The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 156

lished. The.t the will of God might be seea an,! recognized in the mntter, its initiation we.a entrusted to the regular expounders of the Divine will-the prophets. Elisha, we may be eure, received express nirections how to act; e.nd the directions included a delegation of certain most important duties to another. Thus two persons are concerned in the great initiative scene; O.Il(l the conduct of each is worthy of attention, and, under given circumstances, of imitation. Consider- I. ELISHA Al! DIRE0TOR. 1. Elisha has made up his mind; there is no hesitation about him, no instability of purpose; be knows what be has to do, and is wholly bent on doing it. 2. His directions a.re clear, definite, unmistakable. There is no amhiguity in e.ny of them. He prescribes a fixed and clearly defined line of conduct, which his subordinate ie to carry out. He wastes no time on the consideration of accidents or contingencies, A certain work is to be doae; and his subordinate is to do it in the simplest and most direct way. II. THE PROPHET-DISCIPLE AB SUBORDINATE AGENT. 1. The prophet-disciple accepts the subordinate position readily, cheerfully, without reluctance. He is content to obliterate himself, and to play the part of a tool or instrument. 2. His obedience is exact, perfect. Whatever he has been ordered to do, he does; and he does no more. He is not officious, as so many zealous servants are; he does not seek to better bis instructions. 3. His errand done, he disappears, sinks back into obscurity. We bear of his making no claim either on Elisha or on Jehu. The greatest political trans- action of the dn.y had proceeded from his initiative; but he asks no reward, he makes no boast. His·work done, ho vanishes, and we hear no more of him. God's work has still to be carried on in the world by two sets of persons-directors and executants. It will be well or badly done, according as the lines here marked out are kept to or departed from. That wonderful efficiency which none can fail of admiring in the working of so many institutions within the Roman communion is traceable in a great measure to the fact that both directors and executants act in the spirit that animated Elisha and the prophet-disciple. Vera. 11-24.-Political revolutions fustifiable under certain circumstances. In a general way, revolution, resistance to constituted authority, rebellions, risings against the civil power, seem to be condemned, or at any rate discountenanced, by the teaching of Scripture, whether in the Old Testament or the New. They arise, for the most part, from human ambitions, from lust of power, from greed, from unrestrained passions, from selfishness; they involve in their course untold snfferings to large numbers; they issue commonly in a condition of social and political life, not better, but worse, than that from which they sprang. "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; " "Fear God: honour the king;" "Ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience' sake," are precepts of wide application and of great force, deriving additional weight from the fact that, when they were uttered, a Nero occupied the throne. Still, their force may be overstrained. Scripture does not require, under all circumstances, an absolute and entire submission to the civil rulers, but justifies resistance, and allows of the resistance being r,ushed, in extreme cases, to rebellion. Examples are: 1. 'l'he resistance offered by David, first to Saul, and then to Isbbosbeth. According to human law, Ishbosheth was the legitimate ruler, a:i;ainst whom David rebelled (2 Sam. ii. 1-10). 2. The rebellion of Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 12-20). 3. The present instance-the rebellion of Jehu. 4. The rebellion of the Maccabee princes, related in the first and second Books of the Maccabees, which enlist our sympathy strongly in their behalf, and are set before her members hy the Church " for example of life, and instruction in morals." If we ask, "When is rebellion justifiable?" the answer would seem to be- I. IN THE LAST RESORT, WHEN TIIE NATION MUST OTHERWISE BE IRRETRIEVAllLY INJURED. In Jehu's case" a family we.son the throne which had introduceu a licentious worship, had fostered it, and had persecuted the older and purer religion, winch, if it had uot succeeded in taking so fi1m a hold upon the people as to bin,l them to purity and virtue, at any rate had not been itself a deeply corrupting influence. The mischief had spread so for that it was time to try the last and severest measures, or to give up the contest entirely. The indictment was made out against the ruling house of corrupting the national honour, and undermining the national existence, of dcpri vi"g  198 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS. [co. 11. 1-87.