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2 Kings Chapter
One
2 Kings 1
Chapter Contents
The revolt of Moab-Sickness of Ahaziah, king of Israel.
(1-8) Fire called from heaven by Elijah-Death of Ahaziah. (9-18)
Commentary on 2 Kings 1:1-8
(Read 2 Kings 1:1-8)
When Ahaziah rebelled against the Lord, Moab revolted
from him. Sin weakens and impoverishes us. Man's revolt from God is often
punished by the rebellion of those who owe subjection to him. Ahaziah fell
through a lattice, or railing. Wherever we go, there is but a step between us
and death. A man's house is his castle, but not to secure him against God's
judgments. The whole creation, which groans under the burden of man's sin,
will, at length, sink and break under the weight like this lattice. He is never
safe that has God for his enemy. Those that will not inquire of the word of God
for their comfort, shall hear it to their terror, whether they will or no.
Commentary on 2 Kings 1:9-18
(Read 2 Kings 1:9-18)
Elijah called for fire from heaven, to consume the
haughty, daring sinners; not to secure himself, but to prove his mission, and
to reveal the wrath of God from heaven, against the ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men. Elijah did this by a Divine impulse, yet our Saviour
would not allow the disciples to do the like, Luke 9:54. The dispensation of the Spirit and of
grace by no means allowed it. Elijah was concerned for God's glory, those for
their own reputation. The Lord judges men's practices by their principles, and
his judgment is according to truth. The third captain humbled himself, and cast
himself upon the mercy of God and Elijah. There is nothing to be got by
contending with God; and those are wise for themselves, who learn submission
from the fatal end of obstinacy in others. The courage of faith has often
struck terror into the heart of the proudest sinner. So thunderstruck is
Ahaziah with the prophet's words, that neither he, nor any about him, offer him
violence. Who can harm those whom God shelters? Many who think to prosper in
sin, are called hence like Ahaziah, when they do not expect it. All warns us to
seek the Lord while he may be found.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 2 Kings》
2 Kings 1
Verse 1
[1] Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of
Ahab.
Moab — This had been subdued by David, as Edom was; and upon
the division of his kingdom, Moab was adjoined to that of Israel, and Edom to
that of Judah, each to that kingdom upon which it bordered. But when the
kingdoms of Israel and Judah were weak and forsaken by God, they took that
opportunity to revolt from them; Moab here, and Edom a little after.
Verse 2
[2] And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper
chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said
unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of
this disease.
Chamber — In which, the lattess might be left to convey light
into the lower room. But the words may be rendered, through the battlements (or
through the lattess in the battlements) of the roof of the house. Where,
standing and looking through, and leaning upon this lattess, it broke, and he
fell down into the court or garden.
Baal-zebub — Properly, the god of flies; an
idol so called, because it was supposed to deliver those people from flies;
Jupiter and Hercules were called by a like name among the Grecians. And it is
evident, both from sacred and prophane histories, That the idol-gods, did
sometimes through God's permission, give the answers; though they were
generally observed, even by the Heathens themselves, to be dark and doubtful.
Verse 3
[3] But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite,
Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them,
Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of
Baalzebub the god of Ekron?
And say — Dost thou not cast contempt on the God of Israel, as
if he were either ignorant of the event of thy disease, or unable to give thee
relief; and as if Baal-zebub had more skill and power than he?
Verse 5
[5] And when the messengers turned back unto him, he said
unto them, Why are ye now turned back?
Why, … — Before you have been at Ekron: which he knew by their
quick return.
Verse 8
[8] And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt
with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the
Tishbite.
An hairy man — His garment was rough and hairy, such
as were worn by eminent persons in Greece, in ancient times; and were the
proper habit of the prophets.
Girdle — As John the baptist also had. That by his very outward
habit, he might represent Elijah, in whose spirit and power he came.
Verse 9
[9] Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his
fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he
spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down.
Man of God — So he calls him by way of scorn.
Come — The king commands thee to come to him: which if thou
refuseth, I am to carry thee by force.
Verse 10
[10] And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If
I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and
thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his
fifty.
Let fire, … — Elijah did this, not to secure
himself, he could have done that some other way: nor to revenge himself, for it
was not his own cause that he acted in: but to prove his mission, and to reveal
the wrath of God from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men.
Verse 11
[11] Again also he sent unto him another captain of fifty
with his fifty. And he answered and said unto him, O man of God, thus hath the
king said, Come down quickly.
And said — He discovers more petulancy than the former; and
shews, how little he was moved by the former example.
Verse 13
[13] And he sent again a captain of the third fifty with his
fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees
before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee,
let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy
sight.
Besought — Expressing both reverence to his person, and a dread
of God's judgments. There is nothing to be got by contending with God: if we
would prevail with him, it must be by supplication. And those are wise who
learn submission from the fatal consequences of obstinacy in others.
Verse 16
[16] And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as
thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron, is it not
because there is no God in Israel to enquire of his word? therefore thou shalt
not come down off that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.
He said — To his very face. Nor durst the king lay hands upon
him, being daunted with the prophet's presence, and confidence; and affrighted
by the late dreadful evidence of his power with God.
Verse 17
[17] So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah
had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the
son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son.
Jehoram — His brother.
The son of Jehoshaphat — Jehoshaphat, in his
seventeenth year, when he went to Ahab, and with him to Ramoth-Gilead,
appointed his son Jehoram his vice-roy, and (in case of his death) his
successor. In the second year from that time, when Jehoram was thus made
vice-king in his father's stead; this Jehoram, Ahab's son, began to reign: and
in the fifth year of the reign of this Jehoram son of Ahab, which was about the
twenty-fourth year of Jehoshaphat's reign, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat was made
king of Judah, together with his father.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 2 Kings》
01 Chapter 1
Verses 1-18
And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice.
Worldly royalty and personal godliness
I. Worldly royalty
in a humiliating condition.
1. A king in mortal suffering.
2. A king in mental distress.
3. A king in superstitious darkness.
II. Personal
godliness divinely majestic. Elijah is an example of personal godliness,
though, in a worldly sense, he was very poor, and his costume seemed to be
almost the meanest of the mean. But see the majesty of this man in two things.
1. In receiving communications from heaven. “But the angel of the
Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite.”
2. In reproving the king. Which is the better--a throne or a godly
character? Fools only prefer the former. (Homilist.)
Ahaziah
I. That men in
calamity naturally seek a refuge. Whatever was the character of the accident
which befell Ahaziah, it awakened in his mind the greatest concern, so that he
was apprehensive of his life, and he wanted to know the issue of his affliction.
And, so like Ahaziah, all men seek shelter when the storm gathers around them,
that they may be shielded from its violence.
II. That the
refuges of the wicked are often vain. Ahaziah sent his messengers to
Baal-zebub, as his only hope in distress, but they were not permitted even to
reach the shrine of that deity. So that the god of Ekron was of no help to the
King of Israel.
III. That calamity
or affliction alone is not sufficient to lead men to repentance. Sometimes it
is thought that by means of adverse circumstances men can be brought to God;
but it was not so in the ease of Ahaziah.
IV. That God will
vindicate His own honour against the rebellion of the wicked. Ahaziah, by
seeking to consult Baal-zebub, ignored Jehovah, and thus dishonoured Him in the
eyes of the people. In whatever way men may refuse to acknowledge God, and
rebel against Him, He, in His own time, will bring them to nought, and
vindicate His character as a God of honour, majesty, mercy, and love. (T.
Cain.)
False religious appeals
Ahaziah, the man of whom this chapter speaks, was the son of Ahab
and of Jezebel. He was badly born. Some allowance must be made for this fact in
estimating his character. Ahaziah fell through the lattice, and in his
helplessness he became religious. Man must have some God. Even atheism is a
kind of religion. When a man recoils openly from what may be termed the public
faith of his country, he seeks to apologise for his recoil, and to make up for
his church absence by creating high obligations of another class: he plays the
patriot; he plays the disciplinarian--in some way he will try to make up for,
or defend, the recoil of his soul from the old altar of his country. It is in
their helplessness that we really know what men are. The cry for friendship is
but a subdued cry for God. Sometimes men will invent gods of their own. It is
said of Shakespeare that he first exhausted worlds, and then invented new. That
was right. It was but of the liberty of a poet so to do. But it is no part of
the liberty of the soul. Necessity forbids it, because the true God cannot be
exhausted. Who can exhaust nature? Who can exhaust nature’s God? Still, the
imagination of man is evil continually. He will invent new ways of enjoying
himself. He will degrade religion into a mere form of interrogation. This is
what Ahaziah did in this instance: “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub” (2 Kings 1:2). All that we sometimes
want of God is that He should be the great fortune-teller. If He will tell us
how this transaction will turn out, how this speculation will fructify, how
this illness will terminate, how this revolution will eventuate--that is all we
want with Him; a question-answering God; a God that will specially take care of
us and nurse us into strength, that we may spend that strength in reviling
against His throne. How true it is that Ahaziah represents us all in making his
religion into a mere form of question-asking; in other words, into a form of
selfishness! Nothing can be so selfish as religion. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Elijah and the god of Ekron
The 5th of February 1685 witnessed a sad scene in the
palace of Whitehall. The second Charles lay in the last agony, while, amid the
courtly circle around his bed, stood Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, and
Ken, the Bishop of Bath and Wells. “The king is really and truly a Catholic,”
whispers the Duchess of Portsmouth to the French ambassador; “and yet his
bed-chamber is full of Protestant clergymen.” The fact had been long suspected,
and gave additional earnestness to the holy men who desired to prepare the
dying monarch for his inevitable and solemn change. “It is time to speak out,
sir,” exclaims Sancroft; “for you are about to appear before a Judge who is no
respecter of persons.” “Will you not die in the communion of the Church of
England?” anxiously asks Ken; the king gives no response. “Will you receive the
sacrament?” continues the bishop.; the king replies, “There is no hurry, and I
am too weak.” “Do you wish pardon of sin?” rejoins the favourite prelate, whose
hymns are still sung in our Christian churches; the dying man carelessly adds,
“It can do me no hurt”--on which, says Macaulay, “the bishop put forth all his
eloquence, till his pathetic exhortation awed and melted the bystanders to such
a degree, that some among them believed him to be filled with the same spirit
which in the old time, had, by the mouths of Nathan and Elias, called sinful
princes to repentance.” To complete the parallel we propose, we must notice
another incident in this dying scene. “If it costs me my life,” exclaims the
Duke of York, afterwards James II., “I will fetch a priest.” With some
difficulty he is found, He is smuggled into the royal presence, and the chamber
of death. “He is welcome,” says Charles. The monarch who refused to listen to
Sancroft and Ken, had an open ear for Father Huddleston. The monarch who was
unwilling to die in the Church of England, is perfectly willing to die in the
Church of Rome, For three-quarters of an hour he “confesses,” adores the
“crucifix,” receives the mysterious virtues of “extreme unction,” and at
length, with an apology to his attendants that he has been “a most
unconscionable time dying,” he breathes his last, an apostate from the faith
inseparable from England’s throne, and for his abandonment of which his own
successor died an exile on the charity of a foreign land. Let Ahaziah take the
place of Charles II.; let his idolatry be represented in the Popery of the
British monarch; let the application to the god of Ekron be symbolised in the
welcome given to the Romish monk; and, last of all, let Elijah by the bedside
of the King of Israel, dealing faithfully with the soul departing there, be the
type of good Sancroft and Ken by that other couch, using all their entreaties
to make the sufferer think of his approaching end--and the parallel is
well-nigh complete. The mention of Ekron and Baal-zebub introduces the subject
of the heathen oracles, which played such an important part in all the nations
of antiquity. Even among the Jews, it is believed by many, a true oracle
existed--namely, the Urim and Thummim (“lights and perfections,” as the words
denote), on the high priest’s breastplate; and that, when the Divine response
was to be given, it was manifested either in an audible voice from the twelve
precious stones, or in their appearance changing in keeping with the
answer--brighter for an affirmative, and duller for a negative reply. What are
usually known, however, as the heathen oracula were very different. They were
also very numerous: the small province of Boeotia, in Greece, having
twenty-five, and the Peloponnesus as many; but the most celebrated were Delphi,
Dodona, and Jupiter Ammon in the deserts of Lybia. We get a glimpse of one of
the oracular priestesses in the life of Paul, where the reference, we think,
abundantly proves that the heathen oracles were under Satanic control. Such
being admitted, we need not add they were only a system of imposture and
falsehood, a “lying in wait to deceive,” “cunningly devised fables,” as Peter
expresses it, where the allusion is unmistakable. There was more than mere fury
about the Pythia; and it may be that the commonplace expression about there
being “method in madness” has been literally borrowed from her. Never did
ambiguity find itself of such use as on the consecrated tripod, or beneath the
decayed oak-tree. Croesus., King of Lydia, asks what will be the issue of a war
with Persia, and he receives as reply, “If you war with them, you will destroy a great
kingdom.” Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, desires to know what will be the result, if
he assists the Tarentines against the Romans, and the response may either mean
that he is to conquer the Romans, or that the Romans are to conquer him. In
both instances, Croesus and Pyrrhus were defeated and ruined, but of course the
oracle was right, and its credit maintained. Many lessons might be drawn from
that darkened chamber, where lies the son of Ahab, arrayed in the last robe he
will ever need. We mention only one--the folly of men when they forsake the
ways of God to pay homage to idols of any kind, or in hopeless attempt to
unveil the future. As to the former all the Ekrons of earth--whether pride of
reason, or personal merit, or the general mercy of God--are only vanity and a
snare; there is but one Rock of hope, security, and strength, “and that Rock is
Christ.” As to the latter--the attempt to unveil the future, we know what Saul
made of it in his visit to Endor, and we have seen what Ahaziah made of it in
his proposed message to Ekron. “Just men made perfect” have other occupation
than to be the tools of the clairvoyant; and lost spirits, we may be sure, are
in no mood for such work. Away with your mediums, their bandaged eyes and
pencilled messages, hands waving in the air, and all the dark arts of this
latest charlatanry, the most wretched and profane of all modem shams. “God is
His own interpreter”; and neither to shrines at Ekron nor Boston, neither to Baal-zebub nor
Daniel Home, will He give the power of unlocking the destinies of men. (H.
T. Howat.)
Religion only needed in trouble
It is the habit of some people only to seek spiritual support in
times of trouble and difficulty. When the clouds have passed they think no more
of the truths that comforted them in sorrow. Dr. Moule, the Bishop of Durham,
in his recently published book, From Sunday to Sunday, relates the
following incident: “A friend told me the tale a few years ago as we paced
together the deck of a steamship on the Mediterranean, and talked of the things
unseen. The chaplain of a prison, intimate with the narrator, had to deal with
a man condemned to death. He found the man anxious, as well he might be; nay,
he seemed more than anxious--convicted, spiritually alarmed. The chaplain’s instructions
all bore upon the power of the Redeemer to save to the uttermost; and it seemed
as if the message were received and the man were a believer. Meanwhile, behind
the scenes, the chaplain had come to think that there was ground for appeal
from the death-sentence. He placed the matter before the proper authorities,
and with success. On his next visit, very cautiously and by way of mere
suggestions and surmises, he led the apparently resigned criminal towards the
possibility of a commutation. What would he say, how would his repentance
stand, if his life were granted him? The answer soon came. Instantly the
prisoner divined the position; asked a few decisive questions, then threw his
Bible across the cell, and, civilly thanking the chaplain for his attentions,
told him that he had no further need of him nor of his book.” The Bible, like
prayer, was never meant exclusively for the hours of darkness. It has a message
for every time and every occasion of life.
Prayer through fear
When I was at school in France, an English boy who was sleeping in
the next bed to mine in a large dormitory said, “There will be thunder and
lightning to-night!” When I asked, “How do you know?” he replied, “Because
So-and-so,” referring to a French boy who seldom prayed, “is saying his
prayers.” He meant that this boy only said his prayers when he was frightened,
or by fits and starts. Ah! that is what we are all liable to do, and that is
the very danger I want to guard you against. Beware that you do not pray by
fits and starts. (Quiver.)
Then the king sent unto
him a captain of fifty.
The destruction of the two
captains with their companies
Consider--
I. The
steps which led up to this miracle.
1. Seeking
help where it was not to be found, in direct violation of the law of God. If a
member of a family were to break his arm, and instead of applying to the family
surgeon who had in the past given full proof of his skill, were to seek the
advice of a quack, he would be sinning against himself, and insulting the man
who was able and willing to cure him. This was the conduct of Ahaziah towards
the God of his nation.
2. A
Divine rebuke (2 Kings
1:3).
God does not leave transgressors to pursue their way without remonstrance.
3. A
message to take Elijah prisoner.
II. The
miracle itself.
1. The
fire, if not miraculous in itself, was miraculous in its manner of executing the
will of God. It came from heaven at the call of Elijah.
2. It
was in keeping with the recent proof of Elijah’s Divine commission given on
Mount Carmel (1 Kings
18:38).
3. The
miracle was arrested, and the prophet was arrested by a force not sent by the
king (2 Kings
1:13-15).
Lessons.
1. Help
must be sought where God has appointed that it shall be found (John
14:6; Acts
4:12).
2. The
responsibility of the individual man.
3. When
God has spoken He cannot change His word unless the sinner changes his way.
4. The
only strength that can conquer heaven is the strength of supplication. (Outlines
of Sermons by a London Minister.)
Man in three aspects
I. Man
ruined through the conduct of others. This awful judgment came upon them
not merely on their own account, but as messengers of the king. Throughout the
human race there are found millions groaning under the trials and sufferings
brought on them by the conduct of others.
II. Man
employed as the executor of Divine justice. God’s plan in this world is to
punish as well as to save man by man.
III. Man
stepping into the place of the dead. The King Ahaziah dies, Jehoram steps into
his place. “One generation cometh, and another passeth away.” Places,
positions, and the various offices of life are no sooner vacated by death than
they are stepped into by others. (Homilist.)
On tolerance of error
Now, it is obvious that,
terrible as this judgment seems to us, it was not contrary to God’s will. It is
easy to say that the captain was only executing the king’s orders, and that the
fifty soldiers had no responsibility save that of obeying their leader. But we
have still more right to say that He, who would have spared Sodom if ten
righteous had been found in it, would not have consumed these two bands of
fifty men if any God-fearing men had been amongst them. The king’s attempt to
seize the prophet was an open defiance of God, and, moderate as the wording of
the captain’s summons seems, the tone may easily have shown utter contempt both
for God and for Elijah. We may well believe, therefore, that Elijah on this
occasion, as when he destroyed the priests of Baal, knew that he was fulfilling
God’s purpose of judgment. But now, thank God, all judgment has been committed
to Him who died for sinners and prayed for His murderers. The Cross of Christ
has completely changed the attitude of Christian people towards the enemies of God. How
dare we treat as reprobate those for whom Christ died! While the day of grace
lasts there is hope for the very worst. There is little fear, however, of
Elijah’s example being followed in the present day. Protestants, at any rate,
have given up issuing excommunications and hurling anathemas at the heads of
notorious offenders. We are all for toleration now, and any attempt to restrain
men’s liberty of thought and action is hotly resented. Surely the pendulum has
swung too far. We need not in our dread of religious intolerance lull into
religious indifference, and regard all errors in faith and practice with
complacent apathy. Truth must always be intolerant of error. Nine times nine
are eighty-one, and you would not tolerate a teacher who said they were eighty.
Truth cannot tolerate error without denying itself. Where personal comfort and
safety are concerned society is absolutely intolerant. Few would tolerate
having a smallpox patient in their house. Is it reasonable to be so intolerant
of infection for the body and so careless as to moral infection for the mind
and soul! Shall the authorities step in and strip off the very paper from the
walls in their zeal for sanitation? and shall we allow men of known impurity of
life and those who scoff at prayer to mix freely with our sons and daughters?
The zeal of the Crusader who gloried in slaying the infidel is surely more righteous
than the indifference of the modern Laodicean, who has not a single truth that
he thinks worth fighting for. We want more hatred of evil in these days. The
popular novelist delights in confusing the issues, and making sin seem right
and beautiful. There is sacred liberty of thought which is the dearest right of
Protestants, but it is not to be made a cloak of maliciousness. We have no
right to think wrong thoughts. While all the progress in the world is due to
freedom of thought, it is the correctness of the thought, not the freedom of
it, which has achieved the good. Loose thinking is as bad as loose living. The
man who is filled with the Spirit will witness plainly and fearlessly against
both. (F. S. Webster, M. A.)
The captains of Ahazian
destroyed by fire
1. See,
here, the power of God, revealing His wrath from “heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” In all, and each, of these cases, the
authority was that of God, the power was that of God. Let no man, therefore,
wrest this Scripture to his own destruction, nor look upon it as furnishing any
precedent, or encouragement to persecute, in our own day, the enemies of the
Lord.
2. Our
duty is to confess Christ before men, and neither by word, nor deed, to
compromise any, the minutest parts, of His gracious counsels. We must rebuke
the gainsayers, recall the erring, confirm the wavering, and instruct the
ignorant; but, in doing this, we must not take a single step in our own
strength, or wisdom, we must look ever unto Him, who in this, as in every other
case, hath left us “an example that we should follow His steps”; “not rendering
evil for evil, or railing for railing; but contrariwise blessing, knowing that
we are thereunto caned, that we should inherit a blessing.”
3. Elijah’s
history furnishes us with fresh motives to prayer and perseverance. If God hath
spoken, here, in the accents of terror, He hath spoken, also, in the accents of
compassion; if the destruction of two of Ahaziah’s captains, with their
companies, points out the danger of persecuting the saints of God, and the
speedy death of Ahaziah exposes, no less clearly, the wretched presumption of
the rebel creature, when he attempts to set at nought God’s counsels; yet, the
withholding punishment from the third captain, who fell on his knees before
Elijah, and entreated that the life of himself and of his followers might be
precious in his sight, proves no less clearly that, in His wrath, the Lord
remembers mercy! What greater encouragement to well-doing can the faithful servant
of God receive, than the protection here vouchsafed to the Tishbite?
4. Assuredly,
the records of Elijah’s ministry have placed this blessed truth plainly and
palpably before us; may they lead us more heartily to obey the will of Him who
revealed it! May the lustre which the Gospel pours upon those records, reveal
more distinctly the weakness of our own nature, and the glorious hope of
redemption, set before us through Christ! May this guide our footsteps in peace
along the course of the life that now is! (J. S. M. Anderson, M. A.)
Destructive forces in the
hand of God
The Bible does
occasionally lift the veil, and shows us how the destructive forces of nature
have been the servants of the will of a moral God. It was so when the waters of
the Red Sea returned violently on the Egyptian pursuers of Israel. It was so
when at the prayer of Elijah the messengers of Ahaziah were struck dead by
lightning. It was so when Jonah was fleeing to Tarshish from the presence of
the Lord: “The Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty
tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.” It was so when
there arose a great storm on the Sea of Galilee, that the disciples might learn
to trust the power of their sleeping Master. And it was so when St. Paul, bound
on his Romeward voyage, was wrecked on the shore of Malta. In all these cases
we see “the wind and the storm fulfilling His word”; because the Bible enables
us to see exactly how in each case God’s word or will was fulfilled. But there
is much in modem history, perhaps in our own lives and experience, which seems
to us to illustrate the matter scarcely less vividly. Our ancestors saw God’s
hand in the storm which scattered the great Armada; and a century later the
wind which buried the intruding successor of the saintly Ken beneath the
chimneys of his own palace at Wells, seemed to pious Churchmen of the day to be
not improbably a mark of the Divine displeasure. There are obvious difficulties
which our Lord points to in His allusion to the loss of life at the fall of the
Tower of Siloam; there are obvious difficulties in pressing such inferences too
confidently or too far. But we may see enough, and we may have reason to
suspect more that enables us to be certain of this, that nature is in the hand
of the Ruler of the moral world, and that we may be sure of a moral purpose,
whether we can exactly make it out or not, in the use which He makes of it. (Dean
Farrar.)
Verse
13
Let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants be precious
in thy sight.
The preciousness of life
Question naturally arises, Is life precious? How does God value
it? And how should His servants regard it?
I. This question seems to be
answered in the negative.
1. By the general tenor of the Old Testament. Sinai thundered and
lightened. The sight thereof was terrible. The voice was death. The Flood.
Destruction of Sodom. Overthrows in the wilderness. Death of the two captains
with their fifties.
2. By God’s continued judgments on the impenitent. The Galileans in
our Lord’s day. “Except ye repent” (Luke 13:1-5). Many instances of this
in the New Testament: Ananias and Sapphira; Herod Agrippa, in Acts 12:1-25.
II. But for two reasons the
reply is in the affirmative.
1. Because many lives were spared in the Old Testament.
2. Because the greatest life of all has been given for all the
children of men. Herein the Mosaic law fulfilled, which said, A life for a
life. Nothing so highly esteemed of God as “the precious blood of Christ.” It
was the full price of our salvation, and its efficacy is eternal (Psalms 49:8; Hebrews 9:12).
Application.
1. There is no need that you should doubt whether God will receive you.
You need not even retreat, “Let my life be precious in Thy sight.” It is
precious. The best proof of this has been given.
2. Do not manifest an un-Christlike spirit. “Vengeance is mine.” Our
duty is plain, to be like Christ in valuing the lives of our brethren. He came
not to destroy life, but to save. (J. G. Tanner, M. A.)
Verse 15-16
Go down with him, be not afraid.
The old courage again
The age of the Mosaic Law, which shed its empire over the
times of Elijah, was preeminently the era in which those awful and splendid
attributes of the Divine character--God’s holiness, justice, righteousness, and
severity against sin--stood out in massive prominence; as some of us, from the
ancient capital of Switzerland, have seen the long line of Bernese Alps, rising
above the plain in distant and majestic splendour; cold in the grey dawn; or
flushed with the light of morn and eve. It was only when those lessons had been
completely learnt, that mankind was able to appreciate the love of God which is
in Jesus Christ our Lord. That there was no malice in Elijah is clear from his
willingness to go with the third captain, who spoke with reverence and
humility. “And the angel of the Lord said, Go down with him; be not afraid of
him. And Elijab went down with him unto the king.”
I. The meekness
and gentleness of Christ. The only fire He sought was the fire of the Holy
Ghost. “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will I if it is already
kindled.” He strove not to avenge Himself, or vindicate the majesty of His
nature. “He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself.”
II. The
impossibility of God ever condoning defiant and blasphemous sin. We have fallen
on soft and degenerate days when, under false notions of charity and
liberality, men are paring down their conceptions of the evil of sin, and of
the holy wrath of God, which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men.
III. Elijah’s full
restoration to the exercise of a glorious faith. In a former time the message
of Jezebel was enough to make him flee. But in this ease he stood his ground,
though an armed band came to capture him. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》