These strewed the line of the retreating of anxious e.nd excited people. Aa the me.n ormy's mBrOb. And the messengers returned, of God had ae.id, who spe.ke when the king and told the king. Gove a full e.nd complete came down to him. The varieties of reading occount of whe.t they had seen. here do not affect the general sense. The Ver. 16.-And the people went out, e.nd writer's intention is to lay special stress on spoiled the tenta of the Syrians. Thew hole the fulfilment of Elisha's prophecy ; e.nd to population of Be.maria, with one accord, emphasize the punishment that follows on qnitted the town, and flung themselves upon a la.ck of faith. The conclucling pass,ige of the spoil-the rich garments, the gold e.nd the chapter is, as Bahr says, "e. finger of silver vessels, the horses and asses, of which warning to unbelievers." mention he.d been me.de previously (vers. Ver. 18.-And it ea.me to pe.ss aa the me.n 8-10). At the se.u:ie time, no doubt, they of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two feasted on the e.bunde.nt dainties which measures of barley for e. shekel, and a they found in the tents. Having satisfied measure of fine 1lour for a shekel, shall be their immediate wants, they proceeded to to-morrow a.bout this time in the gate of lay in e. store of corn for future use, e.nd Samaria. The otiose repetition of almost orowded tumultuously into the ge.te, where the whole of ver. I can only be expla.ined the corn found in the camp was being sold. e.e a. mode of emphasizing, a.ad so impress- So a measure of fine flour; rather, and a ing upon the reader two main points: (I) ,neasure, etc.-was sold for a shekel, and Eliebe.'s prophetic powers; and (2) the two measure& of barley for a shekel, accord• dreadful consequences that follow on scornful ding to the word of the Lord (see ver. I). rejection of a message from God (see the Ver.17.-And the king appointed the lord comment on ver. 2). on whose hand he leaned to have the ohe.rge Ver. 19.-And the.t lord answered the man of the gate. Anticipating disorder, unless of God, a.ud said, Now, behold, if the Lord special care were taken, through the pro- should m,'te windowa in heaven, might suoh bable eagerness of the people to purchase a thing be 1 And he se.id, Behold, thou aha.It the oom which was offered to them at so see it with thine eyes, but she.It not eat modere.t.e a re.te, Jehoram appointed the thereof (see the comment on the preceding officer on whose arm he ho.d leo.nt when be verse). visited the house of Elisha. (see ver. 2), to Ver. 20.-And so it fell ont unto him; i.e. he.ve the charge of the gate, and preside the prophecy was exacUy fulfilled. The over the sale. Probably there was no lord, being appointed to keep order in the thought of the post being one of danger. gate where the corn we.s sold, "saw with And the people trode upon him in the gate, hie eyes" (ver. 2) the wonderful fall of and he died. It has been questioned whether prices within the short space of twenty-foll? the death was accidental (Bii.hr), e.nd sug- hours, which Elisha. he.d prophesied ; but gested tbe.t the eager and famished people "did not eat thereof"-did not, in his own i-esisted his authority, and violently bore person, obtain e.ny benefit from the sud,len down his attempts to control them. But plenty, since he perished before he could there is nothing in the text that is incom- profit by it. For the people trode upon him patible with e.n accidental death. Such in the gate, and he died (see the comment deatha are not uncommon in dense orowds on ver. 17),
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1, 2, nnd 17-20.-The sin of the scoffer, and its punishment. Unbelief may be involuutary, and so neither incur guilt nor deserve punishment. St. Paul" obtained mercy" notwithstanding his bitter persecution of the, early Christians, " because he did it ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Tim. i. 13). Modem sceptics are, no doubt, in many casea unable to believe, their eyes being blinded through their education, through ingrained prejudice or invincible ignorance, But to scoff at religion must be at all times a voluntary act; and it is an act which Holy Scripture views as in the highest degree blama.ble. In the instance here recorded, where Elisha, rising up in all the majesty of God's prophet, and addressing himself to king, nobles, nnd elders, solemnly required them to "hear the word of Jehovah," and then proclaimed with a voice of authority the raising of the siege and the speedy conversion of the existing scarcity into abun- dance, it indicated extreme effrontery and contempt for holy things, to take the word, when the king himself wns silont, and utter a scoff, questioning the power as well as the trnthfulness -:,f God. 'l'he "lord" was clearly puffed up with a high opinion of his own wisdom, enlightenment, ar,d knowledge of the world and its ways, and perceiving no probability of the change prophesied, of which there was indeed at the time no sign, 152 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [01:1:, Vil. 1-20,