And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, [There is] a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.
Ver. 7. And thou hast also appointed prophets, &c.] That the thing might seem to be of God; as the beast hath his false prophet, that wrought miracles before him, Revelation 19:20; as Mahomet had his prophets; and John of Leyden had his, to cry him up king of Munster, the New Jerusalem, as they called it, yea, of all nations, to rule them with a rod of iron.
And now shall it be reported to the king] Who must needs be highly displeased, and wilt as little endure it as the heaven two suns. Sol quasi solus; sic monarcha. Marriage and monarchy will not do away with co-rivals. Romanos geminos unum non caperet Regnum, quos unum uteri ceperat hospitium (Cyprian).
Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel] In commune consulere, lest we all suffer for your fault. But neither was good Nehemiah in any fault; neither was their drift any other but this, to draw him out of the city, that they might mischieve him; like as Dr Bristow advises his Catholics to get the Protestants out of their stronghold of the Scriptures into the open field of fathers and councils; and then they might do what they would with us.