The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 507

perceive thnt somet~ing unto~ard ha~ happened. The news of Elijah'e reappeai·- :rnce spreatls like w1ld.fu·e ; his i;c11thmg wor~s are passed from lip to lip ; every town and hamlet soon knows that Naboth 1s avenged; it knows that with what measure king and queen meted to him it shall be measured to them n.gain. The lessons which this public manifestation of the righteous judgmcnt of God had for the men of that age, and some of which it has still, may be brieily stated in the words of Scripture. Among them are these: 1. "The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good" (Prov. x:v: 3) ; God dot~ know, and there is knowledge in the Most High (Psa. lxxm. 11; cf. Psa. xi. 4). . 2. "Veril;r, there is-~- reward for the righteous; ,:eril:y he is a God that judgeth m the earth (Psa. lvm. 11). " Thou beholdest DllSchief and spite to requite it mth thy band'' (Psa. x. 14). ' 3. "Be sm·e your sin will find you out" (Num. xxxii. 23). 4. " Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished " (Prov. xi 21). 5. " I will come near to you in judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and aaainet those tbat oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherles~, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord" (Mal. iii 5). 6. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall hie blood be shed" (Gen. ix. 6). 7. "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth, for tooth, hand or hand, foot for foot, burn- ing for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe" (Exod. xxi 23-25). " God loves to punish by retaliation " (Hall). Vers. 2S, 29.-Divine Relentings.-If we were to seek the Scriptures through for a proof that God's" property is always to have mercy," and that judgment is His strange work, where should we find a more striking and eminent one than in this relenting towards Ahab? Consider- I. .A.H.A.B's SIN. In this respect " there was none like him." He "sold himself to work wickedness." It was not because of N aboth's murder alone that the sen- tence of vers. 19-22 was pronounced against him; it was for the varied and accumulated sins of a reign of twenty years. Among these were- 1. The sin of schism. He continued the calf-worship (eh. xvi. 31). He kept "the statutes of Omri." Despite the warnings of prophets and of history, he maintained the shrines, sacrifices, priests, of Bethel and Dan. 2. The sin of his marriage. "Was it a light thing to walk in the way of Jero- boam that be must take to wife Jezebel" (eh. xv. 31 Heb.), in direct violation of the law (Deut. vii. 1-3), in disregard of the example of Solomon? To place such a woman, dangbter of such a house, on the throne of Israel was to insult the true religion, and to court its overthrow. 3. The sin of idolatriJ. (Ch. xvi. 82.) Samaria had its house of Baal, its altar for Baal. He did very abominably in following idols (eh. x.xi. 26). 4. The sin of impwrity. This was involved, as we have already rem11rked,ia the idolatry of that age. "Ahab made an Asberah" (eh. xvi. 82). Indeed, it is to the impurit:ies of Canaanit~h worship that the words just cited_ (:er. 26) refor. The abominations of the Amontes are not to be named amongst Christians. 5. The sin of persecuting the prophets. It is very possible that Ahab himself was no persecutor, but Jezebel was, and he should have restrained her (1 Sam. iii. 13). He was directly responeible for her deeds. She owed her power, place, and influence to him. 6. The sin of rekaaing the persecutor of God's people. The pardon and favour he accorded to Ben-ha.dad are mentioned as a part of the provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord (eh. x.x:. 42). It sprang out of his forgetting God. He ignored altogether God's will and pleasure in the matter. See p. 492. 7. The sin of shying Naboth and his sons. For with this crime Ahab is charge~. " Hast thou killed ? " " I have seen yesterday the blood of Na.both • • • and I will <lB, XXI, 1-29.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. G19