The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 147

they may see that my rule is n?t so oppressive as that o_f foreign kings" (Keil). God would let Rehoboam 1md the prmces of Judah be for e. time subject to Shishak-be in his power, be nt bis mercy, be compelled to go through the miserable humiliation of bu~ing him off-that he might be able to c?ntrast ~he honourable and happy gervice which he had known for three years ( eh. x1. 17) with the unendurable subjection to which he was now reduced. He should feel and know that the way of transgressors i9 hard; that between the bonds of the Lord and the yoke of the stranger there was all the difference between blessedness and misery, between a holy service and a degradin"' 0 servitude. I. THE DEGRADING SERVITUDE. "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants [or,' slaves'] ye are to whom ye obey?" "Ye were the servants [slaves] of sin;" "Being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Rom. vi. 16-18). 1. Sin is a foreign power. It is a stranger; it is an interloper; it has stepped in between ourselves and God; it is like the Egyptian forces that came up against Judah !!.nd Jerusalem, and sought to bring the people of God into captivity. Sin is our natural enemy, whom we have greatest reason to dread. 2. Sin proves a hard master, and forces to a cruel bondage. It is the ultimate source of poverty, and that is a hard master; it leads to vice, and that holds its victims in the most degrading thraldom; it throws around its subjects the coils of procrastination, and these hold the spirit in an evil circle from which it tries vainly to escape; it takes men further and further away from God, and leads them down to sources of satisfaction that are sure to fail and to end in disappointment and heart-ache; it is a sorry servitude in which to suffer; it is in very striking contrast to-- II. THE HOLY SERVICE OF THE SAVIOUR. To recognize the claims of our Divine Father and Redeemer, to yield ourselves in glad self-surrender to him, to spend our days and powers in his service-what is this? 1. It is the one right thing to do. It is to be fulfilling the greatest and strongest of all obligations. 2. It is the path of true liberty. Every servant of a Divine Saviour can say and sing- " In e. service which thy love appoints There a.re no bonds for me, A life of self-renouncing love Is e. life of liberty." 3. It is the secret and the source of lasting peace and of abiding joy. 4. It is the commencement of that life which is " life indeed," which is the beginning and foret&ite of" eternal life "-the life which is of God, for God, with God, in God.-C. Vars. 1, 2.-The apostasy of Rehoboam. I. EARLY IN ITS COMMENCEMENT. After the three years already mentioned (eh. xi. 17). Rehoboam's piety was short-lived. like the morning cloud and early dew (Hos. vi. 4), and like the seed upon stony ground (Matt. xiii. 5). Want of stability and permanence is a. chief defect in man's goodness. Many begin well who neither continue long nor end aright. II. PRESUMPTUOUS IN ITS SPIRIT. Rehoboam's declension began after be had established the kingdom and strengthened himself. His fit of reforming zeal continued no longer than the fear which caused it. When this expired that vanished. So long as the country was defenceless, Rehoboam deemed it prudent to have Jehovah on his side, and with that end in view he patronized Jehovah's altars. The moment his garrisons were erected, manned, and stored, he began to reckon that Jehovah's aid was not so indispensable, and that his reforming zeal need not be so extremely hot. So men still think of God, and assume a semblance of religion when they feel themselves in peril, but the instant peril passes they doff the cloak of piety they have erstwhile worn-like Pharaoh (Exod. viii. 8, 15; ix. 27, 34), like the Israelites (Numb. xxi. 7; xxv. 1; Ps. lxxviii. 31; cvi. 6), like Ahab (1 Kings xxi. 29), and others. III. THOROUGH-GOING IN ITS CHARACTER. 1. Negative. He forsook the Law of the Lord, probably by violating its moral precepts and discontinuing its ceremonial rites, by abandoning the worship and deserting the altars of Jehovah. 2. Positive. He returned to the heathen idolatries which for three years he had neglected (1 Kings xi. 7, 8)1 like a <log to Ms vomit, etc. (2 Pet. ji. 22). So a merely negative declension iu  148 THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [en. xn. 1-18,