_At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick._ A GOOD BOY AND A BAD FAMILY One beautiful flower in a desert; one lovely rose amongst thorns; one fruitful branch on a corrupt tree. We are going to speak of a boy who was like that flower, rose, or branch. I. This boy’s father was very wicked.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why feignest thou thyself to be another?_ A CHEAT EXPOSED I. Wickedness involves others, trying to make them its dupes, its allies, and its scapegoats. Jeroboam proposed to hoodwink the Lord’s prophet. Iniquity is a brag, but it is a great coward. It lays the plan, gets some one else to execute i... [ Continue Reading ]
_David kept my commandments _. .. _ thou hast gone and made thee other gods._ SERVITUDE OR SERVICE-WHICH? The people of God had left their God, and He had left them, so that Shishak, the King of Egypt, came against them; and though the Lord had respect to their humble prayer, and would not suffer... [ Continue Reading ]
_And all Israel shall mourn for him._ EARLY CUT OFF, BUT LONG REMEMBERED That the grace of God may convert a man in the prime of life, ay, and bring even a grey-headed sinner to the foot of the cross, is a truth of which, happily, examples can easily be found. But, while this is true, let it never... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin._ THE SIN OF MAKING OTHERS TO SIN 1. Here we see the tendency of sin to produce sin--to go on propagating sin; here is the connection between the first sinner, who sets the thing in motion--a connection, clear to the eye of God--between him and the... [ Continue Reading ]
_King Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields._ SHIELDS OF GOLD AND BRONZE Solomon in his reign decorated his court of justice, called the house of the forest of Lebanon, with three hundred shields of beaten gold. These shields of gold hung there until his son Rehoboam’s reign, when Shishak, K... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam._ THE POWER AND WEAKNESS OF EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE LIFE OF MAN Though this man lived fifty-eight years in this world, and for seventeen years occupied the throne, how little is said of him! Inspired historians pay no more attention to the life of kings... [ Continue Reading ]