Prophet of Peace
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contempt. The so-called tenderness, the coaxing and indulgence, used
toward youth by parents and guardians, is one of the worst evils which
can come upon them. In every family, firmness, decision, positive
requirements, are essential.
Reverence, in which the youth who mocked Elisha were so lacking,
is a grace that should be carefully cherished. Every child should be
taught to show true reverence for God. Never should His name be
spoken lightly or thoughtlessly. Angels, as they speak it, veil their
faces. With what reverence should we, who are fallen and sinful, take
it upon our lips!
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Reverence should be shown for God’s representatives—for min-
isters, teachers, and parents, who are called to speak and act in His
stead. In the respect shown them, God is honored.
Courtesy, also, is one of the graces of the Spirit and should be
cultivated by all. It has power to soften natures which without it would
grow hard and rough. Those who profess to be followers of Christ,
and are at the same time rough, unkind, and uncourteous, have not
learned of Jesus. Their sincerity may not be doubted, their uprightness
may not be questioned; but sincerity and uprightness will not atone for
a lack of kindness and courtesy.
The kindly spirit that enabled Elisha to exert a powerful influence
over the lives of many in Israel, is revealed in the story of his friendly
relations with a family dwelling at Shunem. In his journeyings to and
fro throughout the kingdom “it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to
Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat
bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither
to eat bread.” The mistress of the house perceived that Elisha was “an
holy man of God,” and she said to her husband: “Let us make a little
chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed,
and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he
cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.” To this retreat Elisha often
came, thankful for its quiet peace. Nor was God unmindful of the
woman’s kindness. Her home had been childless; and now the Lord
rewarded her hospitality by the gift of a son.
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Years passed. The child was old enough to be out in the field with
the reapers. One day he was stricken down by the heat, “and he said
unto his father, My head, my head.” The father bade a lad carry the
child to his mother; “and when he had taken him, and brought him to