With the beginning of the third quarter we enter again upon the study of the Old Testament. The close of the Old Testament lessons for last year, was at the end of Solomon's reign. We learned:
• How Solomon forsook his wisdom and plunged into the depths of folly;
• How that he loved "many strange women," women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
• How that he went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites;
• How that he built "high places" for Chemosh of Moab, and Molech of Ammon, and for all the gods of his strange wives; and
• How that for it the Lord stirred up adversaries on every hand which were adversaries all the days of Solomon.
And then to crown it all the Lord said unto Solomon: "Forasmuch as this is done of you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. ... Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to your son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen." (1 Kings 11:11,13)
By Solomon's sins, a fearful train of evils was laid. In his iniquities there was sown the seed from which sprang a most abundant harvest, which was reaped in long years, and even ages, of suffering, of sorrow, and of bitterness. How little he thought, how little any one things, of this! Yet there is nothing surer, there is nothing more diligently inculcated by the word of God, than this one thing, that sin cannot be committed with impunity. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." (Galatians 6:7) "Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same." (Job 4:8)
Nor is this confined to the immediate acts. "I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jeremiah 17:10)
Remember therefore that when wickedness is sown nothing but wickedness can spring from it, and the fruit that is borne, enters into the computation of the reward, whatever it may be. If the reward be the reward of the wicked, it will be the greater according to the fruit of the wickedness committed. And if by the mercy of God the sin is forgiven, and if, by patient continuance in well-doing, the reward of the righteous be obtained, yet the fullness of that reward will be diminished according as the fruit of wickedness shall abound.
Sin is a terrible reality. "And be sure your sin will find you out." (Numbers 32:23)
Nowadays it has become quite a common thing, even almost tacitly understood, that young men must sow their "wild oats." Yes; and nearly all do so, but it were well to remember that, from the beginning of sin, never yet was there sown a particle of such "wild oats" that did not spring up and bear fruit abundantly, all of which must be reaped, in one place or another, in sorrow and in dread. There is absolutely no escape, no wind will blast it, no mildew will smite it; it cannot be plucked up by the roots,--it must be reaped. "Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." (Exodus 20:5)
It is not in vain that God has written in the table of his law, "I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:6)
In accordance with the word of the Lord to Solomon, the prophet Ahijah told Jeroboam that ten of the tribes should be given to him, and he should reign over them. Jeroboam was the son of Nebat of the tribe of Ephraim, and his mother's name was Zeruah, and was at this time a widow. As Solomon was building Millo, and repairing the walls of the city of David, he saw Jeroboam among the workmen, and "seeing the young man that he was industrious, he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph [Ephraim]." (1 Kings 11:28)
As Jeroboam was going out of the city of Jerusalem one day, Ahijah met him and drew him aside into the field. Then Ahijah took his own outer garment, tore it into twelve pieces, and said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you." (1 Kings 11:31)
And although the Lord told him plainly that this should not be done while Solomon lived, yet like a great many before his time he could not await the Lord's time and so he attempted to seize the kingdom before the time. "He lifted up his hand against the king," (1 Kings 11:26) and therefore Solomon sought to kill him. "And Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon." (1 Kings 11:40)
Rehoboam succeeded Solomon on the throne of David, and of course expected to reign over all the tribes of Israel, and so went to Shechem to be acknowledged as king. But there was a hitch in the proceedings. Israel had sent word to Jeroboam in Egypt and called him up to Shechem, and it may well be supposed that with the ambitious schemes that he had in hand even while Solomon lived, that he would suffer nothing to be settled by which Rehoboam should rule over all. But besides this, the people had a real grievance. In Solomon had been fulfilled, in a great measure, the prophecy of Samuel when the people chose a king in the first place. "He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and you shall be his servants." (1 Samuel 8:11-17)
All this had been done by Solomon; and all to support his heathen wives. The burdens of the people had really been made heavy, and now they asked relief from some of these. But of this, Samuel had also told them, "and you shall cry out in that day because of your king which you shall have chosen; and the Lord will not hear you in that day." (1 Samuel 8:18)
And so when they ask Rehoboam to relieve them he only mocks them. He first consulted the old men who gave him wise counsel, but he had not sense enough to follow it, but instead turned to "the young men that were grown up with him." (1 Kings 12:8)
And a fine set of counselors these were! Let us see for a moment under what influences he and these young men had grown up. Rehoboam was the son of Solomon by Naamah an Ammonitess. (1 Kings 14:21) And we read in 1 Kings 11:18 that all these heathen women burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. These gods were Molech, and Ashtoreth, and Chemosh, and Baalim. These represented the male and the female principles of generation, and all the rites of their worship corresponded to that idea, and is expressed in the one word, lasciviousness. Their priests were men dressed in women's clothes; their priestesses were harlots, and their most acceptable worship was by prostitution, and burning the offspring in the fire.
Such were the influences amidst which these young men had grown up, and such was the training that they had, by which they should be fitted to become counselors in an emergency that involved one of the greatest kingdoms then in the world. How could the issue be anything else but fatal? And so it was. They said: "Thus shall you speak unto this people that spoke unto you." (1 Kings 12:10)
Thus implying that it was an act of rebellion for them even to speak to him of their grievances. And he was to say to them, "My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. My father has chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." (1 Kings 12:10-11)
There could be but one result. The people answered the king, saying: "What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to your own house, David." (1 Kings 12:16)
Thus comes, fast following, evil upon evil as the fearful fruit of the sins of Solomon. It was only for David's sake that all this did not happen in Solomon's own day. And even now, when it did come about, it was still for David's sake that there was a tribe left to Rehoboam at all. "Notwithstanding in your days I will not do it for David your father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of your son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to your son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen. ... But he [Solomon's son] shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel." (1 Kings 11:12-13,32) "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God." (Romans 11:22)
His mercy is upon children's children to such as fear Him, and in visiting iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet in wrath upon the disobedient, in mercy He remembers those who have been obedient. "Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him, And showing mercy unto thousands [of generations] of them who love Him, and keep His commandments." (Exodus 20:5-6) "And I will delight myself in your commandments, which I have loved." (Psalm 119:47)--Signs of the Times, June 25, 1885--Notes on the International Lesson, July--1 Kings 12:6-17
A.T. Jones