Then he said unto him, And he said, I may not neither will I eat bread

:

21 Though the wicked tempt us by a lie, that will not excuse our dis obedience. Does conscience whisper thee, that thou hast offended? O seek and obey that gracious God, who yet

spareth thee !

from Judah? And he said, I am. Come home with me, and eat bread. return with thee, nor go in with thee: nor drink water with thee in this place for it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water. And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back: 21 and he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, also stood by the carcase. And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him. And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him. And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.

ass.

the lion

and the old

And he

laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned over him,

31

my

His

31 This is a very affecting instance of remorse! The prophet felt that but for his lying tongue (verse 18) mourned a brother, whose fall he the man of God had still lived. He had himself brought about. only consolation seems to have been, to show honour to his memory; anxious that they who had been as prophets united in life, in their graves should not be divided.

saying, Alas, my brother! And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay bones beside his bones: for the saying which he cried by the word of the The grave buries all unkindness. LORD against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. EVENING. 1 KINGS Xvii.

1

4

com

1 Elijah is called in the New Testament Elias.

AND Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have manded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to directed them to have laboured for pass after a while, that the the sustentation of the holy fugitive! brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

brook Cherith, that is before

4 Blessed thought! no strait so dangerous but God's providence can and will conduct us safely out of it; no place so desolate but his presence cheers it; no destitution so complete but He relieveth it.

5 Elijah was wise enough to be exact in obeying a precise command. When the Lord in his word bids us do any thing, or go any whither, we cannot safely modify the command. Suppose the instinct of these birds might have directed them to procure flesh for their young, what but a miraculous combination of time and

6

place and circumstance could have

9 If one mode of our preservation fails, Divine Providence soon finds

out another.

And the word of the LORD
came unto him, saying, 'Arise,
get thee to Zarephath, which
belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I
manded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

have comSo he arose

12 An affecting picture this of patient misery-ever submissive to the will of God, and in submissive trust hoping against hope! patience, as it had its perfect work, had also its perfect reward.

Her

and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks and he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. 12 And she said, As the LORD 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. Elijah said unto 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. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. 15 How noble the faith of the widow! How complete its triumph!

15 And she went and did ac

And

cording to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her

house, did eat many days. 16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah. "And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And Is She attributed the sickness of she said unto Elijah, What her son to his impoverished nourishhave I to do with thee, O thou ment during the famine. man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give më thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD

16 He who created and sustained the palm tree in its richness, and the corn in its abundance, could by the same power bless the meal and the oil cruse; even as in an after age, by a few barley-loaves and five fishes, He fed to the full the hungry thousands in the wilderness.

17 If God take away our breath, we die! Art thou ready?

18

11

my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, Let this child's soul come into him again. 22 And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

22 This miracle was conclusive both as to the authority of the prophet's commission to declare the word of God, and as to the truth of the word

itself.

The ninth Sunday after Trinity.

MORNING. 1 KINGS Xviii.

AND it came to pass after many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab. And there was a sore famine in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) And Ahab said unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah? And he answered him, I am go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And he said, What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? As the LORD 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

4 When the righteous are in power, the people may hope for blessing.

thee not.

And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold,

16

12 Obadiah judged well of God's power and mercy to defend his faithful servants.

16 A good man's promise is always believed. Confidence in his word is the just tribute paid to his virtue.

Elijah is here. 12 And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the LORD 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 the LORD from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the LORD, how I hid an hundred men of the LORD's prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me. And Elijah said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to day. So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him and Ahab went to meet Elijah. And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal,

21

22

21 There is always danger in indecision. Hence the wisdom of Joshua's resolve, and the fatal folly of Laodicea's lukewarmness. (Rev. iii. 16.)

22 Strength consists, not in numbers, but in spirit and courage-in a just and righteous cause. The good man fears not, though he stand alone. His cause sustaineth him.

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 the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

And