ceiled with cedar and painted with
vermilion, with its olive groves and vineyards, and rich gardens
full of gay flowers and sweet spices, figs and peaches, and
pomegranates, and all the lovely vegetation which makes those
Eastern gardens like Paradise itself. And he had his great
household of slaves, men-servants and maidservants, guards and
footmen, singing men and singing women--perhaps a hundred souls and
more eating and drinking in his house day by day for many a year. A
great man; full of wealth, and pomp, and power. We know that it
must have been so, because we know well in what luxury those great
men in the East lived. But where is it now?

Where is it now? Vanished and forgotten. Be not thou afraid,
though one be made rich, or if the glory of his house be increased.
For he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth; neither
shall his pomp follow him.

See--of all Obadiah's wealth and glory, the Bible does not say one
word. It is actually not worth mentioning. People admired Obadiah,
I doubt not, while he was alive; envied him too, tried to thrust him
out of his place, slander him to King Ahab, drive him out of favour,
and step into his place, that they might enjoy his wealth and his
power instead of him. The fine outside of Obadiah was what they
saw, and coveted, and envied--as we are tempted now to say in our
hearts, 'Ah, if I was rich like that man. Ah, if I could buy what I
liked, go where I liked, do what I liked, like that great Lord!'--
and yet, that is but the outside, the shell, the gay clothing, not
the persons themselves. The day must come, when they must put off
all that; when nothing shall remain but themselves; and they
themselves, naked as they were born, shall appear before the
judgment-seat of God.

And did Obadiah, then, carry away nothing with him when he died?
Yes; and yet again, No. His wealth and his power he left behind
him: but one thing he took with him into the grave, better than all
wealth and power; and he keeps it now, and will keep it for ever;
and that is, a good, and just, and merciful action--concerning which
it is written, 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; for they
rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.' Yes,
though a man's wealth will not follow him beyond the grave, his
works will; and so Obadiah's one good deed has followed him. 'He
feared the Lord greatly, and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of
the Lord, Obadiah took a