by two of his officers,—­Bidkar, and Jehu the son of Nimshi,—­destined to be both instrument and witness of the retribution.  With unwonted austerity, without preface or waste of words, Elijah broke forth:  “Thus saith Jehovah!”—­how the monarch must have quaked at this awful name:  “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs also lick thine, even thine.”  The conscience-stricken, affrighted monarch could only say, “Hast thou found me, oh mine enemy!” And terrible was the response:  “Yes, I have found thee! and because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord, behold, I will take away thy posterity, and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin.  And as to thy wife also, saith Jehovah, the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.  Him that dieth of Ahab in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.”

When and where, in the annals of the great, has such a dreadful imprecation been uttered?  It was more awful than the doom pronounced on Belshazzar.  The blood of Ahab and his wife was to be licked up by dogs, their dynasty to be overthrown, and their whole house destroyed.  This dire punishment was inflicted probably not only on account of the crime pertaining to Naboth, but for a whole life devoted to idolatry.  The sentence was not to be executed immediately,—­possibly a time was given for repentance; but it would surely be inflicted at last.  This Ahab knew better than any man in his kingdom.  He was thrown into the depths of the most abject despair.  He rent his clothes; he put ashes on his head and sackcloth on his flesh, and refused to eat or drink.  He repented after the fashion of criminals, and humbled himself, as Nebuchadnezzar did, before the Most High God.  God in mercy delayed, but did not annul, the punishment Ahab lived long enough to fight the king of Syria successfully, so that for three years there was peace in Israel.  But Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the northern kingdom, remained in the hands of the Syrians.

In the mean time Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, whose son Jehoram had married Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, and who was therefore in friendly social and political relations with Ahab, came to visit him.  They naturally talked about the war, and lamented the fall of Ramoth-Gilead.  Ahab proposed a united expedition to recover it, to which Jehoshaphat was consenting; but before embarking in an offensive war against a powerful state, the two monarchs consulted the prophets.  It is not to be supposed that they were the priests of Baal, but ordinary prophets who wished to please.  False prophets and false friends are very much alike,—­they give advice according to the inclinations and wishes of those who consult them.  They are afraid of incurring displeasure, knowing well that no one likes to have his plans opposed by candid advisers.  Therefore they all gave their voices for war, foretelling a grand success.  But one prophet, more honest and bold—­perhaps more gifted—­than the rest, Micaiah by name, took a different view of the matter.  He was constrained to speak his honest convictions, and prophesied evil, and was thrown into prison for his honesty and boldness.