| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
1 Kings Chapter
Fourteen
1 Kings 14
Chapter Contents
Abijah being sick, his mother consults Ahijah. (1-6) The
destruction of Jeroboam's house. (7-20) Rehoboam's wicked reign. (21-31)
Commentary on 1 Kings 14:1-6
(Read 1 Kings 14:1-6)
"At that time," when Jeroboam did evil, his
child sickened. When sickness comes into our families, we should inquire
whether there may not be some particular sin harboured in our houses, which the
affliction is sent to convince us of, and reclaim us from. It had been more
pious if he had desired to know wherefore God contended with him; had begged
the prophet's prayers, and cast away his idols from him; but most people would
rather be told their fortune, than their faults or their duty. He sent to
Ahijah, because he had told him he should be king. Those who by sin disqualify
themselves for comfort, yet expect that their ministers, because they are good
men, should speak peace and comfort to them, greatly wrong themselves and their
ministers. He sent his wife in disguise, that the prophet might only answer her
question concerning her son. Thus some people would limit their ministers to
smooth things, and care not for having the whole counsel of God declared to
them, lest it should prophesy no good concerning them, but evil. But she shall
know, at the first word, what she has to trust to. Tidings of a portion with
hypocrites will be heavy tidings. God will judge men according to what they
are, not by what they seem to be.
Commentary on 1 Kings 14:7-20
(Read 1 Kings 14:7-20)
Whether we keep an account of God's mercies to us or not,
he does; and he will set them in order before us, if we are ungrateful, to our
greater confusion. Ahijah foretells the speedy death of the child then sick, in
mercy to him. He only in the house of Jeroboam had affection for the true
worship of God, and disliked the worship of the calves. To show the power and
sovereignty of his grace, God saves some out of the worst families, in whom
there is some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel. The righteous are
removed from the evil to come in this world, to the good to come in a better
world. It is often a bad sign for a family, when the best in it are buried out
of it. Yet their death never can be a loss to themselves. It was a present
affliction to the family and kingdom, by which both ought to have been
instructed. God also tells the judgments which should come upon the people of
Israel, for conforming to the worship Jeroboam established. After they left the
house of David, the government never continued long in one family, but one
undermined and destroyed another. Families and kingdoms are ruined by sin. If
great men do wickedly, they draw many others, both into the guilt and
punishment. The condemnation of those will be severest, who must answer, not
only for their own sins, but for sins others have been drawn into, and kept in,
by them.
Commentary on 1 Kings 14:21-31
(Read 1 Kings 14:21-31)
Here is no good said of Rehoboam, and much said to the
disadvantage of his subjects. The abounding of the worst crimes, of the worst
of the heathen, in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen for his temple and
his worship, shows that nothing can mend the hearts of fallen men but the
sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. On this alone may we depend; for this let
us daily pray, in behalf of ourselves and all around us. The splendour of their
temple, the pomp of their priesthood, and all the advantages with which their religion
was attended, could not prevail to keep them close to it; nothing less than the
pouring out the Spirit will keep God's Israel in their allegiance to him. Sin
exposes, makes poor, and weakens any people. Shishak, king of Egypt, came and
took away the treasures. Sin makes the gold become dim, changes the most fine
gold, and turns it into brass.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Kings》
1 Kings 14
Verse 1
[1] At
that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
At that time —
Presently after the things described in the former chapter; which, though
related in the beginning of his reign, yet might be done a good while after it,
and so Ahijah the prophet might be very old, as he is described to be verse 4. It is probable he was his eldest son.
Verse 2
[2] 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 over
this people.
His wife —
Because she might without suspicion enquire concerning her own child; and
because she would enquire exactly, and diligently, and faithfully acquaint him
with the truth.
Disguise —
Change thy habit, and voice, and go like a private and obscure person. This
caution proceeded: first, from the pride of his heart, which made him loth to
confess his folly in worshipping such helpless idols, and to give glory to the
God whom he had forsaken. Secondly, from jealousy and suspicion, lest the
prophet knowing this, should either give her no answer, or make it worse than
indeed it was. Thirdly, from policy, lest his people should by his example be
drawn to forsake the calves, and to return to the God of Judah.
Verse 3
[3] And
take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him:
he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.
And take — A
present, after the manner, but mean, as became an ordinary country woman, which
she personated. It had been more pious to enquire, why God contended with him.
Verse 6
[6] 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.
Thou wife — By
which discovery he both reproves their folly, who thought to conceal themselves
from God, and withal gives her assurance of the truth, and certainty of that
message which he was to deliver.
Verse 8
[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;
David —
Who though he fell into some sins, yet, first, he constantly persevered in the
true worship of God; from which thou art revolted. Secondly, he heartily
repented of, and turned from all his sins whereas thou art obstinate and
incorrigible.
Verse 9
[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:
Above all —
Above all the former kings of my people, as Saul, and Solomon, and Rehoboam.
Images —
Namely the golden calves: not as if they thought them to be other gods in a
proper sense; for it is apparent they still pretended to worship the God of
their fathers, but because God rejected their whole worship, and, howsoever
they accounted it, he reckoned it a manifest defection from him, and a betaking
themselves to other gods, or devils, as they are called, 2 Chronicles 11:15, whom alone they served and
worshipped therein, whatsoever pretences they had to the contrary.
To provoke —
Whereby thou didst provoke me. For otherwise this was not Jeroboam's design in
it, but only to establish himself in the throne.
Hast cast —
Despised and forsaken me, and my commands, and my worship, as we do things
which we cast behind our backs.
Verse 10
[10]
Therefore, behold, I will bring evil 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, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as
a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.
Shut up —
Those who had escaped the fury of their enemies invading them, either because
they were shut up in caves, or castles, or strong towns, or, because they were
left, over-looked or neglected by them, or spared as poor, impotent, helpless
creatures. But now, saith he, they shall be all searched out, and brought to
destruction.
Dung —
Which they remove, as a loathsome thing, out of their houses, and that
throughly and universally.
Verse 11
[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.
Eat — So
both sorts shall die unburied.
Verse 12
[12]
Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into
the city, the child shall die.
When, … —
Presently upon thy entrance into the city; when thou art gone but a little way
in it, even as far as to the threshold of the king's door, verse 17, which possibly was near the gates of the
city. And by this judge of the truth of the rest of my prophecy.
Verse 13
[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 Jeroboam.
Shall mourn —
For the loss of so worthy and hopeful a person, and for the sad calamities
which will follow his death, which possibly his moderation, and wisdom, and
virtue, might have prevented. So they should mourn, not simply for him, but for
their own loss in him.
Grave —
Shall have the honour of burial.
Some good —
Pious intentions of taking away the calves, and of permitting or obliging his
people to go up to Jerusalem to worship, if God gave him life and authority to
do it, and of trusting God with his kingdom.
In the house —
Which is added for his greater commendation; he was good in the midst of so
many temptations and wicked examples; a good branch of a bad flock.
Verse 14
[14]
Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the
house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.
A king —
Baasha, chap. 15:28.
That day —
When he is so raised; in the very beginning of his reign, chap. 15:29.
But what? —
But what do I say, he shall raise, as it were a thing to be done at a great
distance of time: the man is now in being if not in power, who shall do this:
this judgment shall be shortly executed. Sometimes God makes quick work with
sinners. He did so with the house of Jeroboam. It was not twenty four years
from his first elevation, to the final extirpation of his family.
Verse 15
[15] For
the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall
root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall
scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking
the LORD to anger.
Is shaken —
Hither and thither, with every wind. So shall the kingdom and people of Israel
be always in an unquiet and unsettled posture, tossed to and fro by foreign
invasions and civil wars; by opposite kings and factions, and by the
dissensions of the people.
The river —
Euphrates, so called by way of eminency, this was accomplished in part 2 Kings 15:29, and more fully, 2 Kings 17:6.
Groves —
For the worship of their idols, God having before condemned the making and
worshipping of the calves, by which they pretended to worship the true God; he
now takes notice that they were not contented with the calves, but (as it is in
the nature of idolatry, and all sin, to proceed from evil to worse) were many
of them fallen into a worse kind of idolatry, even their worship of the
heathenish Baals, which they commonly exercised in groves.
Verse 16
[16] And
he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who
made Israel to sin.
Who made, … — By
his invention, and making the occasion of their sin, the calves; by his
example, encouraging those and only those that worshipped the calves; and by
his authority requiring and compelling them to do it. This is mentioned as a
monstrous aggravation of his wickedness, that he was not content with his own
sin, but was the great author of drawing others into sin, and of corrupting and
undoing the whole kingdom, which therefore God would never forgive him, but
upon all occasions mentions him with this eternal brand of infamy upon him.
Verse 17
[17] And
Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to
the threshold of the door, the child died;
Tirzah — An
ancient and royal city, in a pleasant place, where the kings of Israel had a
palace, whither Jeroboam was now removed from Shechem, either for his pleasure,
or for his son's recovery, by the healthfulness of the place.
The threshold — Of
the king's house, which probably was upon, or by the wall of the city, and near
the gate.
Verse 18
[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.
Mourned —
And justly: not only for the loss of an hopeful prince, but because his death
plucked up the floodgates, at which an inundation of judgments broke in.
Verse 19
[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.
The chronicles —
not that canonical book of chronicles; for that was written long after this
book: but a book of civil records, the annals, wherein all remarkable passages
were recorded by the king's command from day to day; out of which the sacred
penman by the direction of God's spirit, took those passages which were most
useful for God's honour, and mens edification.
Verse 21
[21] 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 Ammonitess.
Forty one years —
Therefore he was born a year before Solomon was king, as appears from chap. 11:42, this is noted as an aggravation of
Rehoboam's folly, that he was old enough to have been wiser.
An Ammonitess — A
people cursed by God, and shut out of the congregation of his people for ever.
This is observed as one cause both of God's displeasure in punishing Solomon
with such a son, and of Rehoboam's apostacy after his three first years, 2 Chronicles 11:17. None can imagine how fatal
and how lasting are the consequence of being unequally yoked with an
unbeliever.
Verse 22
[22] 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.
In the sight of the Lord — In contempt and defiance of him, and the tokens of his special presence.
Jealousy — As
the adulterous wife provokes her husband, by breaking the marriage covenant.
Verse 23
[23] For
they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill,
and under every green tree.
They also —
Followed the example of the Israelites, although they were better instructed,
and had the temple in their kingdom, and liberty of access to it, and the
privilege of worshipping God in his own way, and the counsels, and sermons, and
examples of the priests and Levites, and the dreadful example of Israel's
horrid apostacy, to caution and terrify them.
High places —
Which was unlawful, and, now especially when the temple was built, and ready to
receive them; unnecessary, and therefore expressed a greater contempt of God
and his express command.
Groves —
Not only after the manner of the Heathens and Israelites, but against a direct
and particular prohibition.
Under every green tree — The people were universally corrupted: which is prodigious, all things
considered, and is a clear evidence of the greatness and depth of the original
corruption of man's nature.
Verse 24
[24] 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.
Abomination —
They dishonoured God by one sin, and then God left them to dishonour themselves
by another.
Verse 25
[25] And
it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt
came up against Jerusalem:
Fifth year —
Presently after his and his people's apostacy, which was not 'till his fourth
year: while apostate, Israel enjoyed peace and some kind of prosperity, of
which difference, two reasons may be given: first, Judah's sins were committed
against clearer light, and more powerful means and remedies of all sorts, and
therefore deserved more severe and speedy judgments. Secondly, God discovered
more love to Judah in chastizing them speedily, that they might be humbled,
reformed, and preserved, as it happened; and more anger against Israel, whom he
spared to that total destruction which he intended to bring upon them.
Sishak — He
is thought to be Solomon's brother-in-law. But how little such relations
signify among princes, when their interest is concerned, all histories witness.
Besides Rehoboam was not Solomon's son by Pharaoh's daughter and so the
relation was in a manner extinct.
Came up —
Either, from a desire to enlarge his empire: or, by Jeroboam's instigation: or
from a covetous desire of possessing those great treasures which David and
Solomon had left: and above all, by God's providence, disposing his heart to
this expedition for Rehoboam's punishment.
Verse 26
[26] And
he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the
king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold
which Solomon had made.
He took —
First the city: which may seem strange, considering the great strength of it,
and how much time it took Nebuchadnezzar and Titus to take it. But, first, it
might cost Shishak also a long siege though that be not here related. Secondly,
it is probable David and Solomon in their building and altering the city, had
more respect to state and magnificence than to its defence, as having no great
cause to fear the invasion of any enemies. And it is certain, that after the
division between Judah and Israel, the kings of Judah added very much to the
fortifications of it.
Verse 27
[27] And
king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the
hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king's house.
Brazen shields —
This was an emblem of the diminution of his glory. Sin makes the gold become
dim, it changes the most fine gold and turns it into brass.
Verse 28
[28] And
it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD, that the guard bare
them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.
To the house, … — By
which it seems the affliction had done him some good, and brought him back to
the worship of God, which he had forsaken.
Verse 30
[30] And
there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.
Was war —
Not an invasive war with potent armies, which was forbidden, chap. 12:24, and not revived 'till Abijam's reign, 2 Chronicles 13:1-3, but a defensive war from
those hostilities which by small parties and skirmishes they did to one
another.
Verse 31
[31] And
Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of
David. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son
reigned in his stead.
An Ammonitess —
This is repeated as a thing very observable.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Kings》
14 Chapter 14
Verses 1-20
At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
A good boy and a bad family
One beautiful flower in a desert; one lovely rose amongst thorns;
one fruitful branch on a corrupt tree. We are going to speak of a boy who was
like that flower, rose, or branch.
I. This boy’s
father was very wicked. God had been kind to this man. Instead of remembering
God’s kindness and obeying Him, he tried to put away all thoughts of God from
his mind, and disobeyed Him. He caused two calves of gold to be made. One he
placed in Dan and the other in Bethel These he worshipped himself. Sin is like
descending a hill, a river in its course, a tree in its progress. This was seen
in his life. Some of the kings who preceded him were wicked, but he was the
worst.
II. This boy’s
mother was a deceiver.
III. Although this
boy had a wicked father and a deceiving mother, he was good. We are told that
in him there was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.
1. This good thing was religion. It is called good for four reasons:
2. Religion was in this boy:
Religion was found in this boy.
3. How could he be so unlike his father and mother?
Imitate him in these three things. If some of you have ungodly
homes, you will then learn, as he did, that you can be godly there.
IV. This boy died.
(A. McAuslane, D. D.)
Verse 6
Why feignest thou thyself to be another?
A cheat exposed
I. Wickedness
involves others, trying to make them its dupes, its allies, and its scapegoats.
Jeroboam proposed to hoodwink the Lord’s prophet. Iniquity is a brag, but it is
a great coward. It lays the plan, gets some one else to execute it--puts down
the gunpowder train, gets some one else to touch it off--contrives mischief,
gets some one else to work it--starts the lie, gets some one else to circulate
it. Jeroboam plots the lie, contrives the imposition, and gets his wife to
execute it. Stand off from all imposition and chicanery. Do not consent to be
anybody’s dupe, anybody’s ally in wickedness, anybody’s scapegoat.
II. Royalty
sometimes passes in disguise. The frock, the veil, the hood of the peasant woman
hid the queenly character of this woman of Tirzah. Nobody suspected that she
was a queen or a princess as she passed by; but she was just as much a queen as
though she stood in the palace, her robes encrusted with diamonds. Glory
veiled. Affluence hidden. A queen in mask. A princess in disguise. When you
think of a queen you do not think of Catharine of Russia, or Maria Theresa of
Germany, or Mary Queen of Scots. When you think of a queen you think of a plain
woman who sat opposite your father at the table, or winked with him down the
path of life arm in arm--sometimes to the thanksgiving banquet, sometimes to
the grave, but always side by side, soothing your little sorrows and adjusting
your little quarrels. “Mother, mother!” Ah! she was the queen. Your father knew
it. You knew it. She was the queen, but the queen in disguise. The world did
not recognise it.
III. How people put
on masks, and how the Lord tears them off. It was a terrible moment in the
history of this woman of Tirzah when the prophet accosted her, practically
saying, “I know who you are; you cannot cheat me; you cannot impose upon me;
why feignest thou thyself to be another?” She had a right to ask for the
restoration of her son: she had no right to practise that falsehood. It is
never right to do wrong.
IV. How precise,
and accurate, and particular, are God’s providences. Just at the moment that
woman entered the city the child died. Just as it was prophesied, so it turned
out, so it always turns out. The sickness comes, the death occurs; the nation
is born, the despotism is overthrown at the appointed time. God drives the
universe with a stiff rein. Events do not just happen so. Things do not go
slipshod. In all the book of God’s providences there is not one “if.” God’s
providences are never caught in deshabille. To God there are no
surprises, no disappointments, and no accidents. The most insignificant event
flung out in the ages is the connecting link between two great chains--the
chain of eternity past and the chain of eternity to come. (T. De Witt Talmage, D.
D.)
A hearer in disguise
I. We have before
us the occasional hearer. Jeroboam and his wife did not often go to hear
Ahijah. They were not people who went to worship Jehovah; they neither feared
God nor regarded His prophet.
1. This occasional hearer was totally destitute of all true piety.
Most occasional hearers are. Those who have true religion are not occasional
hearers.
2. The second remark about these occasional hearers is, that when
they do come, they very generally come because they are in trouble. When
Jeroboam’s wife came and spoke to the prophet, it was because the dear child
was ill at home.
3. This woman would not have come but that her husband sent her on
the ground that he had heard Ahijah preach before. It was this prophet who took
Jeroboam’s mantle and rent it in pieces, and told him he was to be king over
the ten tribes. That message proved true; therefore Jeroboam had confidence in
Ahijah.
4. They had one godly member of their family, and that brought them
to see the prophet. Their child was sick and ill, and it was that which led
them to inquire at the hands of the Lord.
5. But there is one sad reflection which should alarm the occasional
hearer. Though Jeroboam’s wife did come to the prophet that once, and heard tidings,
yet she and her husband
perished after all.
II. The useless
disguise. Jeroboam’s wife thought to herself, “If I go to see Ahijah, as he
knows me to be the wife of Jeroboam, he is sure to speak angrily, and give me
very bad news.” Strange to tell, though the poor old gentleman was blind, she
thought it necessary to put on a disguise. There was a Judas among the twelve;
there was a Demas among the early
disciples; and we must always expect to find chaff on God’s floor mingled with
the wheat. After the most searching ministry, there are still some who will
wrap themselves about with a mantle of deception.
III. The heavy
tidings. Sinner, unrepenting sinner, I have heavy tidings for thee. The wrath
of God abideth on thee. (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 8-9
David kept my commandments . . . thou hast gone
and made thee other gods.
Servitude or service-which?
The people of God had left their God, and He had left them, so
that Shishak, the King of Egypt, came against them; and though the Lord had
respect to their humble prayer, and would not suffer Shishak to destroy
Jerusalem, yet He brought them into subjection to the Egyptian king. Our text
tells us the reason for this servitude: “They shall be his servants; that they
may know My service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”
I. There are some
who have already chosen the service of the kingdoms of the countless. We have
many round about us who have deliberately chosen not to serve God, but to serve
other masters.
1. Some choose to be the slaves of open sin.
2. There are many persons who are not the worshippers of vice, but
they are the votaries of money-making. They are the slaves of the thirst for
wealth.
3. There are some others who do not try to get much money, but they
are lovers of fashion, lovers of society, admirers of the world.
4. Then there is another cult that has lately come up, which some
have chosen, so that they have become the devotees of “culture.”
5. I will only refer to one more class of those who have chosen the
service of the kingdoms; these are the seekers of self-righteousness. This is
an old-fashioned and very respectable deity whom many still worship.
II. Some seem to be
pining to give up the service of God, and to go to the service of the kingdoms.
It is a strange thing; but this evil is always breaking out even among the
people of God.
1. Some want to change out of sheer love of change.
2. Some want to be off to their idols, because of the outward aspect
of the new thing.
3. Sometimes men turn aside because of their loss of joy in the
service of God. They are not serving the Lord as they used to do; they are
doing but little for Him.
4. Then there are many who are led to want a change from the service
of God by the flagging of others.
5. There are some who turn aside because religion now has brought
them to a point where it entails
some extra self-sacrifice.
III. There is a
great contrast between the service of God and any other service.
1. If you are about to engage in the service of God, there is nothing demanded of
you that will harm you. There Is no commandment of God which, if you keep it,
will injure either your body or your soul.
2. Next, notice that there is nothing denied you, in the service of
God, that would be a blessing to you. The promise is, “No good thing will He
withhold from them that walk uprightly”
3. Once more observe that in the service of God strength will always
be given according to your day.
4. And all the while that you are the servant of God, you have a
sweet peace in reflecting upon what you have done. As George Herbert said, when
he helped a poor woman with her load, and men wondered that the parson of the
parish should carry a poor woman’s basket for her, “The memory of this will
make the bells ring in my heart at night,” so the service of God makes the bells ring in our
hearts.
5. Lastly, there is above all this a hope of the eternal reward which
is so soon to come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 13
And all Israel shall mourn for him.
Early cut off, but long remembered
That the grace of God may convert a man in the prime of life, ay,
and bring even a grey-headed sinner to the foot of the cross, is a truth of
which, happily, examples can easily be found. But, while this is true, let it
never be forgotten that the great majority of conversions take place in early
life.
I. This
description of his piety. “In him there is found some good thing towards the
Lord God of Israel.” What, think you, might this “good thing” be? Certainly, it
was not his rank, nor wealth, nor power, nor intellect. And, as this “good
thing” was not any mere material endowment, so neither was it any mere moral
excellence, It does not mean simply that Abijah was what the world calls
good-hearted, “a good-living lad”; that he was amiable and well-behaved; that,
in the midst of abounding debauchery, he preserved his virtue unstained. This,
indeed, would be much, but it would not be expressed in the peculiar language
of the text; the “good
thing” was a “good thing towards the Lord God of Israel,” a gracious, a
spiritual, a Divine, a holy thing. It was a something that sprang not out of
nature, nor of the flesh, something that his father did not give him, something
that he never
learnt from the royal but dissolute court of Israel.
1. There are two things which, when found in a man, are good and
acceptable to God. The first Is true repentance, or what the Bible calls the
“broken and contrite heart.” A second thing on which God specially sets the
seal of His approbation is “faith in that one sacrifice which doth for sin
atone.” Amongst all the princes of the royal house, Abijah alone refused to
worship the golden calves which his father had made. Jewish writers tell us
that Abijah would not bow down to the idols, but insisted on worshipping the
true God at Jerusalem. His faith might have been but a little spark, but that
secured his acceptance before God. But without these two things, “repentance
from dead works, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing m
you that God can approve.
II. But now there
are one or two special lessons to be drawn from the case of Abijah
1. Real piety may exist under most adverse and unfavourable
circumstances. Here was a youth, all of whose surroundings were of the worst
possible character. An ungodly home, an idolatrous court, parents both wicked,
every relative he had under the curse of God: why, you would say, piety could
not live a day amid such conditions as these. The brightest diamonds have been
found in the darkest mines, and the richest pearls in the deepest seas. Satan
sometimes outwits himself. Sin is used to secure its own defeat. Even
unconverted men are shocked by wickedness which exceeds their own,
2. Even a young and brief life may be fruitful in blessing. Young as
he was, the whole nation mourned for him. In the highest view of it, the length
of life is not to be judged by the number of its years. It is possible for the
longest life to be briefer than the shortest; and the smoothcheeked youth may
die older, that is, with more of life crowded into his brief history, than he
whose stagnant and profitless existence drags on to an inglorious old age. That
life is the longest--however limited the number of its years--in which God has
been best served, and the world most benefited.
3. Piety in life is the only guarantee of peace in death. An early
departure from this world is not a thing to be dreaded, provided your heart is right with
God. (J. T. Davidson, D. D.)
Abijah’s grave
I. We have here a
beautiful description of religion. It is “some good thing in the heart toward
the Lord God of Israel.” Religion is “some good thing in the heart” (not merely
towards our fellow-man, but) “towards the Lord God of Israel.”
II. Genuine piety
may exist under very unfavourable circumstances. Men need not say, their
surroundings in life are sufficient excuse for their ungodliness.
III. Again, true
piety of one who was a child. Abijah is always mentioned in the context as a
child.
IV. True piety
commands the respect and reverence of the ungodly. The subjects of Jeroboam
were wicked men, who had repudiated the temple at Jerusalem, and had gone from
bad to worse. Yet, when the death of this pious child was announced, these
wicked men evinced for him a reverential affection, which the context
touchingly records. “All Israel shall mourn for him,” was the prediction of the
blind prophet: and so it was. (W. F. Bishop.)
In him there is
found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.--
Abijah; or, the pious youth in an ungodly family
This young prince was greatly respected in life, and in death he
was highly honoured. He alone out of the house of his father died a natural
death--he alone came to the grave in peace. Indeed, he only came to the grave
at all.
I. That religion
is a “good thing.” It is good in itself--in its very nature. What is true
piety? It is a right state of the heart in regard to God.
1. Religion is a “good thing” because it comes from a good God. As to
its origin, its first principle--it comes directly from Him. He is the fountain
of all goodness.
2. Religion is a good thing, for it is good in its influence. Piety
has the most beneficial influence upon the whole of our being; upon the faculties
and ideas of our mind; upon the love and affections of our heart; upon the
whole life and conduct.
3. Religion is good, because it leads into a good place. As all
rivers run into the sea, whence they came, so the streams of goodness flow to
the great ocean of love. God, like a mighty magnet, attracts the heart of the
good man, and ere long He will draw him to the bosom of eternal love.
II. That religion
is a good thing in man. “There is found in him,” etc. Piety is an inward
principle. “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” “Christ in you the hope of
glory.” Religion is essentially a matter of the heart. It proceeds from the
centre to the circumference.
III. That religion
is a good thing tending towards God. “Toward the Lord God of Israel.” There are
people who have nothing good in them either towards God or man. Selfishness is
their ruling principle. They never act from principle; they never ask, What is
right, what is true? but “Will this course answer my purpose?--will it be of
advantage to me personally?” They “live to themselves, and they die to
themselves.” There are others who have something good in them towards man, but
nothing towards God. The religious man seeks God’s glory in all things. The
bias of his soul is also towards God; he moves Godward.
IV. That religion
is a good thing ever manifest. “There is found in him,” etc. True religion
always manifests itself where it exists; it is seen and felt. “The good man out
of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things.”
1. This “good thing” is “found “by the Searcher of hearts. He sees it
first. He can see it when no one else can.
2. This “good thing” is “found” too by the man himself. He cannot
remain ignorant long of the real state of his own heart. At first he may not
possess a “full assurance of faith,” yet he must know his own moral state. He
must know whether he is a hypocrite, or whether he is a true Christian.
3. It is “found” also by his fellow-creatures. Such a character tells
powerfully upon a neighbourhood. He is influential. His “light is not hid under
a bushel.” Religion is not a dead,
worthless thing; no, it is
a living principle. (H. P. Bowen.)
Abijah, or some good thing towards the Lord
I. Let us here
admire what we cannot precisely describe.
1. There was in this child “some good thing toward the Lord God of
Israel”; but what was it? A boundless field for conjecture opens before us. We
know there was in him some good thing, but what form that good thing took we do
not know. It was not merely a good inclination which was in him, nor a good
desire, but a really good, substantial virtue.
2. Let us admire, also, that this “some good thing” should have been
in the child’s heart, for its entrance is unknown. We cannot tell how grace
entered the palace of Tirzah and gained this youthful heart. God saw the good
thing, for He sees the least good thing in any of us, since He has a quick eye
to perceive anything that looks towards Himself.
3. This “good thing” is described to us in the text in a certain
measure. It was a good thing towards Jehovah, the God of Israel. The good thing
looked towards the living God.
4. In this dear child that “good thing” wrought such an outward
character that he became exceedingly well beloved. We are sure of that, because
it is said, “All Israel shall mourn for him.”
5. The piety of this young child was every way of the right kind. It
was inward and sincere, for the “good thing” that is spoken of was not found
about him, but “in him.” He did not wear the broad phylactery, but he had a
meek and quiet spirit.
II. Let us heartily
prize what we are too apt to overlook.
1. Let us heartily prize “some good thing” towards the Lord God of
Israel whenever we perceive it. All that is said of this case was that there
was in him “some good thing”; and this reads as if the Divine work was as yet
only a spark of grace, the beginning of spiritual life. There was nothing very
striking in him, or it would have been more definitely mentioned.
2. Further, I am afraid we are too apt to overlook “some good thing”
in a child. “Oh, only a child!” Pray, what are you? You are a man; well, I
suppose that a man is a child who has grown older, and has lost many of his
best points of character. A child is at no disadvantage in the things of God
from being a child, for “of such are the kingdom of heaven.”
3. Another thing we are apt to overlook, and that is, “some good
thing” in a bad house. This was the most wonderful thing of all, that there
should be a gracious child in Jeroboam’s palace. The mother usually sways the
house, but the queen was a princess of Egypt and an idolater.
III. Let us
carefully consider what we cannot fully understand.
1. I want you first to consider the very singular fact which you
cannot understand, that holy children should be often placed in ungodly
families. God’s providence has arranged it so, yet the consequences are painful
to the young believer.
2. The next thing that we cannot understand is this, that God’s dear
little children who love Him should often be called to suffer. We say, “Well,
if it was my child I should heal him and ease his sufferings at once.” Yet the
Almighty Father allows His dear ones to be afflicted. There is a meaning in all
this, and we know somewhat of it; and if we knew nothing we would believe all
the same in the goodness of the Lord.
3. There is something more remarkable still, and that is that some of
God’s dearest children should die while they are yet young.
4. Once more, it is a very singular thing that such a child as this
should die and yet produce no effect whatever on his parents; for neither
Jeroboam nor his wife repented of their sins because their child was taken home
to God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The history of Abijah
I. There is “some
good thing” spoken of “towards the Lord God of Israel.” I suppose that all who
spiritually read their Bibles will acknowledge, by this “good thing” is not to
be understood any mere external good thing, such as rank, title, influence, or
his prospects. We cannot say these are good things; only as they are sanctified
to us, they become good things. It is evidently a description of a righteous
man. This young man was one that feared God and loved God; he knew God
savingly. Nothing else can come up to the expression of there being “some good
thing toward the Lord God of Israel”; nothing short of that can be a “good
thing toward the Lord God of Israel.” It must be the new creation in the soul;
it must be the principle of grace in the heart.
II. But this “good
thing” was found in a place where it might have been but little expected. It
was found in a place little calculated for its nourishment. If there is a spot
on earth uncongenial to the life of God in the soul, it is within the precincts
of a palace. The self-importance, the self-indulgence, the self-deception, the
want of honesty so mark it. Yet here was the grace of God displayed. I see too
the sovereignty of God’s grace in it. I see too the invincibility of His grace.
Here is everything to impede, the most unlikely of all situations. One might as
reasonably expect to find the most beautiful flower that seems to require great
depth of earth, growing on the bare rock, as one might expect to find one of
the Lord’s lilies growing in such a soil as this. Yet what can the grace of God
not achieve? what can it not conquer?
III. Who it was that
noticed it--who took notice of this “good thing”! Observe, it is spoken of as
“some good thing.” Our translators have been so honest as to put the word
“some” in italics; but there being no other word between “found” and “good
thing,” the sense is this, “some good thing,” “a good thing.” When the Lord
says “some good thing,” it gives one this idea. It might have been a very
feeble work. Here was but “ some good thing,” a good thing; and that too was in
a child; yet God the Spirit noted it. Why did He? Because it was His child;
jeroboam’s child, Jeroboam’s after the flesh--His by adoption and by grace. (J.
H. Evans, M. A.)
Abijah; or, early piety and evil parentage
Abijah was the good son of a bad father. His name meant “Jehovah
is his father.” This name had probably been given before Jeroboam broke away
from the service of Jehovah. The name and the character of the youth agreed.
Abijah was possessed of real piety. To have religion is to possess the best
thing possible. It is called a “good thing.” Similar descriptions of religion
are given in other parts of Scripture. “That good thing which was committed to
thee, keep.” Again, “Being confident that He who hath begun a good work in you
will carry it on till the day of Christ.” “It is a good thing that the heart be
established with grace.” “Mary hath chosen that good part that shall not be
taken away.” Religion, is, undoubtedly, a “good thing,” in that it draws man
near to God, leads to good actions, gives good aims. It has a good influence on
a man’s companions, on the family, and on society. The possession of a real
piety by Abijah brought him honour from men. He had found a deep place in the
affections of the people. When he died all Israel mourned for him. Men would
not have cared so much for him if he had been an indifferent, callous, wilful,
cruel, passionate, self-indulgent youth. God, as well as man, honoured this
early piety in Abijah. Christians should be earnest in seeking to lead others
to early decision for Christ, remembering that youth is the most suitable
because the most impressionable time. Religion is the best check to the weeds
of evil, and it cannot be implanted too soon in the heart. As well forbear to
teach the alphabet, or figures, or principles of science, or the customs of
trade until manhood is reached, as forbear to instil in youth the principles of
morality and the doctrines of Christ--doctrines which are the embodiment of the
highest morality. No; these are flimsy objections. They are out of harmony with
the Divine will and revelation. Abijah became pious none too soon. He died
early. “Briers and thorns wither not so soon as lilies and roses.” Anyhow,
Abijah was prepared to pass away, prepared to meet death. (F. Hastings.)
The piety of Abijah
Concerning the piety of Abijah, observe:
I. Its early
existence. Piety, at any period of life, is pleasing. In old age, it is
venerable. We cannot look on a Christian advanced in years, and more advanced
in holiness, without feeling peculiar respect. In early youth, piety is chiefly
amiable. It is the image of God restored on the soul, when its powers are most
vigorous, when its passions are most warm, when its prospects of life are most
fair and flattering.
II. Its sincerity.
It was piety “in him,” not appended to him, or merely professed by him--“in him
was found some good thing.” Of Job it is asserted, “the root of the matter” was
found in him. That is not genuine piety which regards, with religious respect,
any other but Jehovah; or which falls short of the one living and true God.
III. Its secrecy.
This is what we cannot altogether commend. His goodness was real, but was in a
great measure concealed. Small as might be his advantages of education, the
Lord by His Spirit had taught him, had renewed his heart, and formed him for
Himself. However secret a good work may be in the soul, however hid from the
observation of men, it is visible to God: He beholds it with acceptance and
pleasure. Yet remember, where “some good thing” exists, it is desirable it
should more than exist--it ought to appear in corresponding fruits and effects.
Good principle is valuable, but let it be seen in practice: good desires are
laudable, but these should be attended with active efforts: good designs and
resolves are entitled to commendation, but worthy deeds and useful service are
much more beneficial.
IV. Its decision.
There was evidently in his family much to oppose the spirit and practice of
piety.
1. Rank opposed it. Men in elevated stations are rarely eminent for
religion.
2. Idolatry opposed it. The insult offered to Jehovah which false
worship implies, the absurdity and iniquity which it always involves, were
directly inimical to spiritual devotion.
3. And wickedness opposed it. This doubtless prevailed in its varied
forms, and to a serious degree, in the court of Jeroboam; for when men are
alienated from the true God, none can say to what lengths they will run.
V. Its recompense.
Abijah died, was buried, and all Israel mourned at his funeral. This may appear
a singular recompense of piety; but the circumstances of the case must be considered.
The Lord had threatened the utter destruction of the family of Jeroboam, on
account of their sin. “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.” But Abijah was exempt from the threatening, and saved
from the calamity. Is it nothing to attain in youth, fixedness of character?
When a young man’s character is fixed, he sets out in life as he means to
proceed; he acts on such principles and adopts such conduct as create no
regret, and are followed with advantages of the utmost importance. Is
reputation nothing? Most people profess to prize it; and, in early life, to be
devoted to God, secures it. Is it nothing to be useful? In such a world as this,
is it not of acknowledged importance to live to some good purpose? They,
surely, are most likely to be thus honoured, who are the subjects of early and
decided piety. Opposite characters are at best indolent and heedless; but, in
general, their example and efforts are pernicious in a very serious degree. And
is it nothing, when you quit the world, to leave behind a fair example? You
feel it desirable that survivors have the recollection that in you was
exemplified, though with lamented imperfections, a disciple of Jesus, a lover
of His truth and of His ways. “The memory of the just is blessed.” (T. Kidd.)
Unexpected goodness
I. The scene
of its development. It grew in very uncongenial soft. There are several
stimulating instances where godliness has been pursued under difficulties.
There were a “few names even in Sardis which had not defiled their garments.”
These, in common with the one of the text, go to prove that religion can be
practised under all imaginable circumstances. There are situations which make it very hard to be
good, but none which make it impossible.
II. The seat of its
power. “In him there is found,” etc. Out of the heart are the issues of life,
keep it then with all diligence. Dwellers in the Isle of Anglesea say that they
have a wonderful pool at the bottom of one of their native hills, into which if
you throw pieces of old iron, or worthless tin, they will all come out in the
course of time as precious copper. “All things work together for good, to them
that love God.” Most assuredly then religion is the chief good--a good within,
that overcomes all evils without--good for all, in all places, at all times,
under all circumstances.
III. The sum of its
quantity. It was not large by any means, but under such an inhospitable roof we
are only astonished at finding any at all. “In him there is found some good
thing.” (D. Thomas.)
Abijah; a good child in a bad home
1. What was the good thing referred to? The grace of God, or true
religion. Religion is in itself a good thing--good for this life:
2. This good thing was in him. It was not a mere matter of outward
show or of words.
3. This good thing had been put within him. We are not told how or
when. But it certainly had been imparted to him. The gardener who wants to get
very fine roses, first gets up the roots of the briar and plants them. The
briar is then pruned and prepared for the rosebud. In a very skilful way the
bud is inserted into the stem of the briar. The rosebud and the briar become
one. But the rosebud rules, and makes the briar good. It is very likely St.
James had seen some one doing this before he exhorted his hearers to receive
with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. As the
rosebud saves the briar from its degraded state, so the Word saves the soul
that receives it. Abijah received the word of God’s grace, and it was in him a
living power.
4. But this good thing went out toward God who gave it--towards the
Lord God of Israel, not towards the gods his father had set up.
5. Some good was found. Not every good thing. Well is it not to
despise the day of small things. Some good thing, however small, is the promise
of greater. We cannot tell how much good may come of one word.
6. The good thing within him did not die when he was buried. The life
of grace is one which the hand of death cannot touch. The memory of this good
thing was a power for good in the lives of others who outlived him. All Israel
mourned for him. Child though he was, he had exerted an influence for good.
Two or three lessons may be learned from this narrative:--
1. It is possible God may in His wise providence raise up in a bad
family at least one true witness.
2. Such a witness may be but a child.
3. Such a youth may be alone in his testimony.
4. How much more possible is it to be a true witness in a good family
where there are many faithful ones. (Henry Smith.)
The history and example of Abijah
I. That religion
is a thing within us. Godliness is something in the heart and mind. Piety is an
internal principle. It is the gift of God. It is the implantation or
transfusion of a new nature. Then comes the inquiry--How is it to be had? in
what manner is it to be gained? “If ye, being evil,” said Christ, “know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him!” How much more, I may add, will He give
it to the inquiring, youthful, praying mind!
II. That religion
is intrinsically good. It is called here “some good thing toward the Lord God
of Israel.” It is intrinsically good. I mean, in its own nature and essence.
Jesus Christ has pronounced it to be “the good part,” which shall never be
taken away from us. And He likens it to a pearl, which it would be worth a
man’s while to “sell all that he had” in order to gain. It is “good,” To whom
is it good? It is “good” to yourselves. It is “good” for your souls. For the
mind to be enlightened, for the will to be in subjection to the will of God, to
reflect the beauty of Christ’s own image, to walk in the way which God’s own
wisdom has appointed and ordained--is not this good for the soul? It is “good”
to the eye of
your parents. It is beautiful to the vision of your friends. It is lovely in
the circle in which you move. They see the fruits of grace; they behold
sweetness of temper, amiableness of demeanour, rectitude of conduct; they see
high moral principles. How do they see all this? With indifference and
insensibility? No, but with gladness and with gratitude. It is “good” to God.
It is precious in the sight of God. You remember the twenty-eighth chapter of
the Book of Job, where “wisdom” is said to surpass jewels and precious stones
of every kind and description. What is this “wisdom”? The grace of
God--internal purity. And as it is “good “for you in time, it will be better
for you in eternity.
III. It has special
regard to the Lord God of Israel. And here is its chief glory; this is the
fairest, the most impressive aspect. You know how it is with the sun. Let the
sun shine upon what it may--let the beams of the sun descend upon what they may--the
object is illuminated; the object reflects the radiance more or less. I look
upon God, according to this image, as the sun. Whensoever He comes in contact
with the mind, He enlightens it; the mind reflects the brightness. And this is
our chief good, this is our highest honour, this is our purest joy--that our
religion has deeply and intimately to do with the Lord God of Israel.
IV. Real religion
is very beautiful in youth.
V. Where it
exists, in due time it will be discovered.
1. It may long be as the seed under ground, that has taken root, but
has not yet sprung up. It will spring up; and you shall see the blade, then the
ear, and after that the full corn in the ear. Here is the bud; just opened--not
expanded. It can be seen. There shall be the blossom presently. There shall be
the ripe fruit in due time. So, if it be in the heart and mind, there is a
period of its discovery.
2. It may be found sometimes in circumstances where it was not looked
for.
VI. Religion may
not excempt you from death, for “the child died,” but it will secure to you a
blessed immortality. (J. Stratten.)
Modest goodness
I. God can see the
real thing in the obscure thing The “good thing” recorded in the text--that is,
if any single special act is intended at all--is unknown. We are assured of the
indwardness of his piety. The good thing was “in him.” He had a true heart, a
right spirit, a righteous disposition and design. “The root of the matter” was
in him. The root never shot up into a grand stem, never cast abroad strong branches,
never held up a harvest of rich, ripe fruit; but whatever was above ground of
beauty and promise, there was a living root below. Remember the inwardness of
true goodness. Our goodness must not be merely a matter of social etiquette, of
conventional propriety, of ecclesiastical prescription; it must unfold from the
heart; it must be full of gratitude, love, trust, and hope. The living God
loves living things, and most of all He loves living virtue. Neither was the
goodness of Abijah lacking in outwardness. “It was found” in him. The original
means the very opposite of what we might easily take it to mean. It was found
in him without seeking; in other words, it was manifest and indisputable. And
it is the same with genuine goodness; really in us, it will reveal itself. Some
people are not naturally good organs for the expression of sublime thought,
principle, feeling--they have defects of constitution, uncouthness of manner,
educational limitations; but if they have the reality and enthusiasm of
goodness it will be found in them without seeking, and their very frailty and
failure of style will often prove a foil to set forth with greater
impressiveness the Divine thing it cannot obscure. Do not believe in the
goodness that ever fails to display itself. There may be grand character in a
man when circumstances do not serve to bring that character out in its full
majesty and beauty. But God knows all. The botanist will detect a rare flower
where we should see only weeds and grasses; the geologist will discern a gem
when we see only gravel; the astronomer’s eye will seize a star in what seems
to us empty darkness; the mariner will descry a sail where we should see only
mist and wave..Now, God delights in goodness, and in darkest corners and
lowliest forms He recognises and blesses it. He knoweth the thought afar off,
the latent quality, and reads the living epistle in invisible ink.
II. God can see
many things in one thing. “Some good thing”; one good thing standing for many
good things, for all good things. Our life does not afford occasion to
illustrate many virtues, not to play many parts, not to achieve many works, and
we are in danger of making ourselves unhappy over these limitations. God
accepts your “only,” seeing He gave you no more than that. The assayer does not
need to test the whole golden talent; a few ounces in the smelting-pot is
enough: the draper does not need to unroll the whole web; a few yards will
reveal the beauty and value of the fabric: the merchant does not need to
examine the bulk throughout; a handful is enough to show the quality of wheat
or wool. Life may afford few gifts, few opportunities, but the few are enough
to show what we are made of, and what it is that we mean. God knows the quality
of a man from the accomplishment of one simple calling. One act was quite
enough to demonstrate the character of Grace Darling, and to cover her with
glory. One act at Harper’s Ferry was quite enough to display the spirit of John
Brown, and to give him rank with the immortals. And one calling worked out
faithfully day by day is sufficient to reveal in any of us the hero, the saint,
the martyr. “Faithful in a few things.” It is but “few things” that we have
here; still we have enough. The painter has only a few colours out of which to
paint his pictures, but what a wealth of glory he brings out from the meagre
palette: the musician has but a few notes, and yet what a world of ravishing
sound he brings out of the few chords! We have all but few things, some of us
very few--few talents, few opportunities, few days--and yet if we are faithful
and diligent we shall work out an exceeding and an eternal weight of glory.
Faithful in a few things, He shall make us rulers over many.
III. God can see the
greatest thing in the least thing. Just as we complain about the dulness of
life and the narrowness of life, so we complain about the poverty of life--we
cannot do magnificent things or give princely gifts. But we forget that God can
see the great in the small, the greatest thing in the least. If the least thing
has a great principle in it, it is great; if the least thing has a true love in
it, it is great; if the least thing has a high aim in it, it is great; and
although men may see only the least thing, God regards the essential thought
and quality and aspiration, and blesses accordingly. See the Gospel story of
the widow casting her two mites into the treasury.
IV. God can see the fulness of things in
the first thing.
Just as we complain about the dulness of life, the narrowness of life, the
poverty of life, so do we complain about its brevity. But God can see the end
in the beginning. In Abijah’s first act God saw the fulness of the longest
life. In the acorn He sees the oak. Tradition tells us that Titian happened one
day to see the sketches of a lad who had entered his school--or, as another
account relates, the painter accidentally noticed a lad drawing roughly on the
public wall--and the great artist divined at once that another painter of power
had been horn into the world; and so it proved, for that boy was Tintoretto,
who was destined to divide with Titian himself the artistic glory of Venice.
That lad’s drawing was, be sure, rather a poor affair to a common eye, but the
eye of a master saw in it galleries of masterpieces. This is but a faint image
of God’s insight and foresight. In first rude sketches of character and action
He distinguishes the artists, the cartoons, of eternity. Life may be short with
us, but that is no matter; let us see to it that it be true. “And it was in the
heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the Lord God of
Israel. And the Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart
to build an house unto My name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart” (1 Kings 8:17). We do not want great
things to make us great, or to prove that we are great. The daisy--modest, wee
crimson-tipped flower--was theme enough for Robert Burns to prove himself a
prince of poets; a single string, stretched across a wooden shoe, was enough
for Paganini to prove himself a prince of musicians; a bit of canvas, a few
inches square, was enough for Raphael to prove himself a prince of painters;
and in a dim corner, with a lowly task, with a short life, with no spectators
but God and the holy angels, we may attain and reveal the veriest greatness of
soul. “By patient continuance in well-doing” let us “seek for glory and honour
and immortality, eternal life.” (W. L. Watkinson.)
The good thing
I. The good thing
found in abijah.
1. There was nothing good in him by nature. The passions of envy,
pride, and selfishness show themselves in early life. “Foolishness is bound up
in the heart of a child.” It is implanted in his nature, sunk deep into his
heart. It entwines round his faculties like the ivy, and is rooted like the
oak.
2. No good thing could have been produced in him by mere human
efforts. The father of the faithful could not do it. Hence his prayer for the
son of the bondwoman: “O that Ishmael might live before Thee!” The man after
God’s own heart could not do it. Hence his lamentation over the death of his
wicked son: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for
thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!”
3. The good thing that was in Abijah must have been infused by the
Spirit of God. The principle of a natural man in religious actions is
artificial; he is wound up like the spring of an engine to a certain power;.
but as the motion of the engine ceases when the spring is down, so the motions
of a natural man hold no longer than they give him pleasure, or contribute to
his earthly profit; but the principle of a spiritual man is internal, and the
first motion of this principle is toward God, so that he acts from Him and for
Him.
4. Observe, this “good thing” was found in Abijah.
5. Observe, this good thing was found in Abijah “in the house of
Jeroboam.” This circumstance teaches us two things.
II. The goodness of
it.
1. It was a good thing for himself.
2. It was a good thing for others. As “one sinner destroyeth much
good,” so one saint may (as an instrument in the hand of God) save from much
evil. “I will bless thee,” said Jehovah to the patriarch Abraham, “and thou
shalt be a blessing.” The circumstance of “all Israel mourning for him and
burying him,” speaks volumes in his praise, and leads one to hope that his
counsels were appreciated, and his prayers answered in the re-formation--if not
in the saving conversion--of his survivors. (T. Hitchin, M. A.)
Grace in different degrees
Behold the goodness of God! a little good in him, and yet the
great God takes notice of the little good in him. God found (as it were) one
pearl in a heap of pebbles, one good young man in Jeroboam’s household, that
some good in him towards the Lord God of Israel. In the whole verse, three
parts:
I. A lamentation
for the death of this son of Jeroboam. It is said, “All Israel shall mourn for
him,” and so they did (verse 18)--which argued there was goodness in him; for
if he had not been desired and prized while he lived, he would not have been so
lamented at his death.
II. A limitation of
his punishment; he only of Jeroboam’s family shall come to the grave, the rest
of his posterity that died in the city, dogs should eat, and him that dieth in
the field, should the fowls of the air devour (verse 11).
III. The
commendation of his life, “In him was found some good,” etc (of this I am now
to treat). He is commended by the Holy Ghost; for his goodness is set forth,
1. By the quality of his goodness; it was a good thing, not a
good word only, or a good purpose or inclination, with which too many content
themselves; but it was a good action.
2. By the quantity of it; it was but some little good thing that was
found in him, and yet that little good God did not despise or overlook.
3. By the sincerity of his goodness; there are two notable
demonstrations of this young man goodness:
1. It was
towards the Lord God of Israel.
2. It was in Jeroboam’s house.
1. His goodness was towards the Lord God of Israel. This argued
Paul’s sincerity, that in his speaking, writing, and actions he could and did
appeal to God. That religion, saith the apostle, is pure and undefiled, that is
so before God and the Father. Many hypocrites may be good towards men, who are
not so towards God; to be rich indeed, is to be rich towards God. True
repentance is repentance towards God; and he is unblamable indeed that is void
of offence towards God, as well as towards men.
2. He was good in the house of Jeroboam. A wicked man may seem good
in a good place, but to be good in a bad place argues men to be good indeed. To
be good m David’s house, this was not so much; but for this young man to be
good in the house of Jeroboam his father, whom the Scripture brands for his
idolatry, that he made all Israel to sin, and yet could not make his son to
sin; this argued he was sincerely good. There is only one difficulty in the
text, viz.. What was that good thing that was found in Abijah? For answer to
this, it is true, the Scripture doth not particularly express what that good
thing was which was found in him: but Tostatus and Peter Martyr affirm from the
Hebrew Rabbins, that when the Jews of the ten tribes did on their appointed
times repair to Jerusalem to worship according to the command of God, and
Jeroboam commanded soldiers to intercept them, this Abijah did hinder the
soldiers to kill them, and gave them passes to go to Jerusalem to worship God,
and encouraged them therein, notwithstanding the rage of his father, who had
forsaken the true worship of God, and set up calves at Dan and Bethel. Others
think the goodness of this young prince was in this, that he would not consent
to his father in taking away the government from the house of David; but where
the Scripture hath not a tongue to speak, we have not an ear to hear, and
therefore we shall not undertake to determine what the Scripture hath not
determined.
There are many collateral observations which I shall deduce from
the several circumstances in the text, and but name some of them.
1. From the consideration that this good Abijah died: Good men, and
useful and hopeful instruments may be taken away by death, when Wicked men may
live long upon the earth. Bad Jeroboam lived long, his good son died soon; so
true is that of Solomon. A righteous man may perish in his righteousness, when
a wicked man may prolong his days in his wickedness. Briers and thorns and
thistles wither not so soon as lilies and roses. They may be taken out of the
world, of whom the world is not worthy; and they remain behind, who are not
worthy to live in the world.
2. From the consideration of the death of godly Abijah, when wicked
Nadab the other son of Jeroboam lived. Observe, That good children may be taken
away by death from their parents, when ungodly children may live to be a shame
and a curse to their parents. There are two other circumstances upon which I
shall a little enlarge myself, before I come to the main point I intend to
handle. From the age of this son of Jeroboam, who is here commended for his
goodness, it is said, he was “a child” (verse 12). Whence it may be observed,
It is very commendable to see goodness in young people: to see young men good
men, is a very commendable thing. There were many good men in that time, but to
be good so soon as Abijah was, when he was a child, the Scripture records this
to his praise. I shall show you that it is a commendable thing to see young men
good men. This I prove: First, because the Scripture makes very honourable
mention of young men, when good men; as, first, of Obadiah, that he feared the
Lord from his youth. And it is recorded to the honour of Timothy, that he knew
the Holy Scriptures from a child. Jerome conceives that John was the most
beloved disciple, because he was the youngest of all. Secondly, because God
commends moral and common goodness in the young man in the Gospel, Christ is
said to love him for his moral goodness and natural ingenuity.
1. The reason why it is so commendable in a young man to be a good
man, is this, because their temptations are more, and their affections are
stronger to carry them from God; youth hath a stronger aptitude and proclivity
to sin than any other age.
2. The time of your youth is the freest age of your life to betake
yourselves to the exercise of religion and duties of godliness.
3. Consider, if thou art not gracious in youth, the sins of thy youth
may trouble thy conscience in thy old age. Many young men who are active and
venturous in the heat of their youth, get those bodily bruises and blows that
they feel the ache thereof to their dying day. A second remarkable circumstance
is this, that this young Abijah was good in the house of Jeroboam. Whence
observe, that it is a great commendation for men to retain their goodness
whilst they live in bad places and families. To be a saint in Nero’s family is
very commendable. And the reason
thereof is,
1. Because many of God’s children have failed, and abated much of
their goodness in bad places. How did Peter fall in the high priest’s hall!
though when in good company he was zealous, yet there he denied Christ.
2. Because it is a clear evidence of the sincerity of a man goodness,
to be good in a bad place. This shows thy grace to be grace indeed, when thou
hast discouragements to be good, and then art holy. From hence learn the power
and unloose-ableness of saving grace; grace keeps a man good in the worst
times. Nehemiah in the court of Artaxerxes, Obadiah in Ahab’s court, Daniel in
Nebuchadnezzar’s, the saints in Nero’s household, and Abijah in wicked and
idolatrous Jeroboam’s house. Though it be a commendable thing to be good in bad
places; vet you ought to bewail your living in bad places, it is your misery
though not your sin; thus did Isaiah, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of unclean lips.” Hence we may
gather, that it is our duty, the more bad the place or family is where God hath
cast your dwelling, the better and more blameless you should labour to be; you
will by this adorn your profession, stop the mouths of adversaries, allure and
win others to embrace Christianity. Then certainly it is a vain plea for men to
excuse their wickedness, because they live in bad places; this was Abraham’s
fault, to excuse his lie by being at Gerar. Seneca blames men of laying the
fault of their badness on the place where they live. “I am not ambitious by
nature, but no man that lives at Rome can be otherwise. I am not given to
costly and rich apparel, but I must do so when I am at Rome.” It is the badness
of thy heart, and not the place that makes thee bad; no place, though never so
good, can exempt a man from sin; the angels sinned in heaven, Adam in Paradise,
Judas in Christ’s family, and no place though never so bad can excuse a man
from sin. If it be so commendable to be good in bad places, then it is
abominable to be bad in good places, to be dirty swine in a fair meadow. Oh how
many are bad in good families, who despise good counsels, and hate the duties
of religion in religious families! (C. Love.)
Grace with its different degrees
God doth not only exactly take notice of, but also tenderly
cherish and graciously reward the smallest beginnings, and weakest measures of
grace, which He works in the hearts of His own people. I might produce a cloud
of testimonies to confirm this point. Our Saviour Christ said, that He “will
not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax.” Observe, it is not
said, the strong oak shall not be broken; but the bruised reed shall not be
broken. The green buds are regarded by Christ as well as the ripe and grown
fruit. In opening of the doctrine, I shall endeavour to clear these two things:
1. That some of God’s people have but weak measures and small
beginnings of grace.
2. Though there be but a little grace, yet God will regard and reward
it.
1. That some of God s people have but a little grace--have but the
beginnings of grace wrought in their souls. In the handling whereof are three
things:
1. By the different names and titles that are given unto Christians
in Holy Scriptures, arguing they are of different measure and growth of grace.
2. By the analogy that is between spiritual and natural differences
of age, strength, and stature in man; the Holy Scriptures exactly sets down all
the different degrees of grace under the similitude of the different ages of
men.
A second question, how may a man know himself, that he is but of a
little measure and small beginning in grace?
1. To be much in dependence on duties, argues thou art but weak in
grace. A young Christian is like a young carpenter, he makes many chips and
hath many blows, but doth not make such smooth work as an experienced
carpenter, who will make fewer chips, and at fewer blows better work; so young
Christians, they are much in the use of duty, but they are apt to rely upon
duty; they think duties make them saints, and they are apt to make saviours of
their duties. Young Christians are,
2. A weak Christian is not clearly insighted into the close and
spiritual failings, which cleave to his performances. He doth see his gifts,
and take notice of his affections, but he doth not see the vanity of his mind,
the unsoundness of his mind, the unsoundness of his ends, his carnal dependence
upon his duty, self-love, and vain-glory. An experienced Christian will take as
much notice of his failing in duty, as of his ability in it.
3. To have a scrupulous conscience about matters of indifferency
argues a weak Christian; for so the apostle calls them, weak in the faith, such
as did bind conscience when the Scriptures left it free. One believer thought
he might eat anything, and another doubted of lawfulness of eating sundry
things. Now those that doubted, the apostle calls weak; and the weak conscience
is apt to be defiled. Not to know our liberty, and to abuse our liberty, is an
argument we have but little grace.
4. To be so intently set on the exercises of religion as to neglect
our particular callings, is a sign we are but weak in grace. It was a good
saying of that famous man of God, Dr. Sibs: “I like that Christian well, that
will hear much and live much, that will pray much and work much.” In young
converts their affections are strong and stirring, and they think they can
never hear enough, and they many times do neglect the duties of their callings,
which doth argue their weakness and infirmity. An experienced grown Christian
is regular in his general and particular calling; so as the one shall not
jostle and hinder the other.
5. To have men’s persons in admiration argues weakness in grace; such
were the Corinthians, who had men’s persons in admiration. A solid Christian
loves all good ministers, and can contemn none.
6. To be easily seduced and led away into error argues but weakness
in grace. Those the apostle calls “children, who are tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine.” Weakness of head doth argue that
grace is not very strong in thy heart.
7. Such as are only acquainted with the common principles of
religion, without further search into the depths and mysteries of religion.
8. Weak Christians are strong in affections, and not in judgment,
they have usually more heat than light; young Christians are like young horses,
they have much metal, but are not so fit for a journey, because they are not so
thorough-paced: there are many Christians that have much zeal and affection,
but are not solid in their judgment; but this argues much weakness in grace.
9. A weak Christian is one that cannot bear reproof. Sharp weather
will discover whether thou art of a weak or sound body. Be not then discouraged
you that discern in yourselves but small measures of grace; look on your wants
and imperfections, so as to grow in grace, and not to be content with any
measure; but look not on the small beginnings in grace, as discouragement to
you. When you see in a field a great oak, you may say this great tree was once
but a small acorn. Those Christians who are now but small sprigs, may hereafter
be tall cedars. Why doth God so order and ordain it, that among His own people
all shall not be of an equal stature in Christ, but there are of them some in
whom there shall be but the beginnings of grace found?
It is true, it is not with regeneration as it was in the creation;
it is not with the trees of righteousness as it was with the trees of Paradise,
which were created all perfect at the first: but it is not so in the work of
grace, we are not perfectly sanctified, nor at once, but we perfect holiness in
the fear of God, and that by degrees; and God hath given to some of His people
but small beginnings and measures of grace, and that for these reasons:
1. To put a difference between our estate on earth and our being in
heaven. In heaven we shall all have an equal stature in grace, though it be
disputed that there are different degrees of glory. But in heaven the spirits
of just men shall all be made perfect, and there we shall all come unto the
measure, of the stature of the fulness of Christ. All believers here are
justified by God alike. God doth not acquit the strong, and hold guilty the
weak, but justification is alike to all, but our sanctification is not alike;
but when we come to heaven, our sanctification shall be then as our
justification is now, that is, perfect and equal, we shall have not only a
perfection of parts, but of degrees.
2. This is to make men live in a continual dependence upon Divine
influx and supplies from the Spirit of God.
3. For the greater ornament of the mystical body of Christ. In a
natural body, if every member should be of an equal bigness, the body would be
monstrous: but the body is so proportioned in its different members, that the
lesser become serviceable to the greater, and so they all orderly discharge
their mutual operations. As in music there would be no harmony if the strings
were all of an equal bigness; but one string being the bass, and the other the
treble, that makes the music to be more melodious; so it is in grace, the
different degrees of grace makes the body of Christ more harmonious. It is here
as in some curious piece of needlework; if all the silks were of one colour, it
would not set out the work with so much lustre and amiableness as the variety
of colours will do.
4. To make God’s people see a necessity of maintaining fellowship and
communion together, to edify and build up each other. There would be no need of
Christian discourse and holy fellowship, did not our weakness require it.
5. To set out the glory of God in all His glorious attributes.
That believers ought not to rest satisfied with the small measures
of grace they have received; though a little grace may bring you to heaven, yet
you are not to take up therewith, but if you have got a little grace, labour
for more; and to quicken you hereunto, consider:
1. Small measures of grace are not so sensible and evidential to
yourselves; little things because they are little are not seen: There may be
little dust hovering up and down in the air, yet because it is small we see it
not: this is the reason why Christians doubt; grace is little, and therefore it
is not discerned.
2. Consider, that small measures of grace, though they may bring you
to heaven, for they are not so useful to others; a weak Christian cannot do
much good in Christian converse, because they want judgment and experience in
the ways of God; and therefore such are not to be received to doubtful
disputations, but are to be borne withal. Spiritual and strong Christians are
most useful. Young converts are not fit for some exercises about religion; they
are not fit to strengthen others.
3. Nor are small measures of grace so honourable to God. God is
glorified, when His people bear much fruit. It is our duty to improve those
small measures of grace which God hath given us. And consider, he that is
faithful in a little, God will make him ruler over much. Use of grace will
increase it; yet if thy grace be increased, ascribe all to God, it is God’s
pound, and not thy pains hath gained. Use is of comfort to weak Christians, to
those young Abijahs, in whom there is found but small little good.
Let such know to their comfort:
1. Though thy grace be but little in quantity, yet it is much in
value. A pearl, though but little in substance, yet it is of great worth: so a
little grace is of great value; the heart of a wicked man is nothing worth; you
may have much knowledge and seeming grace, but no true worth. A shop full of
barrels will not make a man rich, unless those vessels be full of commodities;
gifts as to heaven are but the lumber of a Christian, it is grace that makes
him rich towards God.
2. Though thy grace be little for the present, yet it will grow for
the future to a greater measure. The little grain of mustard-seed (the least of
seeds) will in time grow up to a tree.
3. The little measure of grace once begun in the soul shall be
perfected. God will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax,
until judgment be perfected in victory.
4. The weakest Christian hath grace alike for quality, though not for
quantity: though thy grace be not so much, yet it is as true as others: though
but a convert of yesterday, yet grace as true as if an old stander in
religion--faith is alike precious in all believers for quality, though not for
quantity. Faith in all believers is alike.
1. Consider, that things merely necessary and sufficient to maintain
a natural life will not content a man; what man is content, though he hath
clothes enough to hide his nakedness, and food enough to keep life and soul together--but
he desires not only clothes for nakedness, but ornament, and only food for
hunger and necessity, but delight? Now shall men be unbounded after their
desires for outward things, and shall they sit down and say they have enough
for heavenly things?
2. Consider, if thou contentest thyself with a small measure of
grace, though thou shalt have the fruit of thy grace when thou diest, yet thou
wilt want the comfort of thy grace whilst thou livest. It is strength of grace
that gives assurance; weak grace will bring thy soul to heaven, but it is the
strength of grace will bring heaven into thy soul. The work of righteousness
shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness shall be quietness and
assurance for ever. The second caution is, Take not those things to be
evidences of the truth of grace, which are evidences only of the growth and
strength of grace. Weak converts do involve themselves in a labyrinth of
misery, in judging themselves by those symptoms which are evidences only of the
strength of grace. Thou must not judge thyself whether thou art in the state of
grace by this; as whether thou hast ravishing joys and comforts of the Holy
Ghost: these are things that God indulgeth unto some few, and those of a long
standing in the school of Christ. In a school, a scholar must not compare
himself with one of the highest form: if thou wouldst judge of the truth of thy
grace, judge by the lowest measure. The reason why hypocrites and low-form
Christians do mistake, is this: hypocrites judge they have grace because they
have gifts, and weak Christians judge they have no grace because they do not
find such measures of grace in them as are in others. We do not use to say, it
is not day because it is not noon. It is unthankfulness to God, and
uncharitableness to ourselves, to argue a nullity of grace from the weakness of
it. Do not conclude you have small measures of grace, because you have but
small measures of comfort; this is the fault of young converts; they take
measure of their grace by their comfort, which is a false and deceitful rule;
growth of grace is not to be measured by the working of joy: the sweet blossom
of joy may fall off, when the fruit of grace may come on; yea, sometimes
Christians of the greatest measure of grace may have the least measure of comfort;
and all to let us know, that as the being and exercise, so the comforts of our
graces, come from free grace. Do not conclude the measure of thy grace little,
because thou hast but a little measure of gifts. Gifts are the issues of time
and experience, and the fruits of studies advantaged by the strength of natural
parts. A man may have a quick and pregnant invention, a profound judgment, a
retentive memory, a clear elocution and the like, and yet none of these things
can be arguments of grace, but all are but natural endowments.
Gifts may be high, and grace may be low.
1. Comfort yourselves, ye weak Christians, for you have a strong God.
In Jehovah is everlasting strength.
2. You have a strong Saviour, though your grace is weak; yet he is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.
3. You lie under a strong Word, which is able to carry on the work of
grace which is begun in you. The Word of God, though it be foolishness to them
that perish, yet it is the power of God to them that are saved.
4. You are weak, but you stand on a sure foundation.
5. Weak believers are assisted by a strong Spirit. The Spirit of God
is not only a Spirit of grace and supplication: but it is also a Spirit of
power. I come now to the second part, which is this, that God doth exactly take
notice, tenderly cherish, and graciously reward the least beginnings, and the
smallest measures of grace in the hearts of His people.
In the prosecution of which point, I shall proceed in this
method.
1. I shall prove the truth of it.
2. I will also endeavour to give you the grounds hereof, and then
make application.
First, that God doth thus cherish the small beginnings of grace
will appear, if we consider,
1. These Scripture instances, Matthew 12:20. He will not quench the
smoking flax, that is, by the figure meiosis (as I have shown already) He will
kindle it. He will not break the bruised reed, that is, He will strengthen it.
God regards not the flame only, but the smoking of grace; not the ripe fruit,
but the tender buds.
2. The truth of this point may be made out by those sweet and
gracious promises God hath made to grace though weak. I will give you one
instead of many, mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, “He shall feed His flock like
a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His
bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”
3. By counsels that Christ giveth to us, how we ourselves should
carry ourselves to those that are weak, viz., to use them with all tenderness.
Why doth God cherish the least measures of grace in His people? Because the
least measure of grace is of a very great value; the least grace, and least
measure or degree of it, is the purchase of Christ’s blood, and the merit of
His great sufferings. The smallest spark of a diamond is precious; pearls and
precious stones are but little for quantity, but great for quality and esteem.
The least degree of grace is the work of God, and God will not forsake His own work.
Little grace is of the same nature and excellency with the greatest degree of
grace; for as the very filings of gold are of the same nature with gold, so the
least measure of grace is grace. The faith of all believers is the same faith
specifically, though not the same gradually; their faith is in all alike
precious, but not alike strong. Because God is the author of weak grace as well
as of strong. Solomon gives a good rule why the rich should not slight the
poor, because God is the Author and Maker of them both. The Lord will perfect
His work that concerneth His people, i.e., He will perfect and
encourage the least beginnings of grace, because grace is His work in His
servants. It is a very good argument in prayer, O Lord forsake not the work of
Thy hands. Property is the ground of love, care and tenderness: as a man will
look to a weak child, because it is his child, and will repair a weak house,
because it is the house wherein he dwells. And that is the third demonstration
of God’s tender care over His people, that the meanest measure of grace shall
not be deserted or forsaken, because God is the author of it. A fourth reason
may be drawn from the covenant of grace, the nature and tenor whereof is to
accept of sincerity instead of perfection, desires for deeds, purposes for
performances, pence for pounds, and mites for millions; and therefore God will
accept and reward the least measure of grace, that is, in truth and sincerity.
If God doth cherish and will reward the smallest measure of graces, then it
will follow that God takes notice of the smallest sins to punish them. He that
graciously eyes the very buddings of grace, will also justly eye the buddings
of corruption in His own people. Learn from hence, that the same mind should be
in Christians of greater growth to the weak, as was in Christ Jesus; who,
though He be higher than the highest, yet He looks upon the poor and lowly
without disdain, and so should we. Learn from hence, bow God doth by leisure
and degrees carry on in the hearts of His people the work of grace unto further
perfection. Mushrooms and such like worthless things, like Jonah’s gourd, may
spring up in one night; but things of most moment are of longest growth before
they come to perfection. And therefore let young converts learn from hence not
to be discouraged.
God’s works both of nature and grace are perfected by degree.
1. Though God regards the least measure of grace, let not this make
you regardless to grow in grace.
2. Though you have but a little grace, yet do not despise it, or
disparage it. O do not despise the day of small things in thy soul. Do not
tread upon the bunch of grapes, upon the new wine in the cluster, but say,
there is a blessing in it. (C. Love.)
Verse 16
Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
The sin of making others to sin
1. Here we see the tendency of sin to produce sin--to go on
propagating sin; here is the connection between the first sinner, who sets the thing
in motion--a connection, clear to the eye of God--between him and the very lass
result. The Bible does not create this--that book is not accountable for it;
for if you had not the Bible, or if you put it out of the question altogether,
there is still the fact in the nature of things. People nowadays are
perpetually wanting us to keep away from the supernatural revelation, and to
take our stand on the natural. Very well. Let us now look at it in that way. I
mean to say it is just the natural course of things. Whether there is a God or
not, does not alter the question. Put that aside for the moment, and just hear
the reality as seen amongst us. The thing is an obvious, absolute fact,
wherever it came from, that bad men make bad men--the corrupt produces corruption,
and the evil thought, word, or act exerts an influence and propagates itself.
Take a man that is dead and buried, and who has been in his grave a hundred
years, and you can conceive of his mind coming actually into direct contact
with the minds of the present generation, and producing a corrupting influence
upon them. Well, then, imagine a man--picture to yourselves the writer of a
popular book, aiming to overturn the faith of the young, the indiscreet, and
unlearned. Supposing such a man to write such a book which continues to be
circulated from generation to generation; copies of it are multiplied and sent
forth. Young minds come into contact with it; these minds are corrupted by it;
they are defiled and led away from the faith, giving up their confidence in
God, and perhaps seduced to what is immoral. Do you not see that though he has
been dead two or three hundred years, this author has still a living presence
in society? His mind is coming into contact with other living minds; and thus,
though dead, he yet speaketh--speaketh against God--speaketh with
blasphemy--speaketh to corrupt--and men are thereby corrupted, and taught to
blaspheme, and he is thus living, speaking, and operating till the present day
by the printing and publication of that work.
2. I want you to see, in the next place, that there is no help for
this. On purely natural principles it cannot be helped. If you could get all
the readers of Tom Paine to give up their bad books, and agree that they should
all be burned, would it not be a miracle? I should like you to try to get that
done! But you must do more than that--you must not only destroy the books, but
you must annihilate all the impressions on their memories and their hearts that
this man’s books have made, if you are to stop the evil influence he has set in
motion by sinning and teaching others to sin.
3. If a bad man--a man that has sinned himself, and that has taught
others to sin, seduced the innocent, sapped the foundations of virtue,
destroyed the religious faith of men--supposing such a one to come to a better
mind; supposing his heart is changed, and he becomes a penitent believer. He
could never undo what he had done for the great mass of those on whom he had
exerted a bad influence; and when he wanted to undo what he had done, and exert
a good influence, they would just receive his words with mockery, and would go
in the way he had led them at first. But even this could not be done. You know
that it would be impossible for a man who has exerted a bad influence on others
to collect them together and thus to reason with them. No! Before he comes to
that better mind, some who were his associates, and whom he has influenced for
evil, are dead and beyond his reach. Others are gone to the other side of the
globe; and they are beyond his reach. He cannot find where these multitudes
are; and they, because of what he did, have influenced others, and others have
influenced again; and the thing has gone on, and it is not for him to know its
ramifications and its consequences. Now this is the “course of nature,” and you
cannot help it.
4. Now I want you again to make a supposition for the sake of
argument. Supposing that there should be a future life; and supposing that,
after death, the souls of men are awakened into a new life, with all the
recollections of this--with all the memories of this? The only difference, in
all probability, is that they would be delivered from what here darkens the
judgment--from what here misleads the mind--and from what here hides a man from
himself--and what hides from him the characteristics and properties of his sin.
Suppose that he will waken into another life--that he will see things as they
are in themselves, and see people as they are; and, perhaps, be able to see and
to trace the connection between his sin and the sinning of others? Suppose that
he will be able to see and trace the influence on generation after generation,
of the evil that he did, and of the influence which he set in motion? Supposing
that he should waken up, in this other life, to a moral perception of what he
did while alive, and what he continues to do by the influences he then set in
motion, and which continued to be a power in the world after he had departed?
Well, now; only think of a man waking up to that! Where is it to end, supposing
the human spirit does wake up to that? You must take your choice; that, I
believe, is the real fact of the case. You must take your choice, looking at
nature, at the course of things, at the real, awful, terrible facts of our
existence! You must take your choice between two things--either that there is
nothing but nature, or that there is a fixed course of things, and we must look
forward, both in this world and in the next; and, depend upon it, nature never deceives
with respect to those great instincts that she has planted In all her
creatures. There is not an instinct, in all animated being, which has not an
appropriate good. I only state this. Take your choice. You must believe either
that nature is all you have, or you must believe that God in His mercy and
grace, and looking down on our condition in its natural state of sin, has done
something above nature to reach us--to lead us up--to give us hope!
5. The Gospel comes to destroy the spiritual consequences of your
sin, and, through repentance, and faith in God, to give you a hope in mercy,
and to save your souls; but as long as you continue unfaithful, you continue
subject to the course of nature; and any consequences of sin which you have
brought on yourself must be taken to the grave with you, and the Gospel will
not help you out of it. If you ruin your health by vice, or your character by
crime, you may repent, and God will save you, and the interposition of His
grace will sanctify your soul, and you may get to heaven; but it will not give
you health, nor will it destroy the consequences which sin has brought on your
body--it will not set you in society where you were befog--you will still be
remembered as having been a criminal and dishonest man, as long as you live;
and though people may rejoice at your conversion, and hope for the best, you
will never stand where you once did stand in society. Never! There is another
thing I am obliged to submit to. I do not understand it. It is a matter of
faith, and I say I do not know how it can be, but I believe that it is, in some
way or other. That is to say, I believe this--that a very great sinner, who has
led a great many into sin, and been the means of the utter destruction and
corruption of many, influentially--well, it is a great mystery, but I believe
the Gospel is such, that the grace of God can so operate that that soul may
hereafter enjoy repose! It is wonderful to think it; but I believe the Gospel
makes a provision for it--I believe that it is within the resources of God’s
omnipotent mercy, that that soul may be happy in God, notwithstanding the
consequences of its sin are going on injuring others! He will go to the grave
mourning over that; but then his soul will enter into repose, though these
consequences still remain going on. (T. Binney.)
Verses 21-31
Verse 27
King Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields.
Shields of gold and bronze
Solomon in his reign decorated his court of justice, called the
house of the forest of Lebanon, with three hundred shields of beaten gold.
These shields of gold hung there until his son Rehoboam’s reign, when Shishak,
King of Egypt, came up and pillaged Jerusalem. When he had taken these golden
shields away, Rehoboam made for their empty places shields of brass or copper;
and whatever trouble he may have taken to secure the shields of gold, he
committed his brazen shields to the care of a trusty guard. “And when the king
went into the house of the Lord, the guard bare them, and brought them back
into the guard-chamber.”
1. The kingdom of Israel was a figure of that real kingdom which
every man possesses--himself, with some good or evil principle regnant over its
thoughts and desires, its life and aims. And this kingdom may be like the
kingdom of Solomon, a realm regulated by a noble and wise power, and rich in
the resources of a good and capable nature. Its protecting and inspiring
principles may be as pure and as beautiful as shields of gold; justice and
innocence, mercy and truth set up like shining shields within its inmost
sanctuary. But if human life has any lesson more sad than another it is that
which teaches that men often depart from their purest and best principles, and
permit lower and less noble motives to guide them. Many men begin life with a
real desire to become useful and a blessing to the world, who afterwards become
mere seekers after wealth or pleasure. The bright, generous youth grows into
the hard and selfish man; the frank, sympathetic, and lovable spirit shrivels
up into the narrow, suspicious, grasping, and unloving seeker after self. A
process of transmutation goes on, but not of baser metal into gold, but of gold
into copper or bronze. This incident is a picture of this decline from high principle
to something less noble and unselfish; it is the emblem of that change too
common with us, from gold to brass.
2. There is one side of Rehoboam’s energy in making shields of copper
that pathetically resembles our own sometimes--that which displays the haste
and eagerness with which men hasten to conceal the loss of their highest
feelings; how strenuously they strive to preserve the appearance of principle,
of magnanimity, and of honour, when they have lost their essential spirit; how
strictly they adhere to the forms of godliness when often its life is entirely
gone! Burnished bronze is substituted for pure gold, and it often looks like
gold and passes for it, but it lacks the true ring and the unsullied lustre of
the genuine metal none the less. Yet it is important for us to learn that the
substitution of copper for gold is a right thing when our gold is gone, if we
do not deceive ourselves into the belief that our bronze is gold, for the loss
of inward innocence and purity of motive can, at least, be partly atoned for by
the steady pursuit of outward goodness and righteousness. It is sad, indeed, to
depart from the best principles that we possess, but it is far more sorrowful not to
repair our loss by the pursuit of some lesser good. Sometimes goodness seems
instinctive, and we cannot do wrong, because it fills us with an unconquerable
horror; but when such feelings fail, it is wise to resist evil from much lower
motives rather than yield ourselves willingly to sin. If we cannot hearken to
the voice of love, it is well for us to listen to the word of command; if full
desire should fail to move us to do right, then it is wise to use the
compulsion of law and obedience.
3. Many of our deepest and purest feelings do not seem able to bear
the stress of this hard world. We quickly lose many of the sweetest and holiest
feelings that were stored in our hearts in childhood; the teachableness, the
peacefulness and humility, the sense of the Divine nearness, and our dependence
upon our Heavenly Father; our reverence for truth and goodness, and our
instinctive love of the right, are apt to fade away beneath the harsh light of
this world of sin; but if our shields of gold should go, there is wisdom in
making shields of copper; fitting up our minds with harder and lower
principles; determining to obey the law of God; determining, at least, to keep
our conduct pure; our hands, if not our hearts, clean; and doing our duty
faithfully amongst men. It is Shishak, King of Egypt, the worldly principle,
the principle of this life and its comforts, that robs us of our golden
shields. We become engrossed with our earthly life, with its physical pleasures
and pains, with its present hopes and disappointments, and the higher forces
and influences lose their authority over us; what is better then, to use in
preserving our religion, than those lower, but most needful, principles that
bid us control our earthly and outward lives by a Divine law and force, that
make religion a duty we owe to God, to ourselves, to our fellow-men, and unswerving
fidelity to right our fixed course, because we must suffer and perish by any
other way?
4. Men often make the mistake of giving up altogether their faith,
their religion, their early principles and hopes, because they lose their
charm, because they seem remote from their worldly daily life; but this is
losing their shields altogether; they are depriving themselves entirely of what
they might possess under another form; they should seek to make these things at
least a check upon their lives, and follow what is right and good from a sense
of duty if not from love. It is strange how precious such things become when we
cling to them thus; it is easy indeed to lose the habit of prayer, which was
once a pleasure to us; or the habit of attendance at the house of prayer, which
was once a joy, when some fresh and more worldly influences come upon us; but
it is remarkable how soon prayer and worship become a joy again, when we
persevere in their use, and persist against our will in their practice. It is
easy to lose our golden shields, but if we make for ourselves shields of
copper, and guard them steadfastly and carefully, they will at length be
transmuted into fine gold, for it is ever he that doeth the works that knows,
and finds, and loves the doctrine. The pathway back to purity of heart is by
purity of life; to the love of God’s commandments by obedience to them; to
faith, and joy, and trust in heavenly things by steadfast duty to their laws in
all we do below; and the method by which God restores to us our treasures of gold is by making
us faithful over our treasures of bronze, for he that is faithful over a few
things shall be ruler over many things. (W. F. Stonestreet.)
Verses 29-31
Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam.
The power and weakness of external circumstances in the life of
man
Though this man lived fifty-eight years in this world, and for
seventeen years occupied the throne, how little is said of him! Inspired
historians pay no more attention to the life of kings than to the life of
ordinary men.
I. The power of
external circumstances. Whilst we are far enough from admitting that man is by
necessity the creature of circumstances, we cannot gainsay the fact that they
tend greatly to shape his character and determine his fortunes. Here we find
them investing the most worthless man with worldly opulence and regal power.
Some men amass wealth and climb
to power by skillful and persevering industry. But here is a man born to it.
His ancestors made his position for him. He was not the architect of his own
fortune. This is the case with thousands to-day. Experience teaches that to get
wealth and power in this way is as undesirable as it is unmeritorious. Many sons
have had reason to curse the day when their fathers bequeathed them a fortune.
Here is a man whom circumstances made a king, who had nothing kingly in his
soul.
II. The weakness of
external circumstances.
1. They did not give him wisdom and piety.
2. They did not give him social respect. We are so constituted that
we can have no true moral respect for a man, however elevated his position, if
he is destitute of moral worth. To true souls corrupt men on a throne are far
more contemptible than if they lived in hovels of obscurity.
Conclusion:--
1. That a man’s external circumstances are no just criteria by which
to judge his character. To regard them as such, has been the tendency of men in
all ages.
2. That man’s external circumstances do not necessarily shape his
character. The circumstances into which the life of Rehoboam was thrown, did
not by necessity make him the vile man and ruthless despot which he became. The
fact is, there is a sovereign power in the soul, to subordinate external
circumstances to its own interest. It can turn apparently the most adverse
circumstances into blessings. (Homilist.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》