Jeroboam's idolatry reproved.
1 Kings xiii. 4. And it came to pass, when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, lohich had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that he pnt forth his hand from the
339.1 Jeroboam's idolatry reproved. 375
altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
TO be raised to a situation of eminence and autho- rity is generally thought a subject of congratulation: but if preferment be not accompanied with a pro- portionable increase of grace to fit us for it, it is rather to be dreaded than desired. Distinctions of every kind open a wider sphere for the exercise of our own corruptions, and too frequently become to the possessors of them an occasion of deeper con- demnation. This is strongly illustrated in the case of Pharaoh, who was raised up to the throne of Egypt on purpose that he might have an opportunity of shewing all that was in his heart, and that God's power might be displayed and magnified in his de- struction^. In like manner Jeroboam was raised to the throne of Israel, not, alas! for any benefit either to himself or others, but for the ultimate augmentation of his own guilt and misery. Whilst in a humble situation, he was industrious, and trust-worthy^: but when he was preferred to a higher post, he became ambitious % turbulent, rebellions'^: and when he was placed on the throne of Israel, he drew away that whole people to idolatry ; and has from that hour been never mentioned but with abhorrence, as the man " that caused Israel to sin." In considering the account here given of him, we shall notice,
I. His unbelieving expedient —
Scarcely was Jeroboam raised to the throne, before he established idolatry throughout his dominions —
[Wishing to make the breach between Israel and Judah irreparable, he determined to cut off all intercourse between them ; and to establish a worship of his own devising, that the people might not go up any longer to worship at Jerusalem. He knew that it would be in vain to prohibit religion altoge- ther ; but that to establish a false religion would be compara- tively easy ; since, if men have something wherewith to satisfy their own minds, they are not very scrupulous about inquiring
» Rom. ix. 17. ''1 Kings xi. 28.
*-■ 1 Kings X. 37. '^ 2 Chron. xiii. 6.