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Matthew Henry’s Commentary – First Kings, Chapter XIII

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Matthew Henry
Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708)




F I R S T   K I N G S

CHAP. XIII.



     

In the close of the foregoing chapter we left Jeroboam attending his

altar at Beth-el, and there we find him in the beginning of this, when

he received a testimony from God against his idolatry and apostasy.

This was sent to him by a prophet, a man of God that lived in Judah,

who is the principal subject of the story of this chapter, where we are

told,

I. What passed between him and the new king.

1. The prophet threatened Jeroboam’s altar

(ver. 1, 2),

and gave him a sign

(ver. 3),

which immediately came to pass,

ver. 5.

2. The king threatened the prophet, and was himself made another sign,

by the withering of his hand

(ver. 4),

and the restoring of it upon his submission and the prophet’s

intercession,

ver. 6.

3. The prophet refused the kindness offered him thereupon,

ver. 7-10.

II. What passed between him and the old prophet.

1. The old prophet fetched him back by a lie, and gave him

entertainment,

ver. 11-19.

2. He, for accepting it, in disobedience to the divine command, is

threatened with death,

ver. 20-22.

And,

3. The threatening is executed, for he is slain by a lion

(ver. 23, 24),

and buried at Beth-el,

ver. 25-32.

4. Jeroboam is hardened in his idolatry,

ver. 33, 34.

“Thy judgments, Lord, are a great deep.”












A Prophet Sent to Jeroboam; the Withering of Jeroboam’s Hand. B. C. 974.

     

1 And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word

of the LORD unto Beth-el: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn

incense.

  2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and

said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall

be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee

shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense

upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.

  3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign

which the LORD hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and

the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.

  4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of

the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Beth-el, that

he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him.

And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that

he could not pull it in again to him.

  5 The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the

altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by

the word of the LORD.

  6 And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat

now the face of the LORD thy God, and pray for me, that my hand

may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the LORD,

and the king’s hand was restored him again, and became as it

was before.

  7 And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me, and

refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward.

  8 And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me

half thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat

bread nor drink water in this place:

  9 For so was it charged me by the word of the LORD, saying, Eat

no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that

thou camest.

  10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he

came to Beth-el.

     

Here is,

I. A messenger sent to Jeroboam, to signify to him God’s displeasure

against his idolatry,

v. 1.

The army of Judah that aimed to ruin him was countermanded, and might

not draw a sword against him

(ch. xii. 24);

but a prophet of Judah is, instead thereof, sent to reclaim him from

his evil way, and is sent in time, while he is but dedicating his

altar, before his heart is hardened by the deceitfulness of his sin;

for God delights not in the death of sinners, but would rather they

would burn and live. How bold was the messenger that durst attack the

king in his pride and interrupt the solemnity he was proud of! Those

that go on God’s errand must not fear the face of man; they know who

will bear them out. How kind was he that sent him to warn Jeroboam of

the wrath of God revealed from heaven against his

ungodliness and unrighteousness!

     

II. The message delivered in God’s name, not whispered, but cried with

a loud voice, denoting both the prophet’s courage, that he was neither

afraid nor ashamed to own it, and his earnestness, that he desired to

be heard and heeded by all that were present, who were not a few, on

this great occasion. It was directed, not to Jeroboam nor to the

people, but to the altar, the stones of which would sooner hear and

yield than those who were mad upon their idols and deaf to divine

calls. Yet, in threatening the altar, God threatened the founder and

worshippers, to whom it was as dear as their own souls, and who might

conclude, “If God’s wrath fasten upon the lifeless guiltless altar, how

shall we escape?” That which was foretold concerning the altar

(v. 2)

was that, in process of time, a prince of the house of David, Josiah by

name, should pollute this altar by sacrificing the idolatrous priests

themselves upon it, and burning the bones of dead men. Let Jeroboam

know and be sure,

1. That the altar he now consecrated should be desecrated. Idolatrous

worship will not continue, but the word of the Lord will endure for

ever.

2. That the priests of the high places he now made should

themselves be made sacrifices to the justice of God, and the first and

only sacrifices upon this altar that would be pleasing to him. If the

offering be such as is an abomination to God, it will follow, of

course, that the offerers must themselves fall under his wrath, which

will abide upon them, since it is not otherwise transmitted.

3. That this should be done by a branch of the house of David.

That family which he and his kingdom had despised and treacherously

deserted should recover so much power as to demolish that altar which

he thought to establish; so that right and truth should at length

prevail, both in civil and sacred matters, notwithstanding the present

triumphs of those that were given to change the fear both of God and

the king. It was about 356 years ere this prediction was fulfilled,

yet it was spoken of as sure and nigh at hand, for a thousand years

with God are but as one day. Nothing more contingent and arbitrary than

the giving of names to persons, yet Josiah was here named above 300

years before he was born. Nothing future is hidden from God. There are

names in the book of the divine prescience

(Phil. iv. 3),

names written in heaven.

     

III. A sign is given for the confirming of the truth of this

prediction, that the altar should be shaken to pieces by an invisible

power and the ashes of the sacrifice scattered

(v. 3),

which came to pass immediately,

v. 5.

This was,

1. A proof that the prophet was sent of God, who confirmed the word

with this sign following,
Mark xvi. 20.

2. A present indication of God’s displeasure against these idolatrous

sacrifices. How could the gift be acceptable when the altar that should

sanctify it was an abomination?

3. It was a reproach to the people, whose hearts were harder than these

stones and rent not under the word of the Lord.

4. It was a specimen of what should be done to it in the accomplishment

of this prophecy by Josiah; it was now rent, in token of its being then

ruined.

     

IV. Jeroboam’s hand withered, which he stretched out to seize or smite

the man of God,

v. 4.

Instead of trembling at the message, as he might well have done, he

assaulted him that brought it, in defiance of the wrath of which he was

warned and contempt of that grace which sent him the warning. Rebuke

a sinner and he will hate thee, and do thee a mischief if he

can; yet God’s prophets must rather expose themselves than betray their

trust: he that employs them will protect them, and restrain the wrath

of man, as he did Jeroboam’s here by withering his hand, so that he

could neither hurt the prophet nor draw it in to help himself. When his

hand was stretched out to burn incense to his calves it was not

withered; but, when it is stretched out against a prophet, he shall

have no use of it till he humble himself. Of all the wickedness of the

wicked there is none more provoking to God than their malicious

attempts against his prophets, of whom he has said, Touch them not,

do them no harm. As this was a punishment of Jeroboam, and

answering to the sin, so it was the deliverance of the prophet. God has

many ways of disabling the enemies of his church from executing their

mischievous purposes. Jeroboam’s inability to pull in his hand made him

a spectacle to all about him, that they might see and fear. If God, in

justice, harden the hearts of sinners, so that the hand they have

stretched out in sin they cannot pull in again by repentance, that is a

spiritual judgment, represented by this, and much more dreadful.

     

V. The sudden healing of the hand that was suddenly dried up, upon his

submission,

v. 6.

That word of God which should have touched his conscience humbled him

not, but this which touched his bone and his flesh brings down

his proud spirit. He looks for help now,

1. Not from his calves, but from God only, from his power and his

favour. He wounded, and no hand but his can make whole.

2. Not by his own sacrifice or incense, but by the prayer and

intercession of the prophet, whom he had just now threatened and aimed

to destroy. The time may come when those that hate the preaching would

be glad of the prayers of faithful ministers. “Pray to the Lord thy

God,” says Jeroboam; “thou hast an interest in him; improve it for me.”

But observe, He did not desire the prophet to pray that his sin might

be pardoned, and his heart changed, only that his hand might be

restored; thus Pharaoh would have Moses to pray that God would

take away this death only

(Exod. x. 17),

not this sin. The prophet, as became a man of God, renders good

for evil, upbraids not Jeroboam with his impotent malice, nor triumphs

in his submission, but immediately addresses himself to God for him.

Those only are entitled to the blessing Christ pronounced on the

persecuted that learn of him to pray for their persecutors,

Matt. v. 10, 44.

When the prophet thus honoured God, by showing himself of a forgiving

spirit, God put this further honour upon him, that at his word he

recalled the judgment and by another miracle healed the withered hand,

that by the goodness of God Jeroboam might be led to repentance, and,

if he were not broken by the judgment, yet might be melted by the

mercy. With both he seemed affected for the present, but the

impressions wore off.

     

VI. The prophet’s refusal of Jeroboam’s kind invitation, in which

observe,

1. That God forbade his messenger to eat or drink in Beth-el

(v. 9),

to show his detestation of their execrable idolatry and apostasy from

God, and to teach us not to have fellowship with the works of darkness,

lest we have infection from them or give encouragement to them. He must

not turn back the same way, but deliver his message, as it were,

in transituas he passes along. He shall not seem to be

sent on purpose (they were unworthy such a favour), but as if he only

called by the way, his spirit being stirred, like Paul’s at Athens, as

he passed and saw their devotions. God would, by this command,

try his prophet, as he did Ezekiel, whether he would not be

rebellious, like that rebellious house,
Ezek. ii. 8.

2. That Jeroboam was so affected with the cure of his hand that though

we read not of his thanksgivings to God for the mercy, or of his

sending an offering to the altar at Jerusalem in acknowledgment of it,

yet he was willing to express his gratitude to the prophet and pay him

for his prayers,

v. 7.

Favours to the body will make even graceless men seem grateful to good

ministers.

3. That the prophet, though hungry and weary, and perhaps poor, in

obedience to the divine command refused both the entertainment and the

reward proffered him. He might have supposed his acceptance of it would

give him an opportunity of discoursing further with the king, in order

to his effectual reformation, now that he was convinced; yet he will

not think himself wiser than God, but, like a faithful careful

messenger, hastens home when he has done his errand. Those have little

learned the lessons of self-denial that cannot forbear one forbidden

meal.













The Prophet Deceived. B. C. 974.

     

11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el; and his sons came

and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day

in Beth-el: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they

told also to their father.

  12 And their father said unto them, What way went he? For his

sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from

Judah.

  13 And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass. So they

saddled him the ass: and he rode thereon,

  14 And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under

an oak: and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that

camest from Judah? And he said, I am.

  15 Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

  16 And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with

thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this

place:

  17 For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt

eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the

way that thou camest.

  18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and

an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him

back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink

water. But he lied unto him.

  19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house,

and drank water.

  20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word

of the LORD came unto the prophet that brought him back:

  21 And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah,

saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the

mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the

LORD thy God commanded thee,

  22 But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the

place, of the which the LORD did say to thee, Eat no bread, and

drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of

thy fathers.

     

The man of God had honestly and resolutely refused the king’s

invitation, though he promised him a reward; yet he was over-persuaded

by an old prophet to come back with him, and dine in Beth-el, contrary

to the command given him. Here we find how dearly his dinner cost him.

Observe with wonder,

     

I. The old prophet’s wickedness. I cannot but call him a false prophet

and a bad man, it being much easier to believe that from one of such a

bad character should be extorted a confirmation of what the man of God

said (as we find,

v. 32)

than that a true prophet, and a good man, should tell such a deliberate

lie as he did, and father it upon God. A good tree could never

bring forth such corrupt fruit. Perhaps he was trained up among the

sons of the prophets, in one of Samuel’s colleges not far off, whence

he retained the name of a prophet, but, growing worldly and profane,

the spirit of prophecy had departed from him. If he had been a good

prophet he would have reproved Jeroboam’s idolatry, and not have

suffered his sons to attend his altars, as, it should seem, they did.

Now,

1. Whether he had any good design in fetching back the man of God is

not certain. One may hope that he did it in compassion to him,

concluding he wanted refreshment, and out of a desire to be better

acquainted with him and more fully to understand his errand than he

could from the report of his sons; yet his sons having told him all

that passed, and particularly that the prophet was forbidden to eat or

drink there, which he had openly told Jeroboam, I suppose it was done

with a bad design, to draw him into a snare, and so to expose him; for

false prophets have ever been the worst enemies to the true prophets,

usually aiming to destroy them, but sometimes, as here, to debauch them

and draw them from their duty. Thus they gave the Nazarites wine to

drink

(Amos ii. 12),

that they might glory in their fall. But,

2. It is certain that he took a very bad method to bring him back. When

the man of God had told him, “I may not, and therefore I will not,

return to eat bread with thee” (his resolutions concurring with the

divine command,

v. 16, 17),

he wickedly pretended that he had an order from heaven to fetch him

back. He imposed upon him by asserting his quondam character as a

prophet: I am a prophet also as thou art; he pretended he had a

vision of an angel that sent him on this errand. But it was all a lie;

it was a banter upon prophecy, and profane in the highest degree. When

this old prophet is spoken of

(2 Kings xxiii. 18)

he is called the prophet that came out of Samaria, whereas there

was no such place as Samaria till long after,

ch. xvi. 24.

Therefore I take it he is so called there, though he was of Beth-el,

because he was like those who were afterwards the prophets of

Samaria, who caused God’s people Israel to err,
Jer. xxiii. 13.

     

II. The good prophet’s weakness, in suffering himself to be thus

imposed upon: He went back with him,
v. 19.

He that had resolution enough to refuse the invitation of the king, who

promised him a reward, could not resist the insinuations of one that

pretended to be a prophet. God’s people are more in danger of being

drawn from their duty by the plausible pretences of divinity and

sanctity than by external inducements; we have therefore need to

beware of false prophets, and not believe every

spirit.

     

III. The proceedings of divine justice hereupon; and here we may well

wonder that the wicked prophet, who told the lie and did the mischief,

went unpunished, while the holy man of God, that was drawn by him into

sin, was suddenly and severely punished for it. What shall we make of

this! The judgments of God are unfathomable. The deceived and the

deceiver are his, and he giveth not account of any of his

matters. Certainly there must be a judgment to come, when these

things will be called over again, and when those that sinned most and

suffered least, in this world, will receive according to their works.

1. The message delivered to the man of God was strange. His crime is

recited,

v. 21, 22.

It was, in one word, disobedience to an express command. Judgment is

given upon it: Thy carcase shall not come to the sepulchre of thy

fathers, that is, “Thou shalt never reach thy own house, but shalt

be a carcase quickly, nor shall thy dead body be brought to the

place of thy fathers’ sepulchres, to be interred.”

2. Yet it was more strange that the old prophet himself should be the

messenger. Of this we can give no account but that God would have it

so, as he spoke to Balaam by his ass and read Saul his doom by the

devil in Samuel’s likeness. We may think God designed hereby,

(1.) To startle the lying prophet, and make him sensible of his sin.

The message could not but affect him the more when he himself had the

delivering of it, and had so strong an impression made upon his spirit

by it that he cried out, as one in an agony,

v. 21.

He had reason to think, if he must die for his disobedience in a small

matter who sinned by surprise, of how much sorer punishment he should

be thought worthy who had belied an angel of God and cheated a man of

God by a deliberate forgery. If this were done to the green tree,

what shall be done to the dry? Perhaps it had a good effect upon

him. Those who preach God’s wrath to others have hard hearts indeed if

they fear it not themselves.

(2.) To put the greater mortification upon the prophet that was

deceived, and to show what those must expect who hearken to the great

deceiver. Those that yield to him as a tempter will be terrified by him

as a tormentor; whom he now fawns upon he will afterwards fly upon, and

whom he now draws into sin he will do what he can to drive to

despair.













The Deceived Prophet Slain. B. C. 974.

     

23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he

had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the

prophet whom he had brought back.

  24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew

him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by

it, the lion also stood by the carcase.

  25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the

way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told

it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.

  26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way

heard thereof, he said, It is the man of God, who was

disobedient unto the word of the LORD: therefore the LORD hath

delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him,

according to the word of the LORD, which he spake unto him.

  27 And he spake to his sons, saying, Saddle me the ass. And

they saddled him.

  28 And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the

ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten

the carcase, nor torn the ass.

  29 And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God, and

laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet

came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.

  30 And he laid his carcase in his own grave; and they mourned

over him, saying, Alas, my brother!

  31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake

to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the

sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside

his bones:

  32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD

against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the

high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely

come to pass.

  33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way,

but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high

places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one

of the priests of the high places.

  34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even

to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the

earth.

     

Here is,

I. The death of the deceived disobedient prophet. The old prophet that

had deluded him, as if he would make him some amends for the wrong he

had done him or help to prevent the mischief threatened him, furnished

him with an ass to ride home on; but by the way a lion set upon him,

and killed him,

v. 23, 24.

He did but return back to refresh himself when he was hungry, and

behold he must die for it; see

1 Sam. xiv. 43.

But we must consider,

1. That his offence was great, and it would by no means justify him

that he was drawn into it by a lie; he could not be so certain of the

countermand sent by another as he was of the command given to himself,

nor had he any ground to think that the command would be recalled, when

the reason of it remained in force, which was that he might testify his

detestation of the wickedness of that place. He had great reason to

suspect the honesty of this old prophet, who did not himself bear his

testimony, nor did God think fit to make use of him as a witness

against the idolatry of the city he lived in. However, he should have

taken time to beg direction from God, and not have complied so soon.

Did he think this old prophet’s house safer to eat in than other houses

at Beth-el, when God had forbidden him to eat in any? That was to

refine upon the command, and make himself wiser than God. Did he think

to excuse himself that he was hungry? Had he never read that man

lives not by bread alone?

2. That his death was for the glory of God; for by this it appeared,

(1.) That nothing is more provoking to him than disobedience to an

express command, though in a small matter, which makes his proceedings

against our first parents, for eating the forbidden fruit, the easier

to be accounted for.

(2.) That God is displeased at the sins of his own people, and no man

shall be protected in disobedience by the sanctity of his profession,

the dignity of his office, his nearness to God, or any good services he

has done for him. Perhaps God by this intended, in a way of righteous

judgment, to harden Jeroboam’s heart, since he was not reformed by the

withering of his hand; for he would be apt to make a bad use of it, and

to say that the prophet was well enough served for meddling with his

altar, he had better have staid at home; any, he would say that

Providence had punished him for his insolence, and the lion had done

that which his withered hand might not do. However, by this God

intended to warn all those whom he employs strictly to observe their

orders, at their peril.

     

II. The wonderful preservation of his dead body, which was a token of

God’s mercy remembered in the midst of wrath. The lion that gently

strangled him, or tore him, did not devour his dead body, nor so much

as tear the ass,

v. 24, 25, 26.

Nay, what was more, he did not set upon the travellers that passed by

and saw it, nor upon the old prophet (who had reason enough to fear it)

when he came to take up the corpse. His commission was to kill the

prophet; hitherto he should go, but no further. Thus God showed that,

though he was angry with him, his anger was turned away, and the

punishment went no further than death.

     

III. The care which the old prophet took of his burial. When he heard

of this unusual accident, he concluded it was the man of God, who

was disobedient to his Master (and whose fault was that?),

therefore the Lord has delivered him to the lion,
v. 26.

It would well have become him to ask why the lion was not sent against

him and his house, rather than against the good man whom he had

cheated. He took up the corpse,
v. 29.

If there by any truth in the vulgar opinion, surely the corpse bled

afresh when he touched it, for he was in effect the murderer, and it

was but a poor reparation for the injury to inter the dead body.

Perhaps when he cheated him into his ruin he intended to laugh at him;

yet now his conscience so far relents that he weeps over him, and, like

Joab at Abner’s funeral, is compelled to be a mourner for him whom he

had been the death of. They said, Alas! my brother,
v. 30.

The case was indeed very lamentable that so good a man, a prophet so

faithful, and so bold in God’s cause, should, for one offence, die as a

criminal, while an old lying prophet lives at ease and an idolatrous

prince in pomp and power. Thy way, O God! is in the sea, and thy

path in the great waters. We cannot judge of men by their

sufferings, nor of sins by their present punishments; with some the

flesh is destroyed that the spirit may be saved, while with others the

flesh is pampered that the soul may ripen for hell.

     

IV. The charge which the old prophet gave his sons concerning his own

burial, that they should be sure to bury him in the same grave where

the man of God was buried

(v. 31):

Lay my bones beside his bones, close by them, as near as may

be, so that my dust may mingle with his.” Though he was a lying

prophet, yet he desired to die the death of a true prophet.

“Gather not my soul with the sinners of Beth-el, but with the man of

God.” The reason he gives is because what he cried against the altar

of Beth-el, that men’s bones should be burnt upon it, shall

surely come to pass,
v. 32.

Thus,

1. He ratifies the prediction, that out of the mouth of two

witnesses (and one of them such a one as St. Paul quotes,

Titus i. 12,

one of themselves, even a prophet of their own) the word

might be established, if possible to convince and reclaim Jeroboam.

2. He does honour to the deceased prophet, as one whose word

would not fall to the ground, though he did. Ministers die, die

prematurely it may be; but the word of the Lord endures for ever, and

does not die with them.

3. He consults his own interest. It was foretold that men’s bones

should be burnt upon Jeroboam’s altar: “Lay mine (says he) close to

his, and then they will not be disturbed;” and it was, accordingly,

their security, as we find,

2 Kings xxiii. 18.

Sleeping and waking, living and dying, it is safe being in good

company. No mention is made here of the inscription on the prophet’s

tomb; but it is spoken of

2 Kings xxiii. 17,

where Josiah asks, What title is that? and is told, It is the

sepulchre of the man of God that came from Judah, who proclaimed these

things which thou hast done; so that the epitaph upon the prophet’s

grave preserved the remembrance of his prophecy, and was a standing

testimony against the idolatries of Beth-el, which it would not have

been so remarkably if he had died and been buried elsewhere. The cities

of Israel are here called cities of Samaria, though that name

was not yet known; for, however the old prophet spoke, the inspired

historian wrote in the language of his own time.

     

V. The obstinacy of Jeroboam in his idolatry

(v. 33):

He returned not from his evil way; some hand was found that

durst repair the altar God had rent, and then Jeroboam offered

sacrifice on it again, and the more boldly because the prophet who

disturbed him before was in his grave

(Rev. xi. 10)

and because the prophecy was for a great while to come. Various methods

had been used to reclaim him, but neither threats nor signs, neither

judgments nor mercies, wrought upon him, so strangely was he wedded to

his calves. He did not reform, no, not his priesthood, but whoever

would, he filled his hand, and made him priest, though ever so

illiterate or immoral, and of what tribe soever; and this became

sin, that is, a snare first, and then a ruin, to Jeroboam’s house,

to cut if off,
v. 34.

Note, The diminution, disquiet, and desolation of families, are the

fruit of sin; he promised himself that the calves would secure the

crown to his family, but it proved they lost it, and sunk his family.

Those betray themselves that think by any sin to support

themselves.


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Matthew Henry
Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708)


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