1 Kings 1:15-31
Power Struggle

The Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses. Daniel 5:21

The president of a company in Michigan had suffered a minor stroke, and he was not spending much time at the office. He didn't know that one of his sons, with the help of two vice presidents, was scheming to take over the firm. He learned of their plot just in time, though, and was able to retain control.

In some parts of the world, power struggles result in assassinations, bloody coups, or civil wars. We see power struggles in politics all the time. They also occur in neighborhoods, families, and even in churches.

Adonijah made a power move to grab the throne of Israel (1 Kings 1:5-10). But God had other plans. Bathsheba (David's wife) and Nathan the prophet were able to stop the takeover (1 Kings 1:11-31), and God's appointed leader, Solomon, soon became king (1 Kings 1:38-40; 2:12).

We need to remember that God rules over the kingdoms of earth (Dan. 5:21). He raises up leaders and brings them down, whether in politics or in the church. Sometimes it's necessary to replace an ineffective leader, but we must pursue that option only after careful thought and earnest prayer for God's direction. We should never become part of a move that serves the ambition of some power-hungry person instead of honoring the Lord who rules over all. –D C Egner (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 3:5-10 
Growing Wise

Give to Your servant an understanding heart. -1 Kings 3:9

Solomon was a young man charged with the responsibility of governing one of the most prosperous kingdoms in the ancient Near East. Israel was a significant power then, her domain extending from the Euphrates River to the border of Egypt. Responsible for so much, Solomon knew he needed help. So when God asked the young king what He could do for him, Solomon did not ask to be healthy or wealthy. He asked to be wise (1 Kings 3:9). This request pleased the Lord.

God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing, . . . I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart" (1 Kings 3:11-12).

The word translated "understanding" in Solomon's request (v.9) actually means "hearing." God gave Solomon a hearing heart so he could judge the people, and "discern between good and evil."

Wise men and women hear God through His Book. They read other books, of course, but they judge them all by the Word of God. There is no greater wisdom.

If you want wisdom, ask God for it. The apostle James said, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5). -D H R (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 4:29-34; 11:4-6
WHAT DOES HE WANT?

His heart was not loyal to the Lord his God. - 1 Kings 11:4


After 10 years of being a parent, I think I think what I value most about my children: our relationship.

Sure, it's nice when they score baskets or play beautiful music on the piano. I like it when they bring home good grades or write something profound for a school paper. And it's rewarding when people comment how nice they look or act in public.

But what really keeps a tired dad going - after working all day, fixing a leaking sink, reading Green Eggs and Ham for the hundredth time, and helping with a grammar assignment - is a loving smile, a big hug, and four choice words: "I love you, Dad."

If another day has passed and my kids have maintained a loving, caring, mutually admiring relationship with me, I'm a glad dad.

It's something like what goes on between God and us. He wants us to work at keeping our relationship with Him strong - even more than He wants us to do anything else. That's why it's so sad to read about Solomon. He had it all. Yet he shut off the relationship with God by being disloyal to Him. He was a king with wisdom, power, and riches, but when he forsook God those things meant nothing.

What does God want most from you and me? A loving relationship. - J D Brannon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Spirit of God, descent upon my heart:
Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love. - Croly

1 KINGS 8:54-61

"Blessed be the Lord.... There has not failed one word of all His good promise" (1 Kings 8:56).

A man who lived in northern Michigan went for a walk in a dense forest so immense that a person could easily get lost. When darkness began to settle in, he decided it was time to head home. He was used to being in the woods and had a keen sense of direction, so he didn't bother to look at his compass. After walking for a long time, however, he decided he'd better check to make sure he was going in the right direction. He was surprised when the compass indicated he was going west-not east as he had thought. But the man was so sure of his own sense of direction that he thought there must be something wrong with the compass. He was about to throw it away in disgust when the thought came to him:

My compass has never lied to me yet-maybe I should believe it. The man eventually found his way out of the woods and arrived home safely because he trusted his compass and didn't rely on himself.

Solomon told the congregation of Israel that not "one word of all His good promise" had failed. That assurance still stands. What God promises, He performs. His instructions are always trustworthy. He will never lead us astray. If we think so highly of our own judgment that we refuse to rely on God's sure word, we are asking for trouble and will only become more confused. His words have never failed, and they never will. -R W De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 8:56
A Promise Kept

"Blessed be the Lord...There has not failed one word of all His good promise." --1 Kings 8:56

A close, longtime friend died after a 6-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. A few days after her death, my wife and I attended a wedding. As the bride and groom exchanged their vows, I pondered the whole matter of promising. It was beautiful to witness two excited young people in their twenties pledging their lives to each other. But it was profound to remember the faithfulness of our recently departed friend. She and her husband had kept their wedding vows for more than half a century, even when the final years were darkened by her memory loss and decline.

Lewis Smedes wrote, "Some people still make promises and keep those they make. When they do, they help make life around them more stably human. Promise-keeping is a powerful means of grace in a time when people hardly depend on each other to remember and live by their word."

Psalm 15 proclaims the qualities of the steadfast, God-honoring person who enjoys fellowship with our promise-keeping Lord (1 Kings 8:56). This individual keeps his promises even when it hurts (Ps. 15:4).

Our most important commitments are fulfilled one day at a time. "I do." "I will." "You can count on me." There is power in every promise that is made and kept. --D C McCasland (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 17:1-16
GOD'S WAYS

"How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out." - Romans 11:33

After Elijah had experienced some especially trying times, the Lord told him to flee to Zarephath where
he could find food and shelter. Imagine Elijah's surprise when he discovered that the widow who was
to provide for him was extremely poor! In fact, she expected that she and her son would soon die of
starvation.

How often God delights to astonish us by the wonder of His ways! Our limited understanding of Him can be likened to a fly crawling on one of the great pillars of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. What
does that tiny insect know about the architect's magnificent design? It sees only the little space
of stone on which it moves. The beautiful carvings and ornamental work seem like towering mountains and deep valleys that only impede progress and obscure the view.

We as Christians often see only our immediate circumstances and perceive but a glimmer of God's marvelous purpose. The obstacles that block our vision and get in the way of our plans are actually part of the beautiful designs of divine grace.

Our heavenly Father knows exactly what He is doing. Although His ways are unsearchable, He assures us that all will work out for our good if we trust Him.-- Henry G. Bosch (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 19:1-18
A Neglected Remedy

He gives His beloved sleep. -Psalm 127:2

I am often asked to speak on the subject of stress. I'm not an expert on stress, just an experienced sufferer! I simply share counsel from God's Word that helps me live less stressfully and more restfully. Many listeners are desperate for any new insight I might offer. What blank looks I sometimes get when I make this particular recommendation: "Get more sleep!" In their longing to deepen their experience of God's peace, they were hoping for something more spiritual than that.

But I'm not alone in linking spirituality to sleep. A godly Bible teacher was asked to share the key ingredient in his own life for walking in the Spirit. He studied the Bible and prayed regularly, but his surprising reply was this: "Get 8 hours of sleep each night."

This reply is less surprising in light of God's initial remedy for Elijah's stress and depression (1 Kings 19:1-18). Twice God gave him food and undisturbed sleep before gently confronting him at Mt. Horeb with his error.

Psalm 4:8 says, "I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." Sleep is not the full remedy for stress, but other solutions can become clearer to people who get adequate rest. -J E Yoder (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 19:1-18
Light In The Darkness

Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers. --1 Kings 19:4

Christians who pass through the dark tunnel of depression tend to focus on their sins and weaknesses and failures so much that they may even want to die. God can use times like this, however, to increase their awareness of His inexhaustible grace.

In 1964, Alan Redpath, former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, sank into the depths of despondency following a near-fatal stroke. He wrote later of having terribly wicked thoughts. "O Lord," he prayed, "take me right home!" It was then he sensed that the Lord was saying, "It is I, your Savior, who has brought this experience into your life to show you [that] this is the kind of person--with all your sinful thoughts and temptations which you thought were things of the past--that you always will be, but for My grace."

Redpath's experience reminds me of the prophet Elijah. He too wanted to die. He cried out, "Lord, take my life!" (1 Kings 19:4). Although Elijah had been mightily used of God, he needed to be reminded of God's sustaining grace. Depression, which in his case was triggered by physical and emotional exhaustion, became God's mirror of truth to let him see anew the marvelous light of His grace. The darkest night is never without that light. --D J De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 19:1-18
"RENEWED HOPE"

[Elijah prayed], "Lord, take my life."...Then the Lord said to him, "Go, return on your way."  -1 Kings 19:4, 15

People who live without hope can become suicidal. So it was with an Italian prisoner of war being held on a military base in the United States during World War II. He had become despondent after learning that his wife had died in Italy. The camp commander, knowing that the man had been a stonemason, asked him if he could design a chapel for the base. The POW accepted the assignment and even supervised construction.

Today a unique chapel stands at the Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. The formerly despondent prisoner found renewed hope by using his God-given talents to bless others.

In 1 Kings 19, we read that Elijah was despondent. He was physically and emotionally drained after fleeing from the evil Queen Jezebel. In despair, he asked God to take his life. Instead, the angel of the Lord ministered to his physical needs. Some days later, the Lord spoke to Elijah and told him that his work was not over.

When you are in despair, the first step on the pathway to new hope is to take care of your physical needs. Then listen to God's voice through the Scriptures. The Lord will show you your spiritual condition and tell you what He would have you do to bless others.-- D J De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

When plunged in darkness and despair,
Our only hope is in the Lord;
Not once does He withhold His care,
Or ever fail to keep His Word.-- DJD

1 Kings 19:1-18
You're Not Alone

[God] has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." --Hebrews 13:5

If you're in a situation where you feel that you're the only one standing true to God, take heart! There's encouragement in the story of Elijah.

The prophet had experienced the Lord's protection and miraculous provision, and he had just won a great victory over those who had led God's people astray (1 Kings 17-18). But then we find Elijah running for his life and sinking into despair, convinced that he was the only one of God's prophets who hadn't been destroyed by the enemy (1 Kings 19). After having exhibited great courage, he suddenly was overcome with fear.

We may have a similar reaction. It may occur in the early stages of an unknown venture or after a great success. Suddenly we feel isolated, vulnerable, alone, afraid.

God came to Elijah in his darkest moment and gave the fearful prophet a word of encouragement. The Lord told him, "I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal" (1 Kings 19:18).

Seven thousand! God has His people everywhere. In your job, neighborhood, dormitory, or barracks, you may feel that you're the only one standing for Christ. Take courage! Other believers are in the same situation. And most important, God will not leave you. You are not alone. --D C McCasland (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 19:1-18
Finding New Hope

Why are you cast down, O my soul? . . . Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him. --Psalm 42:5

A woman who was widowed for the second time felt the loss deeply. She saw little reason to go on living.

One day she got into the car with her young grandson. After securing him properly, she started the car without fastening her own seatbelt. When the 5-year-old politely pointed this out to her, she told him she didn't care about her safety because she wanted to go to Jesus and Grandpa. The boy replied, "But Grandma, then you would leave me!"

God used this youngster to bring to her the realization that He still had service for her to perform, and that her situation was not as hopeless as it seemed to be.

During almost 50 years of ministry, I've seen many despairing people come to the place where they felt there was no way out. Like Elijah, they wanted to die (1 Ki. 19:4). God sustained them, however, and showed them that He still had work for them to do. They discovered that the situation was not as dark as they had thought and that God had a reason for them to go on living.

Don't give in to despair! Remind yourself of God's goodness and love. Talk to Him. He will meet your needs. He'll lead you in paths of love and light and joy where you will find new hope. --H V Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 19:5, 15, 16
NOTHING LEFT TO DO BUT DIE

Now, 0 Lord, take away my life... And the Lord said unto him, Go . . . anoint Hazael . . . and Jehu ... and Elisha 1 Kings 19:5, 15, 16

The words, "There's nothing left to do but die," spoken by a twenty-year-old girl who attempted suicide after a drug-taking episode, still ring in my ears. She was a picture of abject hope­lessness and despair as she sat across the desk from me for our interview. She declared that she had committed every kind of sin imaginable, and had never done anything commendable that she could recall. Her moments of exhilaration had come only while under the influence of forbidden and habit-forming drugs. Now, confined to prison for her misdeeds, she said she expected soon to die, but admitted she was desperately afraid. I assured her that God still loved her, that Jesus died for her sins, and that the Lord would save her and make the rest of her life worth-while if only she would receive Christ. I pointed out that if she came to know the Lord, she would become a new and vibrant person, full of eager anticipation for the future. After counseling with her, giving her some additional Scriptures to read, and pray­ing with her, I left. Since then I have been praying that God will reach her by His grace and claim her for himself. As yet she has not responded to the Holy Spirit's wooings.

Friend, don't make the mistake of that girl in prison who can-not bring herself to believe that God loves her. It is surprising that even Christians sometimes doubt the Lord when confronted by adverse circumstances. Note the case of Elijah mentioned in our text. Although a child of God, he too was discouraged and wished to die, but the Lord still had much work for him to do. God in His own good time will call us Home when our task on earth is finished, but let us never faithlessly declare, because of our limited perspective, that we have "nothing left to do but die." God loves us and has a plan for each of us to follow. Life with Christ is always worth living! (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 20:28
THE GOD OF THE VALLEYS

"the Syrians have said, The Lord is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys 1 Kings 20:28

The king of Syria, Ben-hadad, together with his great army, had suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Israel. Since Palestine is rather mountainous, the king erroneously concluded that the Israelites had been successful because their deity was a God of the hills. If he could but engage them again in the valley, he was sure that he could easily overcome them. However, the prophet of the Lord spoke to King Ahab assuring him that to vindicate the Lord's honor, and to show He was God of all places and circumstances, Israel would again defeat the Syrian hosts. When the battle came, God's people won an even more impres­sive victory. They were thus reassured that the Lord was always at their side - even in the valley of deepest testing!

Many people today still think God is with them when they enjoy prosperity, yet mistakenly feel He has forsaken them when they are called to suffer affliction.

A merchant was informed by his confidential secretary that his company was in serious financial difficulty. "It's been a bad year, sir," said the employee; "there have been vast losses and few gains." The merchant saw that bankruptcy was imminent. When at last he spoke, his voice was low and steady. " No, John, it has been a good year in spite of everything. Every one of those fig­ures `in the red' represent hours of agonizing prayer on my part - experiences that have made me so spiritually rich that I cannot despair over any earthly losses. The future is bright, for the Lord has promised, 'No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.' " The secretary looked at him for a moment, and then said, "I want to tell you it was your steadiness under the testings of the past year that has made me long to know Christ as you do; and so the other night I received Him as my Savior. I agree, sir; it has indeed been a good year!" Both men had come to realize in a wonderful way that the Lord is also "the God of the valleys!" (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 21:17-29
FRIEND OR ENEMY?

Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. -- Proverbs 27:5

I like people and want people to like me. So to tell them that their conduct is dishonest or immoral isn't easy for me. On several occasions, men have told me how they got out of a speeding ticket by making up a touching story, or how they got even with some rascal in a shady business deal. I've responded by asking, "That was clever, but was it honest?"

When I get acquainted with people and they tell me they are living immorally, I may ask, "Do you believe in God and that you must answer to Him? Or do you think we are accidents of nature with no more meaning than an insect, and that it doesn't matter how we live?" When they express some belief in God (and almost everyone does), I'll gently share with them what He has said about about their conduct. Many times this opens the door to present the good news of salvation.

Ahab called Elijah an enemy (1 Ki. 21:20). But he was wrong. The prophet was really his best earthly friend. If only he would have listened to God's servant, he could have been a good king and a child of God.

Lord, help us to be loving as we confront people with their sin. And help us to see that those who point out our sins are not our enemies but our true friends. --H V Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 KINGS 21:17-29

Ahab . . . tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, .. . and went about mourning (1 Kings 21:27).

John and Joe stole some money, but they reacted differently when confronted with the evidence. John broke down immediately, con­fessed his guilt, and offered to repay the money. But Joe refused to take any responsibility and blamed his companion. Later, with his parents supporting him, Joe claimed he was forced into this conduct because some of the young people in his church had never accepted him.

After more than thirty-five years of giving spiritual counsel, I can testify that people who try to cover their sins will not prosper, and that those who confess and forsake them find mercy (Pr 28:13). Many people never realize that they become their own worst enemies by blaming others instead of facing up to their own faults.

In 1 Kings 21, we read that King Ahab wanted a vineyard belonging to Naboth, but the owner refused to sell it. So Jezebel, Ahab's wife, had Naboth executed. Although Ahab merely allowed her to use his name in signing the orders, he didn't blame his wife when confronted with his evil deed. Instead, he acknowledged his crime, expressed grief over it, accepted responsibility, repented, and received a merciful reprieve.

Whenever we do wrong, we are wise to face up to it, take responsi­bility for our actions, and ask God to forgive us. We will be better people when we learn to say, "I'm to blame." -H V Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 21:1-16
The Cure For Greed

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. --Colossians 3:2

A man who lived with his elderly aunt expected to inherit her small fortune. But he didn't wait for her to die naturally. The newspaper reported that he killed her by giving her an overdose of medication. He's now in prison.

In 1 Kings 21, we read about wealthy King Ahab, who wanted a vineyard so much that he allowed his wife to murder the owner. God was so displeased that He sent Elijah to tell Ahab that dogs would lick up his blood in the very place where Naboth had been murdered. Not only that, but his wife and every male descendant would be slaughtered. The terrifying prophecy was fulfilled 3 years later (2 Ki. 9:4-10:11).

We should fear the sin of greed because it leads people to do terrible things. We should hate it because it is idolatry (Col. 3:5), causing us to value earthly things above God.

The good news is that we can escape greed's grip. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul wrote, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col 3:2). He urged us to focus on our relationship with Christ and to look forward to meeting with Him when He returns (Col 3:1-4).

Think of Christ and all that He has given you. That's the cure for greed. --H V Lugt (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 22:41-45
"Learning from Dad"

"(Jehoshaphat) walked in all the ways of his father Asa." 1 Kings 22:43

Whenever major league baseball player Curt Schilling pitches, he writes his dad's name on the free-ticket list for that game. It's a practice he started in 1988, and he says it will continue as long as he plays the game.

This wouldn't be all that unusual, except that a few months before Curt's major league debut his dad died of cancer. Putting his father's name on that list is an ongoing tribute to the man who for 22 years provided guidance, instruction, encouragement, and inspiration.

Just as Curt Schilling's dad gave him the incentive to succeed in baseball, so we need to instill in our children the knowledge, desire, and wisdom to succeed in the arena of faith. Nothing is more important than to spend time building into our children the skills to do right in God's eyes.

Asa, who was loyal to God (1 Kings 15:11), must have imparted that quality to his son, because Jehoshaphat "walked in all the ways of his father Asa" (1 Kings 22:43).

We must lead our children to Christ and encourage them to let Him be the Lord of their lives. This may never make them prominent like a great athlete, but it will help them "run with endurance the race that is set before us" (Heb. 12:1). And that's the only competition that matters.- J D Brannon (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

1 Kings 1:29
As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress.

“In my distress I called on the Lord, and cried to my God.” Never let there be distress without its cry. He will hear your voice out of His temple, and your cry will come before Him even into His ears. He will answer, and set you in a large place. There is even a gain to be won from distress, because it brings out new phases of Christ’s redemptive help.

God redeemed David from the calumny of those who maligned him without cause. In so many of his Psalms he refers to the unjust and cruel hatred which misrepresented him and his doings. But God, to whom he committed his cause, vindicated him, so that his righteousness shone as the light, and his judgment as the noonday. So He will do for you. Those who now lay all manner of unkind charges to your door, will be compelled to admit your innocence. Only leave your cause with God, and be still.

God redeemed David from all the afflictions that shadowed his early days: from his wanderings in the wilderness; from his hairbreadth escapes in the caves; from meeting his death on many a terrible battlefield. We hardly realize, just now, how much we owe to the Angel of God’s redemption, who is ever beside us, environing us with careful love, so that no evil may approach us, or snare take our feet. Our pathway is thick with snares and dangers, as the pilgrims found it when journeying through the valley of the shadow; but there is a way out, and in the morning we shall marvel to see how we escaped.

God redeemed David’s life from destruction. This was the greatest miracle of all, when we consider the strong passions that slumbered within him, breaking out whenever he broke loose from God’s grace.

1 Kings 2:4

That the Lord may continue His word.

How strongly David held to God’s promise! It was deeply graven in his soul. How could he forget the word which guaranteed the succession of his race upon the throne of Israel! At the same time he distinctly recognized that the fulfillment was conditional. There was an if in it. It was only in so far as his children took heed to walk before God in truth that God was bound to place them on the throne of Israel; therefore he urged Solomon to keep the charge of the Lord, that the Lord might continue His word. We also must obey the threefold condition if we would enjoy a continuance of God’s helpful care.

1. Be thou strong.— The strength which is in Jesus Christ waits to make us strong. In the Lion of the tribe of Judah there is the boldness which will not swerve in the face of the foe. Timid women and little children in the days of persecution have waxed valiant in the fight, and have not flinched from death, because Jesus was beside them.

2. Keep the charge of the Lord thy God.— He has committed to our care many a sacred deposit, in return for our deposit with Him (2 Timothy 1:12, 14; r. v., marg. ). They are His holy Gospel, the Rest Day, the doctrines of the Evangelical Faith, and the Inspired Word. Let us watch them until we see them weighed out in the temple as were the sacred vessels which Ezra committed to the priests for transport across the desert (Ezra 8:33),

3. Keep His statutes and commandments.— We must obey with reverent care the one great law of love, which includes all the rest. Acting thus, we shall put ourselves in the way of enjoying a continuance of that favor which God has promised.

1 Kings 3:7-9 (from Our Daily Walk)
THE CHOICE OF A LIFE-WORK

"I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in...Give Thy servant an understanding heart."-- 1 Kings 3:7-9.

WE SHALL never rightly choose our life-course until we are determined to put first things first. Wealth, honour, fame, the surpassing of our rivals, are not the chief things to be considered, or our judgment will be impaired and our vision distorted. It was because Solomon desired and sought the kingdom and glory of God, that He gave him also the things for which he did not ask (1 Kings 3:13; Matthew 6:33).

Impressed by the greatness of his responsibilities, the young king had gone to Gibeon to worship God. He wished to fulfil his opportunities to their highest measure, and to serve his fatherland, but he realized his inefficiency. Do you feel like this? You realize the wonderful opportunities and responsibilities of life in this marvellous age, and long to be of service to God and your fellows, but what can you do? You are but as a little child, and "know not how to go out or come in." "Going out" stands for the active life in the world of men; "coming in" for the hours spent in the home, in recreation and society. It is like the systole and diastole of the heart's action, which should be alike consecrated to God and of service to man.

Solomon asked for an understanding heart, that he might discern between good and bad. We all need this faculty, that we may discriminate between things that look very much alike, but are different in nature and direction (Hebrews 5:14; Phil 1:9-10; marg. R.V.). It is not an enduement of intellectual power, but of moral taste and discernment. It has been said, that the difficulty in life is not to discriminate between white and black, but to choose between the different shades of grey. In our fellowships, recreations, literature, business--we are in urgent need of the understanding heart, which listens for and heeds the voice of God.

Solomon offered a thousand burnt-offerings upon the altar (1Kiings 3:4). We are required to present our bodies as living sacrifices unto God, which is our reasonable service. Our career is often determined by our circumstances, or by our special gifts and talents, and, on the whole, we succeed best in doing what we like best. But if we yield ourselves to do God's will, He will direct our paths.

PRAYER - O God, make us diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. May we prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good. AMEN.

1 Kings 3:13
I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked.

The understanding heart was Solomon’s supreme request, and it was given him before the morning light had broken over Jerusalem. But God did exceeding abundantly beyond what he asked or thought. Riches and honor, victory and long life, were thrown in as part of the Divine gift; as paper and string are given by the tradesmen with the goods we purchase. It seems as though our Lord’s words were anticipated, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Put first things first.— One of the most important lessons of life is to discern the relative value of the objects within our reach. The child will take the handful of glass beads, and leave the heap of diamonds in the rough. It is the terrible mistake of men that, perplexed by earth’s cross-lights, they put evil for good and good for evil; they make earth rather than heaven their center; time rather than eternity their measurement.

Seek God and all things in Him.— Things without God cannot satisfy the craving of the soul. To know God, and to be known by Him, is to possess all things. All that is lovely, strong, or right, in any human being was in the Creator before it entered the creature; having God, you possess all things in Him.

Be more careful of what you are than what you have.— A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things that he possesseth; but in his purity, truth, tenderness, and the properties of his soul. The fruit of the Spirit must ever be manifest in the life of the believer— “Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”

1 Kings 4:29
Largeness of heart.

We must all admit that our soul is too narrow. It holds too little, knows too little, is deficient in will-power, and, above all, in capacity of love; and when we are called to run in the way of God’s commandments, we break down in despair, and cry, “If I am to be a runner, Thou must first enlarge my heart.”

How little we know of the experience which Madame Guyon describes when she says: “This vastness or enlargedness, which is not bounded by anything, increases every day; so that my soul in partaking of the qualities of her Spouse seems also to partake of his immensity.”

“There is,” remarks one of the old Puritans, “a straitness, slavery, and narrowness, in all sin; sin crumples up our souls; which, if they were freely spread abroad, would be as large and wide as the whole universe. No man is truly free; but lie that hath his will enlarged to the extent of God’s will, by loving whatsoever God loves, and nothing else, he enjoys boundless liberty, and a boundless sweetness.” God’s love embraces the universe. He “so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.” We who have partaken of the Divine nature must also love as He does.

Thomas à Kempis says, finally: “He who desires glory in things outside of God, or to take pleasure in some private good, shall many ways be encumbered and straitened; but if heavenly grace enter in, and true charity, there will be no envy, neither narrowness of heart, neither will self-love busy itself, for Divine charity overcometh all things, and enlargeth all the powers of the soul.” Give unto us, O God, this largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore!

1 Kings 5:4
Now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side.

God is the Rest-Giver. When He surrounds us on every side with His protecting care, so that our life resembles one of the cities of the Netherlands in the great war— inaccessible to the foe because surrounded by the waters of the sea, admitted through the sluice— then neither adversary nor evil occurrent can break in, and we are kept in perfect peace, our minds being stayed on God.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand, Never foe can enter, never traitor stand.

Have you experienced the rest which comes by putting God round about you, on every side—like the light which burns brightly on a windy night because surrounded by its four panes of clear glass? Ah! what a contrast between the third (1 Kings 5:3) and fourth verse: Wars on every side; Rest on every side. And yet the two are compatible, because the wars expend themselves on God, as the waves on the shingle; and there are far reaches of rest within, like orchards and meadows and pasture-lands beyond the reach of the devastating water.

Out of such rest should come the best work. We are not surprised to find Solomon announcing his purpose to build a house unto the name of the Lord. Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus, anointed Him. Out of quiet hearts arise the greatest resolves; just as from the seclusion of country hamlets have come the greatest warriors, statesmen, and patriots. Men think, foolishly, that the active, ever-moving souls are the strongest. It is not so, however. They expend themselves before the day of trial comes. Give me those who have the power to restrain themselves and wait; these are they that can act with the greatest momentum in the hour of crisis.

1 Kings 6:7
There was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard.

In absolute silence, like the growth of a palm in the desert, that noble building arose in the symmetry of its fair proportions. But there was plenty of quarrying and hammering and chiseling before the materials were brought to the site.

The absolute silence with which the Temple rose is a meet emblem of the progress of the Church, from its foundations laid in the Apostolate toward the top stone, which before very long will be laid upon the completed structure. Amid the rise and fall of dynasties and empires, the Church is being built. Soul after soul, as so many added bricks, is being quietly placed upon the walls. Some day the world will be amazed when it sees the New Jerusalem descend out of heaven from God. The mightiest works of God are the fruit of silence.

You and I are now in the quarry, hewn, chipped, chiseled: or we are in the saw-pit, being sawn, planed, pierced by nails. Be of good cheer! It will not be long, the preparatory work will be over, and we shall become part of the eternal structure. Into heaven there can enter neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron. The trial will have done its work. Sorrow and crying will flee away. The Apostle Paul, who knew more than any man what trial and pain meant, could confidently declare: “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Then shall the city of God shine forth in completed beauty, her walls Salvation and her gates Praise; and the triumphant song of the redeemed shall ring forth: “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever.”

1 Kings 7:46
In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them.

The Apostle tells us to obey from the heart that mould or form of doctrine to which we were delivered (Romans 6:17). What a mould is to the metal which is wrought into various forms of utensils, that the form of sound doctrine is to believers who desire to resemble Christ. When our hearts, melted in contrition and penitence, are poured into the teaching of the Apostles, to ponder it in memory, and to carry it out in life, they are, so to speak, cast into the pattern of Jesus Christ, which they wear forevermore. Thus we are conformed to the image of His Son.

We differ as widely as the vessels named here. Some are lavers, and some bases; some shovels, and some basins. It matters little what shape we bear; so long as we are cleansed and meet for the Master’s use. Each vessel in Solomon’s temple filled its own niche. The machinery of the whole would have been hindered if one had been missing. Be content with the shape which the Great Designer hath intended for thee. Yield to it. Dare to pour thyself into the dark passages of the mould. Do not ask the intention of this or that. Obey from the heart, otherwise thou mayest have to be broken up, and put back again into the furnace to go through the process once more. This is the Plain of the Jordan for us, the place of death; but soon we shall be remitted to the Palace and Temple of God.

There is no clue to the understanding of the mysteries of our mortal life, save the hypothesis, that we are being prepared for the position which has been prepared for us in the eternal world. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.”

1 Kings 8:59
That He maintain the cause of His servant, as every day shall require. (r. v.)

The R. V. marginal reading is, “The thing of a day in its day.” What rest would come into our lives, if we really believed that God maintained the cause of His servants! Men hate you, and say unkind or untrue things about you; on your part, though you are quite prepared to admit that you have made mistakes, yet you know that you desire above all things to act as God’s servant should, that your motives are sincere, and your hands clean— be of good courage then, God will maintain your cause, as every day may require.

Or, you are beset by strong competition; and, in order to hold your own, you have been tempted to do what is not perfectly the best— to spice your teaching with a little heterodoxy, puff your wares with misleading titles, to adulterate your goods. But there is no need to do this; if only you are faithful to God, He will maintain your cause, as every day may require.

Or, you are tempted almost beyond endurance, and think that you must yield. The seductions are so insidious, the pitfalls so carefully concealed, the charm of evil so subtle. But, if you will only look away to God, you will find Him a very present help to maintain your cause. Oh, trust Him; for none of them that do so can be desolate. Daily strength for daily need; daily manna for daily hunger; daily maintenance for daily temptation. These are assured.

As we stand on the hilltop in the morning and look across the valley of the coming day, its scenes are too closely veiled in heavy-hanging mists for us to specify all our requests. We can breathe the comprehensive petition, “Give us this day our daily bread.” And God will suit His help to each requirement. As the moment arrives “the thing” will be there.

1 Kings 9:3
I have hallowed this house which thou hast built.

Man builds; God hallows. This cooperation between man and God pervades all life. Man performs the outward and mechanical; God the inward and spiritual. Paul plants, Apollos waters; but God gives the increase. We elaborate our sermons and addresses, building them up with careful, eager thought; but God must work in and through them for His own glory in the salvation and upbuilding of souls. We must be careful to do our part with reverence and godly fear, remembering that God must work in realms we cannot touch, and to issues we cannot reach, before our poor exertions can avail.

May we not apply this especially to the education of a child’s life? Many who read these lines are engaged in building structures which will outlive the Pyramids. The body is only the scaffolding, behind and through which the building of the soul is being upreared. The materials with which we build may be the gold, silver, and precious stones, of our example, precept, careful watching, and discipline; but God must come in to hallow. Our strenuous endeavor must be supplemented by the incoming of the Holy Spirit.

God hallows by His indwelling. Holiness is the result of His putting His Name into a place, a day, a human soul; for His Name is His nature, Himself. Each day may be a building, reared between sunrise and sunset, with our activities; but it were vain to hope to realize our ideal unless the structure become a temple filled with God. Build what you will; but never be satisfied unless God sets His eyes and heart upon your life, hallowing and sanctifying each day and act to Himself.

1 Kings 10:9
Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee.

There were two reasons why Solomon was on the throne. First, because of God’s love to him; secondly, because of God’s love to Israel. May we not address our Savior with similar expressions of gladness as those which the queen addressed to a less than He?

How. well it is, now and again, to let ourselves go in exuberant adoration! Prayer is good, but it may revolve too largely about our own needs and desires: thanks are right, when we have received great benefits at His hands; but praise is best, because the heart forgets itself and earth and time, in enlarged conceptions of its adorable Lover and Savior.

We are reminded in this connection of a noble hymn of old John Ryland:—

“Thou Son of God, and Son of Man, Beloved, adored Emmanuel, Who didst, before all time began, In glory with Thy Father dwell:
“We sing Thy love, who didst in time, For us, humanity assume, To answer for the sinner’s crime, To suffer in the sinner’s room.
“The ransomed Church Thy glory sings, The hosts of heaven Thy will obey; And, Lord of lords, and King of kings, We celebrate Thy blessed sway.”

We can never praise Him enough. Our furthest thoughts fall short of the reality. His wisdom and prosperity exceed His fame. No question He cannot answer; no desire He cannot gratify; no munificence He cannot excel. Happy are they who stand continually before Him. Let us see that this is our happy privilege; not content to pay Him a transient visit, returning to our own land, but communing with Him always of that which is in our heart.

1 Kings 11:4
His wives turned away his heart.

Every man is vulnerable at one point of his character. Strong everywhere else, and armor-plated, he is weak there; and our great enemy knows just where to strike home. It would have been useless to argue with Solomon for the claims of idols. He could at once, by his wisdom, have annihilated all infidel arguments, and have established the existence and unity of God. But, step by step, he was led by silken cords, a captive, to the worship of other gods. It is a solemn warning; and Nehemiah was perfectly justified when, in his contention with the Jews who had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab, he said, “Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him who was beloved of his God.”
Let young people beware where they let their hearts go forth in love. Whom we love we resemble; and in the marriage tie it is almost inevitable that seductions to the lower will overcome the drawings to the higher. When a Christian disobeys God’s distinct command against intermarriage with the ungodly, he begins to sink to the level of his ungodly partner whom he had thought to raise to his own religious standing.

Our associates determine the drift and current of our life. It is so easy to launch upon the current that flows past our feet; it seems impossible that the laughing, enticing water should ever carry us against sharp, splintering rocks, or over-breaking cataracts. When we are compelled to associate with the ungodly, let us maintain a strict self-watch, and pray that the breath of the heavenward gale may more than counteract the tendency of the earthward current.

1 Kings 12:33
The month which he had devised of his own heart.

Jeroboam acted on expediency. It did seem reasonable to argue that the constant going up to Jerusalem to worship might alienate the people from his throne, and awaken a desire for the old national unity; and without doubt a mere worldly wisdom extolled his setting-up of idol-gods at Bethel and Dan; but his policy in this respect led to the downfall of his kingdom. Had he trusted God’s promise, made through the prophet Ahijah, the Divine purpose would have ensured the continuance of his rule; but the prompting of expediency resulted in ultimate disaster (1 Kings 14).

How prone we all are to devise out of our own hearts! We take counsel with ourselves, and do what seems prudent and farseeing, with the inevitable result of being betrayed into courses of action that God cannot approve, and of which we have reason to repent bitterly. It is infinitely better to wait on God till He develop His plan, as He most certainly will, when the predestined hour strikes. He who trusts in his own heart, and takes his own way, is a fool. To run before God is to sink knee-deep into the swamp. We must make all things after the pattern shown us on the Mount, and take our time from God’s almanac. What a contrast to the course of Jeroboam was that of the Son of Man! He would do nothing of Himself. His eye was always on His Father’s dial-plate, and thus He knew when His time was not yet fulfilled. He was always consulting the movement of His Father’s will, and did only those things which He saw His Father doing. Similarly make God’s will and way thy Pole-star. Oh to be able to say with our blessed Lord, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me “!

1 Kings 13:21-22
Forasmuch as thou hast been disobedient,... but camest back. (r. v.)

We are inclined at first sight to pity this unknown prophet, and to justify his return; but as we look closer into the story, we not only discover the reason for the severe penalty that overtook him, but we are warned lest we make a similar mistake. When we have received a direct command fresh from the lips of Christ, we must act on it, and not be turned aside by a different suggestion, made to us through the lips of professing Christians. God does not vacillate or alter in the thing which proceeds from His mouth. When we know we are in the line of His purpose, we must not allow ourselves to be diverted by any appeal or threat, from whomsoever it may emanate. Deal with God at first-hand.

The rule for determining the true worth of the advice which our friends proffer us, is to ask, first, whether it conflicts with our own deep-seated conviction of God’s will; and, secondly, whether it tends to the ease and satisfaction of the flesh, as the old prophet’s suggestion certainly did. Beware of any one who allures you with the bread and water that are to break your fast. That bait is likely enough to disturb the balance of your judgment. When a voice says spare thyself, be on the alert; it savors the things that be of man, not of those that be of God.

Learn to deal with God at first-hand. Do not run hither and thither to human teachers, or to the Church. Be still before God, and what He says in the depths of thy soul, do. His Holy Spirit shall guide you into all truth; and when once His way has been revealed to thee, go straight on, listening to no other voice, however much it professes Divine inspiration.

1 Kings 14:6
I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.

How foolish! Jeroboam thought that the old prophet could penetrate the vail that hid the future, but not the disguise in which his wife wished to conceal herself. As we might have expected, the aged prophet’s inner sight read her heart. From God no secrets are hid. Immediately on His accosting her by her name there came the dread announcement of inevitable disaster.

We must not hesitate to unfold all the consequences of sin. As watchmen on the walls, we are bound to tell men of the certain fearful looking for of fiery indignation which shall devour the transgressors. None of us should flinch from declaring the whole counsel of God. We should specially insist on the guilt side of sin. Not only that it is a misfortune, a mistake, an error, a disease, a tyranny; but a crime. The sinner is a criminal, who has incurred the just wrath and anger of a holy God: for which he must suffer a due recompense.

Oh for more tenderness that we may with tears warn men of their doom! We are so self-possessed, so stolid; we need to ask that our eyes, like Jeremiah’s, should be fountains of tears, that we might weep day and night. If the tidings are heavy, let us first feel their pressure on our own hearts; let us bend over the regions of despair and darkness, and hear the bitter weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and come back to warn our brethren, lest they also come to that place of torment. Though it was with fear and much trembling that Paul preached the Gospel, yet he did not shun to declare the whole counsel of God. And while we go to men with the good tidings of salvation, we must not withhold the heavy tidings from those who persist in unbelief.

1 Kings 15:11
Asa did ... right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father.

It is a great thing to have such a testimony as this. We may do right in our own eyes; yet the eye of the Lord may detect evil which neither our associates nor we have seen. We may deceive ourselves, we may deceive others; but we cannot deceive God. In the home or business, in situation or factory, let us live as under the searching gaze of God.

Asa’s life was one of religious activity: he destroyed the idols of his father, and even deposed his queen-mother, “because she made an idol in a grove.” It needs Divine courage so to live for God that at home or afield men shall take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. This is what the world is languishing for— reality, consistency under all circumstances, and before all men.

There are, however, two clouds overhanging this otherwise bright life. “The high places were not removed” (1 Kings 15:14). Though idols were destroyed, the groves in which they were erected remained. They were no scare to him; and he took care that during his life they should not ensnare others; but after his death, in the reign of Jehoshaphat his son, “the people offered and burned incense” in them (1 Kings 22:43). We must not only cleanse our way before the Lord, but remove any evil thing which may cause others to stumble.

The other cloud is indicated in 2 Chronicles 16:12: “He was diseased in his feet... Yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” Strange that in affliction he should not have turned to the Great Physician. The enemy of souls is ever on the watch. Pray that amid the pains of death, you may not act unworthily.

1 Kings 16:33
Ahab did more to provoke the Lord to anger than all the kings.

His sin was very aggravated, largely through the influence of Jezebel, his young and beautiful wife, who introduced the abominations of Phoenician idol-worship. This is why he is said to have exceeded his predecessors in wickedness. They broke the second commandment, and worshipped Jehovah under the form of a calf. Ahab and Jezebel broke the first, and chose other gods— Baal, the sun, and Ashtoreth, the moon. The inveterate love for this idolatry was connected with licentious rites with which these deities were served. What wonder that the land became corrupt when the fountains of its religious life were polluted at the source?

The connection between the indulgence of impurity and the declension of the spiritual life, is very close. As the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1, the men that refuse to retain God in their knowledge are given up to the working of passion; and as they yield to passion they lose the sweet, clear impression of the truth and nearness of the Christ. The first, second, and third thing to be said to young people on venturing out into the world, corrupt through many deceitful lusts, is, Be pure. Wear the white flower of a blameless life. If you cannot be faultless, be blameless. If you cannot realize all the good you know, at least refrain from all the evil. Keep your robes unspotted from the world. Then through purity of heart and obedience in life, you shall see God. As the living Christ enters the heart, He will drive before Him the brute forms of evil, overthrow the tables of the moneychangers, and will sit to teach of God. Give yourself unreservedly into His keeping, that He may govern and control every avenue of your life.

1 Kings 17:4, 9
I have commanded the ravens … a widow woman … there.

We must be where God desires.— Elijah spoke of himself as always standing before the Lord God of Israel. He deemed himself as much a courtier in the royal palace as Gabriel (Luke 1:19). And he could as distinctly stand before God when hiding beside Cherith, or sheltering in the widow’s house at Zarephath, as when he stood erect on Carmel, or listened to the voice of God at Horeb. Wherever you go, and whatever ministry you are called to undertake, glory in this, that you never go to any greater distance from God.

If we are where God wants us to be, He will see to the supply of our need. It is as easy for Him to feed us by the ravens as by the widow woman. As long as God says, Stay here, or there, be sure that He is pledged to provide for you. Though you resemble a lonely sentinel in some distant post of missionary service, God will see to you. The ravens are not less amenable to His command than of old: and out of the stores of widow women He is as able to supply your need as He did Elijah’s, at Zarephath.

How often God teaches best in seclusion and solitude! It is by the murmuring brooks of nature that we have our deepest lessons. It is in the homes of the poor that we are fitted for our greatest tasks. It is beside couches where children suffer and die, that we receive those preparations of the heart which avail us when the bugle note summons us to some difficult post.

God leads through death to life.— It was needful that the child should die, that sin might be remembered and dealt with; but through Death’s portal the trio entered a richer, fuller life. Fear not that gateway!

1 Kings 18:21 (from Our Daily Walk)
TAKING SIDES

"Who is on the Lord's side!"-- Exodus 32:26.

"How long halt ye between two opinions! If the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, follow him. And the people answered him not a word."-- 1 Kings 18:21.

MOSES AND Elijah uttered practically the same call, which is always being spoken to each fresh generation. As soon as we can think for ourselves, we are accosted by the challenge of the Divine Voice- Art thou for Me or against Me? Which side dost thou take? From the lips of our blessed Lord comes the additional challenge, which compels us to face the alternative as one that may not be trifled with or put aside: "He that is not with Me is against Me."

How long halt ye between two opinions? We must take one side or the other. When the division-bell rings in the House of Commons, the Ayes must go to the right and the No's to the left. A man must choose which he will take! If Jehovah, If Baal, We cannot be neutral without being stultified.

Who, then, is prepared to take sides, and to come out to Christ, without the camp, bearing His reproach? (Heb13:13). To be on the Lord's side is to acknowledge Him as our King as well as Saviour. It is to render to Him our reverence, obedience, love and devotion. It is to abandon all refuges and resorts to our own works and ways, and to strive for heart, mind, and life to be assimilated to His will and character. This is what our Saviour expects and asks of each of us! We are to belong wholly to God, to give Him all that we are capable of giving, to choose His cause, and to find in Him the beginning and ending, the first and last.

Jesus Christ possesses an unimpeachable and absolute right over us--the right of Creator, "it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves"; the right of Benefactor, not only in the realm of temporal but of spiritual existence; the right of Redeemer, and this is the greatest claim of all.

Our decision demands declaration. Christ will not have His followers live in secret. In the days in which we live, when there are so many temptations to compromise between the disciples of Jesus and the votaries of the world, there is overwhelming reason why we should take His side. And in that great day, He will take our side and acknowledge us before His Father and the Holy Angels!

PRAYER - O Lord, we acknowledge Thy dominion over us; our life, our death, our soul and body, all belong to Thee. Grant that we may willingly consecrate them all to Thee, and use them in Thy service. AMEN.

1 Kings 18:42
So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel.

Such differences obtain still. The children of this world and the children of light are manifest. What though the bodies of four hundred and fifty prophets lay slain in the gorge of the Kishon; or that by one great act Elijah had hewn down the upas tree, the deadly, influence of which had corrupted Palestine; or that the long-expected rain was in the air— yet Ahab must eat and drink. These are the things which the children of the world seek after. Watch and pray, lest you enter into this temptation. Let appetite be kept well in hand— your servant, not your master; and see to it that you are capable of such profound and absorbing interest in the things of the Kingdom of God, as to count the gratification of physical desire unworthy to be compared with the high delights of service, prayer, and communion with the unseen.

Though he must have been exhausted with the excitements and efforts of the day, Elijah must spend the evening hour with God. Though he knew that the rain was near, he felt that his prayers were a needful condition for its bestowment. Though any part of Carmel might have become his oratory, he sought the lonely solitudes of the summit with the outspread sea before him, that his soul might hold undisturbed vigil, and that he might see over the wide expanse of the ocean the first tokens of the coming answer. His attitude denoted his humility. His repeated injunction to the lad, his perseverance. His success approved his faith.

Stand, O suppliant soul, on the highest point of expectant hope; see the hurrying answer, which was being prepared from pools and lakes and seas, long ere thy prayer began. “Before they call, I will answer.”

1 Kings 19:5
Behold, an angel touched him.

In all probability the angels often touch us when danger is near, threatening our health and life, or when foul fiends step up to us with hideous temptation. They find us out, especially when, like Elijah, we are alone and depressed; when nervous depression has crept about our hearts; when we seem to have failed in the conflict against evil and long for death to end our long and weary strife. It was the lament of a holy soul on the verge of eternity, that he had made so little of the ministry of God’s holy and tender angels.

It was very gracious for God to deal thus with His servant. We might have expected rebuke or remonstrance, chiding or chastisement; but we would hardly have expected such loving, gentle treatment as this. Is this the man who defied Ahab and all his priests? He is as frail and impotent as any! Nay, but God looked beneath the surface depression, and detected the strong fountains of courage and devotion that lay beneath, only capable of being called again into intense manifestation. He knew His servant’s frame, and recognized that he was dust. He knew how to distinguish between the passing overstrain of the body and the heroic temper of the spirit. So, He understands us in our fits of depression and despair.

Whenever these angel-fingers touch you, whether directly or through the medium of loving mortal hands, you will always find the cake and the cruse of water. God never awakens to disappoint. It is an infinite pleasure to Him to awaken His loved ones to good things, which they had neither asked nor thought. Will not dying be something like this! The angel of life will touch us, and we shall awake to see what love has prepared.

1 Kings 20:40
As thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.

This was likely enough to happen on a battlefield. It would not be possible to hold your prisoner, and to busy yourself about other things at the same time. This man, in the prophet’s parable, made a great mistake to concern himself about a number of trifles, when so serious a matter as his own life depended on giving all his attention to the custodianship of the prisoner entrusted to his care. But is it not thus that men miss the main end of life?

Busy here and there and life is gone.— Many spend their days in mere trivialities. Like children they dig in the sand; like the butterfly they flit from flower to flower. A round of visits, a few novels, a good many hours of light gaiety; vanity, fashion, and amusement; these fill their hours, the days flash by, and life is gone. They have nothing to show for it.

Busy here and there, and the chance of saving others is gone.— Lives touch lives, for the chief purpose that one should influence the other. But too often we deal only with superficialities, busying ourselves in the slightest interests, but not seeking the salvation of those with whom we associate. The dance, the game, the business relationship, monopolize our thought, and our friends are swept from us in the eddying whirl of life’s battle, and are gone.

Busy here and there, and the knowledge of God is gone.— Remember how the birds caught away the seed of the Kingdom; and be sure that, in the same way, the cares and riches of this world, and the lusts of other things may enter in, and destroy the impression made on the heart. The ephemeral interests of life press hard on its real interests. Like boys, we squander in trifling the hours given to prepare for an examination on which all the future must turn.

1 Kings 21:20
And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?

Ahab got his garden of herbs, but he had Elijah withal, who stood at the gate like an incarnate conscience. Men may get the prize on which they have set their heart; but if they have obtained it wrongfully, the conscience of the wrong done will haunt them, and take away the pleasure on which they counted, and ultimately bring them like a quarry to the ground.

We turn our best friends into enemies, as Ahab did Elijah. The cloud that lights Israel is darkness to Pharaoh; the angel that protects Jerusalem, slays the host of Sennacherib; the gentle love which anoints the Savior, instigates in Judas a jealousy which ends in murder. The God who shows Himself merciful to the merciful is froward to the froward. The cause of the alteration is to be sought within ourselves. The sun that melts wax hardens clay, but the difference is in the clay. To the widow of Zarephath Elijah was an angel of light; whilst to Ahab he was an enemy. The difference lay in their hearts; the one being holy and loving, the other dark and turbid. What you are, determines whether Elijah will be your friend or your enemy.

This word “sold thyself” is very awful. It underlies Goethe’s tragedy of Faust, in which the soul sells itself to the devil for so many years of worldly pleasure. A few promises which are never kept; a mirage that is dissipated in thin air when we approach it; a bribe of gold or silver that burns the hands which receive it— such are the price for which men sell themselves. “They sell themselves for nought.” Truly the devil drives a hard bargain. When he gets the soul into his power, he laughs at his former promises, and pays as wages, death.

1 Kings 22:34
A certain man . . . smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness.

Every man we meet is clothed in armor; in other words, we all cover ourselves with plates on which to receive the thrust of accusation and reproach. “I only do as others.” “I do not see any special harm in it.” “My father did it before me.” “I cannot help it.” Such are some of the plates in the armor of the soul; and our work as Christian workers becomes abortive in so many instances, because we are content to belabor the plates, instead of striking home to the one place where the armor-joints are. Successful soul-winning depends on discovering the vulnerable part of a man, and striking there. But all this demands a very special discernment of spirits, and anointing of the Holy Ghost. Only so can we detect where best to bring about conviction, and make men know their need of the Gospel of God’s grace. The great need of the present day is a sharper and more searching analysis of sin. Men need to be shown how they are violating the Laws of God. They assent generally to the Scriptural statements of what God requires, but fail to realize how greatly they have come short. You are almost sure to hit, if you begin to show the various ways in which respectably-living people are coming under the Divine sentence.

But several conditions must be fulfilled. (1) Study well your own heart. (2) Be a deep student of the biographies of Scripture. Because every type of human character is delineated in Holy Writ. (3) Open your heart to the Holy Ghost, through whom alone you can discern spirits. He is a discerner of the thoughts of the heart, and will teach you to cut to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow.

The Books of Kings were originally one book in the Hebrew Bible. They cover the whole time of the Israelitish monarchy, exclusive of the reigns of Saul and David. The Jewish tradition ascribes them to Jeremiah, and this is corroborated by internal evidence. But of course, Jeremiah, if he were the compiler, availed himself of the state records, and of all the documentary or oral sources of information within his reach. The Spirit of God was continually prompting his prophets to preserve a continuous record of the history of the chosen people; and thus abundant materials would be waiting for the author's use.

The First Book of Kings carries the story of Israel from the death of David to that of Ahab, while the record of the kingdom of Judah is carried to the death of Jehoshaphat. It is a wonderful story of the fulfilment of God's gracious promise to David, side by side with the chastisement of the people for their sins. The story of Solomon's greatness; the building of his temple; the breaking away of the ten tribes; the ministry of Elijah -- are told at considerable length. This book is often quoted in the New Testament; and our Lord especially derived from it many a searching lesson, as when He spoke of the Queen of Sheba, and the widow woman of Sarepta.
 

1 KINGS 1 SOLOMON ANOINTED KING

1 Kings 1:1-10 Adonijah's revolt. --

Adonijah was the fourth son of David (2 Sam. 3:4), and perhaps the oldest then surviving. He was born after Absalom (1 Kings 1:6); and, like him, was goodly in appearance, ambitious in spirit, and spoiled by his father's indulgence (1 Kings 1:5-6). This attempt on his part to usurp the kingdom was a fulfilment of Nathan's prediction in 2 Samuel 12:10-11. To the end of his life the effects of David's sin followed him. And as Bathsheba and he met, for perhaps the last time on this dark day, each of them must have remembered the announcement which had broken in on their guilty attachment so long before. How carefully we should walk before God, trusting Him to keep us moment by moment, since one glance of the eye may lead to such disastrous results!

The revolt was abetted by Joab and Abiathar (1 Kings 1:7). The former had more than once crossed David's purpose, and might reasonably fear that Solomon would not favor him, while the latter was perhaps jealous of Zadok. It was a compliment to the fidelity of the others that they were not invited.

1 Kings 1:11-27 Bathsheba's and Nathan's appeal. --

Any jealousy that might have stirred in the heart of the royal consort at seeing her place taken by another, was hushed in the presence of the supreme danger which threatened not only to engulf her hopes that Solomon should succeed to the throne, but to involve both her and him in a common death. What a noble part Nathan had played in David's life! How much we owe to a true and wise friend!

1 Kings 1:28-38 David's decisive action. --

Though weakened in body, his mind was clear and his spirit strong and resolute. He did not forget, in those closing days of his life, the bitter adversity of his earlier years, or the redeeming mercy of God. He was equally mindful of his own solemn words of promise made in the presence of the living God: "As I sware unto thee.., so will I do this day" His action was as prudent as it was prompt, and left no doubt as to his successor. Solomon must ride on David's own mule (1 Kings 1:33; Gen. 41:43; Esther 6:8), attended by the royal body-guard (1 Kings 1:38), and anointed by Priest and Prophet.

1 Kings 1:39-53 Solomon's coronation. --

The tidings of this glad event carried comfort and joy into the hearts of all loyal citizens, but dismay into the hearts of traitors. To the one a savor of life unto life, to others of death unto death. Those shouts that made the earth ring anticipated the acclamation that shall accompany the exaltation of Jesus to be King of men. Ah, happy day for His Church; but woe to them that plot against His rule! The nations rage and the peoples take counsel together; yet God will set His Son upon His holy hill. Let the Adonijahs and Joabs make haste to kiss Him, lest they perish from His presence.


1 KINGS 2 THE DEATH OF DAVID

1 Kings 2:1-11 David's charge and death. --

With all its faults it had been a great life. The clouds had passed away and the sun shone out as it westered. There was no faltering in the tones of the voice that gave its farewell charge. Though he was in the valley of the shadow, he feared no evil -- God was with him. The dying man spoke, not only by the inspiration of God's Spirit, but as epitomizing his own experiences; and it is good to ponder these strong and noble words. To be strong in God's might; to quit oneself as a man; to keep God's charge; to walk in His ways; to keep His statutes and commandments -- such is the pathway of prosperity and peace. When once God has passed His word, years may intervene; but it shall be even as He has said if only we, on our part, fulfil the conditions on which His promise is based.

At first it might appear is if David carried to the grave, feelings of bitter hatred to the men whom he named to Solomon. But we must not forget that he spoke as much as a politician as a man. He saw that they constituted a grave source of danger to the public peace, and therefore warned Solomon against them. Nor were his prognostications mistaken; for as this chapter shows, each of them was discovered in acts of treachery, for which, rather than because of David's injunctions, they suffered death, What a comment on Psalm 55:23!

1 Kings 2:12-46 The fate of traitors. --

Adonijah, when David was dead, revived his attempt to gain the throne. To have received one of David's wives would have given him a claim for something more. The request was probably the first of a series of moves, concocted by himself and his accomplices. They made a tool of Bathsheba, who, as the king's mother, would have special weight with him. She apparently did not see through the plot; but Solomon did. And though he paid her exemplary respect (1 Kings 2:19-20), he steadfastly refused her request, and proceeded to take the life of Adonijah, who had prompted it.

Abiathar's deposition, in fulfilment of an ancient prediction (1 Sam. 2:31), and the death of Joab, who had been guilty of atrocious murders, still further weakened the party of disaffection (1 Kings 2:26-36). Notice Joab's vain attempt to find safety at the altar (1 Kings 2:28-31). He reminds us of those who, notwithstanding their unconfessed sins, think to gain exemption from punishment by external rites. The cross itself will not save if we have not the spirit of the cross within, contrite and penitent, believing and forgiving. Shimei broke the condition on which his life depended, and died by the hand of Benaiah (1 Kings 2:36-48). (See Proverbs 25:5.)

1 KINGS 3 SOLOMON'S WISDOM

1 Kings 3:1-4 Solomon's marriage. --

More than a year before he had married Naamah, an Ammonitess, the mother of Rehoboam (2 Chron. 12:13). Shadows soon began to gather on the fair dawn. The marriage with Pharoah's daughter was not absolutely forbidden, as alliances with the Canaanites were; but it was very inopportune. Was this the theme of Psalm 45? There are two significant onlys in the second and third verses. But these reservations may have been due to the want of a proper temple, in which the people might observe their religious rites. Solomon's love to God, and his appropriate conduct, are delightful gleams of promise.

1 Kings 3:5-15 Solomon's choice. --

Solomon had deeply pondered the lessons of David's life. He had seen that God's great kindness had been shown on the conditions of David's truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart; and that God had kept His great kindness for His servant. And it was on this that he founded his own requests and trust. So may the religious life of the parent become a priceless legacy to the child. It is to those who count themselves as little children that God reveals things hidden from the wise and prudent, and shows Himself strong. Happy is the man, who, in the presence of a great responsibility, can say, "1 am but a little child; I know not" (1 Kings 3:7).

To each of us, as we abide in Jesus, the gracious words come, "Ask what I shall give thee:' (See 1 John 5:15). The only limitations are those imposed by our faith or our capacity to receive. Happy are we if we seek not our own, but Christ's! When we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all things else are added. When we are set on doing God's work, we may claim with confidence the special gifts needed for its effective doing; and God will bestow, not these alone, but all else we require, exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think. "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly:'

1 Kings 3:16-28 Solomon's wisdom

How could so difficult a case as this be decided, when no witnesses could be called on either side? The proposal to divide the child revealed the mother's heart. Better lose her babe than that it should die. It appealed to the great instincts of the human heart, and struck a responsive chord throughout all Israel, as the story of the incident spread from lip to lip. "The people feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him" (1 Kings 3:28). Bishop Hall, commenting on the incident, says, "Satan, that hath no right to the heart, would be content with a piece of it; God, that made it all, will have either the whole or none."


1 KINGS 4 A GLORIOUS KINGDOM

In the previous chapter an incident was given to show how Solomon was endowed with special wisdom; here further proof is given of his unparalleled riches and honor.

1 Kings 4:1-21 His internal administration. --

The scribes or secretaries; the recorder or annalist; the commander-in-chief; the chief of the officers; the confidential minister, adviser, or friend of the king -- all are carefully enumerated. The twelve officers seem to have been charged to collect the revenues for the royal treasury, which in the East are generally paid in the produce of the soil. Each provided maintenance for the king from his district for one month in the year. It was evidently a time of great prosperity and joy (1 Kings 4:20).

But from Solomon we turn to a greater than he. Who can measure the unsearchable riches of Christ! What roll-call can contain the names of those who have served Him faithfully, and are now gathered around His throne! How happy and safe are they who own Him as their King! "Eating and drinking and making merry" (1 Kings 4:20). (See Ephesians 5:19.)

1 Kings 4:22-28 His provision and magnificence. --

From the river Euphrates to the Philistines were the borders of the Kingdom, which at this time realized the extent predicted to Abraham (Gen. 15:18). Tiphsah was on the western bank of the Euphrates, and Azzah was Gaza on the Philistines' border. Thirty measures of fine flour would be equal to two hundred and forty bushels. Instead of forty thousand stalls (probably an error in transcription), read four thousand, as in 2 Chronicles 9:25.

So Christ shall have dominion from the river to the uttermost ends of the earth. All kings shall fall down before Him: and the uttermost parts all contribute to the magnificence of His reign (Isa. 60). All things are ours, because we are His.

1 Kings 4:29-34 His marvellous endowments. --

What is here said of Solomon has its abundant counterpart in our blessed Lord. There is nothing in our lives, small as a hyssop, that escapes His notice. And there is no problem so perplexing that He cannot solve it. He not only speaks of all the abundant animal creation; but He speaks to each, and they serve His will. And as we read Psalm 72, we feel that its marvellous portraiture is only perfectly realized in the Prince of the kings of the earth.


1 KINGS 5 HIRAM, KING OF TYRE

Before his death David made great preparations for the building of the Temple (1 Chron. 29:1-5). The time for commencing the work had at last arrived.

1 Kings 5:1-3 Times of peace. --

David had been prevented from executing his purpose, because he was a man of war and blood (1 Chron. 22:8). But, as God had promised, "a man of rest" was now on his throne. The name Solomon means peaceful God had given him rest. It is only in times of peace that the Temple of God can be built, whether in man's heart or in the world (Acts 9:31). It is the still heart that becomes the habitation of God. "This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell:' Times of temptation and difficulty are needed to brace us to endure hardship; but we grow most in days of calm and loving meditation.

1 Kings 5:4-12 Hiram. --

A lover of David; and through that love probably possessed of a faith in David's God. He was a Gentile, but he had an important function in the building of the Temple: indeed, much of its beauty and magnificence was due to him. Isaiah alludes to this as foreshadowing events still future (Isa. 60:10-13). And our Lord Himself, of whom Solomon was a type, permits them that are "far off" to come and build in the Temple of the Lord (Zech. 6:12-15). Every believer is a living stone in the Temple, and is called to fellowship with the Lord in its erection. How careful the historian is to fall back reverently and repeatedly on the Divine promise (1 Kings 5:12). Amid all the splendor of Solomon's realm, we can never forget the Divine purpose and promise to which all must be counted back. My soul, boast not of aught which thou hast; thou hast nothing which thou hast not received.

"lyre gave skill and labor; Israel supplied food for the workmen as well as for Hiram's household. For twenty measures of pure oil (1 Kings 5:11), read twenty-thousand baths, as in 2 Chronicles 2:10.

1 Kings 5:13-18 Solomon's levy. --

These were not Israelites, but tributary or conquered nations (1 Kings 9:20-22; 2 Chron. 2:17-18). This enforced service was extremely heavy and bitterly resented, as appeared afterwards (1 Kings 12:14-18). According to Josephus, Solomon enlarged the area of the top of the mount by raising a wall from the valley beneath, and filling the intervening space with earth. Immense stones still attest these mighty works. Be content to hew on the mountains, or shape in the valleys; so long as thou shalt do something for the building of the Church, which is the true Temple of God, and thy work shall abide for ever.


1 KINGS 6 THE ERECTED TEMPLE

1 Kings 6:1 The time. --

Here is a chronological difficulty; there is some doubt as to the exact date (see Acts 13:20). The early years of Solomon's reign were spent in preparation. The kingdom needed to be settled, and the materials prepared. There must be times of subsoil work before there can be a harvest of results. Time is not wasted which is spent in preparation.

1 Kings 6:2-14 The house. -- The Temple was twice the size of the Tabernacle, ninety feet long by thirty feet broad, and forty-five feet high; the porch fifteen feet forward along the breadth. "The walls narrowed as they ascended, by sets-off of about eleven inches on each side, which received the flooring-joists, as no cutting was permitted on the sacred building:' It was built on the plan given by God to David (1 Chron. 28:11-19); and was a type, first, of the body of the believer (1 Cor. 3:16), and, lastly, of the whole Church of God (Eph. 2:21, 22). Each of these is God's dwelling-place. There is no need to seek for God in any material structure, or even in heaven -- He is within.

The silence in which the Temple was reared was very significant. Like some tall palm, growing amid the silence of the desert, that wonderful building rose on the summit of Zion. The stone was made ready at the quarry. Thus all true work in the world is being done still. But how reassuring the promise which broke in on the heart of Solomon, that God would dwell there, and not forsake His people Israel.

1 Kings 6:15-38 The furniture. --

The stone walls were lined with cedar, and this was covered with gold. The Holy of Holies called (1 Kings 6:16) the oracle -- was a perfect cube of thirty-five feet. The cherubim that stood erect within were seventeen feet high, made of olive wood, and covered with gold. The house was for God, and so demanded the best of everything. It took seven years to finish. Can we wonder therefore that the Church has taken so many centuries for its erection, and is not yet complete?


1 KINGS 7 SOLOMON'S PALACE

1 Kings 7:1-12 Solomon's palace. --

This building was probably called "the house of the forest of Lebanon,' because of the immense amount of cedar used in its construction. It, with the house for Pharaoh's daughter, was probably one vast pile of buildings. Note the porch of pillars (1 Kings 7:6), the porch of judgment (1 Kings 7:7), his own house, with its inner porch (1 Kings 7:8). It may be remarked that the stonework was equally excellent on the inside, though covered with cedar, as on the outside (1 Kings 7:9); and in the formation, though out of sight, as in the superstructure, God sees, and our most hidden work should be done in His sight, as to Him.

1 Kings 7:13-14 Hiram. --

His mother probably belonged to Dan (2 Chron. 2:14), and her first husband to Naphtali (1 Kings 7:14). "The head of a Tyrian, and the heart of an Israelite"; God uses all.

1 Kings 7:15-22 The brazen pillars. --

Each was twenty-seven feet high, and eighteen feet in circumference, and the capitals seven and a half feet high. Here and in Jeremiah 52:21, the height of the pillars alone is given; in 2 Chronicles 3:15, that of the pedestals on which they stood is included. They were elaborately ornamented, and stood in the temple porch. Their names spoke to every priest, as he entered on his ministry. Jachin, "He shall establish or prepare." Boaz, "In Him is strength;' In worship and warfare, amid all life's changes, we need the prepared and the strong heart.

1 Kings 7:23-26

The molten sea was substituted for the laver. It was called a sea because of its immense size. Its contents would be equal to fourteen thousand gallons. We need not only the blood of the Altar, but the water of the Word: not only the sacrifice of the cross, but the washing of the feet -- as in John 13 -- from the daily defilement of the way. The same lesson is taught in the ten/avers used for washing the burnt-offerings (1 Kings 7:27-40). Our acts of consecration need cleansing; our prayers, the sweet incense of Christ's merit.

Elaborate details are given of the workmanship of the bases on which the lavers stood. They were on wheels, so as to be easily moved from one part of the ample court to the other, as required (2 Chron. 4:6). Christ comes to where we are in need of Him.

1 Kings 7:41-51 The immeasurable weight of material. --

"The weight was not searched out" (47, R.V.). So is it with the unsearchable riches of Christ. Even the hinges and snuffers in Christian service should be of gold, derived from Him. You cannot weigh up God's grace; nor our hope and joy. They are unspeakable. They pass knowledge. As you leave the outer courts and go ever deeper, you find that brass is left for gold. Always from grace to grace; from strength to strength; from glory to glory.


1 KINGS 8 THE TEMPLE DEDICATION

1 Kings 8:1-13 The Temple dedicated. --

The Feast of Tabernacles, which was held in the seventh month (Lev. 23:34), was blended with this solemn festival: or perhaps the one feast immediately followed the other (1 Kings 8:65). All Israel in festive attire welcomed the ark to its abiding place, with sacrifices that could not be numbered. The Priests bare it; for the Levites, by whom this duty had been performed, were not permitted to enter the Holy of Holies.

There is rare joy in the heart, when He, of whom the ark was a type, with its blood-stained propitiatory, takes up His abode there. Then the glory-cloud fills the whole being, and there is no longer any part dark; but the spirit, soul, and body -- the Holy of Holies, and the outer court -- are all infilled. This is to be sanctified wholly. Thus the whole nature may be preserved blameless (1 Thess. 5:23).

The budding rod and the pot of manna had disappeared. They were the symbols of a life that had passed away. But the Holy Law was there. In our most rapturous experiences we shall never be able to get away from the need of loving meditation on God's Word.

1 Kings 8:14-21 The people blessed. --

Solomon recited the chain of incidents that had conducted to that august moment. Each link is worthy of notice, especially the clause which declares that though David was not permitted to carry his pious intention into effect, it was yet accepted. "Thou didst well that it was in thine heart" There are many who desire to devote their lives to God as missionaries or ministers, but are hindered by death, or home-ties, or other considerations. But they are credited before God, not only with the desire, but with the fact. In the seed He beholds the perfected plant.

1 Kings 8:22-54 The prayer of intercession and consecration. --

He began by standing (1 Kings 8:22), but in the eager pursuit of his entreaties, he found his way to his knees (1 Kings 8:54). Familiarity with God begets reverence (Heb. 12:28). All prayer should contain a large proportion of adoration. What scope we have for this as we meditate on God's faithfulness (1 Kings 8:24), and His promises (1 Kings 8:25)! In prayer, God's children should quote and claim the promises. Let us also be minute in prayer, passing step by step through the needs of our life, and asking appropriate help. The vindication of righteousness (1 Kings 8:31); defeat (1 Kings 8:33); drought (1 Kings 8:35); pestilence (1 Kings 8:37); the case of the stranger (1 Kings 8:41); captivity in a strange land (1 Kings 8:46) -- these will suggest counterparts in all lives. But in each case there had to be confession, directed towards that place where the blood was shed and the priesthood burnt sweet incense -- so in our case there is no forgiveness, save through the sacrifice and intercession of Jesus Christ. There are some notable expressions in this prayer: "The plague of the heart" (1 Kings 8:38), "The furnace of iron" (1 Kings 8:51), and so on.

1 Kings 8:55-66 Thanksgiving and sacrifice. --

As God had not failed, so they might reckon on His being true. This reckoning God to be faithful to do what He has promised is the after-glow of true prayer; and then there is the obvious condition on our side of the perfect heart. In considering the great numbers of victims sacrificed, let us not forget, that though all was offered to God, only a small part was burnt on the altar; the rest was eaten. It was needful to make provision for the immense multitudes of guests.


1 KINGS 9 GOD'S COVENANT WITH SOLOMON

1 Kings 9:1-9 God's second appearance. --

It is suggested that the dedication of the Temple did not take place until Solomon had finished his own house. There was nothing then to distract his mind, and no unfinished works on the great Temple-site. This second vision was intended to assure Solomon that his prayer was heard and the new Temple hallowed; and to declare the conditions on which both king and people might be assured of permanent prosperity.

As soon as we yield ourselves to God to be only His, He enters upon a possession, guaranteeing our security. Obedience to the least prompting of the Divine Spirit is an essential condition of blessedness and prosperity. Let us watch against indolence in the self-watch. It is true that we are not under the law, but under grace; but we are under the law to Christ.

1 Kings 9:10-14 Hiram's discontent. --

"Cabul" in the Phoenician tongue, signified unpleasing. It was a pity, after all their cooperation, that there was any grievance between the two. But there is no security for human friendship unless it is based on the love of God.

1 Kings 9:15-28 Solomon's growing power. --

All great kings have been great builders. Baalath (1 Kings 9:18) is supposed by some to have been Baalbek, in the extreme north of Canaan; but more likely it was a town on the southern frontier. Tadma, or Tamar, is supposed to have been Palmyra, midway between Damascus and the Euphrates, forming an oasis. The remnants of the Hittites that still lived among the Israelites were reduced to bondage; but the chosen people furnished the soldiers and officers of state.

It is significant to have this mention of mercantile marine at Ezion-geber. It was a strange outburst of national life which made the Jew a sailor, willing to undertake journeys to Ophir (India). But what visions of new worlds must those voyages to the barbaric splendor of India have excited! In 2 Chronicles 8:18 the weight of gold is fixed at four-hundred and fifty talents; perhaps the thirty talents went to defray the expenses of the voyage, the balance alone being paid into the royal treasury.
In these early years Solomon's piety seemed to keep pace with his success, and we learn of his public appearance three times yearly for the purposes of sacrifice (1 Kings 9:25).


1 KINGS 10 THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

1 Kings 10:1-13 The Queen of Sheba. --

Matthew 12:42 gives the spiritual lessons of this memorable visit. She heeded the report. She came to verify it. She had many questions --questions for heart as well as head. We, too, are troubled with these; but for each of them there is a solution in Jesus, the "greater than Solomon:' Too often men seem to suppose that we must stay away from Him till these questions are all answered, and only afterwards go to His feet. But at this rate we shall never go at all. We must travel to Him from the uttermost parts, and in the light of His face all mists and clouds will vanish.

This Eastern queen found that the half had not been told of Solomon's wisdom and prosperity. So when we come to Christ, His wisdom and goodness far surpass the power of men and angels to utter. The soul exults in the golden radiance of His love and grace, which are inexpressible. We sink in our own esteem, there is no spirit left in us; while we have ever enlarging conceptions of Christ. There, however, the likeness ends. She had to leave the magnificent monarch, congratulating those who ever stood in his presence; we, on the other hand, need never pass out of the presence-chamber of our King. Fed on His provision; living on His royal bounty; and satisfied with His goodness. He also gives all our desire, and "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think:'

1 Kings 10:14-29 The glory of Solomon. --

he "ascent" (1 Kings 10:5) may have been a splendid aqueduct between Mount Zion and Mount Moriah. Almug trees, probably sandal-wood, brought from India (2 Chron. 9:10, 11). Tarshish is supposed to have been situated on the coast of Spain. The horses came up from Egypt in droves (1 Kings 10:28), in violation of Deuteronomy 17:16. There was a great temptation to trust in these as a means of defense rather than in Jehovah (Isa. 31:1). This magnificence furnishes materials on which the prophet constructs his conceptions of the latter-day glory of the coming King (Isa. 60).


1 KINGS 11 DEATH OF SOLOMON
1 Kings 11:1-13 Declension and sentence. --

Solomon's fall was attributable to the influence of his wives, whom, in direct defiance of God's command, he had married from surrounding nations (Deut. 7:3-4). Strange women caused him to sin (Neh. 13:26). A wife will make or mar. How many of the greatest men have been ruined through their passions.

Temples rose in the holy city to heathen deities; and the sin was greatly aggravated in Solomon's case by the great privileges he had enjoyed. There was no help for it, but that he should be severely chastised. He had been specially pre-warned that such would be the case (2 Sam. 7:14); and the more privileged and honored we are, the more disastrous our fall, the more inevitable our sufferings. If God loved us less, He might spare us more. Because we are capable of such heights, He makes it impossible for us to rest contented in the bed of luxurious self-indulgence. He punishes us with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. All the while, however, His mercy does not depart from us; but lingers over us, as a father will listen at the closed door of his child's chamber to detect the first symptoms of broken-hearted sorrow.

1 Kings 11:14-43 Adversaries and death. --

Hadad was first stirred up. He was prosperous and comfortable in Egypt; but he felt that mysterious prompting to go, he knew not why or where. We know not from where these strange movings come, or where they go; but we do well to follow them. "Let me go in any wise:' Then Rezon came (1 Kings 11:23); and lastly and most disastrously, Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:26). It would appear that the latter, a young man of great promise, was at the head of a large body of men, principally belonging to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and engaged on the royal works in Jerusalem.

It was thus at Ahijah, a native of Shiloh and a prophet, met him. The prophet had clothed himself with a new mantle, to give a more effective presentation of his message (1 Kings 11:29, R.V.). The taking away of ten tribes would .leave two (1 Kings 11:32); but Simeon had by this time so lost his identity that it was practically absorbed into Judah. Solomon's attempt to murder Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:40) is in bitter contrast with the opening of his reign. He is said to have written the Book of Ecclesiastes after this; if this be so, we may trust that he became a penitent. But, in any case, it was a sad overcasting of a brilliant dawn.


1 KINGS 12 REHOBOAM

1 Kings 12:1-15 Rehoboam's accession. --

Solomon's reign had been splendid, but very oppressive; it was reasonable to ask for some relief. And there was much wisdom in the counsel of the old men: "Serve them, and they will be thy servants for ever" That is a true principle. It underlay the sacrifice of Calvary. "Thou art worthy to take the best, for Thou wast slain" It is because Jesus has girded Himself and washed our feet that we gladly bear the brand marks of His service for ever. But Rehoboam chose the counsel of the young men, who advised a more spirited policy. These young men had been educated with him, and were probably about the same age. He was forty. "The scorpion was a long and heavy scourge, weighted with spikes of metal"

1 Kings 12:16-24 The revolt of the ten tribes. --

Jeroboam suddenly found himself possessor of four-fifths of the land of Canaan, together with the sovereignty of Moab (2 Kings 1:1; 3:4). A resort to arms was forbidden. The Divine purpose was being performed, though the chief agents in executing it were probably unconscious of anything more than their own ambitions and plans. God makes the wrath of man praise Him, and the remainder He restrains (see also Acts 2:23).

1 Kings 12:25-33 The two calves. --

Jeroboam knew better than to attempt, by the setting up of the golden calves, to seduce the people from the spirituality of their worship. It was rather the worship of Jehovah under a material form as under the brow of Sinai (comp. 1 Kings 12:28 and Exod. 32:4). The introduction of new and false deities was left for Ahab's reign. But this worship of the golden calves was a distinct violation of the second commandment. Jeroboam was prompted in this matter, by distrust. Ahijah had clearly told him that, if he would be obedient, God would build him a sure house; but, not content with this, he attempted to make his position surer, and resorted to mere expediency to gain his ends. His endeavor was to make it needless for the people to go to worship at Jerusalem, by making shrines within his own territory.

Bethel was at the extreme south, Dan at the extreme north, of the new Kingdom. The Levites remained true to God (comp. 1 Kings 12:31 and 2 Chron. 11:13-14). Jeroboam even constituted himself a priest, and changed the sacred month (1 Kings 12:33). These expedients to consolidate his kingdom led to its overthrow, as we shall see.


1 KINGS 13 JEROBOAM
1 Kings 13:1-10 A startling prediction. --

"A man of God"; there is no higher designation than this! He came "by the word of the Lord" to utter the Divine disapproval at Jeroboam's inauguration of the new sacred month, and of his self-consecration as priest.

This prophecy (1 Kings 13:2) was given three-hundred and sixty years before it was fulfilled; it indicated that the kings of Judah should be faithful to the law of God, even at that then remote date. It was literally realized (2 Kings 23:15). The withering of Jeroboam's arm was a token of God's preserving care over His messenger; and the rending of the altar, marked the Divine confirmation of the prophet's words. And how significant! Our strength must wither, and our religious rites be flung to the earth as contemptible, unless our hearts are right with God.

What a noble answer was that which the prophet gave, when he told the king that a bribe of half the royal house could not induce him to eat a meal therein. This faithful obedience to God's commands stood in striking contrast to the time-serving conduct of Jeroboam. It taught that there could be no fellowship between God and His erring people.

1 Kings 13:11-19 A disastrous failure. --

This old prophet seems, like Balaam, to have had the gift of foretelling the future; but he was not a holy man. It is not easy to give reasons for his great desire to get his brother beneath his roof. Perhaps he had a vague longing for contact with one who enjoyed a fellowship with God which he had lost. But the unnamed prophet had no right to substitute the word of another, or even the voice of an angel, for the direct and authoritative message from God which had started him on his errand. When once we have heard the voice of God, we must not turn aside at the call of men who profess to be speaking under Divine influence. Each must be guided by his own revelation, and not another's.

1 Kings 13:20-34 A terrible death. --

God does not say "yea" and "nay:' In Him there is neither variableness nor shadow of turning. And they who act on the supposition that He is changeable will suffer inevitable and terrible results. The doom of the prophet must have spoken to Jeroboam's heart. For if God punished so immediately the man, who a little before had been such a resolute instrument of His will, how much more certainly would judgment descend on His people and their king!

It may be that this incident was similar to matters which are not directly told us, but which had transpired in Jeroboam's recent experience. He may have been deflected from the path of obedience by visions or voices through prophets who professed to speak by the voice of God. Hence the minuteness with which this story is told.


1 KINGS 14 JUDGMENTS PREDICTED

1 Kings 14:1-6 The sickness of Abijah was co-incident with his father's sins (1 Kings 13:33).

When sorrow or death invades our homes, we do well to see if the Lord may not have a controversy with us (Hos. 5:13). Trouble will often remind us of our real friends and of God's servants. Jeroboam could do well enough with Ahijah in his prosperity; but in trial he passes by the priests he had made, and goes to the man of God, to whom he owed so much (1 Kings 11:31). How strange was the conception which expected that the prophet could look into the future, but could not look behind the disguise assumed by a visitor! Hypocrites are stripped of their garb in the sight of God, and receive their doom: "heavy tidings:'

This chapter is full of those results which disobedience and rebellion bring not to kingdoms only, but to hearts and homes. We veil ourselves under many disguises, but we do not deceive God; often we fail to deceive man. We are senseless enough to suppose that God can answer our questions and not read ourselves; can solve our problems and not understand us. But God is never mocked, and we reap as we have sown.

1 Kings 14:7-20 The prediction of coming disaster. --

The king had thrown away marvellous opportunities. He had not only not followed in David's steps, but had misled the people by setting up the golden calves. This was intended as a clever artifice to establish his government, but it was the cause of its ruin. Vaunting ambition often over-reaches itself. To do right is the surest way to establishment (2 Chron. 16:9).

In the worst of families there is often one of God's children. Such are sometimes taken away from the evil to come. But it is a terrible thing for a home when God removes its salt and light.

It is an awful phrase which is indivisibly associated with Jeroboam's name, "He made Israel to sin" (1 Kings 14:16). Does it adhere to him on the other side the vail, which parts time and eternity? For certainly if Baxter was right when he expected another heaven for himself in the case of each of those who reached heaven through his means, so there will be another hell for each that has brought another toward that place. May we be preserved from laying stumbling-blocks or being such in others' ways!

1 Kings 14:21-23 Rehoboam's reign and death. --

His mother was "Naamah" (sweetness or beauty), but she was an Ammonitess. Twice we are told this (1 Kings 14:21-31), as if to emphasize and explain the disastrous influence she wielded over her son. What an awful and rapid descent from the purity and glory of the first days of Solomon! Wherefore "God gave them up" to Shishak. Sin ever weakens us, and causes God to withdraw His encircling presence.
How was the fine gold dimmed! Brass was but a poor substitute (1 Kings 14:27); and served as the outward evidence of the sad change for the worse in the spiritual condition of Israel. Mere traditional goodness, like that of David, cannot save us from the strong set of the current away from God; we need the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, in answer to the prayer, "Hold up my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps slip not" (Ps. 17:5).


1 KINGS 15 ASA'S GOOD REIGN
1 Kings 15:1-8 Abijam, King of Judah. --

We have a fuller account of this reign in 2 Chronicles 13. He was not wholehearted with God; but he was maintained in his kingdom for David's sake (Ps. 132:10, 11).

How long after David's sun had set did the light of his life glimmer over his house! (1 Kings 15:4) God keeps His covenant and mercy unto thousands of generations. We are probably all inheriting more than we know from the prayers and tears of those who have gone before us.

What a pathetic sigh of regret that mention of Uriah is! One moment of indulged passion may cast a shadow over long years. God forgives sin, yet it grieves Him to the heart. Oh, that there may be no need for God to make such an exception in the case of any of us! And that we might never turn aside from anything He commands all the days of our life!

1 Kings 15:9-24 Asa's good reign. --

This reign was not only good but it was also long (Ps. 91:16). A bad father may have a good son. Let no one feel that a noble life is impossible because of the difficulties of his birth or home surroundings. Through all drawbacks the true life emerges into the light; as a water lily from the muddy sediment of the pond. There were some things which might have been better even in Asa's reign (1 Kings 15:14), yet Asa's heart was perfect with God; from which we may infer that the perfect heart is that which lives up to the limit of its light.

He began, where we must all begin the work of reformation, by putting away evil. He first struck at immorality, then at idolatry. There must be a slaying of the members on the earth, before we put on the new nature (Col. 3:5-10). His grandmother -- for such Maachah evidently was (comp. 1 Kings 15:2 and 1 Kings 15:10) -- was not tolerated, because she persisted in idolatry. He removed her from the court (Deut. 33:9). He brought into God's house the appointed portion from the spoils of the Ethiopians (2 Chron. 14:13). But he surely made a great mistake in seeking the help of a heathen monarch. How subtle is unbelief! How prone we are to depart from the living God!

The Book of Chronicles gives some further interesting details of Asa's life, which show the war of good and evil, and how at last he succumbed to mistrust.

1 Kings 15:25-34 Nadab and Baasha in Israel. --

The term of Asa's reign saw six or seven different monarchs in the northern kingdom. Anarchy and misrule rode rough-shod through the land. Already the description of Isaiah's first chapter could be applied to that unhappy realm. It was a shaken reed, indeed (1 Kings 14:15). Men execute God's judgments on each other, as they follow their own wild will, and fall into the sins which they are raised-up to punish. But God's plan moves on.


1 KINGS 16 DARK DAYS IN ISRAEL

Baasha was a soldier, strong, active, daring. He waded to his throne through blood (1 Kings 15:29), and reigned for twenty-four years. Of Jehu we know little. The son of a prophet (2 Chron. 16:7), he continued in his office for at least thirty years (2 Chron. 19:2; 20:34); and shone as a star amid the darkness of the times.

No age has been without its prophets; no life, however abandoned, without some remonstrating voice; no soul goes over the cataract without a warning cry. And these things, answering to the voice of conscience within, reveal the merciful, pitying love of the Father, not willing that any should perish.

Baasha died in peace, and was buried in state. Men do not in this life receive the just recompense of their deeds; and herein is a strong argument for another life (Ps. 17:14).

Elah and the remainder of the royal house were cut off by Zimri (1 Kings 16:9). We are told explicitly that the extermination was so complete that none of his avengers were left (1 Kings 16:11, marg.). In this, God's word was literally vindicated and fulfilled; but Zimri trod in his master's footsteps, and was unwarned by his master's end. By his own hand he met a similar fate in consequence of Omri's treachery (2 Kings 9:31). In his brief reign of seven days Zimri had found time to walk in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin. Seven days are long enough to test a man; and in that period he made manifest so great obstinacy and sin as to make longer probation needless, and all thought of reformation hopeless.

Omri (1 Kings 16:16)treated Zimri as he had treated Elah. For the first four years of his reign the throne was shared by Tibni (1 Kings 16:21), but at the death of his rival, Omri reigned alone. He built Samaria as the metropolis of his kingdom; and seems to have embodied his idolatrous statutes in a code (Micah 6:16).

Ahab succeeded him (1 Kings 16:29-34). He not only set aside the second commandment, but the first; and thus realized the terrible statements of 1 Kings 16:30 and 1 Kings 16:33. His wife led him on -- the beautiful, captivating, young idolatress, who was taught by the wily priesthood to use all her influence to bring in the idolatries of her home in Sidon.

The calf-worship at Bethel had a bad effect on its inhabitants, one of whom dared to defy the curse which Joshua had pronounced five hundred years before, and he suffered the terrible penalty of his presumption.

The inspired artist does not hesitate to paint the darkness of the times with Rembrandt colors, and that the background may show up the illustrious glory of Elijah. The darkest hour is that before the dawn; desperation before the step of the Saviour over the wave; Ahab and Jezebel precede Elijah.


1 KINGS 17 ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE
1 Kings 17:1-7 A failing brook. --

God rears and trains His noblest servants in unexpected places. Gilead was far from Court and Temple. But what do they need of human help or education who bear a name like this! -- "My strength is Jehovah" Elijah's nature was cast in a strong mold, suited to his great work.

The R.V. suggests that Elijah was of a pilgrim race; and certainly he learned to stand by himself in fellowship with the living God. He was ever standing in His presence-chamber; like the archangel Gabriel, who uses the same words of himself in his address to Zacharias (Luke 1:19). Oh, that we might always stand in the presence of the living God! The God of an undivided Israel -- the ideal Israel.

This drought was the result of prayer (James 5:17). It was as if Elijah felt that nothing else would arrest the king and people. The man who stands before God is not afraid to stand before Ahab.

How often does God bid His servants hide themselves!

(1 Kings 17:3). There are lessons learned in seclusion which elude us in the crowd. And, while we are in hiding, God will supply all our need by most unexpected means (Job 38:41; Ps. 147:9). But even then we must not be without trial, and it is hard to sit by a dwindling brook.

1 Kings 17:8-16 An exhausted cruse. --

Not to Jordan, but to Zarephath (Luke 4:25-26). God uses the weak and foolish things of the world, and those which are despised, as outside the visible Church. Yet there were noble qualities in this woman. She did not complain; she went at once to get some water, without so much as mentioning its scarceness; she was very hospitable and generous; she was willing to hear mention of Jehovah's name without resentment; and she believed unfalteringly in the Divine promise of the replenish-merit of her stores. "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth." We get by giving.

1 Kings 17:17-24 A dying child. --

Sorrow never proves that we are off the path of duty. Indeed, the way of obedience is often paved with flints; but our one aim must be to know God's plan and live on it, then no good thing can fail. Elijah found it so; but none of these things shook the heroic fortitude and courage of that noble spirit, who took each new trial as an opportunity for deriving additional grace and strength from his Almighty Friend.


1 KINGS 18 THE TRIUMPH AT CARMEL
1 Kings 18:1-16

Obadiah was a good man, and did what he could to keep the true light from utter extinguishment (compare 2 Chron. 11:13, 14).

He was in a very abnormal position; but we must not judge him too harshly for being in Ahab's house, unless he was there at the expense of his testimony. Our loyalty to God does not involve leaving the service of men like Ahab, unless we are called upon to violate our conscience. The apostle said distinctly that we were to abide in the calling in which we were when we became Christians (1 Cor. 7:20). Still, Obadiah was doing what he could, and used his position as a means of sheltering the prophets.

1 Kings 18:17-20 Ahab. --

How blind we are to our true interests! A sinner is strangely oblivious to the real cause of his troubles, attributing them to any other source than to his own sin. When a man forsakes God, he brings drought upon his life. Evil things multiply as noisome insects amid decay, and as false prophets did in Israel.

1 Kings 18:21-29 The conflict with the priests. --

Baal was the sun-god; they could not resist the challenge to rely only on him. The people wavered, as they do still; they fluttered as a bird between two sprays. But a man cannot walk firmly with one foot on the curb and the other in the gutter.

1 Kings 18:30-39 The answer by fire. --

The repaired altar was emblem of the united people; the water typified those influences which were prejudicial to the interests of vital Godliness; the fire was emblematical of the descending Spirit. Oh, to be known as God's servant, only obeying Him! (1 Thess. 2:4). Elijah had learned to reckon on God, and he could not be disappointed.

1 Kings 18:40-46 The prayer for rain. --

The prophets must be slain before the rain can come. When God occupies His right place again, and His altar is built, the blood of Baal's priests encrimsons the brook, but the clouds cover the sky.

Our lives must be free from evil, before we can expect the showers. What a contrast between the employments of the king and the prophet! This prayer was humble, earnest, persevering. Six times the boy came back to say there was nothing. The little cloud is often detected by the servant of God before the clouds cover the heavens.


1 KINGS 19 THE STILL SMALL VOICE

1 Kings 19:1-4 Elijah's flight. --

Many causes lay at the root of his hurried departure. Perhaps the reaction from long overstrain; but especially a lapse of faith.

As long as Elijah looked at God, he was strong; but when he looked at Jezebel's threat, it seemed as if the communication of Divine strength was cut off: "when he saw that (when he was afraid, R.V., marg.) he arose and went for his life" (1 Kings 19:3).

It was a fatal mistake, as the movement which had been inaugurated collapsed in his absence. O man of like passions with us! We would not excuse ourselves by thy fall; but we are glad to know that your strength was not your own, for you were naturally as weak as we are, and we may be as strong as you. Let those who long to die, leave God to choose the day; else they may miss the horses and chariots of fire.

1 Kings 19:5-8 The Divine provision. --

God might have allowed him to suffer the results of his terrible lapse. But "He knows our frame:' On the desert sand the meal was lovingly spread, as afterwards on the shores of the lake (John 21). To every erring child God sends merciful help. In the wilderness the feast is spread; and instead of remonstrance, angel hands soothe the weary and despondent prophet. Our fits of depression and apparent desertion as often arise from physical as spiritual causes, and God remembers our weaknesses. In His pity the Father pays a surprise visit to His lonely and sorrowful child.

1 Kings 19:9-14 The lesson of Horeb. --

Nature is often the vehicle of God's voice. Its storm and passion relieve us by expressing our emotion; its calm melts and soothes us. There is much of God's presence when "sounds of gentle stillness" (R.V., marg.) steal around. Not the storm of Sinai, but the whispers of Calvary touch and open hearts. We all need to get alone with God; our Carmels must be followed by our Horebs. There we receive fresh commissions; and there God teaches us to inspire others with the purposes with which He has filled our own hearts.

It is very beautiful to see the prophet's passionate desire for the glory of God. He had, however, thought that God's work could only be done vehemently, suddenly, and ostensibly. He was taught that God loves also to work in the still, small voice, heard only by the individual heart; and, Io, seven thousand were the result of these gentle influences stealing abroad among men. For each professing servant of God who is known, there may be thousands of secret disciples.

1 Kings 19:15-18 Return to duty. --

This summons to anoint three successors is a little ominous. It would seem that others were to be called in to the work the prophet had left. Still there was comfort in being bidden to return. Backsliders may be encouraged by the words, "Go, return:'

1 Kings 19:19-21 The call of Elisha. --

We may expect to hear the Divine call when we are patiently plodding along the furrow of daily duty. Elisha evidently resolved to give his life to God's service. He burned his bridges behind him by sacrificing his cattle. He left all to follow, but he received more than he renounced (2 Kings 5, 6; Mark 10:30).


1 KINGS 20 BEN-HADAD'S DISCOMFITURE

1 Kings 20:1-11 Ben-hadad beseiges Samaria. --

The demand was very insolent, and the making of it proves how low Israel had sunk. Ben-hadad presumed on the cowardice which moral decrepitude always induces. There are no hours when we are tempted to such vile and abject sin as those which follow a great appeal which we have refused to heed.

Ben-hadad's boastfulness (1 Kings 20:10) was the forerunner of his downfall (Prov. 16:18). We always fall when we are self-confident; and our only safeguard is implicit faith in the promises and protection of God (Ps. 119:117).

We could hardly have expected that such a man as Ahab could have spoken so wisely (1 Kings 20:11).

1 Kings 20:12-21 Ben-hadad's defeat. --

As in the case of Belshazzar, so here, drunkenness was predecessor of defeat. Through Obadiah's care some prophets were still left to remonstrate with Ahab, and to speak God's word even though Elijah had gone. God is not shut up to one great voice speaking like a trumpet; if that fails Him, He will call in another. His work must go on. If not by an Elijah, then by an unknown prophet.

God always chooses the weakest and most unlikely tools, as these princes (1 Kings 20:15) were; that the excellency of the power may be of Him, and that no flesh may glory in His presence. It seems as if God sometimes interposes, not so much for our sake as for His holy name, which had been blasphemed among the heathen (1 Kings 20:28; Ezek. 36:32).

1 Kings 20:22-30 The second campaign. --

Thinking that he could succeed better in the valley, Ben-hadad, at the suggestion of his servants (1 Kings 20:23), in the next dry season returned to Samaria. Disaster again came upon them, the remnant of the fugitives from the battle being killed by a falling wall.

1 Kings 20:31-34 Ben-hadad's deliverance. --

The servants who were the instigators of the expedition tendered the king some useful advice in his trouble. How often those who have led us into error forsake when counsel is most needed as to the way out! The mercy of the kings of Israel was proverbial, and the plea for Ahab's clemency, even after the double invasion, was not made in vain. Is it not so that the rebel sinner is encouraged by the thought of the mercy of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord? From the throne, the Saviour stoops to call him "Brother" even after repeated transgression, so soon as he sues for pardon, girded with sackcloth and with the rope around his neck, as one who confesses that he deserves the extreme penalty of the law.

1 Kings 20:35-43 The prophet's parable. --

The "smiting" (1 Kings 20:35) was against human inclination; and yet, for refusing, the man was slain by a lion. When our nature would turn us aside from "the word of the Lord" let us be careful to obey God's voice rather than our own inclinations. One point in the parable is worthy of note, "as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone" (1 Kings 20:40). We may all question whether, in being busy about many petty details, we may not be missing Divinely-given opportunities. The king was self-condemned in his judgment of the prophet; so now we often find that in deciding the cases of others, we are pronouncing sentence on ourselves. May we watch each day for our Master's will, redeeming the time, because the days are few and evil.


1 KINGS 21 NABOTH'S VINEYARD

1 Kings 21:1-4 Ahab coveting Naboth's vineyard. --

The more we have the more we desire. He who possesses a kingdom is heavy at heart because he cannot have a plot of land for a kitchen garden. Naboth's refusal was probably rested upon religious grounds. He said, "The Lord forbid it me" He emphasized the fact that it had come from his fathers, according to the Divine institution. And when the king learned that it was not based on degraded and selfish reasons, he might have given way with good grace. Canaan was, in a special sense, God's land; and no Israelite might alienate his portion of it, except under very special circumstances (Lev. 25:28).

1 Kings 21:5-16 The murder of Naboth. --

Jezebel was the king's evil genius, and Ahab must have known that she could only give him the vineyard by foul means; therefore he was as guilty as she was in her use of the power which he delegated to her. We cannot invest others with our power without being responsible for their use of it. We cannot shut our eyes to what is being done by our employees and at the same time open our hands for the gains of their misdeeds.

There could hardly be imagined a more horrible crime than this. The sanctions of religion were invoked, and a fast was instituted as if to avert some terrible judgment, caused through the special ungodliness of one of the citizens. Suspicion was directed towards Naboth, who was then assailed by bribed witnesses, and without opportunity for defense hurried away to execution. He and his whole family seem to have been involved in a common fate (2 Kings 9:26).

1 Kings 21:17-29 Elijah's protest and prediction. --

Like an incarnate conscience he reproached the king in words remembered long after (2 Kings 9:25).
Men are blind enough, however, to count conscience their enemy, and God's prophets their foes. Yet these only tell us the natural outworking of our sins, not adding anything of their own, but indicating their inevitable result. Sold unto sin; stirred up to do evil; doing very abominably in following idols -- these are the successive records of Ahab's sin; and yet because he humbled himself for a little, the love of God held back the judgment which was nevertheless certain (1 Kings 21:29). "Let the wicked forsake his way," and our God will "abundantly pardon."


1 KINGS 22 DEATH OF AHAB

1 Kings 22:1-4

The compact between Jehoshaphat and Ahab. m It seems strange that so good a man as the king of Judah should have entered into such an alliance; but he paid dearly for it, both at this time and afterwards (2 Chron. 20:37). We must not be "yoked together with unbelievers," lest we suffer their fate (Rev. 18:4). God's children will pierce themselves through with many sorrows, if they ally themselves with His foes.

1 Kings 22:5-28 The conflict of the prophets. --

Ramoth was one of the cities of refuge in the land of Gad, across the Jordan; and the effort to regain the city from the Syrians was a natural one. It is a good thing to ask counsel of God before entering upon a new expedition; but it is not always easy or naturally pleasant to submit one's judgment and behavior absolutely to His reply. The false prophets fell in with Ahab's inclination, and advised the war, doing so in the name of Jehovah. But Jehoshaphat was not satisfied. There was something deficient in the solemn declaration of these false teachers and their object lessons (1 Kings 22:11).

The address of Micaiah is not a representation of things done in the heavens; but a parable, or figurative mode of expression. God cannot be tempted of evil, nor does He tempt any man (James 1:13). But He permits men to be tempted, and He overrules the working of Satan for the execution of His own purposes. Micaiah adopted an ironical method of speech, which at least suggested to the king how his prophets might claim to be God-inspired, and yet be deceiving him.

Micaiah's message was unwelcome, and was punished by imprisonment (1 Kings 22:27); but better a thousand times to be Micaiah, in prison and hated, yet bearing uncompromising witness against stiff-necked iniquity, than to sit beside it without rebuking it as Jehoshaphat did. In the judgment of the ages and of God, the prophets who dare to stand alone, and to endure any suffering rather than yield their countenance to the sin of high places, are they who shine like stars. The ivory house of Ahab and the cities that he built have perished, but this simple noble protest is a fountain of life and blessing. O my soul, dare to stand and live alone with God!

1 Kings 22:29-40 The bathe, and Ahab's death. --

The predictions of Micaiah had shaken Ahab, and he thought to evade their fulfilment by disguise, exposing his friend to danger. Jehoshaphat cried to God (1 Kings 22:32, and 2 Chron. 18:31). The at-row's flight was directed by God to execute His purpose. Our disguises cannot evade God's eye. And all our wealth will not avail to ransom our soul from death (1 Kings 22:39).

Do not hide from a true knowledge of yourself. Judge yourself; no, ask God to judge you, that you be not judged. Even though you can hear nothing good of yourself, but only evil, it is better so. You may yet be saved from the chariot-washing at the pool of Samaria.

1 Kings 22:41-50 Jehoshaphat's good reign. --

Further details are given in 2 Chronicles 18, 20. There was an evident effort to rid the land of the more obvious evils which had disgraced it. And God gave him rest, and victory, and prosperity. There seemed almost a gleam of the prosperity of Solomon in the revival of naval projects. The great defect of his character was the ease with which he associated himself with the kings of Israel, who wrought evil in his house (2 Kings 11).

1 Kings 22:51-53 Ahaziah. --