The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 247

CIIA.PTER m. 1-9'. had foretold their future eminenoe. They remembered, too, that their position-in the THE B'IIVOLT OF THE TEN TRI1!ES.-With very centre of the land-was also the richest the reign of Rehoboam, on _which our his- in all natural advantages. Compared with lorian now enters, we begin the second their picturesque and fertile possessions, the great period in the history of the Hebrew territory of Judah was as a stony wilderness. monarchy, so far a.s it is related in these And for e. long time they had enjoyed a Books of Kmos. The first, which com- certain superio1ity in the nation. In tfi'e prises the Augustan age of Israel, the short- time of J oshue. we find them fully conscious lived maturity of the race in the reign of of their strength and numbers (Josh. xvii. Solomon, has extended over forty years, 14), and the leader himself admits their from B.c. 1015 to B.c. 975. The second, power (ver. 17). When the tabernacle was which is the period of the existence of the first set up, it was at Shiloh, in the territory two kingdoms of Israel and Judah side by of Ephra.ini (Josh. xviii 1), and there the ark side-that is to say, from the disruption to remained for more than three hundred years. the carrying a.way of Israel into captivity- And the pre-eminence of Ephra.ini amongst extends over two centuries and a half, viz., the northern tribes is curiously evidenced from B.c. 975 to B.c. 722, and is, with few by the way in which it twice resented exceptions, a period of steady and shameful (Judg. viii. 1; xii. 1) campaigns undertaken decline. without its sanction and co-operation. n And in giving his account of the division and its sister tribe of Manasseh had fur- of the kingdom, our historian, wwre suo, nished, down to the time of David, the con.fines himself to the recital of actual facts, leaders and commrmders of the people- a.nd hardly speaks of their hidden causes. J oshua, Deborah, Gideon, Abimelech, and Yet the sixteenth verse of this chapter Samuel-and when the kingdom was estab- reveals to ns very clearly one of the secret lished it was from the allied tribe of Benje.- springs of the dissatisfaction which existed min that the first monarch was selected. at the date of Rehoboa.m's accession, one of " It was natural that, with such an inlierit- the iniinences which nltimately led to the ance of glory, Ephraim always chafed under disruption of Israel. Jealousy on the part of any rival supremacy "(Stanley," Jew. Ch."ii. Ephraim of the powerful tribe of J ndah had p. 272). It was natural, too, that for seven undoubtedly something to do with the revo- years it should refuse allegiance to a prince lution of which we now read. The discon- of the rival house of Judah. Even when, at tent occasioned by Solomon's levies and the the end of that time, the elders of Israel headstrong folly of Rehoboam were the im- recognized David as "king over Israel 11 mediate ea.uses, but influences much deeper (2 Sam. v. 3), the fires of jealousy, as and of longer standing were also at work. the revolt of Sheba and the curses of The tribe of Ephraim had clearly never Bhimei alike show, were not wholly extin- thoroughly acquiesced in the superiority guished. And the transference of the which its rival, the tribe of Judah, by sanctuary, as well as the sceptre, to Judah furnishing to the nation its sovereigns, -for Jerusalem, whilst mainly in the its seat of government, and its se.nctuary, territory of Benjamin, was also on the had attained. During the two former reigns border of Judah-would occasion fresh the envy of Ephraim had been held in check, heart-barnings. It has been supposed by bot it was there, and it only needed an occa- some that l'~a. lxxviii. was penned as e. sion, such as Rehoboam afforded it, to blaze warning to Ephraim against rebellion, and forth. That proud tribe conld not forget to reconcile them to their loss of place and the glowing words in which both Jacob power; that, if so, it was not effoctue.l, and (Gen. x.li.x. 22-26, " the strength of my that the jealousy endured at a much later head ") a.nd Moses (Deut. umi. 18-17) date Isaiah xi. IS shows. There had prob- oil:. Xii. 1-24.] ':riiE F'IRS'.r BOOK OF KINGS. 249