And he prayed earnestly, Trpoaev^v 7rpo(T7]V)(^aTO, he prayed in prayer, a known Hebraism. Verhalia addita verbis is a kind of construction among the Hebrews which implieth vehemency, and that earnest contention of spirit which should be in prayer. It is an explication of 8i'i]at<; ivepyovfievrj, used by the apostle in the former verse. So Christ saith, Luke xxii., 'With desire have I desired ; ' that is, vehemently and earnestly ; it is a like Hebraism. But because among the Hebrews I have observed that there is always a con- veniency between the forms of expression and the things expressed, therefore Aquinas's note is not altogether amiss, Cordis et oris orationem notat, it may note the agreement between tongue and heart ; tb.e heart prayed and tongue prayed. This clause noteth the cause why Elias was heard ; he prayed with earnestness and faith, according to the will of God revealed to him.
Tliut it might not rain. — There is no such thing in the history, which you have at large, 1 Kings the 17th and 18th chapters, where there is not a word of his praying tliat it might not rain ; the scrip- ture showeth that he only foretold a drought. But it is more than probable that the worship of Baal, being everywhere received, did extort from this good man, so full of zeal for God, a prayer for drought as a punishment, by which the people being corrected, he prayed again for rain. Certainly, the apostle having recorded the story, we cannot doubt of the truth of it. It is usual in scripture in one place to give us the substance of a history, in another the circumstances of it ; as that of Jaiuies and Jambres, 2 Tim. iii. 8. So Ps. cv. 18, we read that ' Joseph's feet were hurt in fetters,' and that he was laid in iron ; there is no such thing recorded in Genesis. So Heb. xii. 21, ' So terrible was the sight, that Mo.se8 said, I exceedingly fear and quake,' which is nowiiere recorded in the Pentateuch.
And it rained not by the space of iltree years and six montJis. — The same term of time is specified, Luke iv. 25, ' Many widows were
JaS. V. 17.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 467
in Israel in the days of Elias, when the licavens were shut three years and six months,' &c. But you will say, How is this true ? how three years and a half, when it is expressly said, 1 Kings xviii. 1, ' And it came to pass after many days, that tlic word of the Lord came to Ehjah in the third year, saying. Go show thyself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth ? ' To answer this scruple, Grotius saith, that the word of the Lord came to him about the end of the third year, to be executed half a year after; but this is not so probable: others say otherwise. The best answer I con- ceive is that proposed by Abulensis, and since embraced and im- proved by Junius and other divines of great note. They nnswer, that the third year s])oken of in that place is to be reckoned from his dwelling at Sare})ta ; so that the time of his abode about the brook Oherith is not computed, where he was one whole year fed by ravens ; for it is said, 1 Kings xvii. 10, ' And after a while he departed to Sarepta; ' in the margin, ' at the end of days; ' that is, at the end of the number of days which make a year. So Junius rendereth anno exacto. The same phrase is used, Gen. iv. 3, ' In process of time,' &c., in the margin, mikketh jomim, 'at the end of days,' or, 'at the year's end.' Well, then, after this year is elapsed, from thence for- ward we must begin the computation, which may be well inferred from 1 Kings xvii. 14, where Elijah being at Sarepta, it is said, ' The Lord came to him, and said, The barrel of meal shall not waste, nor the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain.' Now about the middle of the third year from that time the Lord appeared to him again.
The notes are these : —
Ohs. 1. That God's eminent children are men of like passions with us : see 1 Peter v. 9, ' The same things are accomplished in your brethren that are in the flesh ;' they are all troubled with a naughty heart, a busy devil, and a corrupt world. We are all tainted in our originals, and infected with Adam's leprosy : all blood is of a colour.i Many times there are notorious blemishes in the lives of the saints ; they are of the same nature with others, and have not wholly divested and put off the interests and concernments of flesh and blood. Moses spake unadvisedly with his lips, and David turned aside to adultery : he rendereth the reason, Ps. li. 5, he had a common nature with other men. So often divers of God's dear children have foul falls. Con- stancy and continuance in sin would deny them saints, and an unin- terrupted continuance in holiness would deny them men. Well, then, God's children, that travail under the burden of infirmities, may take comfort ; such conflicts are not inconsistent with faith and piety : other believers are thus exercised, none ever went to heaven but there was some work for his ' faith and patience,' Heb. vi. 12. When we partake of the divine nature we do not put off the human ; we ought to walk with care, but yet with comfort.