The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 23

of spiritualism. It was to supersede unlawful modes of consulting the invisible world that God gave "the sure word of prophecy" (Deut. xviii. 9-22). III. THE UNEXPEOTED MEETING. The messengers speed on their way to the shrine of Baal-zebub at Ekron, but their steps are soon to be arrested. Here we notice: I. A new task/or Elijah. "The angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the King of Samaria." The medium of communication is, perhapR, the historical angel of the covenant--he of whom God had said, "Provoke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my Name is in him" (Exod. xxiii. 21). Tbe Divine side of the calamity which had befallen .Ahaziah comes to light in this message by the prophet. .Ahaziah had forgotten God, but God bad not forgotten him. He is the "jealous God" (Exod. xx. 5), who takes the vindication of his hononr into his own bands. 2. A surprise/or the messengers. Elijah's appearances partake everywhere of the nature of a dramatic surprise. He comes no one kaows whence; he departs no one knows whither. His personality was impressive--" a hairy man, a.ml girt with a girdle of leather about his loins" (ver. 8). Suddenly he confronts the messengers, and puts to them the ironic quesUon, "Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron?" It is rare that, in fleeing from the path of duty, we do not meet God in the way in some form. Balaam on his journey to the King of Moab; Jonah fleeing from the presence of the Lord to Tarshish; Elijah himself when he fled to Horeb, hearing the voice of the Lord, " What doest thou here, Elijah? " (Numb. x.xii. 22 ; Jonah i.;· 1 Kings xix. 9). 3. Evi1 tidings for Ahaziah. 'l'he messengern need go no further. The information they sought at Ekron was given them, unasked, from a surer source. .An oracle had spoken, but not the one to which they were sent. Ekron's reply was anticipated by Jehovah's: "Now therefore thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die." Unhappy monar.::h I God bath spoken, and no other can reverse it (Numb. xxiii. 20). IV. THE RETURN TO THE Kmo. There was that in the appearance, manner, and language of this man who had crossed their path like an apparition which convinced the messengers that God had spoken through him. They accordingly returned at once to the sick king. A few words of explanation sufficed to put him in possession of the circumstances. .A guilty conscience is swift to comprehend in such matters. With unerring precision the king's thoughts interpreted the riddle of the mysterious prophet. "What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words?" "It is Elijah the Tishbite." Ahaziah knew what that meant. His feelings would be those of his father Ahab when he exclaimed, "Hast thou found me, 0 mine eaemy? " (1 Kings xxi. 20). The appearance of Banquo's ghost at the banquet was not more terrible to Macbeth than this crossing of his path by Elijah was to Ahaziah at that moment. His sins had found him out. However long the lane of wickedness may be, we may be sure the .Avenger stands at the end of it.-J. 0. Vers. 9-16.-The prophet of fire. The act of Elijah, in calling down fire from heaven on his enemies, iR thus remarked upon by Dean Stanley, with reference to Christ's allusion to it in the gospel (Luke ix. 61-56). "When the two apostles appealed to the example of Elijah 'to call down fire from heaven,' he to whom they spoke turned away with indignation from the remembrance of this act, even of the greatest of his prophetic predecessors"(' Jewish Church,' vol. ii. p. 258). We cannot endorse this remark. Jesus, indeed, gently rebuked his disciples, telling them they did not know what manner of spirit they were of, and reminding them that the Son of man was not come to destrny men's lives, but to save them. But he did not mean to imply that tbe spirit which Elijah showed was, in its own time and place, wrong. It was a pure and holy zeal for God's honour, and God sanctioned it by sending the fire. Only there was a better and higher spirit--the spirit of love and grace in Christ; and it was by this the disciples of Christ ought to have been actuated. What was congruous with the old dispensation was not necessarily congruous with the higher spirit of the new. Christ may have intended to suggest also that the disciples were mistaken in thinking that their spirit was exactly that of the Old Testament man of God. Ho was moved solely by regard for God's honour; in their ea.so personal anger and resentment probably gave an impure tinge to their passion. L BEDCHAMBER BEVENOE. It is pitiable to see this sick king, within a few hours 16 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [oa. 1.1-18.