Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/309

Rh 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 and with water of affliction, until I return in peace. And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hear, ye peoples, all of you. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself; and they went into the battle. Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with 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, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they turned about to fight against

26. bread of affliction water of affliction] Cp. Ezek. iv. 9—11.

27. ye peoples, all of you] The "peoples" represented at this gathering were probably, Israel, Judah, Edom, and Moab. The clause occurs in Micah i. 2, and in all probability has been added to the text of Kings (which the Chronicler here copies) by a glossator, who perhaps thought that Micaiah and Micah were one and the same person.

28—34 (= 1 Kin. xxii. 29—37).&emsp;

29. I will disguise myself] Despite the warning uttered by Micaiah the two kings decide to seek battle, and Ahab, whose failing was not the lack of courage, resolved to take part in the fighting. To avert the fulfilment of the prophecy, he suggests that he should not wear his royal insignia, whilst Jehoshaphat, whose life had not been threatened, should wear his robes and be the obvious leader of the allied army.

and they went into the battle] 1 Kin. (more correctly) and he (Ahab) went into the battle (so LXX. here).

30. the captains of his chariots] Thirty-two in number (1 Kin.). While the rest of the Syrian army met the Israelite attack, the chariots were to act as an independent force, whose primary task should be to kill or capture Ahab. The king of Syria felt himself overmatched and thought that the only chance of victory lay in the fall of the Israelite commander. Cp. 2 Kin. iii. 26 (the king of Moab tries to break through to the king of Edom).

31. saw Jehoshaphat to fight] The captains of the chariots who had been instructed to direct all their efforts towards slaying the king of Israel, at length perceived Jehoshaphat conspicuous in his royal robes.