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back, the Hand of the LORD held it. Some mysterious stroke had fallen upon him; and
while he thus stood, himself a sign, the top of the altar suddenly parted, and the ashes,
clogged and heavy with the fat of idol-sacrifices, poured out around him. No hand was
stretched out to seize the "man of God". Nor was there need of it - the "man of God"
had neither design nor desire to escape. Rather was it now the king's turn, not to
command but to entreat. In the expressive language of the original, "And the king
answered" (to the unspoken word of Jehovah in the stroke that had arrested his hand),
and said, Soften now the Face of Jehovah thy God, and make entreaty on my behalf,
and (or, that) "my hand shall return to me."
It was as he craved - for the prophecy and controversy were not with the king, but with
the Altar. And all this had been only a sign, which had fulfilled its purpose, and would
fulfill it still more, if the same Power that had appeared in the sudden stroke would
again become manifest in its equally sudden removal. As for Jeroboam, Jehovah had
no controversy with him then and there, nor indeed anywhere. The judgment of his sins
would soon enough overtake him and his house. It might, indeed, seem passing strange
that the king could now invite this "man of God" to his palace and table, and even
promise him "a reward," if we did not bear in mind the circumstances of the times, and
the heathen idea of miracles. To the heathen the miraculous, as direct Divine
manifestation, was not something extraordinary and unexpected. Heathenism - may we
not say, the ancient world? -expected the miraculous; and hence in those times God's
manifestation by miracles might almost be designated not as an extraordinary, but,
according to the then notions, as the ordinary mode of teaching. Moreover, heathenism
regarded miracles as simply manifestations of power, and the worker of miracles as a
magician, possessed of power - the question being, whether the power of the deity
whom he represented was greater than that of other gods, or not. It was, no doubt, in
this light that Jeroboam regarded this "man of Elohim" the name Elohim itself
expressing especially "power."^212 This, as well as knowledge of the character of his
own "prophets," and perhaps a secret hope that he might attach him to himself by a
"reward," prompted the words of the king. He would do honor to the man of power,
and, through him, to the deity whom he represented -perhaps even gain the man of
God.^213
It need scarcely be said, that the mere fact of the "man of God" entering the king's
palace and sharing his feast, probably a sacrificial idol-feast would not only have been
contrary to the whole scope and spirit of his embassy, but have destroyed the moral
effect of the scene enacted before the people. So, to mention a much lower parallelism
is the moral effect of all Christian testimony, whether by word or life, annulled by
every act of conformity to, and fellowship with the world (comp. Romans 12:1, 2). But
in the present instance any danger of this kind had by anticipation been averted. God
had given His messenger express command, neither to eat bread nor to drink water in
that place, nor even to return by the way that he had come. These directions had, of
(^)