were ever made by them. That physicians sometimes undertook to exercise their skill in the removal of diseases of an internal nature, is evinced by the circumstance of David's playing upon the harp, to relieve the malady of Saul. The art of healing was entrusted by the Hebrews, as it was by the Egyptians, to the priests; and, by a law of the state, the Hebrew priests were obliged to take cognisance of leprosies.* Reference is made to physicians who were not priests, and to instances of sickness, disease, healing, etc., in the passages cited below. The balsam or balm, was particularly celebrated as a medicine. That mineral baths were deemed worthy of notice may be inferred from Gen. xxxvi. 22;§ and their appreciation in later times is evinced by various intimations in Josephus, as well as by the ruined constructions at the baths of Tiberias, of the Hieromax, and of the Arnon. About the time of Christ the Jewish physicians advanced in science and increased in numbers. Many superstitious practices still however prevailed, arising probably from the fact (of which there are various examples in the Gospels) that it was usual to attribute to evil spirits the more grievous diseases, especially those in which either the body was distorted or the mind disturbed and tossed with frenzy.* In many cases, like the old Egyptian physicians, they began and persevered in treating a disease as such, but ended in pronouncing it an evil spirit, and then proceeded to deal with it by peculiar rites and exorcisins. Hence their medical precepts, after enumerating the medical alternatives of treatment, conclude with pointing out the superstitious rites and operations which are proper, in the given case, to be resorted to in the last instance.+ It appears from the Talmud, that the Hebrew physicians were accustomed to salute the sick by saying, "Arise from thy disease!” This salutation, in a form somewhat more imperative and commanding, had full effect in the mouth of Jesus.§ According to the Jerusalem Talmud, a man was considered to be in a state of convalescence when he began to take his usual food. The modern medical science, or rather practice of the East is not very different from that which has here been described, and certainly is not in a more advanced state. From the length to which this note has extended, we must abstain from this part of the subject, and confine ourselves to the remark that it is very usual among the Moslems in case of illness to neglect medical aid altogether, placing their whole reliance upon Providence, or upon charms. But AHAB, the son of Omri, mounted the throne of Israel in the year 931 B.C., being the thirtyeighth year of Asa, king of Judah. This king was, throughout his reign of twenty-two years, entirely under the influence of his idolatrous and unprincipled wife, Jezebel, a daughter of Ethbaal, or Ithobalus, king of Tyre. (') Hitherto the irregularities connected with the service before the golden calves, as symbols of Jehovah, had formed the chief offence of Israel. now Ahab and Jezebel united their authority to introduce the gods of other nations. The king built a temple in Samaria, erected an image, and consecrated a grove to Baal, the god of the Sidonians. Jezebel, earnest in promoting the worship of her own god, maintained a multitude of priests and prophets of Baal. In a few years idolatry became the predominant religion of the land; and Jehovah, and the golden calves as representations of him, were viewed with no more reverence than Baal and his image. It now appeared as if the knowledge of the true God was for ever lost to the Israelites; but Elijah the prophet boldly stood up, and opposed himself to the authority of the king, and succeeded in retaining many of his countrymen in the worship of Jehovah. The greater the power was which supported idolatry, so much the more striking were the prophecies and miracles which directed the attention of the Israelites to Jehovah, and brought disgrace upon the idols, and confusion on their worshippers. The history of this great and memorable struggle gives to the narrative of Ahab's reign an unusual prominence and extent in the Hebrew annals; and although a writer studious of brevity might at the first view be disposed to omit, as episodical, much of the history of Elijah the Tishbite, a little reflection will render it manifest that the prominence given to the history of this illustrious champion for the truth, was a designed and necessary result from the fact that the history of the Hebrew nation is the history of a church; and that although the history of this great controversy might be omitted or overlooked by those who erroneously regard the history of the Hebrews merely as a political history, in the other point of view it becomes of the most vital importance. The first appearance of Elijah is with great abruptness to announce a drought, and consequent famine, for the punishment of the idolatry into which the nation had fallen; and that this calamity should only be removed at his own intercession. He apprehended that the iniquities of the land would bring down upon it destructions from God; and he therefore prayed for this lesser visitation, which might possibly bring the king and people to repentance. After such a denunciation, it was necessary that the prophet should withdraw himself from the presence and solicitations of the king, when the drought should commence, which it did, probably, about the sixth year of Ahab. Accordingly, obeying the directions of the divine oracle, he withdrew to his native district beyond Jordan, and hid himself in a cave by the brook Cherith; where the providence of God secured his support by putting it into the hearts of the Arabs encamped in the neighbourhood () to send him bread and meat every morning and evening; and the brook furnished him with drink, until "the end of the year," or beginning of spring, when it was dried up from the continued drought. It was probably under the irritation produced by the first pressure of the calamity that Jezebel induced the king to issue orders for the destruction of all the prophets of Jehovah. Many of them perished: but a good and devout man, even in the palace of Ahab,-Obadiah, the steward of his household,-managed to save a hundred of the number by sheltering them in caverns, where he provided for their maintenance until, probably, an opportunity was found for their escape into the kingdom of Judah. When the brook of Cherith was dried up, the prophet was then directed by the Divine Voice to proceed westward to Sarepta, a town of Sidon, under the dominion of Jezebel's father; where he lodged with a poor widow, and was miraculously supported with her and her family for a considerable time, according to his own prediction-" that her single barrel of meal should not waste, nor her single cruse of oil fail, until that day when Jehovah should send rain upon [Refuge in Caverns.] He is introduced as "Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead." It is probable therefore that the designation of "Tishbite" is from some town in Gilead, which cannot now be clearly ascertained. + There were probably "students in the schools of the prophets," which we have already noticed (see p. 423), or persons who devoted themselves to the study of the divine law, and on whom the spirit of prophecy occasionally came. Now called Sarphun, about three hours' journey from Sidon on the way to Tyre. the earth." While he remained at this place, the prophet, by his prayers to God, restored to life the son of the widow with whom he lodged. Here he stayed until the end of three years from the commencement of the drought, when he was commanded to go and show himself to Ahab. That king had meanwhile caused the most diligent search to be made for him in every quarter, doubtless with the view of inducing him to offer up those intercessions through which alone the present grievous calamity could terminate. But at this time, having probably relinquished this search as hopeless, the attention of the king was directed to the discovery of any remaining supplies of water which might still exist in the land. He had, therefore, for the purposes of this exploration, divided the country between himself and Obadiah; and both proceeded personally to visit all the brooks and fountains of the land. Obadiah was journeying on this mission, when Elijah, who was returning from Sarepta, met him, and commissioned him to announce his arrival to Ahab. The king, when he saw the prophet, reproached him as the cause of the national calamities,—“ Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" But the prophet boldly retorted the charge upon himself and his father's house, because they had forsaken Jehovah and followed Baal. He then secured the attention of the king by intimating an intention of interceding for rain; and required him to call a general assembly of all the people at Mount Carmel, and also to bring all the prophets or priests of Baal,* and of the groves. There, in the audience of that vast assembly, Elijah reproached the people with the destruction of the prophets of Jehovah, of whom, he alleged, that he alone remained, while the prophets of Baal alone were four hundred and fifty, fed at the table of Jezebel; and then he called them to account for their divided worship,-" How long halt ye between two opinions? If JEHOVAH be the God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." The people intimated their uncertainty by their silence to this appeal; on which the prophet, fully conscious of his unlimited commission, proposed a solemn sacrifice to each, and "the God that answereth by fire (to consume his sacrifice) let him be the God." As this was a fair trial of Baal's supposed power in his own element, the most zealous of his worshippers could make no objection to it, and the proposal was approved by all the people. Accordingly, when Baal answered not the earnest and ultimately maddened invocations of his prophets,— but Jehovah instantly answered the prayer of Elijah, by sending fire (as on former occasions) to consume the victim on the altar, although it had previously been inundated with water by the direction of the prophet,-then the people, yielding to one mighty impulse of conviction, fell upon their faces, and cried, "Jehovah, he is the GOD! JEHOVAH, HE IS THE GOD!"— thus also expressing that Baal was not the God, and rejecting him. To ratify this abjuration of Baal, Elijah commanded them to destroy his priests; and this, in the enthusiasm of their re-kindled zeal for Jehovah, they immediately did, at the brook Kishon, which had been the scene of Barak's victory over the Canaanites. Immediately after this sublime national act of acknowledgment of Jehovah and rejection of Baal, the prophet went up to the top of Carmel, and prayed fervently for rain seven times; the promise of which (speedily followed by fulfilment) at last appeared in the form of "a little cloud like a man's hand," rising out of the Mediterranean sea-a phenomenon which, in warm maritime climates, is not the unusual harbinger of rain. This remarkable transaction may be ascribed to the tenth year of Ahab's reign. Elijah was now compelled to fly for his life, to avoid the threatened vengeance of Jezebel for the destruction of her prophets. He fled southward, and when he had travelled nearly 100 miles, from Samaria to Beersheba, he left his servant and went alone a day's journey into the wilderness. There as he sat, for rest and shelter, under the scanty shade which a broom tree offered, the mighty spirit by which he had hitherto been sustained, gave way, and he prayed for death to end his troubles. "It is enough:" he cried, "now, O Jehovah, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers!" To strengthen his now sinking faith, and to reward his sufferings in the cause of the God of Israel, whose honour he had so zealously vindicated, the prophet was encouraged by an angel to undertake a long journey to It may assist the comprehension of the narrative to know that Baal was an impersonation of the sun "the mount of God," Horeb, where the Divine presence had been manifested to Moses, the founder of the law; and of which a further manifestation was now probably promised to this great champion and restorer of the same law. On this mysterious occasion the angel touched him twice, to rouse him from his sleep, and twice made him eat of food which he found prepared for him. In the strength which that food gave, the prophet journeyed (doubtless by a circuitous route) forty days, until he came, it is supposed, to the cave where Moses was stationed, when he saw the glory of Jehovah in " the cleft of the rock." There he heard the voice of Jehovah calling to him, "What doest thou here, Elijah ?" The prophet, evidently recognising that voice, said, "I have been very zealous for Jehovah, the God of Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword, and I only am left; and they seek my life to take it away." Then the voice commanded him to go forth, for Jehovah was about to pass by. The first harbinger of the Divine presence was a great and strong wind, which rent the mountain and brake the rock in pieces ;-but Jehovah was not in that wind. Then followed an earthquake; but Jehovah was not in the earthquake. This was succeeded by a fire;-but Jehovah was not in the fire. After this, came a still, small Voice;" and when the prophet heard it, he knew the Voice of God, and, reverently hiding his face in his mantle, he stood forth in the entrance of the cave. The Voice repeated the former question, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" to which the same answer as before was returned. The Voice, in reply, gently rebuked the prophet for his crimination of the whole people of Israel, and his discouraging representation of himself as the only prophet left. "I have yet left to me seven thousand men, in Israel, who have not bowed the knee to Baal." He was further instructed to return by a different route, by the way of Damascus; and, by the way to anoint or appoint Elisha to be his own successor, and (either by himself or Elisha), Hazael to be King of DamasceneSyria, and Jehu to be King of Israel-as the chosen ministers of Divine vengeance upon the house and people of Ahab. Of the three, Elisha was the only one to whom Elijah himself made known this appointment. Elisha was the son of Shaphat, an opulent man of Abel-meholah, in the half tribe of Manasseh, west of the Jordan. The prophet found him ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, when, by a significant action, still well understood in the East, that of throwing his own mantle upon him, he conveyed the intimation of his prophetic call. That call was understood and obeyed by Elisha; and after having, with the prophet's permission, taken leave of his parents, he hastened to follow Elijah, to whom he ever after remained attached. It is singular that the first formal alliance between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah took place during the reigns of two princes of such opposite characters as Ahab in Israel, and Jehoshaphat in Judah. But it was so and in forming it, and in cementing it by the marriage of his eldest son Jehoram to Athaliah the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, he doubtless acted from very ill considered policy, and laid in a great store of disasters for himself and his |