one tribe became tho king of Isro.el. The discharge of the duties of the former office made those of the lrlitcr !PAS nrcluous. Apply this to the preparation of men for the nobler rule of h,mven, by the exercise of powers for God in the earthly sphere. III. THE PERILS OF WORLDLY SUCCESS, 1. Ingratitude. Jeroboam fostered ill- feeling against Solomon in Ephraim till be was expelled the kingdom. Men often kick away the ladder by which they rose to fortune. Give examples. Tli.11. wish to forget the past in which they wanted help, and to attribute to their o~"sl[ill what came from the kindness of others, tempts to this. Even poor parents have been left uncared for by prosperous children. 2. Impatience. Jeroboam was to have the kingdom, as Ahijah told him, but he could not wait for Solomon's death. :S:is first exaltation and the words of the prophet aroused greed and ambition which would not be stayed. A man who has known nothing but success is more impatient than are others at a disappointment or diffieulty, It is harder for him than for one trained in the school of adversity to say, " Not my will, but Thine be done." His is seldom the "meek and quiet spirit" which is, in the sight of God, of great price. 3. Rebellion against God. He heard from Ahijah's lips these words of God about Solomon-" I will make him prince all the days of his life;" yet during his lifo Jeroboam tried to dethrone him. Compare this conduct with that of David towards Saul. The contrast is the more remarkable because of the provocation David received, and because the son of Jesse, unlike the son of N ebat, had been actually anointed king. He had no right to seize what God had promised to give. Jacob learnt this lesson in the house of Laban. In this disregard, or defiance, of God was the germ of J eroboam's ruin. His rule was (like Solomon's) conditional on obedience to the Divine will (compare ver. 38 witl: ix. 4-6). Stability depends on God ; the seen on the unseen. No cleverness, no diligence, no human help can bring lasting prosperity to a soul, or to a nation, which forsakes righteousness and forgets God.-A. R. Vers. 29-36; chs. xiv. 21-81; xvi. 1, 2, 25, 26.-The judgments of God on Judah and Israel from the death of Solomon to the time of Ahab. The separation of the people of God into two kingdoms was a punishmP,nt for the idolatry of Solomon ; bnt from this punishment Goel brought forth good, for it was well that the pride of the Jews should not be fostered by unmixed prosperity. It would have formed a far stronger barrier to the gospel in after times if it had not been th11S early broken. After the separation of the two kingdoms, idolatry more or less gross prevailed in both, with brief intervals of return to the worship of the true God. This fearful morn! declension is traceable to a great extent to the foll of Solomon. Sin is th11S always the parent of after evil. :S:e who rebels ago.inst God leaves behind him the influence of his example, and gives fresh force to the current of evil. Gou made both kingdoms feel, during this period, repeated strokes of :S:is chastising hand. Their history is a history of tears and blood. Every fresh sin, the bitter outgrowth of former trnnsgressions, becomes a source of new calamities. The hard Asiatic tyranny of Rehoboam leads to the rending of the kingdom. The erection of a half-pagan sanctuary entails upon Jeroboam and his race the catastrophes which issue in their ruin. Th? history of the J ewe during this period, therefore, presents the aspect of one Ion~ Judgment of God, in which sin brings forth death and thus becomes its own pums~me~t (James i. 15). This is true also in the history of individuals; and we have m this fact one of the strongest evidences that we are under the government of a holy God. Let us nover forget that His holiness is 11t the same timo love, and that through all the dnrk and sonowful vicissitudes of our lifo He is cnrrying out His plan of mercy. In spite of all its foils, its wanderings, and its woes, Israel did fulfil its preparatory mission. If in the end the theocrncy tottered to its fall, this failure also enteretl into the conditions of the Divine plan. Israel was nover treated by God, however, as 11 mt:re passive insti:ument. God gave it repeated warnings, as, for example, by the mouth of the unknown prophet who was sent to J erobol\Dl to declare to him the jndgments of God (eh. xiii.)-E. de P. '11HE FinST :13OO:K OF ID:NGS. toe:. xn. 1-24.
EXPOSITION.