And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
Ver. 4. That he put forth his hand.] To apprehend the prophet, or for a sign to others to do it. "Hear and give ear," saith the prophet, "be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken it." Jer 13:15 But
“ Corde stat inflato pauper honore dato. ”
Jeroboam - a poor widow's son, 1Ki 11:26 or, as the Septuagint hath it, a harlot's son - being advanced by God to a kingdom, rebelleth, and becometh a ringleader of rebellion against him putting forth the same hand against the prophet, that he had lifted up before against his prince. 1Ki 11:26 But what came of it?
And his hand which he put forth against him dried, &c.] A fearful stroke, had he well considered it: but his heart was as hard as his hand withered. Jeroboam had as great a miracle wrought before him herein, as St Paul had at his conversion; but without the Spirit's concurrence neither miracle, nor ministry, nor misery, nor mercy, can in the least measure mollify the heart of an obdurate and obstinate sinner. Valens, the Arian emperor, would have signed a sentence of banishment against Basil, but could not, by reason of a sudden trembling of his right hand, so that he could not write one letter of his own name, but for anger tore the paper in pieces, and let Basil alone. a There is a story of one of our late innovators, who, turning with the times, and beginning to bow toward altars, never went upright more: and of another, who, hearing perjury condemned by a godly preacher, and how it never escaped unpunished, said in a bravery, "I have often forsworn myself, and yet my right hand is no shorter than my left." These words he had scarce uttered, when such an inflammation arose in that hand, that he was forced to go to the surgeon, and cut it off, lest it should have infected the whole body; and so it became shorter than the other b The Jews tell us, that when Jeroboam's hand was dried up, the false prophets told him that this happened by chance, and so kept him from thinking of God who had smitten him. Let the saints learn to put their confidence in God: for if he deny concourse and influence, the arm of all adverse power shrinketh up presently.
a Nullum spicem complere potuit. - Hist. Tripart.
b Mr Clark's Mirror, 204.