_A MAN OF GOD FORETELS THAT THE PRIESTS OF BETH-EL SHOULD HEREAFTER BE OFFERED UP BY JOSIAH. THE HAND OF JEROBOAM IS DRIED UP, AND RESTORED AT PRAYER OF THE MAN OF GOD. HE TURNS IN TO AN OLD PROPHET AT BETH-EL, AND IS DESTROYED BY A LION._ _Before Christ 975._... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE CAME A MAN OF GOD— Commentators are not agreed who this prophet was, neither is there any foundation for so much as a conjecture. The prophesy, however, is one of the most remarkable that we have in sacred writ. It foretels an action which exactly came to pass above three hundred and forty yea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HIS HAND—DRIED UP, &C.— The Almighty employs here three striking proofs to convince a deluded people that HE is the true God, and not those _calves_ which an idolatrous king had set up from a principle of false policy. We see the seducer punished in the first miracle, cursed in the second, and h... [ Continue Reading ]
THE KING SAID—COME HOME WITH ME, &C.— The reason is obvious, why this prophet was forbidden to eat and drink with the people of Beth-el; because he was to have no familiarity with idolaters. But why he should not _return by the same way that he came_ is not so evident. Probably God enjoined his prop... [ Continue Reading ]
AN OLD PROPHET—AND HIS SONS CAME AND TOLD HIM— It appears from this, that these sons of the old prophet were present when Jeroboam stood at the altar, and therefore joined in that idolatrous worship, though their father did not: who, nevertheless, was too timorous to reprove them. There are various... [ Continue Reading ]
A LION MET HIM BY THE WAY, AND SLEW HIM— There was a wood not far from Beth-el, out of which the two she-bears came, mentioned 2 Kings 2:24; and it is not unlikely that out of the same wood came the lion which slew this prophet. We have in this narrative a cluster of miracles: the lion, contrary to... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE CITIES OF SAMARIA— How can they be called the cities of Samaria, when Samaria itself was not now built; nor had the separate kingdom of Jeroboam yet obtained that name? It is plain from hence, that the author or compiler of these books of kings lived after the time of Jeroboam, and writes of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THIS THING BECAME SIN— Nothing can be more striking than the blindness and ingratitude of Jeroboam. Instead of relying on the promises which God had made him, to preserve the kingdom in his family, if he continued faithful; and fearing lest his subjects should forsake him if they went to sacrifi... [ Continue Reading ]