The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 383

long-ha.ired eheykh, who eingle-ha.nded faced the hiera.rchy of Baal, and knew no fear, hie were the a.sperities, the privations, the scant fare, the primitive, semi- noma.dio life of a, Gilea.dite. The sweet uses of adversity had moulded this mn,n for the orisis. Our great cha.ncellors, it he.a been ee.id, come to ua from the garret: the desert ha.a ever been the school of the greatest pro:phets. The rugg6d, unsettled pa.sf.urnges of Be.sbe.n were e. meet nurse for a. prophetic child. This champion wn,s Cl&.!I "in the clay ground " (seep. 142). 2. He was a man of Uke passions with owrselves (Jamee v. 17). An "earthen vesrel'' (2 Cor. iv. 7). "In e.ll points tempted like as we A.re," and not "without ein" (Heb. iii. 16). 'rhe Bible never pictures men a.a perfect. The phronema s(Ill'ko.'j remains even in the regenerate. II. Hrs MISSION. Consider-I. Whence it wa,s derived. He was not taught of men (Ge.I. i 12, 17). He was io,w"T7Jp:ai &ypapµaror:. The God who separated him from his mother's womb called him by His grace (ibid. v. 15). He was an extrn- ordinary messenger for o. great emergency. But observe; when God employs such messengers, men whose mission is derived directly from on high, the "signs of an apostle" are wrought by them. We are not to listen to an angel from heaven, unless he shows us his credentials. We have a right to ask of those who run without being sent to show us a sign. When the missionary Dr. Wolff told one of the Eastern bishops that the "Lord had sent him," the prelate not unreasonably asked him for a display of his powers. If God should send us an Elias again, He will give us at the so.me time a sign from heaven. 2. When it was conferred. It was (1) When iniquity abounded. When Riel had built Jericho; when Ahab had raised a temple for Baal; when Jezebel had gathered round her an army offalse prophets; when the faith of God's elect was in jeopardy. T~1e darkest hour is ever before the dawn. Oum duplicantur lateres, venit Moses. "Man's extremity is," &c. "Israel was sore wounded when God sent them this balm from G-ilead " (Henry). (2) When ordinary means were ineufficient. There were true priests in Jerusalem; there were " sons of the prophets," it is probable, in Bethel and Samaria; there were seven thousand faithful ones in Israel; but whn,t were these against such a queen as Jezebel, against such a propaganda and such a system as here? It was then no longer a question of heresy or schism, of calves or cherubim, of J eroboo.m'e or J ehovah'e priests ; the very existence of the Church was o.t stake. Elijah was summoned to the court ; he was armed with ;, power to shut heaven that it rained not in the de.ye of his prophecy" (Rev. xi. 6), with power to co.II down fire to devour his enemies, and the like, because only thus could the elect people be stayed from throwing themselves into the o.rmB of an organized pro- stitution; from yielding themselves, body and soul, to the whoredoms and witch- crafts of'' that woman Jezebel;" because only thus could the light of truth, the one lamp which illumined the world's darkness, be preserved from utter extinction. IIL Hrs MESSAGE. It we.a a denuncia.tion of immediate drougM, one of the most terrible calamities that can befal an Eastern land. In Po.lestin8, animal o.s well as vegetable life is directly dependent on the rain. Not only do the showers which irrignte the land feed the springs, but they are carefully stored up in cisterns for daily use. It is only o.s compared with the arid wastes of Egypt tlrnt the Holy Ln.ncl could be oalled "a land of brooks and waters, of fountains and depths,'' &c. (Deut. viii. 7). And it is also described by the so.me writer as o. land that " di·inketh water of the rain of heaven" (ibid. xi. 11). Consequently rain, everywhere a prime necessity of existence, is doubly indispensable in Palestine. The rainfall of J ernsalem is on the average three times o.s great as that of London. It is clear, consequently, that this message threatened a terrible plague, that it portended long e.nd protracted suffering. There are some who will not hear of the "terrors of the Lord,'' who would never have them mentioned in the pulpit. Yet pain and privation are a.mong the :first sanctions of God's law, and we have the authority of many eminent divines for saying that more men are won to God and right by fear than by love. It sounds fine and philosophio to speak of fear as o.n unworthy motive, but men forget what an unworthy animal is ma.n. Besides, this drought was a part of the punishment, and was admirably adapted to serve as a punishment for apostasy. It was meet that  890 THE FIRST DOOR OF KINGS. [cJII, XVII, 1-fl'-