Commentaria in III Regum
In which matter he sinned in lending help, and fostering friendship with the impious Achab, and therefore was almost slain in the battle, as is said in verse 32. Hence also, on returning from the war, he met the prophet Jehu, who gravely rebuked him, saying: “Thou helpest the ungodly, and thou art joined in friendship with them that hate the Lord, and therefore thou didst deserve indeed the wrath of the Lord; but good works are found in thee,” etc. Where you see how displeasing to God are marriages and alliances with the impious, and how dangerous they are to the whole kingdom. For the impious Athalia destroyed all the royal seed, that is all her own sons and grandsons by Joram, with the sole exception of Joas, who was hidden, that she alone might reign, 4 Kings 11:1. For the same cause, the ships which Josaphat sent with the ships of Ochozias the son of Achab to Tharsis were broken, as is said in 2 Paralipomenon 20:37. For there Eliezer the prophet said to Josaphat: “Because thou hast made a league with Ochozias, the Lord hath destroyed thy works, and the ships are broken, and they could not go to Tharsis.” On the contrary God blesses and prospers marriages and alliances with the upright and holy, and the saints breathe their holiness and happiness upon their spouses and allies, as Abraham breathed it on the Hethites, Genesis 23:6, Jacob on Laban, Genesis 30:27, Joseph on Putiphar, Genesis 39:3, Moses on the Hebrews whom he led out of the servitude of Egypt, Exodus 12, Samuel on David, David on Saul, etc. This is what the Apostle ordained, 2 Corinthians 6:14, saying:
“Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? or what fellowship hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
or what part hath the faithful with the unbeliever?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God.”
5. INQUIRE, etc., THE WORD OF THE LORD,—an oracle from God through some prophet, whether the issue of the war will be fortunate or unfortunate: for if it be fortunate, we will go to it; but if unfortunate, we will return home.
6. THEN THE KING OF ISRAEL (Achab) GATHERED TOGETHER THE PROPHETS, ABOUT FOUR HUNDRED MEN,—not of God, but of Baal or the demon, and therefore false prophets, idolaters and heretics. Hence Lucifer of Cagliari, book 1 On Apostate Kings, notes that heretical princes adhere to their false prophets, that is to heretical preachers, and despise the true Prophets of God, nay persecute and slay them, as Constantius, Valens, Julian and others did, who therefore, seduced by their Arians, perished miserably.
GO UP, AND THE LORD WILL DELIVER IT INTO THE HAND OF THE KING,—namely thine, O Achab. The devil, consulted by these false prophets through the auguries and soothsayings customary to them about the issue of the war, promises victory, but lies. Wherefore he himself deceives the prophets, and they deceive Achab, and lead him, trusting too much to them, into the snare of slaughter like a mouse.
7. BUT JOSAPHAT SAID: IS THERE NOT HERE SOME PROPHET OF THE LORD, THAT WE MAY INQUIRE BY HIM?—Josaphat was a worshipper of the true God; wherefore it displeased him that Achab had consulted the prophets of Baal, and Baal himself, that is the demon, and he did not believe them, as liars. He asked therefore that a true Prophet of the true God be sought, and his oracle inquired of and followed.
8. MICHEAS.—This is another and different from Michaeas, who is numbered sixth among the minor Prophets, nay this one preceded him by 150 years; for this one prophesied under Josaphat and Achab, the other under Joatham and Achaz: this one in Israel, the other in Juda.
15. GO UP, AND PROSPER, AND THE LORD WILL DELIVER IT INTO THE HANDS OF THE KING.—First, Cajetan thinks that Micheas said this before he had received an oracle from God, and therefore assented to the other prophets, erred, and foretold falsely; but soon, adjured by the king and enlightened by God, he received from God and pronounced the true oracle of the king’s death.
Second, Dionysius says that this answer is ambiguous, and can be understood as of Benadad king of Syria, the enemy of King Achab, as well as of Achab himself. So the demon, consulted, deceived Croesus by an ambiguous answer, saying:
Croesus, crossing the Halys, will destroy a great power. And Pyrrhus, saying, as Ennius testifies: I say that you, descendant of Aeacus, can conquer the Romans.
See Cicero, book 2 On Divination.
Third, Theodoret and Lyranus think that Micheas here asserts nothing, but, to show that he did not hate King Achab, as he himself thought, merely wishes him a prosperous success of the war, so that “will deliver” is the same as “I wish that he may deliver.”
Fourth, and genuinely, Micheas here speaks ironically, as if to say: Since, O Achab, thy prophets promise thee victory, and thou believest them, go to the battle; for they say that thou wilt return a victor. Try then their oracle, since thou dost not believe me and mine. For I know that thou wilt perish in the battle; but I will not tell it to thee, because thou art unworthy to hear the truth from God, since thou consultest the lying Baal, and preferest to hear his lying oracles than my most true ones from the true God. So Abulensis, Vatablus, Sanchez, Serarius.
16. AGAIN AND AGAIN I ADJURE THEE.—The king saw from the countenance, gesture and manner of speaking that Michaeas was speaking not seriously but figuratively and ironically. He adjures him therefore to utter only the truth and the true oracle, seriously and from the feeling of his mind.
17. I SAW ALL ISRAEL SCATTERED IN THE MOUNTAINS, AS SHEEP THAT HAVE NO SHEPHERD.—Micheas foretells the flight of Israel and the death of King Achab, and that he will be slain in battle, as if to say: The shepherd, that is the king, will be slain; wherefore his subjects and soldiers, like sheep without a shepherd, will flee from the battle on the mountain of Samaria.
19. I SAW THE LORD SITTING ON HIS THRONE, AND ALL THE ARMY OF HEAVEN STANDING ABOUT HIM, ON THE RIGHT HAND AND ON THE LEFT—on the left, the devils; whence came forth he who said in verse 22: “I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.” So Job 1: “When the sons of God (the Angels) stood before the Lord, Satan also was present among them.” Where St. Gregory, book 2 of the Morals, chapter 16, citing this vision of Micheas: “On the right hand of God, therefore, and on the left stands the army of Angels, because the will of the elect spirits agrees with divine piety, and the mind of the reprobate, serving their own malice, obeys His judgment of severity.”
Note that this vision of Micheas was not a real thing really done, but imaginary: for God painted in the imagination of Micheas this appearance and form of a council, so that he seemed to himself to see God consulting with the Angels and demons about the manner of deceiving King Achab. For God does not truly hold a council with Angels, much less with demons, nor consult with them, as one who knows most certainly all the ways of accomplishing a thing, and which will be effective and have effect, and which not. “For who hath been his counsellor?” Romans 11:34. The same is plain from the dissension and ignorance of the Angels, which is here tacitly introduced, since the counsel of the demon is preferred to the opinions of them all, verse 22.
This vision, therefore, was imaginary and symbolic, sent by God to the Prophet, that by it King Achab might understand that he was being deceived by his false prophets promising victory; and that this was done by God’s permission and disposition for his just punishment and destruction. For God accommodates Himself and His oracle to the grasp and conception of King Achab. So Serarius, Sanchez and others.