History of the Old Testament Volume 7, Part 2
Jeroboam.
AS there was no publique and vniuerſall conflict betwixt the Ten Tribes, and the two, ſo no peace; Either King found reaſon to fortifie the borders of his owne territories; Shechem was worthy to bee deare to Ieroboam; a citie as of old ſeaſoned with many treaſons, ſo now auſpicious to his new vſurpation. The ciuill defection was ſoone followed by the ſpirituall; As there are neare reſpects betwixt God, and his anointed, ſo there is great affinity betwixt treaſon and Idolatry: there is a connexion betwixt, Feare God, and Honour the King; and no leſſe betwixt the neglects of both: In vaine ſhall a man looke for faith in a miſ-religious heart.
Next to Achitophel, I doe not finde that Iſrael yeelded a craftier head than Ieroboams; ſo hath he plotted this conſpiracy, that (what euer fall) there is no place for a challenge; not his owne intruſion, but Iſraels Election hath raiſed him to their throne; neither is his cunning leſſe in holding a ſtolne ſcepter; Thus he thinkes in himſelfe; If Iſrael hauehave made me their king, it is but in a pang of diſcontentment; theſe violent thoughts will not laſt alwaies: Sudden fits hauehave commonly ſudden recoueries; their returne to their loyalty ſhall forfeit my head together with my Crowne; They cannot returne to God, and hold off from their lawfull Soueraigne; They cannot returne to Ieruſalem, and keepe off from God; from their loyalty; Thrice a yeere will their deuotion call them vp thither; beſides the exigence of their frequent vowes; How can they be mine, whiles that glorious Temple is in their eye; whiles the magnificence of the royall Palace of Dauid and Salomon, ſhall admoniſh them of their natiue allegeance; whiles (beſides the ſolicitation of their brethren) the Prieſts and Leuites ſhall preach to them the neceſſity of their due obedience, and the abomination of their ſacrifices in their wilfull diſobedience; whiles they ſhall (by their preſence) put themſelues vponupon the mercy, or iuſtice of their lawfull, and forſaken Prince; Either therefore I muſt diuert them from Ieruſalem, or elſe I cannot liue and reigne. It is no diuerting them by a direct reſtraint; ſuch prohibition would both endanger their vtter diſtaſte, and whet their deſire to more eagerneſſe: I may change religion, I may not inhibit it; ſo the people hauehave a God, it ſufficeth them; they ſhall hauehave ſo much formality as may content them; their zeale is not ſo ſharpe, but they can be well pleaſed with eaſe; I will proffer them both a more compendious, and more plauſible worſhip; Ieruſalem ſhall be ſupplied within mine owne borders; naturally men louelove to ſee the obiects of their deuotion; I will therefore feed their eies with two golden repreſentations of their God, nearer home; and what can bee more proper than thoſe, which Aaron deuiſed of old to humor Iſrael?
VponUpon this peſtilent ground, Ieroboam ſets vp two calues in Dan, and Bethel, and perſwades the people; It is too much for you to goe vp to Ieruſalem, behold thy Gods ô Iſrael, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Oh the miſchiefe that comes of wicked infidelity; It was Gods Prophet that had rent Ieroboams garment into twelue peeces, and had giuen ten of them to him; in token of his ſharing the ten Tribes; who with the ſame breath alſo told him that the cauſe of this diſtraction was their Idolatry, Yet now will hee inſtitute an Idolatrous ſeruice for the holding together of them, whom their Idolatry had rent from their true Soueraigne to him: He ſaies not; God hath promiſed me this Kingdome, God hath conferd it; God ſhall finde meanes to maintaine his owne act; I will obey him, let him diſpoſe of me; The God of Iſrael is wiſe and powerfull enough, to fetch about his owne deſignes; but, (as if the deuices of men were ſtronger than Gods prouidence, and ordination) he will bee working out his owne ends by prophane policies: Ieroboam being borne an Iſraelite, and bred in the Court of a Salomon, could not but know the expreſſe charge of God againſt the making of Images, againſt the erecting of any riuall altars, to that of Ieruſalem, yet now that hee ſees both theſe may auaile much to the aduancing of his ambitious proiects, he ſets vp thoſe Images, thoſe Altars; Wicked men care not to make bold with God in caſes of their owne commodity; If the lawes of their Maker lie in the way of their profit, or promotion, they either ſpurne them out, or tread vponupon them at pleaſure: Aſpiring mindes will know no God but honour. Iſrael ſoiourned in Egypt & brought home a golden calfe; Ieroboam ſoiournes there, and brought home two; It is hard to dwell in Egypt vntainted; not to ſauor of the ſins of the place we liue in, is no leſſe ſtrange, than for wholeſome liquor tund vp in a muſty veſſell, not to ſmell of the caske; The beſt body may be infected in a contagious aire; Let him beware of Egypt that would bee free from Idolatry.
No ſooner are Ieroboams calues vp, than Iſrael is downe on their knees: their worſhip followes immediatly vponupon the erection; How eaſily is the vnſtable vulgar carried into whateuer religion of authority? The weather-cock will looke which way ſoeuer the wind blowes; It is no maruell if his ſubiects be brutiſh, who hath made a calfe his God.
EueryEvery acceſſary to ſinne is filthy, but the firſt authors of ſinne are abominable; How is Ieroboam branded in eueryevery of theſe ſacred leaues? how doe all ages ring of his fact, with the accent of diſhonour, and indignation; Ieroboam the ſonne of Nebat, that made Iſrael to ſinne? It was a ſhame for Iſrael that it could be made to ſinne by a Ieroboam; but, ô curſed name of Ieroboam that would draw Iſrael to ſin; The followers and abettors of euill are worthy of torment, but no hell is too deepe for the leaders of publique wickedneſſe.
Religion is clothed with many requiſite circumſtances; As a new King would hauehave a new God; ſo that new God muſt hauehave new Temples, Altars, Seruices, Prieſts, Solemnities; All theſe hath Ieroboam inſtituted; all theſe hath he caſt in the ſame mould with his golden calues: Falſe deuotion doth not more croſſe, than imitate the true: Satan is no leſſe a counterfeit than an enemy of God; Hee knowes it more eaſie to adulterate religion, than to aboliſh it.
That which God ordained for the auoydance of Idolatry, is made the occaſion of it; a limitation of his holy ſeruices to Ieruſalem; How miſchieuouſly doe wicked men peruert the wholeſome inſtitutions of God to their ſinne, to their bane?
Ieroboam could not be ignorant how fearefully this very act was reuenged vponupon Iſrael, in the wilderneſſe; yet hee dares renew it in Dan and Bethel: No example of iudgement can affright wilfull offenders.
It is not the mettall that makes his Gods, but the worſhip; the ſacrifices: What ſacrifice could there bee without Prieſts? No religion could euer want ſacred maſters of Diuine Ceremonies; Gods Clergy was ſelect, and honourable; branches of the holy ſtemme of Aaron; Ieroboam rakes vp his Prieſts out of the channell of the multitude; all Tribes, all perſons were good enough for his ſpurious deuotion; Leaden Prieſts are well fitted to golden Deities. Religion receiues either much honour, or blemiſh, by the quality of thoſe that ſerue at her Altars; We are not worthy to profeſſe our ſelues ſeruants of the true God, if we doe not hold his ſeruice worthy of the beſt.
Ieroboams Calues muſt hauehave ſacrifices, muſt hauehave ſolemne feſtiuities; though in a day, and monethmonth of his owne deuiſing: In vaine ſhall wee pretend to worſhip a God, if wee grudge him the iuſt daies, and rites of his worſhip.
It is ſtrange that hee who thought the dregs of the vulgar good enough for that Prieſthood, would grace thoſe Gods, by acting their Prieſt himſelfe; and yet behold where the new King of Iſrael ſtands before his new Altar, with a Scepter in one hand, and a Cenſer in the other, ready to ſacrifice to his new Gods; when the man of God comes from Iuda, with a meſſage of iudgement; Oh deſperate condition of Iſrael, that was ſo far gone with impiety, that it yeelded not one faithfull monitor to Ieroboam; The time was, that the erecting of but a new altar (for memory, for monument) on the other ſide Iordan, bred a challenge to the Tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manaſſes; and had coſt much Iſraelitiſh bloud, if the quarrelled Tribes had not giuen a ſeaſonable and pious ſatisfaction; and now, loe how the ſtronger ſtomach of degenerated Iſrael can digeſt new Altars, new Temples, new Gods; What a difference there is betwixt a Church and Kingdome newly breathing from affliction, and ſetled vponupon the lees of a miſ-uſed peace?
But oh the patience, and mercy of our Long-ſuffering God; that will not ſtrike a very Ieroboam vnwarned: Iudgement houers ouer the heads of ſinners, ere it light; If Iſrael afford not a bold reprouer of Ieroboam, Iuda ſhall; When the king of Iſrael is in all the height both of his State, and ſuperſtition, honouring his ſolemne day with his richeſt deuotion, ſteps forth a Prophet of God, and interrupts that glorious ſeruice, with a loud inclamation of iudgement. Doubtleſſe the man wanted not wit to know what diſpleaſure, what danger muſt needs follow ſo vnwelcome a meſſage: yet dares he (vponupon the commiſſion of God) doe this affront to an Idolatrous King, in the midſt of all his awefull magnificence. The Prophets of God goe vponupon many a thankeleſſe errand; He is no meſſenger for God that either knowes, or feares the faces of men.
It was the Altar, not the perſon of Ieroboam, which the Prophet thus threatens; Yet not the ſtones are ſtricken, but the founder; in both their apprehenſions: So deare are the deuices of our owne braine to vsus, as if they were incorporated into our ſelues; There is no oppoſition whereof we are ſo ſenſible, as that of religion.
That the royall Altar ſhould be thus polluted by dead mens bones, and the bloud of the Prieſts, was not more vnpleaſing, than that all this ſhould bee done by a childe of the houſe of Dauid; for Ieroboam well ſaw that the throne and the altar muſt ſtand, or fall together; that a ſonne of Dauid could not hauehave ſuch power ouer the Altar, without an vtter ſubuerſion of the gouernment, of the ſucceſſion; therefore is he thus galled with this comminatory prediction; The rebellious people who had ſaid, What portion hauehave we in Dauid, heare now, that Dauid will perforce hauehave a portion in them: and might well ſee, what beaſts they had made themſelues, in worſhipping the image of a beaſt; and ſacrificing to ſuch a God, as could not preſerue his owne Altar from violation, and ruine.
All this while I doe not ſee this zealous Prophet laying his hand to the demolition of this Idolatrous Altar; or threatning a knife to the Author of this deprauation of religion; Only his tongue ſmites both; not with foule, but ſharpe words; of menace, not of reproach; It was for Ioſias a King, to ſhed the bloud of thoſe ſacrificers, to deface thoſe Altars: Prophets are for the tongue, Princes for the hand; Prophets muſt onelyonly denounce iudgement; Princes execute.
Future things are preſent to the Eternall; It was ſome two hundred and ſixty yeares, ere this prophecy ſhould bee fulfilled; yet the man of God ſpeakes of it as now in acting; What are ſome Centuries of yeares to the Ancient of daies? How ſlow, and yet how ſure is the pace of Gods reuenge? It is not in the power of time to fruſtrate Gods determinations; There is no leſſe iuſtice, nor ſeuerity in a delaied puniſhment.
What a perfect Record there is of all names in the roll of Heauen; before they be, after they are paſt? what euer ſeeming contingency there is in their impoſition, yet they fall vnderunder the certainty of a decree; and are better knowne in heauen, ere they be, than on earth whiles they are. He that knows what names we ſhall hauehave, before we or the world hauehave a being, doth not oft reueale this peece of his knowledge to his creature; here he doth; naming the man that ſhould bee two hundred yeeres after; for more aſſurance of the euent; that Iſrael may ſay, this man ſpeakes from a God who knowes what ſhall be: There cannot bee a more ſure euidence of a true Godhead, than the foreknowledge of thoſe things, whoſe cauſes hauehave yet no hope of being; But becauſe the proofe of this prediction was not more certaine, than remote; a preſent demonſtration ſhall conuince the future; The altar ſhall rend in peeces, the aſhes ſhall be ſcattered; How amazedly muſt the ſeduced Iſraelites needs looke vponupon this miracle; and why doe they not thinke with themſelues; whiles theſe ſtones rend, why are our hearts whole? Of what an ouer-ruling power is the God whom we hauehave forſaken, that can thus teare the Altars of his corriualls? How ſhall we ſtand before his vengeance, when the very ſtones breake at the word of his Prophet? Perhaps, ſome beholders were thus affected; but Ieroboam, whom it moſt concerned, in ſtead of bowing his knees for humiliation, ſtretcheth forth his hand for reuenge, and cries, Lay hold on him: Reſolute wickedneſſe is impatient of a reproofe, and in ſtead of yeelding to the voice of God, rebelleth: Iuſt and diſcreet reprehenſion doth not more reforme ſome ſinners than exaſperare others.
How eaſie is it for God to coole the courage of proud Ieroboam? the hand which his rage ſtretches out, dries vp, and cannot be pulled backe againe: and now ſtands the King of Iſrael like ſome anticke ſtatue, in a poſture of impotent indeuour; ſo diſabled to the hurt of the Prophet, that hee cannot command that peece of himſelfe; What are the great Potentates of the world, in the powerfull hand of the Almighty? Tyrans cannot bee ſo harmefull as they are malicious.
The ſtrongeſt heart may bee brought downe with affliction; Now the ſtout ſtomach of Ieroboam is fallen to an humble deprecation; Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be reſtored me againe. It muſt needs be a great ſtreight that could driue a proud heart to beg mercy, where he bent his perſecution; ſo doth Ieroboam; holding it no ſcorne to be beholden to an enemy; In extremities, the worſt men can be content to ſue for fauour, where they hauehave ſpent their malice.
It well becomes the Prophets of God to bee mercifull; I doe not ſee this Seer to ſtand vponupon termes of exprobration, and ouerlie conteſtations with Ieroboam, to ſay, Thine intentions to mee were cruell; Had thine hand preuailed, I ſhould hauehave ſued to thee in vaine; Continue euer a ſpectacle of the fearefull iuſtice of thy Maker, whom thou haſt prouoked by thine Idolatry, whom thou wouldſt hauehave ſmitten in my perſecution; but hee meekely ſues for Ieroboams releaſe; and (that God might abundantly magnifie both his power and mercy) is heard and anſwered with ſucceſſe: Wee doe no whit ſauour of heauen, if we hauehave not learned to doe good for euill.
When both winde and Sunne, the blaſts of iudgement, and the beames of fauour met together to worke vponupon Ieroboam, who would not looke that hee ſhould hauehave caſt off this cumbrous, and miſ-beſeeming cloke of his Idolatry; and hauehave ſaid, Lord thou haſt ſtriken mee in iuſtice, thou haſt healed mee in mercy; I will prouoke thee no more; This hand which thou haſt reſtored ſhall bee conſecrated to thee in pulling downe theſe bold abominations; Yet now, behold hee goes on in his old courſes, and, as if God had neither done him good nor euill, liues, and dies idolatrous; No ſtone is more hard or inſenſate than a ſinfull heart; The changes of Iudgement and mercy doe but obdure it, in ſtead of melting.