The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 303

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 11-19.-The Old Serpent again. As the ways of the serpent a.re tortuous so 11,1'8 those of Satan. If he cannot effect his purposes by moving in one direction he will move in another, and thus by crooked ways he advances (Isa. xxvii. 1; Psa. cxxv. 5). He had already tempted the man of God by means of the schismatic king, and failed; his next work is to see what influence an old prophet may have upon him. So versatile are his devices that it is our wisdom to be ever on the oJert. Observe the adroitness with which he lays his plans. His astuteness is seen- I. IN CHOOSING HIS INSTRUMENTS. These were-1. " The sons of the old prophet." (1) They were near the altar. Whether by the contrivance of Satan, or that, finding them there, he made them bis tools, is not revealed. Or whether they were there out of curiosity, or sympathy with the apostasy, is not revealed. But they were there-on the devil's ground. We must keep from that if we would escape mischief. (2) They were witnesses of the words and works of God. So, might have been rebuked for sympathy with evil and admonished to separate themselves from it. They also saw the way the man of God took in returning to Judah. (3) They lost no time in reporting to their father, urged, unconsciously to themselves, by Satan. We cannot always tell when we are prompted by the devil, or when he uses for his purposes our natural promptings. We should pray God to spare us the humiliation of serving Satan's purposes. 2. The old prnphet himself. (1) He was an " old'' prophet, or bad been a prophet in the old time before the apostasy of Jeroboam. Probably he had backslidden from God; for, though he did not appear at Bethel, he allowed his sons to be there. Had he not lost his old fire would he not have lifted his voice against the national sin '/ Backsliders from God become the devil's dupes. (2) The energy of Satan is seen in the promptness of this old prophet's action. He quickly got information. He lost no time in the pursuit. The sluggishness of age was shaken off under the excitement of the devil's spur. (8) But what was the old man's motive'/ Probably the desire to display that hospi- tality which the Easterns cultivated so carefully, mingled with a curiosity to know more about the wonders the man of God was commissioned to discover. But S;ttnn's motive was very different. Beware that your motives become not subser- vient to those of the devil. Let your motives be pure and godly. II. IN USING THEM. 1. See the stratagem in Eden, repeated. (1) Had Satan temp•'.ed Eve in his proper character he would have foiled (1 Tim. xi. 14). So the man of Goel was proof against the solicitations of the king whom he discerned to be the" man of sin" of his time. (2) Satn.n therefore concealed himself under the sleek, lustrous form of a serpent, and deceived our mother. Then transferring himself to ~he fallen Eve, under her lovely disguise, overcame Adam. So, enshrining himself in the _old prophet, he vanquished the "man of God." Beware of Satan's disguises. Espec~ally beware of the religious devil. (8) The offence, again, was eating. In Eden it was eating the forbidden thing. Note: The place may be right, the thing wrong. At Bethel it was eating in the forbidden place. Note: The thing may be right, the place wrong. 2. See the spirit of the devil. (1) The spirit of cruelty. The old prophet knew that the man of God was forbidden to eat in Bethel, yet he importuned him to eat bread with him. Cruelty is no less real because sheathed in professions of kindness. Over.indulgent parents are their children's oru.elest enemies. (2) The spirit of treachery. Th~ mq of God bo.d refused 11, king: 1 xnros. x  306 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [ea, xm. 11-84.