Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-07
GOLDEN TEXT: "But seek We
first His kingdom and His righteous
ness, and all these things shall be
added unto YOU" Matt. 6.33.

uCSSs anu ill tIICSC UC
added unto YOU" Matt. 6.33.
One of the significant things
about the period of the disruption
is the rise Of the prophetic order.
AS kings and people turned away
from God, He raised up men from
time to time to speak for Him, men
who were loyal to Him. in spite of
their environment, and who, because
they were conscious of His pres
ence, were fearless in denouncing
sin, in high places or low. Jonah
was the first Of these whose pro-
phecies have been reduced to writ
ing; i. e. in the shape of a book. Be-
fore him, however, were several 9th
ers, the most prominent Of whom
were Elijah and Elisha. Our les,
sons for the next two months will
be concerned with these two inter
esting Old Testament characters.
Ahab
The kingdom of Israel went from
bad to worse. Jeroboan1, the son of
Nebat, made Israel to sin by intro
ducing the worship of God by means
of visible images, and at places and
times and by priests of his own
CIlOOSlLS./ ne 1IoIII d WOllNlCI1ul w
portunity, but lost it. His son, No
dab, was killed in the second year
of his reign, and a new dynasty was
established by Boasha. But Boasha
was no better; and after several
years he was succeeded by his son,
Elah, who was killed in a drunken
stupor by Zimri, the captain over
half Of his army. Zimri's dynasty
L. NxyoC
killed by Omri, who was captain
over all of Elahs army. He and
Tibui were rival kings for a short
while, then Omri succeeded in es-
tablishing his sole right. Omri, like
all Of the other kings of Israel,
walked in the ways of Jeroboam,
to sin, but the inspired record is
that Omri went further than any
other king before him, and was
worse than any of his predecessors.
1t is not surprising, therefore to
learn that his son, Ahab, became
one of the most wicked kings Israel
knew. Ahab was a man of shreWd
political wisdom, but without spiri-
tual insight. He established alliances
with the surrounding nations; he
even made peace with the southern
kingdom of Judah. He strengthened
his kingdom politically and CONNER
cially. He built cities and fortified
them. Solomon had built an ivory
throne, but he built an ivory pal
ace. The kings of Judah had been
polygamists, but the kings Of Israel
apparently had not been until Ohab's
time. He established a harem, and
there were born to him seventy
sons. His greatest sin was in mar
rying Zezebel, the daughter of Eth
haal, the king of Phoenicia. Ethbaal
had been the high priest Of Astarte
and had usurped the kingdom of
Phoenicia. 1t is likely that one of
the stipulations of the alliance that
he and Ahab formed in the giving of
his daughter to Ahab was that the
worship of Baal should be introduced
into Israel.
All of Ahab's other sins were con-
sidered of no moment in comparison
with this. one--his taking Jezebel to
Wife-because marriage with for
eigners had been strictly forbidden
by God, for the purpose of prevent
ing entangling religious alliances.
Ahab, as has been stated, was very
astute in politics and business, but
seems to have been utterly lacking
in spiritual vision. Such men are
not unknown today. He had
certain amount of "religion"-he
names his children after Jehovah,
not after Baal. But it did not occur
to him that to erect a temple to Baal
in Samaria, in front of which stood
two enormous phalli as a constant
insult to those who hated impurity
and idolatry, and to encourage the
youth of Israel to degrade them
selves with the lowest forms of SEN
suousness under the guise of wor-
ship, was anything out of the way
or inconsistent with the place which
Israel had as Jehovah's people.
While Ahab was a strong character
in many ways, his marriage with
Jezebel brought havoc upon Israel
because Jezebel was a great deal
more vigorous than he.
JezebeI
She had inherited much of her
fathers zeal for the worship Of
Baal. She had no use for the wor-
ship of Jehovah, and she set about
to wipe that out of existence and
substitute in it's place the religion
of Phoenicia. After she had gotten
the temple to Baal at Samaria, she
instituted a great order Of priests
and priestesses. Eight hundred and
fifty of these were fed from her
royal bounty. They were clothed in
magnificent vestimentS for the Wor-
ship. She went further and had
all of the affairs Of Jehovah torn
down and ordered all of Jehovah s
priests to be slain. One hundred Of
them escaped and hid in the caves
of the mountain Businesses. These
would have died during the famine
but for the faithfulness Of them OF
one of Ahab's high officers who Sc
cretly provided them with bread
and water for a long time. How
merciless and relentless this cruel
heather wife was will appear as we
study the incidents fNthe next few
weeks.
Under Ahab and Jczebel Israel had
reached the lowest ebb spiritually
that it had known since JerobOan,
the son of Nebat, drew them away
from the spiritual worship of the
One and Only God. But God had not
forgotten His people. He has sole
in the nation whose hearts have
been made sore by the growth of i'm
purity and consciousness under the
guise of worship. For several years
He has been preparing someone to
represent Him and to bring His
claims before the people. Over
across the river Jordan in the pas.
ture lands of Gilead there had