228 THE MOABITES

of Elijah.” Then Jehoshaphat said,
“He is a prophet of the Lord: let
us go to him.” So the two kings
went to Elisha to ask him what
they must do. But when the pro-
phet saw Joram, he looked upon
him very gravely, for he knew what
a wicked man he was, and asked,
“Why hast thou come tome? Go
to the prophets of Baal; they are

the prophets of thy father and thy |

mother; thoulovest Baal, not God:
go to him.” Joram answered, “ We
are in great trouble; we are suffer-
ing from thirst in this wilderness,
and soon Moab will come and de-
stroy us.” Then Elisha said, “ Be-
cause of Jehoshaphat, I will attend
to thee; but I cannot look upon
thee alone, nor see thee. Thou art
an enemy of God; but Jehoshaphat
is His frienc and servant.” Then
Elisha commanded a minstrel to
play to him; and while the min-
strel was playing, God’s spirit
came upon Elisha, and taught him
what he must say to the two kings.
He said, “Thus saith the Lord,
make this valley full of ditches.
You shall not see wind, nor
rain; but the valley shall be filled
with water. And I will give the
Moabites into your power.” ‘This
was avery wonderful promise, but
not too powerful for God to per-
form; nothing is too wonderful for
Him.

The next morning, Jehoshaphat,
and Joram, and their armies, saw
water rushing along to the wilder-
ness where they were. ‘They knew
not how the water came; but they
watched it flowing on, and at last
all the valley was filled, and all the
country round. God had, many

 

 

 

years before, given His

people |

CONQUERED.

Israel water from a rock. He
had made a river in the wilderness
for them, and now He could bring
water into the wilderness again.
These were miracles God alone could
do. All things obey Him. ‘The an-
imals, and the son, and the moon,
and the trees, and the grass, and the
rain, and the seas, and the rivers,—
all these things belong to God, and
He can do what he pleases with
them. He commands the stun to
shine, and the rain to fall, and the
waters to flow; and they all obey.

| We cannot tell how God does these

wonders; for we understand very
little of His power and His works.
But we know that all He does is
wise and good; we know that He
will give His people all they need,
and He will keep them in all dan-
gers, and help them in all their
troubles.

And now the Moabites made
ready to go to the battle. They
rose very early in the morning;
the sun was shining brightly upon
the water in the valley, and made
it look red like blood. The Moab-
ites did not know what a wonderful
thing God had done; they did not
understand that he had sent water
into the valley to refresh His peo-
ple. So the Moabites looked in
wonder at the red water, and at last
they said, “This is blood. The
kings must be slain; they have
smitten one another; and now we
will go and take the spoil.” The
Moabites were very foolish to think
this. When God leaves wicked peo-
ple to think for themselves, and to
trust to their own wisdom, they
often do and think very foolish
things. ‘The Moabites came to the
camp of Israel to take the spoil;