The Signs of the Times, vol. 11
August 20, 1885
“The Babylonian Empire” The Signs of the Times 11, 32, pp. 500, 501.
WE have seen how the destruction of the Assyrian Empire was accomplished, and how that empire was divided among the three allied powers,—Media, Babylonia, and Egypt, and their kings, Cyaxeres, Nabopolassar, and Necho. The marriage of Nebuchadnezzar, the son of the king of Babylon, to Amyitis, the daughter of the king of Media, firmly bound and faithfully maintained the alliance between these two powers. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.1
But there was nothing of this kind to favor the king of Egypt. Necho was not left very long to enjoy the portion that pertained to him in the partition of the empire. As we have related, this triple alliance was formed and the invasion of Assyria was begun about the year 610 B.C. The march to Nineveh, the siege, and the settlement of the division of the empire, seem to have occupied about two years. Thus for three full years, to B.C. 607, Necho was left undisturbed in his possessions from the Euphrates, westward. In the year 607 B.C., Nabopolassar associated Nebuchadnezzar with himself, as king, on the Babylonian throne. Then it was decided to add the possessions of Necho to the Babylonian dominions. Accordingly, the same year Nebuchadnezzar marched out of Babylon against Necho. At the crossing of the Euphrates at Carchemish, he found the Egyptian army drawn up to meet him. A great battle was fought, which was utterly disastrous to the Egyptians, who “fled away” in confusion. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.2
“Nebuchadnezzar closely pursued his adversary as far as the frontier of Egypt; but having learned, whilst before Pelusium, that his father was dead (604), he retraced his steps to take possession of a throne that, so recently established, might be shaken by a change of things. Under these circumstances, says Berosus, the Babylonian historian, he put the affairs of Egypt, Syria, and the adjacent countries, in order; and leaving in charge of his trusted generals the numerous prisoners he had taken, as well as the command of the garrisons left in the conquered provinces, he departed with a small escort, crossed the desert by forced marches, and thus arrived speedily at Babylon, where the chief of the caste of the Chaldeans resigned into his hands the government he had administered since the death of Nabopolassar.”—Ancient History of the East, book 4, chap. 5, sec. 2, last par. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.3
Then says the graphic writer of the Kings:— SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.4
“The king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the River Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.” 2 Kings 24:7. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.5
With reference to the Babylonian Empire, as an empire, it may fairly be said that Nebuchadnezzar was its real founder, for all the conquests that were ever made by the Babylonians after the establishment of their independence upon the destruction of the Assyrian Empire, were made by Nebuchadnezzar, even while his father lived. Yet, because of the establishment of that independence by Nabopolassar, the history of that kingdom which grew into the Babylonian Empire, properly enough begins with him. However, when the Assyrian Empire fell, and the allied kings made the division of its territory, Nabopolassar did not date the beginning of his reign from the year of that division, 610 B.C.; but he dated it from the year that Bel-zakir-iskun, king of Assyria, bestowed upon him the title of “King of Babylon,” as his reward for bringing again into subjection that revolted province. So that the beginning of the history of the kingdom of Babylon of the Bible and of Nebuchadnezzar is in the year 625 before Christ.—See “Seven Great Monarchies,” Fourth Monarchy, chap. 8, par. 1; “Ancient History of the East,” book 4, chap. 3, sec. 5; “Ancient Empires of the East,” chap. 2, par. 43. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.6
And thus we are brought to the establishment of the kingdom of Babylon of the Bible, and to the accession of Nebuchadnezzar as ruler of that kingdom. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.7
Just here another most important personage comes into notice. In that same expedition against Necho, which we have already sketched, Nebuchadnezzar besieged, at Jerusalem, Jehoiakim, whom Necho had made king of Judah. 2 Kings 23:34; 24:1; Daniel 1:1. Nebuchadnezzar took the city, and “Jehoiakim became his servant.” Nebuchadnezzar also took “part of the vessels of the house of God,” and “certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes,” and had them carried to Babylon in 607 B.C. Among the captives that were carried to Babylon from this expedition was DANIEL, who was soon raised by the Lord to the dignity of a prophet of God; and by the king to that of ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon; and upon the illustration of whose sublime prophecies we are now to enter. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.8
Of the prophecies of Daniel, the Son of God said, “Whoso readeth, let him understand.” Matthew 24:15. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.9
In the very first verse of the book of Daniel, is introduced Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Then it is related how he took Jerusalem and carried some of the people captive to Babylon, and how that certain ones of these who were “well favored” were chosen, whom they might teach the learning of the Chaldeans. In the first verse of the second chapter it is said that “Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him;” and in verse twenty-eight, same chapter, we find Daniel declaring to the king that “There is a God in Heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.10
That which troubled the king, in connection with his dream, was that he could not recall what he had seen. And of all the real or reputed “wise men” of Babylon, none but Daniel, and he only by being shown it in a night vision, could bring it again to his mind. But when Daniel related the dream, the description was so accurate that Nebuchadnezzar immediately recognized it to the full. Daniel said:— SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.11
“Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” Daniel 2:31-35. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.12
As we have seen, Daniel had told the king that, in this, God was making known to this king what shall be “in the latter days.” He therefore immediately proceeded to tell the king the meaning of all this. He said:— SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.13
“This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.” Verses 36-38. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.14
There is a passage in Jeremiah that corresponds with this and explains it somewhat more fully:— SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.15
“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Thus saith the Lord to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; and command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.” Jeremiah 27:1-6. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.16
When Nebuchadnezzar first took Jerusalem, in his expedition against Necho, Jehoiakim served him three years and then he turned and rebelled against him. Nebuchadnezzar returned and again besieged the city, took it, and bound Jehoiakim in fetters and carried him to Babylon, and made Jehoiachin king in his stead. Jehoiachin soon rebelled, and Nebuchadnezzar was compelled to again come against Jerusalem. This time he stripped the temple of the Lord of all its gold and all its treasures, and carried away to Babylon Jehoiachin and all his court, and 10,000 of the people, leaving only “the poorest sort of the people of the land,” and made Zedekiah king in Jerusalem. Zedekiah served the king of Babylon eight years and then rebelled. In the ninth year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar again laid siege of Jerusalem. After a siege of a year and a half the city was taken, and the temple and all the great men’s houses were burned with fire, the walls of Jerusalem were broken down “round about,” and Zedekiah, with many more of the people, was carried to Babylon, and Gedaliah was made governor over the very few poor people that were left in the land. In about two months came Ishmael, and ten men with him, and murdered Gedaliah, “And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldees.” See 2 Kings 24 and 25; 2 Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 52. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.17
Uaphrabet, the Pharaoh-hophra of Jeremiah 44:30, was at this time king of Egypt. He received ambassadors from Zedekiah, and sent an army to help him in his rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar (Ezekiel 17:15, 17; Jeremiah 37:1-10; 39:1-10). Uaphrabet was defeated, however, but he had done enough to incur the severe displeasure of the king of Babylon, and then when he received and harbored the murderers of Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor, his insolence could be borne no longer, and Nebuchadnezzar desolated Egypt. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.18
“The haughty king of Babylon was not yet satisfied; he aspired to the conquest of Phnecia, coveting its immense riches. For a long time, too, the grand utterances of the prophets had announced to the people of Tyre, now in the sixth century of their supremacy over other cities, the misfortunes impending over them. ‘Behold,’ said Ezekiel, ‘I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field; and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.’ Ezekiel 26:7-9. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.19
“The Tyrians resisted for a long time, with the constancy and obstinacy they had already shown against Sargon, and the siege of their city lasted thirteen years. But at last Tyre was carried by assault, by the king of Babylon in person (574), who treated the Tyrians as he had the Jews, and carried in Chaldea the most distinguished families of the country. The colonies Tyre than possessed on the northern coast of Africa and in Spain, such as Carthage, not yet independent, and Gades (now Cadiz), recognized the suzerainty of the conqueror of the mother country.... Tyre once taken, Nebuchadnezzar, before returning to Babylon, attacked the people of Idumea, Moab, and Ammon, who had associated themselves with the last Jewish attempt at revolt, and compelled them to submission. He made also a campaign in Arabia, passed victoriously through Hedjaz, and Nedjid, and penetrated as far as the Sabean kingdom of Yemen. These wars, predicted by the prophets, terminated the series of Chaldean conquests in Western Asia.”—Ancient History of the East, book 4, chap. 5, sec. 3, par. 5, 6. A. T. J. SITI August 20, 1885, page 500.20
(To be concluded next week.)
“Notes on the International Lesson. 1 Kings 19:1-18. ‘What Doest Thou Here?’” The Signs of the Times 11, 32, pp. 502, 503.
AUGUST 23—1 Kings 19:1-18
AFTER the scene on Mount Carmel, which was the subject of last week’s lesson, Ahab went and told Jezebel all that had been done, and how that the prophets of Baal had been slain. “The Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by to-morrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 502.1
“BUT he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 502.2
THUS Elijah was compelled to flee for his life because of his faithfulness to the Lord and in the defense of his commandments. Remember, that with the exception of the rain of that same day, there had been no rain for three years and a half, and all the vegetation had dried up, as was shown in the lesson of August 2. And into this waste, desolate wilderness Elijah was compelled to flee for his life, and when he had gone a whole day’s journey, “he came and sat down under a juniper tree, and requested for himself that he might die.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 502.3
BUT what a singular reason it was that he gave for wanting the Lord to take away his life, “O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” Nowadays, in a great many, indeed in most, instances it seems to be considered the very pink of perfection to be no better than our fathers were. Just as soon as the duty of keeping the Sabbath of the Lord is urged upon the people, then the plea arises, “Our fathers, for generations back, all kept Sunday, and they were good people and accepted of the Lord, and if we are as good as they were we shall be all right; if they are saved we shall be; if I can be as good as they were that is all I want.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 502.4
ELIJAH reasoned not so. He had a better idea of the principles of righteousness, of duty, and of allegiance to God, than to offer any such beg-off as that. So has everybody a better idea of consistency than to reason so upon any subject of minor, or even common, importance. No person refuses to ride in a palace car because our fathers had nothing better than a lumbering stage-coach. No person refuses to ride on a steamer because our fathers never saw one. So likewise it is with all advancement in science, art, and human knowledge. Instead of refusing it men take every advantage of it, and try by all means to profit by it. And the man who makes a new discovery in the field of science, of philosophy, or of exploration of a continent, it matters not though his discovery of a continent, it matters not though his discovery upsets all the accepted theories of men, if his discovery bears the test of the truth in the field to which it belongs, men readily accept it, and the discoverer is honored, and rightly so, as a benefactor of his race in that he has enlarged the view, and added to the sum, of human knowledge. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.1
THIS when the matter relates to things of this world. But when the subject is one that concerns the eternal destiny of men; when it is discovered by some one that in matters of faith and morals, men are wrong; then when the way of truth is pointed out, even though it bear every test of truth known to the Bible, that man is held up as a heretic, a propagandist, a troubler of Israel, an exciter of divisions among the people; then, a question upon which hang eternal interests, is calmly put aside with the observations that “Our fathers knew nothing of this, therefore it is of no interest to us; our fathers did not find it out, therefore it cannot be the truth; what matters it, though the Bible does say it is the truth, as it was not obeyed by our fathers, we need not obey it; if we are only as good as they, we shall be safe.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.2
BUT let all such know that our fathers, who were good, did all that they knew, and were accepted of the Lord, in it. “For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.” 2 Corinthians 8:12. And unless we do all that we know, or all that we may know, we are not as good as they were. Therefore it is plain that we cannot be as good as our godly fathers were by simply doing what they did. To be accepted of the Lord they had to do all that they knew; to be accepted of the Lord, we likewise must do all that we know. And if in the advancing work of God in the world, points of truth, of which our fathers knew nothing, shine forth from the word of God, we must accept them, walk in the light of them, and live according to them, to be accepted of the Lord in this our day as our fathers were in theirs. “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.” John 12:36. “And the law [of God] is light.” Proverbs 6:23. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.3
AS Elijah, away in the wilderness alone, lay and slept under that juniper tree, “Behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head.” Although the bitter Jezebel was seeking for his life, and though to escape her wrath, he has fled into the wilderness where he has neither food nor water, yet an angel visits him, and he has the blessed privilege of eating food from an angel’s hand. Blessed privilege, even though it be only bread and water. Bread and water, in the desolation of the desert, from the hand of an angel, is infinitely better than the richest dainties, in the luxury of kings’ palaces, from the hand of a Jezebel. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.4
ELIJAH laid him down again and slept, “And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.” He did eat and drink and “went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.” There the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? “And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.5
WE have shown, in previous lessons, the contest that there is to be between the beast and his image and those who keep the commandments of God, just before the coming of the Lord. We have referred to the National Reform Party, and its work of forming a union of Church and State in the Government of the United States, for the sole purpose of compelling all people to keep Sunday, in violation of the commandment of God. We have shown that, in opposition to this, God sends a message calling upon all to “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” And when this union of Church and State is accomplished, that will be an image to the beast—the papal church. And from this history of all such unions, we may know what will be the evitable result—persecution of dissenters. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.6
WE are not left, however, to infer from what has been, what will be; the word of God tells us plainly what will be the result of such an action. The word says: “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.... And that no man mighty buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:15-17. Then it will be with these who keep the commandments of God, as it was with Elijah, the representative of these. The new Jezebel then swaying the power of the Government, will seek their lives, to take them away. Then these will have to flee, as Elijah did, and they, as he did, will find drought in all the land, and “the rivers of water dried up,” and all the pastures of the wilderness dried up. Joel 1:14-20. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.7
YES, and these too will find, amidst the desolation, as Elijah did, that “He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Psalm 91:11. These too, as Elijah did, will find even in the desolate wilderness that their “place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks,” that bread shall be given them, and their waters shall be sure; that their eyes too, as his did, “shall see the King in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off.” Isaiah 33:16, 17. And when found thus fleeing for their lives, if asked as was Elijah, “What doest thou here?” they can reply as he did. “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant.... and they seek my life, to take it away.” But even though the new Jezebel shall seek to take away the lives of those who keep the commandments of God, yet the holy prophet says, “I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” Revelation 15:2. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.8
THE Lord calls, now, for those who will be “very jealous for the Lord God of hosts.” He calls for those who will jealously regard his commandments, even at the expense of every earthly thing. He seeks now for those who will “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” against all earthly powers. What doest thou here? Are you very jealous for the Lord God of hosts? SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.9
A. T. J.
“Notes on the International Lesson. 1 Kings 21:4-19. The Story of Naboth” The Signs of the Times 11, 32, pp. 503, 510.
INTERNATIONAL AUG. 30—1 Kings 21:4-19
AT Jezreel, about twenty-five miles from Samaria, Ahab had a palace. Hard by this palace was a vineyard belonging to Naboth. And Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house; and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.1
THE Lord had given commandment that the land should not be sold forever. “And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.” Leviticus 25:25. “So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe; for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.” Numbers 36:7. Naboth simply proposed to obey the word of the Lord, and so told Ahab that he could not have his land. But even though the Lord had given no directions on the subject, it was clearly the right of Naboth to refuse to sell his land for the private purposes of the king. For if he had no right to refuse to sell, he had no rights at all in the matter, and was thus placed subject to the mere whim of the king. And if he was obliged to so yield to the wish of Ahab, even though Ahab had given him a better vineyard, what assurance was there that he would not shortly have to give up that vineyard at the wish of the king, as he had given this at the first. Not only by the word of God, but by every principle of justice and right, Naboth was in the right and Ahab in the wrong. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.2
FREDERICK THE GREAT once wanted, for a part of his garden, an adjoining piece of ground upon which a wind-mill stood. He sent an agent to buy the ground and the mill. The miller sturdily refused to sell it. At last the agent said, “Not at any price? Could not the king take it from you for nothing if he chose?” The miller replied, “Have we not the Kammergericht [the Imperial Chamber of Justice] at Berlin?” That was as much as to say that, though Frederick wanted the grounds for his own private use, yet if he attempted to take them by force, the miller would appeal to him as king, and that, in justice to his subject, Frederick as king would not allow Frederick as a private person, to take the land against the wish of the owner. Frederick was wonderfully pleased at the answer of the lowly miller, and “Have we not the Kammergericht at Berlin,” became a popular saying in Germany. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.3
BUT Ahab was not a Frederick. “Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him.... And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.” Throughout Ahab’s whole career he appears as capricious as a spoiled child, with yet this shortcoming that he had no force of character even in his caprices, but was always ready to be ruled by whatever SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.4
(Continued on page 510.)
(Continued from page 503.)
influence affected him at the moment. First he took to wife Jezebel, the very embodiment of imperious infamy; then he allowed her to stir him up to commit more iniquity than all the kings of Israel before him; then, when because of his wickedness Elijah pronounced to him the judgment of the Lord, in drought upon the land for three years and a half, there was not nation or kingdom round about that he did not send to in search of Elijah; and when Elijah finally came to meet him and denounced him to his face, all he did was to simply go, in obedience to Elijah’s command, to gather together all Israel and the prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel. Then, when the contest had been decided at Mount Carmel, instead of firmly taking a stand on the side of the Lord, he simply went and told Jezebel all that had happened, and let her exert herself anew in behalf of Baal. And now in this instance with Naboth, because he can’t have that vineyard he must go to bed and refuse to eat anything! SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.5
JEZEBEL, however, had enough self-assertion for ten men, and a regiment of women. She can tell in a minute what to do—she will murder Naboth and his family so that there shall be no heirs, and take everything that he has. All this will she do and be merry about it. “I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” And she did. And then, as might be expected, just as soon as she came telling him that Naboth was dead, this weak, wicked, and wickedly weak king “rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.6
“AND the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Arise, go down to meet Ahab ... behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth wither he is gone down to possess it.” And there as Ahab stands with satisfaction contemplating his new possession, suddenly there strikes upon his ear a voice, as thunder out of clear sky, exclaiming, “Hast thou killed, and also taken possession?” Ahab cries out, “Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?” The stern reply is, “I have found thee; because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.” “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat.” SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.7
IT is very natural for those who have sold themselves to do evil to count as their enemies those who reprove them and point out their sins. But there is no escape. It may long be delayed, but, sooner or later, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” And it is vastly better for us to find out our sins, and put them away, than at last to have them find us out, when it is too late to put them away. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.8
AHAB’S covetousness ended in murder and robbery. “Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Luke 12:15. “Thou shalt not covet.” Covetousness is the leading sin in the transgression of any commandment of the decalogue. Not one of the commandments can be broken but that covetousness leads in the transgression. Covetousness itself is idolatry (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5), and covetousness is all its forms is summed up in one word—selfishness. May we all remember the Saviour’s warning, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness.” And may we, with David, ever pray, “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” Psalm 119:36. SITI August 20, 1885, page 503.9
A. T. J.