NABOTH STONED TO DEATH. 131 Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee. And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased. But Jezebel his wife said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?' Ahab then gave her an account of his desire, and its disappointment through the determined refusal of Naboth. Jezebel reminded him that he was a monarch, advised him to banish his melancholy, and refresh himself; adding that she would soon give him his heart's wish. She therefore procured false witnesses, who declared that Naboth had blasphemed both God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.'-1 KINGS xxi. (HIS king was the son of Ahab, who succeeded him THIS in his kingdom, and followed him in his wicked ways. When he was sick, instead of entreating mercy of the Lord, or inquiring of Him, he sent persons to ask of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, whether he should recover of his malady or not. When Elijah reproved him for this impiety, Ahaziah sent three captains, each with fifty men, to make Elijah their prisoner. But the man of God was not to be delivered into their hands on the contrary, they became the victims of their own and their monarch's temerity. When the captain of fifty desired Elijah to come down from his seat on the hill, the prophet replied, 'If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.'-2 KINGS i. T ELIJAH TAKEN TO HEAVEN. (HIS eminent man of God, having executed with constant fidelity the divine mission of which he was the special ambassador, was spared alike the pains of death and the humiliation of dissolution in the grave. 'And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. And Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.'-2 KINGS ii. FTER the translation of his master to heaven, Elisha wrought many miracles, the first of which was, the parting of the waters of Jordan, as Elijah had done, by smiting them with his mantle. His next miracle was the healing the unwholesome waters of Jericho, which transaction is thus related: 'And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of the city is pleasant, as my lord seeth; but the water is naught, and the ground barren. And he said, Bring me a new and they brought it to him. cruse, and put salt therein And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day.'-2 KINGS ii. HE next incident in the history of Elisha is especially T instructive to young persons; and warns them that, if they make sport of holy things or holy men, their tender age will not exempt them from condemnation, nor from the swift judgment of God, if they provoke His wrath, as did those mentioned in the text. , And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord: and there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.' Dr. Watts has thus noticed the event in his 'Divine Songs for Children :' |