Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.

And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.

Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.

And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?

And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.

COMMENT.-This is one of the most wonderful chapters in all Scripture. Elijah was cruelly disappointed. All the wonderful deeds he had done had led to an utter failure; his heart was broken, and he was in utter despair. He fled from the face of man, and hastening out into the dreary desert of the wanderings of Israel among the white, dull, stony hills, he lay down in exhaustion beneath one of the low shrubs in the waste, and murmured a request for himself that he might die as his fathers—as Moses and Aaron themselves, had died, in that wilderness. Then, worn out, he sank into a sleep, and merely woke at the touch of an angel to eat of the unleavened bread, such as was baked on ashes, and to drink of the water, prepared for him. It seems as though mind and body were so spent by the great conflict with the Baalites, the wrestling in prayer, the disappointment and the flight, that he scarcely was enough awake to be sensible of the marvel that an angel was watching over him and tending him as a mother tends a weary child. Twice he awoke, and partook of that bread from heaven -bread of such miraculous nourishment that it supported him through the forty days when, like Moses before, and One greater than Moses afterwards, he remained without tasting of other food, journeying on until he reached Horeb, the Mount of God, the same where Moses had seen the Fire in the bush and heard the first call, and where that covenant had been given which was now so utterly broken and despised.

There Elijah found a cave where he slept. It may well have been the very cleft of the rock where Moses was hidden when the glory of the Lord passed by ; and there it was that the Lord's voice came unto him, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" rebuking him, as it were, for having deserted his task. Then Elijah answered with a piteous representation of that wilful apostasy that he had striven in vain to check. He believed himself alone to be left, and his life was sought, but he did not repeat his entreaty for death. Then God bade him stand on the rock. He stood in awe while three awful tokens of wrath passed by, the wind, the earthquake, and the fire; yet here the Lord was not. God sends His judgments to prepare His way, but He-He Himself-comes with the "still small voice," the breath of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. As He had proclaimed before Moses in that very mount, He is the "Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." The famine and the slaughter which Elijah had found in vain, were not His only ways of dealing with men. He can speak to their hearts in ways of which none knows. So God sent Elijah back to the deserts towards Damascus, bordering on Israel, but appointed three avengersHazael, Jehu, and Elisha,—who should live for the punishment of the apostate Samaria; yet all the time He assures Elijah that the still small voice was with seven thousand Israelites who had never done homage to the false god.

Yet in fallen Israel are there hearts and eyes,
That day by day in prayer like thine arise:

Thou know'st them not, but their Creator knows.

So, however solitary we may feel, we may always be sure that God joins our prayers with those of the numbers "whose life is hid with Christ in God."

Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,

LORD, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Thus again, in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul refers to these seven thousand as showing that, however evil the times, God is never without a holy remnant whom He has chosen to Himself; and thus we need never fear to be utterly alone and friendless.

In effect, Elijah only actually called Elisha as he was ploughing in his field in the Jordan valley. He must have been a rich man, since he had twelve yoke of oxen together at plough ; but when the wild-looking wanderer from the desert cast his coarse hairy mantle on him, he was ready to leave all and follow the call of God. He made a solemn feast of sacrifice to his family and servants, and gave up everything, feeling, as he said later in life, that this was no time for planting and building, caring for vineyards and oliveyards, when each good man had to strive to the utmost for his God. So Elisha, the wealthy landowner, went forth into the wilderness with the rough man of the desert, and ministered unto him, not knowing whither he went.

LESSON XVII.

THE SYRIAN INVASION.

B.C. 901.-1 KINGS XX. 1-21.

And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it.

And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad,

Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine.

And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine, and all that I have.

And the messengers came again and said, Thus speaketh Ben-hadad, saying, Although I have sent unto thee, saying, Thou shalt deliver me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children;

Yet I will send my servants unto thee to-morrow about this time, and they shall search thine house, and the houses of thy servants; and it shall be, that whatsoever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away.

Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeketh mischief: for he sent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my silver, and for my gold; and I denied him not.

And all the elders and all the people said unto him, Hearken not unto him, nor consent.

Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again.

And Ben-hadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me.

And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his harness* boast himself as he that putteth it off.

And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city. And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Even by the young men of the princes of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall order the battle? And he answered, Thou.

Then he numbered the young men of the princes of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two: and after them he numbered all the people, even all the children of Israel, being seven thousand.

And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him.

And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out of Samaria.

And he said, Whether they be come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they be come out for war, take them alive.

So these young men of the princes of the provinces came out of the city, and the army which followed them.

And they slew every one his man: and the Syrians fled; and Israel pursued them and Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped on an horse with the horsemen.

And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.

COMMENT. After the fire, a still small voice. The judgment had had its course; now God was about to grant a signal deliverance in mercy. Would this reclaim Israel? The appointing of Hazael as the avenger must have sounded strange to Elijah, for the

reigning dynasty in Syria were always called Benhadad, and one of these, coming forth with a mighty force of chariots and horses,' besieged Omri's new capital of Samaria, and called on Ahab to deliver up to him a contribution of gold, silver, and slaves, out of his own family and household. To this Ahab would have submitted; but a still more insolent message followed, the Syrians claiming to help themselves to whatever they pleased throughout Israel. This goaded Ahab into resistance. He seems to have been one of the indolent princes who frequently grow up in Eastern palaces-not actively wicked nor enterprising, but fairly brave when stirred up, and in general only too ready to let others act for them. This last insult roused him: he sent a defiance, and when Benhadad threatened him again, he returned a dignified, proverbial answer, "Let not him who is putting on his armour boast himself like him who putteth it off: "-wait till the battle is over before you settle what to do to the vanquished. Benhadad was before Samaria, drinking himself drunk in an arbour made with green boughs, when he received this answer. He bade the army be drawn out in order of battle. Meanwhile a prophet had come to Ahab, promising him deliverance from all this great multitude. Through whom? he asked. Then he was answered, through the young men, namely the armour-bearers of the chiefs of his provinces. There were about two hundred and thirty of these youths, and the great disproportion of their numbers with the huge Syrian host would be a signal proof that victory to them must come from the God of battles.

They went forth first, and behind them went the army of Israel, reduced by terror and distress to only seven thousand. When Benhadad, who was feasting with his thirty-two tributary kings, heard that the Israelites were coming forth, he bade them be surrounded and taken alive; but at their advance the mighty Syrian army was utterly defeated, and Benhadad himself was forced to flee on horseback at his utmost speed. Surely this might again teach Israel that the Lord He is the God, the Lord He is the God!