PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings
Joseph Hammond [1839-1912] · 502,085 words · 545 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 421
Anyhow, he waited and endm-ed, and at length the opportunity came. When Jezebel would exterminate the Lord's prophets, then the steward of the palace understood why be had been placed in that perilous and responsible position. It was that be might save much people alive (Gen. 1. 20). Then he did what, perhaps, only…
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China, and Melanesia, and Turkey the sword is still whetted against the Christian, can we find among them all a. more truculent persecutor than Jezebel, a more savage and unprincipled inquisitor than Tigellinus. Ilut we cannot pretend that our sufferings are anything like theirs. No longer are the prophets hunted like …
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(ver. 6) And of another thing Ahab must have been equally cert:i.in, tho.t this drought was no chance which bad happened him. The coincidence between the word and tbe ennt negatived that idea. He must see in it the finger of God; he must rec-0gnize in the prophet the power of God. But (2) the man for whom he bad be…
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speeohlees. His courage has soon evaporated. He who would accuse Elijah cannot defend himself. Though anointed king, he is weak and helpless (2 Sam. iii. 39) and owns hie subject his superior. How soon have they changed places I Ahal.: has been hunting for the prophet's life, has been vowing vengeance upon him if fou…
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conclusion that the Lord alone is God. This was his first task, his main object. And this is the first step towards the conversion of a soul-that it should "know the only true God and Jesus Christ," &c. At the basis of conversion lies the know- ledge of God and of self. There is a knowledge which "bloweth up; '' while…
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x. 20) to righteousness; it was a turning" from idols to serve the living and trne God" (1 These. i. 9). II. How WAS THIS CONVERSION BROUGHT ABOUT? 1. By the ministry of a prophet. The appeal of Elijah (ver. 21) had some influence ; the works he wrought-he was a prophet of deed-had mnch more. He was God's messenger t…
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III. WHAT WERE ITS RESULTS? It is well to ask this question, for some forget that conYersion is not the end, but the beginning. It is the entrance on the life of reconciliation and obedience ; it is the door to sanctification and perfection, This con'\"ersion was (1) evidenced by- 1. Obedience. The law enjoined tha…
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inward entreaty. We must seek "with all the heart" (Pea. cxix. 2; Jer. xxiv. 7). Seeking earvy (Prov. i. 28; viii. 17; Pso.. lxiii. 1 ; lnvili. 84 ; lea. xxvi. 9) does not mean seeking in youth, but seeking eagerly, intently. Compare the expression, "rising up early," &c. (J er. vii 13; xxv. 8, 4; xxvi. 5; xxxv. 15, &c…
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III. WHAT WERE ITS RESULTS? It is well to ask this question, for some forget that conversion is not the end, but the beginning. It is the entrance on the life of reconciliation a.nd obedience ; it is the door to sanctification and perfection, This con,ersion was (1) evidenced by- 1. Obedience. The law enjoined that…
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inwa~d entrenty. W~ must ~~_ek "with all__ ~he heart'.'..(Psa. cxix. 2; _Jer. xxiv. 7). Beekmg earl;y (Prov. 1. 28; vw. 17; Pea. lxm. 1 ; lnvw. 84 ; lea. XXVI. 9) does not mea.n seeking in youth, but seeking eagerly, intently. Compare the expression, "rising up early," &c. (Jer. vii 13; xxv. 3, 4; xxvi. 5; xxxv. 16, &o…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-6.-The Cry for Life. For three years and six months the heavens were as brass. Throughout the summers the sun glared and flamed in o. oloudlesl! sky, and the temperature, even at night, never so.nk to the dew-point. Throughout the winters, if the temperature reached that point, the…
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ii. 8). (2) And this depravity is complete (Gen. vi. 5; Isa. i. 5, 6; Rom. iii. 9-19). (8) Life is only tolerable through the meliorating influences of the " gospel of the grace of God." To these must be attributed whatever seems good in unconverted men (Rom. i. 28-82). 2. <hace is free. (1) Ali are directly the sub…
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Vers. 17, 18.-The Troubler. Elijah, who dming the temble drought was con- cen.led, now, at the word of the Lord, ea.me forth to show himself to Ahab, as God was about to give rain. What a. meeting I One of the worst of kings with one of the noblest of prophets. What confrontings will there be in the great day of juc1g…
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to the multitude, he aoC11Ses them of unworthy hesitation between irreconcilable services. I. WHY BEBITATE IN SEEKING HAPPINESS? 1. No joy, can compare with the heavenly. (1) There are, indeed, sad professors of the true religion. (a) Some are constitutionally melancholy. Thie is a. disease which certainly is not ag…
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Vers. 22-24.-The Test of Fire. Elijah had appealed to the people on their inconsistency in hesitating between services so widely different o.nd so utterly irreconcilab_le as those of Jehovah and Baal. He got no response. " The people answered hun not a word." Then he proposed the test of fire to determine which was…
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en,id to lmve (tl 1 i1,~) '' gods," in the plural. (4) These had their various images in some of which the mn,n and bull came into union. The Assyrian man-bull s~ conspicuous in the Nineveh marbles, is probably one of these. Let us bless God for our Christianity. It is pure light. Compared with it other systems are da…
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Vere. 30-35.-The Preparation. As the time of the evening saorifioe approached, Elijah left the priests of Baal prophesying in despair. Satan, if permitted, could have brought :fire down (see Job i. 12, 16; Rev. xiii 13, 14) ; but God restrained !iim. The people were now convinced that Baal was not able to hear hie p…
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The order, viz., in eats of four three times repeated, was that of the stones in the high priest's breastplate, upon which were engre.ven the namee of the tr:iLes. (3) Could this sign be intended to show the.t a plentiful rain would shortly come upon aJl Israel? And further, that it should come through the repentance o…
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their renunciation of Baal. (2) This confession in symbol was accompanied by a conesponding coufessiou in words. "Aud they said, Jehovah, he is the Elohim; J ehon,h, he is t•he Elohim.'' Words are signs of a fuller expression. (3) But words must be followed up by deeds. The prophets of Baal he.ve now to be sacrificed. …
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offered up the so.crifice on Carmel. In this sacrifice the people accepted Jehovah e.s their covono.nt God. So must we likewise accept God in Christ. In token of their communion with Jehovo.h they appear to have feasted on the sacrifices. With the burnt offering there were doubtless peace offerings, for these were u…
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promise us this in the case of Obadiah. There are times when religious principle itself dictates that men should refuse to relinquish positions of peculiar dnnger nnd di.filcully; but 'l"l"hen fidelity to an earthly master is absolutely incompatible with fidelity to God, an upright spirit will not long hesitate. 3. …
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lien the secret guiding and formative power of a man's life. "As a ma.n thinketh in hie heart, so ie he." It is thought that inspires affection, moulds character, gnides the will, determines conduct, rules the man. We cannot well exaggerate the importance of the rela.tion thought bears to the highest interests of our …
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fire bnt rain that the thirsty land required; but had he said, "The God tho.tanswereth by rain, let him be God,'' Baal's priests might argue that it we.s not water but fire that their God could rule. Elijah would fight the idol on his own chosen ground. Show how often advantage seems to be given to God's adv<lrsaries, …
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not try to instruct a child by an essay, or to convince a savage by e. syllogism. God could speak directly to the devout patriarchs ; but when the worshippers of Be.al were to know that there was a living God, they saw the fire from heaven, and heard the bursting of e. storm after years of drought. !dole.try had jus…
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was not discouraged even by the sixth repetition of the despairing phrase, "There is nothing." Yet on that very day his one earnest cry had instantaneously brought c1,; ,vn fire from heaven. How often like the Psalmist we say," Rath God forgotten t,o be gracious?" "Wait on the Lord, wait patiently for him." (8) The ans…
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living flame which kindled all things round it-wood, stones, dust, water. We cannot test God in His own way without receiving an answer which will lift from the heart's depths the cry, "The Lord, he is God." IV. THE JUOGMENT OF THE FALSE PROPHETS. The manifestation of God's glory is the hour of sin's overthrow.-J. U. …
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victorious is already to have half won the battle. 3. Elijah's irresistible weapon is prayer. " Hear me, 0 Lord, hear me ; that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again" (ver. 87). If we now look nway from Elijah himself to the plan he proposed to pursue in his w…
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possible it has been inserted by e. tran- instant death, to give him an opportunity scriber, mechanically, from the i~!_f~f r,~ for flight. But this view hardly takes suffi.. ciently into account the exasperation, the preceding] all the prophets, [sc., of Bae.I, blind unreasoning hate, or the reckless and all who were…
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in his breast, and prominent among these pp. 183, 184), that the prophet never took re- was the feeling of profound disappointment fuge in the southern kingdom. At one time and mortification. It is clear that he had he found a sanctuary beyond the Jordan ; al hoped that the " day of Carmel " would another in the kingdo…
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masc111.ine), in ver. 6 with a masculine, is oven, constructed in the sand or soil. A not the juniper, but the plant now known little hollow is made ; sometimes it is lined to the Arabs as retem, i.e., the broom (9enista with stones to retain the heat; fuel, often mono.,perma, or G. raetam), "the most the root of the g…
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proleptio&lly, and that it wo.s bestowed on gea~<tJ of the Almi~hty upon all idolaters" the Mount of the Law because of the (Keil). The quest!on !n itseU, it is true, specie.I revelation of the Godhead there noes not necessarily impart c~nsure-il (E:rnd. iii. 6; xix. 3, 11, 18; Deut. i. 6 ; might merely mean, "What …
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Paul speaks of him as pleading with God pass of the u,ind,." Elsewhere we find the against Israel (ivn1yxavu r,ji 9E,ji ,rnra TOV Wady-el-Burk, or "nlley of lightning." '1<1pa,);\. Rom. xi. 2), and certainly repre- These phenomena--the tempest, fire, &c.- sents the X.P1//Ulr111µ6r; he received as a cor- would be all th…
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larity between this theophany and that not to be identified with the II still smo.11 which Moses saw in the same place, or o.t voice" of ver. 12], and said, What doest no great distance from it, must not be over- thou here, El!Jah? [As in ver. 9.J looked, for this constitutes another liuk Ver. 14.-And he said, I hav…
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when thou comeat, anoint [Heb. and thou ing fire, each was 11n engine of destruction • shait come and anoint. LXX. 11:ai ij(HC 11:ai but by neither of thellC were the hearts of xpfrmi;. The A. V. increo.sea the d~~ult:r, men turned to the Lord. It was the sword In the Hebrew the time of the o.nomtmg 1s o! Elisha! the s…
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were extinct and he was left alone is opposed h1m [Heb. to 1iim. The ideo. that ho may the ordination of a successor, and the men- have " crossed the stream of the Jorden" tion of the " seven thousand" in ver. 18.) (Rawlinson) is extremely improbable. The Ver. 18.-Yet I have left me [So St. Pan!, cun·ent is strong, …
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what have I done to thee? I have stlmmoned of timber may have had something to do thee to follow me. Bllt I have not reqllired with this application of the " instruments thee to replldiate thine own flesh e.nd of the oxen ; " but it is much more import- blood."] ant to see it in a symbolical act, expressive Ver. 21.-A…
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w0,s not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression" (1 Tim. ii. 14). "The god.s do so," &o. This is like much of the profane swearing that we hear, 11 full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." It costs very little to invoke factitious deities. 11 The gods she sware by could do her no harm."…
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"How o!t do they their silver bowers lenve To come to saccoar as th!lt succour wnnt I How oft do they with golden pinions cleave The flitting skyes, like flying pursuivant, Age.inst fowle fiendea to 11,yd us militant I They for us fight, they watch, o.nd dewly ward, And their bright squadrons round about ua plant…
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scornful. We should do well to put it repeatedly to our own hearts. "BernMde, all quid venisti .r "-it was thus that the greatest saint of the Middle Ages often tried his motives and condu et. Ver. 10.-" J have been very jealous." We often confound zee.l for our own ends and purposes with zeal for God; often misread o…
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Ver. 18.-'' Wrapped his/ace in his mantle." He wa.e afraid to look upon God (Exod. iii. 6; of. Gen. iii. 10, "I hid myself"). "Conscier.ce makes cowards of us e.11." Besides, no man can see His face and live (Exod. xxxiii. 20). The beatific vision is too much for our poor mortality, too mnch for the angelic powers (Isa…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers.1-8.-Elijah's Prayer for Death. How erratic have been the movements of this prophet I Our first introduction to him is at the court of Ahab, whence, as soon as he utters his prophecy, he is away to Cherith in the east, among the wilds of Gilead. Next we :find him in the north, at Zare…
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servant in safety, and might have abode himself in safety had he not acted under the promptings of inspiration to proceed alone into the wilderness. (S) Alone with God he asks to die. (1) The Hebrew phrase is, " He requested/or his life that he might die." There ie life in death to the righteous. (2) "It is enough." Th…
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ia no confession of that unworthy timidity with which Elijah has been, we think, too hastily charged. Nor had he any rebuke from God for such supposed dastardli- ness, which doubtless he would have received had he deserved it. He is here because he cannot abide in the land of Isra.el, where Jehovah was commonly insult…
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oouree anointed He.ze.el to be king over Syria, e.e Samuel he.d anointed Da.vid long before he ascended the throne of Israel, we a.re not informed. It is not necessary for the fulfilment of his instructions (ver. 15) to suppose that he did so; for prophets a.re said to do things which they predict. (See J er. i. 10;…
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and mother and make a farewell feast with his household before following Elijah. Natural affection and social endearments, within proper limits, are respected by religion. 4. Elisha's parents do not seem to have hindered him. Those parents incur fearful responsibilities who, under worldly influences, hinder their sons …
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hie despondency deepened as he lost himself in th~ solitudes of the wilderness. His wo.s the inwo.rd disquietude which will e.lwe.ye be the penalty of e. man's having weo.kly or wilfully deserted the path of duty. When good men place themselves in e. false position, they must expect the shadow of some morbid condition …
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eervant. And scanty as the materials of the narre.tive may be, there is enough to show how deep and tender e.n affection existed between them. Note in reference to this call- I. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE DIVINE CIIOIOE. No indication is given as to why Elisha particularly should have been called to this office. So it …
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hie Lord with oo.ths e.nd cnrses; yet both the one e.nd the other were the outcome of the same che.re.cter. Never was contra.diction more complete than in Elijah. One de.y he leads e. whole nation in penitence, the next he flees to eave his life, a.s one who has thrown up all hope of Jehovah's ea.use. None but the piti…
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VI. ENFORCED INACTIVITY. Elijah's opportunity for vigorous action 11eemed over. He was cast in upon Iris own thoughts. Few could bear it less patiently than he. The man who can dare and do anything finds it specially hard to wait and to suffer. Similar temptation to despondcnoy comes to those who are laid aside by illn…
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when "the secrets of nil hearts shall be disclosed," come t-0 the feet of a pardonina God. 2. It cornea to the penitent in the ca-ve of despondency. To all such God says, "Come now, and let us reason together.'' 8. It comes to the indolent in the cave of sloth. Years of profession unrelieved by e. single act of service…
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• Vers. 1-8.-The Prophet's Despair. I. ELIJA.H's WEAKNESS. 1. His disappoint- ment. With the hand of the Lord upon him he had come to·Jezreel (eh. xviii. 46), Was it not because a further success for God awaited him there l' Could Carmel's wonders and the mercy of God in the rain now flooding the earth be resisted l…
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Vers. 4-21. Return of Elijah to the Desert. It is well for us to recognize tho.t the groat servants of God are men like ourselves, tho.t they were formed of the same clay, e.~d t~at they share our infirmities, Elijah _ho.d no time to magnify himself after his triumph on Mount Carmel. It was at thIB very moment God allo…
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tho denuncia.tion of eh. xx. 42. But the more clearly tho.n the mention of Abah'a present arrangement evidently dates from wives. When we consider bow jealously very early times. the seraglio of an Eastern prince is guarded, and how the surrender of the ha.rem is a. Ver. 1.-And Ben-hadad [See on cbs_ xi. virtual su…
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house is yonrs," he would say; never mean- had been continued among the ten tribes, ing, however, that he should be ta.ken at his had an important place in the government, word.] and held regular sittings at the oapital] Ver. 5.-And the messengers ea.me agaJn, and ea1d, Mark, I pray you, and see how and said, Thus …
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ime.gines] word again. [Not the" word re- proof that all the prophets bad not been le.ted in the next verse" (Ro.wlinson), but the exterminated. Where Elijah was e.t this messo.ge just recorded.] time, or why he was not employed, we have Ver. 10.-And Ben-hadad sent unto hl.m, no meo.ns ol determining. Bahr says that a…
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Ahab's disposal were equally insufficient, vii 2; Hn.b. ii. 6). It can hn.rdly have and that in themselves 200 or 2000 tried been to "mark his uUer coutompt of the ,eterans 'l'l"ould hose been just as inadequate foe," Rawlinson, who compares Ilelsliazzar's a force as 200 pages. The agency by which feast (Dan. v. 1--…
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k1ng of Syria escaped on an horse [Thenius tho.t in the plain the Syrio.ns would be o.ble suggests tha.t this wo.s e. cha.riot horse, the to deploy their chariots-a. most important first tho.t presented] with the horsemen. arm of their service-in e. wo.y which they [Heb. and horsemen; sc., es~e.ped with hi1:1 could no…
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of the sea of Galilee, and standing, as Aphek in Tehova.h (see ver.18), that this deliverance must have then stood, on the high road was wrnught. But it was also that neigh. between Dama.sons and Jerusalem. On the bouring nations might learn His power and whole, the balance of probability inclines that His name might b…
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Aphek could bury so large a nnmber in from it]: peradventure he Will save thy their ruins. Rawlinson suggests that the llfe. [LXX. owr lives, r,k ,frvxai: ,jµwv.] Syrians at the time were '' manning the Ver. 32.-So they girded sackcloth on deiences in full force," and that the earth- their loins, a.nd put ropes on thei…
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20, ae taken bv Ben-hadad's armies from in order to the accomplishment of his Bao.she._ For Bae.she. was not the father, mission-which wu.s to obtain from Ahab's nor even was he the " ancestor " (as Keil, own lips a confession of his deserts-why later edition) of Ahab, but belonged to e. he should have been smitten,…
989 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.