2 Chronicles 13:20 Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died. I. AN EXAMPLE OF DISAPPOINTED AMBITION. A striking illustration of how "vaulting ambition overleaps itself, and falls on the other side." Its stages reveal the insatiable character of that "fire and motion of the soul which will not dwell in its own narrow being, but aspires beyond the fitting medium of desire" (Byron). 1. Promoted to a position of trust. Originally a servant of Solomon, he was appointed master of works for the house of Judah, 1.e, superintendent of the Ephraimite contingent of workmen (1 Kings 11:28). 2. Plotting sedition. Invested with "brief authority," he began to meditate ambitious thoughts, which probably the Shilonite with his prophetic glance discerned (1 Kings 11:37). 3. Married to a princess. Compelled to flee from Palestine, he found in Egypt, at the court of Shishak, both a harbour of refuge and a balm for his wounds - he became the husband of a princess and the brother-in-law of Pharaoh (1 Kings 11:40). 4. Further promotion,. Recalled to Palestine, he was first elected a spokesman of the northern tribes in their diplomatic dealings with Rehoboam, and ultimately chosen to be their sovereign (1 Kings 12:20). 5. More sedition. Barely was he seated on the throne of Israel, than he adopted measures to render permanent the separation of the two kingdoms; turning his back upon Jehovah, and setting up a new and rival religion to the Jehovah-cultus in Judah (1 Kings 12:28). 6. Renewed ambition. Not content with this, he aimed at the subjugation of the southern empire. 7. Final collapse. This point reached, he hastened rapidly towards an ignominious end. Byron says - "One breast laid open were a school, Which would unteach mankind the lust to shine or rule." One may be permitted to doubt this! II. AN INSTANCE OF MISAPPLIED ABILITY. That Jeroboam as youth and man, as private person and public official, as servant and sovereign, possessed high capacities, need not be questioned. Energy, industry, enthusiasm, ambition, faculty for organization, power of impressing, directing, leading, and ruling others - qualities needful for generalship, statesmanship, kingship - appear all to have belonged to him in more than ordinary measure; yet in every situation of life in which he was placed these powers were misapplied. The governing idea of his soul was to use all, in himself and others, for the advancement of his private interest. For this end he fomented sedition amongst his countrymen, encouraged disaffection amongst the subjects of Solomon, took advantage of Rehoboam's inexperience to raise the standard of revolt, perverted to wicked purposes the high position as a sovereign to which he in providence attained, did his utmost to propagate irreligion, diffuse idolatry, foster immorality, dissolve the fabric of social order, crush and annihilate the true worshippers of Jehovah. The annals of mankind afford many illustrations of the same phenomenon - magnificent powers of body and mind prostituted to ignoble ends, e.g. Samson, Saul, and Judas from sacred, Caesar (Julius), Mark Antony, and Napoleon from profane history. III. AN ILLUSTRATION OF NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES. 1. When promoted by Solomon to be master of works for the house of Joseph, he might, with his commanding talent and great force of character, have done much to soothe the ruffled spirits of his countrymen, and so have nipped the poisonous flower of revolution in the bud. But he did not; rather he acted on a contrary hint. 2. When recalled by the northern tribes to be their spokesman, had he chosen, he might have poured oil upon the troubled waters, allayed the ferment of their passions, appealed to them to give the young king a trial, and remember the danger which would accrue to the empire from disunion - might have crushed down his own ambitious thoughts, and like Caesar ('Julius Caesar,' act 3. sc. 2) - not to speak of a greater (John 6:15) - put bravely from him the crown which in the people's eyes he saw preparing for him. But he did not; rather, in the popular disaffection, he beheld that "tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune," and launched himself upon its stream without delay. 3. When favoured by Providence so far as to secure the crown, had he carried out the trust committed to him, to erect a kingdom in which the worship of Jehovah should be faithfully and purely maintained, he should have been established on his throne beyond the possibility of overthrow, and the house of Jeroboam should have shone with a lustre as brilliant as, if not excelling, that of the house of David. But he did not; rather in him was verified the sentiment - "That lowliness is young ambition's ladder Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; But when he once attains the utmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend." (Julius Caesar,' act 2. sc. 1.) Jehovah had set Jeroboam on the throne of Israel; Jeroboam when on the throne cast Jehovah behind his back (1 Kings 14:7-9). IV. A MONUMENT OF DESERVED RETRIBUTION. Jeroboam, who might have attained to undying honour, reaped for himself a harvest of eternal infamy. To such a pitch of wickedness did he proceed, both in himself and in his people, whom he corrupted by his example and commanded by his authority, that not only did "the sin of Jeroboam become ever afterwards proverbial as an expression for the highest possible impiety in an Israelitish ruler (1 Kings 15:34; 2 Kings 10:31; 2 Kings 13:6; 2 Kings 14:24; 2 Kings 17:22),. but, it drew down upon him swift and appalling retribution. "The Lord smote him." 1. In his army with defeat. His troops were routed on the field of war, his fenced cities were captured, his military power was broken. 2. In his house with bereavement. The sudden death of his child Abijah was a sore stroke, to which was added a sorer in the curse that none other of the house of Jeroboam should come to his grave in peace (1 Kings 14:12, 13). 3. In himself with disease. To this the language of ver. 20 is believed by some to point (Clarke, Jamieson). V. A VICTIM OF ALL-DEVOURING DEATH. Jeroboam succumbed to the fatal malady two years after the death of Abijah, and in the twenty-second year of his reign. He expired at Tirzah, and was buried with his fathers. "Sceptre and crown must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade." W. Parallel Verses KJV: Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the LORD struck him, and he died. |
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