The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 423

(ver. 6) And of another thing Ahab must have been equally cert:i.in, tho.t this drought was no chance which bad happened him. The coincidence between the word and tbe ennt negatived that idea. He must see in it the finger of God; he must rec-0gnize in the prophet the power of God. But (2) the man for whom he bad been searching over hill and dnJe, in town and hamlet, in his own and in adjoining lands, now proposes a meeting. Clearly, then, he is not afraid. He olmost compels an int~rview-" I will show myself unto him to-day." (8) Even if Ahab ascribed his power to magic or witchcraft, still men tremble in the presence of a sorcerer. We cannot wonder, therefore, if his courage almost failed him, and if he looked forward to the meeting with something like dread. But be remembers his imperious consort ; he thinks bow full of threatening and fury he himself has been, and he feels he must put on a bold front ; he must carry himself proudly ; he must tax the prophet with wrong-doing. And so, when at last they meet, the king is the first to speak. "Art thou here?" he cries, almost frightened at the sound of his own voice. "Art thou here, thou troubler of Israel?" Words have often served to con- ceal men's thoughts, often been a veil to hide theu- abject fears. Now, we have heard words like these, we have read of them in other mouths than Ahab's. It is a common charge against the prophets and people of God, The saints are always in the wrong. It is always they who "turn the world up- side down'' (Acts xvii. 6, 8); always they who "do exceedingly trouble our city" (ib., xvi. 20). Our Lord was accused of sedition. The first Christians were called "enemies of the b~an race.'' A.11 manner of evil is said against them falsely, Ahab only speaks " after his kind." He saw that Elijah had been instrumental in bringing down the drought and the terrible famine which accompanied it. He never pauses to ask what moved Elijah to call for a drought; what caused Elijah's God to send it. The herald is accused as the cause of the war. " There is notlling new under the sun." The same charge is made, and with the same unreason and perversity at the present day. The lamb must have fouled the stream, whichever way it flows. If the Baptist comes neither eating nor drinking, they say, "He bath a devil." If the Son of man comes eating and drinking, they say, ".Behold a gluttonous m&D and a winebibber." If we pipe, they will not dance: if we mourn, they will not lament (Matt. xi. 16 sqq.) III. EliJah denounces the king to his face. "I have not troubled Israel, but thou," &c. " The righteous are bold as a lion.'' There is no trace of fear in these words. The truth has nothing to fear. And the truth it was then, and is now, that the trouble and suffering of the world spring out of sin, out of forgetting and forsaking God. If men will leave Him out of their thoughts and lives, their sorrows cannot but be multiplied (Paa. xvi 4). It is like leaving the sun out of our solar sytem-tbe world would revert to primmval chaos. The French revolu- tion shows the result of the negation of God. Communism and Nihilism do the same. "There is no peace to the wicked." But not only do they "pierce the111.8elvee through with many sorrows," but they trouble Israel (Eph. vi 16), the peaceful people of God. But for them this world would be a Paradise. It is they who make wretched homes and broken hearts. It is they who neces- sitate our armies, our police, our gaols, our poor rates. It is they who some- times make us wonder, with some of the ancients, whether this earth is not really a place of punishment. But for them, and the confusion and misery they call6e, men would never ask "whether life is worth living;" still less con- clude that "the greatest good is never to have been born into the world, and the next to die out of it as soon as possible." We are entitled, therefore, like Elijah, to denounce the godless and the vicious as the enemies of society, as conspirators against the world's peace and prosperity. "The only common disturber of men, families, cities, kingdoms, worlds, is sin." It is one of the arguments for our holy religion that, sincerely practised, it ensures " the greatest possible happiness of the greatest possible number." It is the brand of Atheism that it brings trouble, uncleanness, selfishness, suffering, at its heels. IV. The king endu1-es the upbraiding of the prophet. To Elijah's "Thou art the man,'' he ma.kee no reply. He is taxed with the ruin of his country, and ii  CB, XVIJI, 1-46.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 435