See also Longfellow's poem of " The Reaper and the Flowers." (2) Sickness BJ?a.res none. " Neither his dignity as a prince, nor his age as a young prince, nor f his interest with heaven as a ious prince could exempt him from sickness " (M. H~nry~. As to the purpose o sickness, see Homiletics, pp. 12, 13. Perhaps this c~ild, 1~ wh~m was some good thing, only needed the discipline of sickness to make hrm fruitful m eve1--y good work. "After ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect," &c. (1 Peter v. 10): (3) The sickness of his son, while it wo.s a judgment on Jero- beam, was a warning to Israel. " A. cloud and darkness " to the one ; it gave light to the other (Ex:od. xiv. 20). 11 Let ns be patient I These severe afflictions Not from the ground arise, But oftentimes celestial benedictions Assume this dark disguise." 8. " Get thee to Shiloh " (ver. 2). But Shiloh was not one of his eanctuo.ries. Why not to Bethel? There were his priests and prophets (see on eh. x.xii. 6). But Jeroboam only does what many more have done since. He has one religion for health, another for sickness. Like J oab, he turns in adversity to the altar which he scorned in prosperity. He would fain share the consolations of those to whose admonitions he never listened. This sending to Ahijah is one result of the sickness of Abijah. " 1 There is no God,' the foolish saith, But none, 'there is no sorrow ; ' And nature oft, in time of need, The cry of faith will borrow. Eyes that the preacher could not school By wayside graves are rnised, And lips say, 'God be pitiiul,' Which ne'er said, • God be praised.'" 4. " There is Ahijah the prophet" (ib.) Whom he has never troubled since the day when "he spa.ke of him for king" (eh. xi.. 31). "Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him" (Gen. xl. 31). The ministers of Christ may well be content if they are sent for in times of sorrow and sickness. " Lord, in trouble have they visited thee" (Isa. xxvi. 16). We think scorn of those who only come near us when they want something. But how often do we serve God thus? 6. "Disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam" (ib.) Was ever grosser infatna,tion than this? Jeroboam, the most astute of politicians, the Ma{)hiavelli of the Old World, thinks that a prophet who can peer into futurity cannot penetrate his flimsy disguises. It never occurs to him that " the seer '' co.n see through a woman's veil. Ahithophel is not the only statesman whose wisdom has been turned into foolishess (2 Sam. u. 31). What an illustration does this history afford of that saying of the Temanite, 11 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness " (Joh v. 13; 1 Cor. iii. 19). • 6. "He ahall tell thee what shall become of the child" (ver. 3). A strange object for such a journey. It is not, 11 what to do for the child;" still less, "what to do for the sin;'' but simply, what should be the isEme of the sickness. But that, time would show. It needed no ghost, no prophet to declare that. Che sara sara. Probably Jeroboam despaired of obtaining more. There are petitions 14 which for our unworthiness we dare not ask." Despair is not uncommonly the end of presumpLion. "Sin makes such a strangeness between God and man, that the guilty heart either thinks not of suing to God, or fears it'' (Bp. Hall), Or was it fatalism prompted thia i.oquiry 'I It hae often been remarked that unbelief and OH. XIV, 1-20,l THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 819
superstition are very nenr of kin. Man cannot divest himself of all belief. Head u.nil lleart alike "abllor a vacuum." Those who will not believe in one God shall be the victims of strong delusions, and shall believe e. lie (2 These. ii 11).
"Hear the just law, the judgmcnt of the skies, He tho.t hates trnth shall 1e the dupe of lies; And he that will be cheated to the last, Delusions strong as hell shall bind him fast."