The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-08-28
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIs.)

Enter the hairy, desert-markeo
figure of the most interesting man in
the Old Testament. Welcome, Ell
jah, champion of righteousness, fear
less foe of a corrupt king and queen
lonely servant of truth. First of the
long line of prophets of social justice
and national righteousness. who are
only today coming to their own, Eli
jah, son of the wilderness, is a figure
of absorbing interest. The tens OF
millions of members of the Sunday
school will study his life for the next
few weeks, with more than ordinary
attention. His career has messages
for little children, and for strong men
in the thick of public affairs.
The background is attested potn py
the Old Testament record and by the
monuments Ahab, a brilliant states
man, had succeeded his great father,
Omri, on the throne of the northern
kingdom Ahab was ambitious TO
make Israel a world power. He made
notable alliances with Syria on the
east and Phoenicia on the west. AS
part of his diplomacy, he had married
the daughter of the bloody king of
Tyre. and JezebeI herself was bril-
liant, bad woman, a stronger person
atty than her husband Her name is
for wicked womanhood than that of
Cleopatra herself.
Contrasting sharply with the bril-
liant court of Israel, with its import
ed worldlineSs and heather uSages,
is the personality of the great proph-
ct, Elijah, whose character is more
clearly drawn than that of any of
the other Old Testament prophets. He
is q vivid figure Nazarite, vowed
to aceticism, and dwelling in the
wilderness of Gilead, east of the Jor-
dan, EIijah's every gesture and utter
ance spells personality. Clad in skins,
like his post-type, John the Baptist,
and disdaining the polished speech
and manners of the city, he was all
rugged virility, "a man with the bark
on" In that best school of soul
greatness, the wilderness, he had
learned independence and fearlessness,
and a wholesome degree of contempt
for conventionality. The voice of God
had spoken to him, and that emanci-
pated him from sycophancy and SER
Witty. He would never have made a
popular" preacher.
A clash between shrewd, sophis-
ticated, palace-trained JeZebel ard
this voice from the desert was newt
able. Israeb was not big enough to
contain two such personalities in
peace. For they represented utterly
irreconcilable forces: Jezebel stood fer
idolatry. and all it's attendant immor-
a1ity; Elijah stood for stern loyalty
to the one God, who had called the
Hebrews out from among the nations,
to be a peculiar people. The back
ground of all the studies affecting
Elijah which follow is this fundamen-
tai antagonism between the woman
Jezebel and the man Elijah.
The Man Faced a King.
To souls that dwell apart, friends
of the soIitudes and silences, God
speaks His messages. Apartness from
men is often nearness to God. History
is full of such experiences, right down
to our own time. Myriads of present
day Christians are listening to the
spoken and written words of S. d.
Gordon, an apostle of the life hid with
Christ Few of them know that Cor
don was a Young Mems Christian
sociation secretary of the sort who is
called upon chiefly to lead in merry
making and nonsense. Awaking to a
need of spiritual power. he went apart