Verse 15
Scripture referenced in this chapter 1
VER. 15.
So shall Bethel do to you, because of your great wickedness.
SO shall Bethel.] What shall Bethel rise up against the rest of the ten Tribes, and come and destroy Mother and Children together? That's not the meaning.
But Bethel shall do it; that is, Bethel is the cause of this, that dreadful slaughter that is like to be among you it shall come from Bethel. Who would ever have thought that?
Oh my Brethren! Miserable judgments do many times arise from causes we [illegible] think of: that's the note from there. I say, miserable judgments do many times arise from causes we little think of, from Bethel there should come this slaughter and dreadful blood-shed. And as that note more generally, so more particularly this;
That from places of idolatry comes the greatest evils to kingdoms. As 'tis very observable on the contrary, from the places of God's worship comes the greatest good, so from places of idolatry the greatest evil. In Psalm 76:2, 3. In Salem is his Tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion: There brake he the arrows of the bow, shield and the sword, and the battle. Did God break them there? Was there a fight in Zion, and in Salem? No, that's not the meaning, but in Zion and Salem where God's Tabernacle was, those servants of God that were worshiping of God in Jerusalem, and in Zion, and praying to God they got the victory: so we may say that such a place that was fasting and praying in the time of our battles, there God brake the arrow and the bow, in that place where they were praying and seeking God, it was in Salem and Zion. Where the true worship of God is, from there comes the good of a kingdom. And so in Isaiah 31:9. Whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem: The Lord is there threatening the enemies of his people, and he says, that his fire is in Zion, and his furnace is in Jerusalem, there God has his furnace and from there it shall go to destroy the adversaries. And so on the contrary, where idolatry is set up, and false worship maintained, from there comes evils and miseries upon us.