1Ki 16:1<\/span>. Then<\/em> [R.V. and<\/strong> ] the word of the Lord came<\/em> ] The conjunction is the simple copula, and this verse is in close connexion with the closing sentence of the previous chapter.<\/p>\n Jehu the son of Hanani<\/em> ] This prophet, named in this chapter and in 2Ch 19:2 ; 2Ch 20:34<\/span>, was the son of that prophet Hanani who rebuked Asa (2Ch 16:7-10<\/span>) for his alliance with the Syrians against Baasha. Jehu seems to have lived in Jerusalem, though his prophetical ministry was mainly directed to the kingdom of Israel. He rebuked Jehoshaphat king of Judah for his alliance with Ahab, and must have outlived Jehoshaphat, as a history of that king’s reign is said (2Ch 20:34<\/span>) to be contained in this prophet’s writings. Jehu must therefore have begun his labours as a prophet at an early age.<\/p>\n Hanani, the father of Jehu, was seer to Asa in the kingdom of Judah 2Ch 16:7-10<\/span>. His son Jehu, who here discharges the same office in the kingdom of Israel, appears at a later date as an inhabitant of Jerusalem where he prophesied under Jehoshaphat, whom he rebuked on one occasion. He must have lived to a great age, for he outlived Jehoshaphat, and wrote his life (marginal references).<\/P> <\/p>\n CHAPTER XVI <\/P> Jehu the prophet denounces the destruction of Baasha<\/I>,1-7.<\/P> Zimri conspires against him, and slays him and his family, and<\/I><\/P> reigns seven days<\/I>, 8-15.<\/P> The people make Omri king, and besiege Zimri in Tirzah; who,<\/I><\/P> finding no way to escape, sets fire to his palace, and consumes<\/I><\/P> himself in it<\/I>, 16-20.<\/P> The people are divided, half following Tibni, and half Omri;<\/I><\/P> the latter faction overcomes the former, Tibni is slain, and<\/I><\/P> Omri reigns alone<\/I>, 21-23.<\/P> He founds Samaria<\/I>, 24.<\/P> His bad character and death<\/I>, 25-28.<\/P> Ahab reigns in his stead; marries Jezebel, restores idolatry,<\/I><\/P> and exceeds his predecessors in wickedness<\/I>, 29-33.<\/P> Hiel the Beth-elite rebuilds Jericho<\/I>, 34. <\/P> NOTES ON CHAP. XVI<\/P> <\/P> Verse 1<\/span>. Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu<\/B><\/I>] Of this prophet we know nothing but from this circumstance. It appears from 2Ch 16:7-10<\/span>, that his father Hanani<\/I> was also a prophet, and suffered imprisonment in consequence of the faithful discharge of his ministry to Asa.<\/P> <\/p>\n Jehu, a prophet, of whom see more 2Ch 19:2<\/span>; 20:34<\/span>. Hanani<\/B> also was a prophet, 2Ch 16:7<\/span>. <\/P> <\/p>\n 1. Then the word of the Lord came toJehu<\/B>This is the only incident recorded in the life of thisprophet. His father was also a prophet (2Ch16:7<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani<\/strong>,…. The seer that reproved Asa, 2Ch 16:7<\/span>, so that this man was the son of a prophet then living, and was a young man; for we hear of him several years after reproving Jehoshaphat, 2Ch 19:2<\/span>, and as a writer of history, 2Ch 20:34<\/span>, the prophecy that came to him from the Lord was<\/p>\n against Baasha<\/strong>; king of Israel:<\/p>\n saying<\/strong>; as follows.<\/p>\n 1Ki 16:7<\/span> adds a supplementary remark concerning the words of Jehu (1Ki 16:2<\/span>.), not to preclude an excuse that might be made, in which case would have to be taken in the sense of nevertheless, or notwithstanding (Ewald, 354, a<\/em>.), but to guard against a misinterpretation by adding a new feature, or rather to preclude an erroneous inference that might be drawn from the words, “I (Jehovah) have made thee prince” (1Ki 16:2<\/span>), as through Baasha had exterminated Nadab and his house by divine command (Thenius). simply means “ and also<\/em>,” and is not to be connected specially with , but to be taken as belonging to the whole sentence: “also the word of Jehovah had come to Baasha through Jehu, … not only because of the evil, etc., but also ( … ) because he had slain him (Jeroboam).” With regard to this last reason, we must call to mind the remark made at 1Ki 11:39<\/span>, viz., that the prediction of the prophet to Baasha gave him no right to put himself forward arbitrarily as the fulfiller of the prophecy. The very fact that Baasha continued Jeroboam’s sin and caused the illegal worship to be perpetuated, showed clearly enough that in exterminating the family of Jeroboam he did not act under divine direction, but simply pursued his own selfish ends.<\/p>\n Ruin of Baasha’s Family Foretold.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 931.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 1 Then the word of the LORD<\/B> came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, 2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; 3 Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 4 Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat. 5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are<\/I> they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 6 So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead. 7 And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD<\/B> against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD<\/B>, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him. 8 In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years. 9 And his servant Zimri, captain of half his<\/I> chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of his<\/I> house in Tirzah. 10 And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. 11 And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that<\/I> he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends. 12 Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD<\/B>, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 13 For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the LORD<\/B> God of Israel to anger with their vanities. 14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are<\/I> they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?<\/P> Here is, I. The ruin of the family of Baasha foretold. He was a man likely enough to have raised and established his family–active, politic, and daring; but he was an idolater, and this brought destruction upon his family.<\/P> 1. God sent him warning of it before. (1.) That, if he were thereby wrought upon to repent and reform, the ruin might be prevented; for God threatens, that he may not strike, as one that desires not the death of sinners. (2.) That, if not, it might appear that the destruction when it did come, whoever might be instruments of it, was the act of God’s justice and the punishment of sin.<\/P> 2. The warning was sent by Jehu the son of Hanani.<\/I> The father was a seer, or prophet, at the same time (2 Chron. xvi. 7<\/span>), and was sent to Asa king of Judah; but the son, who was young and more active, was sent on this longer and more dangerous expedition to Baasha king of Israel. Juniores ad labores–Toil and adventure are for the young.<\/I> This Jehu was a prophet and the son of a prophet. Prophecy, thus happily entailed, was worthy of so much the more honour. This Jehu continued long in his usefulness, for we find him reproving Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xix. 2<\/span>) above forty years after, and writing the annals of that prince, 2 Chron. xx. 34<\/span>. The message which this prophet brought to Baasha is much the same with that which Ahijah sent to Jeroboam by his wife.<\/P> (1.) He reminds Baasha of the great things God had done for him (v.<\/I><\/span> 2<\/span>): I exalted thee out of the dust<\/I> to the throne of glory,<\/I> a great instance of the divine sovereignty and power, 1 Sam. ii. 8<\/span>. Baasha seemed to have raised himself by his own treachery and cruelty, yet there was a hand of Providence in it, to bring about God’s counsel, concerning Jeroboam’s house; and God’s owning his advancement as his act and deed does by no means amount to the patronising of his ambition and treachery. It is God that puts power into bad men’s hands, which he makes to serve his good purposes, notwithstanding the bad use they make of it. I made thee prince over my people.<\/I> God calls Israel his people still, though wretchedly corrupted, because they retained the covenant of circumcision, and there were many good people among them; it was not till long after that they were called Loammi, not a people,<\/I> Hos. i. 9<\/I><\/span>.<\/P> (2.) He charges him with high crimes and misdemeanours, [1.] That he had caused Israel to sin,<\/I> had seduced God’s subjects from their allegiance and brought them to pay to dunghill-deities the homage due to him only, and herein he had walked in the way of Jeroboam<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 2<\/span>), and been like his house,<\/I> v.<\/span> 7<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. [2.] That he had himself provoked God to anger with the work of his hands,<\/I> that is, by worshipping images, the work of men’s hands;<\/I> though perhaps others made them, yet he served them and thereby avowed the making of them, and they are therefore called the work of his hands.<\/I> [3.] That he had destroyed the house of Jeroboam<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 7<\/span>), because he killed him,<\/I> namely, Jeroboam’s son and all his: if he had done that with an eye to God, to his will and glory, and from a holy indignation against the sins of Jeroboam and his house, he would have been accepted and applauded as a minister of God’s justice; but, as he did it, he was only the tool of God’s justice, but a servant to his own lusts, and is justly punished for the malice and ambition which actuated and governed him in all he did. Note, Those who are in any way employed in denouncing or executing the justice of God (magistrates or ministers) are concerned to do it from a good principle and in a holy manner, lest it turn into sin to them and they make themselves obnoxious by it.<\/P> (3.) He foretels the same destruction to come upon his family which he himself had been employed to bring upon the family of Jeroboam, 1Ki 16:3<\/span>; 1Ki 16:4<\/span>. Note, Those who resemble others in their sins may expect to resemble them in their plagues, especially those who seem zealous against such sins in others as they allow themselves in; the house of Jehu was reckoned with for the blood of the house of Ahab, Hos. i. 4<\/span>.<\/P> II. A reprieve granted for some time, so long that Baasha himself dies in peace, and is buried with honour in his own royal city (v.<\/I><\/span> 6<\/span>), so far is he from being a prey either to the dogs or to the fowls, which yet was threatened to his house, v.<\/I><\/span> 4<\/span>. He lives not either to see or feel the punishment threatened, yet he was himself the greatest delinquent. Certainly there must be a future state, in which impenitent sinners will suffer in their own persons, and not escape, as often they do in this world. Baasha died under no visible stroke of divine vengeance for aught that appears, but God laid up his iniquity for his children,<\/I> as Job speaks, ch.<\/I><\/span> xxi. 19<\/span>. Thus he often visits sin. Observe, Baasha is punished by the destruction of his children after his death, and his children are punished by the abuse of their bodies after their death; that is the only thing which the threatening specifies (v.<\/I><\/span> 4<\/span>), that the dogs and the fowls of the air should eat them, as if herein were designed a tacit intimation that there are punishments after death, when death has done its worst, which will be the sorest punishments and are most to be dreaded; these judgments on the body and posterity signified judgments on the soul when separated from the body, by him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell.<\/I><\/P> III. Execution done at last. Baasha’s son Elah, like Jeroboam’s son Nadab, reigned two years, and then was slain by Zimri, one of his own soldiers, as Nadab was by Baasha; so like was his house made to that of Jeroboam, as was threatened, v.<\/I><\/span> 3<\/span>. Because his idolatry was like his, and one of the sins for which God contended with him being the destruction of Jeroboam’s family, the more the destruction of his own resembled that, the nearer did the punishment resemble the sin, as face answers to face in a glass.<\/P> 1. As then, so now, the king himself was first slain, but Elah fell more ingloriously than Nadab. Nadab was slain in the field of action and honour, he and his army then besieging Gibbethon (ch.<\/I><\/span> xv. 27<\/span>); but the siege being then raised upon that disaster, and the city remaining still in the Philistines’ hands, the army of Israel was now renewing the attempt (v.<\/I><\/span> 15<\/span>) and Elah should have been with them to command in chief, but he loved his own ease and safety better than his honour or duty, or the public good, and therefore staid behind to take his pleasure; and, when he was drinking himself drunk in his servant’s house,<\/I> Zimri killed him, 1Ki 16:9<\/span>; 1Ki 16:10<\/span>. Let it be a warning to drunkards, especially to those who designedly drink themselves drunk, that they know not but death may surprise them in that condition. (1.) Death comes easily upon men when they are drunk. Besides the chronic diseases which men frequently bring themselves into by hard drinking, and which cut them off in the midst of their days, men in that condition are more easily overcome by an enemy, as Amnon by Absalom, and are liable to more bad accidents, being unable to help themselves, (2.) Death comes terribly upon men in that condition. Finding them in the act of sin, and incapacitated for any act of devotion, that day comes upon them unawares<\/I> (Luke xxi. 34<\/span>), like a thief.<\/P> 2. As then, so now, the whole family was cut off, and rooted out. The traitor was the successor, to whom the unthinking people tamely submitted, as if it were all one to them what kind they had, so that they had one. The first thing Zimri did was to slay all the house of Baasha;<\/I> thus he held by cruelty what he got by treason. His cruelty seems to have extended further than Baasha’s did against the house of Jeroboam, for he left to Elah none of his kinsfolks or friends<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 11<\/span>), none of his avengers<\/I> (so the word is), none that were likely to avenge his death; yet divine justice soon avenged it so remarkably that it was used as a proverb long after, Had Zimri peace who slew his master?<\/I> 2 Kings ix. 31<\/I><\/span>. In this, (1.) The word of God was fulfilled, v.<\/I><\/span> 12<\/span>. (2.) The sins of Baasha and Elah were reckoned for, with which they provoked God by their vanities,<\/I> v.<\/span> 13<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. Their idols are called their vanities,<\/I> for they cannot profit nor help. Miserable are those whose deities are vanities.<\/P> <\/p>\n First Kings – Chapter 16<\/strong><\/p>\n Evil Prediction on Bsasha, Verses 1-7<\/p>\n Now appears another father and son prophet team. It was Hanani who preached to Asa, only to get thrown into prison for opposing him (2Ch 16:7-10<\/span>). Now his son comes preaching a message of judgment on the house of Baasha. It reminds one of the message God sent to Jeroboam by Ahijah through his wife who came to inquire of the welfare of her sick child (1Ki 14:7-11<\/span>). In fact it was very similar to what the Lord had said to Jeroboam, and it had the same evil consequence pronounced for his sinful leadership of Israel.<\/p>\n The Lord, as He had with Jeroboam, reviewed how He had blessed Baasha, raising him out of the dust, from a mere nobody without any previous notoriety, to make him king of Israel. He is charged with making the people of Israel to sin, just like Jeroboam had done, and having angered the Lord to whom he owed his position. Baasha knew what the Lord thought of Jeroboam’s provocation, and how He had judged him by the awful curse of eradication and abuse of the bodies even in death. Yet he had persisted in doing just the same. Now, says the Prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, God will also judge Baasha’s house with the same kind of judgment. Those who die in the cities will be eaten of the dogs and those who die in the fields by the fowls of the air.<\/p>\n The account of Baasha’s reign comes to an abrupt close here, not much of what was recorded in the chronicles of the kings being thought worthy of inspired record. He was accorded a burial, though what may have later happened to his body does not appear. Baasha’s son, Elah, assumed the kingship briefly, and the word of Jehu began to come to pass. God was judging the dynasty of Baasha for his evil leadership of the kingdom of Israel and for his bloodiness in exterminating the house of Jeroboam.<\/p>\n The student might question why the Lord would judge Baasha’s house for his murder of the dynasty of Jeroboam, when the Lord had foretold through the Prophet Ahijah just such a destruction. One needs to realize that God does not bring evil calamity on anyone. He is not the author of evil (Jas 1:13<\/span>). He does allow men to bring calamity on themselves by their evil deeds, and He foreknows what they will do. He knows beforehand that other evil men will rise up and commit wicked acts to advance themselves. Thus He knew what Baasha would do to Jeroboam’s house and made it known before it happened through Ahijah. He now does the same thing through Jehu in respect to Baasha. God did not condone these wicked deeds, and since all wickedness is judged, Baasha is judged for his eradication of Jeroboam’s house. It is the same course of sin which has repeated itself throughout history, and is especially apparent in the history of the northern kingdom of Israel (Num 32:23<\/span>).<\/p>\n <\/span>THE DIVIDED KINGDOM<\/strong><\/p>\n 1 Kings 12-22.<\/p>\n IN resuming our study of I Kings, in this 12th chapter we confront a sudden turn in history. The falling of such a man as Solomon is a shock to history itself; a stop so sudden in its impetuous rush, that all society is shaken in consequence, and wonder as to what next? takes possession of the people. The text of Scripture does not always take account of time. How many days elapsed between the emptying of Davids throne by Solomons death, and the accession to the same on the part of Rehoboam, we are not told; but the pivotal points in this adjustment are made plain, and in the study of them one fact shines clearly forth, namely, that God, the true King of Israel, lived and reigned.<\/p>\n Men make their plans and attempt their executions, but history records how the Divine will overrules them all. The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord (Pro 16:33<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n Teachers have called attention to the fitness of renaming the fifth Book of the New Testament, and instead of calling it, The Acts of the Apostles, declare it, The Acts of the Holy Ghost. So in this Old Testament history we seem to be studying the acts of the kings of Judah and Israel, but they are necessarily interpreted in the light of the will of the King of kings, the Lord of Glory. Whosoever sitteth upon the throne, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.<\/em><\/p>\n Keeping that fact before us, we find these eleven chapters are as full of spiritual suggestions as they are replete with historic incidents, and in the interest of time as it relates itself to the most important truths, I ask your attention to the great opposing personalities that are herein discovered; to Jeroboam vs. Rehoboam; to Elijah vs. Ahab, and to Micaiah vs. false prophets.<\/p>\n <\/span>JEROBOAM VS. REHOBOAM<\/strong><\/p>\n Coming events cast their shadows before! We had not finished the 11th chapter when Jeroboam, the son of Neb at, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomons servant,<\/em> the son of a widow, was lifting his hand against the king, and Ahijah, the prophet, was kindling his ambitions by telling him that the God of Israel would rend the kingdom out of Solomons hands and give ten tribes to him. The path, therefore, of Rehoboam, Solomons son, was not clear. If he came to the kingdom he must both put down his opponent and placate his people. This dual task requires wisdom, and the subject of the complaint was one with which the counsellors of the old king were alone familiar. When Rehoboam consulted them, they advised moderation in speech and conduct.<\/p>\n That is a hard word for ambitious youth. It is a consent to place a leash on passionate strength. The impetuous prince straightway made appeal to young men and secured from them the counsel his inexperienced spirit craved, namely the counsel of rigor, expressed in. the threat, my little finger shall be thicker than my fathers loins (1Ki 12:10<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n Men, particularly inexperienced men, commonly accept the counsels that fit with their own plans and desires, and Rehoboam was no exception.<\/p>\n But even then, history is not made apart from the will and plan of God. The very decision of Rehoboam is a part of the prophecy of Ahijah as much so as the perfidy of Judas was prophecy converted into history. Whether God rules in all things may be a question! That God is familiar with all contingencies before they come to pass is not even debatable, and that He presides over history is a settled truth. If Judas betrayed Jesus that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled, so <\/em>also Rehoboam refused wise counsel and accepted the false, that the word which the Lord spake by Ahijah the Shilonite<\/em> should stand. Foreknowledge of human conduct does not render God morally responsible in any measure for what men may do, but it does enable Him to administer all history, and in the end to work out His own will.<\/p>\n In the remaining portion of this chapter and running through the 16th of the same book, there are at least three outstanding lessons to be learned by the observant student.<\/p>\n The Menace of mistaken counsels! <\/strong>Modern science is proving that all space is a unity, and transmission of sound by the radio is demonstrating that the speech made in America can actually be heard on every continent of the world; and yet more certain still is it that single events influence and affect history more positively and permanently than a spoken word affects the element of ether.<\/p>\n If it had been the rule of Rehoboam alone, the result of this consultation with the old men first and with the young men later must still have been important, but with limitations, both in time and effect. When it is remembered, however, that all human history, to the end of the age, would take color from the decision reached by this young king, then who can measure the importance of wise counsel?<\/p>\n The cheapest commodity is advice; that is to say, it is everywhere on exhibit and offered for nothing, but in the end it comes at the greatest conceivable cost or proves itself to have been a most invaluable contribution. In other words, counsel makes or mars. The world to this hour is suffering from Rehoboams mistake, not alone in the division of the sons of Abraham, but since that day, every Gentile nation has felt the evil influence of the same.<\/p>\n There is a philosophy, popular at this time, to the effect that it does not make much difference what you tell youth; whether you counsel them concerning the true God in heaven, or tell them that the only God there is is a one-celled animal; whether you lead them to believe that the inspired record of Genesis is true, or scoff their minds into an utter skepticism; whether you impress them with the notion that they are apesbetter developed, or the true creatures of Gods own thought, plan and power. There seems to be an impression that the counsel of youth finds no expression in the character of mature men and womena philosophy as false as the devil who fathers it.<\/p>\n I tell you that the counsels of youth determine everything! America, one hundred years from now, will be reaping the harvest of what is sown in the minds of the young men at this moment. If they are taught the truth, they will bless the world. If they are taught a lie, they will curse it! A correct counsel for the young is of too infinite moment to be banished from society through the specious plea of skeptics who cry Academic freedom. Rehoboam was not a beardless boy when they counselled him falsely. He was forty-one years of age, and yet, with even such maturity of years, he succumbed, and the nations have suffered in consequence. How vastly more deleterious is the effect of false counsel upon the ten and fifteen and twenty year old youth! To teach him falsehoods in the name of academic freedom is to flout all sound philosophy, fly in the face of all mans experience and seek to cover rotting skepticism with a wholesome sounding phrase!<\/p>\n But to pass on to another and kindred point, involving chapter 13:<\/p>\n The immorality of compromise with false ministers.<\/strong> When in the study of the week we came to a careful consideration of this 13th chapter, we felt exactly as though we were listening to an address in the Convention of the Christian Fundamentalists. Here is a true prophet of God with a Divinely given message, and a commission, and on his way. He is overtaken by a false prophet, a new theologian, a man with a social message, and is asked to sit at meat with him and prove himself a good fellow, and is even told that this is the will of the Lord. So the true prophet went back with the false prophet and did eat bread and drink water and the consequence was his repudiation by the false prophet first and a speedy judgment upon his disobedience, executed by his death at the paw of a lion (1Ki 13:11-32<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em> The false prophet mourned him, buried and built a tomb to him, and requested of his own sons that he be let to lie beside him when his days are done.<\/p>\n How modern it all sounds! The greatest single plea presented by the new theologian of the present is that of good fellowship. They want us to sit at the same table with them; they want us to be silent about our differences; they want us to believe in their human and natural philosophies; that they are as true prophets of God as are the men who come with the revealed Word; and if we yield to their persuasions, compromise with them on the great matters in dispute between us. Deep in their own souls they despise us for our failure to stand for what we knew to be the inspired Word, and yet when we are dead, they will build tombs to us, and ask to be buried at our sides!<\/p>\n Meantime, every true minister of the Gospel must determine whether he will yield to such social and philosophic enticements or whether he will take his place with John and in obedience to the revelation made to that prophet, receive him not into your house, neither hid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds<\/em> (2Jn 1:10-11<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n Moving on to chapters 14 to 16, we find another fundamental truth waiting to be apprehended and emphasized, namely,<\/p>\n The folly of attempting to purchase acceptable prophecy. <\/strong>Here again the Old Testament times are being duplicated in the New Testament day. The son of Jeroboam fell sick. Ahijah the prophet was consulted by the queen mother, who came in disguise, with gifts and flatteries. The old mans vision had failed; his eyes were set by reason of age, he could not see; but age does not dim the vision of the Lord, and He revealed her personality to Ahijah and told him both her plan and purpose. So at the sound of her feet at the door, the old prophet said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings (1Ki 14:6<\/em><\/span><\/em>),<\/em> and he pronounced judgment upon the king and his house and plainly declared that God would raise up another king over Israel who should cut off the whole house of Jeroboam in justice against the kings sin; and the prophecy came to pass, and Jeroboam, who had reigned twenty-two years, slept with his fathers, and Rehoboam, son of Solomon, who reigned in Judah, went also to his grave. Singularly enough, the death of these kings is recorded in the same chapter.<\/p>\n Then follows the long list of the kings on either side, conflicts, divisions, disasters and judgments (chaps. 15;<\/em> 16).<\/em> There are plenty of people who would like to purchase acceptable prophecy. There are plenty of women who, like Jeroboams wife, do not want the truth of God. They want smooth words; they want the prophet to say there is no sickness; they want him to affirm there is no death; they want him even to deny the reality of the same. Such people are perfectly willing to pay a price. They go to the healers, with ten loaves and cracknels and a cruse of honey. False philosophy is a profitable business, but it never yet exempted anybody from peril, never saved a single scientist from sin or sickness or death. It never kept a solitary throne upon a stable foundation and it never will.<\/p>\n It is interesting to watch these thrones rock, totter and fall one after another, and to find in every instance a fulfilment of the prophetic word of the Lord. Though heaven and earth shall pass away, not one jot or tittle of all that God has spoken shall fail.<\/p>\n But to turn afresh to our text and study another subject.<\/p>\n ELIJAH VS. AHAB<\/strong><\/p>\n Read 1 Kings 17-21.<\/p>\n The histories of potentates and prophets run parallel in the Books of the Kings. Their views of life are divergent. Elijah and Ahab have little in common beyond the fact that they are contemporaneous, and dwell in the same empire. Elijahs character so far outshines that of Ahab that we consider the latter only as his conduct is seen in the light of the former. Let us learn again,<\/p>\n A pessimistic pronouncement does not disprove the prophet of God. <\/strong>When Elijah the Tishbite comes upon the scene, his first speech is, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years (1Ki 17:1<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em> No! wonder he was non-acceptable! Unpalatable truths make unpopular preachers. The men who dont want to believe in the prophecies concerning the Second Coming of Christ, denounce as pessimists those who faithfully quote and believe Gods word upon that subject, and feel that by the very name they have discredited and discountenanced them. But Revelation pays little regard to what men want. It never consults public opinion that it may suit its speech to the same. It gives out the truth, knowing that in the end the knowledge of the truth is the worlds sorest need. If a famine is coming, it is foolish to shut ones ears against its prediction and be overtaken by starvation; and, if Christ is coming, it is foolish to repudiate the prophecy, to be shamed by His sudden appearance.<\/p>\n When will men learn that the prophet of God is not appointed to repeat the nonsensical platitudes of a Coue, or the filched and false aphorisms of a Mary Baker Eddy? The test of the prophets has not changed one whit in thirty centuries. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa 8:20<\/em><\/span><\/em>). When a prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken (Deu 18:22<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em> Only a few years ago the post millenarians of America were telling us that war was forever over; that in the evolution of the race we had developed a better wisdom and adopted a more righteous way, and they held to scorn those who believed that in the last days wars would rend the world; and that famines, and pestilences would follow in the wake of them. But the words of Jeremiah the Prophet are the test of all such opponents of the truth, The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him (Jer 28:9<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n The 18th chapter has a further suggestionThe Prophets faith and speech is his sufficient self-defense. <\/strong>In this chapter, Elijah suddenly appears and sends, by the mouth of the Prophet Obadiah, word to Ahab, Elijah is here! He had no fear! He dared to face Ahab, the professed king of Israel, confident in the Potentate of Heaven, Israels true King. In answer to Ahabs question, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?<\/em> he set up his defense, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy fathers house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord (1Ki 18:17-18<\/em><\/span><\/em>),<\/em> and by faith he proposed a challenge, involving the entire company of Baal prophets, The God that answereth by fire, let Him be God (1Ki 18:24<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em> We know the result; Jehovah revealed Himself as a God that heareth and answereth prayer, and it was made manifest that Baal was no god at all, and the consequence is the slaughter of the false prophets and the justification of Elijah. What other defense does the true prophet need for his person than he has in the King of kings, the Lord of Glory? And what other defense for his message than that he brings the Word of the Lord?<\/p>\n It doesnt concern me that certain of my brethren write, We wont accept the article on the Second Coming of Christ to be found in the Confession of Faith of the Fundamentalists of America. My concern is in another subject. Are these articles justified by the Word, and fortified in the sacred sentences thereof? The Lord is the defense of the true minister, and the Word the one and only justification of his message.<\/p>\n The endangered prophet has the assurance of Divine care and provision.<\/strong> The execution of the false prophets stirred Jezebel to desperate decision. The life of Elijah is threatened. A womans rage holds nothing in reverence. The fury of Jezebel was a thousandfold more dangerous than the anger of Ahab, and from it Elijah fled; before it, Elijah fainted; in the face of it, Elijah requested for himself that he might die (1 Kings 19<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em><\/p>\n And yet it is impossible to believe that Elijahs fear and discouragement were the fruits of cowardice. Instead they were the natural reactions of an overstrained spirit; doubtless in part, the result of having slain the false prophets in keeping with the customs of the day, when he had no command from the Lord, and also the protest of an overtaxed mind and body.<\/p>\n How grateful readers should be that the whole story is recorded, for with it is also written the story of Gods tenderness and the repeated instances of Gods care. Two visits from an angel, food and drink; a still, small voice; a gracious declaration of the 7,000 fraternal souls. What refreshing for body, mind and spirit! God truly cares for the whole man, and concerns Himself for him who ministers in His Word.<\/p>\n But to conclude our study with the consideration of,<\/p>\n MICAIAH VS. FALSE PROPHETS<\/strong><\/p>\n and to learn from these three remaining chapters, 20 to 22, three important lessons:<\/p>\n Ahab wages successful war when he has Gods Word for his warrant.<\/strong> In his battle against Benhadad the king of Syria, he had Gods promise against Syria, Behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord (1Ki 20:13<\/em><\/span><\/em>).<\/em> The battle was won when that word was spoken. Ahab is no saint. His life and conduct are not acceptable to Jehovah, but he is king of Israel, the ruler over Gods people, and God cares for His own, and when they are at war with sinners, men who do not so much as name God, Jehovah is likely to be on their side.<\/p>\n Even poor leadership is not likely to doom a good cause. God does not lose His interest in right, when the evil rule. A thousandfold better to fight for a just cause with weak leadership than for an unjust cause, superbly led. The boasted scholarship of modernism fills me with no fear in trying to stand before it. Intellectual superiority, when it sets itself against God, is insanity; and even the great Gladstone of England had no objection to being found in fellowship with the plain people. He was that countrys Commoner indeed, and Americas great Commoner, William Jennings Bryan, was brainy enough to know that battles will finally be won upon the basis of right and wrong, which is only another way of saying, If God be for us, who can be against us?<\/em> Where God is, there is victory! In the last analysis, the success of an enterprise does not depend upon its human leadership but rests with the Divine favor instead.<\/p>\n But to the 21st chapter and learn another lesson The covetousness of a king may be indulged at the cost of a kingdom.<\/strong> Here we have the record of Naboths vineyard, desired by Ahab and refused by its rightful owner. People may be disposed to condemn Naboth for not selling out when his superior proffered him a fair price, but only such as are ignorant of the Word would so speak. Naboth was more anxious to be loyal to the King of kings than to this petty potentate. He could not forget the Word of the Lord written in Num 36:7<\/span>, So shall not the inheritance of the Children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the Children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers;<\/em> and if Ahab had known the Word of the Lord, he would have been reminded of Eze 46:18<\/span>, Moreover the prince shall not take of<\/em> the peoples inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession.<\/em><\/p>\n Some men have sought to justify Ahab here by saying this was not covetousness, since he offered Naboth a proper price for it, but the defense is insufficient. The man who so far covets his neighbors possessions as to secure his death in order to appropriate the same is an enemy alike of God and of man, and cannot escape the judgment of the Lord. Hence it is written, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine (Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n