Shall raise him up a king. — Baasha. (See 1 Kings 15:27-30.) For, like Jeroboam, he had (see 1 Kings 16:2-4) a probation before God, in which he failed, drawing down doom on his house.
But what? even now. — The exact meaning of these words has been much disputed. The LXX. renders “and what? even now;” the Vulgate has “in this day and in this time;” the Chaldee Targum, “what is now, and what besides shall be.” Modern interpretations vary greatly. On the whole, perhaps, our version gives a not improbable rendering, and a simple and striking sense — “in that day; but what say I? the judgment is even now at hand.” (Comp. our Lord’s saying in Luke 12:49 : “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? “)