Elijah — The Division OF The Kingdom (part ii)

By John Lord, LL.D.   

        We do not know how long Elijah remained in his  
     dismal cavern,——long enough, however, to recover his  
     physical energies and his moral courage.  As he wan-  
     ders to and fro amid the hoary rocks and impenetra-  
     ble solitudes of Horeb, he seeks to commune with  
     God.  He listens for some manifestation of the deity;  
     he is ready to do His bidding.  He hears the sound  
     of a rushing hurricane; but God is not in the wind.  
     The mountain then is shaken by a fearful earthquake;  
     but Jehovah is not in the earthquake.  Again the  
     mountain seems to flash with fire; but the signs he  
     seeks are not in the fire.  At last, after the roar of  
     contending physical forces had die away, in the pro-   
     found silence of the solitude he hears the whisper of  
     a still small voice in gentle accents; and by this voice  
     in the soul of Jehovah speaks: "What doest thou here,  
     Elijah?"   Was this voice reproachful?  Had the  
     prophet been told to flee?  Had he acted with the   
     courage of a man sure of divine protection?  Had he  
     not been faint-hearted when he wished to die?  How  
     does he reply to the mysterious voice?  He justifies   
     himself.  But strengthened, comforted, uplifted by the   
     exaltation of the consciousness of God's presence, Eli-  
     jah feels his resilient powers again uprising.  His  
     courage returns; his perceptions grow sharp again; the  
     inspiration of a new line of action opens up to him.  
     He hears the word of the Lord: "Go, return on thy   
     way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when thou  
     comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu  
     the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel, and Elisha  
     the son of Shaphat to be prophet in thy room.  And  
     it shall come to pass that him who escapeth the sword  
     of Hazael shall Jehu destroy, and him that escapeth  
     the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.  Yet I have left  
     me seven thousand in Israel, who have not bowed the   
     knee unto Baal."   
        Elijah still knows that his life is in peril, but is   
     ready, nevertheless, to obey his master's call.  He is   
     not designated as the power to effect the great revolu-  
     tion which should root out idolatry and destroy the   
     house of Omri; but Jehu, an unscrupulous yet jealous  
     warrior, was to found a new dynasty, and the king  
     of Syria was to punish and afflict the ten tribes, and  
     Elisha was to be the mouth-piece of the Almighty in  
     the court of kings.  It would appear that Elijah did  
     not himself anoint either the general of Benhadad or  
     of Ahab as future kings,——instruments of punishment  
     on idolatrous Israel,——but on Elisha did his mantle   
     fall.   
        Elisha was the son of a farmer, and according to   
     Ewald, when Elijah selected him for his companion  
     and servant, had just been ploughing his twelve yoke  
     of land (not of oxen), and was at work on the twelfth  
     and last.  Passing by the place, Elijah, without stop-   
     ping, took off his shaggy mantle of skins, and cast it  
     upon Elisha.  The young man, who doubtless was  
     familiar with the appearance of the great prophet, re-  
     cognized and accepted this significant call, and with-   
     out remonstrance, even as others in later days devoted   
     themselves to a greater Prophet, "left all and followed"  
     the one who had chosen him.  He became Elijah's con-   
     stant companion and pupil and ministrant, until the   
     great man's departure.  He belonged to "the sons of  
     the prophets," among whom Elijah sojourned in his  
     latter days,——a community of young men, for the  
     most part poor, and compelled to combine manual  
     labor with theological studies.  Very few of these  
     prophets seem to have been favored with especial  
     gifts or messages from God, in the sense that Samuel  
     and Elijah were.  They were teachers and preachers  
     rather than prophets, performing duties not dissimilar  
     to those of Franciscan friars in the Middle Ages.  They  
     were ascetics like the monks, abstaining from wine and  
     luxuries, as Samson and the Nazarites and Rechabites   
     did.  Religious asceticism goes back to a period that   
     we cannot trace.   
        After Elijah had gone from the scenes of his earthly   
     labors, Elisha became a man of the city, and had a  
     house in Samaria.  His dress was that of ordinary  
     life, and he was bland in manners.  His nature, un-  
     like that of Elijah, was gentle and affectionate.  He  
     became a man of great influence, and was the friend of   
     three kings.  Jehoshaphat consulted him in war; Jo-  
     ram sought his advice, and Benhadad in sickness sent  
     to him to be healed, for he exercised miraculous powers.  
     He cured Naaman of leprosy and performed many won-  
     derful deeds, chiefly beneficent in character.  
        Elisha took no part in the revolutions of the palace,  
     but he anointed Jehu to be king over Israel, and  
     predicted to Hazael his future elevation.  His chief  
     business was as president of a school of the prophets.  
     His career as prophet lasted fifty-five years.  He lived  
     to a good old age, and when he died, was buried   
     with great pomp as a man of rank, in favor with the  
     court, for it was through him that Jehu subsequently  
     reigned.  During the life of Elijah, however, Elisha was  
     his companion and coadjutor.  More is said in Jew-  
     ish history of Elisha than of Elijah, though the former   
     was not so lofty and original a character as the latter.  
     We are told that though Elisha inherited the mantle  
     of his master, he received only two-thirds of his mas-  
     ter's spirit.  But he was regarded as a great prophet  
     for over fifty years, even beyond the limits of Israel.  
     Unlike Elijah, Elisha preferred the companionship of  
     men rather than life in a desert.  He fixed his resi-  
     dence in Samaria, and was highly honored and revered  
     by all classes; he exercised a great influence on the   
     king of Israel, and carried on the work which Elijah  
     began.  He was statesman as well as prophet, and the  
     trusted advisor of the king; but his distinguished  
     career did not begin till after Elijah had ascended to   
     heaven.   
        After the consecration of Elisha there is nothing   
     said about Elijah for some years, during which Ahab  
     was involved in war with Benhadad, king of Damas-  
     cus.  After that unfortunate contest it would seem   
     that Ahab had resigned himself to pleasure, and  
     amused himself with his gardens at Jezreel.  During  
     this time Elijah had probably lived in retirement;  
     but was again summoned to declare the judgement of  
     God on Ahab for a most atrocious murder.  
        In his desire to improve his grounds Ahab cast his   
     eyes on a fertile vineyard belonging to a distinguished   
     and wealthy citizen name Naboth, which had been in  
     the possession of his family even since the conquest.  
     The king at first offered a large price for this vineyard,  
     which he wished to convert into a garden of flowers,  
     but Naboth refused to sell it for any price.  "God for-  
     bid," said he, with religious scruples blended with the   
     pride of ancestry, "that I should give to thee the in-  
     heritance of my fathers."  Powerful and despotic as  
     was the king, he knew he could not obtain this cov-  
     eted vineyard except by gross injustice and an act of  
     violence, which even he dared not commit.  It would  
     be an open violation of the Jewish Constitution.  By  
     the laws of Moses the lands of the Israelites, from the  
     conquest were inalienable.  Even if they were sold for  
     debt, after fifty years they would return to the family.  
     The pride of ownership in real estate was one of the   
     peculiarities of the Hebrews until after their final dis-  
     persion.  After the fall of Jerusalem by Titus, personal  
     property came to be more valued than real estate, and  
     the Jews became the money lenders and the bankers of  
     the world.  They might be oppressed and robbed, but  
     they could hide away their treasures.  A scrap of paper,  
     they soon discovered, was enough to transfer in safety  
     the largest sums.  A Jew had only to give a letter of  
     credit on another Jewish house, and a king could find  
     ready money, if he gave sufficient security, for any en-  
     terprise.  Thus rare jewels pledged for gold accumulated  
     among the Hebrew merchants at an early date.  
        Ahab, disappointed in not being able without a  
     crime to get possession of Naboth's vineyard, aban-  
     doned himself to melancholy.  In his deep chagrin he  
     laid himself down on his bed, turned his face to the   
     wall, and refused to eat.  This seems strange to us,  
     since he had more than enough, and there was no  
     check on his ordinary pleasures.  But covetous men  
     never are satisfied.  Ahab was miserable with all his  
     possessions so long as Naboth was resolved to retain  
     his paternal acres.  It seemed that it did not occur   
     even to this unprincipled king that he could get pos-   
     session of the coveted vineyard if he resorted to craft  
     and violence.  
        But his clever and unscrupulous wife came to his  
     assistance.  In her active brain she devised the means  
     of success.  She saw only the end; she cared nothing  
     for the means.  It is probable , indeed , that Jezebel   
     hankered even more than Ahab for a garden of  
     flowers.  Yet even she dared not openly seize the  
     vineyard.  Such an outrage might have caused a re-  
     bellion; it would, at least, have created a great scandal  
     and injured her popularity, of which this artful woman  
     was as tenacious as the Jew was of his property.  More-  
     over, Naboth was a very influential and wealthy citi-  
     zen, and had friends to support him.  How could she  
     remove the grievous eye-sore?  She pondered and con-  
     sulted the doctors of the law, as Henry VIII. made use  
     of Cranmer when he wished to marry Anne Boleyn.  
     They told her that if it could be proved that any one,  
     however high his rank, had blasphemed God and the  
     king, he could legally be executed, and that his prop-  
     erty would revert to the Crown.  So she suborned false  
     witnesses, who swore at the trial of Naboth, already  
     seized for high treason, that he had blasphemed God  
     and the king.  Sentence, according to law, was passed  
     upon the innocent man, and according to law he was   
     stoned to death, and the vineyard according to law   
     became the property of the Crown.  Jezebel, who had   
     managed the whole affair, did not undertake the prose-  
     cution in her own name; as a woman, she had not  
     the legal power.  So she stole the king's ring, and  
     sealed the indictment with the royal seal.   
        Thus by force and fraud under skilful techicalities,  
     and by usurpation of the royal authority, the crime  
     was consummated, and had the sanction of the law.  
     Oh, what crimes have been perpetrated in every age  
     and country under cover of the law!  The Holy Inqui-  
     sition was according to law; the early Christian perse-  
     cutions were according to law; usurpers and murderers  
     have reigned according to law; the Quakers were put  
     in prison, and witches were burned according to law.  
     Slavery was sustained by legal enactments; the rum  
     shops are all under the protection of the law.  There is  
     scarcely a public scandal and wrong in any civilized  
     country which the law does not somehow counte-  
     nance or sustain.  All public robbers appeal to legal  
     technicalities.  How could city officials steal princely   
     revenues, how could lawyers collect exorbitant fees, if  
     it were not for the law?  Neither Ahab nor Jezebel  
     would have ventured to seize Naboth's vineyard ex-  
     cept under legal pretences; false witnesses swore to  
     a lie, and the law condemned and accused.  Ahab in  
     this instance was not as bad as his wife.  He may  
     not even have known by what diabolical craft the  
     vineyard became his.    
        But such crimes, striking at the root of justice, cry  
     to heaven for vengeance.  On Ahab as king rested the  
     responsibility, and he as well as his more guilty part-  
     ner was made to pay the penalty.  God in his provi-    
     dence avenged the death of Naboth.  The whole affair  
     was widely known.  As Naboth's reputed offence was  
     unusual, and the gravest known to the Jewish laws,  
     there was so great a sensation that a fast was pro-  
     claimed.  The false trial and murderous execution  
     were accomplished "before all the people."  But this  
     very ostentation of legal form made the outrage noto-  
     rious.  It reached the ears of Elijah.  The prophet's  
     keen sense of right detected such an outrageous com-  
     bination of hypocrisy, covetousness, fraud, usurpation,  
     cruelty, robbery, and murder, that he once more heard  
     the Divine voice which summoned him from his retire-  
     ment and sent him to the court with an awful message.  
     Suddenly, uannounced and unexpected, the man of God  
     appeared before the king in his newly acquired pos-  
     session, surrounded by his gardeners and artificers, and  
     accompanied by two of his officers,——Bidkar, and Jehu  
     the son of Nimshi,——destined to be both instrument and  
     witness of the retribution.  With unwonted austerity,  
     without preface or waste of words, Elijah broke forth:  
     "Thus saith Jehovah!"——how the monarch must have   
     quaked at this awful name: "In the place where dogs  
     licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs also lick thine,  
     even thine."  The conscience-stricken, affrighted mon-  
     arch could only say, "Hast thou found me, oh mine  
     enemy!"  And terrible was the response: "Yes, I have  
     found thee! and because thou hast sold thyself to work   
     evil in the sight of the Lord, behold, I will take away  
     thy posterity, and will make thine house like the house  
     of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin.  And as to thy  
     wife also, saith Jehovah, the dogs shall eat Jezebel by  
     the wall of Jezreel.  Him that dieth of Ahab in the  
     city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the field  
     shall the fowls of the air eat."   
        When and where, in the annals of the great, has   
     such a dreadful imprecation been uttered?  It was more  
     awful than the doom pronounced on Belshazzar.  The  
     blood of Ahab and his wife was to be licked up by  
     dogs, their dynasty to be overthrown, and their whole  
     house destroyed.  This dire punishment was inflicted  
     probably not only on account of the crime pertaining   
     to Naboth, but for a whole life devoted to idolatry.  
     The sentence was not to be executed immediately,——  
     possibly a time was given for repentance; but it would  
     surely be inflicted at last.  This Ahab knew better   
     than any man in his kingdom.  He was thrown into  
     the depths of the most abject despair.  He rent his  
     clothes; he put ashes on his head and sackcloth on   
     his flesh, and refused to eat or drink.  He repented  
     after the fashion of criminals, and humbled himself,   
     as Nebuchadnezzar did, before the Most high God.  
     God in mercy delayed, but did not annul, the punish-  
     ment.  Ahab lived long enough to fight the king of  
     Syria successfully, so that for three years there was  
     peace in Israel.  But Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to  
     the norther kingdom, remained in the hands of the   
     Syrians.  
        In the mean time Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, whose  
     son Jehoram had married Athaliah, daughter of Ahab,  
     and who was therefore in friendly social and political  
     relations with Ahab, came to visit him.  They natu-  
     rally talked about the war. and lamented the fall of  
     Ramoth-Gilead.  Ahab proposed a united expedition to  
     recover it, to which Jehoshaphat was consenting; but   
     before embarking in an offensive war against a power-  
     ful state, the two monarchs consulted the prophets.  It  
     is not to be supposed that they were the priests of  
     Baal, but ordinary prophets who wished to please.  
     False prophets and false friends are very much alike,——  
     they give advice according to the inclinations and  
     wishes of those who consult them.  They are afraid of  
     incurring displeasure, knowing well that no one likes  
     to have his plans opposed by candid advisers.  There-  
     fore they all gave their voice for war, foretelling a  
     grand success.  But one prophet, more honest and  
     bold——perhaps more gifted——than the rest, Micaiah  
     by name, took a different view of the matter.  He was   
     constrained to speak his honest convictions, and proph-  
     esied evil, and was thrown into prison for his honesty  
     and boldness.   
        Nevertheless Ahab in his heart was afraid, and had   
     sad forebodings.  Knowing his peril, and alarmed at    
     the word of a true prophet, he disguised himself for  
     the battle; but a chance arrow, shot at venture, pene-  
     trated through the joints of his armor, and he was  
     mortally wounded.  His blood ran from his wound  
     into the chariot, and when the chariot was washed in  
     the pool of Samaria, after Ahab had expired, the dogs   
     licked up his blood, as Elijah had predicted.   
        The death of Ahab put an end to the fighting; nor  
     was Jehoshaphat injured, although he wore his royal   
     robes.  The Syrian general had given orders to slay  
     only the king of Israel.  At one time, however, the  
     king of Judah was in great peril, being mistaken for  
     Ahab; but when his pursuers discovered their mis-  
     take, they turned from the pursuit.  
        It seems that Jezebel survived her husband fourteen  
     years, and virtually ruled the kingdom, for she was a  
     woman of ability.  She exercised the same influence  
     over her son Ahaziah that she had over her husband,  
     so that the son like the father served Baal and made   
     Israel to sin.  
        To this young king was Elijah also sent.  Ahaziah  
     had been seriously injured by an accidental fall from  
     his upper chamber, through the lattice, to the court-  
     yard below.  He sent to the priests of Baal, to in-  
     quire whether he should recover or not.  But Elijah  
     by command of God had intercepted the king's mes-  
     sengers, and suddenly appeared before them, as was  
     his custom, to confront them with these words: "Is  
     there no God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-  
     zebub, the god of Ekron?  Now, therefore, say unto  
     the king, Thou shalt not come down from the bed  
     on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die."  On  
     their return to Ahaziah, without delivering their mes-  
     sage to the god of the Phœnicians or Philistines, the  
     king said: "Why are ye now turned back?"  They  
     repeated the words of the strange man who had turned  
     them back; and the kings said: "What manner of man  
     was he who came up to meet you?"  They answered,  
     "He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather  
     around his loins."  The king cried, "It is Elijah the  
     Tishbite."  Again his enemy had found him!   
        Whereupon Ahaziah sent a band of fifty chosen sol-   
     diers to arrest the prophet, who had retired to the top   
     of a steep and rugged hill, probably Carmel.  The  
     captain of the troop approached, and commanded him  
     in the name of the king to come down, addressing him  
     as the man of God.  "If I am a man of God," said   
     Elijah, "let fire come down from heaven and consume   
     thee and thy fifty."  The fire came down and consumed  
     them.  Again the king sent another band of fifty with   
     their captain, who met with the same fate.  Again the   
     king sent another band of fifty men, the captain of   
     which came and fell on his knees before Elijah and  
     besought him, saying, "O man of God!  I pray thee let  
     my life and the lives of these fifty thy servants be  
     precious in thy sight."  And the angel of the Lord said  
     unto Elijah, "Go down with him; be not afraid of  
     him."  And he arose and went with the soldiers to  
     the king, repeating to him the words he had sent before,  
     that he should not recover, but should surely die.   
        So Ahaziah died, as Elijah prophesied, and Jehoram  
     (or Joram) reigned in his stead,——a brother of the late  
     king, who did not personally worship Baal, but who  
     allowed the queen-mother to continue to protect idola-  
     try.  The war which had been begun by Ahab against  
     the Syrians still continued, to recover Ramoth-Gilead,  
     and the stronghold was finally taken by the united ef-  
     forts of Judah and Israel; but Joram was wounded, and   
     returned to Jezreel to be cured.   
        With the advent of Elijah a reaction against idolatry   
     had set in.  The people were awed by his terrible power,  
     and also by the influence of Elisha, on whom his man-  
     tle fell.  It does not appear that the people had utterly   
     abandoned the religion of their fathers, for they had   
     not hesitated to slay the eight hundred and fifty priests   
     of Baal at the command of Elijah.  The introduction of     
     idolatry had been the work of princes, chiefly through  
     the influence of Jezebel; and as the establishment of a  
     false religion still continued to be the policy of the  
     court, the prophets now favored the revolution which  
     should overturn the house of Ahab, and exterminate it   
     root and branch.  The instrument of the Almighty who  
     was selected for this work was Jehu, one of the promi-  
     nent generals of the army; and his task was made com-  
     paratively easy from the popular disaffection.  That  
     a woman, a foreigner, a pagan, and a female demon   
     should control the government during two reigns was  
     intolerable.  Only a spark was needed to kindle a  
     general revolt, and restore the religion of Jehovah.    
        This was the appearance of a young prophet at Ra-  
     moth-Gilead, whom Elisha had sent with an important  
     message.  Forcing his way to the house where Jehu  
     and his brother officers were sitting in council,  he  
     called Jehu apart, led him to an innermost chamber of  
     the house, took out a small horn of sacred oil, and  
     poured it on Jehu's head, telling him that God had  
     anointed him king to cut off he whole house of Ahab,  
     and destroy idolatry.  On his return to the room where  
     the generals were sitting, Jehu communicated to them  
     the message he had received.  As the discontent of the  
     nation had spread to the army, it was regarded as a  
     favorable time to revolt from Joram, who lay sick at   
     Jezreel.  The army, following the chief officers, at once  
     hailed Jehu as king.  It was supremely necessary that  
     no time should be lost, and that the news of the re-  
     bellion should not reach the king until Jehu himself  
     should appear with a portion of the army.  Jehu was   
     just the man for such an occasions,——rapid in his move-  
     ments, unscrupulous, yet zealous to uphold the law of   
     Moses.  So mounting his chariot, and taking with him  
     a detachment of his most reliable troops, he furiously  
     drove toward Jezreel, turning everybody back on the   
     road.  It was a drive of about fifty miles.  When   
     within six miles of Jezreel the sentinels on the towers  
     of the walls noticed an unusual cloud of dust, and a  
     rider was at once despatched to know the meaning of   
     the approach of chariots and horses.  The rider, as he  
     approached, was ordered to fall back in the rear of  
     Jehu's force.  Another rider was sent, with the same   
     result.  But Joram, discovering that the one who drove   
     so rapidly must be his own impetuous captain of the   
     host, and suspecting no treachery from him, ordered  
     out his own chariot to meet Jehu, accompanied by  
     his uncle Ahaziah, king of Judah.  He expected stir-  
     ring news from the army, and was eager to earn it.  
     He supposed that Hazael, then king of Damascus,   
     who had murdered Benhadad, had proposed peace.  So   
     as he approached Jehu——the frightful irony of fate   
     halting him for the interview in the very vineyard of  
     Naboth——he cried out, "Is it peace, Jehu?"  "Peace!"    
     replied Jehu; "what peace can be made so long as  
     Jezebel bears rule?"  In an instant the king under-   
     stood the ominous words of his general, turned back  
     his chariot, and fled toward his palace, crying, "There  
     is treachery, Ahaziah!"  An arrow from Jehu pierced  
     the monarch in the back, and he sank dead in his   
     chariot.  Ahaziah also was mortally wounded by an-   
     other arrow from Jehu, but he succeeded in reaching   
     Megiddo, where he died.  Jehu spoke to Bidkar, his  
     captain, and recalling the dread prophesy of Elijah,  
     commanded the body of Ahab's son to be cast out into   
     the dearly-bought field of Naboth.     
        In the mean time, Jezebel from her palace window  
     at Jezreel had seen the murder of her son.  She was   
     then sixty years of age.  The first thing she did was to   
     paint her eyelids, and put on her most attractive ap-  
     parel, to appear as beautiful as possible, with the hope  
     doubtless of attracting Jehu,——as Cleopatra, after the  
     death of Antony, sought to win Augusus.  Will a  
     flattered woman, once beautiful, ever admit that her  
     charms have passed away?  But if the painted and be-  
     dizened queen anticipated her fate, she determined to  
     die as she had lived,——without fear, imperious, and  
     disdainful.  So from her open window she tauntingly  
     accosted Jehu as he approached: "What came of  
     Zimri, who murdered his master as thou hast done?"  
     "Are there any on my side?" was the only reply he  
     deigned to make, as he looked up to a window of the  
     palace, which was a part of the wall of the city.  Two  
     or three eunuchs, looking out from behind her, an-  
     swered the summons, for the wicked and haughty  
     queen had no real friends.  "Throw her down!" or-  
     dered Jehu; and in a moment the blood from her  
     mangled body splashed upon the walls and upon the  
     horses.  In another instant the wheels of the chariot  
     passed over her lifeless remains.  Jehu would have  
     permitted a decent burial, "for," said he, "she is a  
     king's daughter;" but before her mangled corpse could  
     be collected, in the general confusion, the dogs of the  
     city had devoured all that remained of her but the  
     skull, the feet, and hands.  
        So perished the most infamous woman that ever wore  
     a royal diadem, as had been predicted.  With her also   
     perished the seventy sons of Ahab, all indeed that sur-  
     vived of the royal house of Omri.  And the work of  
     destruction did not end until the courtiers of the late  
     king and all connected with them, even the palace  
     priests, were killed.  Then followed the massacre of the  
     other priests of Baal, the destruction of the idolatrous  
     temples, and the restoration of the worship of Jehovah,  
     not only at Samaria, but at Jerusalem, for the revolution   
     extended far and wide on the death of Ahaziah as of  
     Joram.  Athaliah, the daughter of Jezebel, who reigned  
     over Judah, also perished in those revolutionary times.  
        It is not to be supposed that the relentless and sav-  
     age Jehu was altogether moved by a zeal for Jehovah  
     in these revolting slaughters.  He was an ambitious  
     and successful rebel; but like all notable forces, he  
     may be regarded as an instrument of Providence,  
     whose ways are "mysterious," because men are not  
     large enough and wise enough to trace effects of their  
     causes under His immutable laws.  Jehu was a neces-  
     sary consequence of Ahab and Jezebel.  Jehovah, as  
     the national deity of the Jews, Was the natural and   
     necessary rallying cry of the revolt against Phœnician  
     idolatry and foulness.  The missionary sermons of  
     those crude days were preached with the sword and  
     necessary rallying cry of the revolt against Phœnician  
     idolatry and foulness.  The missionary sermons of   
     those crude days were preached with the sword and  
     the strong arm.  God's revelations of himself and his  
     purposes to man have always been through men, and  
     by His laws the medium always colors the light which  
     it transmits.  The splendor of the noonday sun cannot  
     shine clearly through rough, imperfect glass; and so  
     the conceptions of Deity and of the divine will, as  
     delivered by the prophets, in every case show the na-  
     ture of man receiving and delivering the inspired  
     message.  And yet, through all the turmoil of those  
     times, and the startling contrast between the concep-  
     tions presented by the "Jehovah' of Elijah and the  
     "Father" of Jesus, the one grand central truth which  
     the seed of Abraham were chosen to conserve stands  
     out distinctly from first to last——the unity and purity  
     of God.  However obscured by human passions and  
     interests, that principle always retained a vital hold  
     upon some——if only a "remnant"——of the Hebrew   
     race.   
        The influence of Elijah, then, acting personally  
     through him and his successor Elisha, had caused the  
     exterminaton of the worship of Baal.  But the golden  
     calves still remained; and there was no improvement  
     in the political affairs of the kingdom.  It was steadily  
     declining as a political power, whether on account of  
     the degeneracy which succeeded prosperity, or the war-  
     like enterprise of the empires and states which were   
     hostile equally to Judah and Israel.  Jehu was forced  
     to pay tribute to Assyria to secure protection against  
     Syria; and after his death Israel was reduced to the   
     lowest depression by Hazael, and had not the power of  
     Syria soon after been broken by Assyria, the northern  
     kingdom would have been utterly destroyed.  
        It was not given to Elijah to foresee the future ca-  
     lamities of the Jews, or to declare them, as Isaiah and  
     Jeremiah did.  It was his mission, and also Elisha's, to  
     destroy the worship of Baal and punish the apostate  
     kings who had introduced it.  He was the messenger  
     and instrument of Jehovah to remove idolatry, not  
     to predict the future destiny of his nation.  He is  
     to be viewed, like Elisha, as a reformer, as a man of  
     action, armed with supernatural gifts to awe kings and   
     influence the people, rather than as a seer or a poet, or  
     even as a writer to instruct future generations.  His  
     mission seems to have ended shortly after he had thrown  
     his mantle on a man more accomplished than himself  
     in knowledge of the world.  But his last days are asso-  
     ciated with unspeakable grandeur as well as pathetic  
     interest.  
        Elijah seems to have known that the day of his  
     departure was at hand.  So, departing from Gilgal in  
     company with his beloved companion, he proceeded   
     toward Bethel.  As he approached the city he besought  
     Elisha to leave him alone; but Elisha refused to part  
     with the master whom he both loved and revered.  On-  
     ward they proceeded from Bethel to Jericho, and from  
     Jericho to Jordan.  It was a mournful journey to  
     Elisha, for he knew as well as the sons of the prophets  
     at Jericho that he and his master, and friend more  
     than master, were to part for the last time on earth.  
     The waters of the Jordan happened to be swollen, and  
     the two prophets, and the fifty sons of the prophets——  
     their pupils, who came to say farewell——could not pass  
     over.  But the sacred narrative tells us that Elijah,  
     wrapping his mantle together like a staff, smote the  
     waters, so that they were divided, and the two passed  
     over to the eastern bank, in view of the disciples.  In  
     loving intercourse Elijah promises to give to his com-  
     panion as token of his love whatever Elisha may  
     choose.  Elisha asks simply for a double portion of his  
     maser's spirit, which Elijah grants in case Elisha shall  
     see him distinctly when taken away.  
        "And it came to pass, as they went on and  
     talked, that behold there appeared a chariot of fire  
     and horses of fire, which parted them both asunder.  
     And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.  
     And Elisha saw it, and he cried "My father, my  
     father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen there-  
     of!'"——Thou art the chariot of Israel; thou hast  
     been its horsemen!  And then there fell from Eli-  
     jah, as he vanished from human sight, the mantle by  
     which he had been so well known; and it became  
     the sign of that fulness of divine favor which was  
     given to his successor in his arduous labors to restore   
     the worship of Jehovah, "and to prepare the way for  
     Him in whom all prophecy is fulfilled."  

from Beacon Lights of History, by John Lord, LL. D.,
Volume I, Part II: Jewish Heroes and Prophets, pp. 262 - 283
©1883, 1888, by John Lord.
©1921, By Wm. H. Wise & Co., New York