Exposition of the Whole Bible

N this chapter E/jab has an order from the Lord to. fhew himfelf to Abab, who, going firft, and meeting with.a fervant of his, Obadiab, charges him to tell his mafter where he was, that he might meet him, ¥. 1—16, and upon meeting the earth; the term of three years and fix months being almoft expired, fee Fames. v. 17. a nchate

¥. 2. And Elijah went to foew himfelf unto Abab, &c.J] Which fhewed his chearful and ready obedience to the will of God, and his great courage him, defires that all J/rae/, and the prophets of Baal, might be convened, which was accordingly done, ¥. 17——20. when he expotftulated with the | people of J/rael for their idolatry, mocked and confounded the prophets of Baal, and gave the {trongeft proofs, to the conviction of the people, that Fébovab is the true God, ¥. 21—49. onwhich all the prophets of Baal were flain, ¥. 40. and rain in great abundance was giyen at the prayer of the and magnanimity, to face a king enraged againft him, and that fought his life: aad there was @ ore famine in Samaria’; the metropolis of the kingdom, where bab kept his court, and therefore mutft be fenfible of it, and bore the greater indignation againft the prophet who had foretold it. y..3. dnd Abab called Obadiah which was the governor of his boufe, &c.] Perhaps his fteward = the Fews “take him to be Odadiab the prophet, prophet, ¥.41—46. who wrote’ the fmall prophecy that goes by his; name: (now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly:) wh yi 1. And it came to pafs after many days, &ec.] When two years and more were gone from the time the drought and faniine began; or rather from the time of the prophet’s departure to the brook| Cherith, which might be fix months after the fathough he did not go up to Feru/alem to worl which ceremonial fervice was difpenfed with in h yet he did not worfhip the calves, nor Baal, erved the Lord in a fpiritual mianner.

y. 4. For it was fo, when Fezebel cu mine began: that thé word of the Lord came to

‘and ir him, but to no purpofe: and I will fend rain upon ttructed others therein: that Obadiah took 100 pro- —

: " *. 3 ‘ - 4. ‘* Ch. XVill. ht 8. I. K I IV G ' S} phets, and hid them by g0 in a cave; 50 in one cave and 50 in another; for there were large caves in the land of J/rae/ capable of holding fuchanumber, and many more, fee 1 Sam. xxii. 1. and xxiv. 3. and fed them with bread and water, which in this time of famine were very acceptablé; though thefe may be put for all the neceflaries of life.

¥. 6. So they divided thevland between them, to pafs through it, &c.] Andione took one part, and the other the other part » Abab went one way by himfelf, and Obadiah went another way by bimfelf; Abad not caring to truft any but Obadiah, who he land, of whom he en tell him the truth.

y¥. 11. And now thou fayeff, Go tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here] Which if 1 fhould not be able to make good, would be of fatal confequence to me 3 and that it is plain he feared, by what he next fays.. i |.

¥. 5s And Abab faid unto Obadiah, Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks, &c.] To obferve in what condition they were, and the places adjoining to them, the meadows and vallies: peradventure we may find grafs-to fave the borfes and mules alive 5 particularly thofe which belonged to the king’s ftables, to find provifions for which it was found difficult: that we lofe not all the beafts; many of them, doubtlefs, were loft through the drought already, and there was great danger of the reft, and fo, in time, of there being none to procreate and preferve their {pecies, and to prevent which Abad propofed to take this method.

. ¥.12. And it frail comé to pafs, as foon as I am gone from thee, that the fpirit of the Lord feall carry thee whither I know not, &c.] This he fuppofed might poffibly,) and very probably, be the cafe, fince fuch raptures might have been already, and known to Odadiah, as there were afterwards, fee 2 Kings ai. 16. Ezek. iii. 42. 14) Aas viii. 39. \and then he fhould not know where he was, nor be able to direct his mafter where to ind him: and fo when I come and tell Abab, and he cannot find thee, be fhall flay me for telling him ‘a lie, and deceiving and mocking him; or for not feizing on Z/jab, and bringing him, when he: knew he was fo defirous of getting him into his hands: dur I thy /ervant fear the Lord from my youth; and therefore did not deferve to be treated after this manner, having been an early and confcientious worfhipper of the true God.

quited, and adjuréd them to knew was a faithful man, ‘left they fhould be bribed by thofe that had grafs not'to difcover it. - ¥. 72 And as Obddiahwas in the way, &c.] In his diftri&t,; making his obfervations: debold, Elijab met him; where is not faid; but he was, no doubt, upon the road from Zarephath to Samaria: and he knew bimys that is, Obadiah knew Elijah, having feen him at 4bad’s. court before he ‘abfconded: and fell on bis face, and faid, Art thou that my lord Elijah 2? thas doing him honour and reverence both by words and gefture, as being an extraordinary prophet of the Lord. y¥. 8. And be anfwered bim, I am, &e.)°' He did not defire to be concealed, his orders were to fhew and make himfelf known to Ahab, and Obadiah was one of his domeftic fervants: go tell thy

¥. 13. Was it not told my lord, what I did when Fezebel flew the prophets of the Lord? how I bid 100 men of the Lord’s prophets by 50. in a cave, and fed them with bread and water?| See the note on ¥. 4. this he faid not in a way of oftentation, but to fhew that it would be very ungenerous and ungrateful, as well as impolitic, to facrifice fuch a friend at court to the Lord’s prophets as he had been, and might ftill continué:to be.

¥. 14.' And now thou’ fayeft, Go tell my lord, _Bebold, Elijah is here: and be fhall flay me. That

'is, fhould he carry fuch’a meflage to him, and ' Elijah fhould be removed elfewhere, and not to be found. | yw. 15. And Elijah faid, As the Lord of hofts liveth, before whom I ftand, &c.) ‘In whofe pre- the lord of Odadiab, as he tacitly reproves him for calling him lord, fhews ‘reverence to Abad as king, and yet that he was fearlefs of him, as he in fuch a place, ready) fence he was,.and whofe prophet and minifter he - Elijah, by calling Ahab! was; he takes this oath, to affure Obadiah that he would certainly be upon the fpot, or to be found, a'and not.expofe him to any danger: J wil] Surely Joew myfelf unto him to-day; he was determined at was the prophet and ambafiador of the Lord of hofts to him, y. 9. Aid he faid, What. have 1 finned, &c.)

all events to, prefent himfelf to him that day, ¥. 16. So Obadiah went to meet Abab, and told him, &c.} That Elijah was in fuch a place, and

Or in what have I offended God or his prophet,’ that revenge fhould be taken on me in this way: had defired him to inform him of it, and was ready to appear before him that day wherever he pleafed;

that theuwouldf deliver thy fervant into the band of Abab to flay me? for that he fuppofed would be the confequence of it, as he argues’ and more plainly exprefies his fenfe in the following words.

y. 10.9 As the Lord thy God liveth, &c.} Which is the form of an oath he thought fit to’ make, to afcertain the truth of what he was about to fay: there is no nation or kingdom, whitker my lord hath not fent to feek thee, which is either an hyperbolical expreffion, fignifying he had fought for him: in many places, and in every place he could think of; or it muft be underftood either of the ten tribes, which were as fo many nations and kingdoms as they had been; or were more in the times ‘of the Canaanites; or of the nations round about, that for upon the prophet’s oath Obadiah was entirely fatisfied, and was in no fear of delivering the mei- 'fage: and Abab went to meet Elijah, though perhaps the bold meffage of the prophet might make him fear he had fomething to fay to him not very agreeable.

y. 17. And it came to pafs when Abab faw Elijab, 8c.) As foon as he came up to him, and knew who he was; dbarbinel thinks, becaufe his hair was grown fo long that 4hab did not know him certainly, and therefore put the following queftion: that Ahab faid unto him, Art thou be that troubleth Ijrael? by oppofing the religion of Baal, which prevailed ames thems but chiefly rain were in alliance with or tributary to the king of and at his prayer.

Tjrael: and when they faid, He is not there, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not; which he might exact of his own fubjects, but could not of other nations, unlefs they were free to it of themfelves; or he might. take it of their ambaffadors or merchants that came into his being witheld from em according to his word, y. 18. And be anfwered, &c.) That is, Eijah, with great. boldne{fs and undaunted courage, not fearing the face of the king, being fent to thew himfelf to him in the name of the King of kings: I have not troubled Ifrael, but thou and thy father’s houfe; they, by their fins, were the caufe of all the the troubles, thofe fore evils;.and fad calamities.that were upon them: in that ye have forfaken the commandments of the Lord; to have no other Gods before him, and not to make images, and worfhip them, which they had done: and thou haft follawed Baalim; the feveral Baals, the fun, moon, and ftars, the whole hoft of heaven, worfhipped under this name; or not content with the Phewician Baal, or Baal of the Zidonians, followed others, fee Fudg. ii, 11.

y. 19. Now therefore fend, and gather to me all frael unto mount Carmel, &c.] No doubt but more difcoutfe pafled between Abed and Elijah, though not recorded, before he made this motion to him; itis very probable, that after fome difpute between them, who was the true God, and about idolatry, as the caufe of want of rain, £ijab propofed to the king what he afterwards did to the people, to which he could not object; and being defirous of gratifying his curiofity, and efpecially of having rain, which the prophet might promife him in the iffue of this affair, he agreed unto it; and therefore Elijah defired that all J/rae 'might be convened, that it might be openly and publickly: done, and to the conviction and reformation of and fo for thefe prophets, Yexebe! might have a peculiar refpect, _ Xd. 35: Op eiapaesiiaen, ¥..20, So Abab fent unto all the children of Ifraely &c.] By meflengers, requiring their attendance at mount Carmel at fuch a time, at leaft theirchief and principal men: and gathered the prophets together’ ‘unto mount Carmel; the 450 prophets of | but not the 400 prophets of the groves; for of we have no account afterwards, only.of the formers.

it may be they were, not at the command of Ababy * only of Jezebel, at whott table they eat; who would: not fuffer them to go. wine Te ¥.21. And Elijah came unto all the people, 8cc:}. Affembled at mount Carmel: and jaid, How long halt ye between two opinions? {ometimes inclining to the one, and fometimes to the others asa lame: man in walking, his body moves fometimes to one: fide, and fometimes to another; or leap ye wpomitwo: branches", like a bird that leaps or hops from one: branch to another, and never fettles Jone; or rather it denotes the confufion of. their thoughts, being like branches of trees twifted/and implicated;_ thus upbraiding them with their inconftancy and ficklenefs;. what their two opinions wete,.may be. learnt from the next claufe: if the Lordbe God, them, which was what was chiefly defigned; and follow him +) but if Baal, then follow bims for there he chofe Carme/, a mountain in the tribe of Jfachar, well fituated for the people that came from al parts; and the rather this than Samaria, that he might meet with no obftruction from Jezebel, and from whence he might be able to defcry rain when coming, as he did. Of this mountain, fee the note on er. xlvi. 18, to which may be added, the defcription of it by Mr. Sandys. ** Mount Carmel ftretcheth from eaft to weft, and hath its uttermoft bafis wafhed with the fea;.fteepeft towards the north, and of an indifferent altitude; rich in vines and olives when hufbanded, and abounding with feveral forts of fruits and herbs, both medicinal and fragrant, though now much overgrown with woods and fhrubs of fweet favour.” From the following folemn tranfaCtion at it, it feems, in aftertimes, to have become facred, and was very venerable with the heathens; from this mountain, a deity with them had the name of Carme/, and was worfhipped here, without an image or a temple, only had an altar erected for it, in imitation of the God of J/rael worfhipped here in like manner; here Vefpafian facrificed to this deity, affifted by the prieft of it, Bafilides, as Tacitus ° relates; Suetonius® alfo makes mention of this deity, and of Vefpefian’s confulting its oracle, which gave him hopes of obtaining the empire; and from hence, in popifh times, there were an order of friars called Carmelites, inftituted in the year 1180, pretending to be the fucceffors of the children of the prophets Elijab left there: and the prophets of Baal 450; who are fuppofed to be difperfed in the feveral parts of the kingdom, to teach and practice the worfhip of Baal, and encourage and fpread it in the nation: and the prophets of the groves 400, which eat at Fezebel’s tables for it feems there were now more groves than that one bad firft made, ch. xvi. 33. jor which fuch numbers were appointed to attend, and which perhaps, were near Samaria, fince they eat at Fexebel’s table, and. were a fort of domettic chaplains of hers. Aheroth, we render groves, the learned Selden * takes to be Afbtoreth, or Afbtareth, or Aftarte, the goddefs of the Zidonians, for whom, is but one God, one infinite, immenfe, and incomprehenfible being; one. that is omnipotent, allfufficient,, good, and perfect; there cannot bei more, and therefore but one to be followed, ferved, and worfhipped; and the people anfwered bim not a word; through conviction and confufion, his. reafoning being unanfwerable; or not knowing which to chufe at prefent; or fearing they fhould be ~ drawn intoa fnare, fhould they name any;° either incur the difpleafure of the king, who was for. Baal, or of the prophet, who was for the Lord, at whofe word rain was witheld, and might be given, which they were defirous of. » aim ¥. 22. Then faid Elijah unto the people, I, even. 1 only remain a prophet of the Lord, &c.\ At leatt. as he thought, all the reft being flain, as he fuppofed; however there were none prefent but himfelf but Baal’s prophets are 450 men which were very great odds he had to contend with. tis ¥. 23. Let them therefore give us two bullocks, &c.] Who, being fo many, were better ablé to be at the expence of them, and having the king on their party too; though perhaps no more is meant” than that two bullocks fhould be brought thither.

and prefented before them: and Jet them chooje one bullock for themfelves; which of the two they would, if they thought one was any ways preferable to the

‘other, it -was at their option to take ic: and cutis in pieces, and lay it on wood; as facrifices ufually were: and put no fire under; which was wont to be done for burnt-offerings, as this was defigne: to be: and I will drefs the other bullock; by flaying and cutting it in pieces: and lay it on wood; as for a burnt-offering: and put no fire under 3 to cons fume it.. abt ats y.24. And call ye on the name of your gods, &c.} The Bzalim, the many lords and gods they ferved: _ and Iwill call on the name of the Lord; the one true Yebovab and Ged of I/rael, whom Iferve: and the Ged that anfwereth by fire, by caufing fire to come down upon the facrifice, and confume it a him be God; accounted, owned, and acknowledged as the true God, and fo afterwards worthipped « x

? Vit. Velpafian c. 5., tranfilietis taper duos ramos, Malve fuch: and all the people anfwered and faid, It is well fpoken, they thought it a very reafonable pofal, a very good method to determine the controverfy, and come at the truth, and know who| was the true God, and who not..

y. 26, And they took the bullock which was given them, &c.]| By fuch of them as made the choice: and they dreffed it; flew it, and cut itin pieces, and Jaid it on the wood, but put no fire underit: called on the name of Baal, from morning even noon, faying, O Baal, bear us; and fend fire down on the facrifice; and if the fun was their Baa/, they might hope, as the heat he gradually diffufed was at its height at noon, that fome flathes of fire wonld proceed from it to confume their facrifice; but after, their hope was turned into defpair, they became and acted like madmen: dx there was #o voice, nor any that anfwered, by word, or by down fire as they defired: and they leapt upon the altar which was made, not by Exjah, but by themfelves, either now or heretofore, and where they \that Elijah mocked them; he.jeeved and bantered pro-jthem: and faid, Cry aloud; your God don’t hear yous perhaps, if you raife your voice higher, he may; or he isa god; according to your éfteem of him, and if fo, he furely may hear you: unlefs either be is talking; with others about matters of moment arid importance, who are waiting on him with théir applications to him: or he is in meditation: in a dee {tudy upon fome things difficult to be refolved: or he is purfuing; his ftudies, or his pleaftres, or his enemies, to overtake them; or he is employed on bufinefs‘:, or be is in @ journey; gone to vifit his friends, or fome parts of his dominions; fo Homer“ reprefents Fupiter gone to pay a vifit to the Erhiopians, and as yefterday gone to a feaft, and all the gods following him, from whence he would not return until twelve days;.and in like manner Lacian™ {peaks of the gods, mocking at them: or peradventure be fleepeth, and muft be awaked, with a loud crying to him: ic being now noon, Abarbinel without) thinks this refers to a cuftom of fMecping after dinner; Homer * alfo {peaks of the fleep of the gods, and which ufed to be at noon; ‘and therefore the worfhippers of Baal ceafed then to call upon him; and it is faid ’, the heathens feared to go into the temples of their gods at noon, left they fhould difturb them; but fuch is not the true God, the God of Jrael, he neither flumbers nor fleeps, Pf cxxi. 4. y, 28. And they cried aloud, &c.) ‘Trying to make him hear, if poffible; and cut themfelves after s it firft;| their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gu/bed out upon them: {o the priefts of heathen deities. ufed_to flafh themfelves on their fhoulders, arms, and thighs in their devotions to them, as many writers obferve*, fancying their gods were and when! delighted with human blood; particularly the priefts of Bellona*, and the worfhippers of the Syrian goddefs *, and of the Egyptian Lfis*. y.,29. And it came to pafs when mid-day was paft, &c.] And nothing done, no fire defcended: and they prophefied until the time of the offering of the and) evening /acrifice; continued praying to Baal, and until) Gnging his praifes, but all to no purpole; or they behaved like madmen, as the Targum; thus they went on until it was time to offer the evening-facrifice, fo that they had no interruption in their fervice, and had all the time they could defire to have to importune their God to do the favour for them they requefted: that there was neither voice, nor any to anfwer, nor any that regarded, no voice was fending) heard that returned them any anfwer, nor was any an{wer made by fire, nor any regard fhewn to their mad geftures and barbarous actions; and very likely the people alfo, by this time, paid no regard y¥. 25. And Elijah faid unto the prophets of Baal, &c.] _Who agreed to this propofal,: though not exprefied; or they fignified it by their filence. Ben Gerfom thinks they agreed to it, becaufe that, according to their belief, Baad was Mars, and in the fign of Aries, one of the fiery planets, and therefore fancied he could fend down. fire on their facrifice; but Abardinel is of opinion, that it was the fun they worfhipped under the name of Baa/, the great luminary which prefides over the element of fire, and therefore had power to caule it. to defcend; and if not, they agreed to it, he thinks, for three reafons; one was neceffity, they, could not refufe, after the people had approved of it, left they fhould rife upon them, and itone them; and another was, that E/jab,propoted to offer the temple, contrary to.the law of his God, and therefore concluded he would not anfwer him by fire, and fo they fhould be upon a par with him and the third was, that they thought they fhould offer their bullocks together, fo that if fire defcended, it would come upon them both, and then the difpute would be, whether his God or their God fent it;,and fo. fo proof could be made who was God, nor the matter in controverfy decided: choofe you one bullock for yourfelves, and dre for ye are many; therefore in civility to them gave the choice of the bullock and the altar firft, he being one and they many: and call on the name of your gods, but. put no fire under; under the wood on which was the facrifice cutin pieces; they had fo done, then, they, were to call on their gods to caufé fire to defcend upon it.

had formerly facrificeds and they danced about it, and leaped on it, either according to a cuftom ufed by them; fuch as the Saii, the priefts of Mars, ufed, fo called from their leaping, becaufe they did th anfwer..

¥. 30. And Elijah faid unto all the people, come -

. them, perceiving they were not able, by all their facred things leaping, and went about zs unto me, &c.} And obferve what I do, and their cries and methods they took, to obtain an altars capering and-leaping *;

mad on’ it, as the Targum renders it, and acted like madmen, as if they were agitated by a prophetic or rather they were what will be done at my requeft: and all the people came near unio him; left the prophets of Baal to themfelves, and took no more notice of them, but fury and frenzy.: attended to what the prophet fhould fay and do:

¥. 27. And it came to pafs at noon, &c.| When! they had been from the time of the morning-facrifice until now invoking their deity to no purpofe: and be repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down, which had been fet up when high places and altars were allowed of, while the tabernacle

702 lL KIN. G S. Chexviiiiy..g 1-40 was unfettled, and the temple not built; fuppofed to have been eretted in the times’ of Judges; though, according to a tradition of the Jews *, it was built by Saul, fee 1 Sam. xv: »2. but had been thrown down by the’ idolatrous J/- raelites, who demolifhed fuch as were ere€ted to the name of the Lord every where, and built new ones for their idols, ch. xix. 10. Benjamin of Tudela* fays, that on the top of mount Carmel is now to be feen the place of the altar E/jjab repaired, which is four cubits round.

. ¥. 31. And Elijah took 12 flones, according to the number of the tribes of the fons of Facob, 8c. Which he might very eafily come at from the mountain: unto whom the word of the Lord came,j faying, Irael oall be thy name; which fignifies one that has power with God, as Facob had, when the word came to him to make a change in his name at Penuel, Gen. xxxii. 28. and as Elijah hoped and this’ is and tbat i have doite*all’ thefe things at thy wor the reftrained rain from thé earth for forme ‘years paft; and now had convetied ‘/rae/, and: the falfe. phets,” together, that’ by a vifible fign’ fro ven it might be known who was the true 30 which he did hot of hinifelf, but by the inppu: direction and commandment of the Lordi’ | “¥. 37. Hear me,’ O' Lord, hear me, 8c.) W. ic repetition is madé'to exprefs his importur ry the vehement earneft defire’ of his foubt bay in fuch a cafe, which fo much’ concerned the glory of God’; the Targum is, ** receive my prayer, O Lord, concerning the fire, receive my prayer con-+ cerning'the rain;” as if the one refpected the fend4 ing down the fire on the facrifice, and the other fending rain on ‘the earth ‘and which fenfe is followed by other Fewifh writers: that this people may Amow that thou art ‘the Lord Ged» and not Baal, or any other idol: and ‘that thow baft turned: their believed he fhould have at this time, being a prophet, and a worfhipper of {/rael’s God.

¥. 32. And with the ftones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, &c.] Whom the 12 tribes had formerly worfhipped; and though now divided in their civil ftate, yet ought to be united in heart back again, from idolatry, to the! worfhip»of the true God; though fome undéfftand this of God’s giving them up to a fpirit of error, and'fufs fering them to fall into idolatry, “and” hardening their hearts, as he did Pharacb’s; bnt the former fenfe is beft. TInt 3, of) ‘bac the worfhip of God: and be made a trench about) y. the altar, as great as would contain two meafures of 38. Then the frre of the’ Lord fell, Be.) “An extraordinary fire from God out of heaven, asithe feed; or two feahs, one of which was the third part of an ephah, and two of them were more than half a bufhel; and this trench or ditch round the altar was as broad as fuch a meafure of feed would fow.

¥. 33. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, &c.

effects of it thew: and con/umed the burnt-JSacrifice; as it had done in fome other inftances, “Leu. ixt 24. Fudg. vi. 22. 1 Chron xxi. 26. 2 Chron. vik 1, 3. and befides this, which is ftill more*extraordinary, and the woed, and the ftones and the duft; of the altar, thereby fignifying chat evemfuch were not to be ufed any more’: and’ licked up the water

Juft in fuch manner as facrifices ufually were: and that was in the trench;°around the’ altar, fee ¥.

faid, fill four barrels with water; ‘either from the brook Ki/bon, or if that was dried up, from the fea; for both were near this mountain, and fo to be had, though a time of drought: and pour it on the burat-facrifice; that which was intended to be one: and upon the word, wherewith it was to be burnt, and fo made unfit for it; and which would make the miracle appear the greater, when fire came down and confumed it.

¥. 34. And be faid, do it the fecond time, and they did it the fecond time, &c.] That is, poured four barrels of water more upon the wood: and be faid, do it the third time, and they did it the third time; fo that there were in all 12 barrels of wa-

32. aw Aiba ¥. 39. And when all the people faw tt, they felt on their faces, 8c.) In reverence of God, -aftonithed at the miracle wrought, afhamed of themfelyes and their fins, particularly their idolatry, that they fhould turn their backs on ‘the true God, and fol-+ low idols: and they faid; the Lordy beiis the God, the Lord, be is the God; which ‘acknowledgment of God, as the true God, in oppofition’to Baal, is repeated, to fhew their’ firm belief and firong affurance of it. | KOT TEQN OT - ¥. 40. And Elijah faid unto*them, take the proz phets of Baal, &c.¥ “The 456 that were upomthe fpot; for the number of the peoplé of U/rael, now gathered together, were equal to it 3. norewas it in of the 12 {tones the altar was built with, and have refpect to the fame as they.

¥.35. And the water ran round about the altar,| &c.] There being fuch a large effufion of it on it: and he filled the trench alfo with water; which furrounded the altar, fo that it feemed impracticable that any fire fhould kindle upon it; and this gave full proof and demonftration there could be ‘no colmay! 4bad’s power to hinder-it, and he might himfelf be fo far furprized and convicted, as not in the ealt to object to it: det not one of them efcapes /that there might be none of ther left to feduce the people any more: ‘and they took them; laid hold on them, every one of them: and Hijab drought them down to the brook Kifhon; which ran by the fide, and at the bottom of mount Carmel, into luficn in this matter. oe.

¥. 36. And it came to pafs at the time of the offering of the evening-/acrifice, &cc.] Which the people of God at Feru/alem were now attending to: that Elijab the prophet came near; to the altar he had built, and on which he had laid the facrifice: and faid; in prayer to God: Lord God of Abraam, Ifeac and Facob, the Covenant-God of the anceftors of his people, though they had now fo foully departed from him: Jet it be known this day that thou art God in Ifrael;

flew them there, intimating, that it was’ owin® to the idolatry they led the people into, that rain had been with-held; and the brooks were dried up, ‘as this might be; or, as Bex Ger/om thinks, that the land might not be defiled with theirblood; *but be carried down the river after it Piper me with his own*hand, but by others’ he gave’ to do it; and this not as a private perfon, but as. an extraordinary minifter of God, and that there is nojtice according to his law, Deut: xiii.

ter poured on the wood, agreeable to the number other:_ and that J am ¢hy fervant; a true worhhipper of him, and his faithful prophet and minifter fuch falfe »prophets were sto die; and the rather -:'he was raifed up ‘and {pirited for this ee fea, fee the notes on Fude. iv. 4. and weer. and

. '? 8 ee iF hoe a ae. Ch. xviii. Har—=46. 1 RY W'S Ss. the fupreme magiftrate was addi&ted to idolatry himéelf, (eal STE 404, A ' ¥. 41. And Elijab faid unto Abab, get thee up, ‘&c.] From the brook and valley where the execution of the prophets had*been made; either up| ‘to his chariot, or to the tent or pavilion ereéted on the fide of the mount, where the whole icene of things was tranfacted: eat and drink; which he had no leifure for all the day, from the time of the morning-facrifice to the evening-facrifice, which was taken up in attending to the iffue of the feveral Jacrifices; but now he is bid to eat and refrefh ‘himfelf, and that in token of joy and gladnefs, as became him, both for the honour of the true God, which had been abundantly confirmed, and for the near approach of rain, of which he affures him for there is a found of abundance of rain, the wind perhaps began to rife, and blow pretty brifkly, which was a fign of it’; befides, according/&c. to the Zyrian annals *, there were loud claps of thunder at this time, at leaft when the heavens became very black, asin ¥. 45.

y¥.42. So Abab went up to eat and to drink, &c.]| Up to his chariot, as fome think, or rather fome place higher than that in which he now was: and Elijah went up to the. top of Carmel; higher ftill, where he both might be alone, and have opportunity of obferving the clouds gathering, and the rain coming: and be caft bimfelf down upon the earth, and put bis face between bis knees;expreffive of his humility, and of his earneftnefS, and vehement defire, and continued importunity, that rain might fall; for this was a pofture of prayer he put himielf into, and continued in; and it is certain that it was through his prayer raincame, Fam. v. 18. and from hence came the fable of the Grecians concerning acus praying for rain in a time of drought, when it came*. So the Chinefe writers * report that at the prayers of their emperor Zangus, after a feven year’s be faid, behold there arifeth a little cloud out of the ea ike a man’s had, &c.] Either about the bignefs or in the form of it; rain-water comes out of the fea,” and being ftrained through the clouds and air becomes freth: and be faid, go up; the meaning feems to be, that he fhould firft go down from the - mount, and then go'up to that part of it where Ahab was: fay uiito Abad, prepare thy chariot; bind or faften: the horfes to it, as the phrafe feems tofignify: and get thee down; from the mountain where he was to go to Fexreel, which lay low ina valley.: shat the rain flop thee not; on the road,:jthat might be made unpaffable by it, fignifying that fuch abundance fhould fall as would make it fo.

¥. 45. And it came to pafs in the meanwhile, ‘That the fervant was gone with the meflage to Abad, and Abab was getting ready his chariot: that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain; which all fprang from the cloud like a man’s hand; and fo we are told*, to;that fometimes a little cloud called the ox’s eye is feen on a mount of the Cape of Good Hopi, called Tafefbery, when the fky is moft ferene, and the fea thejquiet; which is at firft fcarce fo big as a barleycorn, and then as a walnut; and prefently it extends itfelf over the whole furface of the “moun tain: and Abab rode, and went to Fezreel, as fatt as he could.

y. 46. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijab, &c.] Giving him more than common ftrength of body, as well as courage and fortitude of mind 5 thatjfo the Targum, the fpirit of ftrength from the Lord was with him: and be girded up bis loins, gathered up his long loofe garment, and girt it about him, that he might be more fit for travelling: and ran before Abad to the entrance of Jezreel, reckoned drought, about 16 miles from Carme/'; this fhewed his hu- great rains fell. mility, that he was not elated with the wonderful

¥.43- Aud faid to his fervant, &c.) Whom fome take to be the fon of the widow of Sarepta, but mutt be too young to be employed in fuch fervice as this was: go up now; ftill higher on mountjit Carmel than where he was, even to the point of it: /ook towards the fea;

looked, and he faid there is nothing; there was nothing in the fky, or arifing out of the fea, that things God had done by him, and that he bore“no helill will to 442d, but was ready to fhew him all bonour and refpet due to him as a king; and that were his: fins, and not his perfon, he had an higheftlaverfion to; and that he was not afraid of Fezebel, or the weit, asjand her prophets, but entered into the city where fhe was, to inftruét the people, and warn them and he went up andjagainft heridolatries; though fome think he went no farther than the gate of the city, prudently lookedjavoiding falling into ker hands.

the Zargum, the Mediterranean fea, which lay to the weft of the land of Jfrael:

r 703 like oF forboded fain: aid he id. go again 7 times, till he fhould fee fomething. ~~

_ W. 44. And it came to pals at the fetenth time that

HIS chapter gives us a farther account of E/iey jah, of his being obliged to fice for his life through the threats of Fezebel, ¥. 1—4. of the care the Lord took of him, providing food for him, in the ftrength of which he went to Horeb, y¥. 5—8. of the Lord’s appearance to him there, and converfation with him, y.9q—14. of fome inftructions he gave him to anoint a king over Syria, another.over J/rae/, and a prophet in his room, y. 15—18. and of his finding Eija, and throwing his mantle over him, who left his fecular employment, and followed him, and became his fervant, ¥. 19—21.

y. 1. And Abab told Fexebelall'that Elijab bad done, &c.}] What miracles he had wrought, how that not only fire came down from heaven, and confumed the facrifice, but even the {tones and duft. of the altar, and licked up great quantities of water in the trench around it's and that it was at his prayer that rain came’ down from heaven in fuch abundance, of which fhe was fenfible; by all which he got the people on his fide, fo that it was not in his power to feize him and flay him; and this he ~ faid to clear himfelf, and make her eafy: and withall how be had flain all the prophets with the fword, the 450 prophets of Baal he had gathered to Cate wel, the Targum calls them -falfe prophets, but Abab would {carcely ule that epithet to Fezebel 5 as for the 400 prophets of the grove, they were not prefent, and fo not included. Yezebel knew they were fafe, being with her, fhe not fuffering, them to go to Carmel. yo 3 y.2. Then Jezebel fent a meffenger unto Elijah, &c.] In Fezreel, or near it, to frighten him away;

.as Bunting" computes it, he quitted it: and fo high, that he imagined fhe would fend fome after him to fearch for him, and flay him privately, or make intereft with Fehohapbat to deliver -him up, there being friendfhip between him and Ababys for though this place was 84 miles from Fezebel, \ left his fervant there he took him not with hi ther left. he fhould betray him, or. rather

‘compafiion to him, that he might not fhare not caring to feize him, and difpatch him, for iio i the miferies of life that were like to. come.

fear of the people, in whom he had now a great intereft; or otherwife it is not eafy to account for ir, that fhe fhould give him notice of it; unlefs fhe {corned to do it privately, as fome think, and was determined to make a publick example. of him; but being not as yet prepared for it, fends him word what he muft expect, imagining that as he had the courage to appear, he would not flee; no doubt there was an hand of providence in it, be it which it will, that he might have time to make his efcape: faving, fo let the gods doto me, and more alo; the gods fhe ferved, Baal and dptaroth, and by whom the {wore: if I make not thy lifeas the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time; as one of the prophets E/yjah had flain; fhe him, ar Aky® ¥. 4. But be himfelf went a days journey into wildernefs, &c. | Of Paran, which began near

Beerfheba, and was the wildernefs of Arabia, in

;which the J/raedites were near 40 years; this day’s journey carried him about 20 miles from Beer- /beba fouthward, as the above writer reckons: and came and fat down under a juniper-tree, Abarbinél fuppofes, that E/jah chofe to. fit under this tree, to preferve him from venemous creatures, which naturalifis fay will-not come near it; and Pliny? indeed obferves, that it being burnt will drive aw ferpents, and that fome perfons anoint themfelves with the oil of it, for fear of them and yet Vix- fwore by her gods, and wifhed the greateft evils might befal her, if fhe did not lodge him in the g#/° reprefents the fhade of a juniper-tree as noxious; hence fome interpreters take this to be a ftate of the dead where they were in thefpace of 24 hours; though Adarbinel thinks it is not an oath, but that the words and meaning of them are, fo the gods do; it is their ufual way, and they will goon to do fofor the future, becaufe of the, holinefs of their name; and therefore don’t boaft of flaying the prophets, or make ufe of that as an argument of their falfhood, for they'll do the fame by thee by to-morrow this time.

¥. 3. And when be faw that, &c.}] That her defign and refolution were to take away his life, the Septuagint, Vulgate, Latin, and Syriac verfions read, and he was afraid, or frightened; he that had fuch courage as not to be afraid to meet Ahab, and contend with 450 priefts of Baal, and in the face of all Jacl, who at firft were not inclined to take his part, is now terrified at the threats of a fingle woman; which fhews that the fpirit and courage he had before were of the Lord, and not of himfelf; and that thofe who have the greateft zeal and courage for religion, for God, and his worfhip, his truths and ordinances, if left to themfelves, become weak and timorous; and whether this is the true reading, or no, it was cértainly his cafe by what follows: he arofe and went for his life; fled to fave his life, at a time when he was much wanted to encourage and encreafe the reformation from idolatry, and to preferve the people from relapfing who were converted; and through the miracles that had been wrought by him, ‘and for him, he had great reafon to truft in the Lord: or be vent unto, or according to bis own foul™; according to his own mind and will, not taking counfel of God, or any direction from him;. and fo Abarbinel interprets it: and came to Beerfoeba, which belongeth to Judah; to the tribe of Fudab; for though it-was in the inheritance of Simeon, yet that was within the tribe of Fudab, Fo/b. xix. 1, 2. or to the kingdom of Fudab, over which Febofbaphat reigned, and fo might. think himfelf fafe, being piece of careleffnefs. and indifference of the praphet’s, where he fat; and he requefted- for him elf, that be might die; for though he fled from Jezebel to preferve his life, not chufing to die by her hands, which would caufe her prophets to exult and triumph, yet was now defirous of dying by the hand of the Lord, and in a place where his death would not be known: it is enough, now, O Lord, take away my life; intimating, that he had lived long enough, even as long as he defired; and he had done as much work for God as he thought he had to do; he fuppofed his fervice and ufefuluefs were at an end, and therefore defired his difmiffion: for Jam not better than my fathers; that he fhould not die, or live longer than they; but this defire was not like that of the apoftle Paul’s, but like that of Fob and of Fonas; not fo much to be with God and Chrift, as to be rid of the troubles of life. ¥.5. And as be lay and flept under a juniper-tree, &c.} Being weary and fatigued with his journey, the fame under which he fat; for there was but one, as that is faid to be in the preceding verfe: behold, then an angel touched him, and faid unte him, arife, and eat; fo far was the Lord from granting his requeft to take away his life, that he made provifion to preferve it; fo careful was he of him, as to give an angel charge to get food ready for him, and then awake him to eat of it. y¥. 6. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baked on the coals, &c.] Jutt took off the coals, quite hot. Bochart* thinks it fhould be she baked on hot tones and fuch was the way of baking cakes in fome of the eaftern countries, fee the note on Gen, xviii. 6. the ftones hereabout might be heated by a fupernatural power, and the cake baked on them by an angel; thefe fort of cakes are in Hebrew called Huggoth, as fome pipnoys the word, and.are faid to be now common in Bulcrife garia, where they are called Hugaces*: and at of water at his bead; to drink of in eating the out of the dominions of dbab, and reach of zebels but yet he did not think fo, his fears ran Fe-fcake; which crufe or pot a learned man* thinks — was Elijah’s, not brought by the angel, only wa-

* Bufbequius apud Calmet on the word bread.

ig. ‘ere ’ | es Chisixy.7—tasde Vo K PNG G05,: S ter put into it by him; fee 1 Sam. xxvi. 1, 12. and he did eat, and drink, but nov all thar was fet before him: and laid bim down again; to ‘take fone more fleep for his greater refrethment.

¥.7. Aid the angel of the Lord came again the fecond time, and touched him, &c.} In order awake him out of fleep: and faid unto bim, avrife, and eat, becaufe the journey is too great for thee 5 which he had to go to Horeb, without eating more than he had; and there were no provifions to be be had in a common way and manner in his road — ¥, 10. Awd be faid) T have been jealous for the Lord God of bofts,’ &€.) Throtigh zeal for the glory of God he had Nain 4.50 prophets of Baal, and this had tirted up the malice and revenge of Jezebel againft him, who fought his life, and which had obliged tolhim to flee, and come to this place for fhelter; this is the firtt part of his anfwer, dthers follow: for rbe children of Ifrae! have forfaken thy covenant the law, efpecially the two firft commandments delivered in this very place; and therefore he could hope for no protection from them, but was forced to thither, leave his country: thrown down thy altars 3 which

¥.8. And ke arofe, and did eat and drink, &c.] Of, what was left of the cake and crufe of water, before provided for him: aud went in the freagth of that meat, 40 days and 40 nights, unto Horeb the mount of God; tor fo long he was going to that place, though it might have been gone in three er four days; but he went in bye-ways, and wandered about in the wildernefs, as the J/raelites and that for the fpace of 49 days, as they did near 40 years; and all this while he had no other fuftenance than what he had taken under the junipertree, from whence he fer out, which muft be fupernatural; for at is faid', a man can’t live out food beyond feven days, fee the note on Exod. xxiv. 1.8. the food either ftaying in ‘his’ ftomach al] this while, or however the nutritive virtue it, by which Ke was fupported, and held out till he came to Hored) or Sinai; called the mount of had beén’ built in times paft for the worfhip of God, to facrifice thereon to him, but were now \demolifhed, that thofe that would not bow the knee to Baal, and could not go to Feru/glem, might make no ule of them: and flain thy prophets with sbe fword; which was done by Fezebel, the I/raelites conniving at it, and confenting to it; and not did, daring to oppofe her; flain all fhe had knowledge of, or even were known by the prophet; hence ‘it follows, and Z, even I only am left, and they feck my life to take it away; all this Elijah faid, as it feems, not-only to excufe himfelf for fleeing, and with: taking up his abode where he was, but to ftir up the indignation of God againft J/rael for their idolatries and murders, and to put him upon inflictof ing his judgments on them forthe fame.. v.41. dad be Jaid, go forth and ftand upon the mount before the Lord, &c.]_ Who would appear the Lord, becaufe here he had appeared to Mo/es inthe bufh, and from hence gave the law ‘to the there, as he had to Mojes formerly, though not ift the fame manner: ‘and behold, the Lord paffed by;

children of [/rael. Abarbinel is of opinion, that this term of 40 days was confumed in his whole or was about to pafs, for as yet he had not; his meffengers firft went before him: and a@ great and journey to Horeb, his ftay there, and return to the land of J/rael.;

Jirong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces ¥..9. And be came thither unto a cave, and lodged the rocks before the Lord; ftrong enough to do all this, and fo it might: but the Lord was not in the there, &c.| ‘Thiscave, fome travellers fay", is to be feen at this day, not far from a church de- wind, as he fometimes is, Nab. i. 3. he fpake to fob out of a whirlwind, ch. xxxviii. 1. asd’ after dicated to the prophet Elijah, and that the cave itfelf has rhe appearance of a chapel; but a more particular account of it is given in a journal™ lately publifhed, which fays, this cave exifts to this very day, and is fituated at the foot of mount Sinai, and is now inclofed in a church ‘built of red and white granate marble, the entrance into which is from the wind an earthquake; that fhook the earth all around, and the mountain alfo, as it did when the law was given on it, P/. Ixviii. 8. But th? Lord was not in the earthquake; ‘as he was when it trembled in the times of Mo/es, ‘Exod. xix. 18.

y.12. And after the earthquake a firé, but the Zord was Yot\in the fire, &c.] As he was when the weft; the dimenfions of this cave até in ‘length five feet, in depth four feet, and in height four he defcendéd: on this mount, and fpake to Mojes, and a half. The Few writers are of opinion, thefe appearances of angels, and not amifs: the that this was the cleft of the rock, in which Mo was put, when the Lord pafied before him; fo, there would have been no'need of Eijah to have gone forth to and ftand upon the mount when the es}wind, ‘of an hoft. of angels of wind; the earth- ‘but if quake, of an hoft of angels of commotion;' the fire, of ‘an hoft of angels of fire; fee Pf ‘civ. 4. thefe minifters of the Lord went before him, to

Lord pafied by, W.as. and behold, the word of the Lord came:to him; an articulate voice was heard by prepare the way of his glorious majefty;' which emblems may reprefent'the power of God, the ter- him: aud he faid unto him, what dof thou bere, Elijah? «this is not‘a proper place for a prophet to riblenefs of his majefty, and'the fury of his wrath, which he could difplay, if ‘he would, to the de- be in, inva wildernets, in a mountain; ‘in’a cave in it: what work could he: do’ for God?) or what ftruction of his enemies; ‘and could as eafily de-

{troy the idolatrous kingdom, of J/rael, which Ejifervice to his people? in the land of J/rael he might bear his teftimony againft idolatry, and fo -be a jab feems to be folicitous of, as the wind rent the mountains, and broke the rocks, and the earthquake means of reclaiming backfliders, and of eftablith.

ing thofe \thatiwere in the’ true religion’; but of fhook the earth, and the fire confumed all in its way; but‘he chofe not to do it now, but ‘to ufe what ufefulnefs could he be here?

it to be\a reproof of Evijah, for going into a place fo holy as it’ was, and im which Mbjes, the chief ~of the prophets, had'been, and that it did not come fuch.a man as he was to be in fuch a place. Abarbinel takes lenity, and fhew mercy, fignified by the next emblem:: and after the fre, a fill Small voice, -not rough, but gentle, more like whifpering than roatbe- ing; fomething foft, eafy, and mufical; the Targui is, the. voice of thofe that praife God in filence 3 and all this may be confidered as fhewing the difference between the two difpenfations of law and gofpel; the law is a voice of terrible words, and was given amidft a tempeft of wind, thunder, and lightening, attended with an earthquake, Hed. xii.18, 39. Exod. xix. 18. but the gofpel is a gentle voice ot love, grace and mercy, of peace, pardon, righteoufnels and falvation by Chrift; and may alfo point at the order and manner of the Lord’s dealings with the fouls of men, who ufually by the law breaks the rocky hearts of men in pieces, fhakes their con- {ciences, and fills their minds with a fenfe of fiery wrath and indignation they deferve, and then fpeaks comfortably to them, fpeaks peace and pardon thro’ the miniftration of the gofpel by his fpirit; blefled are the people that hear this ftill, mall, gentle y¥. 13. And it was fo, when Elijah heard it, that be wrapped bis face in his mantle, &c.} Through reverence of the divine majefty he perceived was there, and through fhame and confufion under a fenfe of his impurity, imperfections and unworthinefs, as the feraphim in Jf vi. 2, 3..and as Mo es,

Exod. iii. 6. and went out and ftood in the entering

1319." was the fame as if it was done by himielf, unlefS he was twice anointed, fee 2 Kings ix. 1—3. and Elifoa the fon of Shaphat of Abel-mebolab fhalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room;, which was in the half-tribe of Manaffeh, on this fide Fordan; fee the note on Fudg. vii. 22.

¥.17. And it foall come to pafs, that him that efeapeth the fword of Hazael, foall Febu flay, &c.

Which fuggefts that many fhould be flain in J/rael by them both, as were by Hazael, 2 Kings x. 32, 33. and by Febu, 2 Kings ix. 24,°33. and x. 1—7, and him that efcapeth from the fword of Febu, foall Elifoa flay; which may be underftood either literally of the 42 children curfed by him, in confequence of which they were deftroyed by bears, 2 Kings ii. 24. or rather figuratively by his prophecies, fee Hof: vi. 5. who foretold the flaughters made by Hazael and Febu, as well as others, fee 2 Kings viii. 12. and ix. 7, 8. thefe feveral things were not done in the order in which they are here put; for what Elia did was.before Hazael and Jehu, and Febu before Hazael; thefe words therefore don’t refpect the exact order of time, in which they fhould be done, only that each fhould do the in of the cave; he attempted to come forth out of part appointed and affigned unto him, and what the cave upon the divine order, ¥. 11. but was ftopped by the terrible appearances of the wind, earthquake and fire, a little within it; but now he came quite out, and ftood at the mouth of it, to hear what the Lord would fay unto him: aad behold, there came a@ voice unto him, and faid, what doft thou here, Elijah? the fame queftion is here put as in ¥. g. though there by an angel, here by the Lord himfelf.

y. 14..And he faid, &c.] Elijah, in anfwer to the queftion put, and he fays the fame as before: I have been very jealous, &c.’ which the queftion was defigned to draw from him, in order to give him fome inftructions and directions; which would fuggeft to him, that though he fhould not deal feverely with J/rae/, nor with Ahab and his houfe, yet he would hereafter by the kings he fhould anoint over Syria and J/rael, and by the prophet he fhould anoint in his room, as initruments of his vengeance.

¥.15. And the Lord faid unto bim, go, return on thy way. to the wilderne/s of Damafcus, 8cc.] He is bid to go back the way he came through the wildernefs of Arabia, which was part of his way to ‘Damajcus, rear to which was another wildernefs, which took its name from thence; ‘though Fortunatus Scacchus* thinks no other is meant by this phrafe, than returning to his former courfe and cuftom of preaching the law of God, and reclaiming men from the error of their ways: and when thou comeft, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria; it is no where related that E/jah did go to Damajcus, and anoint Hazael, though it may be he did; however he acquainted E/ij/ha with it, and he declared it to Hazael, that he fhould be king of Syria, and which perhaps is all that is meant by anointing; that is, that he fhould be made king, and which was declared by both thefe prophets, fee _2 Kings viii. 13.

y. 16. And Febu the fon of Nimfbi fhalt thou anoint to be king over Iirael, &c.] ‘This was a fon of Fehofbaphat, and a grandion of Nim/bi; nor does he appear to have been anointed by Elijah, but by could not be fo well done by the other; thus Hazael was to deftroy thofe that came out to war; and Jebu, Abab’s family that did not; and Elifba the children of idolatrous parents at Befbel, that came not within the reach of either; though it may be obferved, that Hazael began to diftreiS J/rael be- | fore Jebu appeared, 2 Kings viii. 28, 29. and the prophecies of E/i/ba might not have their full accomplifhment, until after Hazaeland febu had done what was appointed for them. o ¥.18.Yet I have left me 7000 in Yrael, &e.| From perifhing by the {word of either of them: ail she knees which have not bowed to Baal; that is, had not worfhipped him, which was fignified by this gefture: and every mouth which bath not kiffed him, either the image of Baal itfelf, or the hand, in reverence of him; which rites, one or other, or both, were ufed by his worfhippers; fee the note on Hof. xiii. 2. This either refers, as fome think, to the prefent time, and fo is an anfwer to E/jab, who thought he was the only worfhipper left, with which feems to agree Rom. xi. 2—4. of to the times to come, when deftruction fhould be made by the above perfons, and when God would have fome faithful worfhippers, and would take care of them; fo fome render the words, J call referve, &c.* ¥. 19. So be departed thence, &c.] From mount Horeb, and came to Abel-mebolab, which Bunting computes * at 156 miles: and found Elifoa the fon of Shaphat, who was plowing with 12 yoke of oxen before him, and he with the 12th, which may be underftood either of 12 couple of oxen drawing one plough; which was a large number, but will not feem ftrange when it is obferved, that Abelmebolah, where Elifea was plowing, lay in the vale of Jordan, which was-a clayey, fff ground, and — required fuch a number of oxen to plow it up, efpe-_ cially at the firft tilling of it, as this might be*; compare x Kings iv. 12. with ch. vii. 46. A late traveller obferves, that at Damegraed in upper — Egypt on the Nile, fix oxen yoked to plow had a great deal of difficulty to turn up the ground; or — elfe, as the Fewi/h writers generally underftand “it,

Elifoa; and being done by his order and direétion, there were 12 ploughs, and a yoke of oxen to each, and a ploughman to attend every one, and Elijba attended the 12th; or was with one of the twelve, as the Targum, and might have the overfight of them all; Kimchi thinks, and fo Abarbinel after him, that this fignifed that he fhould be leader of the 12 tribes of J/racl: aud Elijah paffed by bim, and caft bis mantle upon him, the fkirts of it.

¥. 20. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijab, &c.] His heart being touched by the Lord at the fame time, and his mind enlightened to underftand what was meant by that a¢ction: and faid, let me, 1 pray thee, kifs my father and my mother; take his leave of them in this way, which was what was ufed by friends at parting, fee Ruth i. 9, 14. end then I will follow thee; which he underftoud was meant by his cafting his mantle over him: and he faid unto him, go back again, to his plough; for what have I done to thee? he had only caft the fkirts of his mantle over him, and had faid nothing to him; this he faid to try him, and get out of him what was in his heart, and how it had been touched by the Spirit of God; and if fo, then he fuggefts it was not what he had done, but what

2 big, 1S chapter relates the fiege of Samaria by the king of Syria, and his infolent demand of Abab’s wives, children and riches, y. 1—12. the fally made out upon him, at the direction of the prophet, and the rout made of the Syrian army, y. 13—21. the return of the Syrian army the next year, when there was a pitched battle between them andJ/rael, in which the former were entirely defeated, ¥. 22—30. the peace 44ad made with the-king of Syria, ¥. 31—34. and the reproof one of the fons of the prophets gave him for it, which made him

¥. 1. And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all bis boft together, &c.] This was Benhadad the fecond, the fon of that Benhadad, to whom A/a fent to help him againft Baafha, ch. xv. 18. and there were 32 kings with him, thefe were heads. of families, fo called, and at moit governors of cities under Benhadad; petty princes, fuch as were in the land of Caanan in Fofbua’s time: and horfes and chariots; how many is not faid: and he went up and befieged Samaria, and warred againft it; he went up with fuch an intent, but had not as yet done it in form; what moved him to it cannot be faid precifely, whether an ambitious view of enlarging his dominions, or becaufe the king of J rael paid not the tribute his father had impofed upon him, fee ¥. 34. however, fo it was through the providence of God, as a fcourge to Abad tor his impiety.

¥.2. And he fent meffengers to Abab king of Ifrvael, into the city, &c.| Who there remained, and attempted not to go forth and meet him, and ftop his progrefs, though he muft have paffed great art of his dominions to come to Samaria: and faid unto him, thus foith Benbadad; by them, his meflengers, as follows.

¥. 3. Thy filver and thy gold is mine, &c.} Not of right, but reckoning it as good as in his hands,

Abab not being able to refift him: and thy wives alfa; forit feems he had more thanJezebel: and thy children; which were many, for he had no lefs than

70 fons, 2Kings x.1. even the goodlicft are mine; fome aggravate this, as if his view was, to commit the

NG &. 704 the Lord had imprefféd upon him, that would oblige him to return, and follow him, after he had taken his leave of his parents.

¥.2t. dud be returned back from him, &c.] To his father’s houfe, and took his leave, and then came back into the field, perhaps with others.accompanying hirn: aud took a yoke of oxen and flew them, and boiled their fiefo with the inftruments of the oxen; their yokes, and the plough, with an addition of other things fufficient to boil them: and gave unto the people, and they did eat; the ploughmen and others that came together on this occafion; he made a feaft for them, to exprefs his joy at being called to fuch fervice he was: then he arofe and went after Elijah; \eft his worldly employment, the riches he was heir to, his parents, and his friends, and followedthe prophet: and minifired unto him; became his fervant, whereby he attained to great knowledge ~ and underftanding of divine things, and was trained up to the prophetic office, which he was invetfted with upon the removal of Elijah; fee, Matt. viii. 21, 22. and xix. 27.

unnatural fin with his male-children, when in his poffeffion..

y. 4. And the king of Ifrael anfwered and faid, my lord, O king,&c. | So he faid toBenbadad’s mefiengers, reprefenting him, as acknowledging his fovereignty over him: according to thy faying, I am thine, and all that I have, which he underftood of holding all that he had of him, by giving him homage, and paying him tribute; not that he was to deliver all his fubftance, and efpecially his wives and children, into his hands.

¥. 5. And the meffengers came again, &c.] From Benhadad: and faid, Thus fpeaketh Benhadad, faying, Although I have fent unto thee, Saying 5 at the firft meflage: Thou fhalt deliver me thy filver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy children; into his pofieffion, and not as. 4hab underftood it, that he fhould be his vaffal, and pay a yearly tribute for his quiet enjoyment of them; yet even this He would not now abide by, growing ftill more haughty upon the mean fubmiffion of 4bad, as by what follows.

¥. 6.. Yet [will fend my fervants unto thee tomorrow about this time, &c.] He gave him 24 hours to cohfider of it: and they fhall fearch thine houfe, and the boujes of thy fervants; the. royal palace, and the houfes of the noblemen, and even of every of his fubjects in Samaria: and it fall be, that whatfoever is pleafant (or defirable) in thine eyes, they foall put it in their. hand, and take it away, not be content with what thould be given, but fearch for more; and if any thing in particular was more defirable to the poffeffor than any thing elfe, that fhould be fure to be taken away;' which was vattly infolent and aggravating.

¥. 7. Then the king of Ijracl calledall the elders of the land, &c.] His poor freaking fpirit was a little aroufed with the laft meflage, and therefore called a council of the elders of the people upon it, which was a piece of wildom in him: and faid, Mark, I pray you, and fee how this man feeketh mifchief; nothing lefs than the entire ruin of the nation: for he fent unto me for my wives, and for my children, and for my filver, and for my gold, and I denied bim not; in the fenfe he underftood him, which was, tary to him, for the fake of holding thele, which yet was very mean, but he wanted to have thefe in hand, and not them only, but the pillaging of all his fubjeéts.. beng ¥. 8. And all the elders, and all the people foid unto him, &cc.} They were unanimous in their advice: Hearken net unto him, zor confent, promifing, no doubt, that they would ftand by him. "yg. Wherefore he fent unto the meffengers of Benbadad, &c.] Upon the advice the elders hd given him, and encouraged thereby, though in a poor fneaking manner after all: Yell my lord the king, All that thou didft fend for to thy fervant.at the firft, 1 will do; owning him as his Lord, and himfelf as his fervant, and promifing to grant his firft demand, though fo infolent, in the fenfe he underftoad him, of paying tribute to him for it: Sut this thing I may not do, to have not only all put into his hands, but his and his fervants houfes to be fearched and pillaged, becaufe the elders of his people would not agree; and yet he feems to fpeak as it he himfelf would have fubmitted to it, but was reftrained by his council: and the meffengers departed, and brought him word again; reported to Benhadad the anfwer they received from Ahab.

v.10. And Benhadad fent unto him, and faid, &c.]. That is, to dbab: The gods do fo unto me, and more alfo’; bring greater evils upon me than | can think of or exprefs: if the dufi of Samaria foall fuffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me; fienifying that he’‘made no doubtof it, of reducing it to duft by the numbers of men he fhould bring with him, which would be fo many, that if each was to take an handful of duft of the ruins of Sa. maria, there would not, be enough for them all; which was an hectoring and hyperbolical fpeech, uttered in his wrath and fury.

y. 11. And the king of Ijrael anfwered and faid, &cc.] Very mildly and very wifely: Tel him, Let not him that girdeth on his harnefs, boaft him- Jeif, as he that putteth it off; that is, he that prepares for the battle as he that has got the victory; the fenfe is, let no man triumph before the battle is over and the victory won; the events of war are ‘uncertain, the battle is not always to the ftrong.

y.12. And it came to pafs when Benhadad beard this meffage (as he was-drinking, he and the kings in the pavilions) &c.] Though it was at noon, or before, ¥. 16. which fhews that he and they were addiéted to intemperance; that he faid unio bis fervants; fome of the principal officers of his army: Set yourfelves in array; prepare for battle, betake yourfelves to your arms, inveft the city at once, and place the engines againit it to batter it down: and they fet themielves in array againft the city, be= fieged it in form, at leaft prepared for it; for it feems after all that it was not properly done.

y. 13. And behold, there came a prophet unto Abab king of Ifrael, &c.] — Suppofed by the Fewih writers to be Micaiah the fon of Imlab, ch. xxii. 9. one of thofe perhaps that Obadiah hid in the cave, and now is fent out publicly on an errand to Abad: faying, Thus faith the Lord, Haft thou feen all this great multitude? confidered what a vaft number Benhadad’s army confifted of: behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day, as great as itis: and thou foalt know that lam the Lord, and not Baal, who can fave by few as well as by many, and from a great multitude..

¥. 14. And Ahab faid, By whom? &c'] Knowing he had no army with him ‘fufficient to go out with againft the Syrian army: aud be faid, Thus ee O00 With Oo S48 ies gy that he was to be a vaffal, and tribu- |/2ith the Lord, Even by the young men of the princes

|kept as hoftages, that their fathers might

‘come out for war, take them alive; he ma

‘might take his meafures accortaey of. tbe princi ae of the provinces; either fuch, as Kimedi thinks, who were brought up with him; or, as others, the fons of governors of provinces, who rebel; neither of which is likely: but rather the fervants of fuch princes who. waited on them, am lived délicately and at eafe, and were’ not traine up to milicary exercifes, even by thefe fhoul vidtory be obtained: then be faid, bY bo foal the battle? begin the attack, we or they? of Who fhall conduét it, or be the general of the army, go _ before ir, and lead them on? Abad might think, — being an idolater, that the Lord would not make ufe of him, or otherwife who could be thoughtof but himfelf? end be anfwéred, Then; thon mult — be the commander, go torzh with tiearmy, and make the attack upon the enemy. 4 ¥. 15. Thex be numbred the young: men of the princes of the provinces, and they were 232, &e} A very {mall number to go forth againtt fo great an army as the hoft of the Syriaws, and thefe raw unexperienced young men: and after them be num= bred all the people, even all the children of Irael, being 7coo: which could never be the number of all the people in the land; nor even in the city of Samaria, who were able to bear arms; but it muft ~ mean fuch who were willing to go cut to war on this occafion: and the number being juft the fame} as of thofe that bowed not the knee to Baal, has. led the Yewi/o commentators tu conclude, that thefe were the men that were numbered for war; but it is not likely that they were all in Samaria, or thatnone but thofe would go to war, though it muft be owned the number is remarkable. at a y. 16. And they went out at noon, Sc.) From Samaria, the 232 young men, and'the 7000 Jf raclites, openly, with great fpirit and courage, — fearlefs and undaunted $ but it is not faid that Abad went out at the head.of them; it feems as if he did not, by what is faid, ¥. 21. dut Benba was drinking bhimfelf drunk in the pavilions (or boorks, or tents) he, and the kings, the 32 kings that belped him, who either were his fubjeéts, or his tribuiaries, -or confederates; being fecure, ‘and. havin; nothing to fear from Abad, he and they gave themfelves up to caroufing and drinking, evén at noon, and fo deftruction came upon them unawares, ds on Belfhazzar. a. y.17. And the young men of the princes of the — provinces went out firft, &c.] Krom Samaria, before the 7000 did: and Beubadad fent out; of his pavilion, a meffenger or meffengers to his centinels, to know what news, and how matters ftood, whether Abab had fent any meflage, fignifying his compliance with his terms: and they told dim, faying, There are men come out of Samaria, but Wp what account they could not fay. ee a ¥.18, And he faid, Whether they be come out for peace, &c.) To propofe terms of peace: take them alive, make them prifoners, which was con-_ trary to the laws of nations: or whelber the doubt of their being eafily taken; but h wi not have them be put to death, that he might | mine them, and know the ftate of thi) maria, and what Abab intended bi; provinces came out of the city,’ &e.) fore oblerved, and marched forware Syrian camp: and the army awhich j y¥. 19. So thefe young ‘men of tb

¥. 20. And they flew every one bis man, ec.) The Syrian army, or at leaft a body -, men detached from them, met them, oppofed them, and fought them, and they flew of them 7232°men;/ as many as they themielves were: and the Syrians fled; not expecting fuch a rebuff:

(ued them; to make fome farther advantage of their victory: and Benhadad the king of Syria efcaped on an hore, with the horfemen; with two couple of horfemen, as the Targum, with thefe to guard him he galloped away as faft as he could for his we foall be fironger than they; and prevail over them, and conquer them. - y. 24. Aid do this thing, &¢.]~ Alfo, take this” farther piece of advice: Take rhe tings away, every man out-of bis place, for being brought up deliand Ijrael pur-jcately, they were not inured to’war, nor expert in the art of it; and being addicted to pleafare, gave themfelves to that, and drew the king into it, which they obferved was the cafe before; though they did not care to mention it; and if they were tributaries of allies, they would nor fight as men life. do for their own country: and put captains in their y. 21. And the king of Ifrael went out, &c.] Of Samaria; when he faw the Syrians fleeing, and his army purfuing, he went forth, perhaps, with more forces, who were now willing to join with him 3 Fofephus ‘ fays, dbab had another army within the walls: and fmote she borfes and chariots; that is, the men that rode on hories, and in chariots, the Syrian cavalry: and flew the Syrians with a great flaughter; how many were flain is not faid; but the Fewi/d hiftorian * fays, they plundered the camp, in which were much riches, and great plenty of gold and filver, and took their chariots and horfes, and returned to the city of Samaria.

y¥. 22. And the prophet came to the king of Ifrael, &c.} The fame that came to him before: and faid unto him, Go, firengthen thyfelf; exhorted him to fortify his cities, efpecially Samaria, and increafe his army, that he might be able to oppole the king of Syria: and mark, and fee what thou doef, obferve his moral and religious actions, and take heed that he did not offend the Lord by them, as well as make military preparations: for at the return of the year, the king of Syria will come up againft thee; about the fame time in the next year, at the fpring of the year, when, kings go out to war, fee 2 Sam. rooms; of his own people, men of {kill and courage, and who would fight both for their own honour, and for the good of their country. | y¥. 25. 4nd number thee an army like the army that thou haft lof, &c.] Raife an army of an equal number, which they fuppofed he was able to do: orfe for borfe, and chariot for chariot; as many horfes and chariots as he had before: and we w#ll fight againft them in the plain; where they could make ufe of their horfes and chariots to greater advantage than on hills and mountains, fee 'fudg.i. 19. and furely we fhall be ftronger than they; and beat them: aud he bhearkened unto their ‘voice, and did fo; took their counfel, and prepared an army, and placed captains in it inftead of kings.

y. 26. And it came to pafs at the return of the year, &c.] In the fpring, or autumn, as fome think, fee the note on 2 Sam. xi. 4s that Benhadad numbred the Syrians, took a mufter of hissatmy, to fee if he had got the number he had before: and went up to.Aphek, to fight againft Ifrael; not that in Judah, Fofo. xv. 53. rather that in Aer, Fofb. xix. 30. but it feems to be that which /drichomius * places in ‘Ufachar, near to the famous camp of E/fdraelgn, or valley of Fezreel, where it xis ¥. is probable the king of Syria intended to have y¥. 23. And the fervanis of the king of Syria unto him, &c.] His minifters of ftate, his privycounfellors: their gods are gods of the hills, therefore they were fironger than we, and beat them inj the laft battle; this notion they might receive from what they had heard of Febovab delivering the law on mount Sinai to, Mo/es, and of the miraculous things done lately on mount Carmel, as well as of their worfhip being in high places, efpecially at Ferufalem, the templé there, being built on an as was Samaria itfelf, near to which they had laft defeat; and this notion of topical deities very much obtained among the heathens in after-times, fome of which they fuppofed prefided over rivers, others over woods, and others over hills and mountains *: fo Nemeffinus the god of woods, Collinathe goddefs of hills, and Vallina of vallies ‘; and Arnobius * makes mention of the god Montinus, and Livy * of the god Peninus, who had his name from a part of the. dps, fo called where he was fhipped; and there alfo the goddefs Penina was worthipped; and Laéfantius* {peaks of the gods the mountains the mother of Maximilian was a -worfhipper of; and even Fupiter had names from mountains, as Olympians, Capitolinus, &c. and fuch “was the great god Paz, called mountainous Pan *: but let us fight againft them in the plain, and faid fought the battle; and fome travellers, as he obferves, fay, the ruins of that city are ftill fhewn in that great camp or plain, not far from Gilboa, to the eafteof mount Carmel, and five miles from Zabor; according to Bunting *, it was fourteen miles from Samaria; but it’ may be Aphaca near mount Lebanon, and the river Adonis ° is meant.

y.27. And the children of Irael were numbred, and were all prefent, &c.} The fame as before: hill, the 232 young men of the princes of the provinces,. theirJand 7000 of the people, not one was miffing: and went againft them; out of Samaria, towards Apbek; and the children of Ifrael pitched before them like two little flocks of kids; being few and weak, the 232 young men in one body, and the 7000 in another: but the Syrians filled the country; with their men, their horfes, and their chariots. tee y. 28. And there came a man of God, &c.] ‘The fame as before, ¥. 13. 22. or had come” before wor-jthe little army went out to meet the Syrians; tho’ he might go to d4bab when incamped, fot his enofjcouragement: and /pake unto the king of Ifracl, and faid, Thus faith the Lord, Becaufe the Syrians have faid, The Lord is God of the bills, but he is not God of the vallies; fee the note on y. 23. therefore will J deliver all this great multitude into thine hand; not furely for Abab’s fake would the Lord do this, who does not appear thankful to God for the former victory, nor to be reformed from his idolatry, and the better for it, but for the honour of his own name, which had been blafphemed by the Syrians: and ye /hall know that Iam the Lord; both of hills and vallies, the omnipotent Zehovab, the only true God.

y¥. 29. And they pitched one over againft the other feven days, &c.} Very probably the Jraelites pitched upon an hill, and the Syrians waited ull)

they changed their pofition, not caring to fall upon them, though fo very fupernumerary to them, for the reafon before given: and fo it was, that in the Seventh day the battle was joined; or they that made war drew nigh, as the Yergum, and both fides en- the Syrians 100,000 footmen in’ one day; which was a prodigious flaughter to be made by fo. {mall an army; the hand ot the Lord was vifible in it. ¥. 30. But the reft fied to Apbek, into the city, &c.] Which perhaps was in the hands of the Syrians, and was defigned for a retreat for them, fhould they be beaten: and there 2 wall fell upon 27,000 of the men that were /eft; not flain in the battle; here again the Lord might be feen, who, as Abarbinel obferves, fought from heaven, and either by a violent wind, or an earthquake, threw down the wall upon them juft as they had got under it for fhelter: and Benhadad fled, and came into the city into an inner chamber, or, into a chamber within a chamber %, for greater fecrecy. ¥. 31. And his fervants faid. unto him, &c.] Being reduced to the utmoft extremity; for if he attempted to go out of the city, he would fall into the hands of the J/raelites, and there was no fafety in it, the wall of it being fallen downs and it could not be thought: he could’ be concealed long in the chamber where he was, wherefore his férvants advifed as follows: Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the houfe of I/rael are merciful kings not only the beft of them, as David and Solomon, but even the worft of them, in comparifon of heathen princes, were kind and humane to thofe that fell into their hands, and became their. captives: let us, I pray thee; {0 faid one in the name of the reft: put fackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our _ beads; and fo coming in fuch a mean and humble manner, and not with their armour on, they might the rather hope to have admittance; fo the Syracufans fent ambaffadors to Athens, in filthy garments, with the hair of their heads -and beards long, and all in flovenly habits, to move their ‘pity *: and go out to the king of Ifrael; and be humble fupplicants to him: peradventure he will fave thy life; upon a petition to him from him; to which the king agreed, and fent it by them: ¥. 32. So they girded fackcloth on their loins, and ‘put ropes on their beads, &c.| Signifying they came to furrender themfelves to him as his captives and prifoners, and he might do with them as feemed good to him, hang them up if he pleafed, for which they brought ropes with them, as a token that they deferved it, fee J, xx. 2; 3, 4. and came to the king of Ifrael, and faid, Thy fervant Benbadad “faith, I pray thee let me live; he that a little while ago infolently demanded his wives and children, and filver, and gold, as his property, now is his humble fervant, and begs, not for his crown and gaged in battle; aud the children of Ifrael flew of being wifer than him, and they aid, te He, oe; Pot my Pe ce Oc. pane at tn 7 if ants + ie 1 ie hie ha

Pe: fpare his life, who feemed to be fo glad.th ae 5 was alive, but that he would fhew him mo vour, having a great affection for him as: ther; this was a very foolith expref a king in his circarnftances, with refpect toon had given him fo much trouble and diftrefs, a had behaved with fo much haughtinefs ‘an tempt towatds him. ae 3

¥. 33. Now the men did diligently obferve wbetber any thing would come from him, Secs} Phi would be a good omen ‘to thein, and encourase them to hope for fuccefs; they ob/eryed him as diligently by his words and behaviour as‘ foothfayers do, when they look out for a lucky gn; for the word is fometimes ufed of divining *: and dit haftily catch it; as foon as it was out of his mouth)" and laid hold on it to improve it to advantage,: y retier Benkadad;, him whom thou callett thy brother; -he is thy brother, and is alive; this they catched at, and exprefied it, to obferve whether it wasva flip of his tongue, and whether he fpoke it heartily, and would abide by it, or whether he would retract it: thea be faid, Go ye, bring him; meaning from the city.to the place where he was: ben Ben» badad came forth to him, out of his chamber, upon the report of his fervants; and be canfed bim to come up into the chariot; to fit and Converfé with him. there. ” eae) Sela

¥. 34. And Benhadad aid unto bim, &e] The word Benbaded is not in the original text, and fome, as Ofander and others, have thought they are the words of Abad latt fpoken of; which feems moft likely, who not. only took Benhadad into his chariot, but in his great and fuperabundant kindnefs, though the conqueror, faid to him what follows: The cities which my father toek from thy fether, I will reftore; that is, thofe cities which Omrt the father of Abad had taken from the father of Benbadad,, for as Omri was a prince of might and valour, ch. xvi. 16, 17, 18, 27. it is more" probable that: he took cities from the king of Syria, than that the king of Syria fhould take 1 AT him, and which ad in his circumftances weakly promifes to reftore: and thou foalt make fireets for thee in Damafcus, as my father made im Samaria, which confirms it that it is 4bab, ‘and not Bemba: — dad, that is {peaking; for Benbadad’s father never had any power nor refidence in Semarta, whereas - Omri, the father of Abed had, he built it, and — made it his royal feat; and, in like manner, Abab promifes Bexbadad that he fhould have ‘his'palace at Damafcus, the metropolis of Syria, and exercife — power there, and over all Sia; whereby ee renounced all right he had to the kingdom, ¢ any of the cities of it: for by /treets are not meant thofe literally fo called, for the making ‘of w there was no reafon; nor markets totake atoll fro as fome,’fuppofing them to be the words of, hadad, nor courts of judicature, to obliget pay it who refufed it, as others; nor for keep them in awe; buta royal palace,’ as: critic * has obferved, for Benhadad to Te: this 4bab gave him power ‘to ereét, and < and°1 will fend thee away with this cover promife now made: /o he made a et: confirmed the above promifes <a)

kingdom, but for his life: and be Jaid, Is he yet alive? he is my brothers which was intimating. at once, that not only they might expect he would free, to snot, ise et n folly. and weal nels Abab is. re

¥. 35. And a certain man of the fons of the prophets, &c.) Which the Fews take to be Micaiah, and fo Fofepbus *, which is probable; thé fame that had been with Abad more than once; and whoever he was, it is not unlikely that he was the fame, fince 4/ab knew him when his difguite was | with David: and behold, a man turned afide; a ape rior officet in the army: and brought a man unto me; he had made a prifoner of: and faid, keep this man;-don’t let him efcape: if by any means be be miffing, then hall thy life be for his life, or elfe thou’ halt pay a talent of filver; if he let him go wil- off, v.41. faid unto his neighbour in the word of the Lord, Smite me, I pray thee; told his neighbour, that by the command of God he was ordered to bid him fmite him, fo as to wound him: and the man refused to {mite him being his neighbour, and perhaps a fellow-prophet, and having an affection for lingly, or by any means he fhould get out of his hands, then he fhould either die for it, or be fined a talent of filver; which of our money is 375 pounds; and to this it feems he agreed.

¥. 49. And as thy fervant was bufy bere and there,’ he was gone, &c.] Employed in one thing or another relative to the battle, his prifoner committed

¥. 36. Then faid he unto him, Becaufe thou haft to his care made his efcape: and the king of Irael not obeyed the voice of the Lord, &c.}

In not fmit- |/aid unto him, fo thall thy judgment be, thyfelf haf ing him; which, if he was a prophet, he mutt decided it; the fentence was plain and open againft know how great anevil it was to difreeard or difobey what was faid by a Berne in his name; he muft be inexcufable: “bebold, as foon as thou art de-

“parted from me, a lion foall flay thee. And as foon him, that either he muft die, or pay the money, for he*himfelf had agreed to it.

y¥.41. And be hafted, and took away the afbes from his face, &c.| Took off the linen cloth from as he was departed from bim, a lion found him, and his eyes, unvailed or unmefked himfelf: and the flew him; which may feem fevere, yet being an act of difobedience to the command of God, by a prophet of his, was punifhable with death.

¥. 37. Then he found, another man, and faid, Smite me, I pray thee, &c.] This is not faid to be his neighbour, nor one of the fons of the prophets, bura ruftic man, and fo ftuck not to take him at his word: and the man /mote him, fo that in miting he wounded him; in his face; made fome incifion in his flefh, broke the fkin, and fetched blood of him; perhaps fomewhere about his eyes,.by what follows: this he got done to him, that he might look like a wounded foldier, and thereby get the more eafily to the fpeech of Abad.;

¥. 38. So the prophet departed, and waited fo the king by thé*way, &c.| As he went from Apbek, the place where the battle had been fought, to Szmaria his royal feat: and difguifed bimfelf with ajfhes upon bis face; the Targum is, he covered his eyes with a vail, or piece of cloth, which he wrapped about his head, as men do when they have got a wound or bruife in fuch a part, which feems very probable; for had he befmeared his face with afhes, clay or duft, or any fuch thing, he could not fo eafily have got it off, as in y. 4r.

¥. 39. And as the king paffed by, he cried unto the king, &c.] With aloud voice, fignifying he had fomething to fay unto him, at which he ftopped: and be faid, thy fervant went out into the midft of the battle, this was not real but fictitious, an apologue, fable, or parable, by which he would reprefent to Abad his own cafe, and bring him under conviction of his folly, juft as Nathan dealt king of lfrael difcerned him that be was of the propbets; he knew him again, having feen him once or twice before; otherwife there could be nothing in his face that could difcover him to be a prophet, rather he was to be known byhis habit.:

¥. 42. And he faid unto him, thus faith the Lord, &c.] He fpake not his own fenfe, and in his own words, but in the name of the Lord, for which he had authority, that it might have the greater weight with hab: becaufe thou haft let go out of thy band, a man whom I appointed to utter defiruction, meaning Benhadad, or the man of my anathema or curfe”; curfed of God for his blafphemy of him, and devoted by him to ruin on that account; or of my net*, being by his providence brought into a net or noofe at Apbek, out of which he could not have efcaped, had not 4bad let him go: therefore thy life foall go for bis hfe; as it fhortly did, and that by the hand of a Syrian foldier, ch. xxii. 34, 35. and thy people for his peo# ple; which was fulfilled by Hazael king of Syria, the fins of //rael rendering ‘them deferving of the calamities they endured by his means, fee 2 Kings viii, 12. and x. 32.

¥.43. And the king of Ifrael went to bis houfe heavy and difpleafed, &c.| With the prophet, for what he had faid, and with himfelf for what he had done in letting Benbadad go; the Targum is, he was ‘ troubled and grieved,” not fo much for the fin he had committed, as for the punifhment of it on him and his people: and came to Samaria; with a heavy heart, tor the meflage of the prophet had fpoiled the joy of his victory.:

'N this chapter we have an account of Ahab’s defign to have Naboth’s vineyard, for which he _ offered him another, or the value of that, but Naboth refufing to part with it, Abad fell fick, y.

3—4. the reafon of which being found out by Fezebel, fhe devifed means to get Naboth put to death under the colour of juftice for blafphemy, ¥.5—14. and then bid 4had go and take ffeffion of the vineyard, where he was met by Elijah, who denounced the judgments of God upon him, and Zezedel, and all his family, for his injuttice, ¥. 15—26. but he humbling himfelf, the evil threatened was deferred to the days of his fon, ¥. 27—29.

y. 1. And it came to pafs after thefe things, &c.] After the two battles with the king of Syria, in which Ahad was viClorious, and after he had let Benbadad, a blafphemer, and injurious to him, go free: that Naboth the ‘Fezreclite had a vineyards which was in Fezreel, of which place fee the note on Hof i. 5. or who was in Fezreel, that is 7 s™ Ge Oe ee. i aati AE oe: 2 ee

¥. 6. And he faid, becaufe I fpake unto Naboth the Fexreelite, and faid unto him, give me thy vineyard for money, 8ec.} Sell ic him at his own pr or elfe if it pleafe thee; if he liked it ber will give thee another vineyard for its as) go better; and he anfwered, 1 will not give thee my vineyard; he reprefents this anfwer as furly and ill-nz red, and as the effect of obftinacy, concealing the reafon Nadoth alledged for his denial. = >) — y¥. 7. And Fexebel his wife faid unto. ‘thou now govern the kingdom of Ijrael? 8ec.) > Art thou not king of //rae/? canft thou not do as thou pleafeft? haft thou not power to oblige a fubjeé to obey thy commands, and efpecially in) fuch a trifling matter as parting with a vineyard, and that upon the moft reafonable terms? thou haft too © much demeaned thy(felf as a king; thou oughteit to have exerted thy kingly power and authority, and demanded it from him; the Targum is, ** thou now fhalt profper in thy kingdom over Jrae;”> thy reign now is profperous, and like to. continue fo, having obtained two {uch victories overthine, enemies, and therefore fhould not be dejeéted with fuch a trifling thing as this: arife, and eat bread, and let thine beart ie merry; the kingdom being in fuch a flourifhing ftate; and let not this affair give thee any trouble or uneafinefs; I’ll take,care of that, leave it with me: 1 will give thee the vimeyard of Naboth the Fexreelite; without paying any money, or giving another vineyard in exchange for it. ¥.8. So foe wrote letters in Abab’s name, and Sealed them with bis feal, &c.] He giving her leave no doubt to take his feal; though fhe might not communicate her {fcheme to him, left the *fhould object to it: and fent the letters unto the elders, and to the nobles that were in bis citys dwelling with Naboth; to the chief magiftrates #of the city of Jezreel, where Naboth dwelt.. iy Ry een ¥.9. And fhe wrote in the letters, faying, proclaim a faft, &c.| Pretending fears of fome dreadful calamity coming upon the nation,. and therefore fafting and humiliation were neceflary to avert it, and it would be right to: enquire what crime were committed by m*n among them, and punifh them for them; and intimated to them, that Naboth fhould be pitched upon as the great. offender, and be accufed, condemned, and put to death. R. Fofeph Kimchi * thinks, the phrafe fignifies, caf an affembly or congregation, convene’a court Of ju-. ~ dicature, from the ufe of the word in the Yahmudic language’; and fo it is thought it is ufed im Fer) xxxvi, 6. and indeed it can hardly be thought that Jezebel fhould have much notion of fafting; and ~ befides, if it was a public faft, why fhould it be with contempt, and taxing him with imprudence at leaft, if not with injuftice, or both: and he laid him down upon bis bed or couch, which might be not in his bed-chamber, but in one of his halls, where his courtiers were: and turned away his face; to the wall; not chufing to have converfation with any of his nobles: and would eat no bread; the vexation’ took away his ftomach, and he became proclaimed only in Fezree/, and not throughout the” kingdom? and fet Noboth on high among thewpeope; the court being fet, bring him to the bar and arraign him; perhaps in their courts of judicature — there was a high place above the heads of th pley where criminals accufed ufed to: fia they took their trials, that they might be heard by all in court. ‘ ‘ov ty melancholy, at Jeaft fullen. ¥.10. And fet two men fons of Belial t —¥.5. But Fexebel his wife came unto him, and faid, why is thy fpirit fo Jad, that thou eateft no bread?\ She perceived he was low fpirited, and fuppofed he had met with fomething that had ruffled him, and made him fo pneafy that he could not eat his food; and fhe defired to know what it to bear witne/s azainft him, &c.) Worthlefs that have caft off the yoke of the law, as fignifies, lawlefs, abandoned creatures, th no confcience of any thing; kmights of the we call them, that will fwear any, thin: were to be fet before Naboth, right a both, for the vineyard was in Samaria, ¥.18. bard by the palace of Abab king of Samaria, that being the metropolis of the kingdom of J/rae/, is put for it, who befides his palace in Samaria, had another in Yezreel, which, according to Bunting’, were 16 miles diftant from each other.

y¥.2. And Abab fpake unto Naboth, faying, give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of berbs, &c.] For a kitchen-garden to produce eatables of the vegetable kind for his houfhold, or for a flower-garden; and perhaps for both, as Kimchi obferves, it being cuftomary to have fuch in court-yards, or behind the houfe,; perhaps he might take his notion of a herb-garden from his neighbours the Syriazs, who were very diligent and ‘ Jaborious in cultivating their gardens, as Pliny’; hence multa Syrorum olera, the many herbs of the Syrians became a proverb with the Greeks: becau/e it is near unto mine houfe; lay very convenient for him: aad I will give thee for it a better vineyar than it, or if it feemeth good unto thee, Iwill give thee the worth of it in money; which feems very well fpoken, that he would either give him a better in exchange, or purchafe it at its full value; he did not pretend to take it by ufurpation, by force, againft his will, as it was reprefented by Samuel kings would do, 1 Sam, viii. 14. as yet fuch oppreffion and tyranny was not exercifed.

¥. 3. And Naboth faid to Abab, the Lord forbid it me, that I foould give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.| The inheritances of families were not to be alienated to another family,.or tribe, nor even to be fold, unlefs in extreme poverty, and then to return at the year of jubilee, Lev. xxv. 23, 28. Now Naboth was a man in good circumftances. and under no neceffity of felling his vineyard; and if he fold it, he might reafonably conclude, it becoming a part of the royal demefnes, would never revert to his family; and therefore both out of regard to the law of God, and the good of his family, would not part with it at any rate: this fhews that he was a con{fcientious man, and therefore is thought to be one of thofe that would not bow his knee to Baal, and againft whom Ahab had a grudge, ahd fought an opportunity againft him.

¥. 4. And Ahab came into his houfe heavy and difpleafed, &c.| Juft in the fame humour he was after the prophet had delivered his meffage to him, ch..xx. 43. where the fame words are ufed as here: Lecaufe of the word which Naboth the Fezreelite had Spoken to him, for be had faid, I will not give thee the inberitance of my fathers; neither by way of exchange, nor of purchafe; and fuch a denial he could hot bear, fince it looked like treating him charge him with crimes next mentioned: faying, thou didft blafpheme God and the king; guilty of death for the former, if not’ for both, and ef confitcation of eftate for the latter, which was the thing aimed at; and Yezebe/ was willing to make fure work of it, and’ therefore would have| him accufed of both: aud then carry him out, and Stone him, that be dies immediately, without requiring the witneffes to give proof of their and without giving Nadoth leave to anfwer for cially that the news of this man’s death would be and fo was aceeptable to her, and the more if he was of the 7000 that would not bow the knee to Bagi.”

y. 15. And it came to pals when Jezebel heard that Naboth was foned, and was dead, that Fezebel aid to Abab, &c,] To whom the ‘communicated the news as foon as poflible: arife, take poffeffion of the vineyard of Naboth the Fezreelite, which be charge, refufed to give thee for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead; fome think that Naboth was a near

Wy. 11, And the men of the city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Fexebel had fent unto them, &c.] That Fezebel fhould contrive fo execrable a fcheme, and that there fhould be fuch fons of Belial among the common people, to {wear to fuch falfhoods, ‘need not feem ftrange; byt that the elders and nobles of the city, the chief magiftrates thereof, fhould be fo fadly and univerfally depraved, as to execute fuch a piece of villainy, is really furprizing. Idolatry, when it prevails, takes away all fenfe of humanity and juftice: and as it was written in the letter which fhe bad fent unto them; they punctually, exactly obeyed the orders in them, as folthey endeavour to fupport from his eftate lying next to Abad’s, and from his being ordered to be fer in an high place among the people; and Fo/ephus, as before obferved, fays he was of illuftrious defcent; and fo Ahad upon his death, his fons being alfo put to death with him, was next heir to his eftate; and therefore Fezebel bid him enter on the pofléffion of it, he being dead, and his fons alfo, and therefore there was nothing in his way to obftruct him: but rather her meaning is, that Naoth was dead, not of a natural but violent death, by the hand of the civil magiftrate; as for blafphemy againft God, fo for treafon againft the king, in virtue of which his eftate was forfeited to- the

Jows. crown, and that 4haé had a right to poflefs it; and y.12. They proclaimed a faft, &c.] Or called a} court, fee on ¥.9. and fet Naboth oy high among the people; placed him at the bar as a criminal, fee the note, on y¥. 9. though Yofephus‘ thinks he was fet on ar'high place in the court, becaufe he o it was certainly adjudged in after-times however among the Fews, that if a man was condemned to die by the Sanhedrim, his goods came to his heirs, but if for treafon againft the king, they ceded to him ‘.

was of an illuftrious birth.

¥.13. And there came in two men, children of Belial, and fat before him, &e.| Which pofition fhewed that they were his accufers, and had a charge againft him; it being ufual for the aecufers and acculed to be fet face to face, as it was the manner of the Romans in after-times, As xxv. 16. Fofephus fays *, there were three men to accufe him; but the Targum, and all the ancient verfions, have only fwo: and the men of Belial witneffed againft him, even againft Naboth, in the prefence of the people; both before the judges of the court, and before all the people that filled it, who came to hear the trial; fo bold and impudent were they: faying, Naboth did bla/pheme God and the king, or blefs, an euphemifm, the phrafe of curfing God being fhocking to the ear, and therefore fuch a word is ufed to exprefs it, fee Fabi. 5. and ii. g. then they carried bins forth cut of the city, without any farther procefs of examining witnefles, and of hearing what the accufed had to fay in his defence; but immediately they carried him out of court, and out of the city, to put him to death, malefactors being executed always without the city: and ftoned him witb ftones that he died; which was the death blafphemers were put to, Lev. xxiv. 14, 23. of the manner of which, fee the note on és vii. 58. it feems from 2 Kings ix. 26. that his fons were {toned with him.

¥. 14. Then they fent to Fexebel, faying, Naboth is ftoned, and is dead. | Not only ftoned, but ftoned to death. This meffage was fent to her from the magiftrates of fezreel; for tho’ the letters came in Abai’s name, they might he privately informed that this was a fcheme of Fezebel’s; befides, they knew the had the fway at court, and efpe-

¥.16. And it came to pals when Abab beard that Naboth was dead, &c.] Of which he was informed by Fezebel: that Abab rofe up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Fezreelite, to take poffefion of its if it was in Fezreel, that was 16 miles from Samaria, and lay lower than that, ina valley, and therefore he is faid to -gq down to it; and which he did very likely in great ftate and pomp, many of his nobles and captains accompanying him, as we read that ‘Yebu and Bidkar did ride after him at this time, 2 Kings ix. 25.

¥.17. And the word of the Lord came to Blijab the prophet, &c.| Where he now was, when this word came to him, is not certain; nor what he had been employed in for fome time paft, fince we hear nothing of him fince the unétion of Elifba, other prophets of leffer note being employed in meffages to dbab from time to time; perhaps Elijah, whiltt Aba was engaged in war with the king of Syria, {pent his time in founding or reviving the fchools of the prophets, and inftruéting and training up thofe that were in them for public ufefulnefs, fince we afterwards hear of them; the word that came to him is, by the Targum, called the word of prophecy, as indeed it was, foretelling the deftruétion of Abad and his houfe: faying; as follows.