The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-07-23
1 Kings XIX: lilo.

for his servant and did not forsake him,
but sent an angel to minister TO him (Heb.
|, 1D. Reused by touch he heard
voice saying, Arise end eat" 1t gcner-
ally occurs that physical strength is
prerequisite to any great mental or spr-
itual understanding If the body breaks
down what can a man do? The interests
of religion require that Elijah should be
fed. Near at hand was IL cake and a
cruise of water, a table spread In will
derness for the hungry. He ate and was
satisfied. Again he laid down to sleep.
How long he rested matters not Verse
y. 1t was a beautiful illustration of the
experimenting care of the Almighty
psalm xci, IL. Let those who will spec
ulate on this miraculous interposition.
The pious heart in every age has had
equivalent experiences.
JoURNEY.-Physlcal strength has been
regained, partly by food. partly by sleep,
and Elijah was prepared to undertake a
great enterprise, one that would tax him
to the utmost. Leaving the juniper tree
he plunged into the wilderness south
ward, into that same tracn,ess waste
where under the leadership Of Moses Is
| rael wandered (verse s.. For forty days
and forty nights Elijah journeyed over
the ground trodden by the great host of
his forefathers Numb xiv. 33). The time
consumed was equal to that OF Moses on
the mount (IIx. xxxiv, 2S), and of Jesus
in the wilderness Matt. iv, p. That word
forty was significant and needs to be
studied (Gen. XIV, 20). At last he reached
Horeb the mount of God, the place where
God had manifested himself to the great
law-giver. ther fugitive from Egypt
! (EX. iii, 1-2), four hundred years before.
| This long journey was accomplished with
| out food. A perpetual fast had been OBJ
| served, nay enforced as the passage led
| g..i.. ~.
! madic tribes. on reaching his destina-
ton Elijah found a cave into which lie
| entered, making 1t his lodging place,
while by day doubtless he wandered
through the mountains with is own soul
in the deep solitudes (verse 81.
PROFESSIONALISM has prompted
these movements of this great and good
man? Why has he come into the Sinaitic
peninsula, to the place where the law
| was delivered? Fortunately we are not
| left in ignorance. We may learn from
| his own lips. We read (verse - that the
| word of the Lord came to him. 1t was
not an angel, as before, but probably the
| same word that came to the prophets
| (Jer. /, ~ possibly the word that was
| afterward incarnate John |, ia. AT any
| rate voice questioned, whether audible
| or interior matters not, What doest
thou here?' The question might have
| had several purposes. The prophet evil
IDENTIFY understood that the Lord inquired
! after his motive, not merely concerning
his acts which he proposed, and in reply
he made a plain profession of his loyalty
to the cause of God (verse 1O). He had
been jealous for the covenant, but the
prophets had been slain and his life was
| in jeopardy, although he alone was left.
| At first one might understand these
words as bres thing complaint or desponi-
! ency. That would be a serious mistake.
The hours Of depresson< were under the
| juniper tree. Elijah is in Horeb in the
hope of learning what the Lord will have
| him do. He has come to this ancient
d, seat of Divine glory and revelation, re-
| moved from the strifes of men, that he
may get "A message in this time of ex-
| treme need.
| NISION.-And he did not come in vain
No one under any dispensation or cir
| Cumstance ever sought light or guidance
| from heaven without finding 1t tMat
vii, 7-O. But before the specific and nec-
| essary instruction was impaired, dis
closures of the Divine presence and glory