he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: (17) for it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. (18) He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. (19) So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.

loitering of the prophet of Judah on the way. Taken by itself, it would not necessarily convey this; but in relation to the temper indicated in the whole story, the thing may be not improbable.

(18) An angel spake unto me.-The lie was gross, and ought to have been obvious to one who had received a plain command, and must have known that "God was not a man that He should lie, or the son of man that He should repent." It was believed, no doubt, because it chimed in with some secret reluctance to obey, and, by obedience, to give up all reward and hospitality. Hence the belief was a self-deceit, and, as such, culpable. It is inexplicable that the condemnation which it drew down should have been thought strange by any who understands human nature, and knows the self-deceiving colour which our wish gives to our thought. (See the famous Sermon of Bishop Butler on "Self-deceit.")

(20) The word of the Lord came.-It is, perhaps, the most terrible feature in the history that the Divine sentence is spoken-no doubt, as in the case of Balaam, unwillingly-through the very lips which by falsehood had lured the prophet of Judah from the right path, and at the very table of treacherous hospitality. Josephus, with his perverse tendency to explain away all that seems startling, misses this point entirely, and assigns the revelation to the prophet of Judah himself. Striking as this incident is, it is perhaps a symbol of a general law constantly exemplifying itself,

is slain by a Lion.

eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. (24) And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase. (25) And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. (26) And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath 2torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him. (27) And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him. (28) And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass. (29) And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him. (30) And he laid his carcase in his

that the voice of worldly wisdom first beguiles the servants of God to disobedience by false glosses on their duty to Him, and then proclaims unsparingly their sin and its just punishment.

(24) A lion.-The lion is noticed in the Old Testament not unfrequently, especially in Southern Palestine at Timnath (Judges xiv. 5); near Bethlehem (1 Sam. xvii. 34); at Kabzeel, in Judah (2 Sam. xxiii. 20); near Aphek (1 Kings xx. 36); in the thickets and forests of the Jordan valley (Jer. iv. 7, v. 6), &c. The lion of Palestine is probably of the variety still constantly found in the neighbourhood of Babylon; and the prevalence of lions is shown by the occurrence of such names as Lebaoth, or Bethlebaoth, "the house of lions (see Josh. xv. 32), and by the many names for the lion used in Scripture, as, for example, in Job iv. 10, 11. Now that the forests have disappeared from Palestine the lions have disappeared with them.

(26) He said, It is the man of God.-The old prophet did not know how his prediction was to be fulfilled, but recognised at once its supernatural fulfil. ment. There is in his words a characteristic reticence as to his own share in the work, in respect both of the deceit and the prediction of judgment, perhaps indicating something of the strange mixture of remorse and unscrupulous policy which comes out in his later action.

(30-32) They mourned.-The mourning of the old prophet, and the burial of the body in his own sepulchre,

thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. (7) Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, (8) and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me. with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; (9) but hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: (10) therefore, behold, "I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and

drawn from the solid opaque look of the iris, when affected by cataract or some similar disease.

(7, 8) I exalted thee.-There is throughout a close allusion to Ahijah's prophecy (chap. xi. 31, 37, 38), which promised Jeroboam "a sure house, like that of David," on condition of the obedience of David. The sin of Jeroboam lay in this that he had had a full probation, with unlimited opportunities, and had deliberately thrown it away, in the vain hope of making surer the kingdom which God's promise had already made sure. The lesson is, indeed, a general one. The resolution to succeed at all hazards, striking out new ways, with no respect for time-honoured laws and principles, is in all revolutions the secret of immediate success and ultimate disaster. But in the Scripture history, here as elsewhere, we are permitted to see the working of God's moral government of the world, unveiled in the inspired declarations of His prophetic messenger.

(9) But hast done evil above all that were before thee. The language is strong, in the face of the many instances of the worship of false gods in the days of the Judges, and the recent apostasy of Solomon-to say nothing of the idolatry of the golden calf in the wilderness, and the setting up of the idolatrous sanctuaries in olden times at Ophrah and at Dan (Judges viii. 27, xviii. 30, 31). The guilt, indeed, of Jeroboam's act was enhanced by the presumptuous contempt of the special promise of God, given on the sole condition of obedience. In respect of this, perhaps, he is said below-in an expression seldom used elsewhere -to have "cast God Himself behind his back." But probably the reference is mainly to the unprecedented effect of the sin, coming at a critical point in the history of Israel, and from that time onward poisoning the springs of national faith and worship. Other idolatries came and passed away: : this continued, and at all times "made Israel to sin.'

Other gods and molten images.-See in chap. xi. 28 the repetition of the older declaration in the wilderness, "These be thy gods, O Israel." Jeroboam would have justified the use of the calves as simply emblems of the true God; Ahijah rejects the plea, holding these molten images, expressly forbidden in the Law, to be really objects of worship-" other gods,"-as, indeed, all experience shows that such forbidden emblems eventually tend to become. Moreover, from verse 15 it appears

on Jeroboam.

will cut off from Jeroboam 'him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. (11) Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it. (12) Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet feet enter into the city, the child shall die. (13) And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Je

that the foul worship of the Asherah ("groves") associated itself with the idolatry of Jeroboam.

(10) Him. . . and him.-The first phrase is used also in 2 Sam. xxv. 22, 1 Kings xxi. 21, 2 Kings ix. 8, to signify, "every male," implying (possibly with a touch of contempt) that even the lowest should be destroyed. The words following have in the original no conjunction and between them. They are in antithesis to each other, signifying in some form two opposite divisions of males. The literal sense seems to be "him who is shut up, or bound, and him who is left loose; ' and this phrase has been variously interpreted as the bond and the free,' the married and the unmarried," the child" who keeps at home," and the man" who goes abroad. Perhaps the last of these best suits the context; it is like "the old and young" of Josh. vi. 21, Esther iii. 13, Ezek. ix. 6, &c.

99.66

As a man taketh away dung.-The same contemptuous tone runs on to the end of the verse. The house of Jeroboam is the filth which pollutes the sacred band of Israel; to its last relics it is to be swept away by the besom of destruction. (Comp. 2 Kings ix. 37; Ps. lxxxiii. 10.)

(11) Him that dieth.-The same judgment is repeated in chaps. xvi. 4, xxi. 24. (Comp. also Jer. xxxvi. 30.) The "dogs" are the half-wild dogs, the scavengers of every Eastern city; the "fowls of the air" the vultures and other birds of prey. In ancient times the natural horror of insult to the remains of the dead was often intensified by the idea, that in some way the denial of the rites of burial would inflict suffering or privation on the departed soul. Whether such ideas may have lingered in the minds of the Israelites we have no means of knowing. But certainly their whole system of law and ritual was calculated to give due honour to the body in life, as consecrated to God; and this would naturally tend to teach them that the body was a part of the true man, and therefore to deepen the repugnance, with which all reverent feeling regards outrage on the dead.

(13) Because in him there is found some good thing. There is something singularly pathetic in this declaration of early death, in peace and with due mourning, as the only reward which can be given to piety in the time of coming judgment. It is much like the prophetic declaration to Josiah at the time

of the approaching fall of the kingdom of Judah (2 Kings xxii. 18-20). But, at the same time, we find in the Old Testament little indication of that general view of the prevalent sorrow and burden of life, which makes Herodotus, in his celebrated story of Cleobis and Bito (Book i. c. 31), imply that at all times early death is Heaven's choicest blessing. Such a view, indeed, is expressed in such passages as Job iii. 11-22, Eccl. iv. 1-3; but these are clearly exceptional. Life is viewed -sometimes, as in Ps. lxxxviii. 10-12, Isa. xxxviii. 18, 19, even in contrast with the unseen world—as a place of God's favour and blessing, which nothing but man's wilful sin can turn to sorrow. The presence and the penalty of sin are recognised from the day of the Fall onwards, yet as only impairing, and not destroying, man's natural heritage of joy.

(14) Shall raise him up a king.-Baasha. (See chap. xv. 27-30.) For, like Jeroboam, he had (see chap. xvi. 2-4) a probation before God, in which he failed, drawing down doom on his house.

But what? even now.-The exact meaning of these words has been much disputed. The LXX. renders "and what ? even now; the Vulgate has "in this day and in this time;" the Chaldee Targum, "what is now, and what besides shall be." Modern interpretations vary greatly. On the whole, perhaps, our version gives a not improbable rendering, and a simple and striking sense-" in that day; but what say I? the judgment is even now at hand." (Comp. our Lord's saying in Luke xii. 49: “I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled ?")

"At

.

(15) And he shall root up Israel.-The first prophecy of future captivity, and that "beyond the river" (Euphrates), is here pronounced against the kingdom of Israel, on account of their share in the idolatry of Jeroboam, and in the worse abominations of the "groves." Of all such utterances we must remember the express declaration of Jer. xviii. 7, 8: what instant I shall speak concerning a nation to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy; if that turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them." The prophecy uttered does not foreclose the probation of future ages. This is, after all, only one illustration of the great truth that-however impossible it is for us to comprehend the mystery-the foreknowledge of God does not preclude the freedom and responsibility

nation

of man.

The metaphor is of the reed shaken to and fro in the

Death of Jeroboam.

she came to the threshold of the door, the child died; (18) and they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.

(19) And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. (20) And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

(21) And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. a Rehoboam was

river, till at last it is rooted up, swept down the stream, and cast up on some distant shore.

Their groves.-The word rendered "grove" is properly Asherah, an idol: apparently the straight stem of a tree, surmounted by an emblem of the goddess represented (whence, perhaps, the wrong translation which, from the LXX. and Vulgate, has made its way into our version). (See Exod. xxxiv. 13; Deut. vii. 5, xii. 2; Judges iii. 7, vi. 25, 28, &c.) It is thought to have been an image of some deity like Astarte; and Gesenius infers from the derivation of the name that it was dedicated to her, as the goddess of good fortune. But the worship dates from a far earlier time than the introduction of the worship of the Tyrian Astarte, and the word itself is etymologically distinct from Ashtoreth or Ashtaroth. It is notable that in 2 Kings xxiii. 15 Josiah is said not only to have destroyed the altar and high places at Bethel, but to have "burned the Asherah; whence it may probably be concluded that (as is perhaps implied in this passage) the old worship of the Asherah, with all its superstitious and profligate accompaniments, grew up under the very shadow of the newer idolatry. From the worship of images as emblems to superstitious veneration of the images themselves, and thence to worship of many gods, the transition is unhappily only too easy.

"

(17) Tirzah.-From this incidental notice it would seem that Jeroboam had removed his habitation, temporarily or permanently, to Tirzah, a place renowned for beauty (Cant. vi. 4), and farther from the hostile frontier than Shechem. It seems to have continued as the capital till the foundation of Samaria. Its site is generally identified with a spot now called Tellûzah, about nine miles north-east of Shechem, still in the high ground of Mount Ephraim.

(19) And the rest. The preceding verse closes the detailed record of Jeroboam's reign. His exaltation and the promise to him, his idolatry and its punishment, are all that the historian cares to narrate. All else is summed up in the words "how he warred" (see below, verse 30, and chap. xv. 6) and "how he reigned." It is probable that his reign was prosperous enough in peace and war, though his attempt to subdue Judah failed. (See 2 Chron. xiii.) But all this the Scriptural record passes over, and only commemorates him as "Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."

(21) And Rehoboam. Here begins the second series of the book-a series of brief annals, touching

only the main points of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah, till the appearance of Elijah (chap. xvii. 1). In respect of the kingdom of Judah, and of Israel so far as it is connected with Judah, it is largely supplemented by the fuller record of the Chronicles (2 Chron. xi.-xvii.).

During this first epoch of the existence of the two kingdoms, including about sixty years, their relations appear to have been incessantly hostile, the aggression being on the side of the kingdom of Israel. In the reign of Rehoboam the invasion of Shishak was probably instigated, perhaps aided, by Jeroboam; subsequently the attack on Abijah, victoriously repelled, seems a direct attempt at subjugation; the same policy in substance is pursued by Baasha, and only checked by the desperate expedient of calling in the foreign power of Syria; till at last, wearied out by continual war against a superior force, Judah, even under such a king as Jehoshaphat, is forced to ally itself, apparently on a footing of something like dependence, with the kingdom of Israel.

(22) Forty and one years old when he began to reign. It has been noticed that the age of fortyone assigned to Rehoboam at his accession, here and in the Chronicles (both in the Hebrew text and the ancient versions) and in the history of Josephus, presents some difficulty in relation to the youth ascribed to him and his companions at the time of his accession; and, moreover, if only forty years are given to Solomon's reign, must throw back his birth to a time when his father must have been very young. It has been accordingly proposed to read "twenty-one" (by a slight change of the Hebrew numerals); but the combined authority supporting the present reading is strong, and the difficulties above noted, though real, are not insurmountable.

The city which the Lord did choose.This emphatic notice is, no doubt, intended to place Jerusalem and its worship in marked contrast with the new capitals and unauthorised sanctuaries which had sprung up. The possession of Jerusalem, with all that was associated with it, was the very life of the little kingdom of Judah, threatened by its more powerful rival and by the neighbouring nations. In Israel one capital succeeded another; Shechem, Tirzah, Samaria, Jezreel, became rival cities. In Judah no city could be for a moment placed on the level of the hallowed city of Jerusalem.

Naamah an Ammonitess.-The reference to the queen-mother is almost invariable in the annals of the kings, marking the importance always attaching to it in Eastern monarchies; but the mention (here and in verse 31) of Naamah as an Ammonitess is perhaps significant in relation to the description of the manifold idolatries of Rehoboam. It is curious that the succession should pass without question to the son of another and an earlier wife than Solomon's chief queen, the daughter of Pharaoh.

(22) Judah did evil.-From the Chronicles (2 Chron. xi. 17) we gather that, as might have been ex

over Judah.

the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. (23) For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. (24) And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did ac

pected, the judgment which had fallen upon the house of David for idolatry, the rallying of the national feeling round the sacredness of the Temple, and the influx from Israel of the priests and Levites, produced a temporary reaction: "for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon." With, however, the excitement, and perhaps the sense of danger (2 Chron. xii. 1), this wholesome reaction passed by, and gave way to an extraordinarily reckless plunge into abominations of the worst kind. These are ascribed not, as in the case of Solomon and most other kings, to the action of Rehoboam, but to that of the people at large; for the king himself seems to have been weak, unfit for taking the initiative either in good or evil. The apostasy of Judah was evidently the harvest of the deadly seed sown by the commanding influence of Solomon, under whose idolatry the young men had grown up. It is said to have gone beyond" all that their fathers had done," even in the darkest periods of the age of the Judges: perhaps on the ground that the sins of a more advanced state of knowledge and civilisation are, both in their guilt and in their subtlety, worse than the sins of a semi-barbarous age.

(23) High places, and images, and groves.On the "high places," see chap. iii. 2, and Note there. The "images" of this passage seem undoubtedly to have been stone pillars, as the "groves (i.e., the asherahs) were wooden stumps of trees (possibly in both cases surmounted by some rude representation of the deity worshipped). The first mention of such a pillar is in Gen. xxviii. 18, xxxi. 13, xxxv. 14, there applied to the stone which Jacob raises and anoints, in order to mark the scene of the vision at Bethel; next, we find repeated commands to destroy them (with the asherahs also) as erected by the Canaanites (Exod. xxiii. 24, xxxiv. 13; Lev. xxvi. 1; Deut. vii. 5, xii. 3), and to suffer neither near the altar of the Lord (Deut. xvi. 21). Like the high places, it seems plain that both might be either unauthorised emblems of God's presence or images of false gods; and, indeed, the stone pillar appears in some cases to be associated with the worship of Baal, as the Asherah with that of Ashtoreth. In this passage, from the strength of the language used, and from the notice in verse 24, it seems that the grosser idolatry is referred to. It was practised "on every high hill, and every shady tree "-such trees as were notable for size and shade in the bareness of the hills of Palestine.

(24) Sodomites. -See chap. xv. 12; 2 Kings xxiii. 7. There is a horrible significance in the derivation of this word, which is properly "consecrated," or devoted;" for it indicates the license, and even the sanction, of unnatural lusts in those consecrated to the abominations of Nature-worship. The appearance of such in the land, whether Canaanites or apostate Israelites, is evidently noted as the climax of the infinite corruption which had set in, rivalling-and, if rivalling. exceeding in depth of wickedness-the abominations of the old inhabitants of the land. That such horrors are