Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king.
Ver. 6. About four hundred men.] Baal's prophets all; perhaps those prophets of the groves, Jezebel's trencher-flies, 1Ki 18:19 who yet pretended the name of the Lord. Their number showeth that truth may not ever be measured by the poll: Non numeranda sed expendenda suffragia. A solid verity in one mouth is worthy to preponderate light falsehood in a thousand.
Go up.] Pithanologiae nunquam desunt pseudotheologis. The devil had deceived these prophets, and they deceive Ahab: quem in decipulam caedis quasi murem inducunt, who perished by his credulity and for his cruelty. 1Ki 21:5-16
For the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.] Yea, but of which king, thou lying spirit? Of Ahab, or of Benhadad? The particle ‘it' is not in the original; the word ‘thee' may be as well supplied. This answer, therefore, was ambiguous, like that Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse: or that Croesus Halyn penetrans magnam disperdet opum vim. Howbeit the devil here hath more ingenuousness than have the Jesuits; for he confesseth his equivocating oracle to be a lie. "I will go and be a lying spirit," saith he, "in the mouth of all his prophets." 1Ki 22:22