heart soft and warm feelings glowed, as when he made himself the guest of the poor widow, and by

agonizing prayer brought back her son to life. Such as this must have been intended by God, in His mercy,

as an outlet and precious relief to his feelings, showing him that all his work and mission were not of sorrow

and judgment, but that the joy of Divine comfort was his also. And truly human, full of intense pathos, are

those days of wilderness-journey, and those hours on Mount Horeb, when in deepest sadness of soul the

strong man, who but yesterday had defiantly met Ahab and achieved on Mount Carmel such triumph as

none other, bent and was shaken, like the reed in the storm. A life this full of contrasts - of fierce light and

deep shadows - not a happy, joyous, prosperous life; not one even streaked with peace or gladness, but

wholly devoted to God, a bush on the wilderness-mount, burning yet not consumed. A life full of the

miraculous it is and must be, from the character of his mission - and yet himself one of the greatest wonders

in it, and the success of his mission the best attestation of, because the greatest of the miracles of his

history. For, alone and unaided, save of God, he did conquer in the contest and he did break the power of

Baal in Israel.

His first appearance, alike in the manner and suddenness of it was emblematic of all that was to follow. Of

his birth and early circumstances, we know next to nothing. Josephus assumes (Ant. 8. 13, 2) that the

Tishbah which gave him his name (1 Kings 17:1) lay on the eastern side of Jordan, in the land of Gilead; and

some modern writers have found the name in the village of Tiseth, to the south of Busrah. But this view h as

been shown (by Keil) to be untenable. Even more fanciful is the suggestion, that the Hebrew expression

means that he was "a stranger among the strangers of Gilead" - possibly a Gentile by birth. Most likelihood

attaches to the generally received view, that his birthplace was the Tishbi in Upper Galilee (within the

territory of Naphtali), known to us from apocryphal story (Tobit 1, 2, LXX) - and that, for some

unascertained reason, he had migrated into Gilead, without, however, becoming one of its citizens. This the

sacred text conveys by the expression, "Elijah the Tishbite from among the dwellers (strangers dwelling) in

Gilead." Another inference as to his character may be drawn from his name Elijah: My God Jehovah! though

it is scarcely necessary to say that he did not assume it himself.289

With the same, or perhaps with even more startling unexpectedness and strangeness than that which

characterized the appearance of John the Baptist - and with precisely the same object in it - Elijah suddenly

presented himself in Samaria and before Ahab. It was, and intended to be - to adapt the figure of the Son of

Sirach (Ecclesiasticus 48:1) like a fire that kindled suddenly, like a torch that blazed up in the still darkness of

the night. There was, indeed, sufficient here to rouse the dullest mind. We can imagine the stern figure of

the Tishbite, arrayed in an upper garment of black camel's hair 290 - which henceforth seems to have become

the distinctive garb of the prophets (Zechariah 13:4) - girt about his loins with a leathern girdle.

The dress betokened poverty, renunciation of the world, mourning, almost stern judgment, while the girdle,

which, as the badge of office, was always the richest part of the dress, was such as only the poorest of the

land wore. It was an unwonted sight, and, as he made his way up through the terraced streets of rich

luxurious Samaria, its inhabitants would whisper with awe that this was a new prophet come from the wilds

of Gilead, and follow him. What a contrast betwe en those Baal-debauched Samaritans and this man; what a

greater contrast still between the effeminate decrepit priests of Baal, in their white linen garments and high-

pointed bonnets,291 and this stern prophet of Jehovah!

And now he had reached the height where palace and castle stand, and met Ahab himself, perhaps at the

magnificent entrance to that splendid colonnade which overlooked such a scene of beauty and fertility. His

message to the king was abrupt and curt, as became the circumstances 292 - after all, only a repetition of

Jehovah's denunciation of judgment upon an apostate people (Leviticus 26:19, etc.; Deuteronomy, 11:16,

etc.; 28:23, etc.; comp. 1 Kings 8:35; Amos 4:7); but with this addition, that the cessation of dew and rain

should last these years - whether many or few - "except" by his word.

This la tter perhaps was intended to emphasize the impotence of Ahab's prophets and priests as against

Jehovah. It was all most startling, the sudden, strange, wild apparition; the bold confronting of king and

people there in Samaria; the announcement apparently so incredible in itself, and in such contrast to the