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SHISHAK INVADES JUDAH.

[975-606 B.C.

Lord is righteous." And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants; that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house he took all; he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. Instead of which king Rehoboam made shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the chief of the guard, that kept the entrance of the king's house. And when he humbled himself the wrath of the Lord turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether, and also in Judah things went well. Rehoboam reigned seventeen years, and was succeeded by his son Abijah.

NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS.

shields, &c.-it appears that Rehobo- up in groves, high places, private am had a depot for arins in every forti- residences, and places of religious asfied city of Judah and Benjamin.

those

resorted-came; gathered; whom Jeroboam had deprived of their lauds, to make room for his new priesthood.

cast them off-Lesson 74, 'priests.' strengthened-not only by their numbers, but chiefly by their religious zeal and example.

David and Solomon-this honourable mention of Solomon's name in connexion with David's, leads to the conclusion that be had repented of his sins of idolatry, as David did of his transgressions. forsook-as Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonitess (Naamah 'beautiful,') he had probably been brought up with a feeling of indifference to the religion of the Hebrews.

high places-altars on eminences; Lesson 74, high places.'

images-statues; figures to represent their ideas of divinities, which they set

sembly.

groves as places of worship, groves were used from very early times, their sombre and secluded character favouring those feelings of meditative awe and contrition which mark the devotions of every true worshipper; Genesis xxi.33.

In

process of time they became the haunts of heathen priests, bards, and prophets, whose mystic and corrupt teachings were rendered more impressive in the gloom of such retreats. Thus places, unexceptionable in themselves, and calculated to induce thoughtful and devout emotions, became so identified with the foolish superstitions and the gross impurities of heathenism, that their use was forbidden to the worshippers of the True God; Deut. xvi. 21.

high hill-Lesson 74, high places.' green tree-the idea that departed spirits, as well as the spirits of the gods, delighted to hover amid the boughs of fine-spreading trees was encouraged by

PERIOD VI.]

ABIJAH REPROVES JEROBOAM.

the practice of burying the dead at their | memorials are 2,700 years old. The roots; hence the reverence with which such trees were regarded.

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empire of Shishak extended beyond the bounds of Egypt into southern and western Africa; the natives of which countries swelled the ranks of his army. my service, and, &c.-that they may feel the difference between being under my protection, and being abandoned by Me, and condemned to serve tyrants.

took away-Josephus says that Rehoboam, without offering any resistance to Shishak's army, delivered up all to his power.

INSPIRATION OF PROPHECY.

'Twas by an order from the Lord
The ancient prophets spoke his word;
His Spirit did their tongues inspire,
And warm'd their hearts with heavenly fire.

The works and wonders which they wrought
Confirm'd the messages they brought;
The prophet's pen succeeds his breath,
To save the holy words from death.

Great God! mine eyes with pleasure look
On the dear volume of thy book;
There my Redeemer's face I see,
And read his name who died for me.

Let the false raptures of the mind
Be lost and vanish in the wind,
Here I can fix my hope secure;
This is thy word, and must endure.

WATTS.

76. ABIJAH'S SUCCESS. ASA DESTROYS IDOLATRY. 1 Kings xiv. 1-20; xv. 1-15; 25-28; 2 Chronicles xiii. Now Abijah with four-hundred-thousand warriors went to fight with Jeroboam and his army of eight-hundred-thousand men. And Abijah stood upon Mount Ephraim, and spake to Jeroboam about the multitude of Israel, and about their idolatries, and said, "But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; for we have kept the charge of the Lord

THE SENTENCE ON JEROBOAM. [975-606 B.C.

have forsaken him.

our God; but ye Behold God himself is with us for our captain. O children of Israel, fight ye not ‘against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper." During the battle which followed, God smote Jeroboam and the army of Israel, so that they fled, and the children of Judah prevailed against them, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers. Nevertheless Abijah walked in all the sins of his father. He reigned three years, and was succeeded by his son Asa. In his days the land was quiet ten years, and he did that which was good and right. He took away the altars, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made; he also removed the queen from the government, and burnt her idol by the brook Kidron. Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days; though all the idolatrous places were not destroyed.

Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell sick. Jeroboam sent his wife, in disguise, to Ahijah, the prophet at Shiloh, to inquire if he should recover. She went. Ahijah could not see, for he was very old. The Lord told Ahijah that the wife of Jeroboam was about to come to him, as another woman. When he heard the sound of her feet he said, " Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right; but hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off his posterity, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam. Him that dieth of and him that dieth

Jeroboam in the the city shall the dogs eat; in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat for the Lord hath spoken it. Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.

PERIOD VI.]

SUCCESSORS OF JEROBOAM.

And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam. For the Lord shall smite Israel, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger. And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin." When she returned to Tirzah Abijah died, and all Israel mourned for him. Jeroboam reigned twenty-two years.

Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, succeeded his father and reigned over Israel two years. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of his father. Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the tribe of Issachar, conspired against Nadab, and slew him at Gibbethon. Baasha then became king. He smote all the house of Jeroboam, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake by Ahijah.

NOTES AND EXPLANATIONS.

Abijah my father; his mother's name was Maachah, or Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel, and granddaughter of Absalom; (called Abishalom in Kings xv. 2); compare 2 Chron. xi. 21; xiii. 2; and 1 Kings xv. 2.

spake-Abijah accused the Israelites of rebellion against David's posterity, to whom, he said, God had given the kingdom by a covenant of salt-an incorruptible and everlasting covenant, not to be revoked; he also charged them with the sin of idolatry, with casting out the priests of the Lord, and appointing men to the priesthood who belonged not to the tribe of Levi.

religious; the questions at issue werethe lawfulness of erecting a new kingdom, and the authority for establishing a mode of worship which God had expressly prohibited.

God smote-by means of an ambushment Jeroboam had the army of Judah apparently in his power-his army taking them both in front and rear; but the Lord sent confusion among the men of Israel, so that they fled when the men of Judah shouted, and the priests of the Lord sounded with the trumpets. Thus the promise of Moses was fulfilled. Num. x. 9; Lesson 30, ' trumpets.'

the charge-the offering of sacrifices Asa-physician; he was brought in the place which God had chosen-up, it appears, by his grandmother, Jerusalem; the preservation to all the Maachah, who on that account is called tribe of Levi of their priestly distinction, his mother; 2 Chron. xiv. 2. She enrevenues, and privileges, and the main-couraged idolatry, but Asa exercised tenance of the family of David as the his authority as God's vicegerent to rightful inheritors of the throne. prevent her baneful influence.

against the Lord-the war between Israel and Judah was both civil and

queen-the queen-mother; in this case Asa's grandmother; the mother of the

'GOD THE HEARER OF PRAYER.' [975-606 B.C.

king had great authority in the affairs of the kingdom; she was always one of the royal counsellors.

burnt-Lesson 56, ' burned.' perfect he was a sincere worshipper of God; always loyal-though there were imperfections in his conduct, as in that of all men.

though all the tendency to idolatrous practices was so deeply-rooted in the people that the king's example and authority could not wholly eradicate it. disguise-she assumed the name, appearance, and manners of another. Ahijah-Lesson 72, Ahijah.'

6

I am sent the idea that prophets are messengers sent to those to whom they spoke is sustained by Ahijah's address, though Jeroboam's wife came to him. above all-king Saul was not so bad as Jeroboam, nor Solomon; for though they were drawn into evil, yet they did not study to make the people idolaters. other gods-Jeroboam superadded to the idolatry which had been formerly practised in Israel, by the introduction of the two golden calves.

the corpses of the slain. Lesson 86, licked; 95, had eaten.' Dogs were regarded with contempt, (Lesson 94, 'dog,') nevertheless the Egyptians included them among their objects of worship.

fowls-Lesson 63, 'birds.'

come to be buried honourably.

some good thing-the Jewish writers say that he disapproved of the golden calves, and tried to dissuade his father from establishing guards on the frontier of his kingdom to prevent the people from going up to Jerusalem to worship. root up-Lesson 108, taken captive.' Nadab a gift ;' he was assassinated while prosecuting the siege of Gibbethon.

smote all-acting according to the savage policy of the times (Lesson 38, slew,') he destroyed all the family of the tormer king, lest his own reign should be rendered insecure by their claims upon the throne; he thus unwittingly fulfilled the denunciation of Ahijah.

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

dogs-dogs are very numerous in TIRZAH-a city of Ephraim, and a eastern cities; they are not kept in royal residence of the kings of Israel houses, but wander about prowling for from Jeroboam to Omri, who built whatever food they can get, which ren. Samaria. Its situation is spoken of as ders them savage, dangerous, and dis-pleasant. gusting. They prey on all sorts of car

GIBBETHON-a city in the district of rion and offal, and in time of war follow Dan which was re-possessed by the the camp to lick the blood, and feed on Philistines.

GOD THE HEARER OF PRAYER.

"THE LORD IS OUR GOD, AND WE HAVE NOT FORSAKEN HIM."

When morn awakes our hearts
To form the early prayer;
When toil-worn day departs,
And gives a pause to care
When those our soul loves best
Kneel with us in thy fear,
To ask thy peace and rest-
Our God, our Father, hear!

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