The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1911-01-06
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson lI.-Frst Quarter, For
-. Jan. 8, 1911.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.

Text Of ths Lesson, Kings xii, IS, 10
xiii, 6--Memory Verses, a. 30-Goidsn
Text, EH. XIX, 4-cemmentary Pre-
pared by Rev. .. M. stsarns.
All the predictions and foreshadow-
ings Of Scripture and their fulfllments
should be OF the greatest possible I'M
terest to every child Of God, and be-
fore we leave the story Of Rehoboam
we should notice that In the fifth year
of his reign, or just about thirty-four
years after the temple was completed,
It was plundered by Shishak. king of
Egypt. Compare / Kings vi, 80, and
II Chron. xii, 2, 9. In John H. 1921, the
Lord Jesus spoke of Himself as the
temple and of His death and resurrec-
ton, and He must have been about
thirty four years Of age when He was
crucifed.
In the lesson of today we are in
troduced TO Jeroboam, son OF Nebat,
the FIRST king of the ten tribes, and
afterward spoken OF over twenty times
as the man who made Israel to sin.
and this he did deliberately, although
he had been told that the kingdom had
been divided and part OF it given to
him because OF this very sin of idola-
try on the part OF Solomon chapter
xi, 1888. He had also been told that
IL he would do right in the sight Of the
Lord the Lord would be with him and
build him a sure house.
He seems, however, to have had no
confidence in the assurance Of the
Lord, but was afraid that If the peO-
pie went to Jerusalem to offer sacri-
fee I'm the house of the Lord the king
dom would return to the house of Da-
vid. So he took counsel and made two
calves of gold, placing one in Bethel
and one in Dan, for the people to wor-
ship and said, Behold thy gods, o Is
rael, which brought thee up out OF the
land OF Egypt" Cverse 2S. There is an
evil one, the devil, who hates the liv-
ing and true God and His word and
His people and ever seeks to have
people worship him instead of God.
Whatever is not the worship OF God is
the worship Of the devil and of de-
mons, and all idolatry is of the devil
Deut. xxi, 10, IT; Cor K, 20; Ps.
cvi, $3.50. The great deceiver and
enemy Of God and man sought to have
even the Son of God worship him and
to that end offered Him all the king
doms of the world and the glory OF
them Matt. iv, $40. He viii ere this
age closes, but after the church has
been caught away, possess a man
whom all the world win worship ex-
cept those whose names are in the
book OF life (Rev. xiii, 49,. This Jero-
beam and all others from Cain onward
to the antichrist Of the last days, who
do not believe God and therefore do
believe the devil, are all one family
and on their way to the place prepared
for the devil and his angels Niatt
XIV, Az.
In verse % we read that the king
took counsel, but 1t was certainly not
Of God, reminding us Of lisa. Xxx, ], 2;
will, 8, 10, for it is only the counsel
of the Lord that stands FPS. xxxiii, 10.
III. The whole thing was a device OF
his own heart, like the false prophets
OF Jer. xiii, 16, %, whom the Lord did
not send, and therefore the devil did
Three Of the places mentioned in our
lesson were places Of the greatest pos
sible interest to a child Of God, and IL
Jeroboam had been such he could not
but have profited greatly by the recol-
lection of what had happened there.
Two Of them, Shechem and Bethel,
would have reminded him of an altar
unto the Lord and OF the Lords APP
pearing to Abraham and to Jacob
Gen. xii and xviii. At Penuel or
Pencil the Lord wrestled with Jacob,
humbled him and gave him his new
name OF Israel, and Jacob said, II
have seen God face to face" (Gen.
xxxiD. At Shechem Joshua delivered
his farewell address to Israel, which
might have done Jeroboam good IL he
could have read 1t, for he greatly need
ed such words.
There also the body of Joseph was
buried, which the children of Israel
brought out of Egypt Josh. XIV.
And there the Lord Jesus sat on Ja-
cob's wei and saved the woman of
Samarfa John w and afterward
many others. Dan was the northern
boundary OF the land, and Bethel was
In the south Of the ten tribes, so that
Jeroboam might be said to have All
ed the land with idolatry from north
to south. How fearful and horrible!
(Jer. v, 30, BIZ The prophet Ahltah
was commissioned to tell Jeroboam by
the mouth of his wife that because
Of his sin the Lord would root up Is
rael out OF the land and scatter them
beyond the river chapter xiv, 12-16).
IL an expression can be a key to d
chapter, then chapter xiii is the great
est man Of God" chapter I'm the Bible.
for the title Is found there fifteen
times, though the name of the man of
God is not given.
It is marvellous record and a most
solemn warning not 20 believe even an
angel nor a prophet however vener-
able, IL his testimony is contrary to
. the word OF God 1t may be that the
Apostle Paul had 1t in mind when he,
by the Spirit, wrote Gal. /, 8. IN chap
ter xiii, 2, we have Josiah, the king.
mentioned By name about 800 years
before he was born, and the fulfill
ment Of this prediction concerning him
Is recorded In III Kings xiii, 1917.
May this prediction and fulflIlment
strengthen us to believe firmly that