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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Each on his throne.—The description evidently implies that, having reluctantly consented to send for Micaiah, Ahab seeks to overawe him by display not only of royal pomp, but of prophetic inspiration, professing to come, like his own, from the Lord Jehovah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1-14 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 have in all ages been alike absurd in their views of religion. They would have the preacher fit his doctrine to the fashion of the times, and the taste of the hearers, and yet to add. Thus saith the Lord, to words that men would put into their mouths. They are ready to cry out against a man as rude and foolish, who scruples thus to try to secure his own interests, and to deceive others.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. a void place—literally, "a threshing-floor," formed at the gate of Samaria.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Their robes; their royal robes, and ensigns of majesty.

In a void place; in the place of judicature, which was in or nigh the gate of the city, and in the front of some void place, where either people stood to hear and see justice administered, or soldiers were placed for the defence of the city in time of war.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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.

Geneva Study Bible

And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their {k} robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

(k) In their kingly apparel.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. 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 tread out the corn. Such a space is here indicated, where chairs of state could be erected for the two kings, and where the prophets could come about them.

in [R.V. at] the entrance of the gate of Samaria] There appears usually to have been some place set apart near the gate of a city, mostly outside, where important business proceedings, trials, and such matters could be conducted in public and where kings and magistrates could sit and listen to appeals for help or justice. Cf. Genesis 23:10; Genesis 23:18; Joshua 2:7; Joshua 9:2-9; 2 Kings 23:8, &c.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne ["Oriental kings had portable thrones, which they took with them upon their journeys" (Herod. 7:212. Layard, "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 150) Rawlinson], having put on their robes [As a council of state was to be held, the kings put on their official vestments. בְּגָדִים simply means "coverings," "clothes," but that the special royal dress is here intended is clear, as Bahr observes, from Leviticus 21:10. This gathering of prophets and counsellors seems to have followed the banquet. When Jehoshaphat expressed his readiness to go to war, Ahab appears to have forthwith convened this assembly, in order that the matter might be put in train at once. Ewald says a review of the troops was designed, but of this the text knows nothing] in a void place [Heb. a threshing-floor. See note on 1 Kings 21:1. The "floor" implies not only a vacant space, but an exalted position. Ordinarily, it would not be enclosed within the city walls, nor does it appear that this floor was] in the entrance [The Hebrew has no preposition; simply פֶּתַח which would be more correctly rendered "at the entrance." The town gate was the great place of concourse (2 Kings 7:1). Here, too, justice was dispensed. See Ruth 4:1; 2 Samuel 15:2; 2 Samuel 19:8; Psalm 69:12; Psalm 127:5; Deuteronomy 21:19; Genesis 19:1; Genesis 23:10; Amos 5:12, 15, etc.] of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them. [They continued their prophesyings even whilst Micah was being summoned. Or the reference may be to the prophesyings of ver. 6. 1 Kings 22:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In the meantime the prophets of the calves continued to prophesy success before the two kings, who sat upon thrones "clothed in robes," i.e., in royal attire, upon a floor in front of the gate of Samaria. גּרן, a threshing-floor, i.e., a levelled place in the open air. In order to give greater effect to their announcement, one of them, named Zedekiyah the son of Cnaanah, made himself iron horns, probably iron spikes held upon the head (Thenius), and said, "With these wilt thou thrust down Aram even to destruction." This symbolical action was an embodiment of the figure used by Moses in the blessing of Joseph (Deuteronomy 33:17): "Buffalo horns are his (Joseph's) horns, with them he thrusts down nations" (vid., Hengstenberg, Beitrr. ii. p. 131), and was intended to transfer to Ahab in the case before them that splendid promise which applied to the tribe of Ephraim. But the pseudo-prophet overlooked the fact that the fulfilment of the whole of the blessing of Moses was dependent upon fidelity to the Lord. All the rest of the prophets adopted the same tone, saying, "Go to Ramoth, and prosper," i.e., and thou wilt prosper. (On this use of two imperatives see Ges. 130, 2).