¹⁵And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou speak unto me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?
15. that thou speak unto me nothing but the truth] The scorn in Micaiah’s voice was noticed by the king.
¹⁶And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master; let them return every man to his house in peace. ¹⁷And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?
16. as sheep that have no shepherd] Compare Matthew ix. 36.
the Lord said, These have no master; let them return, etc.] The prophet has had a vision of Israel’s army, defeated and scattered, like a flock of sheep wandering shepherdless upon the mountains. God, he means, proclaims that in the coming battle their king will fall and they will be beaten and dispersed.
¹⁸And he said, Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.
18. And he said] There are three stages in the prophet’s dealings with the king, (1) irony in verse 14, (2) serious advice in verse 16, (3) denunciation of death in verses 18–22.
the host of heaven] angelic beings are meant, as in Psalms ciii. 21, and probably also in Nehemiah ix. 6; Daniel iv. 35, etc., but in these passages the usual meaning “the stars” is possible. The parallel verse in Kings (1 Kings xxii. 19) is apparently the earliest clear instance of the phrase in the significance “angelic beings.”
¹⁹And the Lord said, Who shall entice[¹] Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.
[¹] Or, deceive.