The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 459

scornful. We should do well to put it repeatedly to our own hearts. "BernMde, all quid venisti .r "-it was thus that the greatest saint of the Middle Ages often tried his motives and condu et. Ver. 10.-" J have been very jealous." We often confound zee.l for our own ends and purposes with zeal for God; often misread our own motives. J ehu cried, "Come and see my zeal for the Lord" (2 Kings x. 16); "but Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel,'' &c. (vers. 29, 31). Saul's "zeal for the children of IsrRel and Judah'' (2 Sam. xxi. 2) procured the impa.lemant of seven of his sons. St. Paul bears witness of the Jews, that" they have a zee.l of God, but not according to knowledge," and testifies of himself, " concerning zeal, persecuting the Cliurch" (Phil. iii. 6; cf. Acts xxvi 9, 11). We can understand the cynical warning. Surtout, point de zele, when we remember what c1imes have been committed in its name, The spirit of Elias, the spirit of fire and sword (2 Kings i. 10; 1 Kings xiL 1), is not the spirit of our Lord or His Church (Luke ix. 55, 56). There was not im- probably in this complaint something of the resentment which James and John felt when the Samaritans did not receive them. Was it not in part pique at his rejection by Israel led to Elijah's intercession against them? (Rom. xi. 2.) It is true, he begins, "They have rejected thee,'' but he ends, "They have rejected me'' (1 Sn.m. viii. 7). And our lamentations over the non-success of our ministry, are they inspired by the dishonour done to God, or the indifference manifested towards ourselves ? There may be both pride and temper in the complaint, " He followeth not us" (Mark ix. 88). Ver. 11.-" Stand .•• before the Lord.'' Only th11S can we know ourselves, and oelf-kuowledge must be our first aim. "E caelo descendit, yvw0, crEavrov," "In thy light shall we see light." We compare ourselves with pigmies when we compare ourselves with others (2 Cor. x. 12). It is only in the presence of our Maker that we learn our nothingness and sinfulness. "Now minll eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dnst and ashes'' (Job xiii. 5, 6). "Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image" (2 Cor. ill. 18). Ver. 12.-" A still small voice." The ten-ors of the Lord awe the soul; His love melts and wins it. What the law could not do, the gospel has done (Rom. viii. 3). Christ draws men unto Him by the sweet attraction of His cross (John xii. 32). The liglitnings and thunders, the trumpet and the voices of Sinai, do not move the world as do the seven last words of the Crucified. "Not in the wind that parted the Red Sea, or the fire that swept the top of Sinai," was God brought so near to man, "as in the ministrations of Him whose cry was not heard in the streets, as in the still small voice of the child at Bethlehem'' (Stanley). This parable may be com- pared with the familiar fable which tells how storm and sun strove together for the mastery. The former made the traveller wrap his garments more closely about him ; the latter made him cast them aside. Love is more powerful than fear, and that because "love is of God." Judgment is His strange work. "God loves to make a way for Himself by terror, but He conveys Himself to us in sweetness " (Bp. Hall)-a truth well brought out in Theodore Monad's exquisite hymn- •• Yet He found me: I beheld Him Bleeding on the cursM tree ; Heard Him pray, 'Forgive them, Father;' And my wistful heart so.id faintly, ' Some of self, and some of Thee.' "Day by day His tender mercy Healing, helping, full and free; Sweet and strong, and, ah I so patient, Brought me lower, whilst I whispered, • Less of self, and more of Thee.' •• Higher than the highest heavens, Deeper than the deepest sea, Lord, Thy love at last bath conquereds Grant me now my spirit's longing, • None of self, and all of Thee,' " OB. :ux. 1-21.l THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS.