The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 331

for the wrong done to his Egyptian consort that his harem was plundered by Egyptians. There are those who connect Napoleon's fall with the repudiation of Josephine. The "judge of the widow'' (Psa. lxviii. 5) is also the avenger of the injured and dishonoured wife (Heb. xiii. 4). Human laws seldom take cognizance of these, the deepest of wrongs, but the cry of the heart-broken woman goes up into the ears of One who has said, "I will repay." II. THE PUNISHMENT oF REHOBOAM's FOLLY AND sm. 1. Of hu obstinacy. Fol' in the first place, but for his infatuation, humanly speaking, the kingdom would have escapecl division, and the land would have escaped invasion. That infatuation, it is true, was the product of his breeding and his training, but that consideration does not wholly exonerate him from blame. No man can charge his parents or surroundings with his sin. The law does not excuse the thief on the ground that from infancy he has been taught to steal. Rehoboam was a free agent, and ought to have acted otherwise, and doubtless he knew it when it was too late. 2. Of his pride. It was his pride had rejected all compromise, and had prated of scorpions, &c. It had been humbled once in the dismemberment of his realm. It must be humbled again in the spoliation of his palaces. For observe, it was when he "had strengthened himself'' (2 Chron. xii. 1) that Shishak came to prove his weakness. St. Paul is not the only one who has had to learn the lesson, "When I am weak, then am I strong." It is extremely probable that this vain- glorious prince, after losing most of his realm, still piqued himself on the abundance of his treasures. His trust was in his shields of gold. So he must be reduced to shields of pinchbeck. 8. Of his infidelity. "He forsook the law of the Lord" (2 Chron. l.c.) Much as his father had done before him. " What the old sing," says the German pro- verb, " the ·young chirp." That is to say, he still worshipped Jehovah (ver. 28 ; of. eh. ix. 25), but he sanctioned, or did not suppress, idolatry. The son of an A.mmonitess, he would find it difficult to trample on the gods of his mother (eh. xi. 5), and he was probably too much afraid of another insUITection to stamp out the abominations of vere. 28, 24. III. THE RECOMPENSE OF ISRAEL'S IDOLATRIES. Though the chronicler informs us that Rehoboam "forsook the law and all Israel with him," yet it seems prob- able from vers. 22, 24, "And Judah did evil," &c., that he rather followed than led his people. He could hardly fail, at first, to see that his strength lay in e. rigid adherence to the law; that hiR policy was one of piety. The Levites and others who streamed into Judah, shocked by the innovations of Jeroboam, cannot fail to have suggested that his role was orthodoxy. It is probable, therefore, that it was not until a large section of his people, infected with the superstitions and vices they had learned in Solomon's reign, clamoured for the tolerance of shameful shrines, that he yielded to idolatry. Ver. 25 seems to connect the invasion chrectly with the people's sin. But for the high places and images, &c., the land would have been spared this humiliation. It is to be carefully noted that, so long as king and people served the Lord, Shishak was held back from attacking them. Hence we understand why Judah receives earlier and greater stripes than Israel It was Jeroboam made Israel to sin. It was Judah made Rehoboam to sin. The guilty people, accordingly, e.re punished by the invasion of their land and the spoliation of their tree.sure ; the guilty king by the destruction of hie house. And here again, le~ us observe, how significant that the chastisement should oome from Egypt. Time 'Yas when God had punished the idolatries of Egypt through the instru- ment~ty of the Jewish people (E:x:od. vii.-xiv.) Now the tables are turned, and Egypt 1B ~mployed to avenge the idolatries of Judah. This was the first time that an Egyptian army had crossed their border-the first time, indeed, that the land had sustained the brunt of any invasion. It was the Sodomites and the like had drawn forth those swords from their scabbards. What a contrast between Exod. xiv. and 1 Kings xiv. Israel, who then "saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea- shore," now feels the grip of Pharaoh at hie throat, and the iron of Pharaoh in his soul. 836 THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. [en, XIV, 21-81.