1 Kings 14

his day: “Wo unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the: ada and your fathers killed them.” ((Luke 11:47).) Again,; en I die, (said he,) lay my bones by his bones.’ And do % -net any professing Christians flatter themselves, that, by s buried in ground consecrated by the ashes of the saints, shall also rise with them; and foolishly hope to escape “ye which seeth all things! (See Psalm exxxix. 7—12.) IV. Ver. 1—31. Jeroboam’s reign and death; the apostacy of Rehoboam and of Judah.—Jeroboam’s son falling sick, he sends his wife in disguise to Ahijah, to inquire respecting his recovery. The prophet was, however, apprized of her visit; and though blind, immediately as she set her foot within his door, he calls her by name, denounces the death of the youth, the terrible destruction of Jeroboam’s house, and that the ten tribes should be carried away captive.

The death of the youth is, however, not threatened as a judgment upon _ himself, for he is “ taken from the evil to come,” and obtains ~ this honourable distinction—‘‘ He only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave” in peace, because in him there was found ‘‘some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel;” which plainly intimates that he was not a mere infant, but had discovered evidence of early piety. For other particulars of Jeroboam’s reign, we are referred to “the book of Chronicles,” while the historian returns to Rehoboam, and the house of Judah. By the age of Rehoboam, it should seem that he must have been born before the accession of his father Solomon; but in this there seems to be some mistake.

(See note on ver. 21.) His mother being an Ammonite, though for a while she might profess to be a proselyte, yet it is probable that afterwards she was one of the strange wives that turned away the heart of Solomon to idols. It was not therefore to be expected that Rehoboam should be clear from idolatry, especially as he apale to have been not only a weak, but a vicious man, and to ave laid no restraint on the morals of the people; so that they not only worshipped idols, but served them with rites the most abominable and obscene. as In consequence of these enormities, the Lord was pleased to suffer Shishak, king of Egypt, to invade Jerusalem, when he plundered both the temple and the palace of their treasures; maclipartiontaris took away the three hundred shields of beaten gold, which Solomon had made, as already mentioned.

But for a fuller account of this invasion, we are again referred to Chronicles; in the mean time we may remark upon the differ ent characters of these rival and contemporary kings. Rehohad brought on his father and himself, he had neither wisdom | of the Lord, like David his father.” He banished the Sodomnor resolution to resist it. Jeroboam, on the other hand, was | ites, pulled down his father’s idols, and even removed his __ artful, active, and decided in his character; yet, though he | gran mother from being queen, because she had made a filthy ae knew the ten tribes had been given him in consequence of idol—which he burnt by the brook Kidron. For some un- Solomon’s apostacy, he also became an apostate.

and an idola- | known reason, the high places, indeed, which were oe a3io! ter; but not exactly in the same way. The king of Judah | ally used for sacrifice, were not removed; yet “his hea worshipped heathen idols, and by heathen rites. The king of | perfect with the Lord all his days;” i. e. he served hi Israel made idols of his own, and attempted a middle path, | and no idol, as was the case with David, who t by imitating the temple worship, with images, and rites, and | aside all his days from the divine precepts, “ save only in by priests of his own making, as in the case of Micah, the | matter of Uriah.” What, then, was that David’s only sin? Ey raimite. (See (Judges 18:14), &c.) The one worshipped | Far from it.

He sinned in numbering the people, and in vafalse gods, the other the true God, as he pretended; but it was | rious other instances; for these he offered atonement, and in a way contrary to his appointment. It is, difficult to say | they were blotted out; but this was a sin so complicated and which is the most offensive to the divine Being; both, how- | enormous, that (though certainly forgiven) it will remain a blot A ever, we well know, proceed from the same source, “an evil | upon his memory while the Scriptures of the Old Testament | heart of unbelief.” are in existence; and it is thus marked, to show that acts of

Notes on the verses

Chap. XIV. Ver. 3. Take with thee… cracknels, (Nakudim.)—[Spotted or a aytegeee cakes; either, as some suppose, thin cakes pierced through with holes, the same as is called Jews’ bread to the present day, and used by them at the passover; or, as Harmer imagines, cakes spotted with seeds, as with sesamum, Roman coriander, &c. such as he proves from Rawwolff, Russell, and Hanway, are still used in the East. This was certainly nota present that proclaimed royalty; but itdoes not appear to have been, in the estimation of the Rast, a present only fit for a country woman to have made, as Bp. Patrick pupposes: for D’ Arviews informs us, that when he waited on an Arab emir, his mother and sisters sent him a present of pastry, honey, and fresh butter, with a basin of sweet-meats of Damascus.]—Bagster.—A cruise—Bither of skin or earthenware.

In the East, no person thinks of asking information, or any kind of favour, without some present. See on (1 Samuel 9:7). Ver. 6. Heavy tidings.—All hard substances are heavy. Sounds are heavy which are dismal or alarming. 7. Ver, 10. Every male.—The common version is as in (1 Samuel 25:22). Wwe conceive the sense of the verse to be, ‘‘ every man who walks the streets, and every one who is concealed at home;” and to complete the contumely of the expression, they are all compared to dung. Pp wage Ver, 13. Some good thing,—The Hebrew debar, signifying primarily word some have hence inferred, that he was now a young man, past childhvod, and that he had been bold enough to speak ‘‘a gqod word” (as we should say) on the part of Jehovah, and against idolatry: and this accounts for his death being so generally lamented.

‘:; Ver. 14. But what? even now.—These expressions are evidently elliptical, up? Even novw the judgment is begun in the death of the young prince Abijah.” | their abominable impurities as acts of religion:”’ also the gains of prostitution Ver. 17. Tirzah.—{ Tirzah was a city of Ephraim, to yhieks tribe Jeroboam | were dedicated to their idols.;:: belonged - and appears to have been pleasantly situated, as it is said in Ca. Ver. 31. Abijam.—This name is also spelt Abihu, and Abiah. See (Matthew 1:7).