ahab returns in peace. Ahab introduces this expression purposely, in order to show his entire disbelief of Micaiah’s prophecy.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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! (Ver. 29.) (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i. e. With a very coarse and sparing diet, whereby he may be only supported to endure his torment. See Deu 16:3; 2Ch 18:26; Isa 30:20.

Until I come in peace; until I return in triumph, which I doubt not I shall do in spite of all his malicious suggestions to the contrary, and then I shall call him to an account for all his lies and impudence.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

27. Bread of affliction — Scanty prison fare, causing pain and sorrow, and ever reminding him of cruelty and want.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And say Heb. thou shalt say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison Heb. house of the prison. Bahr thinks that Micaiah had formerly been in arrest under Amon"s charge, and now was to be committed to the prison proper. But more probably the words mean, "put him in the prison again." His superadded punishment was to be in the shape of prison diet. It is probable that it was owing to the presence of Jehoshaphat that Micaiah escaped with no severer sentence, and feed him with bread of affliction or oppression, jl pressit; (cf. Exo_3:9; Num_22:25; 2Ki_6:32) and with water of affliction Josephus (Ant. 8:15. 4) relates that after Micaiah"s prediction the king was in great suspense and fear, until Zedekiah deliberately smote him, in order to show that he was powerless to avenge an injury as the man of God did, (1Ki_13:4) and therefore no true prophet. This may be an "empty Rabbinical tradition" (Bahr), but we may be sure that Ahab did not hear Micaiah"s words unmoved. He had had such convincing proofs of the foresight and powers of the Lord"s prophets that he may well have trembled, even as he put on a bold front, and sent Micaiah back to the prison house, until I come in peace. This looks like an effort to encourage himself and those around him. But it almost betrays his misgivings. He would have them think he had no fears.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bread, &c. - With a very course and sparing diet, whereby he may be only supported to endure his torment.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.