THE APOSTASY OF ISRAEL.
Our correspondent thinks that the Apostasy of Israel must be dated from the commencement of Rehoboam’s reign, and not from the 4th year thereof; because, we suppose, the Ten Tribes revolted from the House of David at that time, even in the first year of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. But though Israel rebelled then, and Jeroboam adopted a policy adverse to the fidelity off the tribes to Jehovah, they did not apostatise from him till the 4th of Rehoboam. The facts in the case are these.
Israel renounced the House of David, but not the Lord. Jeroboam was aware of this; therefore said he,
“Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David; if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up unto Jerusalem: behold, thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan”—1 Kings 12: 26.
This policy of Jeroboam was the result of what he observed. He perceived that though he had acquired sovereignty over ten-twelfths of the nation, his subjects still looked to Jerusalem, the metropolis of Rehoboam’s kingdom, as the holy city of their faith and worship. In carrying out his policy Jeroboam had himself deepened this regard: so that—
“The priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to Rehoboam out of all their coasts. For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s office unto the Lord: and he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. And besides them out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong, three years: for three years they walked in the way of David and Solomon”—2 Chronicles 11: 13-17.
But how was it with Rehoboam and Israel after these three years had passed away? Years in which he had arranged and established his affairs? Did he and Israel continue faithful to Jehovah? Let us hear the testimony.
“And it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel with him”—2 Chronicles 12: 1-5.
This was in the 4th year of his reign. In the 5th year, Jehovah sent Shishak, king of Egypt, against Jerusalem; and commanded Shemaiah the prophet, to tell Rehoboam, that it was because he and Israel had apostatised from him, that this evil had overtaken them. It is manifest then that as all things went well in the eyes of the Lord in the first three years, and that as he punished them in the fifth, it was because of their forsaking Him in the 4th of Rehoboam’s reign.
Now this fourth year became a memorable epoch in Israel’s affairs. Exactly 40 years had elapsed from the Foundation of the Temple, which was itself another national epoch. The event shows, that the Lord had predetermined the existence of this temple for the same length of time as had elapsed from the Confirmation of the Covenant of the Kingdom to the night of the returning from Egypt—Exodus 12: 41; Galatians 3: 17, that is, for 430 years. This period was an era of transgressions, which attained its fullness in the 19th of Nebuchadnezzar, when the Temple was burned to the ground by the Chaldeans. The 4th year of Rehoboam divides these 430 years into two unequal parts—the first consisting of 40 years already indicated; and the last of 390 years. What is there significant in this? Let us hear the scripture in the case.
About seven years before the burning of the temple, Ezekiel was commanded to present himself to the Israelites in Chaldea, styled the Captivity, as a sign to represent to them by significative actions the siege and fall of Jerusalem.
“Lie thou upon thy left side,” said the Lord, “and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, 390 days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again upon thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year”—Ezekiel 4: 4.
By this the Captivity were taught, that the siege and fall of Jerusalem would be at the end of 430 years, the whole number of the years of the national transgression. We cannot say whether they knew the beginning of the 430 years, but they were plainly taught that it was to be the limit of God’s forbearance. We learn from the subdivisions specified by Ezekiel that they were representative of the iniquity of the two houses of Israel. The 40 day-years are assigned to Judah, because the ecclesiastical government of the Twelve Tribes, from the foundation of the Temple to the apostasy, was in connexion with its sovereignty for 40 years; but when they all forsook the Lord, the 390 day-years symbolise the iniquity of the whole house of Israel for 390 years, from the 4th of Rehoboam to the destruction of the Temple.
But the main reason why this composite 430 is introduced, is to show that as Ezekiel had borne the iniquity of the two houses with affliction for 430 days, so they should be punished for their 430 years of past transgression with 430 years affliction among the Gentiles; as it is written,
“Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.”
And so it came to pass. They consumed away for their iniquity; were an oppressed people; and subject to the Gentiles, first to the Chaldeans, then to the Medo-Persians, afterwards to the Macedonians until 430 years from the burning of the Temple had expired, when they effected their independence under the Maccabees.
