He fostered and used, as far as he dared, the discontent which smouldered
in the tribe of Ephraim, as the result partly of jealousy of Judah, and
partly of restiveness under extravagant expenditure and increasing
taxation, and this treachery went on until he was expelled the country by
Solomon, and driven out as an exile into Egypt, where, however, he still
carried out his ambitious schemes, till his chance came under Rehoboam.
Many a man kicks away the ladder by which he rose to fortune. He likes
to divest himself of the past wherein he needed help, for it was a time
of humiliation, and by cutting off association with former friends, would
fain lead people to believe that his success was entirely due to his own
cleverness. Even his own parents are sometimes neglected and ignored,
and these, to whom he owed his life, who cared for him in his helpless
infancy and wayward youth, are left unhelped. "_Cursed is the man who
setteth light by his father or mother_."
But though we naturally cry "shame" upon such an one, it is possible that
we ourselves are acting an unfilial part towards our Heavenly Father.
And the more He prospers us the greater is the danger of our forgetting
Him, who crowns us with loving-kindness and tender mercies.
2. Jeroboam's sin against Solomon was as nothing compared with his sin
against God.
From the first he seems to have been an irreligious man. He regarded
religion as a kind of restraint on the lower orders, and therefore useful
in government. Priests and prophets constituted, in his opinion, the
vanguard of the police, and they should, therefore, be supported and
encouraged by the State. As to the form religion assumed, he was not
particular. In Egypt he had become accustomed to the ritual of Apis and
Mnevis, which was by no means so gross and demoralising as the idolatry
of the Canaanites, and he evidently could not see why the worship of
Jehovah could not be carried on by those who believed in Him through the
use of emblems, and, if need be, of idols. Therefore he set about the
establishment of the cult of Apis, and "_made two calves of gold, and set
the one in Bethel and the other put he in Dan_." This was the sin for
which he was condemned again and again with almost wearisome iteration.
He was by no means a fanatical idolater, and this act of his was simply
the dictate of his worldly policy. He was engaged in the establishment
of the separate kingdom of Israel, which for many a long year was to
exist side by side with the kingdom of Judah. But this policy of
separation would be impossible so long as there was the old spirit of
unity in the nation. And this unity was expressed and fostered most of
all by the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, the common centre to
which all the tribes resorted, and from which all government emanated.
If this continued so to be, it was evident that the nation would sooner
or later reassert its unity. The men of Ephraim were just now
exasperated by the taxation imposed by Solomon, and increased by
Rehoboam, and they still resented the precedence and supremacy of the
rival tribe of Judah; but this feeling might prove transient, it might be
some day dissipated by the statesmanship of a wiser king, and then the
separated kingdom would die out, and all God's people would appear as
one. To prevent this was Jeroboam's aim in the erection of the golden
calves.
It was a policy which would naturally appeal to the jealous people, who
were told that they ought not to be dependent for their means of worship
on Judah, nor send up their tribute for the support of the Temple in
Jerusalem. And they would welcome a scheme which brought worship within
easier range, and saved the cost of leaving business and undertaking a
wearisome journey in order to keep the feasts. Thus, without deliberate
choice, they swiftly glided down into idolatry and national ruin.
Jeroboam thus led the people to a violation of one of the fundamental
laws in the Decalogue. For if the first command was not disobeyed by all
the people, the second was, and these laws are still obligatory, nor can
they be broken with impunity. With fatal facility those who worshipped
Jeroboam's golden calf became identified with the heathen, and the
kingdom thus set upon a false foundation was at last utterly destroyed.
And as surely as the tide flows in upon the shore, so surely will the
laws of God bring retribution on all who are impenitent. To every man
the choice is proffered between the false and the true ideal of life. On
the one side the tempter points to wealth and position, which may often
be won, as Jeroboam won it, by unscrupulousness; and on the other side
stands the Son of God, who, though rejected and crucified, was
nevertheless the Victor over sin, and who now from His heavenly throne
exclaims, "_To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His
throne_."