The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-08-24
WHEN WOMAN AND
MAN WARRED.
n international Sunday School Les
son for August % is Gods Care Of
Tlijah.'-l Kings 17:1-16.
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS.

ure of the most interesting man in
the old Testament. Welcome, Eli /
JAN. 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 d figure
uf absorbing interest. The tens Of
millions of members Of the Sunday
school will study his life for the next
few weeks, with more han ordinary
attention. His career has messages
for little children, and for strong men
Iu the thick of public affairs.
The background is attested both by
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 Jezebel herself was a bril-
liant. bad woman, "a stronger person
ality than her husband. Her name is
today more widely used Us Il synonym
for wicked w~omanhood than that of
tlropatra herself.
contrasting sharply with the bril-
Ian court of Israel, with its import
ed worldliness and heather usages,
Is the personality of the great prophet,
Elijah. whose character is more clear
~ drawn than that of any of the other
old Testament prophets. He is a
vivid figure. n NaZarite, vowed to
aCetiCiSm. and dwelling in the wilder
ness of Gilead, east of the Jordan,
Elijah's every gesture and utterance
spells personality. Cla in skins, like
- ,@at a@ Lib Tho nnti a~l
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 s~oul-greatness,
the Wilderness. he had learned indie
pendence and fearlessness, and a
wholesome degree of contempt fO1
conventiOnality The voice of God
had spoken to him: and that enamel
pated him from sycophancy and ser.
Witty. He would never have made q
popular preacher.
a clash between shrewd, sophisti'
Gated, palace-trained Jezebel and thi:
voice from the desert was inevitable
Israel was not big enough to contain
two sue potentialities in peace. Fol
they represented utterly i~rreconcilabl'
forces: JeZebel stood for idOlatry
and all it's immortality; Eli
jah stood for stern loyalty to the on
God, who had called the Hebrews Oh
from among the nations, to be a pecu
liar people. The background Of al
the studies affecting Elijah which fol
low is this fundamental antagonist
between the woman Jezebel and tn
man Elijah.
The Man Who Faced A King. .
To souls that dwell apart, friend
of the SOlitudeS and SilenceS, Co
speaks His messages. Apartness from
men is often nearneSs to God. His
tory is full of such experiences, RICH
down to our own time. Myriads O
~present-day Christians are listening t
the spoken and written words OF 5. L
Gordon, an apostle of the life hid wit
Christ. Few Of them know that Cor
don was a Young Mems Christi II AS
sociation secretary of the sort VIII
is called upon chiefly to lead in merry
making and nonsense. TO
need of spiritual power, he went apal
for two years. and returned, trans
formed, the messenger OF mySt1clSl
whom five continents know.
For many a wild, in many a lane
and many a peak sublime,
Can tell how solitude with God breed
souls that Onquer time.
out of such a wilderness school
perhaps the very Wilderness ca
Of Galilee, to which Jesus Himse
retired eight hundred years later
Elijah came to arralSn the CORFU
ton of the Court of Israel. We haN
NJ record Of the full interview.
mus have been sizzling. With wore
that punctured pride and purple stat
this in~congruouS figure wearing {
animals skin for a robe, portray
10 the arrogant king how little n
treaties and trade and alliances al
glory amounted to, lonSSlde OF u
fact that he had been recreant to }
huvah. and to Israel's distinctive MI
sion. Thank Goo that in every TIT
God sends a voice to call men back
rt;ht paths.
Royal thunderboltS were hurled
the shaggy locks of the TiShbite. b
todS man has mightier weapons TN;
amy earthly king; and Elijah declar
to the enraeed and impenitent All
Lull LIll MnLll SAnl cAuDh mi nDl