The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 326

IV. THE BLENDING OF AN ELEMENT OF MERCY WITH GoD's BEVERHBT JUDOMENTB, We see here how the innocent suffer with the guilty. The iniquit, of the fa.there is visited upon the children (Exod. xx. 5). Yet to the child himself, m this inste.noe, it was a gre.oious visitation. (1) He was emphatically "to.ken from the evil to come.'' (2) His incipient piety was recognized o.nd crowned by this tre.nsle.tion to 11, happier sphere. (3) It was his special privilege to die e. ne.tm-al o.nd not a. violent denth-the only one of the house of Jeroboam who should "go to the gre.ve in peace." Thus in the darkest Divine judgment there is a gleam of mercy. There is "light in the cloud." It has a" silver lining." The sufferings of innocent children, and the fact that so large a proportion of the hume.n race die in infancy, are dark mysteries to us. But even here we see the dispensation of an all-wise Love, remem- bering Him who said, " It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish" (Matt. xviii. 14). "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God" (Mark x. 14).-W. Vers. 1-20.-Affeiction andjudgment. I. THE STRICKEN RING. Abijah seems to have been heir to the throne, and to have been a.like the king's and the people's hope. The father's heart was touched: the king saw the dynasty threatened, to establish which he had ventnred so much, The voice of God, against which the es.r was closed, will be heard again in the quietness of the sick chamber, in the silence of death. God follows us through deepening sorrows, if ha.ply we me.y tnrn ere we are overwhelmed by the waters of destruction. II. THE RESORT FOB HELP. 1. His trouble d1-ivea him towards God. It is mea.nt to do this. It is the touching of God's hand that we may look up and live. " Eyes which the preacher could not school By wayside graves a.re raised, And lips cry, ' God be pitiful,' Wbich ne'er said, 'God be praised..• " 2. He is drawn by the remembrance of past mercy. "Behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, who told me that I should be king over this people.'' The remembrances of mercies are cords to draw back straying hearts to God. The thought of what God has done makes a holy place for faith, and rears an altar whence may rise the incense of accepted prayer. 3. His hope is defeated by his own deceit. "Disgn.ise thyself, that thou be not known as the wife of Jeroboam." He thonght he might find help without owning and yielding his sin. How many prayers are like J ero- boam 's embassy! Men wish to find mercy and yet cling to their sinful life, and imagine that because their wicked practices are kept behind their back they a.re not there in God's sight I 4. Gifts (ver. 3) could not make up the lack of a tru(l, penitent heart. IIL THE LoBD's ANSWER. 1. Dugui8e iB impossible before God (vers. 5, 6). We can conceal nothing from Him; and one word of His(" Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam I ") is enough to rend every veil of pretence from the soul and overwhelm it with shame. We may now close the ears to the voice of accusing conscience, but we go onward, as she went, to where the Judge will name us. 2. God's namu,. "The Lord God of Iarael." Not only will the covering be tom from the sinner's heart and life; God will be revealed. He is the mighty avenger of those who have been seduced and sinned against. 8. Jeroboam's ingratitude (vers. 7-9). He was taken from among the people, and yet he had shown no anxiety to discharge aright the duties of the high office committed to ~im. (1) Human_ patterns were desoised ('' Thou hast not been as my servant David"). (2) God Himself was cast behind his back. 4. The doom. (1) There was deepest dishonour for him. His house was overthrown and removed as the vilest refuse. (2) There was destruction for his people. For the impenitent and all who are led by them there is, and can be, only utter and eternal ruin. • IV. THE SHADOW OF FALLING JUDGMENT (vers. 17-20). 1. Abijah's death. The light of the home, the hope of the land, is taken. 2. Jeroboam', death. " The Lord struck him a.nd he died " (2 Chron. xiii. 20). The clear intellect and the strong OH. XIV, 21-81.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 831