1 Kings 18:27

18:27 At noon Elijah mocked them, “Yell louder! After all, he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or perhaps he stepped out for a moment or has taken a trip. Perhaps he is sleeping and needs to be awakened.” ¹ 

1 Kings 22:15

22:15 When he came before the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” He answered him, “Attack! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king.” ² 

Luke 15:12-13

15:12 The ³  younger of them said to his ⁴  father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate ⁵  that will belong ⁶  to me.’ So ⁷  he divided his ⁸  assets between them. ⁹  15:13 After ¹⁰  a few days, ¹¹  the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered ¹²  his wealth ¹³  with a wild lifestyle.

¹ sn Elijah’s sarcastic proposals would have been especially offensive and irritating to Baal’s prophets, for they believed Baal was imprisoned in the underworld as death’s captive during this time of drought. Elijah’s apparent ignorance of their theology is probably designed for dramatic effect; indeed the suggestion that Baal is away on a trip or deep in sleep comes precariously close to the truth as viewed by the prophets.

² sn “Attack! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king.” One does not expect Micaiah, having just vowed to speak only what the Lord tells him, to agree with the other prophets and give the king an inaccurate prophecy. Micaiah’s actions became understandable later, when it is revealed that the Lord desires to deceive the king and lead him to his demise. The Lord even dispatches a lying spirit to deceive Ahab’s prophets. Micaiah can lie to the king because he realizes this lie is from the Lord. It is important to note that in v. 14 Micaiah only vows to speak the word of the Lord; he does not necessarily say he will tell the truth. In this case the Lord’s word itself is deceptive. Only when the king adjures him to tell the truth (v. 16), does Micaiah do so.

³ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁴ tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

⁵ tn L&N 57.19 notes that in nonbiblical contexts in which the word οὐσία (ousia) occurs, it refers to considerable possessions or wealth, thus “estate.”

⁶ tn L&N 57.3, “to belong to or come to belong to, with the possible implication of by right or by inheritance.”

⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the father’s response to the younger son’s request.

⁸ tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

⁹ sn He divided his assets between them. There was advice against doing this in the OT Apocrypha (Sir 33:20). The younger son would get half of what the older son received (Deut 21:17).

¹⁰ tn Grk “And after.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹¹ tn Grk “after not many days.”

¹² tn Or “wasted.” This verb is graphic; it means to scatter (L&N 57.151).

¹³ tn Or “estate” (the same word has been translated “estate” in v. 12).