2 Kings 17:21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king… They tell me there is a public-house in Glasgow where there is a showcase that is a great cause of sport and laughter and joking to the tipplers who frequent the place. In the case there is a shelf, and on the shelf a heap of blue ribbons. Some of them are faded and have been worn a considerable time; some of them, alas, are glistening new — they tell that a few days was all the length of time they were worn. There are remnants of the old Blue Ribbon temperance crusade in this city, when the blue ribbon was put upon the breasts of thousands in the enthusiasm of temperance reform. And this publican boasts of how many trophies he has in that case. He gets his blear-eyed customers to look there. "There are the blue ribbons: that is what I do with them." He looks at them the same way as an Indian would look at his horrible scalps that he has plucked from his victims. To tempt a weak soul, to set himself with all the infernal machinery of the devil to drag poor souls down, what else can be his fate? The tempter will be judged by God the most severely. (J. Robertson.) Parallel Verses KJV: For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. |
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