Rebellion against God.
Samaria here is no doubt put for the Israelitish kingdom, of which that city was the capital. The seat of government concentrates within itself the various elements of the national life. If there be profligacy, ambition, cruelty, treachery, self-seeking, in a nation, these qualities will be pre-eminently apparent in the capital. Israel, in the person of her monarch and her capital, "rebelled against her God."
I. THE SYMPTOMS OF REBELLION. These are:
1. The defiance of rightful authority. When God's Name is profaned, and God's laws are violated, and God's threatenings are despised, this is a sign that those who are bound to be loyal subjects are so far from fulfilling their obligations that they are in rebellion.
2. The substitution of another authority for that of the Supreme. Whether this be an idol, or a hierarchy of pagan deities, or some selfish, carnal, worldly principle, is of little consequence; the allegiance has been transferred.
II. THE WICKEDNESS OF REBELLION. Samaria's special sin was in rebelling against her God. It is the consideration that God has done everything for us; that he has regarded us as his own, and treated us with bounty, forbearance; and loving-kindness, that, in a word, he has every claim upon us;—it is this that brings home the charge of rebellion, and exhibits it in all its heinousness.
III. THE END OF REBELLION. This must be either