1 Kings 22:10

_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 PROPHESIED BEFORE THEM._ A void place, х_ BªGOREN_ (H1637)] - a spacious level area; a threshing-floor, formed at the gate of Samaria (cf. 2 Chronicles 18:9). It must have been a very large area, when two kings could hold their courts in it, with 400 false prophets and a vast multitude of people (2 Kings 7:1), and a market be held (2 Kings 23:8)....

1-14 The same easiness of temper, which betrays some godly persons into friendship with the declared enemies of religion, renders it very dangerous to them. They will be drawn to wink at and countenance such conduct and conversation as they ought to protest against with abhorrence. Whithersoever a good man goes, he ought to take his religion with him, and not be ashamed to own it when he is with those who have no regard for it. Jehoshaphat had not left behind him, at Jerusalem, his affection and reverence for the word of the Lord, but avowed it, and endeavoured to bring it into Ahab's court. And Ahab's prophets, to please Jehoshaphat, made use of the name of Jehovah: to please Ahab, they said, Go up. But the false prophets cannot so mimic the true, but that he who has spiritual senses exercised, can discern the fallacy. One faithful prophet of the Lord was worth them all. Wordly men hav...

SAT EACH ON HIS THRONE - Or, “were sitting.” They had removed from the banquet 2 Chronicles 18:2 to the void place, or empty space at the entrance of the gate Ruth 4:1; 2 Samuel 15:2, where Ahab daily sat to hear complaints and decide causes. Each was seated upon his throne, the Oriental kings having portable thrones, which they took with them upon their journeys....

EXPOSITION THE EXPEDITION OF AHAB AND JEHOSHAPHAT AGAINST HRAMOTH-GILEAD. THE DEATH OF AHAB. THE REIGNS OF JEHOSHAPHAT AND AHAZIAH. 1 KINGS 22:1 AND THEY CONTINUED [rather, _rested_._ _Heb. _sate_, _dwelt_._ _Cf. Judges 5:17. The LXX. has ἐκάθισε, sing.] THREE YEARS WITHOUT WAR [The Hebrew explains the "rested"—_there was not war, _etc. See Ewald, 286 g

AND THE KING OF ISRAEL, AND JEHOSHAPHAT THE KING OF JUDAH, SAT EACH ON HIS THRONE,.... In great state and majesty: HAVING PUT ON THEIR ROBES; their royal robes, which they wore when they appeared in pomp and grandeur: IN A VOID PLACE IN THE ENTRANCE OF THE GATE OF SAMARIA; where courts of judicature were held, and there was an open void space for the people to assemble in to hear; the word has the signification of a corn floor, and the Jews suppose they and their attendants sat in a semicircle like the half of a corn floor, after the same manner in which they say the sanhedrim at Jerusalem sat o: AND ALL THE PROPHETS PROPHESIED BEFORE THEM; concerning this affair of going to Ramothgilead. o T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 5. 1. Vid. Kimchium in loc....

CHAPTER 22 THE DEATH OF AHAB _ 1. Jehoshaphat and Ahab (1 Kings 22:1)_ 2. The prophet Micaiah (1 Kings 22:13) 3. The battle and Ahab's death (1 Kings 22:29) 4. Jehoshaphat of Judah (1 Kings 22:41; 1 Kings 2 Chron. 19-20) 5. Ahaziah, King of Israel (1 Kings 22:51) Three years passed without war between Syria and Israel. In the third year Jehoshaphat of Judah came down to Ahab. Jehoshaphat's son and heir-apparent ha

AHAB'S ATTACK ON RAMOTH-GILEAD AND HIS DEATH. The death of Ahab must have taken place before or during the year 854 B.C., when the battle of Qarqara was fought, and his name is mentioned in the Assyrian inscription (p. 69). The question is, did he take part in that battle as a vassal of Bir-' idri (Ben-hadad) before or after the war related in 20. In the latter case his death was probably later in 854 B.C. The chapter is a continuation of the latter case his 20, and from the same source with additions. Jehoshaphat, whose son married Ahab's daughter (2 Kings 8:18), is present as Ahab's ally. Here, as in 1 Kings 20, 21, there is no allusion to the Baal worship. Ahab's prophets are prophets of Yahweh, and the king can muster four hundred. The rivalry is between true and false prophecy. It is not known where Ramoth-gilead (the heights of G.) actually was. It was a most important place, menti...

VOID PLACE. level place, or threshing-floor....

_And_[R.V. NOW] _the king of Israel_ The change is justified, as the sentence is not a mere addition to what has gone before but a new feature in the history. _having put on their robes_ R.V. ARRAYED IN THEIR ROBES. The original language indicates a degree of display suited to the meeting of two kings. Moreover the A. V., in connexion with the words immediately following, is open to a misunderstanding. What is described is not what the kings did, but in what state they sat. The LXX. has ἔνοπλοι. Josephus also gives the idea of an armed gathering. He says -The two kings having gone out of the city, and having sat down each on his throne, distributed to their own soldiers pay for the campaign (τὸ στρατιωτικόν)." _in a void_[R.V. AN OPEN] _place_ The word in the Hebrew is most frequently rendered -a threshing-floor." This was a large open space in which the oxen could be driven round, to t...

B. THE PREDICTIONS OF THE COURT PROPHETS 22:6-12 TRANSLATION (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...