Devotional Hours Within the Bible

2 Kings 11:1-12

It is interesting to study and think of the influences that combine in the making of any man. When we begin to go over the story of our ancestors, we soon lose ourselves in the vast number of them - parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on, running back for generations. Yet every one of these passed down to us something which mingles in our blood and in...

2 Kings 7:1-16

The city of Samaria was besieged. The famine was great. The people were suffering. The king blamed it all on Elisha and sought to kill him. Men often charge their troubles on God. They may be divine judgments; but if so, the reason for the judgments is to be sought for, in the sins of those on whom the judgments are falling.

Elisha told the king that the famine...

2 Kings 6:8-23

Two gentlemen - one a clergyman, the other a prominent business man - were conversing together about foreign missions. They were speaking especially of India .

"Sir," said the business man, "you cannot convert India to Christ in ten thousand years."

"Isn't that rather hard on God!" asked the minister.

"O, I hadn't thought of Him!" said the business man.

No doubt the king...

2 Kings 5:1-14

The story of Naaman is interesting in several ways. It gives us a glimpse of the times. The country of Israel was subject to incursions from hostile tribes. In these raids not only was property carried away - but women and children were ofttimes taken as captives. Naaman himself was a great man in his country; he was commander-in-chief of the army of Syria. He was...

2 Kings 4:8-37

The story of the great woman of Shunem is a delightful one. She was good to the prophet, showing him most kindly hospitality as he went back and forth on his prophetic errands. The little chamber on the roof was a fit resting-place for the man of God. It was a place of prayer, too, and blessing came upon the home through the prophet's intercession. The coming of a little...

2 Kings 4:1-7

Elisha was greatly different from Elijah. We see him first plowing in the field. He was the son of a prosperous farmer. He must have been greatly surprised when he saw the old prophet coming to him in the field and without a word, casting his mantle over his shoulders. Thus Elijah adopted him as a son and invested him with the prophetic office. The act was performed in silence - yet Elisha...

2 Kings 2:12-22

No good man's work is ended - when the man himself is taken from the earth. Every influence of his life stays among men. No one does more than a little fragment of the world's work, in his short time on the earth. Elijah came into the world, did what God gave him to do, and then passed away, leaving an unfinished work behind him. Then Elisha came and took up...

2 Kings 2:1-11

Elijah's work was finished. The words of the record are very striking: "It came to pass, when Jehovah would take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven." The words show how completely Elijah's life was at the disposal of God. The prophet himself had nothing to say as to when he would go - or how he would go. It would be when and how the Lord...

The work of Elijah went on after the Lord had dealt so gently with him, restoring his courage. Elisha is found at the plow, and is called to go with Elijah as his disciple and friend. Elijah seems to have been deeply affected by the lessons learned at Horeb. He worked after that more quietly and patiently. He did not try any more to suppress Baalism by force - but sought to kindle zeal...

1 Kings 19:1-16

It is little wonder that Jezebel was furious, when she learned from Ahab - of the slaughter of her priests. She vowed vengeance upon Elijah. "May the gods also kill me if by this time tomorrow I have failed to take your life like those whom you killed!" It was a trying hour for Elijah, and for once he flinched.

"So you intend to be a reformer, young man?" asked an old peer of young Wilberforce. "That is the end of...

Elijah challenged Ahab to a test of Baal's power. He demanded that the question should be settled, whether the Lord or Baal was the true God. Baal's prophets were summoned, therefore, to meet with Elijah on Mount Carmel. On one side stood Elijah, alone, as the prophet of Jehovah; and on the other side the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal. All day, from morning until evening,...

1 Kings 18:5-16

There must have been a tender parting when the prophet ELIJAH went away from the widow's house. He had been there so long and his stay had been such a blessing to the little household, that his departure must have caused great sorrow. It is good for us to make ourselves so helpful and such a blessing, wherever we visit or tarry for a time, whether only for an hour, or a night, or for many days - that when we go away - we...

1 Kings 17:1-16

"Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, - As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives - before whom I stand - there will be no dew or rain during the next few years - unless I give the word!"

ELIJAH was a remarkable man. His heroic and single-handed contest with Ahab and the Baal religion, gave him prominence and power. He was the...

1 Kings 16:23-33

The story of Jeroboam's northern kingdom is terribly monotonous in its sin - and tragical in treasons, stratagems, and insurrections. There is no relief in the dark picture. In the southern kingdom of Judah, too, some kings are evil - but now and then we come upon one like Asa or Jehoshaphat, who followed the Lord faithfully. In Israel,...