Ahab did more to provoke the Lord to anger than all the kings. 1 Kings xvi. 33. HIS sin was very aggravated, largely through the influence of Jezebel, his young and beautiful wife, who introduced the abominations of Phoenician idol-worship. This is why he is said to have exceeded his predecessors in wickedness. They broke the second Commandment, and worshiped Jehovah under the form of a calf. Ahab and Jezebel broke the first, and chose other gods — Baal, the sun, and Ashtoreth, the moon. The inveterate love for this idolatry was connected with licentious rites with which these deities were served. What wonder that the land became corrupt when the fountains of its religious life were polluted at the source? The connection between the indulgence of impurity and the declension of the spiritual life, is very close. As the apostle Paul tells its in Romans i., the men that refuse to retain God in their knowledge are given up to the working of passion; and as they yield to passion they lose the sweet, clear impression of the truth and nearness of the Christ. The first, second, and third thing to be said to young people on venturing out into the world, corrupt through many deceitful lusts, is, Be pure. Wear the white flower of a blameless life. If you cannot be faultless, be blameless. If you cannot realize all the good you know, at least refrain from all the evil. Keep your robes unspotted from the world. Then through purity of heart and obedience in life, you shall see God. As the living Christ enters the heart, He will drive before Him the brute forms of evil, overthrow the tables of the money-changers, and will sit to teach of God. Give yourself unreservedly into his keeping, that He may govern and control every avenue of your life. -F. B. Meyer, Homily
Dagon* was fallen upon his face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord. 1 Sam. v. 3. THE idols of the heathen represent demons who are their accepted gods, just as the Ark was the symbol of the presence of Jehovah. In the one case there was a material representation of the demon; but in the case of the Ark there was only a throne, the Mercy Seat; and no attempt was made to represent the appearance of the God of Israel. When placed in the Holy of Holies, the Shekinah** shone between the cherubim; this alone spoke of the Divine Spirit who filled the apparently vacant throne. When the effigy of the fish-god was confronted by the Sacred Ark, it was as though the demon spirit and the Divine Spirit had come into contact, with the inevitable result that the inferiority of the one ensured the crash of its effigy to the ground. What a lesson this must have been to the Philistines — similar to that given Pharaoh in the plagues of Egypt, and with the same object of leading them to see the superior greatness of Jehovah! How great the encouragement to Israel — to know that God could defend his superiority! And how striking the prognostication for the future, when all the Dagons of the world shall be broken before the symbol of Divine power and love! Bring the Ark of God into your life. Set it down in your heart, and forthwith the Dagons which have held sway for so long will one after another succumb. "The idols He will utterly abolish." Let Christ in — that is the one need of the soul; and let Him take full possession of you. Then He will do his own work. Darkness cannot abide light; nor the defilement of the Augean stable the turning in of the water of the river. -F. B. Meyer, (1847-1929) ,Our Daily Homily
*Dagon: a Phoenician and Philistine god of agriculture and the earth: the national god of the Philistines. From Hebrew Dāgōn, literally: little fish (Source: Dictionary.com) ***Shekinah: (Hebrew) the presence of God on earth or a symbol or manifestation of His presence. Looking to develop a greater relationship with the Lord? Let For His Glory: 31 Daily Meditations help you. This affordable eBook ($1.49) will open new insights into the Glory of our Lord. Take a peek inside.
