2 Chronicles 11:18-23 - Homilies By W. Clarkson

Spiritual admixture.

After reading the first fourteen verses of the last chapter ( 2 Chronicles 10:1-19 .), we hardly expect to come across the words, concerning Rehoboam, and he dealt wisely ( 2 Chronicles 11:23 ). But this king, though he could certainly be very foolish, was not all folly; like most men, he was a spiritual admixture. We look at—

I. THE SINGULAR SPIRITUAL ADMIXTURE WE FIND IN HIM . The account we have of him is not a long one; it is contained in two or three short chapters, but in these we count seven wise and four foolish actions. We find him (see above)very wise in taking time and in consulting others before giving an important decision on a critical occasion; most foolish in heeding the counsel of the young men; foolish in sending his minister that "was over the tribute" amongst those who were complaining bitterly of their taxation ( 2 Chronicles 10:18 ); wise in hearkening to and heeding the Divine prohibition of war ( 2 Chronicles 11:4 ); wise in fortifying and storing the strongholds on the frontier ( 2 Chronicles 11:5-12 ); wise in welcoming to Judah the priests and people whom Jeroboam had driven away; very foolish indeed in "desiring many wives" ( 2 Chronicles 11:23 ) and in establishing so large a harem ( 2 Chronicles 11:21 ); wise in choosing so many from the stock of David and in dispersing his sons about his small kingdom, where they could not quarrel among themselves, but be of some service to him; wise in "walking in the way of David" ( 2 Chronicles 11:17 ); foolish in departing therefrom after three years of obedience.

II. THE SPIRITUAL ADMIXTURE THERE IS IN US . We find that good men have:

1 . Those virtues and failings which seem to go together. They have, as we say, "the faults of their virtues." With much strength and earnestness goes severity in the judgment of other people; with much meekness goes inactivity; with much vivacity and picturesqueness of style goes laxity, if not unveraciousness; with much good-naturedness goes carelessness, etc.

2 . Failings which do not naturally accompany virtues. Of some good man whose general integrity we cordially acknowledge, whose excellency and usefulness (perhaps) we even admire, we have to admit reluctantly that he is very vain, or very proud, or very blunt, or very careless; or we have to confess that there is some other defect in his character, perhaps more than one shortcoming. In truth, we have to confront the truths, viz.:

1 . That Christian character is an admixture. It is good not unmarked with evil; it is rectitude not without some occasional swerving to the right hand or to the left; it is rather an earnest aspiration or an honest and devout endeavour than a complete attainment; it is a battle that will end in victory, but it is not (yet) the victory; it is a race, and not the runner clasping the goal and receiving the prize.

2 . That it behoves us to take heed how we judge. One failing does not unchristianize a character; it is what is in the depth, and not what is on the surface, that decides our position; the "spirit we are of," and not the proprieties of behaviour.

3 . That we do well to consider how much alloy is mixed with the pure gold of our own character.—C.