1. AND Rehoboam went to Shechem : for all Israel were come to Shechem to make 2 him king. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, (for he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon,) that Jeroboam 3 returned out of Egypt. And they sent and called him ; and Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spake to Rehoboam, saying, 4 Thy father made our yoke grievous : now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve 5 thee. And he said unto them, Come again unto me after three days. And the people 6 departed. And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give ye me to return an- 7 swer to this people ? And they spake unto him, saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for 8 ever. But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men that were grown up with him, that stood before him. 9 And he said unto them, What counsel give ye, that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that thy father did put upon us 10 lighter ? And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou say unto the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us ; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger is thicker than my father’s 11 loins. And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke : my father chastised you with whips, 12 but I will chastise you with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, say- 13 ing, Come to me again the third day. And the king answered them roughly ; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old 14 men, and spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto : counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. So the king hearkened not unto the people; for it was a thing brought about of the LORD, that he might establish his word, which the LORD spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the levy; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. And king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled against the house of David, unto this day. And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was returned, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.

Historic Outline. After Moses and Joshua, for three hundred and fifty years God had maintained a special personal rule over the tribes that He had chosen as His people. During this period, as occasion demanded, from time to time He had raised up special deliverers, called Judges. Of these the number of recorded names is fifteen. Then, at the people’s solicitation, God had given them, in Saul, the style of king they desired; a man of kingly presence and strong character, a brave, sagacious leader, but ruled as were the people by a selfish worldly spirit. To him succeeded David, who was God’s own appointee; a complete warrior and organizer, always true to God’s interests in his kingly administration, though sometimes false to his own through frailty of his passionate nature. Upon the death of Saul a spirit of hostility had arisen, between Judah and Benjamin on the south, and the other ten tribes of the north. Under the judicious, impartial and beneficent rule of David this hostile spirit wholly disappeared in a new feeling of national unity. But to sustain Solomon’s more splendid and prosperous but self-seeking reign, many burdens had been laid upon the northern tribes. The old disaffection had sprung up again, and secretly extended among them all.

my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. So the king hearkened not unto the people; for it was brought about of God, that the LORD might establish his word, which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So all Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the levy; and the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. And king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled against the house of David, unto this day.

Now, at the critical moment of Solomon’s death, and partly as a consequence of Rehoboam’s infatuated folly, this disaffection breaks forth into successful revolt. And the kingdom of Saul, David, and Solomon, that had lasted one hundred and twenty years, is dismembered into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Of these, the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes, continues two hundred and fifty-four years under nineteen or twenty kings of ten different families. Assyrian conquerors then (721 B.C.) carried away the ten tribes; and, as a distinct people, they disappeared from history. The kingdom of Judah lasted three hundred and eighty-eight years under nineteen or twenty kings of the family of David. Removed (587 B.C.) to Babylon, after a captivity of seventy years they were restored in considerable numbers to their own land. This historic outline should be carefully fixed in mind as a preparation for the intelligent study of these pages. B.

The space of time from the separation of the two kingdoms to the completion of the captivity of Judah is about four centuries. These centuries constitute a period second in importance to none of equal length. They comprise the great development, the decadence and the fall of Assyria, the sudden growth of Media and Babylon, the Egyptian revival under the

Psammetichl, the most glorious time of the Phœnician cities, the rise of Sparta and Athens to pre-eminence in Greece, the foundation of Carthage and of Rome, and the spread of civilization by means of the Greek and Phœnician colonies, from the Palus Maotis to the Pillars of Hercules. Moreover, they contain within them the transition time of most profane history, the space within which it passes from the dreamy cloud-land of myth and fable into the sober region of reality and fact, and assumes the character of authenticity and trustworthiness. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Phœnicia, Greece vie with each other in offering to us proofs that the Hebrew records, for this time, contain a true and authentic account of the fortunes of the race; and instead of finding merely a few points here and there to illustrate from profane sources, we shall now be able to produce confirmatory proof of almost every important event in the history. G. R.

In the later years of David’s reign, when the consciousness and the consequences of the great sin of his life had, so to speak, paralyzed the strong hand which held the reins of government, we are led to see how, in the Providence of God, the possibility of a great military world-monarchy in Israel—such as those of heathen antiquity—was forever frustrated. Another era began with Solomon: that of peaceful development of the internal resources of the country; of rapid increase of prosperity; of spread of culture; and, through friendly intercourse with other nations, of introduction of foreign ideas and foreign civilization. When it is remembered that the building of the Temple preceded the legislation of Lycurgus in Sparta by about one hundred and twenty years, that of Solon in Athens by more than four hundred years, and the building of Rome by about two hundred and fifty years, it will be perceived that the kingdom of Solomon presented the dim possibility of the intellectual, if not the political empire of the world. But, in the Providence of God, any such prospect passed away, when, after only eighty years’ duration, the Davidic kingdom was rent into two rival and hostile states. A. E.

The origin of this separation is declared to have been a Divine judgment on the house of David, in consequence of the idolatrous worship introduced by the foreign wives of Solomon, and criminally permitted or partaken of by that prince. Had this offence remained unpunished, so contagious an example would have probably infected the whole mass of the people, who would thus have irretrievably sunk into idolatry and vice; and does it not appear probable, that so long as the whole nation continued united under one sovereign this danger might frequently recur? Does not this division of the people under two monarchs appear, even to our short-sighted views, not only a just punishment for the crimes of Solomon, but the most probable method of preventing that universal apostasy caused by similar misconduct in future, which might have entirely defeated the design of the Jewish dispensation? Thus we must consider this revolution in its first origin as a providential dispensation. Yet it was not brought about by any resistless operation of Divine power; human passions and human agency were, in appearance, its only effective cause. The imprudent and tyrannical answer of Rehoboam to the demands of the Jewish people for a redress of grievances was its immediate occasion; but when the king of Judah made preparations to reduce the revolted tribes the Deity interposed to prevent the miseries of civil war, and commanded by His prophet: “Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren, for this thing is from me.” Nor should it be forgotten that this schism and idolatry of the ten tribes gave occasion for the most signal displays of Divine power and the most emphatic denunciations and manifestations of Divine justice, in the correction and government of this perverse race and their guilty monarchs. The miraculous reproof and punishment of Jeroboam himself, the death of his favorite son, the utter destruction of the three royal houses of Jeroboam, of Baasha, and of Ahab, all foretold by the prophets, afforded awful examples of the Divine vengeance. Among these ten tribes, also, were exhibited the miracles of Elijah and Elisha; concerning them too and their kings were pronounced some of the most distinguished prophecies of Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah; and finally, after a series of striking and instructive chastisements, God executed His final judgment on this deluded and corrupted race, for He “removed Israel out of His sight” (2 K. 17: 18). Nor were corresponding effects wanting from this schism on the remaining two tribes; for it proved the most powerful means of preserving in them whatever degree of attention to the Divine law subsisted among them. It made it the obvious political interest of the kings of Judah to adhere with strictness to the law of Moses, and to promote its observance among their subjects; a line of conduct which became the boasted distinction of these kings, and the popular topic by which they maintained their superiority over the kings of Israel. Graves.

The Books of Kings and Chronicles form the main source for the history of the kings of Israel and Judah. They require, however, to be supplemented, especially for the later kings, by a careful study of the prophetic Scriptures, particularly of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. Local coloring, the life and manners of the time, and the feelings of those contemporary with the events described, are derivable almost wholly from this latter source, which furnishes them often in tolerable abundance. G. R.—The history contained in the Kings and Chronicles is not, by any means, a mere civil history, for it keeps always in view its position and purport as a part of Holy Scripture, and therefore dismisses with brevity long reigns, and important wars and conquests, in order to give prominence to the moral lessons and admonitions of the time, and to the religious characteristics and tendencies of kings, nobles, priests and people. D. F.

The separate existence of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah is abundantly confirmed by the Assyrian inscriptions. Kings of each country occur in the accounts which the great Assyrian monarchs have left us of their conquests—the names being always capable of easy identification with those recorded in Scripture, and occurring in the chronological order which is there given. The Jewish monarch bears the title of “King of Judah,” while his Israelitish brother is designated after his capital city; which, though in the earlier times not called Samaria, is yet unmistakably indicated under the term Beth-Khumri, “the house or city of Omri,” that monarch having been the original founder of Samaria, according to Scripture. G. R.

Here, at the outset of the separate history of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, it may be well to take a general view of the relation of these two divisions of the Jewish people to Jehovah, their King. That the sin of Israel was much deeper, and their apostasy from God much sooner and more fully developed than in the case of Judah, appears from the circumstance, that the Divine judgment in the banishment of the people from their land overtook Israel one hundred and twenty-three years earlier than Judah. Yet at first sight it seems almost strange that such should have been the case. Altogether, the period of the separate existence of the two kingdoms (to the deportation of the ten tribes under Shalmaneser, about

722. B.C.) extended over two hundred and fifty-three years. During that time, thirteen monarchs reigned over Judah, and twenty over Israel, besides two periods of anarchy in Israel. The religious history of the ten tribes during these two and a half centuries may be written in very brief compass. Of all the kings of Israel it is uniformly said, that they “walked in the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat,” except of Ahab and his two sons (Ahaziah and Jehoram), under whose reigns the worship of Baal became the established religion of the country. It follows that there was not a single king in Israel who really served the Lord or worshipped in His Temple. On the other hand, there were at least five kings in Judah distinguished for their piety (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, and Hezekiah), while of the other eight, two (Joash and Amaziah) continued for a considerable, and a third (Rehoboam) for a short period their profession of the religion of their fathers. Four of the other five kings acquired, indeed, a terrible notoriety for daring blasphemy. Abijam, the son and successor of Rehoboam, adopted all the practices of his father during the last fourteen years of that monarch’s reign. During the reign of Jehoram the worship of Baal was introduced into Judah; and we know with what terrible consistency it was continued under Ahaziah and Athaliah, the measure of iniquity being filled by Ahaz, who ascended the throne twenty years before the deportation of the ten tribes, when the doors of the Sanctuary were actually closed, and an idol-altar set up in the Temple court. But, despite all this, idolatry never struck its roots deeply among the people, and this for three reasons. There was, first, the continued influence for good of the Temple at Jerusalem; and in this we see at least one providential reason for the existence of a central Sanctuary, and for the stringency of the Law which confined all worship to its courts. Secondly, the idolatrous kings of Judah were always succeeded by monarchs distinguished for piety, who swept away the rites of their predecessors; while, lastly, and remarkably, the reign of the idolatrous kings was uniformly brief as compared with that of the God-fearing rulers. Thus, on a review of the whole period, we find that, of the two hundred and fifty-three years between the accession of Rehoboam and the deportation of the ten tribes, two hundred passed under the rule of monarchs who maintained the religion of Jehovah, while only during fifty-three years His worship was more or less discarded by the kings of Judah. A. E.

The kingdom of Judah was preserved from the defection of the other tribes, expressly for the sake of God’s covenant with David, and to maintain His worship at its chosen seat; and the immediate consequence of Jeroboam’s religious revolt was to drive all the priests and Levites to Jerusalem. With the line of David remained God’s promise of a permanent kingdom, made doubly sure by its ultimate reference to the Messiah; in that family the crown was handed on, generally from father to son, while in Israel the dynasty of Jeroboam ended with his son; and there followed a series of murders and usurpations, amid which the longest dynasties, those of Omri and Jehu, only numbered four and five kings each. From the disruption to the epoch at which Ahaziah, king of Judah, and Jehoram, king of Israel, were killed at the same time by Jehu, a period of ninety years (B.C. 975-884), Judah had only six kings (though Ahaziah reigned but one year), while Israel had nine; and in the whole period of two hundred and fifty-five years, from the disruption to the captivity of Israel, twelve kings of Judah occupy the same space as nineteen kings of Israel—a striking indication of the greater stability of the former dynasty. The moral superiority is equally striking, not only in the preservation of the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem, while Israel was sunk in idolatry, but even on the comparatively weak ground of the personal character of the kings. It is true that the house of David was deeply corrupted, chiefly by its connection with the wicked house of Ahab; but it boasts the names of Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, the godly Hezekiah, the penitent Manasseh, the pure Josiah; while not one of the kings of Israel is free from the blot of foul wickedness, for even the fierce zeal of Jehu had no purity of motive. The two kingdoms were equally distinguished in their final fate. The sentence of captivity was executed upon Israel about one hundred and thirty years sooner than on Judah; and while only a remnant of the ten tribes shared the restoration of Judah, the latter became once more a small but powerful nation, not free from the faults of their fathers, but worshipping God with a purity and serving Him with a heroic zeal unequalled since the days of Joshua, and preparing for the restoration of the true spiritual kingdom under the last great son of David. P. S.

In the kingdom of Israel we see a long succession of wicked kings; in that of Judah we find a few who were eminent for piety. In every page we behold the genuine character of man; and through the whole history we see the faithfulness and unchangeableness of God, His holiness and justice, His mercy and forbearance. Jos. Jones.—The Bible history describes, in action and exhibition, the perfections of Jehovah, as fully as the proclamation in which He declares Himself to be long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and by no means clearing the guilty. It delineates the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of the human heart as forcibly and distinctly as the annunciations of the prophets, when they “cry aloud and spare not.” In the narratives of Scripture the dependent state, the perverseness, and the folly of man, and the secret motives by which he is actuated, as well as the power, the wisdom, the justice, and the goodness of God in His providential government, and above all in redemption, are vividly depicted. There is not a battle fought by the Israelites, nor a change in the administration of their government, the account of which is not designed for our instruction. There is not an incident recorded as taking place in a private family that has not a significant meaning . . . . And the history invariably keeps in view the agency of God in every occurrence, in events the most minute as well as the most considerable; and thus it furnishes a perpetual comment on the sublime description of the apostle, when, penetrated with admiration of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, he exclaims, “Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Holdane.

1. K. 12:1-5.** In the conference Jeroboam appeared as leader of the ten tribes. The son of Nebat, of the tribe of Ephraim, Solomon long before had appointed him as ruler over that tribe. An able and ambitious man, skilful and successful in the construction of various works, withal popular among his own and the other already disaffected tribes, he soon aspired to royal state. His aspirations were confirmed by the symbolic act and declaration of the prophet Ahijah, recorded in chap. 11:29-39. His designs being discovered by Solomon, he fled to Egypt, where he remained until the king’s death. At the call of the disaffected tribes upon the death of Solomon he came and acted as their spokesman in the conference with Rehoboam. And soon these tribes will elect and establish him as king over Israel.

6-8. The wise counsel rejected. The spirit of true worship or piety had almost died out of the land during the latter half of Solomon’s reign. Doubtless the charge which the ten tribes brought against Solomon (verse 4) was true. His selfish, lavish expenditure demanded the imposition of increasingly heavy taxes. These he would naturally exact in larger proportion from the more distant tribes. They received little or no direct benefit from the costly structures, cities and roads for commerce, upon which their tribute was expended. Naturally therefore, and not unreasonably, they asked for reduction of these onerous taxes. At first Rehoboam rightly seeks guidance from the experienced and trusted counsellors of Solomon his father. The advice him to comply with the people’s request for help, and to turn away their wrath by gentle words. And no wiser, better counsel was ever given. No clearer, truer statement of a great principle bearing upon practical conduct was ever spoken. “Serve thou this people,” they said, “by timely helpfulness in their needs, and speak kindly to them, so wilt thou make them willing servants and faithful subjects!” Helpful service and kindly dealing were essential conditions of a safe and successful rule, the real basis of a happy and useful kingship. And in nothing is the kingly and the Christ-like mind so much evinced as in costly personal service and kindly speech. Therefore He who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, declared that whosoever will be chiefest shall be servant of all. But Rehoboam “forsook the counsel of the old men” “that stood before Solomon his father.” B.

This was the kernel of the old men’s advice: “You are the father of your people. You will command them best by serving them, for thus you will command their hearts. Consult their interest; bear with their petulance; entertain their grievances; deal considerably and tenderly with their burdens.” The young king could not appreciate this lofty ideal of sovereignty. That a man could serve and be a king, that he could be most absolutely a king through service, was incomprehensible to him. Vincent.

8-11. The foolish counsel accepted. He consults with “the young men which stood before him,” who were his preferred counsellors. They urged him to threaten the people with yet severer exactions and harsher treatment, and to use only scornful and contemptuous words in his reply. The advice they gave indicated their character as selfish, heartless, and cruel. And that such men were his chosen and trusted associates, that such advice commended itself to his own haughty nature and accorded with his own inclinations, shows that the young king was himself alike heartless and cruel. B.—It was the advice of youthful selfishness, conceit, inexperience and presumption. Its kernel was: “You have the power; use the power. Thus shalt thou say unto them, My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” And he took this advice. Word for word, he spoke to the people after the counsel of the young men, abating not one cruel taunt, one brutal threat. He forsook the old men’s counsel. There is nothing uncommon in that. Vincent.

12-14. In the final decision of Rehoboam we find no trace of counsel sought of Jehovah. He wilfully turns away from the God of his fathers and utterly disregards all just rights of the people. Acting upon the suggestions of his own proud and foolish heart, and of companions alike self-seeking and foolish, he rudely and scornfully denies the reasonable petition of the people, and declares his purpose to subject them to still greater tyranny and suffering. There is no instance in history wherein so vast and permanent issues have depended upon a single decision, as in this election of foolish counsellors and adoption of unworthy counsel by Solomon’s most unwise son and successor. And yet what else could be expected of this son, neglected and uncounselled as he had been by Solomon, left to a natural unrestrained haughtiness and an unbalanced pride of power.

15. God’s part in this dismemberment of David’s kingdom. That “the cause was from the Lord,” obviously does not mean that God put the fatal folly into Rehoboam’s heart, or inspired his senseless utterance. It does not mean that God authorized or approved the rebellion of the ten tribes from the house of David. Nor did it imply any direct commission to Jeroboam, or endorsement of his new kingship over Israel. God had said that the kingdom of Solomon should be rent, and that Jeroboam should be king over the ten tribes. But concerning the manner in which His Word should be fulfilled, the human motives and actions through which His purposes should be accomplished, nothing is here asserted or implied that qualifies man’s sole responsibility in the matter. As the fulfilment of God’s purposes was not the motive, was not even in the thought, of the rebelling tribes and their leader, so it formed no possible excuse for their conduct. The simple key to any and every difficulty lies in the fact that God uses all human plans and acts, wise and unwise, good and evil, in the carrying out of His own only wise and good purposes. That God does thus interpose even the heathen mind has discerned, as we learn from the oft-quoted proverb: “Whom the gods would destroy they first infatuate.” B.

I see Jeroboam’s plot, the people’s insolence, the young men’s misadvice, the prince’s unreasonable austerity, meeting together, through the wise providence of the Almighty, unwittingly to accomplish His most just decree. All these might have done otherwise, for any force that was offered to their will; all would no more do otherwise, than if there had been no predetermination in heaven; that God may be magnified in His wisdom and justice, while man wittingly perisheth in his folly. Bp. H.—A stormy scene of passion, without thought of God, rages below, and above sits the Lord, working His great purpose by men’s sin. That Divine control does not in the least affect the freedom or the guilt of the actors. Rehoboam’s disregard of the people’s terms was “a thing brought about of the Lord,” but it was Rehoboam’s sin none the less. That which, looked at from the mere human side, is the sinful result of the free play of wrong motives, is, when regarded from the Divine side, the determinate counsel of God. The greatest crime in the world’s history was at the same time the accomplishment of God’s most merciful purpose. Calvary is the highest example of the truth, which embraces all lesser instances of the wrath of man, which He makes to praise Him and effect His deep designs. A. M.—Had Rehoboam followed the old men’s counsel he could at least have said, “I have done my best in the fear of God.” But by his folly he brought the whole responsibility of the fatal crisis upon his own shoulders. Jeroboam and the tent tribes wanted an excuse indeed, but Rehoboam gave them one gratuitously. It needed but this to kindle the spark of rebellion into a flame. Vincent.

16,17. Separation and final severance of Israel from Judah. The proud contemptuous tone of Rehoboam prompts the same spirit in the answer of the people. In the identical words of the malcontents who followed Sheba in the time of David, they say in substance, “We owe nothing to David, and receive nothing from the son of Jesse. Henceforth we renounce all allegiance and connection with him and his house!” So slightingly they refer to David; and with the bold challenge, “See now to thine own house, David,” they go homeward.

19,20. Then Rehoboam consummates his impolitic folly by sending a messenger, probably with some offer of compromise, to the exasperated tribes. B.—But with the wrong-headedness which characterized all his proceedings at this period of his life, he selected for envoy one of the persons most obnoxious to the malcontents—no other than his father’s chief director of the forced labors which were so unpopular—Adoram or Adoniram. The rebels seem to have considered that this was adding insult to injury; and, without waiting to hear his message, they stoned him to death. G. R.—This would seem to have been done before his departure from Shechem. For the stoning of this man, Adoram, by the whole people terrified the king and led him to flee to Jerusalem. This act of Israel was their final severance from the house of David. B.

Judah remained firm in his allegiance to the house of David; Benjamin, satisfied with the distinction accorded it by the emplacement of the capital within its borders, threw in its lot with Judah; Levi, thoroughly content with its grand position at the head of the religion of the kingdom, gave its sympathies to the Davidic cause, and ultimately gravitated to the southern kingdom. But Reuben, which claimed the right of the first-born; Ephraim, which had given to the nation Joshua, the conqueror, Deborah, the prophetess, and Samuel, the last and the greatest of the judges; Manasseh, which shared largely in the glories of its brother tribe, Ephraim (Gen. 48, 49; Deut. 33); Zebulun, which “sucked of the abundance of the seas;” Gad, which “dwelt as a lion;” Dan, the “lion’s whelp;” Issachar, the “strong ass couching down between two burdens;” Naphtali, the “hind let loose;” and Asher, the dweller in the far north, threw off the Davidic yoke, declared themselves independent of Judah, and proclaimed their intention of placing themselves under a new king. G. R.

It was an act of rebellion against God, not justified by the alleged provocation nor by the harsh words of Rehoboam. The real ground was jealousy against the tribe of Judah, which God had chosen to distinguish in establishing the throne of David, and in selecting Jerusalem as the seat of government and worship for the nation. As rebellion against Him, their secession was punished by their whole subsequent history and final extinction as a separate people. Yet, let it be remembered, this dismemberment of David’s kingdom was also the act of God in fulfilment of his frequent solemn warning to David and Solomon, and as a consequence of Solomon’s persistent disregard of the Divine commandments. We may add, that in the subsequent history of the two kingdoms can be traced God’s fulfilled purpose in preserving true religion in the world, and preparing the way for the introduction of Christianity. For Israel acted as a bulwark to keep back from Judah the contagion of idolatry diffused by the adjacent nations. B.—To the worshippers at Jerusalem the early decline and fall of Israel was a solemn and impressive spectacle of judgment against idolatry. This prepared the hearts of Judah for the revivals under Hezekiah and Josiah, softened them into repentance during the Captivity, and strengthened them for their absolute renunciation of idolatry, when after seventy years they returned to Palestine to become the channel through which God’s greatest gift was conveyed to mankind. Bullock.

The rending of the kingdom was the punishment of sin, especially Solomon’s sin of idolatry, which was closely connected with the extravagant expenditure which occasioned the separation. So the so-called natural consequences of transgression constitute its temporal punishment in part, and behind all these our eyes should be clear-sighted enough to behold the operative will of God. This one piercing beam of light, cast on that scene of insolence and rebellion, lights up all history, and gives the principle on which it must be interpreted, if it is not to be misread. Again, the punishment of sin, whether that of a community or of a single person, is sin. The separation was sin, on both sides; it led to much more. It was the consequence of previous departure. So ever the worst result of any sin is that it opens the door, like a thief who has crept in through a window, to a band of brethren. A. M.

While the sin of Solomon is visited upon his son in the division of the kingdom, God’s promised mercy to David is manifested in the continuance of his family upon the throne of Judah. Very touching and instructive is the record of this mercy: “For David My servant’s sake will I give unto the son of Solomon one tribe, that David My servant may have a light alway before Me in Jerusalem.” Herein impressively we learn the power with God that a truly consecrated man obtains, and the blessings he perpetuates; and the constancy of God to His covenant pledges of mercy.

In every position and relation of life, it is a kingly spirit that habitually heeds and practises the double counsel of these ancient sages: to serve and help, and to deal kindly in word, as in deed. And in this helpful, gracious dealing, we find the secret of securing and retaining a beneficent power over others in every sphere. Kindly utterance added to personal ministry ever impart a healthful and blessed magnetism over all the lives with which they come into contact. Together they win and hold all hearts, and make all lives the more fruitful and happy. B.

Rehoboam’s trouble was not that he did not see the right; it was that he would not follow it. The counsel of the young men pleased him better than his father’s counsellors. His own pleasure was sweeter to him than the profit of his people, and they must be trampled down that he might be lifted up. And has it not been so all through? It is not that men do not see the right; it is that they do not design to follow it, and so dimness of perception of truth comes over them, and men grow blind to the truth which they will not follow. It is just what the Master said: “Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” W. Newton.

Counsel is good; any man that thinks he does not need it is a fool or worse. “Seest thou a man that is wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.” Counsel in order to be good must come from a reliable source, a source entitled to respect and confidence, where there is information, integrity, and honesty of purpose, where there is unselfish and unbiased regard to truth and to our real good. Such counsel may not always be palatable, not such as we like or hope for, but in the end we shall either be thankful that we followed it or wish that we had.

When Rehoboam preferred the advice of the young men he took a step which he could never afterward retrace, whose mischief admitted of no remedy. Seventeen years he lived and reigned, but he did nothing toward retrieving his mistake. He could not get back his lost dominions, he could not recover his alienated people. He could never be king of Israel. Another bore that title. Jeroboam dwelt in Shechem, the beautiful home of his fathers, and from Bethel, almost in sight of his capital, the calf challenged its rival on Mount Zion, and all because of a determination formed perhaps in an instant, and of words which it took but a moment to utter. Hallam.

Rehoboam’s evil career is a comment on Solomon’s word: “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” The statement is strong. It asserts that association determines destiny. Other Scripture teaches the same. See Ps. 1; 1 Cor. 15:33. The popular proverb is profoundly true: “A man is known by the company he keeps.” Only let us be sure and emphasize the last word, “the company he keeps.” We keep only what we like. The social instinct which takes shape in friendships and intimacies furnishes an unerring index of character. Unerringly it draws like to like. The man who begins by walking in the counsel of the ungodly finds himself at home at last in the seat of the scornful. Rehoboam was unmade by his own folly, and his folly showed itself in nothing more than in the choice of his counsellors. Vincent.—God serves his own wise and righteous purposes by the imprudences and iniquities of men, and snares sinners in the work of their own hands. They that lose the kingdom of heaven throw it away, as Rehoboam did his, by their own wilfulness and folly. H.

The wisest man had a fool for a son. Why? His mother was an idolatrous Ammonite: and the mother makes or mars the child. To her was built the Temple of Moloch, and there the son doubtless was instructed in bloody and licentious rites. He grew effeminate in the softness of a harem. The earnest exhortations “to my son,” written in the Proverbs, would have no influence on such a young man, under such a father’s example, and himself leading such a life. H. W. Warren.

Again, we remind our readers that this entire history is a veritable Gospel of Providence. For our better understanding of the principles of God’s dealings, He hath given us this record of His ways as made known unto Moses, and His acts as revealed unto the children of Israel. The events of the history only multiply illustrations of this great fact. B.—The Bible record of human history is as if a clock had a transparent face. Human historians see and write what the hands tell; the Bible shows the moving wheels, the hidden causes. God can see the hidden causes that will work out results a hundred years hence. He forces not human wills, but uses the result of those wills. The nation that will not serve Him shall perish. H. W. Warren.

N. B.—To avoid confusion and to obtain a clear and well-defined conception of the history of both kingdoms, we propose to take each one through its entire career, noting all prominent points of its connection with the other. As covering the shorter period we begin with the KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. B.

Rehoboam and Abijah, in Judah.

Capital Cities; Establishment of Idol-worship; Warning of a Prophet from Judah unheeded; Disobedience and Death of the Prophet; Sickness and Death of Jeroboam’s Son; his Defeat by Abijah; his Evil Life, its Fruits and Lessons.