The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 330

age would ask, that it is eo soon left comparatiYely desolate? Cannot the Deity to whom it was dedicated protect it against spoliation. Or have His wor- shippers provoked Him to anger, so that He has "abhorred his sanctuary,'' and " delfrered his glory into the enemies' hand"? For we may be quite sure that there was e. profound reason for this profound dishonour and disgr&ee. We cannot account for the fa.et that the temple of the Lord, the "house of the great God'' (Ezra. v. 8), was stripped bare and left e. wreck within a few years of its erection, on the supposition that o. chance hap- pened to it, and that it only suffered as other shrines have done from the ~icissitudes of fortune and the impartial, inevitable havoc of war. '' In rebua bellu:is," it has been said, "maxime dominatur Fortuna." But if we feel at liberty t-0 interpret other histories by a theory of chance, that idea must be excluded in thinking of God's people. If their history was fortuitous, then the Old Testament is a delusion. No; we may not be able always to trace the finger of God in profane history, but it will be passing strange if we cannot recognize it here. ~,,,,the immediate cause of the invasion was, no doubt, the divided and therefore wc:cLeued state of the kingdom. We might have been tempted to think that J er,,l,oam had summoned his patron Shishak to his aid, had we not proof that Israel as well as Judah suffered from this campaign. And of course it is possible that Jeroboam instigated a, war which ultimately extended to his own kingdom. But it is obvious that Shishak would need no invitation to attack Jerusalem. The fame of its immense treasure is quite sufficient of itself to account for his advance. So long as it was guarded by the armies of Solomon it was secure. But Rehoboam, whose troops would not number a third of his father's, and who was paralyzed by the hostility of Israel crouching like a wild beast on his northern border, offered an easy prey to a general with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, and "people without number" under his command. We see, then, that it was the treasures of the Holy City-the vast accumulation of the precious metals-which excited the cupidity of the Egyptians, while their defenceless state suggested the idea of seizing them. Observe here- L THE RETRIBUTION OF SOLOMON'S SIN. 1. Of his greed and pride. He has "multiplied silver and gold to himself" only to provoke an invasion of his territory and the humiliation of his people. If he had obeyed the law; if he had beeu content to embellish the house of the Lord and leave the palaces a.lone; if his overweening p1i.de and his insatiable thirst for fame had not prompted him to amass treasures which excited universal attention, it is probable that Judah would have escaped invasion. In this case II pride has gone before destruction." The -very magnitude of his treasures led to their dispersion. 2. Of his idolatry. We have already seeu how this sin (eh. xi. 5-8) was punished by the partition of his realm. In the plunder of his palaces, provoked and made possible by that division, we see a further recompense of his outrage and defiance of the Almighty. The hills on which his idol altars were erected_ now swarmed with idolaters, assembled not to sacrifice, but to slay. We are remmded here of the retribution which befell the Jerusalem of a later day. On one of the hills before Jerusalem the Jews raised a cross-they crucified the Prince of Life. On all the hills that are round about Jerusalem, the Romane raised crosses, tho crosses of His murderer& (Jos., Bell. Jud. v. 11. 1). 3. Of his mult·iplwation of horses. For it is to be remembered from what quarter the retribution came. There is an exquisite judicial propriety in an invasion from Egypt, and an invasion of chariots and horses. This was re-taliation in the proper sense of the word ; it we.s like for like. Why, there was almost a beaten track made for those same chariots by the horses and chariots which Solomon had imported in such prodigious numbers. Literally the trade horses paved the way for the horses of war. This illegal traffic had long since familiarized Egyptian charioteers with the shortest way to the Holy City. 4. Of hia multiplication of wivea. Solomon's lawful wife came from Egypt. &cl he been true to her, he would probably have been true to his Lord God ~eh. Ji. 8), and so his realm would have escaped invasion. It is a kind of li' emel,is OD, XIV, 21-81.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 335