coven&nt "-he might have added, "and en mrittre i\ oeux qui dorment d'nn sommell in the new; " cf. Mark xiv. 39, 41; 2 Cor. eterncl, et l'on sent bien qu'il est le Dieu xii. 8-" was 11. threefold not : " Pse.. Iv. 17 ; des morts comme des vivants, jamais plus De.n. vi. 10, 13 ; Nnm. vi. 24-26 ; Ise.. vi. 8 tranquilleque lorsqu'il op~re les plus grnndoa (Biihr). The correspondenoe with 2 Cor. xii. choses. "] 8 is very striking] and cried unto the Lord, Ver. 22.-And the Lord heard the voice and said, O Lord my God, I pray Thee of EllJah ; and the soul of the child came [Heb. now] let this child's soul come into into h1m aga1n, and he revived [or recovered. him [Heb. 11pon hi,s ins ilk ; ';,p is here, e.s else- Cf. 2 Kings i. 2 ; viii. 8] . where, used for ';,~] aga.ln. [Thongh ~!tf, Ver, 23.-A.nd EllJah took the chlld, and brought h1m down out or the chamber into here trnnsle.ted " scul," conste.ntly mee.ns "life,"yet it by no me&ns settles the question the house [Probably the :,•';,P. was reached whether the child was really living or dead. by an outside stairoa.se, anci'ilid not directly For (1) the primary meaning of the word is communicate with the lower rooms. Of. "bre&th" (Gesen., Thesaurus, s. v.), and (2) Matt. xxiv. 17; Mark ii. 4 ; 2 Kings ix. 13] the words might with perfect propnety, even and delivered h1m unto his mother: and if we interpret "life" or" soul," be used of EllJa.h ea.id, See, thy son llveth. one who lay in a lifeless e.nd inanimate Ver. 24.-And the woman said to EllJah, condition. Massillon 's graphic langaa.ge Now by th1s [Heb. this. Gesenius interprets (vol. i. p. 91, ed. 1898), showing the con- trast between Elijah 's prooedure and that :it MJ;lP just now. Similarly Bahr, nunmehr] of our blessed Lord (Luke vii. 14 ; viii. 54 ; I know that thou art a man of God [not John xi. 43), is worth citing here: "Elie that she had doubted it before. See ver. 18. ressuscite des morts, il est vre.i ; ma.is il est In the face of what Elijah had done for her, oblig~ de se ooucher plusieurs fois sur le she could not doubt it. All that she means corps de l'enfe.nt qu'il ressnecite; il sou.file, is that this is a great fresh proof of his il ee retrecit, il s'e.gite; on voit bien qu'il mission], and that the word of the Lord in invoque nne puissa.nce 6trang~re; qu'il thy mouth 1s truth. [This la.et word nr,;,~ ra.ppelle de l'empire de la. mort nne A.me qui from which A.mittai (Jonah i. 1) is formeci; n'cst pas soumise e. sa.voi.x, et qu'iln'est pas perhaps gave rise to the tradition that this lui-meme le me.itre de le. mort et de le. vie: boy was afterwards known as the prophet Jesus-Christ ressuscite les morts co=e il Jonah. A.mitte.i was held to have been thie fe.it lee actions lea plus co=unes ; il parle widow's husband. •
HOMILETICS.
Ver. 1.-Tke MiJJsion am! Ministry of Elijah. The appearance on the arena of Isre.el's history of such a champion as Elijah, armed with such high credentiaJs, wielding snch supematuraJ powers, marks a crisis in the history of God's ancient Church. We have but to see him, to hear him for one moment, to know that a great struggle is impending. God, like Nature, which is but a name for God, "does nothing in vain." Such high powers as his foreshadow great issues. Four points consequently may well enga.ge our attention, viz., the man, his mission, his message, hu; ministry. I. THE M.ur. 1. Be was a wild man (Gen. :rv:i. 12; Heh. a wild-ass man). Abraham has been called an "Arab sheykh." We have in Elijah a veritable Bedawy, if not by birth or tribe, by training and in character. The rough sheep- skin (eh. x.iL 18), the shaggy hair (2 Kings i. 18), the marvellous bodily endurance (eh. xviii 46), the careful avoidance of the city, the flight into the desert (eh. xix. 4), the whole bearing of the man suggests to UB the child of the wilderness. He, the greatest of the prophets, one of the " first three " of those born of women, has the exterior, the instincts, the heart of an Ishmaelite. He was thus a fit successor of Moses, the shepherd of Horeb, who in the very haunt and home of the Bedawin, was trained for his high vocation ; he was meet to be the forerunner and pattern of the Baptist who was bred in the desert, clad in Arab dress, and fed with Arab food (Matt. iii. 1, 4). It is impossible to understand the man and his work unless this be borne in mind. The gaunt dervish who one day strode into the presence of the king and lifted up bis sinewy arm and denounced the great drought; the shaggy, Ctt. xvu. 1-24.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 8S9