The People seek a

a ch. 11. 40.

(2) And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in "Egypt, heard of it, (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt ;) (3) that they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, (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 thee. (5) And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come ch.4.7. again to me. And the people departed.

(6) And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? (7) And they spake unto

ferred by conjecture, as underlying more obvious causes, is here placed in the forefront as a matter of course. For the history of Israel, as a history of God's dealings with the chosen people, is the visible and supernatural type of the dealings of His natural Providence with all His creatures.

(1) All Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.-In the case of David, we find that, when he was made king over Israel, he made a league" with the elders of Israel (2 Sam. v. 3), apparently implying a less absolute royalty than that to which he had been anointed, without conditions, over the house of Judah (2 Sam. ii. 4); and in his restoration after the death of Absalom, there appears to be some recognition of a right of distinct action on the part of the men of Israel in relation to the kingdom (2 Sam. xix. 9, 10, 41-43; xx. 1, 2). Even in the coronation of Solomon, we find distinction made between royalty" over all Israel and over Judah." (See chap. i. 35; and comp. chap. iv. 1.) Accordingly, Rehoboam seems to succeed without question to the throne of Judah, but to need to be "made king" by the rest of Israel, with apparently some right on their part to require conditions before acceptance. It is significant, however, that this ceremonial is fixed, not at Jerusalem, but at Shechem, the chief city of Ephraim, of ancient dignity, even from patriarchal times, as of singular beauty and fertility of position, which became, as a matter of course, the capital of the northern kingdom after the disruption. Perhaps, in this arrangement, which seems to have had no precedent, there was some omen of revolution.

(2) For he was fled.-In 2 Chron. x. 2, and in the LXX. version (or, rather versions, for there is variety of reading) of this passage, Jeroboam is made to return from Egypt, on hearing of the death of Solomon, to his own city, and to be "sent for" thence. This is obviously far more probable, and might be read in the Hebrew by a slight alteration of the text.

(4) We will serve thee.-It seems evident from the tone of the narrative, and especially from the absence of all resentment on the part of the king on the presentation of these conditions, that they were acting

Relaxation of the Yoke.

him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.

(8) But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him: (9) and he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter? (10) And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this 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,

within their right; and whatever Jeroboam's designs may have been, there is no sign of any general predetermination of rebellion. The imposition of the burdens of heavy taxation and forced labour on the people was against old traditions, and even against the practice of Solomon's earlier years. (See chaps. iv. 20, ix. 20— 22.) To demand a removal, or alleviation of these, was perfectly compatible with a loyal willingness to "serve' the new king. The demand might naturally be suggested by Jeroboam, who, by his official position, knew well the severity of the burden.

(7) If thou wilt be a servant.-Both the policies suggested show how corrupt and cynical the government of Israel had become. For the advice of the old counsellors has no largeness of policy or depth of wisdom. It is simply the characteristic advice of experienced and crafty politicians-who had seen the gradual development of despotic power, and had still remembrance of the comparative freedom of earlier days-understanding at once the dangerous vehemence of popular excitement, and the facility with which it may be satisfied by temporary concessions, and perhaps desiring to defeat that private ambition, which was making use for its own purposes of the natural sense of grievance. It is to give "good words," and to be for the moment" a servant to the people," with, perhaps, the intention of abolishing certain excessive grievances, but by no means of yielding up substantial power. Whether it was in itself more than superficially prudent, would depend on the seriousness of the grievances, and the social and political condition of the people.

(10) Thus shalt thou speak. The advice of the young men the spoilt children of a magnificent and luxurious despotism, of which alone they had experience-is the language of the arrogant self-confidence, which mistakes obstinacy for vigour, and, blind to all signs of the times, supposes that what once was possible, and perhaps good for the national progress, must last for ever. It is couched in needlessly and absurdly offensive language; but it is, as all history shows-perhaps not least the history of our own Stuart dynasty-a not unfrequent policy in revolutionary times; holding that to yield in one point is to endanger the whole fabric of sovereign power; relying on the prestige of an

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.

(21) And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. (22) But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying, (23) Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, (24) Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your breth

a ch. 11. 13.

blessing of Jeroboam, and professing to have risen in the name of the Lord against the idolatry of Solomon and his house. Perhaps it also indicated a desire for the subjugation of Judah, which Jeroboam, with the aid of Shishak, certainly seems to have subsequently attempted.

(20, 21) In these two verses we have again the same curious juxtaposition of "the tribe of Judah only" and "the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin." The army gathered would be, no doubt, drawn from Solomon's established and disciplined forces, as well as from the levy of Judah and Benjamin generallyperhaps including (as in 2 Sam. xvii. 27) contingents from the tributary races-who would be attached with a strong personal allegiance to the house of Solomon, and prepared to stamp out the rebellion, before it could thoroughly organise itself for disciplined resistance.

(22) Shemaiah the man of God. From the notices in 2 Chron. xii. 5-8, 15, it would seem that, while Ahijah belonged to Shiloh in Ephraim, and continued to dwell there, Shemaiah was rather attached to Judah, and hence, that his interference to protect the new kingdom was the more striking and unexpected. In this interposition, to which probably the very preservation of Jeroboam's half-formed kingdom was due, there is a fresh indication of the great opportunity given to that kingdom to maintain itself, under the blessing of God and in devotion to His service. The phrase "your brethren, the children of Israel," marks this with much emphasis.

(25) Jeroboam built Shechem.-Shechem had passed through many vicissitudes of fortune. It was already a city when Abraham entered the Promised Land (Gen. xii. 6), and is from time to time mentioned in the patriarchal history (Gen. xxxiii. 18, xxxiv., xxxv. 4, xxxvii. 12, 13). At the Conquest it became a city of refuge (Josh. xx. 7, xxi. 20, 21), and the scene of the solemn recital of the blessings and curses of the Law (Josh. viii. 33—35). From its proximity to Shiloh, and to the inheritance of Joshua, it assumed something of the character of a capital (Josh. xxiv. 1, 32). Then it became the seat of the usurpation of Abimelech, which

is Forbidden by Shemaiah.

ren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the LORD. (25) Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. (26) And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: (27) if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. (28) Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem :

allied itself with the native inhabitants of the region; but rebelling afterwards against him, it was destroyed (Judges ix.). We then hear nothing more of it till this chapter, when the tribes assemble at Shechem, under the shadow of the famous hills of Ebal and Gerizim, to meet Rehoboam. Jeroboam is said to have "built

it" anew. This may be taken literally, as indicating that it had never recovered from its destruction by Abimelech, or it may simply mean that he fortified and enlarged it as his capital. Subsequently it gave way to Tirzah and Samaria; but its almost unrivalled position preserved it in importance among the Samaritans after the Captivity, even down to our Lord's time, and under the name of Nablous (Neapolis) it has lasted to the present day, while many other cities once famous have passed away.

Penuel. See Gen. xxxii. 30, 31; Judges viii. 8, 17. It lay on or near the Jabbok, on the other side of Jordan, commanding the road from the east by Succoth to the fords of Jordan and Shechem. Jeroboam rebuilt itperhaps out of the ruin in which it had been left by Gideon-as an outpost to his new capital, and a royal stronghold among the tribes on the east of Jordan.

(27, 28) In these verses is recorded the adoption of the fatal policy which has caused Jeroboam to be handed down in the sacred record as the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." Hitherto his new royalty had been inaugurated under a Divine sanction, both as receiving distinct promise of permanence and blessing (chap. xi. 37, 38), and as protected by open prophetic interference, at the critical moment when its ill-consolidated force might have been crushed. Nor is it unlikely that it may have been supported by a wholesome reaction against the idolatry, as well as against the despotism, of Solomon. Now, unsatisfied with these securities of his kingdom, and desirous to strengthen it by a bold stroke of policy, he takes the step which mars the bright promise of his accession. Yet the policy was exceedingly natural. In Israel, beyond all other nations, civil and religious allegiance were indissolubly united; it was almost impossible to see how separate national existence could have been sustained without the creation, or (as it might seem)

the revival, of local sanctuaries to rival the sacredness of Jerusalem. Nor was the breach of Divine law apparently a serious one. The worship at Dan and Bethel was not the bloody and sensual worship of false gods, but the worship of the Lord Jehovah under the form of a visible emblem, meant to be a substitute for the ark and the overshadowing cherubim. It might have been plausibly urged that, to wean Israel from all temptation to the abominations which Solomon had introduced, it was necessary to give their faith the visible support of these great local sanctuaries, and the lesser "high places" which would naturally follow. But the occasion was the critical moment of choice between a worldly policy-" doing evil that good might come"-and the higher and more arduous path of simple faith in God's promise, and obedience to the command designed to protect the purity and spirituality of His worship. The step, once taken, was never retraced. Eminently successful in its immediate object of making the separation irreparable, it purchased success at the price, first, of destruction of all religious unity in Israel, and next, of a natural corruption, opening the door at once to idolatry, and hereafter to the grosser apostasy, against which it professed to guard. It needed the faith of David-as shown, for example, in the patient acquiescence in the prohibition of the erection of a Temple to be the spiritual glory of his kingdom-to secure the promise of "a sure house, as for David." That promise was now forfeited for

ever.

(28) Calves of gold. The choice of this symbol of the Divine Nature-turning, as the Psalmist says with indignant scorn, the glory of God into the similitude of a calf that eateth hay" (Ps. cvi. 20)—was probably due to a combination of causes. First, the very repetition of Aaron's words (Exod. xxxii. 8) indicates that it was a revival of that ancient idolatry in the wilderness. Probably, like it, it was suggested by the animal worship of Egypt, with which Jeroboam had been recently familiar, and which (as is well known) varied from mere symbolism to gross creature worship. Next, the bull, as the emblem of Ephraim, would naturally become a religious cognisance of the new kingdom. Lastly, there is some reason to believe that the figure of the cherubim was that of winged bulls, and the form of the ox was undoubtedly used in the Temple, as for example, under the brazen sea. It has been thought that the "calves" were reproductions of the sacred cherubim,-made, however, symbols, not of the natural powers obeying the Divine word, but of the Deity itself.

It is, of course, to be understood that this idolatry, against which the prohibition of many sanctuaries was meant to guard, was a breach, not of the First Commandment, but of the Second-that making of "a similitude" of the true God, so emphatically forbidden again and again in the Law. (See, for example, Deut. iv. 15-18.) Like all such veneration of images, it

Jeroboam.

I people, which were not of the sons of Levi. (32) And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he 1offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el

probably degenerated. From looking on the image as a mere symbol it would come to attach to it a local presence of the Deity and an intrinsic sacredness; and so would lead on, perhaps to a veiled polytheism, certainly to a superstitious and carnal conception of the Godhead.

(29) Bethel and Dan, chosen as the frontier towns of the kingdom, had, however, associations of their own, which lent themselves naturally to Jeroboam's design. Bethel-preserving in its name the memory of Jacob's vision, and of his consecration of the place as a sanctuary (Gen. xxviii. 19; xxxv. 14, 15)— had been (see Judg. xx. 18, 26, 31; xxi. 2; 1 Sam. vii. 16) a place of religious assembly, and, possibly, of occasional sojourn of the Ark. At Dan, it is not unlikely that the use of the local sanctuary, set up at the conquest of the city by the Danites, still lingered; and from the notice in Judg. xviii. 30, that the posterity of Jonathan, the grandson of Moses, were priests till "the day of the captivity of the land," it seems as if these priests of this old worship became naturally the appointed ministers of the new.

(30) Even unto Dan.-It has been thought that there is here a corruption of the text, and that words referring to Bethel have fallen out. But there is no sign of such variation in the LXX. (which only adds, in some MSS.," and deserted the house of the Lord") or other versions. The reason of the mention of Dan only is probably that there the old sanctuary remained, and the priesthood was ready: hence, in this case, "the people went to worship" at once. The verses which follow describe the erection of a temple and the creation of a priesthood at Bethel, necessary before the inauguration of the new worship at what naturally became the more prominent and magnificent sanctuary. This temple is called a "house of high places," partly perhaps from its actual position, partly to connect it with the use of "the high places" condemned in the Law. Indeed, as we have no notice of any time spent in building it, it is possible that some old "high place" was restored for the purpose.

(31, 32) of the lowest of the people.-This is universally recognised as a mistranslation, though a natural one, of the original, “the ends of the people." The sense is 'from the whole mass of the people," without care for Levitical descent-the Levites having (see 2 Chron. xi. 13, 14) generally returned into the kingdom of Judah on the establishment of this idolatry. It is hardly likely that the king would have lacked persons of the higher orders for his new priesthood. It is said that this was done "at Bethel," probably because at Dan an unauthorised Levitical priesthood was (as has been said) forthcoming.

(32) In the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month . . .-The " 'feast that was in Judah," to which this is said to be like, is clearly the Feast of Tabernacles, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The fixing of Jeroboam's festival of dedication for the Temple at Bethel to this special day

is characteristic. It at once challenged likeness to the Feast of Tabernacles, which was (see chap. viii. 2) the occasion of Solomon's dedication at Jerusalem, and yet took liberty to alter the date, and fix it in the month" which he had devised of his own heart," thus assuming the right to set aside the letter of the old law, while professing still to observe the worship of Jehovah.

Offered-or (see margin) went up-upon the altar.-The expression seems to imply that he ventured on a still greater innovation by taking on himself both functions of the priestly office-to offer sacrifice and (see verse 33) to burn incense. This is not, indeed, necessarily implied; for (see chap. viii. 63) the sacrificer is often said to offer, when he evidently does so only through the priests. But Jeroboam had set aside the peculiar sanctity of the Levitical priesthood already; and so was very naturally prepared to crown this process by acting as head of the unauthorised priesthood which he had created. Perhaps he had witnessed the exclusive prominence of Solomon at the great dedication festival, and desired to imitate and outdo it.

(33) So he offered upon the altar.-The repetition of this verse is accounted for by its belonging properly in sense to the next chapter, opening the story of the mission of the "man of God from Judah.' The idea of the verse would be best conveyed by rendering the verbs of this verse in the imperfect tense: "So Jeroboam was offering," &c.

XIII.

In this history, as in that of Elijah and Elisha, the compiler clearly draws from prophetic traditions or records. Here, accordingly, as there, the character of the narrative changes, and becomes full of graphic vividness and spiritual significance. In 2 Chron. ix. 29 we read of "the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat." It is natural to conjecture that from these this record is drawn.

(1) A man of God out of Judah.-Josephus calls him Jadon (Iddo); but from 2 Chron. xiii. 22 it appears that Iddo was the chronicler of the reign of Abijah, and must, therefore, have lived till near the close of Jeroboam's reign. Probably the tradition came from a mistaken interpretation of the visions of Iddo against Jeroboam."

By the word of the Lord.-A weak rendering of the original, "in the word of the Lord." The constantly recurring prophetic phrases are, “the word of

upon thee. (3) And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

(4) And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold

the Lord came to me," and "the Spirit of the Lord was upon me," enabling, or forcing, to declare it. The original phrase here implies both. The prophet came clothed in the inspiration of the word put into his mouth.

(2) Thus saith the Lord.-This is one of those rather unfrequent prophecies found in Holy Scripture, which, not content to foreshadow the future in general outline, descend to striking particularity of detail. It has been indeed suggested that the words "Josiah by name are a marginal gloss which has crept into the text, or the insertion of the chronicler writing after the event, and not a part of the original prophetic utterance. The latter supposition is in itself not unlikely. But the mention of the name in prediction is exemplified in the well-known reference to Cyrus in Isa. xliv. 28; and in this instance, as perhaps also in that, the name is significant (for Josiah means one healed" or "helped by Jehovah "), and is not, therefore, a mere artificial detail. The particularity of prediction, which is on all hands recognised as exceptional, will be credible or incredible to us, according to the view which we take of the nature of prophetic prediction. If we resolve it into the intuitive sagacity of an inspired mind forecasting the future, because it sees more clearly than ordinary minds the germs of that future in the present, the particularity must seem incredible. If, on the other hand, we believe it to be the supernatural gift of a power to enter, in some measure, into "the mind of God," in whose foreknowledge all the future is already seen and ordained, then it will be to us simply unusual, but in no sense incredible, that from time to time foreknowledge of details, as well as generalities, should be granted. It is beyond controversy that the latter view is the one put forward in Holy Scripture, both in the Old Testament and in the New. Prophecy is, indeed, something higher and greater than supernatural prediction; but it claims to include such prediction, both as a test of mission from God, and as a necessary part of its revelation of the dispensations of God. On the fulfilment of this prediction, see 2 Kings xxiii. 15—20.

(3, 4) The sign. Both the signs, like most miraculous signs, shadow forth plainly the thing signi. fied. The sign, announced to secure credence to the prediction, is itself a visible type of what that prediction foretold, in the shattering of the altar and the scattering of the ashes of the burnt-offering. The sign actually given includes, besides this, the sudden wither