2 Chronicles 18:25

2Ch_18:25-27

Then the king of Israel said, Take ye Micaiah.

Ahab and Micaiah; or the false and true in character

I. The power of the popular voice. We see the multitude accommodating itself to the wishes of the king. How easy and how congenial it is to human nature to float with the tide. As a rule it pays best to suffer yourself to be carried along by the current. Light things and feeble things can travel this way with small demand on strength and skill. But dead things and all manner of refuse go this way, too. There is something to be feared in a great popular cry. I have heard men say that they dreaded a crowd as much as they did a contagion. If men had as wholesome a fear of going with the stream because it is the stream, society would be healthier. Everybody is a fearful tyrant.

II. Here is one man opposed to the popular sentiment. He valued truth. Of Micaiah it may be said, as it was of another more illustrious, Of the people there were none with him. He esteemed truth to be more precious than gold or any other earthly consideration. He was a hero of no common mould. Men are often misunderstood by those who should know them best.

III. Men of such moral heroism have often to suffer for them principles. Suffering for conscience sake is not yet obsolete.

IV. Such men as Micaiah are morally brave and heroic because they are men of prayer. We are apt to take low views of the nature of prayer. It is more than simply an appointed means of telling God our wants, and of beseeching Him to supply. It is waiting upon God as a personal attendant waits upon his master with whom he converses, and from whose lips he receives commands and instructions. It is more than that, it is communion, fellowship, interchange of thought and sentiment. We may go a step further, and say it is a union of kindred minds--the Divine so flowing into the human that it becomes transformed, that Gods will and mind become its governing law. So life becomes one great connected prayer. A man who understands and enjoys this is one of the strongest and bravest of men. Stephen was such a man of prayer. A man of prayer is prepared to do deeds of holy heroism which put to the blush the vaunted deeds of chivalry.

V. A consciousness of moral weakness is closely allied to moral cowardice. Without a scruple Ahab put the life of Jehoshaphat in jeopardy to save his own. Conscience makes cowards of us all. What a noble tribute was that which was paid to Havelock and his pious soldiers more than once during the Indian Mutiny! When our army was hard pressed, or some specially perilous work had to be done, the command was given, Call out Havelock and his praying men; if this work can be done at all, they are the men to do it.

VI. Retribution sometimes overtakes men in this life, Ahab was left alone to pursue his course of hardened folly until he was ripe for retribution; then God met him and ignominiously closed his career. (J. T. Higgins.)

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

18:25-26 Ahab’s defiance against the Lord is seen in his contempt for Micaiah, the Lord’s prophet.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(25) Take ye . . . carry him.—Kings, Take thou . . . carry thou, addressed to some single officer.

Governor.—Sar, “prefect.” LXX., ἄρχοντα. Syriact shallit.

Carry back—i.e., convey back. Literally, make him return.

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

25. carry him back] Micaiah is not to accompany the expedition, having foretold its failure.

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.

Amelech. Sept. and Syriac, "to Joas, the commander, son of the father. H. --- He had perhaps the government of affairs at Samaria, during his king." Achab’s absence. T.

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).

Carry him back. The last of these three words tells, of course, its own tale, of what had already been the treatment accorded to Micaiah. Amon the governor Joash the king"s son. This latter person is found only here and in the parallel, and the designation given him probably does not intend a personal relationship to the king, but an official; so see again 2Ch_28:7; and note the conjunction again of the governor of the house, in the next clause. The Vulgate translates the Hebrew for "the king"s," as though it were a proper name, "Amelech." See also Smith"s "Bible Dictionary," under the name "Maaseiah" 17. Nor is Amon the governor known elsewhere except in the parallel, (1Ki_22:26) but these designations, as through some chinks, throw a little scanty light into the subject of the internal administration at this time of the kingdom of Israel. In this kingdom subsequent to the separation, decentralization seems to have been carried to a further point than in Judah, and considering its greater extent, its far inferior metropolitan force, its double place of worship and sacrifice, these largely idolatrous, and in all this the undoubted degraded authority of its central government, this is very explainable. It is true that in both kingdoms history speaks equally of such offices and officers as were distinctly military or looked that way, but it can scarcely be without a reason that for the numerous allusions in Israel (1Ki_16:8-10 1Ki_18:3 1Ki_20:7 1Ki_21:7-13; 2Ki_1:8-17 2Ki_3:6 2Ki_10:5) to councils of elders (well known before the disruption), and governors of palaces, of cities, of houses, and of provinces, there is scarcely one in the records of Judah. Here possibly enough the executive would be more vigorous, more compact, and more direct and close in its action from headquarters, while in both divisions of what should have been the one kingdom, royalty was by profession constitutional, and in its devolution hereditary.

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

king of Israel

This refers to Ahab.

Amon

This is the name of a man. (See: How to Translate Names)

If you return safely

This describes something that would not happen. Yahweh had already told Micaiah that the king would not return safely. (See: Hypothetical Situations)

translationWords

servant

govern

Joash

prison

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.