Critical notes: The locutions of 1 Kings 22:28: A new proposal

Journal of Biblical Literature

Volumn 122, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 533-543

  Bodner, Keith ^a  

^a Tyndale University College   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 61249727858     PISSN: 00219231     EISSN: 19343876     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3268390     Document Type: Note

References (50)

1. For an overview of the debate surrounding the putative compositional history, see S. L. McKenzie, The Trouble with Kings: The Composition of the Book of Kings in the Deuteronomistic History (Leiden: Brill, 1991), 90-93
2. Cf. S. J. DeVries (1 Kings [WBC 12; Waco: Word, 1989], 262)
3. and J. Gray (I & II Kings [OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963], 397), who states that v. 28b "is obviously a gloss by a late hand which wrongly considered the son of Imlah identical with the prophet Micali."
4. A convenient bibliography of relevant secondary literature is compiled in B. O. Long, 1 Kings, with an Introduction to Historical Literature (FOTL 9; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 239-40
5. E.g., D. Robertson, "Micaiah ben Imlah: A Literary View," in The Biblical Mosaic: Changing Perspectives (ed. R. Polzin and E. Rothman; Philadelphia: Fortress; Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1982), 139-46
6. J. J. M. Roberts, "Does God Lie? Divine Deceit as a Theological Problem in Israelite Prophetic Literature," in Congress Volume: Jerusalem, 1986 (ed. J. A. Emerton; 40; Leiden: Brill, 1988), 211-20
7. B. O. Long, "The Form and Significance of 1 Kings 22:1-38," in Isac Leo Seeligmann Volume: Essays on the Bible and the Ancient World (ed. A. Rofé and Y. Zakovitch; Jerusalem: E. Rubinstein, 1982), 193-208
8. see also S. J. De Vries, Prophet Against Prophet: The Role of the Micaiah Narrative (1 Kings 22) in the Development of Early Prophetic Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978)
9. J. E. Brenneman, "Debating Ahab: Characterization in Biblical Theology," in Reading the Hebrew Bible for a New Millennium: Form, Concept, and Theological Perspective (ed. W. Kim, D. Ellens, M. Floyd, and M. A. Sweeney), vol. 1, Theological and Hermeneutical Studies (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2000), 89-107
10. Notably, translations such as the NEB and NJB do not include v. 28b. On the grammar of, see GKC §135r
11. See also W. McKane, The Book of Micah: Introduction and Commentary (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1998), 27
12. J. T. Willis, "Some Suggestions on the Interpretation of Micah 1:2," VT 18 (1968): 372-79
13. J. A. Montgomery and H. S. Gehman, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Kings (ICC; Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1951), 340
14. cf. D. R. Hillers, Micah: A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Micah (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 16
15. G. H. Jones, 1 and 2 Kings (NCB; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 1:369-70
16. E. Ball, "A Note on 1 Kings xxii. 28," JTS 28 (1977): 90
17. [M. Baillet, J. T. Milik, R. de Vaux, Les 'Petites Grottes' de Qumran (DJD 3; Oxford: Clarendon, 1962) 108]. This is interesting, since, as F. M. Cross and others have pointed out, the Cave 6 fragments of Kings in other ways seem to represent a text, like that of 4QSam, closer to that which underlies LXX - though, to be sure, caution is imperative when dealing with such tiny scraps."
18. Ball, "A Note on 1 Kings xxii. 28," 91
19. see also S. Japhet, I & II Chronicles (OTL; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993), 766: "The final words [of 2 Chr 18:27] 'Hear, all you peoples', are a citation of Micah 1.2, generally regarded as a secondary gloss, intended to identify Micaiah the son of Imlah with 'Micah of Moresheth.' . . . For the Chronicler, however, who found this exhortation in his Vorlage, it strikes the final chord for Micaiah's exit: the whole world must witness his authenticity as a prophet. With this declaration, Micaiah disappears from the narrative; his future fate and actions remain unknown."
20. J. T. Walsh, 1 Kings (Berit Olam; Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1996), 352
21. cf. R. D. Nelson, First and Second Kings (Interpretation; Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1987), 149-50
22. See also M. Cogan, I Kings: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 10; New York: Doubleday, 2001), 493: "Micaiah's final words reflect the Deuteronomic criterion by which a true prophecy may be recognized
23. cf. Deut 18:21-22
24. For comprehensive study of the ways in which direct speech is signposted throughout the Hebrew Bible, see S. A. Meier, Speaking of Speaking: Marking Direct Discourse in the Hebrew Bible (Leiden: Brill, 1992)
25. For a useful study of reported speech in narration and dialogue from a linguistic perspective, see C. L. Miller, The Representation of Speech in Biblical Hebrew Narrative: A Linguistic Analysis [Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996], 233-97)
26. See also Gen 4:9
27. Exod 4:2
28. Judg 3:19
29. 1 Sam 12:5
30. Kgs 11:22
31. Long, 1 Kings, 235
32. On the role of Jehoshaphat, see W. Johnstone, 1 & 2 Chronicles, vol. 2, 2 Chronicles 10-36, Guilt and Atonement (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 84-91
33. cf. G. N. Knoppers, "Reform and Regression: The Chronicler's Treatment of Jehoshaphat," Bib 72 (1991): 510-12
34. J. M. Hamilton, "Caught in the Nets of Prophecy? The Death of Ahab and the Character of God," CBQ 56 (1994): 651-53
35. N. Frye, The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982), 40: "Ahab . . . is portrayed in the main as a kind of sinister clown."
36. I was first alerted to Frye's provocative discussion by F. O. García-Treto, "The Fall of the House: A Carnivalesque Reading of 2 Kings 9 and 10," in Reading Between Texts: Intertextuality and the Hebrew Bible (ed. D. N. Fewell; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1992), 156
37. For the use of proverbs and parables in diplomatic negotiations, see Note on 2 Kgs 14:9 [M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 11; New York: Doubleday, 1988) 156]"
38. (1 Kings, 464)
39. Despite the caution of D. R. Hillers that the "appeal to 'all peoples' to hear is relatively rare" in the Hebrew Bible, it seems that a case can be made that this is a general enough type of utterance (D. R. Hillers, Lamentations: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary [2d ed.; AB 7a; New York: Doubleday, 1992], 76)
40. On the complex voice structure of Lam 1, see C. W. Miller, "Reading Voices: Personification, Dialogism, and the Reader of Lamentations 1," Biblnt 9 (2001): 393-408
41. J. L. Mays, Micah: A Commentary (OTL; London: SCM, 1976), 40
42. F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Micah: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 24e; New York: Doubleday, 2000), 147
43. H. W. Wolff, Micah: A Commentary (trans. G. Stansell; Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1990), 45
44. See Walsh, 1 Kings, 352: "When the king says 'until I come in peace,' he is calling Micaiah's bluff. It may be that he hopes to pressure Micaiah into reversing the oracle he has given, in order to assure Ahab's safety and consequently Micaiah's own release. Or it may be that the king wishes to detain Micaiah until after the battle; when the king returns safely, he intends to punish Micaiah for false prophecy. This seems to be Micaiah's understanding, for his defiant reply is that should the king return safely, Micaiah is indeed guilty of false prophecy. If that is Ahab's idea, it implies much about his condescending attitude toward Yahweh. As verse 16 shows, Ahab knows that Micaiah's oracle is probably true, but he expects to be able to elude Yahweh's trap."
45. Japhet, I & II Chronicles, 760-61
46. P. J. Kissling, Reliable Characters in the Primary History: Profiles of Moses, Joshua, Elijah and Elisha (JSOTSup 224; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 132
47. R. Coggins, "On Kings and Disguises," JSOT 50 (1991): 55-62. The other royal figures are Saul, Josiah, and the wife of Jeroboam (although in the latter case the verb is used rather than). BDB defines the hithpael form of as "lit. let oneself be searched for" (p. 344)
48. Coggins, "On Kings and Disguises," 58. In Ahab's case, his disguise illustrates his determination to survive, which adds to the theological drama that Coggins discusses at length
49. H. C. Brichto asks: "Why the need for two responsible wardens or, for that matter, the entire detail of Micaiah's being locked up until the outcome of the battle?" (Toward a Grammar of Biblical Poetics: Tales of the Prophets [New York Oxford University Press, 1992], 282 n. 16). I would argue that the detail of Micaiah's imprisonment is connected with the king of Israel's disguise, as he attempts to evade the prophetic word by incarcerating the prophet and avert the forecast of judgment by surviving the battle
50. and Mic 1:2