where he was miraculously provided by ravens* with bread and flesh twice in the day, and drank from the brook.† The brook having dried up through want of rain, God directed the prophet to travel to Zarephath, which belonged to Zidon, where he had commanded a widow woman to sustain him. So far from this poor woman being provided with any human means of supplying the necessities of Elijah, he found her and an only child, suffering the extremity of want and deprivation through the famine; for she said, As Jehovah, thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. But Elijah said to her, Fear not; go, and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that Jehovah sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by Elijah.§ For thus saith Jehovah, the The genuine servants of God are sure to carry a blessing with them wherever they go; and those who shew them kind I retain the common idea according to our translation, although I am not ignorant that A. Clarke and others incline to the opinion that not ravens, or birds of any kind, but the Orbim, or the inhabitants of a place called Orbo, are intended.-A. Clarke in loco. +1 Kings, xvii. 2-7. Now Sarphas; Mr. Maundrell, who visited it, describes it as consisting of a few houses only, on the tops of the mountains. It lies between Tyre and Zidon. §1 Kings, xvii. 8-16. ness, although unconsciously, seldom fail of reaping a n reward. If this widow had not afforded shelter to th prophet, most probably she and her son would have perishe like the thousands of victims whom this famine destroyed but now her barrel of meal wasted not, nor did her cruse oil fail. Her son, however, fell sick, and died; and widow, who seemed conscious of some secret sin, thou the death of her son was a judgment from God. But El restored her child by a miracle, when his mother in th language of grateful faith exclaimed, Now by this I know th thou art a man of God, and that the word of Jehovah in mouth is truth.† The famine had now lasted three years, and the count was no doubt reduced to the last extremity, for the fami was very sore. God had concealed the prophet Elijah » that time, as well probably to prevent any applications him for relief, as to screen him from the persecution of A and Jezebel, for it seems clear that for some purpose or othe Ahab had made every exertion to discover him.‡ No however, Jehovah commanded the prophet to shew hins unto Ahab, and he would send rain upon the earth. Ma extremity is always God's opportunity; and thus it proved the present instance, for this command was given just at time when Ahab, in the utmost anxiety, had called Obad the governor of his house, and said to him; Go into the la unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks, peradvent we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, we lose not all the beasts.|| Although a courtier and in the service of Ahab, Obad was a good man, and feared Jehovah greatly; and which * 1 Kings, xvii. 18. +1 Kings, xvii. 17—24. § 1 Kings, xviii. 10. || 1 Kings, xviii. 1-5. fully exemplified by secreting one hundred and fifty of the prophets of Jehovah in a cave, and feeding them with bread and water at a moment of severe persecution, when Jezebel, the Zidonian wife of Ahab, was persecuting and destroying them throughout the land.* It was the will of God that Elijah should first of all encounter Obadiah, who immediately fell on his face exclaiming, Art thou that my lord Elijah? thereby testifying his respect alike for his person and character. Elijah having ordered him, with the authority of a prophet of God, to go and tell Ahab, Behold Elijah is here! Obadiah was alarmed and said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hands of Ahab, to slay me? As Jehovah, thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the spirit of Jehovah shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me; but I thy servant fear Jehovah from my youth.† Elijah having solemnly declared that it was his purpose to shew himself to Ahab upon that occasion, Obadiah laid aside his apprehensions and informed his sovereign, who immediately came to meet Elijah. He came, however, in a bad spirit, for as soon as he saw him he said, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? to which the prophet indignantly replied, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the 1 Kings, xviii. 3, 4. +1 Kings, xviii. 7-12. 1 Kings, xviii. 16. commandments of Jehovah, and thou hast followed Faali Now, therefore, send and gather to me all Israel unto moust Carmel, and the prophets of Baal,* four hundred and fi and the prophets of the groves,† four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table.+ Cowed by the authority of the prophet, Ahab hesitated not to comply with his command; and having assembled the nation and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah the addressed them; How long halt ye between two opinions If Jehovah be God follow him; but if Baal then follow him And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of Jehovah, but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. La them, therefore, give us two bullocks; and let them choos one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it wood, and put no fire under; and I will dress the other bu lock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under; and call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name Jehovah; and the God that answereth by fire, let him be Go And all the people answered and said, It is well spoke And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you bullock for yourselves and dress it first, for ye are many; call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. A they took the bullock which was given them, and the dressed it, and they called on the name of Baal, from m ing even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. was no voice, nor any that answered. But the And they leaped up There was peculiar propriety in Elijah's making fire the test his intended miracle; for as Apollo was the god of fire, a failure producing that element in the time of need, was the best evidence the vanity of his worship. the altar which was made.* And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked.† And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And it came to pass, when mid-day was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near And all the people came near unto him. And he Trepaired the altar of Jehovah that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of Jehovah came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: and with the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah : and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock unto me. A heathen priest, a high priest of Budhoo, has been just shewing me the manner in which they dance and jump up and down from side to side, twisting their bodies in all manner of ways when making their offerings to their dæmon gods; a person all the while beating furiously on a tom-tom, or drum, to excite and sustain those frantic attitudes; both at the same time imploring the succour of their god, frequently in some such language as this-" O loving brother devil, hear me, and receive my offering." To perform these sacrificial attitudes, they have persons who are taught to practise them from their earliest years, according to directions laid down in religious books; and to make the joints and body pliant, much anointing of the parts, and mechanical management, are used; and they have masters whose business it is to teach these attitudes and contortions, according to the rules laid down in those books."-A. Clarke. + A. Clarke has made this address irony indeed! Both Tacitus and Suetonius make mention of an altar on mount Carmel, in the time of Vespasian, which that emperor went to consult before he was raised to the purple.—A. Clarke. |