The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 325

" Little one, precio11S one, Summoned a.way, Ere life's uprising sun Dawned into day, Gone from thy mother's arms, Gone to the Saviour's breast, Safe from life's rude alarms, Blissful thy rest." A. R. Vere. 17, 18.-The Deaa Chila. Following the order of events as they appear in the Hebrew text rather than in the Septuagint, we regard this as the first of the cal1tmities that befell the house of Jeroboam, until it became extinct on the death of Na.dab (eh. xv. 29), as the penalty of his transgression in violating the religious unity of the nation. So soon was he made to feel that he was in the gi-asp of a Power that could not be mocked or trifled with, and against which it was vain for him to rebel The narrative is full of touching interest, and has many points of moral teaching. It illustrates- !. THE TENDERNESS OF NATURAL AFFECTION EVEN IN A BAD MAN, We have no reason to doubt that genuine parental feeling prompted both Jeroboam and his wife in their appeal to the prophet. One cannot but sympathize with them in their distress at the fatal sickness of their child. Human nature in its deepest degrada- tion is not altogether lost to the touches of tender emotion. The thrill of parental love may be found in hearts so debased and hardened that nothing else can move them. The most ferocious savage will defend his own, and "barbarous people" are capable of "showing no little kindness" even to strangers (A.cts xx:viii.) But in many cases there is no real moral worth in these affections and amenities. They can scarcely be called "redeeming qualities.'' Parental. feeling is often little else than an animal instinct. It may exist side by side with the most grovelling pas- sions and the most complete moral obliquity. Jeroboam loved his child, and yet, in proud self-will and impious defiance of the Divine authority, he could secure his own carnal ends at the cost of the utter spiritual degi-adation of the people. II. THE BLINDNESS OF A SINFUL INFATUATION, The king flies in his distress to the prophet whom he has long slighted and ignored. He sought no counsel from him in the setting up of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. But now, as if he had himself fulfilled all the condition:; of the Divine promise, he thinks to get from the prophet a word to confirm his hope of a" sure house'' (eh. xi. 88). Such is the folly of human nature. When the shadow of adversity falls on men they try, with something like a superstitious impulse, to get consolation from religious sources which, in the time of their prosperity, they neglected and despised. But what could Jeroboam expect from the oracle of a God whom he sinned against so grievously but "heavy tidings " respecting his child 'l He bids his wife "feign herself to be another woman ; '' but how could he dream that a prophet, who had power to reacl the future, would not be able to penetrate the false disguise 'l Thus, when men's hearts are "set in them to do evil " do they resort to vain subterfuges, and flatter them- selves with a delusive hope. Thus do they often rush blindly on their own con- demnation and ruin; provoking, e.nd even antedating, the very calamities they have so much co.use to dread. III. _THE OURSE OF SIN ON THE SA0RED RELATIONSHIPS OF LIFE. It is terribly expressive of the hatefulness, in God's sight, of Jeroboam's impiety that the very flower and crown of his house should be thus stricken-the fairest e.nd the best, the one who seemed likely to justify his ne.me A.bijah (" J ehove.h is my Father") -because already in his young heart there was found " some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel." So is it often in the oourse of human history. The evil men do comes back to them, not only in divers forms of retribution 1 but often in the form of penalties that pierce them in the tenderest part. The dearest ties of life are broken. Or they see their own moral deformity reflected in those whom they would fain shield from its bitter consequences. Or their brightest hopes are withered at the root, and that which might have been, and was intended to be the source of the purest earthly joy becomes the occasion of keenest sorrow, ' 880 THE FIRST BOOK OF RINGS. [CH, XIV, 1-20