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Class-Book of Old Testament History

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<hr class="sect_35" /> <h3> CHAPTER <abbr>IV.</abbr> WARS OF JEHOSHAPHAT—TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH. <abbr title="Second">2</abbr> Kings <abbr title="chapters 1, 2">i. ii.</abbr>   <abbr title="Second Chronicles">2 Chr.</abbr> <abbr title="chapters 19, 20">xix. xx.</abbr>   B.C. 896.</h3> ON his return from a campaign, in which he had so nearly lost his life, Jehoshaphat was sternly rebuked by one of the prophets (<abbr title="Second Chronicles">2 Chr.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 19">xix.</abbr> 2) for the guilty alliance he had formed with the court of Israel, and he resolved henceforth to devote himself to the spiritual and temporal welfare of his own subjects. Accordingly he went on a second personal tour through his dominions from Beer-sheba to Mount Ephraim, and strove to reclaim his people to the worship of Jehovah. He also provided for the better administration of justice; placed judges in all the fenced cities, and remodelled the tribunals in his capital. He next turned his attention to foreign commerce, and at Ezion-geber constructed a fleet for the purpose of trading in gold with Ophir. In this project he was aided by Ahaziah, who had succeeded Ahab on the throne of Israel. But the unfortunate issue of the enterprise determined him to decline the proposal of his ally, that the attempt should be renewed (<abbr title="Second Chronicles">2 Chr.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 20">xx.</abbr> 37; <abbr title="First Kings">1 K.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 22">xxii.</abbr> 49, 50). The remainder of his reign was not, however, destined to be peaceful. A vast host of the people of Moab, Ammon, and Edom invaded his territory, and encamped at Hazazon-tamar or En-gedi375. In his alarm, Jehoshaphat proclaimed a solemn fast throughout his kingdom, assembled all Judah together with their wives and their children, and offered up a pathetic petition for the Divine aid. He had hardly concluded, when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel a Levite, and one of the sons of Asaph then in attendance at the Temple, commissioning him to assure the pious king of a victory on the morrow, which he would only need to stand still and see. A Psalm of thanksgiving376 was straightway sung, and on the morrow the army, preceded by choirs of Levites, left the Holy City, and at about 12 hours’ distance from Jerusalem came to “the uneven table-land” of Tekoa, Tekûa, abounding in hidden caverns, clefts, and excavations377, where David and his men had often hidden during the period of his wanderings. It was not a locality adapted to the “sons of the desert,” and the ambushments, for which it afforded so much opportunity, sadly galled their wild hordes, and the children of Ammon and Moab turned their swords against their allies from Mount Seir, and then fell upon one another. On reaching the Watch-tower of Tekoa the warriors of Judah beheld only a mass of dead bodies, and busied themselves for three days in stripping them of their rich ornaments, and gathering up the riches and jewels they had flung away in their hasty flight. Four days afterwards a Psalm of thanksgiving once more ascended to Jehovah from the valley of Berachah (blessing)378, and the army of Jehoshaphat returned in triumph to Jerusalem (<abbr title="Second Chronicles">2 Chr.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 20">xx.</abbr> 26<abbr title="through">–</abbr>28). Meanwhile Ahaziah, during his short and troubled reign over Israel, began to feel the effects of the late disastrous campaign against Ramoth-Gilead. The Syrians, now masters of the country East of the Jordan, cut off all communication between his realm and his vassal the king of Moab. The latter, therefore, rebelled against Israel, and refused to send his yearly tribute of 100,000 lambs, and 100,000 rams (<abbr title="Second Kings">2 K.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 3">iii.</abbr> 4). Before he could take measures for punishing this revolt, Ahaziah fell through a lattice in his palace at Samaria, and sustained much injury. A devotee to the Phœnician idolatries of his mother, he sent messengers to the Philistine city of Ekron to enquire of the oracle of Baal-Zebub (the lord of flies), whether he should recover. On their road thither the messengers encountered Elijah, who, after reproaching them for consulting a heathen deity instead of Jehovah, announced that their master would never leave his bed alive. Returning, they informed Ahaziah of this occurrence, who enquired what kind of man they had met. Their answer was decisive. In the hairy man, girt with a girdle of leather about his loins, the king recognised all too clearly his father’s enemy, and, ill as he was, this only served to kindle his wrath. Dispatching a captain with 50 men to the recesses of Carmel, where the prophet seems to have taken up his abode, he demanded his instant surrender. The soldier went and found Elijah seated on the mountain. Man of God, said he, the king hath said, Come down. If I be a man of God, replied the other, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty men. With the word the fire descended, and consumed the captain and his fifty. A similar force was then a second time dispatched by the king, and they too met the same fate379. A third captain, in an altered tone, implored the prophet to come down, and Elijah, assured by God of safety, descended and followed him into the presence of the king, and announced in person his approaching end; shortly after which Ahaziah died, and was succeeded by his brother Jehoram (<abbr title="Second Kings">2 K.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 1">i.</abbr> 2<abbr title="through">–</abbr>17). This was the last time Elijah confronted any of the family of Ahab. Once only is he recorded to have expostulated with any of the house of Judah. Hearing that the son of Jehoshaphat, who seems to have been entrusted with a portion of the regal power during his father’s lifetime, was not walking in his father’s ways, but in those of Ahab and the kings of Israel, he sent a letter to him, denounced his idolatries, and threatened him with sore judgments (<abbr title="Second Chronicles">2 Chr.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 21">xxi.</abbr> 12<abbr title="through">–</abbr>15). Shortly afterwards, though how soon is not certain, he received intimation of his approaching removal from the earth. From Gilgal, probably somewhere on the western edge of the hills of Ephraim, accompanied by Elisha, whom he had vainly tried to persuade to remain behind, he proceeded to Bethel. There the two were met by certain of the sons of the prophets, who also had been warned of what was at hand, and now enquired of Elisha if he knew of the loss he was about to sustain. Elisha replied that he did, but bade them hold their peace. Having again vainly tried to induce his faithful attendant to remain at Bethel, the prophet repaired to Jericho, where another company from the prophetic school warned his companion, and were similarly enjoined to keep silence. From Jericho the two then held on their way towards the Jordan, while 50 of the sons of the prophets ascended the abrupt heights behind the city380, which command a view of the plain below, to watch what would occur. Arrived at the river’s brink, Elijah took off his prophetic mantle, and, wrapping it together, smote the waters, which divided “hither and thither,” and the two went over on dry ground. Once on the other side, the prophet was within the borders of his native land, and he now enquired of his companion, what he should do for him before he was taken away. The other asked for a double portion of his spirit. He had asked a hard thing; but still if he looked steadfastly on his master while he was taken from him, he was told that his request should be granted, but not otherwise. Still conversing the two then walked on, till suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire parted them asunder, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. With a great and bitter cry Elisha called after him as he ascended, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof! But he was gone, and he saw him no more. In token of grief he thereupon rent his clothes, and taking up the mantle of his master went back, and once more stood by the banks of Jordan. Then wrapping the mantle, even as he had seen the other do, he smote, saying, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? and the waters again parted “hither and thither,” and he went over. Meanwhile the sons of the prophets, who had stood watching, saw him coming towards Jericho, and going down to meet him, bowed themselves to the ground before him. Contrary to his advice they then insisted on sending fifty “strong men” to search for Elijah, lest peradventure the Spirit of the Lord had taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. For three days the search was continued, but they found him not. The work of the most wonderful character Israel ever produced was over, and he had been summoned to another world (<abbr title="Second Kings">2 K.</abbr> <abbr title="chapter 2">ii.</abbr> 11<abbr title="through">–</abbr>18). <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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