The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 74

olassee. The gospel overtops all adventitious distinctions, and directs its doctrines end offers its provisions to man as man. V. 'l'he force of CIUILTY BUBPIOION. '' And it came to pass, when the King of Israel bad read the letter, that he rent hie clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he eeeketh a quarrel against me." The construction that the monarch put upon the message of his royal brother was, instead of being trne and liberal, false and ungenerous. He ascribed evil motives where there were none, and saw malignant inteutions where there was nothing but a good-natured purpose. All this springs from that suspicion which is a prevalent and disastrous evil in the social life of this world. Where this suspicion exists, one of the two, if not the two, following things are always found. 1. .A knowledge of the depravtty of society. The suspicious man has frequently learnt, either from observation, testimony, or experience, or from all these together, that there is such an amount of falsehood and dishonesty in Rociety as will lead one man to take an undue advantage of another. However, whether i,e has learnt this or not, it is a lamentable fact, patent to all observant eyes. 2. The existence of evil in himself. The suspicious man knows that he is selfish, false, dishonest, unchaste, and he believes that all men are the same. If he were not evil, he would not be suspicious of others, even though he knew that all about him were bad. An innocent being, I trow, would move amongst a corrupt age without any suspicion whatever. Being destitute of all bad motives himself, he would not be able to understand the corrupt motives of others. On the other hand, were society ever so holy, a bad man would still be suspecting all. An unchaste, selfish, fraudulent man would suspect the purity, the benevolence, and the integrity of an:?els, if he lived amongst them. The greatest rogues are always the most suspicious; the most lustful husbands are always the most jealous of their wives, and the reverse. Well has our great dramatist said, "Suspicion haunts the guilty soul." A miserable thing truly is this suspicion. Heaven deliver us from suspicious people! Suspicion is the poison of all true friendship; it is tha.t which makes kings tyrants, merchants exactors, masters rigorous, and the base-natured of both sexes diseased with a. jealousy that shatters connubial confidence, and quenches all the lights of connubial life. VI. 'I'he force of REMEDIAL GOODNESS. Though the king could not cure, there was a remedial power in farael equal to this emergency. That power Infinite Goodness delegated to Elisha. God makes man the organ of his restorative powers. It was so now with Elisha. It was pre-eminently so with Christ. It was so with the apostles. The redemptive treasure is in "earthly vessels." The passage suggests several points concerning this remedial power. 1. It transcends natural power. "When Elisha the man of God," etc. 'I'he monarch felt his utter insufficiency to effect the cure. Natural science knew nothing of means to heal the leper. Supernatural revelation reveals the remedy through Elisha. Herein is an illustration of Christianity. No natural science can cure the leprosy of sin; it tried for ages, but failed. 2. It offends human pride. "So Naaman came with his horses," etc. Naaman came in all the pomp of wealth ar.d station to the prophet's door, expecting, no doubt, that Elisha would hurry out to co him honour. But a true man is never moved by glitter. He did not even go out to meet the illustrious visitor, but sent a messenger to bid him go to the Jordan, and there wash. But both the unbending independency of the prophet, and the simple metho,l he prescribed, so galled the proud heart of the Syrian warrior, that he "was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me," etc. Herein is an illustration of Christianity. It strikes at the root of pride, and requires us to become as "little children." 3. It clashes with popular prejudices. '' Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean?" It is common for men to regard that which belongs to themselves and to their country as the "better "-our cbildren, our family, our sect, our class, our nation, are "better." This man's prejudice said," Abana. and Pharpar;" the prophet said, "Jordan;" and this offended him. "And he went away in a rage." Herein, again, is an illustration of CLristianity. Human prejudices prescribe this river end that river for cleansing, but the gospel says, "Jordan." 4. It works by simple means. "And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then  11 '.l THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [en. v. 1-27.