particular bodies of Christians, as when St. Peter says, “The church
which is at Babylon, _elected together_ with you,” and sometimes to the
whole body of believers every where; and also the reason of the frequent
use of the term _election_, and of the occurrence of allusions to the
fact; it is to be remembered, that a great religious revolution, so to
speak, had occurred in the age of the Apostles; with the full import of
which we cannot, without calling in the aid of a little reflection, be
adequately impressed. This change was no other than the abrogation of
the _church state_ of the Jews, which had continued for so many ages.
They had been the only visibly acknowledged people of God in all the
nations of the earth; for whatever pious people might have existed in
other nations, they were not, in the sight of men, and collectively,
acknowledged as “the people of Jehovah.” They had no written
revelations, no appointed ministry, no forms of authorized initiation
into his church and covenant, no appointed holy days, or sanctioned
ritual. All these were peculiar to the Jews, who were, therefore, an
elected and peculiar people. This distinguished honour they were about
to lose. They might have retained it as Christians, had they been
willing to admit the believing Gentiles of all nations to share it with
them; but the great reason of their peculiarity and election, _as a
nation_, was terminated by the coming of the Messiah, who was to be “a
light to lighten the Gentiles,” as well as “the glory of his people
Israel.” Their pride and consequent unbelief resented this, which will
explain their enmity to the believing part of the Gentiles, who, when
that which St. Paul calls “the fellowship of the mystery” was fully
explained, chiefly by the glorious ministry of that Apostle himself,
were called into that church relation and visible acknowledgment as the
people of God, which the Jews had formerly enjoyed, and that with even a
higher degree of glory, in proportion to the superior spirituality of
the new dispensation. It was this doctrine which excited that strong
irritation in the minds of the unbelieving Jews, and in some partially
Christianized ones, to which so many references are made in the New
Testament. They were “provoked,” were made “jealous;” and were often
roused to the madness of persecuting opposition by it. There was then a
_new election_ of a _new people_ of God, to be composed of Jews, not by
virtue of their _natural descent_, but through their faith in Christ,
and of Gentiles of all nations, also believing, and put as believers, on
an equal ground with the believing Jews: and there was also a
_rejection_, a reprobation, but not an absolute one; for _the election_
was offered to the Jews first, in every place, by offering them the
Gospel. Some embraced it, and submitted to be the elect people of God,
on the new ground of faith, instead of the old one of natural descent;
and therefore the Apostle, Rom. xi, 7, calls the believing part of the
Jews, “the _election_,” in opposition to those who opposed this
“election of grace,” and still clung to their former and now repealed
election as Jews and the descendants of Abraham: “But the election hath
obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” The offer had been made to the
whole nation; all might have joined the one body of believing Jews and
believing Gentiles; but the major part of them refused: they would not
“come into the supper;” they made “light of it;” light of an election
founded on faith, and which placed the relation of “the people of God”
upon spiritual attainments, and offered to them only spiritual
blessings. They were, therefore, deprived of election and church
relationship of every kind: their temple was burned; their political
state abolished; their genealogies confounded; their worship annihilated
and all visible acknowledgment of them; by God as a church withdrawn,
and transferred to a church henceforward to be composed chiefly of
Gentiles: and thus, says St. Paul, “were fulfilled the words of Moses, I
will provoke you to jealousy by them that are _no people_, and by a
foolish,” ignorant and idolatrous, “people I will anger you.” It is
easy, therefore, to see what is the import of the “calling” and
“election” of the Christian church, as spoken of in the New Testament.
It was not the calling and the electing of one nation in particular to
succeed the Jews; but it was the calling and the electing of believers
in all nations, wherever the Gospel should be preached, to be in reality
what the Jews typically, and therefore in an inferior degree, had
been,--the visible church of God, “his people,” under Christ “the Head;”
with an authenticated revelation; with an appointed ministry, never to
be lost; with authorized worship; with holy days and festivals; with
instituted forms of initiation; and with special protection and favour.
3. The _third_ kind of election is personal election; or the election of
individuals to be the children of God, and the heirs of eternal life.
This is not a choosing to particular offices and service, which is the
first kind of election we have mentioned; nor is it that collective
election to religious privileges and a visible church state, of which we
have spoken. For although “the elect” have an individual interest in
such an election as parts of the collective body, thus placed in
possession of the ordinances of Christianity; yet many others have the
same advantages, who still remain under the guilt and condemnation of
sin and practical unbelief. The individuals properly called “the elect,”
are they who have been made partakers of the grace and saving efficacy
of the Gospel. “Many,” says our Lord, “are _called_, but few _chosen_.”
What true personal election is, we shall find explained in two clear
passages of Scripture. It is explained by our Lord, where he says to his
disciples, “I have chosen you out of the world:” and by St. Peter, when
he addresses his First Epistle to the “elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit,
unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus.” To be elected,
therefore, is to be separated from “the world,” and to be sanctified by
the Spirit, and by the blood of Christ. It follows, then, not only that
election is an act of God done in _time_, but also that it is subsequent
to the administration of the means of salvation. The “calling” goes
before the “election;” the publication of the doctrine of “the Spirit,”
and the atonement, called by Peter “the sprinkling of the blood of
Christ,” before that “sanctification” through which they become “the
elect” of God. In a word, “the elect” are the body of true believers;
and personal election into the family of God is through personal faith.
All who truly believe are elected; and all to whom the Gospel is sent
have, through the grace that accompanies it, the power to believe placed
within their reach; and all such might, therefore, attain to the grace
of personal election.
ELEMENTS, ϛοιχεῖα, the elements or first principles of any art, whence
the subsequent parts proceed. The elements or first principles of the
Christian doctrine, Heb, v, 12. St. Paul calls the ceremonial ordinances
of the Mosaic law, “worldly elements,” Gal. iv, 3; Col. ii, 8, 20; “weak
and beggarly elements,” Gal. iv, 9. Elements, as containing the
rudiments of the knowledge of Christ, to which knowledge the law, as a
pedagogue, Gal. iii, 24, was intended, by means of those ordinances, to
bring the Jews; worldly, as consisting in outward worldly institutions,
Heb. ix, 1; weak and beggarly, when considered in themselves, and set up
in opposition to the great realities to which they were designed to
lead. But, in Col. ii, 8, the elements or rudiments of the world are so
closely connected with philosophy and vain deceit, or an empty and
deceitful philosophy, that they must be understood there to include the
dogmas of Pagan philosophy; to which, no doubt, many of the Colossians
were in their unconverted state attached, and of which the Judaizing
teachers, who also were probably themselves infected with them, took
advantage to withdraw the Colossian converts from the purity of the
Gospel, and from Christ their living head. And from the general tenor of
this chapter, and particularly from verses 18–23, it appears, that these
philosophical dogmas, against which the Apostle cautioned his converts,
were partly Platonic, and partly Pythagorean; the former teaching the
worship of angels, or demons, as mediators between God and man; the
latter enjoining such abstinence from particular kinds of meats and
drinks, and such severe mortifications of the body, as God had not
commanded.
ELI, a high priest of the Hebrews, of the race of Ithamar, who succeeded
Abdon, and governed the Hebrews, both as priest and judge, during forty
years. How Eli came to the high priesthood, and how this dignity was
transferred from Eleazar’s family to that of Ithamar, who was Aaron’s
youngest son, we know not. This much, however, is certain, that it was
not done without an express declaration of God’s will, 1 Sam. ii, 27,
&c. In the reign of Solomon, the predictions in relation to Eli’s family
were fulfilled; for the high priesthood was taken from Abiathar, a
descendant of Eli, and given to Zadok, who was of the race of Eleazar, 1
Kings ii, 26. Eli appears to have been a pious, but indolent man,
blinded by paternal affection, who suffered his sons to gain the
ascendancy over him; and for want either of personal courage, or zeal
for the glory of God sufficient to restrain their licentious conduct, he
permitted them to go on to their own and his ruin. Thus he carried his
indulgence to cruelty; while a more dignified and austere conduct on his
part might have rendered them wise and virtuous, and thereby have
preserved himself and family. A striking lesson for parents! God
admonished him by Samuel, then a child; and Eli received those awful
admonitions with a mind fully resigned to the divine will. “It is the
Lord,” said he, “let him do what seemeth him good.” God deferred the
execution of his vengeance many years. At length, however, Hophni and
Phineas, the sons of Eli, were slain by the Philistines, the ark of the
Lord was taken, and Eli himself, hearing this melancholy news, fell
backward from his chair and broke his neck, in the ninety-eighth year of
his age, 1 Sam. iv, 12, 18.
ELIEZER, a native of Damascus, and the steward of Abraham’s house. It
seems that Abraham, before the birth of Isaac, intended to make him his
heir:--“One born in my house,” a domestic slave, “is mine heir,” Gen.
xv, 1–3. He was afterward sent into Mesopotamia, to procure a wife for
Isaac, Gen. xxiv, 2, 3, &c; which business he accomplished with fidelity
and expedition. “It is still the custom in India,” says Forbes,
“especially among the Mohammedans, that in default of children, and
sometimes where there are lineal descendants, the master of a family
adopts a slave, frequently a Haffshee Abyssinian, of the darkest hue,
for his heir. He educates him agreeably to his wishes, and marries him
to one of his daughters. As the reward of superior merit, or to suit the
caprice of an arbitrary despot, this honour is also conferred on a slave
recently purchased, or already grown up in the family; and to him he
bequeaths his wealth, in preference to his nephews, or any collateral
branches. This is a custom of great antiquity in the east, and prevalent
among the most refined and civilized nations. In the earliest period of
the patriarchal history, we find Abraham complaining for want of
children; and declaring that either Eliezer of Damascus, or probably one
born from him in his house, was his heir, to the exclusion of Lot, his
favourite nephew, and all the other collateral branches of his family.”
ELIHU, one of Job’s friends, a descendant of Nahor, Job xxxii, 2. See
JOB.
ELIJAH. Elijah or Elias, a prophet, was a native of Tishbe beyond Jordan
in Gilead. Some think that he was a priest descended from Aaron, and say
that one Sabaca was his father; but this has no authority. He was raised
up by God, to be set like a wall of brass, in opposition to idolatry,
and particularly to the worship of Baal, which Jezebel and Ahab
supported in Israel. The Scripture introduces Elijah saying to Ahab, 1
Kings xvii, 1, 2, A. M. 3092, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before
whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according
to my word.” It is remarkable, that the number of years is not here
specified; but in the New Testament we are informed that it was three
years and six months. By the prohibition of dew as well as rain, the
whole vegetable kingdom was deprived of that moisture, without which
neither the more hardy, nor more delicate kinds of plants could shoot
into herbage, or bring that herbage to maturity. The Lord commanded
Elijah to conceal himself beyond Jordan, near the brook Cherith. He
obeyed, and God sent ravens to him morning and evening, which brought
him flesh and bread. Scheuzer observes, that he cannot think that the
_orebim_ of the Hebrew, rendered “ravens,” means, as some have thought,
the inhabitants of a town called _Oreb_, nor a troop of Arabs called
_orbhim_; and contends that the bird called the raven, or one of the
same genus is intended. Suppose that Elijah was concealed from Ahab in
some rocky or mountainous spot, where travellers never came; and that
here a number of voracious birds had built their nests upon the trees
which grew around it, or upon a projecting rock, &c. These flying every
day to procure food for their young, the prophet availed himself of a
part of what they brought; and while they, obeying the dictates of
nature, designed only to provide for their offspring, Divine providence
directed them to provide at the same time for the wants of Elijah. What,
therefore, he collected, whether from their nests, from what they
dropped, or under a supernatural influence, brought to him, or
occasionally from all these means, was enough for his daily support.
“And the _orebim_ furnished him bread or flesh in the morning, and bread
or flesh in the evening.” But as there were probably several of them,
some might furnish bread and others flesh, as it happened; so that a
little from each formed his solitary but satisfactory meal. To such
straits was the exiled prophet driven! perhaps these _orebim_ were not
strictly ravens, but rooks. The word rendered _raven_, includes the
whole genus, among which are some less impure than the raven, as the
rook. Rooks living in numerous societies are supposed by some to be the
kind of birds employed on this occasion rather than ravens, which fly
only in pairs. But upon all these explanations we may observe, that when
an event is evidently miraculous, it is quite superfluous, and often
absurd, to invent hypotheses to make it appear more easy. After a time
the brook dried up, and God sent Elijah to Zarephath, a city of the
Sidonians. At the city gate he met with a widow woman gathering sticks,
from whom he desired a little water, adding, “Bring me, I pray thee,
also a morsel of bread.” She answered, “As the Lord liveth, I have no
bread, but only a handful of meal, and a little oil in a cruse; and I am
gathering some sticks, that I may dress it for me and my son, that we
may eat it, and die.” Elijah said, “Make first a little cake, and bring
it me, and afterward make for thee and thy son: for thus saith the Lord,
the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail,
until the day the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.” His prediction was
fully accomplished, and he dwelt at the house of this widow. Some time
after, the son of this woman fell sick, and died. The mother,
overwhelmed with grief, intreated the assistance and interposition of
Elijah, who taking the child in his arms laid him on his own bed, and
cried to the Lord for the restoration of the child’s life. The Lord
heard the prophet’s petition, and restored the child.
2. After three years of drought the Lord commanded Elijah to show
himself to Ahab. The famine being great in Samaria, Ahab sent the people
throughout the country, to inquire after places where they might find
forage for the cattle. Obadiah, an officer of the king’s household,
being thus employed, Elijah presented himself, and directed him to tell
Ahab, “Behold, Elijah is here!” Ahab came to meet the prophet, and
reproached him as the cause of the famine. Elijah retorted the charge
upon the king, and his iniquities, and challenged Ahab to gather the
people together, and the prophets of Baal, that it might be determined
by a sign from heaven, the falling of fire upon the sacrifice, who was
the true God. In this the prophet obeyed the impulse of the Spirit of
God; and Ahab, either under an influence of which he was not conscious,
or blindly confident in the cause of idolatry, followed Elijah’s
direction, and convened the people of Israel, and four hundred prophets
of Baal. The prophets of Baal prepared their altar, sacrificed their
bullock, placed it on the altar, and called upon their gods. They leaped
upon the altar, and cut themselves after their manner, crying with all
their might. Elijah ridiculed them, and said, “Cry aloud, for he is god;
either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or
peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” When midday was past,
Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord; and with twelve stones, in
allusion to the twelve tribes of Israel, he built a new altar. He then
laid his bullock upon the wood, poured a great quantity of water three
times upon the sacrifice and the wood, so that the water filled the
trench which was dug round the altar. After this he prayed, and, in
answer to his prayer, the Lord sent fire from heaven, and consumed the
wood, the burnt sacrifice, the stones, and dust of the place, and even
dried up the water in the trench. Upon this, all the people fell on
their faces, and exclaimed, “The Lord, he is the God.” Elijah then,
having excited the people to slay the false prophets of Baal, said to
Ahab, “Go home, eat and drink, for I hear the sound of abundance of
rain;” which long-expected blessing descended from heaven according to
his prediction, and gave additional proof to the truth of his mission
from the only living and true God.
3. Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, threatened Elijah for having slain her
prophets. He therefore fled to Beersheba, in the south of Judah, and
thence into Arabia Petrea. In the evening, being exhausted with fatigue,
he laid himself down under a juniper tree, and prayed God to take him
out of the world. An angel touched him, and he arose, and saw a cake
baked on the coals, and a cruse of water; and he ate and drank, and
slept again. The angel again awakened him, and said, “Rise and eat, for
the journey is too great for thee;” and he ate and drank, and went in
the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb, the
mount of God. Here he had visions of the glory and majesty of God, and
conversed with him; and was commanded to return to the wilderness of
Damascus, to anoint Hazael king over Syria, and Jehu king over Israel,
and to appoint Elisha his successor in the prophetic office. Some years
after, Ahab having seized Naboth’s vineyard, the Lord commanded Elijah
to reprove Ahab for the crime he had committed. Elijah met him going to
Naboth’s vineyard to take possession of it, and said, “In the place
where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall they lick thy blood, even
thine. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.” Both of
which predictions were fulfilled in the presence of the people. Ahaziah,
king of Israel, being hurt by a fall from the platform of his house,
sent to consult Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether he should recover.
Elijah met the messengers, and said to them, “Is it because there is no
God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Now,
therefore, saith the Lord, Thou shalt surely die.” The messengers of
Ahaziah returned, and informed the king, that a stranger had told them
he should certainly die; and Ahaziah knew that this was the Prophet
Elijah. The king, therefore, sent a captain with his company of fifty
men, to apprehend him; and when the officer was come to Elijah, who was
sitting upon a hill, he said, “Thou man of God, the king commands thee
to come down.” Elijah answered, “If I be a man of God, let fire come
down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty.” The prophet’s words
were followed with the effect predicted. The king sent another captain,
who was also consumed; but a third captain going to Elijah intreated him
to save him and his people’s lives, and Elijah accompanied him to the
king. By these fearful miracles he was accredited to this successor of
Ahab as a prophet of the true God, and the destruction of these
companies of armed men was a demonstration of God’s anger against the
people at large. Elijah could not in this case act from any other
impulse than that of the Spirit of God.
4. Elijah, understanding by revelation that God would soon translate him
out of this world, was desirous of concealing this fact from Elisha, his
inseparable companion. He therefore said to Elisha, “Tarry thou here,
for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha answered, “I will not
leave thee.” At Bethel, Elijah said, “Tarry thou here, the Lord hath
sent me to Jericho;” but Elisha replied, he would not forsake him. At
Jericho Elijah desired him to stay; but Elisha would not leave him. They
went therefore together to Jordan, and fifty of the sons of the prophets
followed them at a distance. When they were come to the Jordan, Elijah
took his mantle, and with it struck the waters, which divided, and they
went over on dry ground. Elijah then said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall
do for thee before I be taken away from thee.” “I pray thee,” said
Elisha, “let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me;” that is, obtain
the gift of prophecy from God for me, in the same measure that thou
possessest it. Double may signify like; or the gift of prophecy, and of
miracles, in a degree double to what thou dost possess, or to what I now
possess. Elijah answered, “Thou hast asked me a very hard thing; yet, if
thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if
not, it shall not be so.” As they journeyed, a fiery chariot, with
horses of fire, suddenly separated them, and Elijah was carried in a
whirlwind to heaven; while Elisha exclaimed, “My father, my father, the
chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!”
5. Elijah was one of the most eminent of that illustrious and singular
race of men, the Jewish prophets. Every part of his character is marked
by a moral grandeur, which is heightened by the obscurity thrown around
his connections, and his private history. He often wears the air of a
supernatural messenger suddenly issuing from another world, to declare
the commands of heaven, and to awe the proudest mortals by the menace of
fearful judgments. His boldness in reproof; his lofty zeal for the
honour of God; his superiority to softness, ease, and suffering, are the
characters of a man filled with the Holy Spirit; and he was admitted to
great intimacy with God, and enabled to work miracles of a very
extraordinary and unequivocal character. These were called for by the
stupid idolatry of the age, and were in some instances equally
calculated to demonstrate the being and power of Jehovah, and to punish
those who had forsaken him for idols. The author of Ecclesiasticus has
an encomium to his memory, and justly describes him as a prophet “who
stood up as fire, and whose word burned as a lamp.” In the sternness and
power of his reproofs he was a striking type of John the Baptist, and
the latter is therefore prophesied of, under his name. Malachi, iv, 5,
6, has this passage: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Our Saviour also
declares that Elijah had already come in spirit, in the person of John
the Baptist. At the transfiguration of our Saviour, Elijah and Moses
both appeared and conversed with him respecting his future passion,
Matt. xvii, 3, 4; Mark ix, 4; Luke ix, 30. Many of the Jews in our
Lord’s time believed him to be Elijah, or that the soul of Elijah had
passed into his body, Matt. xvi, 14; Mark vi, 15; Luke ix, 8. In
conclusion, we may observe, that to assure the world of the future
existence of good men in a state of glory and felicity, and that in
bodies changed from mortality to immortality, each of the three grand
dispensations of religion had its instance of translation into heaven;
the patriarchal in the person of ENOCH, the Jewish in the person of
ELIJAH, and the Christian in the person of CHRIST.