tempt it. But the presumptuous wretch found, to his cost, that Joshua's prediction was verified in him, when he saw his eldest son die as soon as he had begun the work, the rest of his children drop off as he continued it, and, last of all, his youngest son taken away when the whole was completed.*

In order to make the abandoned Israelites sensible of the great enormities they daily committed, and how highly offensive their proceedings were to the Divine Majesty, God was pleased to send a message to Ahab by the prophet Elijah,† the purport of which was, that him and his people should be afflicted with a grievous famine (occasioned by the want of rain) which should last for three successive years.

After Elijah had delivered this message to Ahab, and the Divine threat began to take place, he retired, by the direction of God, to the brook Cherith,‡ where he concealed himself for some time, during which he was miraculously supplied with food by ravens, which brought him bread and flesh twice every day, and his drink was the water of the brook, near which he had taken up his residence. At length the water of the brook began to fail, upon which God was pleased to provide for his faithful servant Elijah, by directing him to leave that place, and

* The sentence we see here fulfilled was pronounced about four hundred and forty years before, and is a most striking proof of the Divine Prescience, as well as of the authority of those sacred writings which contain so remarkable a prediction. Hiel was probably a professed idolater; and therefore, either at the instigation of the court, might undertake the rebuilding of Jericho, or in defiance of God, and to let the world see that what was denounced in his name was not of the least significaney; but the event proved the contrary, and he met with that punishment due to his presumption.

†The prophet Elijah, who in the New Testament, is commonly called Elias, was a native of Thezbeh, a town on the other side of the Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, and in the land of Gilead. The scriptures do not make any mention either of the quality of his parents, the manner of his education, or his call to the prophetic office. However, he was certainly one of the chief, if not the prince of the prophets of his age; a man of a great and elevated mind, of a generous and undaunted spirit, a zealous defender of the laws of God, and a just avenger of the violations of his honor.

It is generally agreed that this brook was very near to, and on the west side of, the river Jordan.

go to Zarephath, where he had appointed a widow woman to receive and furnish him with every necessary refreshment.

In obedience to the Divine commands, Elijah set out on his journey for Zarephath, whither the famine had not only spread itself, but likewise over the whole country of Sidon, as well as the land of Israel. When the prophet came near the town he met the widow, to whom he was directed, gathering sticks; upon which he immediately called to her, desiring that she would fetch him a little water that he might quench his thirst. As the woman was going for the water, Elijah requested that she would also bring with her a morsel of bread. She told him that a handful of meal and a little oil was all she had to keep herself and son from starving, and that she was gathering sticks to bake it into a cake. As the Lord thy God liveth, said she, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in, and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. But the prophet encouraged her to do as he requested, assuring her that neither her meal or oil should fail during the time of the famine. She accordingly obeyed the prophet, whose words proved strictly true; for though she and her son, together with Elijah, constantly applied to the barrel of meal and cruse of oil for food, yet they were no sooner diminished than an immediate supply took place. Thus did these three live for the space of two years, near the close of which the woman's son was taken ill and died. This misfortune she attributed to Elijah, saying, O thou man of God, art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? Elijah said to her, Give me thy son; and then carrying the body into a private chamber, he earnestly prayed to God that he would be pleased to restore the child to life. This request being

† Zarephath, or, as it is called in the New Testament, Sarepta, was a town that lay between Tyre and Sidon, but nearest the latter. Mr Maundrell observes, that it is the same which is now called Sarphan, about three hours travel from Sidon, in the way to Tyre. It consists at present only of a few houses on the tops of the mountains; but there is reason to believe that the principal part of the city stood in the plain below, because there are still ruins to be seen there of very considerable extent.

complied with, Elijah delivered the child to its mother, saying, See, thy son liveth; upon which the woman replied, Now by this I know thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.*

After Elijah had lived in this state of obscurity between two and three years, God commanded him to return to the land of Israel, to present himself before Ahab, and inform him that, in a short time, there would rain fall upon the earth. The famine, at this time, raged with the greatest violence throughout Samaria, insomuch that the people were very near being starved to death. The king was so distressed for want of provender for his cattle that he commanded Obadiah, a principal officer of his household, to go over one half of the country in quest of forage for their subsistance, while himself, attended by a proper number of servants, went over the other part on the same errand. Obadiah was the most religious man of all the king's domestics, and a person naturally possessed of the most tender feelings. As an instance of this, the cruel queen Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, had given orders for persecuting all the prophets of the Lord, upon which Obadiah, at the hazard of his own life, concealed one hundred of them in two caves, fifty in each, and in these places constantly supplied them with every article that was nesessary for the preservation of their existence.†

* The woman certainly had sufficient rea son to believe that Elijah was a prophet, or person sent from God, when she saw the miraculous increase of the meal and oil. However, on his not curing her son when he lay sick, but rather suffering him to die, her faith began to droop; whereas, upon seeing him revive, her faith revived with him, and through the joy of having him again restored to her, she accounted this latter miracle much greater than the former.

† Elijah, in his appeal to the people, tells them, I, even I, only remain a prophet of the Lord. 1 Kings, xviii. 22. From this expression we cannot imagine that the hundred prophets, whom Obadiah preserved in the caves, were men actually inspired, and invested with a prophetic character, but such only as were the disciples of the prophets, and candidates for that office. It is not unlikely that, even in Jezebel's time, there were remaining in Israel schools of the prophets, which she endeavored to destroy, as well as those who were bred up in them, that there might none be left to instruct the people in the true religion. These she certainly looked upon as enemies to her idolatry, and might possibly persuade her husband that they were disaffected to his government, and favorers of the kings of Judah,

As Obadiah was on his way in search of provender for his master's cattle, he happened to meet with the prophet Elijah, whom he saluted with the greatest respect. The prophet, knowing who he was, desired him to go immediately and acquaint the king, that he desired to speak with him, for that he had business to communicate to him of the utmost importance. Obadiah at first excused himself, being fearful that Elijah might vanish before he returned, whereby he should incur the indignation of the king, who had taken the greatest pains to find him out without effect: "In what, "said he, have I sinned that thou wouldest deliver thy "servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me? As the Lord "thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom whither

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my lord hath not sent to seek thee; and when they "said, He is not there, he took an oath of the kingdom "and nation that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And it "shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that "the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know "not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot "find thee, he shall slay me: but I thy servant fear the "Lord from my youth. Was it not told my lord, what I did, when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I "hid a hundred men of the Lord's prophets, by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? and now "thou sayest, Go tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: "and he shall slay me."

To remove the fears of Obadiah, Elijah assured him that he would not remove from the place where he was, till he went and brought the king to him. As the Lord of hosts liveth, said he, before whom I stand, I will surely shew myself unto him to-day.

Thus assured, Obadiah went in search of his master, whom he soon found and brought to the place where he had left Elijah, and where, as the prophet had promised, he still remained. At the first interview the king began to upbraid him with being the cause of the calamity under

because they worshipped the same God, and thought that the proper place of his worship was at Jerusalem: and therefore, the greater was the piety and courage of Obadiah, in rescuing so many victims from the hands of this furious and enraged woman.

which the nation had so long labored. But Elijah boldly returned the charge, and having taxed him with the worship of false gods (which was the source of all their woe) he undertook to prove that they were no more than false gods, provided the king would be pleased to summon all the people to meet upon Mount Carmel, and to bring thither the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, together with the four hundred priests of the groves, who were supported at Jezebel's table.

So fair a proposal could not but be accepted by the king, who accordingly issued out orders for the people to attend, and laid a particular charge that they should bring the priests with them. When they were all assembled, Elijah, having first upbraided them for their vile prevarication in mixing the worship of God and the worship of Baal together, made them a proposal to this effect: "Since, "said he, there can be no more than one infinite, supreme, "Almighty, and independent Being, let us, at this time, "make the experiment who this Being is. You, who are "the worshippers of Baal, have all the advantages on 66 your side, the favor and protection of the court, four "hundred and fifty priests of one kind, and four hundred "of another; whereas I, who am the messenger of God's "cause, am but one poor banished man; and yet let two "oxen be brought before us. Let the priests of Baal chuse "their ox, dress it, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the altar, but let there be no fire thereon; and I, in like manner, "will do so to my ox. Let them pray unto their gods, and "I will call on the name of Jehovah; and then let the "God, who (by consuming the sacrifice with a sudden flash "of fire) shall make it appear that he hath heard the 66 prayers, be owned, by this whole assembly, to be the "one, the true, the supreme independent Being."

This mode of determination being approved of by the multitude, Ahab's priests prepared their altar, laid the ox on it, and called on their idol Baal; but no answer being given, they were greatly alarmed, and expressed their surprize by the most uncommon gesticulations, sometimes jumping over the altar, and sometimes dancing round it. In this situation they continued till noon, when no answer being yet given by Baal, the prophet Elijah, to aggravate their perplexities, mocked them saying, Cry aloud; for he