“BROUGHT ABOUT OF JEHOVAH.”
The Lord always does the best thing for His people, always considering the circumstances. But the best thing under the circumstances is not always that which the Lord would prefer. The best thing under the circumstances depends on the attitude of the people toward God and His law. As long as the people are loyal, it is safe to trust them with a good degree of prosperity, and the Lord’s desire is that they shall always be prosperous. But the best thing for the people is to be near the Lord, and to acknowledge Him in all His ways; and whatever will conserve this end is the best thing for them. Sometimes the best thing is chastisement, and when chastisement comes to the people, or to the individual, it is because that is the best thing under the circumstances. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.” Heb. 12:6–10. This is the purpose of the reverses that God permits to come upon His people. The Sunday-school lesson in this paper (page 14) is on “The Kingdom Divided,” and in the lesson text is the statement that “it was a thing brought about of Jehovah.” 1 Kings 12:15, A. R. V. We must not suppose that the division of Israel was an arbitrary decree, just for the punishment of the people in a spirit of vindictive retaliation for their disloyalty; nor must we suppose that it could not have been averted. It could have been averted by a thorough repentance and turning to the Lord on the part of the young king, and the putting away of idolatry on the part of the masses. A divided people is not of the Lord’s choosing; when He brings about or permits such a condition, it is always of necessity, that the people may be brought to realize their dependence upon Him. “For the Lord will not cast off forever; but though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” Lam. 3:31–33. Under David the kingdom of Israel had been built up to a leading position among the kingdoms of the earth. It had been so firmly united and established that Solomon was guaranteed a reign of peace, in which to build the house of the Lord, and otherwise to disseminate a knowledge of the true God amongst other peoples. The Lord designed that the kingdom should remain united and strong forever. But Solomon in course of time, gave himself up to pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2) and the aggrandizement of Jerusalem. He gathered about him many idolatrous women, and made many worldly alliances with the heathen nations about him. The consequence was the spiritual decline of the people. The Lord gave this reason for the rending of the kingdom: “Because that they have forsaken Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways, to do that which is right in Mine eyes, and to keep My statutes and My judgments, as did David.” 1 Kings 11:33. Prosperity under such conditions would only encourage the departure from the service of the true God, and hinder the cause of salvation, thus endangering the final welfare of the people. Not only so, but the present temporal welfare of many in Israel was also at stake. Solomon had impressed the services of the northern tribes for building great works in and about Jerusalem until the burden had become unbearable; and the prospect that Rehoboam would make their yoke even heavier, rendered a division of the kingdom necessary for the relief of these people. So not only the spiritual reformation of the people, but also the emancipation of a large number of brethren, who were really treated as slaves, was contemplated in the division of the kingdom. Even in what seemed to be the utter ruin of the cause of God in the earth, through an irreparable division of His people, He had in mind only their eventual good and the final success of His cause. God always sees the end, even from the beginning, and all of His dispensations have the end in view. His very chastisements are inflicted because He is “longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”