fear, "Fear not for they that be with us are more than they that be with them."1

The life and ministry of these two men mark a decidedly advanced stage in the progress of Divine revelation.

A grand cycle of miracles arrests attention. An unprecedented outburst of what is supernatural occurs after the calm flow of orderly natural sequences since the settlement of the twelve tribes in the land of promise. And this is most remarkable, that no less than four of these miracles pertain to the possession of life after the experience of death. There are three resurrections and one ascension. Such events had in them a tongue of truth more eloquent and forcible than ever spoke by words from human lips. Moreover, as we have endeavoured to keep in view through our brief sketches of the moral sentiment and behaviour appearing in Elijah and Elisha,-God sent to that generation, and by means of it to ours, these illustrious men, to teach present and everlasting lessons of truth and wisdom, love and righteousness, through the force of their character, the energy of their actions, and the inspiration of their lives.

Contemporary with Elijah and Elisha was another prophet, of whom a singularly expressed prediction is recorded in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. Micaiah of Samaria, being summoned into the presence of Ahab and Jehoshaphat, when they were at war with the king of Syria, related the following visions:

"I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, 2 Kings vi. 16.

1

Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil? 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. 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. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. 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. 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."1

The picture of a flock without a shepherd, scattered over the mountains, was a striking image of the condition of Israel at the time; and the outlook into the invisible world, where a spirit stood before the Lord, ready to interpose amongst the children of men, indicated Micaiah's faith in supernatural agencies, including the operations of evil beings, and the subjection of them all to Divine control. The permission of evil, by a strong figure of speech, was spoken of by the Hebrews as if it had been a causative act; and here a deceptive influence over the infatuated monarch is ascribed to a spirit coming forth from the host of heaven. The story is in a line with words in the Book of Exodus, where it is said, "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart;" and though the name of Satan is not used, the lying spirit here appears akin to him who is introduced amongst 1 1 Kings xxii. 17—23.

the sons of God in the prologue to the Book of Job. Good and evil were thus represented as mysteriously mingled in the affairs of men, whilst no part of the whole system could escape the all-seeing eye and the overruling hand of Divine providence. Ahab, and men like him, were in this way warned against false prophets who prophesied smooth things; and Micaiah, by foretelling what really happened, showed that bitter truth was more wholesome than honied lies. Micaiah's vision may be coupled with Elijah's translation, as indicating a connection between the natural and the supernatural, between earth and heaven.

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CHAPTER XV.

JONAH.

ITHERTO we have been engaged with prophetical

men, not with prophetical books. The earliest composition of that kind is the Book of Jonah, ascribed to the year 840 B.C., a date which may be accepted as approximately correct.1 It is the history of a prophecy rather than a prophecy itself. The contents are chiefly in the form of narrative, amidst which is inserted a devotional composition: prediction, properly so called, and even moral and religious preaching, form but a small part of this remarkable work.

Jonah is described as the son of Amittai. His birthplace was Gath-hepher in the tribe of Zebulun. According to a late tradition, which carries with it small authority, he was no other than the widow's son raised from the dead, "repaying in his mission of mercy and pity to the Assyrian Nineveh, the mercy and pity which his mother had shown to the Israelite wanderer." 2 By a further stretch of ecclesiastical supposition, it has been rumoured that he was the servant-boy who attended Elijah to the wilderness; and also the very "one of the children of the prophets," to whom Elisha said, "Gird up thy loins,

3

4

1 The chronology adopted by Dr. Angus in his Bible HandBook is here followed in the arrangement of the prophets.

2 Stanley's Jewish Church, ii. 299.

3 I Kings xix. 3.

4 Stanley's Jewish Church, ii. 351.

and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to RamothGilead and when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber; then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the Lord, I have anointed thee king over Israel." 1

Certainly before Jonah was summoned to his Ninevitish mission he acted as a prophet amongst his own people. What Jeroboam the son of Joash did, in restoring "the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain," was "according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spake by the hand of His servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the Lord said not that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash."2

From this somewhat obscure allusion we gather that Jonah was a home missionary before he was a foreign one; and it would appear that the tidings he had to deliver amongst his own countrymen were gracious and consolatory, not such as he had afterwards to proclaim to another nation.

The significancy of his mission to Nineveh, recorded at the opening of the book which bears his name, is most striking and important.

The influence of Jews on their fellow-men of other countries may be traced back to the remotest times. Joseph, by his measures of government, powerfully 1 2 Kings ix. 1-3. 2 xiv. 25-27.