Vere. 13-18.-Fidelity to conscience. This migration of priestsand people from the other tribes of Israel to Judah and Jerusalem was a serious event in the history of the people of God, and it presents a striking and suggeative spectacle to all time. It is an early illustration of fidelity to conscience. I. 'l'nE SEVERITY OF THE STRUGGLE. These servants of Jehovah, priests and people, had to triumph over great obstacles in orcler to take the step on which they decided. 'l'hoy had: 1. To set at nought the commandments of the king. This wa.s a more serious thing then than it would be now; it meant more rebelliousness in action, and it involved more danger to the person. 2. To cut themselves a.drift from old and sacred associations. They had to forsake their neighbours and (many of them, no doubt) their relatives; many had to leave their vocation or, at any rate, its exercise in familiar spots and among old and early acquaintances; they had to make little of those sentiments of which it is in our human heart to make much. 3. To sacrifice material advantages. Of tho Levites we read that they "left their suburbs and their possession" (ver. 14); and we may be sure that those who were not Levites, and who, consequently, would have a much greater interest in the occupancy and holding of the land (Deut. ::.:. 9), made still greater sacrifices than they. The families must have gone forth "not knowing the things that would befall them," but knowing that they would encounter serious loss and discomfort, ano. would miss much which they had been accustomed to possess and to enjoy. II. THE WISDOM OF THEIR 0HOICE. 1. They pleased God. God would accept and honour their fidelity, which was an act of faithfulness and obedience to himself. 2. They retained their self-respect. This they would not have done if they had conformed to the false rites which Jeroboam had instituted and on which he was insisting; in that case they would have sunk far and fast spiritually, and would soon have lost all hold upon the truth. For we cannot dishonour the truth in the eyes of men and retain our own appreciation of it. 3. They took a course which ennobled them-a course by which they not only became entitled to the honour of their countrymen, but by which they committed themselves definitely to the service of God and conlirmed their own faith in him. They did that for which their children and their children's children would " call them blessed" and noble. 4. They added materially to the strength of the kingdom which bore witness to the truth (ver. 17), and helped to make durable its godly institutions. 5. 'l'hey became located where they could take part in the worship of God according to the requirements of their own conscience. Setting their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel, they came where they could '' sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers" (ver. 16). They lost much temporal, but they gain~d much spiritual advantage. They sowed" not to the flesh, but to the Spirit." They left houses of brick behind them, but they came where they could build up the house of a holy character, of a noble and useful life. There are those in Christian lands who do not likewise, but otherwise. For some temporal considerations they leave the home where there is everything to illumine the mind and enlarge the spirit and enrich the soul, and go where all this is absent. Doubtless the removal from one town to another is an action in which many motives may Rnd should have their force, but let spiritual considerations have a great weight in the balance.-C.
Vera. 18-23.-Spiritual admixture. After reading the first fourteen verses of the last chapter (eh. x.), we hardly expect to come across the words, concerning Rehoboam, "and he dealt wisely" (ver. 23). But this king, though he could certainly be very foolish, was not all folly ; like most men, he was a spiritual admixture. We look at- I. THE SINGULAR SPIRITUAL ADMIXTURE WE FIND IN HiM. 'l'he account we have of him is not a long one; it is contained in two or three short chapters, but in these we coupt seven wise and four foolish actions. We find him (see above) very wise in taking time and in consulting others before giving an important decision on a critical occasion; most foolish in heeding the counsel of the young men; foolish in sending his minister that" was over the tribute" amongst those who were complaining bitterly of their taxation (eh. x. 18); wise in hearkening to and heeding the Divine prohibition of war (ver. 4); wise in fortifying and storing the strongholds on the frontier (vers. 6-12); wise in welcoming to Judah the priests and people whom Jeroboam had driven away; very foolish indeed in "desiring many wives" (ver. 23) and in establishing so 138 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [011. xr. 1-23.
la.rge a harem (ver. 21); wise in choosing so many from the stock of David and in dispersing his 8ons about his small kingdom, where they could not quarrel a.mon~ themselves, but be of some service t,o him ; wise in "walking in the way of David (ver. 17); foolish in departing therefrom after three years of obedience. II. THE SPIRITUAL ADMIXTURE THERE IS IN us. We find that good men have: 1. Those virtues and failings which seem to go together. 'l'hey have, as we say "the faults of their virtues." With much strength and ea.rnestuess goes severity in th; judg- ment of other people; with much meekness goes inactivity; with much vivacity and picturesqueness of style goes laxity, if not unveraciousness; with much good-na.tured- ness goes carelessness, ero. 2. l<'ailings which do not naturally accompany virtues. Of some good man whose general integrity we cordially acknowledge, whose excellency and usefulness (perhaps) we even admire, we have t,o admit reluctantly that he is very vain, or very proud, or very blunt, or very careless; or we have to confess that there is some other defect in his character, perhaps more than one shortcoming. In truth, we have to confront the truths, viz. : 1. That Christian character is an admixture. It is good not unmarked with evil; it is rectitude not without some occasional swerving to the right hand or to the left; it is rather an earnest aspiration or au honest and devout endeavour than a complete attainment; it is a battle that will end in victory, but it is not (yet) the victory; it is a race, and not the runner clasping the goal and receiving the prize. 2. That it behoves us to take heed how we judge. One failing does not unchristianize a character; it is what is in the depth, and not what is on the surface, that decides our position; the "spirit we· are of," and not the proprieties of behaviour. 3. That we do well to consider how much alloy is mixed with the pure gold of our own character.-C,