The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-08-31
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR SEPTEMBER d.

Subject: Elijah Epcoupag ged, 1 Kings, xix,
S-1S-Golden Text. Isa. Kill, 1O-Mein.
ory Verses, o, 1O-Comme ntary on the
Days Lesson.
]. Elijah receives instructions from God
Tvs. 9-l4). o. Game thither" He came
TO Horeb, or Sinai. I he relation of the
two names is not clear Horeb was either
"a mountain OF the Sinai range, or the
range of which Sinai is Il moun;pin," :" prob
ably the latter. "A cave" Hebrew, the
cave Stanley says there is nothing tc
affirm or contradict the conjecture that
tins may have been the same spot wnere
Moses stood lEyod. 3322) when Jehovah
passed by. "What dost thou here" The
LORD now gives the prchpet an opportunity
to open his heart and tell his grief 4 ne
question here must have a different force
from that which it bears after the mani
iestatlon OF Gods presence in verse IL
Here It must signify, why art thou cast
| down. What Is thy business herey Why
hast thou lett Israel, to whom | sent thee,
and come to these mountains! No doubi
there was in the words gentle reproof
He who is found out OF pace in Gods pan
must render an account of himself The
inquiry should pursue Others who have
Ned to caves in which they would tain hide
themselves from responsibility a II
comes to the impenitent in the cave of con.
/ NN"iiNi'N Vi blItll Slll' VI II comes to the
penitent in the cave OF despondency. t3l
1T comes to the indoient in the cave OF
| s.oth. (4 1t comes to the sorrowiui III
the cave OF murmurlng. Read this dues.
ton with the emphasis on the different
| words IN succession. What "doest" thou
mere! What doest thou here? Whit
! doest thou "here!"
10. Very jealous jealousy avengnc
! JehoNahs honor by Staying those who have
/ brought idolatry into Israel thus imitat
| ing the zeal CT Phinehas Mum. 25:l-l3J.
| there Is no boastfuness in these words. Eli
| Jan on.y opens his grief and sets forth That
he las done his utmost, but that. in spite
| oi ali, both king and people are still unie
! pentdnt. "Forsaken Thy covenant" The
nrst stage OF apostasy: They lightly esti.
mateu the word OF the Lord Thrown
/ down lhine altars.' The second stage of
apostaSy; desertion from grew into enmity
! 70; the places o. prayer were DESTROYED;
tney We're unwilling to have among them
longer anything that reminded them of
their Lord. Slain Thy prophets Lowest
stage OF apostasy. " hen Il man will not
listen to the trLth, he seeks to remove its
witnesses, either by power OF cunning. Il
! on.y, am left. The same statement in |
hlngs lS:22, but the sense is different
! There Elijah merely said that he a,one re.
manned to execute the prophets Office,
which was true; here he implies that he il
/ the on.y prophet eft alive. whereas a hun.
dred had been saved by OBADIAH, but none
OF them had stood by him at Carmel
and he ooes not count them. He felt hnn.
sell to be alone in an awful deso.ation.
H.. Go forth 1t is not quite clear
whether Elijah went out OF the cave now
or atter the wind and earthquake had
passed ". l3). The account seems to Indi.
cate that at this time he went TO the
mouth OF the cave and looked out. The
LORD passed BY. As He passed by Moses,
to teach Elijah great lesson and send
HIM back to Israel much wiser man.
strong wind. a tornado. Rent" etc.
Literally. Tearing up the mountains and
shiyering the rocks. Earthquake" One
OF the most terrible manifestations of di.
vine power. II. Fire Probably, light.
ming: L myself stood tor hours one night,
in Manitoba, watching most vivid, con.
tlnual and terrible display of lightning.
Natural phenomena are calculated to i'm.
press the mind with Jehovah's power and
indicate the divine resources for the de.
structlon OF His enemies. Was not in"
There was sense in which the Lord was
IN the wind, the earthquake and the fire:
tney were symbols OF His mighty power
But there was a revelation OF the divine
nature which God would not give to
Elijah which these symbols could not con-
vey, and in this sense Jehovah was not in
them. Still small voice "A sound of
gentle stiffness; R. v, margin. We are
not told whether the sound was articu.
late or not, but when Eiijan heard il he un.
derstood that the time had come for him
to present himself before the Lord. and
that some further revocation was about to
be given him.
l3. In his mantle" The skins of beasts
dressed with the hair ON were formerly
worn by prophets and priests as the sim
pie insignia OF their office. He covered his
tAce to snow his h,,.., Ia; l.,
face CExod 500. Went out Elijah
now leaves the cave and listens to the voice
of God. God intended to display Himse {
to mankind, not in judgment, but in
mercy; as the wind, earthquake and fire
were, only the torerunners OF the still
small vol1e, SO the law and all its terrors
were only intended to introduce the Cos.
ge. OF Jesus. '> hat doest thou here -
The Lords question and the prophe 8
answer are repeated. The repetition shows
that Elijah still justfies his course. He
had, indeed, been very Jealous for the
Lord, but he had expected too much from
his triumph at Carmel"
H. Elijah sent ON a special mission Tvs.
5.ls). 10, 10. 'The Lord said" Three
things God gave 10 Elijah in this inter.
view: !. A purpose IN life--some definite
work TO occupy his attention. 2. Compan.
lonship, by having a disciple and success.
sor. B. Assurance that he had not lived
in vain, since seven thousand were still
faithful. Go, return" E!ijahs mission
is not yet ended
II. Shall come to pass" God. assures
Elijah that the Almighty is still ruling ia
Israel and that ido.atry is to be over
thrown. Hazael, Jehu and Elisha are ,c
be the ministers of divine vengeance
against the house of Ahab." shall Elisha
say! These words cannot be explained
literally, for we do not read of any who
were slain by the hand of Elisha, but hi.
voice and his labors for the overthrow o.
false worship were constant, and by tn,
sword OF his mouth he overthrew tn,
foes OF Jehovah Is. Seven thousand.
In the Judgment to come upon the people
all Israel shall not be cut off. There will
be found seven thousand who have nevel
worshiped Baal. Here Elijah learns tina
he is not the only Israelite who remain
true to God As seven is the covenan
number, the number of perfection, th
seven thousand need not be pressed her
to mean an exact designation OF the mum
Der OF true worshipers, but a round nun
ber ever symbolcal of the elect of God
III. The call of Elisha tvs 1921
Elijah went as he was commanded AM
found Elisha plowing in the field. Th
prophet threw his mantle upon Elisha an,
passed on. This was symbolical act o
the part OF Elijah, investing Elisha wit
his own prophetic office. The sign was uI
derstood by Elisha who ohsvsd the call.