Evening journal., 1911-01-21
0LDTE$TAMENTT TInES
NjGBRWKLYN j
f1lABER.N',ACLE !,
BIBLE. STUDIES.
INIQUITOUS GOVERNMENT Sue
CESSFUL.
Kings 1g:23-33-.Ianuary %.


righteousness exalteth nation
but sin Is a reproach to any people. -
Prov. l4;34
The Omri dynasty of Israel was a
successful one according TO worldly
standards. but failure from the Dl-
vine standpoint. Omri, a great general,
succeeded TO lsrael's throne after the
death OF Jeroboam. He was very sue
cessful and conquered the MOahites, to
the East of the Jordan. putting them
under an annual tribute of the fleece
of two hundred thousand sheep. He
built a new Capital. the city Of Sa-
maria, and successfully outranked
JerOboam as misleader OF his people,
along religious lines. According TO
Israels Covenant with the Almighty
there was but the one Levitical priest
hood and the one holy temple of Je-
hovahs presence for the whole people
of Israel and il was at Jerusalem. As
worldly wisdom guided JerObOam to
completely separate the ten tribes
from the two tribes by establishing
new places OF worship and simplifying
the worship and symbolizing God by a
golden calf. so the same spirit of
worldly wisdom suggested to Omri a
still further departure from God and a
still closer approach TO the customs
and idolatry of surrounding nations.
Omri died, or, according to the rec
ords. "Omri slept with his father.
We are not from this declaration to
draw the inference that as a wicked
man he went to eternal torment and
that the nature of the torment Is sleep.
Neither are we TO think OF Omri as
sanity and going TO heaven and TO inn
agine that those i'm heaven are asleep
Neither are we TO think of him as haN-
ing gone TO purgatOry and that the eX-
periences there are drOwsy. We must
leave all such unscriptural notions re-
specting the dead, good and bad. We
must come back TO the Bible and from
il learn that all who die, like ST
Stephen (Acts 1860, fall asleep "a
await the morning Of the resurrection
when the Redeemer will call all forth
from the tomb John 5:2S, %, Rev
Ner)
Ahab and Jezebel.
Ahabs name signifies. Like his ia.
ther." And surely he wasl His name
was appropriate His was "a reign still
more successful in unrighteOusness
For twenty-five years he devoted him
self to the further undermining Of true
religion and to the introduction of the
worst forms of licentiOus heather
idolatry. lie was greatly assisted in
this course by his wife-Jezebel, tn,
/ daughter of the King of the Sidonians
Her name signifies chaste; yet she
used her great influence with her nus
I band and throughout the nation for tn
/ furtherance OF unchastity in connec
/ tion with the orgies known as the re
I ligious rites and ceremonies. connected
| with the worship of Baal and of Ash
! toreth," the female divinity worship
/ ped.
Lessons Here For Us.
All civilized people are deeply inter
ested in earthly governments and thei
success. We all crave social and hnan
cial prosperity. Nevertheless IL is stl
true that prosperity is injurious Il
i proportion as it separates the peopl
1 from the Divine arrangements and IN
I blessings which thereto attach. Onl
righteousness. can truly exalt natior
4 Every form of iniquity is injuriou:
however IL nay at the time seem con
trary 10 this. Ours is the day OF IN
greatest worldly prosperity this cart
has ever known. But alas! It Is not
Z day of religious prosperity On IN
contrary, there never was time whe
! unbelief in a personal God and in th
, Bible as his revelation was so genera
amongst intelligent people. Gu
church edifces are becoming temple
! OF fashion, concert and lecture hall
. while the real worship which alone
pleasing to the Almighty is far r.
l moved.
The worship OF Mammon, the bowin
to the golden calf, the sacrificing
lives to the requirement of wealth, b'
long to our day as truly as to that
, Ahab-but on a more refined scale an
! therefore the more deceptive and ins
diOus. ..--.~
Continually we find that God use
/, the wrath of men to praise Him. TT
effect of the prosperity OF Ahab an
Jezebel was two-fold; il ensnared an
degraded one class, while il arouse
o aud separated from itself anoth
(. class-thOse who worshipped God
IL spirit aud in truth. Such left the &c