The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 145

in the vessels, emblems of those "vessels unto honour," the "messengers of the churches,'' Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, •&c. (2 Cor. viii. 23; Acts ix. 15). We shall fincl that the great Master Builder has prepared them all in the plavn; thai all alike have been moulded in the cla;y. As to the pladn, the figure is obvious enough, and a few words will suffice to expound it. From the Mesopot11mian immigrants into Palestine, the first fathers of the Jewish people, down to the peasants e.ntl fishermen of Galilee, aye, and to the poor monk, Luther, and the poor servitor, Whitfield, history constantly teaches the same lesson-that not many wise men or mighty or noble (1 Cor. i. 26) are the vessels chosen of Heaven to do God's work in the world. The apostles did not issue forth from "king's houses" (Matt. xi. 8). Just as II the gentle rain from heaven" leaves the mountains and descends into the vales, so does the grace of God ever condescend to men of low degree. Not II the princes of this world" (1 Cor. ii. 8), not its rich men (James ii. 6), but the II poor of this world" bath God chosen (ib. ver. 5). '' Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?" (John vii. 48). No, it was the "common people ''-the despised amhaaretz- 11 heard him gladly'' (Mark xii. 37). The early adversaries of Christianity useu. to r;neer at the humble origin and occupations of its champions, and the apologists w0uld not and could not deny the charge. Now as to the II cla;y grownd,'' observe that while the text gives this rendering, the margin has, " thickness of the ground." It is not a distinction without a difference, for the latter rende1ing would import that the soil had been made thick, for the pill-pose of casting, by stamping or puddling. And which of these transla- tions is the true one; whether,i.e., the soil was naturally clayey-perhaps from the overflow of the Jordan (Josh. iii. 15, Heb.), perhaps from the springs which ma.ke much of the Jordan valley into a swamp (Conder, pp. 226-229)-or whether it was artificially prepared for castings, it is perhaps impossible to say. Nor need we wish to decide, since for our purpose both meanings are true. Whatever Hiram did, God casts His vessels, some in the clay, i.e., in the most unpromising soil, with the most ungenie.l surroundings; some "in the thickness of the ground," i.e., in soil which he.a been trodden by the iron feet of the persecutor; and some in both. I. Let us now see how (1) THE CHURCHES-we regard them as two for our present purpose, though strictly the Christian l1t:11:X7111ia is but the development of the Jewish (see p.112)-and (2) THEm MESSENGERS have both been prepared in the clay ground, But first, let us carry our thoughts to that foundry in the Jordan valley. We now assume that it was a bed of clay in which the castings were me.de. If so, it is probable this tract of land had hitherto laid waste. The ox had not drawn the plough through it; it had yielded neither seed to the sower, nor bread to the eater; the farmer had not planted it with olive or vine. And in a land so small-Palestine is about the same size as Wales-and so densely populated as the Holy Land; in a country where every available yard was cultivated, and where even the steep hill sides were le.id out in terraces to increase the acreage ; in a land, too, of great fertility (Deut. viii. 7-9)-for the whole realm was remarkably prolific, and " the plain of the Jordan" was the garden of the whole (Gen. xiii. 10)-this barren tract could not fail to be noticed. It had long been an eyesore, we may well believe, to the fellahin who tilled the neighbouring fields. The traveller who passed it on his way to the fords of the Jordan (J udg. viii. 5; xii. 6; Gen. xuiii. 17) pronounced it unprofitable, and altogether it was "nigh unto cursing" (Heb. vi. 8). And so it lay, century after century, a marsh, or piece of scrub, a blot on the landscape. Men thought it was irreclaimable. But now the temple is being built, the vessels of brass have to be cast, and through the length and breadth of Palestine they find no spot so suited to the purpose as the II clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan." Here shall the foundry be. And so from this despised and desolate tract the burnished brass went forth to adorn the temple of the Lord. Even so- l. The Jewish Church was moulded in the clay. W11ere was it constituted? In the desert of Sinai, in the II great and terrible wilderness." In the Red Sea was its baptism (1 Cor. x. 2); at Horeb (lit., dry grownd) it entered into the covenant. From the "backside of tl1e desert," from the plain of Rcihah, where II desolation  THE FIHST BOOK OF KINGS. [ou. vu. 1-51