The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 406

mission, which was to overthrow idolatry n.nd vindicate the worship of the true God. This work of preparation was divided into two great periods. 1. The prepnrn.t.ion of the desert. 2. The lonely life of the prophet in the house of the widow of Sarepta. The Desert was, from the time of Moses to the days of John the Baptist, the great school of the prophets. These men of God were trained for their work: 1. By being brought face to face with their sacred mission in all its greatness, and free from the prejudices and petty influences of human society. There they could steadfast.ly _c~mtemplate the Divine ideal, undistracted by the rude realities of man's fallen condition. 2. There they were also cut off from all human aid, left to test their own sti·engfu, or rather to prove their own utter weakness, and overwhelmed with the sense of it, to cast themselves wholly on Divine strength. Thus they receiYed directly from God, as did Elijah, the supplies by which they lived, and realized the conditions of absolute and immediate trust in Him. Coming forth from this discipline of the desert, they were enabled to say with Paul, " When I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. xii. 10). 3. This loving converse of the prophets with their God brought them into closer fellowship, more intimate union, with Him. Thus they came forth from the desert, like Moses from the Mount of Sinai, bearing nnconsciously npon them the reflection of His glory. AB St. Paul says," We, beholding as with open face the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord'' (2 Cor. iii. 18). Considerations like these have a :fit application to the pastor, who ought to be much in solitary communion with God, in order to be raised above the com- promises of principle so common in society, and to get hie whole nature permeated with Divine sti-ength. Every Christian soul has in like manner a prophet's mission, and ought therefore often to seek the desert solitude, in which the Invisible is brought near, and to freqnent those sacred mountain tops of prayer, where the disciple, like the Master, renews his strength (Lnke v. 16).-E. de P. Vers. 7-24.-Second Preparation of Elijah. Elijah passed through his second phase of preparation under the humble roof of the widow of Sarepta. He is in the right attitude for gaining a holy preparedness for his work, for he has placed himself absolutely and directly under the guidance of God. When the word of God comes to him, be is ready to arise and go whithersoever it bids. Thns was Christ " led of the Spirit'' to commence His public ministry (Matt. iv. 1) ; and throughout His whole course He recognized the same unfailing guidance. The purpose of God in sending Elijah to the poor widow was to show him, before he entered on the great conflict with idolatry, that he had at his disposal a Divine power which nothing would be able to resist. Elijah was, so to speak, to prove hie arms, far from human observation, BY A PASSAGE OF DEEP PERSONAL EXPERIBNOE. Hence the double miracle of the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil always fall. Hence, yet more distinctly, that glorious miracle of the raising of the widow's son by the prophet. This miracle had no witnesses ; nor must we marvel at this. God do~s not perform miracles to fascinate onlookers ; He does not make a spectacle of His marvellous working. His glory is su.fli.ciently magnified in the deliverance of a humble believer, like the widow of Sarepta, and in the qualification of the prophet for his mission. Jesus Chiist refused to work any miracles for show, and the sublimest manifestations of His power were reserved for humble hearts and lowly dwelliugs. Elijah has learnt to know the strength of God which is in him; be has proved it in the secresy of his soul. He has a full a_ssur!'nce tha~ it will be ma~i- fested in him when he stands before Ahab, no less m1ght1ly than m the obscurity of the widow's house. This intimate personal experience of the grace of God is ?f incomparable value to His servants. If we would have Divine strength to use m the grea,t conflict with sin around us, we must prove its miraculous energy in our piivate life. And let us remember also that our homes may be the scene of the mightiest manifestations of the grace of God, and of the most signal. providential deliverances, if only our hearts be open to Him in humility and love, hke the heart of the widow of Sare11ta.-E. de P. oe. xvm. 1-46.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS, 417