return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.

Micaiah's parable. Ahab's death. 19 And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.

20 And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. 21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. 22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also go forth, and do so.

23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

24 But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?

25 And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.

26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;

27 And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.

28 And Micaiah said, If thou

29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.

30 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.

31 But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.

32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out.

And

33 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him.

34 And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. 35 And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.

36 And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and

every man to his own country.
37 So the king died, and was
brought to Samaria; and they
buried the king in Samaria.
38 And one washed the chariot
in the pool of Samaria; and the
dogs licked up his blood; and
they washed his armour; accord-
ing unto the word of the LORD
which he spake.

39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

40 So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

LECTURE 594.

That no disguise can avail before God.

Micaiah had foreshewn by one parable the disastrous end of Ahab's projected expedition. By another parable he now exposes the deceitful practices of Ahab's prophets, and the source from which their deceitfulness was derived. It was by the agency of a spirit, acting the part of a lying spirit, and commissioned so to do by the righteous Judge of all the earth; who not only uses the wickedness of evil men to chastise each other, but also employs spirits, whether good or evil, whether of the host of heaven, or of the legions of hell, to draw on the reprobate to their own perdition. Are we surprised, that after hearing this awful account, Chenaanah, a false prophet, could venture to smite and mock Micaiah? Are we astonished to find Ahab was so little touched, as that he could throw Micaiah into prison, to be kept till his expected return in peace? Let us rather be astonished at ourselves, that we think so seldom of the world of spirits with which we are surrounded; that we are so little alarmed by an account like this, as to go on, after hearing it, just as usual, regardless of the dreadful risk we run, unless we watch, of "giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." 1 Tim. 4. 1.

It was perhaps his eagerness to avail himself of Jehoshaphat's assistance, and his confidence in the value of this help, that determined Ahab to brave the threatened danger. And as if the more surely to escape it, he determined to go into the battle in disguise; whilst the king of Judah went forth in his robes. But what disguise can avail against God? The robes may be put off, but the king cannot be concealed from God. The arrow may be drawn at a venture, but God can point it to the joints of Ahab's harness, to inflict a mortal wound; a wound that shall continue bleeding until evening, into the midst of the king's chariot, so as for the word of the Lord to be more abundantly fulfilled. Let the self deceiving sinner tremble. Let the sinner that would hide himself from God be aware, that with God no concealment can avail. The darkness is no darkness with Him. And the arrow of his vengeance is to be stayed, not by disguise, but by confession, and repentance; not by leaguing with man, but by trusting in Christ.

Jehoshaphat, and his son Jehoram; and Ahaziah son of Ahab. 41 And Jehoshaphat the son of Edom: a deputy was king. Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.

42 Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places. 44 And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he shewed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

46 And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.

48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber. 49 Then said Ahaziah the son of Ahab unto Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat

would not.

50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoram his son reigned in his stead.

51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel. 52 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:

53 For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the LORD God of Israel, according to all that his father had done. LECTURE 595.

47 There was then no king in

That we ought not to join hands with God's enemies.

It was well that Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel; for God had forbidden Judah and Israel to be at war. It was well that after the shipwreck of his fleet he refused the proffered aid of the wicked Ahaziah. In the attempts which are made by Christians to evangelize the world, we must learn from Jehoshaphat the courage to say No, to overtures of help, from all but those who profess the true faith of the Gospel. For how else can we expect that God will give his blessing? If then our ships be broken, let us not go to Ahaziah for help to repair them. Let us not take with us the worshippers of Baal, when we would go for gold to Ophir. Vain is the help of man without the blessing of the Lord. And in our religious undertakings, above all others, we must never seek for success by wilfully joining hands with those whom we have reason to think his enemies.

THE SECOND BOOK OF THE KINGS, commonly called, THE FOURTH BOOK OF THE KINGS, 1. 1-18. Ahaziah's captains are destroyed by fire from heaven.

him be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king.

shalt surely die.

17 So he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah; because he had no son.

16 And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast sent messengers to enquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron, is it not because there is no God in Israel to enquire of 18 Now the rest of the acts of his word? therefore thou shalt Ahaziah which he did, are they not come down off that bed on not written in the book of the which thou art gone up, but chronicles of the kings of Israel? LECTURE 596.

Of profiting by warnings.

Even sickness cannot teach Ahaziah the folly of consulting a false god, and despising the counsel of the Holy One of Israel. Even sickness, helpful as it is sometimes found in turning sinners unto God, is far from always leading them to see the error of their ways. Many a wicked Christian, on his deathbed, is ever sending out his thoughts on superstitious errands, and clinging to all conceivable ways of safety but the right one. Oh how much at such a season do these owe to God, if some true prophet, and faithful messenger of the Lord, should then compel them to hear those words of warning, and threats of judgment, which even yet, if duly listened to, with meekness and contrition, might possibly work godly sorrow and genuine repentance! Oh how far better to be told, in what jeopardy of death they actually are, death here and death hereafter, how far better than to be promised peace when there is none; if the truth thus told may by any possibility be a means to save them from dying everlastingly!

But what if it should only harden their hearts? Can any thing be conceived more horrible, than for the wicked to be so bent upon fulfilling their own will, and enjoying their own godless way, as that they hate and persecute the ministers of the truth? Let such take warning, if any warning can reach unto them, from the end of those whom Ahaziah made the instruments of his wrath; the captains of fifty who presumptuously endeavoured to take Elijah the Tishbite by force. There sat that holy man of God, alone, "on the top of an hill;" where he might easily be surrounded by the numbers sent to take him, and whence there seemed no prospect of escape. And confidently the first captain called on him to surrender in their king's name, "Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down." A summons this, which no good subject would one moment disobey, unless warranted by express command from heaven. This however was Elijah's case. He was, as here addressed, "a man of God." He had a commission as God's prophet, and a command received from God by direct inspiration, superseding his allegiance