. The training of the Chosen people. ndicates that he had put too much con- Chapter 29. The Development of Tendencies 105 fidence in Ben-hadads word. It is singular that menlike Ahab can rely fully on the word of a fellow man,and yet thoroughly distrust the pledges of disloyalties to God weaken our confidence inHim. And Ahab, who had had so many proofsthrough Elijahs ministry of Jehovahs existence andpower and fidelity, could refuse to give God the loyaltythat he gave to Ben-hadad and expected from him. External pressure had brought Israel and Judah to-gether against Damascus; it a
. The training of the Chosen people. ndicates that he had put too much con- Chapter 29. The Development of Tendencies 105 fidence in Ben-hadads word. It is singular that menlike Ahab can rely fully on the word of a fellow man,and yet thoroughly distrust the pledges of disloyalties to God weaken our confidence inHim. And Ahab, who had had so many proofsthrough Elijahs ministry of Jehovahs existence andpower and fidelity, could refuse to give God the loyaltythat he gave to Ben-hadad and expected from him. External pressure had brought Israel and Judah to-gether against Damascus; it also united them tempo-rarily against Moab. The campaign of the two He-brew kings against the Moabites was replete with in-cidents fitted to increase the confidence of the leadersand their armies in the God of Israel. The expeditionhad been saved in the desert by a wonderful supply ofwater (2 Ki. 3:20). An optical illusion enticed theirenemies to destruction (2 Ki. 3:21-25). Jehovahpromised to give them the victory (2 Ki. 3: 18). But. From the Leeperphotographs, copyrighted. Elishas Fountain, at Jericho. The place where Elisha healed the waters. This fountain still gives acopious supply of good water. all went for naught because the Hebrew hosts did notbelieve sufficiently in Jehovah to withstand the tre-mendous demonstration by the king of Moab of hisbelief in his god (2 Ki. 3:27). And so the historianenables us to trace back each one of these mistakes anddefeats to its real cause—want of thorough, loyal al-legiance to Jehovah. And yet the narrative, on the other hand, makes it io6 Old Testament History clear that Jehovah did not desert His people. Elishacarried on the work of Elijah. Let us not forget thatit was the corrupt northern kingdom which Jehovahdelivered from the hand of Syria at Dothan (2 :8-23) and at Samaria (2 Ki. ch. 7), and that thevery changes that were taking place in Damascus wereordered by Jehovah with reference to the Hebrewstates (2 Ki. ch. 8). Chapt
Size: 2464px × 1015px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidtrainingofch, bookyear1908
