[¹] Hebrew a threshing-floor.
9. in an open place] Render, in a threshing-floor. The threshing-floor was convenient as being a large flat open space; compare Genesis l. 10; 1 Chronicles xiii. 9, xxi. 18 ff.
¹⁰And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and said, Thus saith the Lord, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until they be consumed. ¹¹And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. ¹²And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spake to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth: let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good.
10. made him horns of iron] For a similar use of symbolic action by a prophet compare Jeremiah xxvii. 2 (also xxviii. 10). For the meaning of the phrase compare Amos vi. 13, “Have we not taken to us horns?” i.e. “Have we not acquired military power?”
shalt thou push] Compare Deuteronomy xxxiii. 17. So Rameses II is described in an Egyptian psalm as “the strong bull against the Ethiopians; his horn pushes them.” (Erman, Ancient Egypt, English Translation, p. 57.)
¹³And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth, what my God saith, that will I speak.
13. what my God saith] Render, surely, what my God shall say. The Divine message has not yet come to the prophet.
¹⁴And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah[¹], shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper; and they shall be delivered into your hand.
[¹] Hebrew Micah.
14. Go ye up ... into your hand] Micaiah addresses both kings. In 1 Kings Ahab only is addressed, Go and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. Micaiah repeats in mocking tones the utterance of the other prophets.