Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1904-07-08
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR JULY 10.
Subject: Jeroboam's Ido1atry, L Kings
Kill, 25-33-Golden Text, John, xv.,
21-Memory Verses, 28-3O-Commen'
tary on the Days Lesson.

Kill, 25-33-Golden Text, john xv.'
a1-Memory Verses, 2s.30-Commen'
tary on the Days Lesson.
7. improvements made ". 25). 20.
"Then Jeroboam built" After he was
made king Jeroboam Immediately tooS
measures to establish himself IN his KING
him. "Shechem." This city was enlarged
and fortified and thus made fit to be the
royal residence. But he soon removed hls
capital to Tirzah, few miles north II
Kings 14:l7; Is, 2I, and this remained the
capital until Omri removed it to Samarla
Mount Ephraim." See R. V. Not sin.
gle mountain but the hill country OF
Ephraim, extending from Bethel to the
plains of Jezreel 1t is the richest and
most beautiful part of the land. Went
out from thence" Shechem was the base
of operations in the building and fortifying
other cities. "Penuel." The place east OF
the Jordan, near the fords of Jabbok,
where Jacob wrestled with the angel (Gen.
1880, and whose tower and inhabitants
in the time of the Judges Gideon had de.
stroyed (Judg SID. Jeroboam probably
regarded it as an imnortant position, com
handing the great caravan road 70 the
farther East, and accordingly fortified It,
II. Idolatrous worship established Tvs;
26-3l). 20. "Said in his heart" He did
not speak out his real motives. He would
have been ashamed to have done that, and
It would have been poor policy. His real
reasons were in LIS heart, but he used an.
other argument to the people. Return to
David" Jeroboam was exalting policy
above principle. Josephus says the idea
was forced on the kings mind by the ap,
proach of the feast Of Tabernacles, at
which time it had been usual for the peo.
pie to 90 up in great numbers to Jerusa
lem. and to live there for some days. u.
"To offer sacrifices" (R. W. His keen eye
saw at once that the religious element in
mans nature is a great power to be taken
into account in politics. Humanity speak
ing, Jeroboam's fear was, it must be con.
fessed, we'll founded. "Shall kill me-"
When they we had time to repent of the
step taken. Such revulslon OF feeling ls
not uncommon. Uneasy lies the head
that wears a crown" Jeroboam had for
tilted himself so he did not fear war, but
now another danger seems to arise which
throws gloom over his prospects. In re-
atty, however, there was no such danger,
for God had promised to establish his
kingdom on condition that he would serve
Him Il Kings ll:3S), and Gcd's promise
was sure.
%. "Took counsel" With his counsel
lors, or the heads of the nation who had
helped him to the throne. They were evi..
IDENTIFY like the king in worldly policy and
plans. Made two calves" Jeroboam's
residence in Egypt had made him familiar
witk the calf worship 60 largely practlced
there, and this, doubtless, had much to do
with the erection of these golden shrines;
besides, the people had already become &C.
customed to the sight of the figures OF
oxen in their religious ceremonial by their
presence as supporters of the molten sea
at the temple in Jerusalem. These calves
were not set up to be worshiped as idols
any more then were the ark and other sa'
cred shrines at Jerusalem, but Jeroboam
saw that he must provide for the religious
instincts of his people, and at once intro
duced system Of his own creation. Al
though he did not design to lead the peo
pie into idolatry, yet he deliberately broke
the second commandment, and ''from wor
Shipping God under false and unauthor-
lied form, the people gradually learned to
worship other gods altogether, and the
sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan prepared
the way for the temples of Ashtaroth and
Baal at Samaria and Jezreel." "Of gold"
1t was probably overlaid with gold. "Too
much" 1.-The sense intended is probably
given in the margin of the Revised Yer
sion, aye have gone up long enough. Je'
roboam's argument was, "You have chosen
new king, choose also new plses for
worship" This was an appeal to the flesh
ly love of ease:
%. Bethel" A city in the extreme
southern part of the new kingdom. Dan"
northern part of the kingdom. There was
policy in choosing these places, as they
had been associated with religious worship
in ancient times See Gen. 1878; 2S:ll-22;
l Sam. 1913; Judg 1880. &c. Became
sim" The first and second commandments
were both broken; the service of God was
degraded, and the people were led into
idolatry, including the obscene rites prac..
ticed at idol shrines. Gwen unto Dan"
There are different views as to the mean.
ing here. Q) 1t may mean that the people
went there to worship at once; or (2) it
may be intended to show that the people
preferred to turn from all associations with
Jerusalem and therefore went to far away
Dan on the northern frontier. 81. Made
an house" He built a temple or sanctuary
were set up. "Of high places" Houses Of
worship we're originally built on high
places and in groves on hill tops. made
priests, "etc. See R. V. Jereoboam's sin was
not that he selected persons of low birth
or bad character to act as priests, but that
he selected them from among the people
without reference to tribes, thereby an.
nulling the divine plan that they should be
of the tribe of Levi. "Sons of Levi" Jer'
oboam would no doubt have been glad to
have retained the Levitical priests, but
they probably opposed his devices, for.
evidently banished by Jeroboam, they
went over in body to Rehoboam.
III. A feast instituted Tvs. 30, 33). 3d.
'In the eighth month" November. This
was to take the place of the feast of Taber'
nacles, one of the three great Jewish feasts
which, by divine appointment, was held on
the 18th of the seventh month in Jerusa'
lem. Had Jeroboam provided no counter
attraction many of his subjects would have
visited Rehoboam's capital at this time.
The reason generally given for changing
the time from the seventh to the eighth
month, in defiance of the law QIev. 2334,
80, Az, is that Gin the northern districts
of his kingdom the grain ripened at least
month later than in southern Judah, and
this festival was to be kept at the ingather,,
ing of the fruit Of the land" "He offered"
etc. "He went up into the altar" R. V.
Affairs were assembled either by steps or an
inclined plane. The king assisted in the
dedication, thus initiating Solomon at the
dedication of the temple. 80. .He had de-
vised." The entire system OF JeroboaIm
receives its condemnation in these words:
His main fault was that he left ritual
and worship where all was divinely, au.,
thorized for ceremonies and services which
were wholly of his own devising. He was
placed in difficult circumstances, but he
met them with the arts of politician, not
with the single.mindedness Of saint.