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prescribed, he pronounced his own sentence in case of disobedience. Besides, the main
idea underlying the Divine employment of such messengers was that of their absolute
and unquestioning execution of the exact terms of their commission. This essential
condition of the prophetic office it was the more necessary to vindicate in Bethel, as
also at the commencement of a period marked by a succession of prophets in Israel,
who, in the absence of the God-ordained services, were to keep alive the knowledge of
Jehovah, and, by their warnings and teaching, to avert, if possible, the catastrophe of
national judgment which would overtake apostate Israel.
As regards "the man of God" himself, we have already noticed the increasing spiritual
callousness, consequent upon his first unfaithfulness. But putting this aside, surely
there never could have been any serious question in his mind as to his duty. By his own
testimony, he had received express and unmistakable command of God, which
Scripture again and again repeats, for the sake of emphasis; and his conduct should
have been guided on the plain principle, that an obvious and known duty can never be
set aside by another seeming duty. Besides, what evidence had he that an angel had
really spoken to the "old prophet;" or even that his tempter was a "prophet" at all, or, if
a prophet, acted in the prophetic spirit? All these points are so obvious, that the
conduct of the "man of God" would seem almost incredible, if we did not recall how
often in every-day life we are tempted to turn aside from the plain demands of right
and duty by a false call in contravention to it. In all moral and spiritual questions it is
ever most dangerous to reason, simple obedience and not argument is the only safe
path (comp. here Galatians 1:8). One duty can never contravene another and the plainly
known and clear command of God must silence all side-questions.
Viewing the conduct of the "man of God" as a fall and a sin, all becomes plain. He had
publicly announced his duty, and he had publicly contravened it; and his punishment
was, through the remarkable, though not miraculous, circumstances^227 under which it
overtook him, equally publicly known. Throughout the whole history there is, so to
speak, a remarkable equipoise in the circumstances of his sin and of his punishment, as
also in the vindication of God's authority.
And yet even so, the moral effect of God's message was apparently weakened through
the sin of His messenger. So terribly fatal in their consequences are our sins, even
when publicly punished. For it is scarcely possible to believe that, had it not been so,
Jeroboam would "after this thing" have uninterruptedly continued his former course of
defiance of the authority of God. But here the history also turns from Israel to its
wretched king, and in a narrative of deepest pathos shows us at the same time the
punishment of his sin, and the wonderful tenderness of God's dealings towards those
who, in the midst of greatest temptations, have kept their hearts true to Him, and are
preserved by His mercy from the evil to come. And most comforting is it to know that
God has and keeps His own - even though it be in the family of a Jeroboam, and that
(^)