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21 And he cried unto the man of God, that came from Judah, saying, perhaps in great agony at his own guilt, and the injury he had done his guest, though the message was agreeable enough to his en vious temper, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the com 22 mandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which [the LORD] did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers; thou shalt not be buried among the Jews, the want 23 of which was reckoned a mark of infamy. And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, [to wit,] for the prophet whom he had brought 24 back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass 25 stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass. And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass: and they came and told [it] in the city where the old prophet dwelt, as a wonderful event.

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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 torn 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 28 they saddled [him.] And he went and found his carcass cast in

the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the 29 lion had not eaten the carcass, nor torn the ass. And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back and the old prophet came to the 30 city, to mourn and to bury him. And he laid his carcass in his own grave; and they mourned over him, [saying,] Alas, my brother! This was a usual form of lamentation; but we might hope it had a good effect upon him, and led him to repentance. 31 And it came to pass after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepul. chre wherein the man of God [is] buried; lay my bones beside his bones, out of regard to him, and security to himself, that his 32 bones might not be burned, as was threatened in v. 22. For the saying which be cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which [are] in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.

There were many things remarkable in this. That the lion should stay him, and not tear him, nor destroy the ass nor the passengers. That the ass should stay quietly, and the lion to guard the carcass. This was a proof to all who went by, that this was not a casual, but a very extraordinary event, an awful providence, and a necessary act of severity. Had not God punish-d him thus, the Israelites would have been hardened in their idolatry, and have concluded that he was a false prophet, because he had eaten and drank contrary to the divine command. His death gave authority to his message. If God spared not a good mang when thus sinning, with so many fair excuses, how should he spare the presumptuous idola ters? His ponishment was only a temporal death; God might pardon and accept him in another world.

+ In 2 Kings xxiii. 17, we find there was a large and remarkable inscription set over him, which kept up the memory of the prophecy, and the expectation of the event.

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After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way ; all these miracles had no effect on him ; perhaps the death of the messenger hardened him, though it might have been expected to produce a contrary effect: but he made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places, without any regard to tribe, character, or condition: whosoever would, he consecrated him, S4 and he became [one] of the priests of the high places. And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut [it] off, and to destroy [it] from off the face of the earth; which was fulfilled, ch. xv. 29, 30.

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REFLECTIONS.

ROM the instance related in this chapter, we are taught to adore the comprehensive view which God has of the most uncertain future events. What is more contingent or uncertain than children's names! Yet he whom God promised to raise up from the house of David, so many years before he was born, is called Josiah. Let us reverence him who is a God of knowledge, and to whom are known all his works from the foundation of the world.

2. See how soon and how easily God can blast persecuting powers, and disable their cruel hands: Jeroboam's hand withered in a moment, so that he could not draw it back. We have little reason to be afraid of man, when we are employed in the cause of God, who can at once disable and confound his proudest enemies.

3. It well becomes God's prophets resolutely and faithfully to adhere to his directions: not to fear the face of man, but speak all he commands them, keeping close to his injunctions, and resolutely abiding by what he requires. May this be the temper and practice of all God's prophets !

4. Good men are in great danger of being seduced by pretenders to sanctity and divine revelation, which was the case here. The good prophet did not suspect a person who pretended to have divine revelation. Many are thus led into erroneous notions and sinful practices by artful men, pretending uncommon zeal, and extraordinary illuminations. There are some instances of this in the present day; therefore believe not every spirit, but try the spirits; beware of false prophets. His fault was credulity; giving credit to a message which was contrary to what God had declared, without sufficient evidence that it came from him. Let us learn not to regard what men say in religious matters without evidence; especially when they make extraordinary pretences to divine illuminations and inspirations. There is great reason to suspect such. The simple believe, and are punished; but wise men are cautious. Be not children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, and cunning men, who lie in wait to deceive.

5. God sees the sins of his people with great displeasure. He was angry at this good prophet, and animadverted on his misbehaviour; not even his profession of pure religion, his office as a VOL. III

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prophet, his good character, or good services, could secure him from God's anger. This is an important caution to all to be afraid of sin; for, should we escape the wrath to come, yet some dread'ful anguish of spirit, or temporal calamity, may overtake us here.

6. Let us learn not to judge of men by afflictions or prosperity. 'One would have thought this wicked prophet would have been destroyed rather than the other. But he escaped the lion; he was to die a natural death, while the other was slain. God's judgments are a great deep. We do not know good or evil, nor men's real characters; it is therefore folly and presumption for us to judge of them by their external circumstances: judge nothing before the time.

7. We learn, that the motions of beasts are under divine direction. The lion never attacks but when he is exceeding hungry, and is particularly fond of the flesh of asses; therefore God's providence was remarkable in the instance before us. He directs their steps, changes their instincts, and all to serve his own purposes. The faithful servants of God shall be at league with the beasts of the field; while he defends them, no lion or wild beast shall destroy them. But if God is our enemy, he can make tame ones instruments of our destruction.

- 8. Let us lament the terrible obstinacy of sinners, and the little effect which divine judgments have upon them. Jeroboam and his idolatrous priests were not affected by this wonderful scene. Vice, especially idolatry, besots men, and takes away their hearts. May we guard against declension from God, against the first step in an ill way; before our hearts be hardened, and judgments or deliverances make no impression. The grand lesson from the whole is, to fear God, and keep his commandments; for sin will always bring bitterness in the end.

CHAP. XIV.

-The sickness and death of Jeroboam's son, and the doom of his kingdom foretold; and Rehoboam's trouble and death.

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T that time Abijah the eldest son of Jeroboam, and heir apparent, fell sick. And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh ; behold, there [is] Ahijah the prophet, which told me that [I should be] king 3 over this people." And Jeroboam said, Take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, (a sort of hard cakes or buns) and a cruse

He could not trust either the gods or the priests he had made; but chose his wife to be the messenger, that she might bring him a faithful report. She was to disguise herself, that the prophet might speak freely and indifferently to her; and that it might not be known publicly that he paid so much respect to a prophet of Judah, lest it should lessen the people's zeal for the calves. He might also fear lest the prophet should send him a reproof. On the whole to think that he could deceive a prophet, who foretold future events, and had warned hims of -idolatry, discovered great stupidity."

of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. He does not desire his prayers, though he had seen how prevalent the prayers of a prophet had been in his own case. 4 And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and, came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age; his sight was gone, but still he had the visions of the Lord.

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And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he [is] sick thus and thus shalt thou say unto her for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself [to be] another 6 [woman.] And it was [so,] when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself [to be] another? for I [am] sent to thee [with] heavy [tidings.]. He intimates his knowledge of her person, that she might give greater credit to the message; yet addresses her like a prophet, not like a courtier. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, raised thee from a private station, 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; hast not observed the orders that were given thee, nor kept from idola9 try as David did; 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; neglected me, and treated my service with contempt: 10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil, universal destruction, upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam, him that pisseth against the wall, [and] him that is shut up and left in Israel, shut up at home in places of security, or left in the coun try, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone, leaving none, be11 cause of the loathsomeness of it, ch. xv. 29. 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, none shall be buried; and 12 the decree is irrevocable, for the LORD hath spoken [it.] Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: [and] as a sign of the truth of this prophecy, when thy feet enter into the city, when thou art gone but a little way in the city, even so far as to 13 the threshold of the king's door, (v. 17.) the child shall die. 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 14 house of Jeroboam. Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a

Abijah disliked the worship of the calves, and intended to remove them when it was in his power, and to allow the people to go to Jerusalem. The Jews say, that he broke down an hedge, or fence, which his father had made to prevent their going to the feast at Jerusalem,

king over Israel, Baasha, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day but what? when shall this come to pass? even now, very quickly; it is as sure as if it were even now done. 15 For the LORD shall smite Israel, for consenting or joining in idolatry, as a reed is shaken in the water, there shall be perpet ual commotions or civil wars; and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and new families shall take the throne, and shall scatter them beyond the river Euphrates, because they have made their groves, in which they placed the images of their gods, provoking the LORD to anger. 16 And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who, by his authority and example, made Israel to sin.

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And Joroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah :* [and] when she came to the threshold of the door, the 18 child died; 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. There was a gen eral mourning, which confirmed what the prophet had denounced, and was a sign that the rest of the threatening should be fulfilled in due time.

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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; not in the Chronicles of our Bible, but 20 in their civil records. 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,†

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And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam [was] forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother's name [was] Naamah an Am22 monitess, And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins, which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done, more than in 23 the time of the judges. For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every 24 green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land: [and] they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

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And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, [that] Shishak (ch. xi. 40.) king of Egypt came up against Jerusa 26 lem | And he took away the treasures of the house of the

Shechem was the royal city at first, but Tirzah was a beautiful place, where Jeroboam kept his court.

We read in 2 Chron. xiii. 29. that the Lord struck Jeroboam with some violent, painful disease, or grievous accident, so that he died under the apparent displeasure of God.

They built temples, or little edifices, about their images, sometimes called groves by heathen writers, because they were originally worshipped in groves.

Rehoboam met with a speedy punishment for his revolt; be adhered to the worship of God three years, in the fourth he committed abominations, in the fifth Shishak came. in 2 Chron. xii. 2. it is said Shishak had twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and Boot soldiers without number, and he took Jerusalem without opposition.

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