DC'ut. ni. 1-5, &c.], whom the Lord cast while it lasted, sincere. Tho Searcher of out before the children of Israel [Deut. ii. hearts saw in it II genuine self-abasement. 34; iii. 8, &c.] And " He will not break the bruised reed Ver. 27.-And it came to paSB, when nor quench the smoking flax; " Isa. xlii. S; Ahab heard those [Heh. these] words [vers. Matt. xii. 20.] Because he humbleth him- 21-24, and others not recorded], that he self before me, I will not br1ng the evU rent his clothes [cf. 2 Sam. xiii. 19; Job i. [There is a manifest reference to ver. 21, 20; ii. 12; Jer. xxxvi. 24, &c.), and put where the same words are used] 1n his days; sackcloth upon h1s flesh [eh. xx. 31; 2 but 1n his son's days [There is no injustice Rings ,i. SO ; Joel i. 8; 2 Sam. xxi. 10, here-no threat of punishment against the Heh.], and fasted, and lay [i.e., slept) 1n innocent instead of the guilty-as might at sackcloth, and went sotl.ly. [All these were first sight appear. For in the first place, signs of contrition and humiliation (ver. 29). God knew well what the son would be and The " going softly" -Josephus says he went in the second place, if the son had dep~rted barefoot-is especially characteristic of the from his father's sins he would have been subdued and chastened mind.] spared (Ezek xviii. 14 sqq.); the sentence Ver. 28.-A.nd the word of the Lord came would have been revoked. Judgment wall to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, [It is not deferred to give the house of Ahab another clear that this mitigation of the sentence chance. When Ahab lapsed into sin, he was announced to Ahab], suffered in his own person: when his sonij Ver. 2!1.-Seest thou how Ahab humbleth persisted in sin, excision befell the family J himself before me? [The repentance, if it was will I br1ng the evil [ver. 19] upon h1a not profound, or enduring, was nevertheless, house [ver, 22],
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-15.-Th.4 MMtyrilom of Naboth. History tells of few crimes of its kind more flagitions, more cruel and cold-blooded than this. Here we see that spectacle w hicn one of the ancients said was dear to the gods-a just man suffering shameful wrongs with dignity and patience : we see a man because of his fidelity to God and His law judicially done to death by the representative of God, by the 9,uthority appointed to execute the law. And just as the crime has few parallels, so has the history few equals in point of graphic force and quiet pathos. It is like one of those sketches by the hand of a ma5ter, which set us wondering to see how much effect can be produced, and how much meaning conveyed, by a few broad lines and touches. We see in the first place the king, from his palace lattices, or from his garden slopes, casting hungry, envious eyes on the rich vineyard of his neighbour. He must have it at any cost. The residence is incomplete without it. We then hear him making overtures to the sturdy owner. There is a smile upon his face. His words are smoother than butter. Nothing could be fairer, as it seems at first, than his proposals. Surely Naboth will do well to sell or exchange on such liberal terms as these. But we find him straightway ~hrin.k:i.ng in pious horror from the idea. There is nothing to soften or modify his blunt and abrupt refusal. Ho cannot, he will not, do this thing and sin against God. We see a cloud of vexation gather on the king's brow. He is foiled. The project on which he has set his heart he cannot realize. With a. mortified scowl, a look in which suppressed rage and bitter disappointment are equally blended, he terminateP the interview and hunies to his po.lace, while Naboth, strong in the consciousness of right, but not without misgivings as to the issue, goes to tell his story to his wife and children at home. And now the scene changes. We are admitted to a room, a bedroom of the palace of Samaria. We see on an ivory couch, in an ivory house (eh. xxii. 29), or in a chamber ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion (Jer. xxii. 14), a man whose soul is so vexed and troubled that he can eat no bread, that he ha■ a word for no one, but turns his face sullenly to the wall. Can this be the king of Israel? can this be Ahab, whose recent victories over the Syrians have rung through many lands ? It is Ahab indeed. The great oonqueror is a slave to himself. By bis side there stands his dark, malignant, Phaenioia.n oansort. We OH, XXI, 1-29,] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 518