EXPOSITION
THE REIGNS OF ABIJAM AND ASA, KINGS OF JUDAH.
The Reign of Abijam.
1 Kings 15:1
Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, reigned Abijam [see note on 1 Kings 14:31. It is implied in 2 Chronicles 11:20-22 that he was not the firstborn among Rehoboam's twenty-eight sons, but the eldest son of the favourite wife. As he left behind him thirty-eight children (2 Chronicles 13:21) at his decease, some three years later, he must have been of considerable age at his accession. This consideration rather favours the idea that Rehoboam was "forty and one years old when he began to reign" (2 Chronicles 12:13)] over Judah.
1 Kings 15:2
Three years [The Alex. LXX. says δεκὰεξ, sixteen. The" three years" are not to be interpreted strictly. As he ascended the throne in the eighteenth and died in the twentieth year of Jeroboam's reign, he cannot have completed three years. But it does not follow that "he cannot have reigned much more than two years" (Rawlinson, and similarly Keil). He may have reigned all but three] reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah [in 2 Chronicles 13:2 called Michaiah, Heb. Michajahu. That the same person is meant is proved as well by the context as by 2 Chronicles 11:21, where the name is given as here. Keil (cf. Dict. Bib. 2:162) ascribes the discrepancy to an error of the copyist; but the names are so unlike in the original as to discountenance this assumption. I venture to suggest that Michajahu was the significant form—the word means "Who is like Jehovah?"—which the name Maachah, "oppression," borne by the Geshurite princess who married David (2 Samuel 3:3) assumed when she joined the Lord's people, and embraced, as no doubt she would do, the religion of Jehovah. Such a change would be quite in accordance with the genius and traditions of the Semitic races (Genesis 17:5, Genesis 17:15; Genesis 30:1-43. passim; Genesis 32:28; Genesis 41:45; Exodus 6:3, etc. Cf. 2 Kings 23:34; 2 Kings 24:17; Hosea 1:4, Hosea 1:6), and there may well have been special reasons in this case, apart from the piety of David, why it should be made. For the name Maachah appears to have been taken Iron the town and district of that name near Geshur—a part of Syria was called Syria Maachah (1 Chronicles 19:6; cf. 2 Samuel 10:6-8). In 2 Samuel 20:14, 2 Samuel 20:15 we read of a district of Beth Maachah—and it not improbably witnessed to unhappy memories. How natural it would be that David's bride should take a name of better omen and of a religious import, and how natural that the grand-daughter who bore her name should be called by that name in both its forms. Since writing the above, I find that a somewhat similar idea has occurred long since to others. Both Kimchi and Jarchi hold that she had two names. It is supposed by some that she assumed the name Michaiah, as more dignified, on becoming queen. Wordsworth thinks that Michaiah was her real name, and that it was degraded into Maachah when she was deposed for idolatry. This latter view dovetails with the one suggested above. It would be quite in accordance with Jewish usages and habits of thought that the name which had been changed into Michaiah when the grandmother became a proselyte, should be changed back into Maachah when this princess apostatized], the daughter [rather, grand-daughter. בַּת includes all female descendants, as אֵם (see 2 Samuel 20:10) all anxestresses] of Abishalom. We can hardly doubt that Absalom, the son of David, is meant here. We have
(4) The name is so uncommon—in fact, it is ἅπαξ λεγ—that another person can hardly be intended. Moreover the variation in spelling is extremely slight. It has been held, however, that a different person is designated by the name, principally because Absalom had hut one daughter whose name was Tamar (2 Samuel 14:27), whereas Abijah's mother is said to have been the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah (2 Chronicles 13:2). But this difficulty admits of an easy solution. Tamar was doubtless married to Uriel, and Maachah was the fruit of this marriage. And with this explanation agrees the account of Josephus (Ant. 8.10, 1).
1 Kings 15:3
And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him [sins, i.e; from the theocratic standpoint. See 1 Kings 14:22, 1 Kings 14:25. It does not appear that either Abijah or Rehoboam was a vicious man, and from his pious language on Mount Zemaraim (2 Chronicles 13:10-12) we should certainly have thought that Abijah was a god-fearing prince. But 1 Kings 14:13 proves that he had sanctioned idolatry, and this was no doubt his principal sin, as the next words explain]: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord and his God, as the heart of David his father [the words used of Solomon. 1 Kings 2:4].
1 Kings 15:4
Nevertheless [ כִי but, sed, sondern, Gesen. 393] for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp [Better than margin, candle. The word is "always used figuratively of progeny." See note on 1 Kings 2:26; and of 2 Samuel 21:17; Job 18:5, Job 18:6; Psalms 132:17] in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem [But for David's piety, that is to say, his family would have been dethroned, if not destroyed, as was that of Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:10), of Baasha (1 Kings 16:2), of Ahab (2 Kings 10:11), etc. Abijah was the third prince of that line who had permitted idolatrous worship, so that that dynasty had richly deserved to forfeit its position. The stability of the family of David on the throne for nearly 400 years, amid all the changes and chances of that period, and whilst in Israel there were "nine changes of dynasty within 250 years" is, as Rawlinson remarks, very "difficult to account for on mere grounds of human reason"]:
1 Kings 15:5
Because [ אֲשֶר, here causative for יַעַן אי. Comp. quod] David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. [2 Samuel 2:4. But this last clause is not found in the LXX; and such a statement was more likely to be inserted by transcribers, having first appeared in the margin as a gloss, than to be omitted, had it ever formed part of the text. And in support of this view it may be alleged that
1 Kings 15:6
And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. [Practically identical with 1 Kings 14:30, where see note. Thenius thinks the insertion of the words were due to the carelessness of some copyist, and Bähr admits that our present text is possibly not the original one. For Rehoboam, some MSS; with the Syriac and Arabic, read Abijah, but this is clearly an emendation, which in turn begets another repetition (1 Kings 14:7), and there is really no need either to alter or suspect the text. Such repetitions are quite in accordance with Eastern usage, and Rehoboam here stands for the house of Rehoboam, or the cause and kingdom which Rehoboam represented. The object of mentioning his name can hardly be "to remind the reader that Abijam inherited this war from his father" (Rawlinson), for it was only on Rehoboam's death that the slumbering hostility blazed out into actual war. That there was warfare between Abi-jam and Jeroboam we know not only from 1 Kings 14:7, but from 2 Chronicles 13:3-20 also.
1 Kings 15:7
Now the rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles [see note on 1 Kings 14:29. The marginal reference to 2 Chronicles 13:1-22. misleads the casual reader] of the kings of Judah? And there was war [not only hostility, but open war (Vulgate, praelium), hence the repetition] between Abijam and Jeroboam.
1 Kings 15:8
And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David [This fact alone should negative Lightfoot's theory as to his name; see note on 1 Kings 14:31]: and Ass his son reigned in his stead.
The Reign of Asa.
1 Kings 15:9
And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Ass [Gesen. interprets the name to mean "physician"] over Judah. [This reign is related at much greater length in 2 Chronicles 14:1-15.—16. We are there told of the Ethiopian invasion, of the prophecies of Azariah and Hanani, of the league with Syria, etc.]
1 Kings 15:10
And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem [Corn. a Lapide points out that Ass saw eight kings of Israel on the throne, Jeroboam, Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Tibni, Omri, and Ahab]. And his mother's [or grandmother's, as margin] name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. [The same words as in 1 Kings 15:2, and the reference can hardly be to a different person. Bähr indeed questions whether אֵם can here stand for grandmother,
1 Kings 15:11
And Ass did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father. ["It is a wonder how Ass should be good, of the seed of Abijam, of the son of Maachah" (Hall).]
1 Kings 15:12
And he took away the Sodomites [see on 1 Kings 14:24, and Romans 1:23-27. It appears from 1 Kings 22:46 that this abomination was not wholly suppressed] out of the land, and removed all the idols [ גִּלֻּלִים from גָּלַל volvit A term of contempt (see Deuteronomy 29:17, where it is coupled with "abominations; "Ezekiel 23:37); but whether the word is to be interpreted by גֵּלֶל a ball of dung, in which case these idols (Dei stereorei) would have a designation like Beelzebul ("the lord of dung"), or with גַּל a heap of stones (Genesis 31:46, Genesis 31:48), Dei lapidei, is uncertain. Keil would translate logs, Gesenius trunks, stocks, which from being rolled might well bear this name] that his fathers had made.
1 Kings 15:13
And also Maachah his mother, oven her he removed from being queen [Rather, queen-mother. Gebiruh, as already pointed out on 1 Kings 2:19, answers to the Sultana Valide. The Vulgate reads, Ne esset princeps in sacris Priapi. Wordsworth reminds us of the position which the queen-mother Atossa holds in the Persae. A queen consort is hardly possible in a polygamous household; see Kitto, 4:177] because [Heb. which, as in verse 5] she had made all idol [ מִפְלֶצֶת from פָמלץ terruit, signifies an object of fear, formido—not pudendum, a thing of shame, as the Rabbis and others have held, i.e; a phallic image (simulacrum obscoenum, Jerome), but horrendum. The devout Jew could not but regard such objects with horror] in a grove [Heb. for (i.e; to serve as) an Asherah. See note on 1 Kings 14:15, 1 Kings 14:23. Asherah is not the name of the goddess (= Astarte), as Wordsworth thinks, but of the image], and Asa destroyed [Marg. cut off, Heb. simply cut, which here must mean cut down. The image was, no doubt, planted erect in the ground] her idol [horror, as above], and burnt it [this shows that it was made of wood] by the brook Kidron. [Cf. Exodus 32:20. Here, as in 1 Kings 17:3 (where see note), our translators have been unable to adhere strictly to the original "in the brook," etc; from not knowing that נַחַל, which primarily means "brook," also means" watercourse," wady. It is probable that the brook was at this time flowing, and that the ashes of the wooden Asherah were cast into it; but the burning also took place in the Wady, or valley. We read of another similar burning in 2 Kings 23:4, 2 Kings 23:6; but in this ease the ashes were either carried to Bethel or cast upon the graves, to defile them. It is a fair inference that on this latter occasion the Kedron was dry. The valley, "the fields of the Kedron" (2 Kings 23:4 l.c.), is conveniently placed for such a purpose.]
1 Kings 15:14
But the high places [evidently such as are referred to in 1 Kings 3:1-28, i.e; unauthorized shrines of Jehovah; cf. 2 Kings 14:4] were not taken away [lit; departed not. Yet we read in 2 Chronicles 45:3, that Asa "took away the high places (cf. verse 5). But it is clear, even from 2 Chronicles 15:17, that all of them were not re moved, and the discrepancy arises from the well-known Eastern idiom of putting the whole for the part, of which we have in stances in Genesis 7:19; Exodus 9:25, etc. Cf. Exodus 9:32; 2 Kings 9:35, and see below. Asa probably aimed at removing all, and he may have removed all out of the cities (2 Chronicles 14:5), but some remained in the country districts or in remote places. Or he may have swept them away for a short time, and they may have been stealthily and gradually reintroduced. It may be interesting to remark here that down to the present day the cultus of the high places exists—under a modified form, it is true—in Palestine. Every traveller will remember the Mukama which crown almost every hill. The religion of the Fellahin, though nominally Mohammedan, is really, like that of China, a worship of the dead. "In almost every village of the country a small building, surmounted by a whitewashed dome, is observable, being the sacred chapel of the place; it is variously called Kubbeh, "dome," Mazor, "shrine," or Mukam, "station," the latter being a Hebrew word, used in the Bible for the places of the Canaanites (Deuteronomy 2:2)… Just as in the time of Moses, so now the position chosen for the Mukam is generally conspicuous This Mukam represents the real religion of the peasant"]: nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days. [We have here a notable instance of the Oriental exaggeration just referred to. For the very same expression is used by the chronicler (2 Chronicles 15:17), who in the next chapter (2 Chronic;es 2 Kings 16:7-12) tells us of Asa's unfaithfulness in his old age.]
1 Kings 15:15
And he brought in the things which his gather had dedicated [Heb. the holy things of his father. These were probably the spoils Abijah had taken in his war with Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13:18)], and the things which himself had dedicated [These were probably the spoils of the Ethiopians (2 Chronicles 14:15; cf. 2 Chronicles 15:11)], into [the Hebrew omits this word. Keil says that "house" is an accusative governed by "brought"], the house of the Lord, silver and gold, and vessels.
1 Kings 15:16
And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days [This statement must be compared with 2 Chronicles 14:1, 2 Chronicles 14:6, from which we gather that during the first ten years of Asa's reign there cannot have been war, properly so called, between them. Indeed, it would seem from 2 Chronicles 15:19, 2 Chronicles 16:1, that it was not until the 36th year of Asa's reign that it first broke out. But these numbers have clearly not escaped corruption (see note there), as at the date last mentioned Baasha must have been dead. It is probable that war is to be taken here, as elsewhere (1 Kings 14:30), in the sense of hostility, and in any case we have here another instance of the hyperbolical habit of the Eastern mind.]
1 Kings 15:17
And Baasha, king of Israel, went up against Judah [This statement probably refers to the reconquest of the three cities which Abijah had taken from Jeroboam (2 Chronicles 13:19), as Ramah could hardly have been rebuilt whilst Bethel remained in the hands of Judah], and built Ramah [Heb. the Ramah, i.e; "the elevation," or "high place." Now er Ram (= the height), in Benjamin (Joshua 18:25; 19:18, 19:14), five miles distant from Jerusalem, near the frontier of the two territories, and also then, as now, on the great north road. It was the key, consequently, to both kingdoms. Hence the struggles to possess it, vers, 21, 22; 2 Chronicles 16:1, etc.], that he might not suffer any to go out [Heb. not to give any going out, etc.] or come in to Asa, king of Judah. [The object of Baasha in fortifying this place is evident. It was not merely to have an advanced post as a menace to Jerusalem (Rawlinson), but primarily, by its command of the high road, to prevent his subjects from falling away to the kingdom of Judah, or even from going up to Jerusalem to worship; in fact, to isolate Judah and to blockade its capital. That there was a great defection to Ass at this time we know from 2 Chronicles 15:9. This was an exodus which Baasha felt must be checked. Blunt has happily shown from 2 Chronicles 16:6, etc; how the primary object must have been to "stop the alarming drainage of all that was virtuous out of their borders." Rawlinson sees in the fortification of this place "the first step towards a conquest of the southern kingdom." But as to this the text is silent, or rather it assigns an entirely different reason.]
1 Kings 15:18
Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left [LXX. τὸ σὑρεθὲν, which Rawlinson thinks points to a corruption of our text. He says, "The Jewish treasuries should now have been tolerably full," because
1 Kings 15:19
There is a league [Rawlinson would render, "Let there be a league… as there was," but the A.V. is equally good. Asa claims that a league does exist, and, in fact, has never been broken] between me and thee, and between my father and thy father [Syria would seem to have been the first of the possessions of Solomon to regain its independence (1 Kings 11:24). Its friendship would naturally be sought by Judah, as a counterpoise, perhaps, to the alliance between Israel and Egypt (Ewald)]: behold, I have sent unto thee a present [elsewhere a bribe. Psalms 15:5; Psalms 26:10; 1 Samuel 8:3] of silver and gold; come and break [Heb. come, break now, עַל cohortative] thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. [Heb. go up from upon me.]
1 Kings 15:20
So [Heb. and] Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains [or princes; same word as in 1 Kings 22:31; cf. 1 Kings 20:24] of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon [now represented by Tell Dibbin, a mound near the north end of the Merj 'Ayun (which probably preserves the name), a "meadow of fountains," a few miles northwest of Daniel This hill would offer a commanding site for a stronghold, and traces are found there of a large and ancient city Now certainly identified with Tell el Kadi the "hill of the Judge" (which preserves the meaning of the name), near the main source of the Jordan. The Tell, apparently an extinct crater, is covered with ruins. Stanley, S. and P p. 395-6. Thomson, "Land and Book," 1. p. 320. Van de Velde, if. p. 420. The situation is described as superb, and the country as extremely fertile. This is the last mention of the place in Scripture. Retribution has soon fallen on one of the centres of Jeroboam's schism], and Abel-beth-maachah [now known as Abil el Kamh All these towns are in the neighbourhood of Lake Huleh (Merom), and all being in the extreme north, bore the brunt of the invasion. The name Maachah is to be noticed in connection with 2 Chronicles 16:2], and all Cinneroth [in Numbers 34:11; Deuteronomy 3:17, Cinnereth; in the New Testament, Gennesaret." "The expression 'all Cinneroth' is unusual, and may be compared with 'all Bithron,' probably like this, a district and not a town". It is the district on the western shore of the lake of Galilee, north of Tiberias, which gave its name to the adjoining sheet of water. A city Chinnereth, perhaps the capital of the district is mentioned Joshua 19:1-51:85], with [ עַל not uncommonly has this meaning. Cf. Genesis 32:12 (Hebrews), "the mother with the children;" Exodus 35:22, "men with women."] all the land of Naphtali [Not only were the fortresses of Naphtali just mentioned smitten by the Syrians, but they laid waste all the surrounding district.]
1 Kings 15:21
And it came to pasta, when Baaaha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah [He could not prosecute it when he had enemies on every side. He at once assumes the defensive], and dwelt in Tirzah. [1 Kings 14:17. He retired to his capital It is not implied that he had entertained the idea of dwelling at Ramah.]
1 Kings 15:22
Then king Asa made a proclamation [Heb. made all to hear] throughout all Judah; none was exempted [Heb. none free], and they took away [Heb. took up] the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha [It is noticeable that it is generally "king Asa," but never "king Baasha"] had bullded; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin [Sometimes "the Geba," i.e; height; in Joshua 18:24, Gaba; now Jeba, only 45' northeast of Ramah. This was the northern limit of the southern kingdom (2 Kings 23:8). It occupied a striking position, standing on a rocky knoll on the south side of the great gorge of Michmash (now known as the Wady Suweinit), a "great crack or fissure in the country, with vertical precipices some 800 feet high". As Geba would command the pass, it is easy to understand why Asa fortified it, the more so as this defile "appears to have been more than once the meeting place between the Jews and their enemies" (Conder)], and Mizpah. [Heb. the Mizpah, i.e; watch tower (Genesis 31:49). The name points to an eminence, but it is remarkable that while so many sites of minor importance have been recovered, this old gathering place of the tribes ( 21:1; 1 Samuel 7:5; 1 Samuel 10:17-25), and the seat of Gedaliah's government (Jeremiah 40:6), cannot be identified with certainty. It has been conjectured that it is now represented by the commanding eminence of Nebi Samwil,but Stanley and Grove argue in favour of Seopus, and "the survey has done little to throw light on this question". It is to be hoped that the "pit," or well, which Asa made (Jeremiah 41:9), probably "to provide Mizpah with a plentiful supply of water in ease of a siege" (Ewald), may yet be brought to light.
1 Kings 15:23
And the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might [see 2 Chronicles 14:1-15; 2 Chronicles 15:1-19.], and all that he did, and the cities which he built [during the peace in the earlier part of his reign (2 Chronicles 14:5, 2 Chronicles 14:6)], are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless [Heb. only. There was one exception to his otherwise happy and prosperous reign] in the time of his old age [see notes on 1 Kings 1:1; 1 Kings 11:4. "Old age" means here, as them, the end of life. Asa cannot well have been more than fifty. It was in the 39th year of his reign (2 Chronicles 16:12) that this disease attacked him] he was diseased in his feet. [It is generally supposed that this disease was the gout. In the Chronicles (l.c.) he is reproached for seeking "not to the Lord but to the physicians." We must remember what the art of medicine at that day was like, and that the Jews regarded sickness and healing as alike the immediate acts of God.
1 Kings 15:24
And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers ["in his own sepulchre which he had made for himself" (2 Chronicles 16:14, which also notices "the bed filled with sweet odours," in which he was laid and the "very great burning" made for him)] in the city of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead.
HOMILETICS
1 Kings 15:11-26
The Reign of Asa.
Though this prince reigned forty and one years—a longer period than any of his predecessors, and, with two exceptions, a longer period than any of the kings who came after him—yet his reign, so far as it is recorded here, may be summed up in few words. "Happy is the nation," it has been said, "which has no history." But happier still the nation whose history, like that of Judah in the time of Asa, may be comprehended under these two heads—internal reforms, and external discipline.
I. INTERNAL REFORMS. Two questions present themselves for consideration here. First, What were Asa's reforms? Secondly, In what way were they accomplished?
1. His reforms were practically of two kinds: (a) Moral, and (b) Religious. It is not implied that he either put morality before religion, or believed that the one could be separated from the other. It may be a question in these days—it is at least hotly disputed—whether morality can long support itself without a religious basis and religious sanctions; but it was no question in that dark age, or for many hundred years afterwards. Then it was a choice between the one true religion and the most shameful immoralities practised under the name of religion. All that is meant here, therefore, is that Asa's reforms resulted in purging and raising the tone of public morality by suppressing the idolatry which sanctioned and consecrated impurity.
And let us notice here an instructive contrast between Asa and Solomon. It was the wise king, the most magnificent of the monarchs of the earth, at the height of his prosperity; and towards the end of a long and peaceful reign, built altars for the abominations of neighbouring nations. It was a young prince, unknown to fame, with no special gifts or endowments, with a restricted dominion, and encompassed with difficulties, who was the first to stem this tide of sin and shame with which his great ancestor had flooded the land. "The first last, and the last first." Compare 1 Corinthians 1:27-29. Wealth has greater dangers than adversity.
2. But let us now consider the way in which these great reforms were brought about.
It has been said that the devil often "comes to a man in the shape of his wife and children" (J. Hinton), and truly a man's real foes are not unfrequently those of his own household. Just as their flattery is the most insidious and mischievous (Whately), so are their faults too often considered venial, and their sins, when manifest, are the hardest to reprove (cf. 1 Kings 1:6; 1 Samuel 3:13). These are the "hand" and the "eye," which cause men to offend, and which they must cut off or pluck out and cast from them (Matthew 5:29 sqq.) Hence the charge of Deuteronomy 13:6 sqq.; cf. Matthew 10:37.
And the moral effect of this act, the public deposition of the queen-mother, can hardly be overestimated. It showed the country that the king was in real earnest; that he was no respecter of persons; that no idolatry could expect tolerance at his hands. Probably but for this he could neither have taken away the Sodomites nor removed the idols. Possibly it was because neither Rehoboam (see 2 Chronicles 11:21) nor Abijam dared to deal with the idolatries of Maachah, who would seem to have been a woman of imperious will, that these foreign superstitions had defiled the land so long. Asa struck at their root in removing her from being queen.
It was not merely destructive, as too many so-called reforms have been.
And, as the fruit of this righteous policy, we find that he enjoyed, for a part of his reign at least,
But let us now observe that these reforms and this courageous piety did not exempt him from—
II. EXTERNAL TROUBLES. The quiet only lasted ten years His fenced cities did not save him from invasion. He had to encounter, first, the invasion of Zerah (2 Chronicles 14:9), and secondly, the aggression of Baasha (1 Kings 15:17). He may have been tempted to think when that overwhelming host of swart barbarians marched against him that his piety profited him nothing. He may have argued, when he saw the fortress of Ramah threatening his very capital—the city God had chosen to put His name there—that God made no difference between the righteous and the wicked, between His faithful people and the calf-worshipping Israelites. But observe: both these troubles were really blessings in disguise. Afflictions and adversities may be either punitive or disciplinary. Solomon's were of the former, Asa's of the latter class. For
And so we see in the dangers and assaults which this reformer underwent proofs of the loving discipline of God—trials intended for his reformation and for the chastening of his country. It is difficult at first sight to see how so brutal and hateful a thing as war can ever be for the good of any people, especially when we remember that a "victory is the next worst thing to a defeat." But those have some reason on their side who tell us that war is the purgatory of nations, and that battles in the moral are something like thunderstorms in the physical world. There are victims in either case—what hecatombs of victims in some cases—but the atmosphere is all the clearer afterwards. The campaign of Zerah probably taught him and his people to bridle their ambition, and to leave their neighbours alone; it certainly taught Asa and Israel to trust in the Lord and to cling closer to Him. They learned that "Providence does" not "always help the biggest battalions"—that everything turns on the blessing of God.£ They proved the truth of that promise," Five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight," etc. (Le Matthew 26:8). Psalms 20:1-9. might have been penned with reference to this war. It certainly breathes the spirit of that time. "Deo adjuvante"—this is its keynote. And this, too, is the burden of Asa's prayer (2 Chronicles 14:11), of Azariah's prophecy (2 Chronicles 15:2 sqq.), of Judah's praises (verses 12, 14, 15). It has been remarked that in the history of the covenant people we may see pourtrayed the trials, deliverances, etc; of the covenant soul (Keble). And certainly the prosperous reign of Asa is a picture of what a truly Christian life involves. Happy are those whose lives, in their main features, may be thus characterized: "Internal reforms," "external discipline." The three things which, Luther said, made the minister also make the man, "Prayer, meditation, and temptation." The idols must be utterly abolished by "the expulsive force of a new affection;" "the horror," the fear and horrible dread that possesses the unreconciled, must be cast out by perfect love; "everything that defileth" must be consumed by its ardent flames; the heart must be "dedicated," and then the loving correction of God will do the rest, and after we have suffered awhile, in the battle of life, in the chamber of sickness (1 Kings 15:28), will make us perfect (1 Peter 5:10), and grant us "quietness and assurance forever."
1 Kings 15:22
Church and Dissent.
The building and subsequent demolition of Ramah—its building by Baasha to check the defection of his subjects to the southern kingdom and the Jewish Church; its removal by Asa in order that the highway to Judah and the temple of Jerusalem might be open to returning schismatics—this incident may serve to introduce a comparison between the kingdom of Asa and the kingdom of Christ; or rather, the history and relations of the two kingdoms of Palestine after the schism may suggest some thoughts as to the proper attitude and relations of the Catholic Church towards her separated children.
And that our view of those relations, so far as it is disclosed to us by this history, may not be partial and incomplete, it is proper that we should begin the survey, not with the accession of Asa, but some two decades earlier; in fact, with the commencement of the schism. And we may learn—
I. THAT IT IS NOT TO BE WONDERED AT THAT HERESY SHOULD BE STRONG AND AGGRESSIVE. Ten tribes worshipped the calves; only two were faithful to the Lord. Jeroboam's novelties carried "all Israel" away after them. Even so "the churches of Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome have erred" (Art. 19.) Donatists, Montanists, Arians, Apollinarians—how many were the sects of the first days! And now, out of the two hundred millions of Christendom, how many are there whom with the profoundest sorrow we must pronounce either heretical or schismatical. And no wonder, for
"The search for truth is not one half so pleasant,
As sticking to the views we hold at present."
Most of our schisms have had their origin in pride and emulation; most of our heresies spring out of our corrupt human nature. It is every way pleasanter to choose among doctrines than to take them as revealed by God.
II. THAT THERE MUST, NEVERTHELESS, BE NO FIGHTINGS AMONGST CHRISTIANS. The armies of Judah were solemnly forbidden to attack those of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12:24). Though a host of near two hundred thousand armed men had mustered for battle, yet they must "return every man to his house." They were reminded that the children of Israel were their "brethren," and that the division in the kingdom—not that in the Church—was ordained of God. A special messenger is entrusted with a special revelation (1 Kings 15:22) to prevent the unseemly spectacle of brethren, the children of the same Father, meeting in the shock of battle. And observe that, though there was undoubtedly war at a later period between the divided branches of the Hebrew family (1 Kings 14:30; 1 Kings 15:6, 1 Kings 15:16, etc.; 2 Chronicles 13:8), yet it is by no means certain that these wars ever had the Divine sanction. Observe, too, that hostility and antagonism, short of actual organized warfare, is here described as "war" (1 Kings 14:30, note). Now may we not justly infer—what, indeed, is certain on other grounds—that, whatever their heresies, there must be no hostilities between the divided sections of the Christian family? There have been "wars and fightings" amongst them, it is true, but this is against the will and prayer of their head (John 17:21; John 13:35; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 11:18; James 4:1). For they are "brethren" (Matthew 23:8) by a much closer bond than were the Jews. Spiritual ties are far more real and binding than those of flesh, of mere matter (Matthew 12:48, Matthew 12:49; Romans 16:13; Titus 1:4; Phmon Titus 1:10). And if it was unseemly and unnatural for Jew to lift up hand against Jew, how much more for members of the same body (Ephesians 5:30; Romans 12:5), professors of the same gospel of love? And not only the hand, but the tongue. There must be no stabbing and wounding of brethren by words any more than by swords. "There is nothing," says Whichcote, "more unnatural to religion than contentions about it." Christians have fighting enough to do without falling upon each other. There are the common enemies of the Christian life—the world, the flesh, and the devil. There are the enemies of the faith, the hosts of devilry, and uncleanness, and unbelief, and indifference. It is well when disputing about "modes of faith" that we should remember that there are untold millions of men still worshipping cows and even demons. It is well, too, that we should consider that we are none of us infallible, and may easily confound friends and foes. It has been justly said that many of our disputes are like that midnight conflict at Syracuse, where each party mistook the watchword of the other, and all was hopeless confusion (Stanley.) We must "contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered," etc; it is true, but there are two ways of doing that. "It is not the actual differences of Christians that do the mischief, but the mismanagement of those differences" (P. Henry). "Nous avons eu assez de polemique," said a French ecclesiastic; "il nous reste a avoir un peu d'irenique."