may eat. And there wu no harm in the harvest mercies. In the hu1k thereof; pot. :Sach RB had fe.ith in Elisha, and rather, in hu bag, or in hi, eack (see the continued to e11.t of the pottage, found no Revised Version). And he Bald, Give unto ill remit. What they ate did them no the people-i.e. to the sons of the prophet.a hRrm. who dwelt at Gilga.1-that they may eat. Yers. 42--44.-4. The jMding of a Ver. 43.-A.nd hi• servitor ■aid, What, h,mdred men on twenty wavu. should I aet this before an hundred men 1 The servant felt that the quautity waaquite Yer. 42.-Ancl there oame a man from insufficient, and thought it absurd to invite Bae.1-shalisha. " Baal-shalisha" is reason- a hundred men to sit down to a mool which abl v identified with the " Beth-shalisha" would not satisfy a fifth of the number; of Eusebiue and Jerome, whlch they place but EliBha repeated his command, Xe said twPlve Rome.n miles north of Dioepolis, or again, Give the people, that they may eat. Lyd<la (now Ludd). By "north" we must This time, however, he added an expla- probably understand "north-east," since the nation of the proceeding: for thus saith " le.ad of Shalishe." le.y between the terri- the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave tories of Ephraim and Benjamin (1 Se.m. thereof. God had sopemature.lly intimated ix. 4). The position thus indicated would to him that the quantity of food would not be very fe.r from the Gilge.1 ( Jujilieh) of prove ample for the hundred men; they eh. ii. e.nd iv. 38. And brought the man would show that they had had enough by of God bread of the :llrstfruits. It is clear leaving some of it. And the result was as that the more pious among the Israelites predicted. not only looked to the prophets for religious Ver. 44.-So he set it before them, and instruction (ver. 23), but regarded them they did eat, and left thereof, according to e.s ha'l"ing inherited the position of the the word of the Lord. We are not expressly Levitic11.l priests whom Jeroboam's inno- told how the miracle was wrought, whether Tations !Jad driven from t.he country. The by ·au augmentation of the quantity of the fir8tfruitas of corn, wine, e.nd oil were as- food supernaturally produced, or by a les- signe<l by the Law (Numb. xviii. 13; Dent. sening of the appetites of the men, as Bahr xviii. 4, 5) to the priests. Twenty loaves supposes. Bot the analogy of our Lord's of barley. The " loaves " of the Israelites mire.oles of feeding the multitudes, whereof were cakes or rolls, re.tiler than "loaves" this ie a me.uifeet type, makes it probable in the modern sense of the word. Each that in this case also there :we.e a miraculous pe.rtnker of a mee.l =ally had one for him- increase of the food. The object of the self. Naturally, twenty "loaves" wonld be writer in communicating the account is barely sufficient for twenty men. And full certainly not merely to show how the Lord ea.n of oorn ; i.e. a few ripe ears of the cared for his servants, but to relate another same coru as that whereof the bread was miracle wrought by Elisha, of a different made. Ears of corn were offered e.s first- kind from those previously related. He is fruits at the Passover (Lev. :u::iiL I 0), and occupied with Elisha's miracles through were regarded as the most natural and this entire chanter 1rnd through the three becoming tokens of gratitude for God's next,
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-7.-The seed of the righteoua never forsaken by God. The whole ground of appeal on which the poor widow relies, and which proves so entirely adequate, is the fidelity to God of her deceased husband. "Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord" (ver. 1). She assumes the.t Elisha is on this e.ccount almost hound to interfere on behalf of the man's two sons, who are in de.n~er of being carrieii into slavery. A.nd Elisha allows the validity of her claim, and straightway comes w Lheir relief. The example may well recall the emphatic wor~ of the psalmist, which tLe minister and director cannot too strongly impress on anx10us e.nd doubting mothers, "I have been young, and now am old; and yet saw I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread" (Ps. mvii. 25). A blessing rests upon the seed of the righteollll- I. BY DIVINE PBOJIUSE, "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the ini• quity of the fatherd upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me ; and showing mercy unto thott,8(Lnds of them that love me, and keep my commandments" (Exod. xx. 5, 6) ; "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to ever- lastmg upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children" (Pa, OH, IV. 1-44.] THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. 7L