The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Chronicles — Section 165

cultt1R in Judah (1 Kinge xii. 28). 6. Rmewed ambition. Not content with this, be aimed at the subjugation of the southern empire. 7. Final oollapse. This point reached, he hastened rapidly towards an ignominious end. Byron says- " One breast laid open were a school. Which would unteach man.kind the lust to shine or rule." One may be permitted to doubt this I II. AN INSTANCE OF MISAPPLIED ABILITY. That Jeroboam as youth and man, ae private person and public official, e.s servant and sovereign, possessed high cape.citiee, need not be questioned. Energy, industry, enthusiasm, ambition, faculty for organiza- tion, power of impressing, directing, leading, and ruling others-qualities needful for generalship, statesmanship, kingship-appear all to have belonged to him in more the.n ordinary measure; yet in every situation of life in which he was placed these powers were misapplied. The governing idea of his soul was to use all, in himself and others, for the advancement of his private interest. For this end he fomented sedition amongst his countrymen, encouraged disaffection amongst the subjects of Solomon, took advan- tage of Rehoboam's inexperience to raise the standard of revolt, perverted to wicked purposes the high position as a sovereign to which he in providence attained, did his utmost to propagate irreligion, diffuse idolatry, foster immorality, dissolve the fabric of social order, crush and annihilate the true worshippers of Jehovah. The annals of mankind afford many illustrations of the same phenomenon-magnificent powers of body and mind prostituted to ignoble ends, e.g. Samson, Saul, and Judas from sacred, Cresar (Julius), Mark Antony, and Napoleon from profane history. III. AN ILLUSTRATION OF NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES. 1. When promoted by Solomon to be master of works for the house of Joseph, he might, with his com- manding talent and great force of character, have done much to soothe the ruffled spirits of his countrymen, and so have nipped the poisonous flower of revolution in the bud. But he did not; rather he acted on a contrary hint. 2. Wnen recalled by the northern tribes to be their spokesman, had he chosen, he might have poured oil upon the troubled waters, allayed the ferment of their passions, appealed to them to give the young king a trial, and remember the danger which would accrue to the empire from disunion- might have crushed down his own ambitious thoughts, and like Cmsar (' Julius Cresar,' act iii. sc. 2)-not to speak of a greater (John vi. 15)-put bravely from him the crown which in the people's eyes he saw preparing for him. But he did not; rather, in the popular disaffection, he beheld that "tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," and launched himself upon its stream without delay. 3. Wne11 favoured by Providence so far as to secure the crown, bad he carried out the trust committed to him, to erect a kingdom in which the worship of Jehovah should be faithfully and purely maintained, he should have been established on bis throne beyond the possibility of overthrow, and the house of Jeroboam should have shone with a lustre as brilliant as, if not excelling, that of the house of David. But he did not; rather in him was verified the sentiment- " That lowliness is young ambition's ladder Whereto the climber-upward turns his face: But when he once attains the utmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his baok, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend." ('Julius Ciese.r,' act iL so. 1.) Jehovah had set Jeroboam on the throne of Israel; Jeroboam when on the throne~ Jehovah behind his back (1 Kings xiv. 7-9). IV. A MONUMENT OF DESERVED RETRIBUTION. Jeroboam, who might have attained to undying honour, reaped for himself a harvest of eternal infamy. To such a pitch of wickedness did he proceed, both in himself and in his people, whom he corrupted by his example and commanded b.Y: his authority, that not only ~d "the si~ of ~ero?oaID:" become ever afterwards proverbial as an expression for the highest possible 1mp1ety 1n an Israelitish ruler (1 Kings xv. 34; 2 Kings x. 31; xiii. 6; xiv. 24; xvii. 22), but it drew down upon him swift e.nd appalling retribution. "The Lord smote him." 1. In his armv with defeat. Hh1 troops were routed on the field of war, his fenced cities 166 THE SEOOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [mr. nv. 1-15,