cumstance mentioned in 1 Sam. x. 3, of the "three men going up to God to Bethel." The other calf was set up by Jeroboam in Dan; and he said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." And "he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi."-" And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made."

And, behold, there came a man of God, out of Judah, by the word of the Lord unto Bethel; and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense: 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." The prophet also declared that the altar should "be rent," and the ashes that were upon it should "be poured out;" which came to pass the same day. Jeroboam

put forth his hand to seize the man of God, but his hand was immediately withered; the king entreated the prophet to pray unto the Lord that his hand might be restored :—the prophet then besought his God to restore the hand of Jeroboam, and the Lord was pleased to heal him, and his hand "became as it was before."- "After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way:" And, in a most awful message through the aged prophet Ahijah, the Lord pronounced tremendous judgments upon the house of Jeroboam because he had "done evil above all that were before" him. The Lord also declared, that He would raise up a king over Israel who should cut off the seed of this impious monarch; and added " him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat for the Lord hath spoken it.” But not only did the venerable seer predict the misery and ruin that awaited Jeroboam ; the future condition of apostate Israel was also unfolded to his mental view; and he exclaimed, "But what? even now :— :-for the Lord will smite Israel as a reed is shaken in

the water; and He shall root up Israel out of this good land which He gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river; because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger: and He shall give Israel up, because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin." This prophecy of Ahijah, the servant of God, was exactly fulfilled, when, about two hundred and fifty years afterwards, Israel was carried away captive "beyond the river," (thus the Euphrates was by pre-eminence usually spoken of,) and the kingdom was destroyed by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria.

The character of this wicked king, against whom the prophet of Shiloh denounced the anger of Jehovah, descends with fearful distinction, from generation to generation, even to the end of time, under the designation of "Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."

CHAP. LXIII.-Rehoboam was established in the government of Judah. For three years he prospered, because he adhered to the worship of the living God; and his kingdom

was strengthened by "such as set their hearts to seek the Lord," who came "out of all the tribes of Israel" "to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers." But when Rehoboam was become powerful, " he did evil," and "prepared not his heart to seek the Lord:" therefore Shishak, king of Egypt, was permitted to invade Judah; and "he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house; and he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made:" There was, in addition to this calamity, a continual warfare between the two rival monarchs who governed Judah and Israel: and the people of Judah "built them high places, and images, and groves," and "did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel." Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities of defence in Judah. Jeroboam also founded Penuel, and erected for himself a palace at Shechem in Mount Ephraim, the inheritance of the house of Joseph, whose bones were interred there in the "parcel of ground that Jacob had bought of the sons of

Hamor, the father of Shechem." Jeroboam appears to have rebuilt the city: it was subsequently called Sichem, or Sychar, and was contiguous to that which was afterwards built by Omri, king of Israel, and called Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill. Samaria became a magnificent city, and was the capital of the kingdom of Israel. After a reign of seventeen years, "Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and Abijam his son reigned in his stead." He swayed the sceptre only three years, "and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as the heart of David his father." He was succeeded by his son Asa, who reigned in Jerusalem forty and one years, and did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. There were continual wars between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel; and Jerusalem and the sacred temple were stripped of the treasures which had been accumulated by David and Solomon. But Asa prospered greatly, because he was faithful to the law of the Lord; and when his country was invaded by the Ethiopians, who came against him—a mighty host-he cried unto God and said,

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