The vision of Micaiah.

2

phesyings, as at Carmel. Four hundred prophets of Baal,
yet evidently professing the worship of JEHOVAH, and
1 Israelites, not foreigners-all, in one mystic chorus, urged
the war.
One only exception was heard to the general ac-
clamation; not Elijah, but one who, according to Jewish
tradition, had once before foretold the fall of Ahab-
Micaiah, the son of Imlah. In the vision which he de-
scribes, we feel that we are gradually drawing nearer to
the times of the later Prophets. It is a vision which might
rank amongst those of Isaiah, or of Ezekiel. On earth, the
Prophet sees the tribes of Israel, scattered on the hills of
Gilead, like sheep who have lost their shepherd; and he
hears a voice bidding them return each to their own homes,
as best they can: for their human leader is gone-they have
no help but in God.3 Above, he sees the God of Israel
on His throne, as the kings on their thrones before the gate
of Samaria. His host, as theirs, is all around Him. There is
a glimpse into the truth, so difficult of conception in early
ages, that even the Almighty works by secondary agents.
Not by Himself, but by one or other of His innumerable
host; not by these indiscriminately, but by one, to whom is
given the name of The Spirit.' Not by any sudden stroke
of vengeance, but by the very network of evil counsel which
he has woven for himself, is the King of Israel to be led to
his ruin. The imagery of the vision of Micaiah is the first
germ of the Prologue of Job, and conveys the same exalted
glance into the unseen guidance of good and evil, by the
same overruling Hand. In contrast with this one sublime
Prophet is the vulgar advocate of the popular view of the
moment, Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah. He also is the first

1 See the name Zedekiah, 'justice 'of Jehovah' (ver.11), and the constant mention of the name of Jehovah (5, 6, 11, 12). Possibly the 400 prophets of Ashtaroth (the groves') who escaped destruction at Carmel. Com

pare 1 Kings xviii. 19 with 22.

21 Kings xx. 35, with the comment of Josephus, Ant. viii. 14, §5.

1 Kings xxii. 17 (LXX.).
2 Chr. xviii. 20 (Heb.).

of a type that we meet frequently afterwards,-one filled with the spirit of false prophecy, not from any false doctrine, but from narrow or interested motives, leaning on the feeblest auguries, the most accidental tokens. According to 'Josephus, he relied on Elijah's prediction that Ahab's blood should be shed on the spot which had received the blood of Naboth, and that therefore he could not fall in battle. His imagery, too, was like that which prevailed among the later Prophets -a parable, not of words, but of action. He took horns of iron, with which, as with the horns of the wild bull of Ephraim, he would push the enemies of Ephraim to the ends of the earth. He struck Micaiah on the face, with the challenge, according to Jewish tradition, to wither his hand, as that of Jeroboam had withered at the command of Iddo.

In the battle that follows under the walls of Ramoth- The death of Gilead, everything centres on this foredoomed destruction Ahab. of Ahab. All his precautions are baffled. Early in the day, an arrow, which later tradition ascribed to the hand of Naaman, pierced the King's breastplate. He felt his deathwound; but, with a nobler spirit than had appeared in his life, he would not have it disclosed, lest the army should be discouraged. The tide of battle rose higher and higher till nightfall. The Syrian army retired to the fortress." Then, and not till then, as the sun went down, did the herald of the army proclaim: Every man to his city, and every 'man to his country, for the King is dead.'"

5

The long-expected event had indeed arrived. The King, who had stood erect in the chariot till that moment, sank down dead. His body was carried home to the royal

burial-place in Samaria. But the manner of his end left its traces in a form not to be mistaken. The blood which all through that day had been flowing from his wound, had covered both the armour in which he was dressed and the chariot in which he had stood for so many hours. The chariot (perhaps the armour) was washed in state- according to 1 one version in the tank of Samaria, according to 2 another in the spring of Jezreel. The bystanders remembered that the blood, shed as it had been on the distant battle-field, streamed into the same waters which had been polluted by the blood of Naboth and his sons, and was lapped up from the margin by the same dogs and swine, still prowling round the spot; and that when the abandoned outcasts of the city -probably those who had assisted in the profligate rites of the Temple of Ashtaroth—came, according to their shameless usage, for their morning bath in the pool, they found it red with the blood of the first apostate King of Israel.

4

3

So were accomplished the warnings of Elijah and Micaiah. So ended what may be called the first part of the tragedy of the House of Omri.

' 1 Kings xxii. 38 (Heb. and LXX.). Joseph. Ant. viii. 15, §6.

1 Kings xxii. 38 (Heb. and LXX). Joseph. Ant. viii. 15, §6, 'The harlots

'washed themselves' (or washed the chariot), for they washed the armour.' See Keil and Thenius.

• Tad Thu ew. Procopius, ad loc.

319

LECTURE XXXI.

THE HOUSE OF OMRI.-ELISHA.

1

appearance

WITH the fall of Ahab a series of new characters appears on the eventful scene. Elijah still remained for a time, but only to make way for successors. In the meeting of the four hundred Prophets at Samaria, he was not present. In the reign of Ahaziah and of Jehoram, he appears but for a moment. There was a letter, the only written prophecy ascribed to him, and the only link which connected him with the history. of Judah, addressed to the young Prince who reigned with his father Jehoshaphat at Jerusalem. There was a sudden Last apparition of a strange being, on the heights of Carmel, to of Elijah the messengers whom Ahaziah had sent to consult an oracle on Carmel. in Philistia. They were passing, probably, along the 'haunted 'strand,' between the sea and the mountain. They heard the warning voice. They returned to their master. Their description could apply only to one man: it must be the wild Prophet of the desert whom he had heard described by his father and grandfather. Troop after troop was sent to arrest the enemy of the royal house, to seize the lion in his den. On the top of Carmel they saw the solitary form. But he was not to be taken by human force; stroke after stroke of celestial fire was to destroy the armed bands. They retired, and he disappeared. It was to this act, some centuries afterwards, not far from the same spot, that the two

This is a possible explanation of the letter to Jehoram, 2 Chr. xxi.

12-15. Comp. 2 Kings i. 17, viii. 16.
22 Kings i. 3-17.

The ascension

of Elijah.

ardent youths appealed, and provoked that Divine rebuke which places the whole career of Elijah in its fitting place,' as something in its own nature transitory, precursive, preparatory.

Another was now to take his place. The time was come when the Lord would take Elijah into heaven by a tempest.' Those long wanderings were now over. No more was that awful figure to be seen on Carmel, nor that stern voice heard in Jezreel. For the last time he surveyed, from the heights of the western Gilgal, the whole scene of his former career-the Mediterranean Sea, Carmel, and the distant hills of Gilead-and went the round of the consecrated haunts of Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho. One faithful disciple was with him-the son of Shaphat, whom he had first called on his way from Sinai to Damascus, and who, after the manner of Eastern attendants, stood by him to pour water over his hands in his daily ablutions. With that tenderness which is sometimes blended with the most rugged natures, at each successive halt the older Prophet turned to his youthful companion, and entreated him to stay: "Tarry here, I pray 6 thee; for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel . . . to Jericho "... to Jordan.' But in each case Elisha replied with an asseveration, that expressed his undivided and unshaken trust in his master and in his master's God: 'As the Lord liveth, ' and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.' At Bethel, and at Jericho, the students in the schools that had gathered round those sacred spots, came out with the sad presentiment that for the last time they were to see the revered instructor who had given new life to their studies; and they too turned to their fellow-disciple: Knowest thou not that the Lord ⚫ will take away thy master from thy head to-day?' And to

See Lecture XXX.

2 Gilgal here is possibly the modern Jiljilia, near Seilûn. (See Thenius ad

loc. and Robinson, Bib. Res. ii. 265.) * 2 Kings ii. 1–5.