HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1--4.-0ovetousness. Amongst the arguments used by Samuel to dis- courage the people of Israel from desiring a king, he said, " He will take your fields, nnd your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the best of them." We have in the verses before us a notable example of the truth of this forecast, understanding covetousness in a bad sense. I. DESIRE, IN THE ABSTRACT, IS NOT OOVETOU-SNESS. 1. It is the principle of exchanges. (1) If persons had no desire to possess anything beyond what they have acquired, there would be no motive to trade. Of the virtuous womnn it is said, " She consideret.h a field and buyeth it : with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard" (Prov. xxri. 16). (2) All commerce is founded upon the desire to make exchanges. 2. But co11vmerce is fruitful in blessings. (1) There are evils con- nected with trading, viz., where dishonest practices come into it. But these are in- tra.sions; and they are denounced as "illegitimate '' and " uncommercial" (2) G.&1J1uine commerce gives profitable employment to thought and labour. (8) It brings the countries and peoples of the wide world into correspondence. Thereby it e.itlarges our knowledge of those countries, their peoples and products, and other- wise stimulates science. (4) It encourages philnnthropy. Relief is afforded for distresses through famines, floods, fires, earthquakes ; and religious miBsions are organized. 8. Desire, well directed, should be encouraged. (1) To be absolutely without desire for things evil would be a happy state. Therefore this state shoulu be earnestly desired. (2) There is also the positive desire to be Christ-like. This can scarcely be too vehement. (3) Ahab does not seem to have signalized himseli in either of these directions. II. ILLICIT DESIRE IB OOVETOUSNESB. 1. We should not desire what God has forbidden. (1) Herein Ahnb was wrong in desiring tho vineyard of Naboth. It Oll:. XXI. 1-29.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 621
was the "inheritance of hie fathers," transmitted in the family of Ne.both, from the days of J oehua, and it would have been unlawful for him to part with it (Levit. xxv. 23; Num. xxxvi. 7). (2) Ahab was wrong in tempting Ne.both to tra.ngress the commandment of t'.he Lord. He should never have encouraged e. desire, the grati- fication of which would involve such e. consequence. (3) It was e. pious act in Naboth, who, doubtless in things lawful would be pleased to gratify the king, to ba'te indignantly refused to gratify him here. " The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee." He had his tenure from the Lord. He looked upon his earthl_y inheritance as a. pledge of a. heavenly. 2. This rule requires the study of God's word. (1) It is. of the utmost moment to us to be ac- quainted with the will of God. This he has revealed in the Scriptures. (2) In cases of transgression we cannot plead ignorance when we have the Bible in onr hands. Neither can we shift now our responsibility on to our teachers. (3) Do we make proper use of our Bibles? Do we study them? Do we read them prayer- fulliy 1 We must not sell the more.I inheritance we have received from the past. III. INORDINATE DESIRE rs COVETOUSNESS. Some things are lawful without limit. Such are the direct claims of God. (1) The love of God. We may love Him with all our heart. We cannot love Him too much, or too much desire His love. (2) The service of God. This, indeed, is another form of love ; for love expresses itself in service (John xiv. 15, 23; Rom. xiii. 10; Gal. v. 14; 1 John v. 3). (3) The knowledge of God. To love and serve God perfectly we must have a perfect know- ledge of Him according to our capacity. We cn.n.not too ardently desire this knowledge. (4) If Ahab had loved, served, and known God with perfect desire, he would have found such satisfaction as to have rendered it impossible for him to have sulked as he did because he could not obtain Naboth's vineyard. When God is absent there ie a restless void; nothing can satisfy an unholy s1{i..rit. 2. Other things are l01Wjul in measure. (1) Otherwise they would interfere with the direct claims of God. The creature must not be put into competition with the Creator. " Thou she.It have none other gods beside me." (2) Desire for sensible and temporu.l things must not displace the desire for things spiritual and eternal. To love the inferior preferably to the superior ie to deprave the affections. (3) It would have been lawful for Ahab to have purchased 11, lease of the vineyard of Na both at a fair price, leaving it in the power of Ne.both to have redoomed it; o.nd for it to revert to Ne.both or his heirs in the jubilee (Levit. xxv. 23-28). But this desire to possess it, even under these conditions, could not be justified if a refusal should lead him to go home" h.ee,vy and displeased" e,nd sicken with oho.grin. Ahab's discontent brought its own punishment. He was o. king, yet discontented. Discontent ie o. disease of the soul rather than of the circumstances.-J. A. M. Vers. 6-14.-.A Sinfitl Nation. Time wo.s when the Hebrew nation was great and respected, "11, praise in the earth" for kings wise and honoura.ble, for magistmtes upright and noble, and for o. people faithful and true. But how completely is all this changed I A more pitiable picture of national depravity could scarcely be drawn than that presented in the text. Here we have- I. AN INIQUITOUS PALACE. 1. The king is utterly unprincipled. (1) See him "heavy and displeased," sick with rage and chagrin, lying in bed in o. sulk, his face turned e.wo.y, refusing to eat. And what for? What dreadful calamity has befallen him? Simply that ho could not have the vineyard of Na both for a gar~en of herbs I (2) But, to make things worse, he could not have it without in- dncmg No.both to transgress God's lo.w (see Levit. xxv. 2il}. No.both had too much respect ~or t!-1e 19:w to yield. Ahab was reo.lly sulking age.inst God I (3) What o. model king 1s th!s I How could he expeot his subjects to be lo.w-11biding when he sl!<?wed the_m ~e example? Who.t a royo.l soul to tako it thus to heart that in ad- dition to hlS kmgdom he cannot have this vineyard I 2. His queen is a, " cursed woman." (1) Such is the ~tyle in which she is described by Jehu (2 Kings ix. 34). ~he seems never t<;> have f~iled in any incident of her life to justify this description. (~) N<?w she pro1:11ses to give f\.h:tb the vineyard of No.both. Thus she euoomaged his evil humour, mstead of pomtmg out to him, as she should ho.ve done, his folly. 522 THE FIRST DOOK OF KINGS. [cH. XXI, 1-29,