Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-10-01
ELIJAH, CONFRONTS|
GREAT KING AHAB|
King Was Just as Covetous as
Pampered Palace Occu-
pants of Today
A CRIME AND A PREACHER
International Sunday School
Lesson For Oct. 3 Is Elijah
in Naboth's Vineyard"
(By William 7. Ellis.)


Any preacher who points out the
particular sins of the powerful peo-
pie of his own community is pretty
likely to be told to stick to the sim
pie Gospel" Yet the simple Cos
pei" has always been a social Gospel,
and a Gospel of justice. whether
preached by Paul, Peter. Jesus, John
the Baptist or the old Hebrew proph-
cts.
To-day's lesson shows us our old
friend Elijah again confronting
wicked King Ahab, with Queen Jeze~
bel in the background making mis-
chief. This time the incident is one
of social justice, when a common
man was wronged by the mighty
king - and had Gods doom pro-
nounced upon him for 1t. The time
illness OF the message leads us to re-
mark that if the preacher of religion
will only stick to the Bible he can
find the most pertinent truth for our
own times. This Book is book of
God. and so a book of justice and
righteousness. There is no shelter
behind it for the rich and powerful
defrauder of the people.
A Woman's Plot ard Crime
A few words suffice to tell the story
itself Like the most modern OF
landowners, King Ahab coveted an
adjoining field. This belonged to
Naboth and was his family inheri-
tance. BY the law of Moses he was
not permitted to let it so out of his
family. So he refused to sell, and the
peeved king threw himself down on
his ivory couch and sulked like a
small boy who has been denied
sweetmeats.
Jezebel. the heather wife who
ruined Ahab's career, took matters
in her own hand and conspired with
officials to arrest and condemn Ma
both on the charges of treason and
sacrilege. Thus, after the most ap-
proved of modern high h-handed meth
ods, big business" wiped out the
small competitor who would not sell
out, and Ahab got his field. But he
never enjoyed it, for along came Eli
jah with a clean-cut word as to what
the Ultimate Judge had to say about
that sort of thing. There is no cure
for the ills of the social and CONNER
cial order like the fear of God.
An Old Picture of Human Nature
This page out of the court life of
more than twenty-five centuries ago
reads like the secret memoirs of court
life. It is vivid and revealing. We
see behind the curtain, and find the
Great King Ando Just ds SoNetCus
and lust as petty and just as sulky
as a pampered palace figure to-day.
Human nature is human nature, and
kings and queens of old did not diff
fer greatly from men and women IN
our own land and time. The man
sulkily accepting decision which
he knew to be Just, and the woman
unscrupulously encompassing the end
sought by her husband through foul
means, might be a contemporary por-
trait.
The rights of the case are clear.
There is such thing as the sacred
ness Of property. That principle
pies and courts have regarded 1t.
Formerly, property rights were
deemed superior to human rights.
Happily, we see more clearly now;
the supreme social struggle of the
past one hundred years has been TO
establish the supremacy of human
rights. Some archaic minds have
not vet learned the relative value of
the two. although the Bible teach
ing is clear.
One danger. in our new social
mood, is that we shall despise prop
erty rights. These have a sanctity
that the demagogue does not often
see. One high purpose of govern
ment is to protect people in the pos
session of their just property rights,
while at the same time conserving
the welfare of the community.
When the King Sulked
Elijah and Naboth are the only
two creditable figures in this story.
Ahab acted like a spoiled boy, and
not like a king. He sulked in his
palace, and made all about him mis-
cradle by his selfishness. The pic
ture OF this royal crybaby on an ivory
fC q nrPttV \
Jezebel, she played the tigress part.
A woman without a code will go to
even greater lengths than a man.
Her plot, in which the grating off,
cials had a part, was the same sort
of misuse of the courts of Justice as
of 'Naboth was sworn away in the
same fashion as was the life of Je-
sus. and on the same charges.
The covetousness of Ahab, the
ruthlessness of Jezebel, the cowardly
completely of custodians of justice,
that provoked the wrath of the Most
High himself.
Frederick the Great and the Miller
1 we'll remember the old mill that
stands by the palace of Frederick the
Great at Potsdam, and the story con-
nected with it, which Carlyle tells:
Annoyed by this inconvenience to
his favorite residence, the king sent
TO inquire the price for which the
mill would be sold by the owner
For no price, was the reply of
the sturdy Prussian; and in a mo-
ment of anger, Frederick gave or
ders that the mill should be pulled
down.
" The king may do this said the
miller, quietly folding his arms, but
there are laws in Prussia and
forthwith he commenced proceed |
ings against the monarch, the result
of which was that the court sem
fenced Frederick to rebuild the mill |
and to pay besides a large sum of
money as compensation for the in
Jury he had done.
The king was mortified. but had |
the magnanimity to say, addressing |
t,i i'm eaIF IN his coTrtiere ct am ola Il |