The power of God was now displayed, for the old prophet of Beth-el was constrained to become himself the messenger of divine wrath upon the man of God, for that very offence which he had himself induced him to commit; "And it came to pass as they sat at the table, that the word of Jehovah came unto the prophet that brought him back and he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying; Thus saith Jehovah, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of Jehovah, and hast not kept the commandment which Jehovah thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water 1 in the place, of the which Jehovah did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water, thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers." And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom he had brought back. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him, and his carcass was cast in the way; and the ass stood by it; the lion also stood by the carcass. And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God who was disobedient unto the word of Jehovah; therefore, Jehovah hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake unto him. And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass, and they saddled him. And he went and found his carcass cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not eaten the carcass, nor torn the ass. And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back and the old prophet came to the city to mourn and to bury him. And he laid his car

cass in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying Alas, my brother! And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, thes bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones: for the saying which he cried by the word of Jehovah against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.*

It might have been expected that so signal an instance of the divine judgment would have induced the Israelitish monarch to retrace his steps; but so far from that, he and his sons had cast off the Levites from executing the priests' office unto Jehovah, made the lowest of his people priests the high places, and for the devilst and for the calves which he had made, and in fact consecrated for that sacred office. whoever was willing to undertake it. And THIS THING became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, an to destroy it from off the face of the earth.§

* 1 Kings, xiii. 11—32.

+ Idols resembling goats. Anselm Bayley on 2 Chron. xi. 15. see Lev. xvii. 17.

"The cherubim of the temple and the calves of Dan and Beth-c were both hieroglyphical figures. The one, of God's institution the other, of man's, in direct contravention of the second comman ment. The cherub was a compound figure; the calf, single. Jere boam, therefore, and his subjects were unitarians. And when descendants added to the idolatry of the calves, the worship of Bar they became materialists. For the most ancient pagan idolatry was neither more nor less than an allegorised materialism. The deificati of dead men was the corruption of later periods of idolatry, whe idolaters had forgotten the meaning of their original symbols, their original rites. It was not therefore without reason, that th ancient fathers considered the nation of the ten tribes as a gener type of heresy." Bp. Horsley on Hosea, preface ix.

§1 Kings, xiii. 33, 34. 2 Chron. xi. 14, 15.

Wonderful is the mercy and forbearance of God, even towards hardened impenitents; for notwithstanding the late conduct of Jeroboam, which might well have deserved a devouring fire from the presence of Jehovah, another judgment was inflicted upon him as a warning to forsake his sin, in the visitation of his son Abijah with a sore sickness.

Although Jeroboam well knew that he had forsaken God, and was still persisting in a course of iniquitous rebellion to the divine majesty, yet, as when his arm was withered, so now that he apprehended the loss of a beloved child, he was well aware that there was only one throne of grace, to which he could apply in the hour of necessity. He did not there*fore apply to any of his own priests, or offer up burnt offerings on his own altars in Beth-el or Dan, but sent his wife in disguise to Shiloh, with a present to Ahijah the prophet, who had foretold his exaltation, in order to ascertain whether the child should live or die.

Notwithstanding the venerable prophet was blind from old age, being forewarned of God, he immediately knew Jeroboam's wife, and thus addressed her, 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 Jehovah, the 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 in mine eyes; but hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboan every male, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the

remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away

dung till it be all gone.

Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the

city shall the dogs eat;

and him that dieth in the field shall

the fowls of the air eat: for Jehovah bath spoken it. Arise thou, therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. 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 Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. Moreover, Jehovah shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day, but what? even now. For Jehovah shall smite Israel, as ↑ reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and shall scat ter them beyond the river, because they have made them groves, provoking Jehovah to anger. And he shall giv Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. And Jeroboam's wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah; and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died; and they buried him: and all Israel mourned for him.*

But Jeroboam was soon destined to experience a more de cided proof of God's wrath, and which no doubt appeared him a fulfilment of the denunciation of Ahijah; for ther having been wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the lives,† on the death of the former, Abijah,‡ his son, assent bled an army of four hundred thousand chosen men, an Jeroboam prepared double that number, mighty men of valou to meet him. Abijam having ascended mount Zemarain which is in mount Ephraim, thus harangued the hostile army

* 1 Kings, xiv. 6-18.

+1 Kings, xv. 6. 2 Chron. xii. 15.

2 Chron. xii. 16. He is called Abijam, in 1 Kings, xv. 1. 8.

and its leader; "Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; ought ye not to know that Jehovah, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, is risen up and hath rebelled against his lord. And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have ye not cast out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests which minister unto Jehovah, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business; and they burn unto Jehovab, every morning and every evening, burnt sacrifices and sweet incense; the shewbread also set they in order upon the pure table, and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening, for we keep the charge of Jehovah, our God; but ye have forsaken him. And behold, God him=self is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding #trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers, for ye shall not prosper."

Jeroboam endeavoured to avail himself of this delay, by planting an ambuscade behind the Jewish army, so that