1 At that time was Abijah son of Jeroboam sick,
2 and Jeroboam saith to his wife, `Rise, I pray thee, and change thyself, and they know not that thou `art' wife of Jeroboam, and thou hast gone to Shiloh; lo, there `is' Ahijah the prophet; he spake unto me of `being' king over this people;
3 and thou hast taken in thy hand ten loaves, and crumbs, and a bottle of honey, and hast gone in unto him; he doth declare to thee what becometh of the youth.'
4 And the wife of Jeroboam doth so, and riseth, and goeth to Shiloh, and entereth the house of Ahijah, and Ahijah is not able to see, for his eyes have stood because of his age.
5 And Jehovah said unto Ahijah, `Lo, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to seek a word from thee concerning her son, for he is sick; thus and thus thou dost speak unto her, and it cometh to pass at her coming in, that she is making herself strange.'
6 And it cometh to pass, at Ahijah's hearing the sound of her feet `as' she came in to the opening, that he saith, `Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why is this -- thou art making thyself strange? and I am sent unto thee `with' a sharp thing:
7 Go, say to Jeroboam, Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Because that I have made thee high out of the midst of the people, and appoint thee leader over my people Israel,
8 and rend the kingdom from the house of David, and give it to thee, -- and thou hast not been as My servant David who kept My commands, and who walked after Me with all his heart, to do only that which `is' right in Mine eyes,
9 and thou dost evil above all who have been before thee, and goest, and makest to thee other gods and molten images to provoke Me to anger, and Me thou hast cast behind thy back:
10 `Therefore, lo, I am bringing in evil unto the house of Jeroboam, and have cut off to Jeroboam those sitting on the wall -- shut up and left -- in Israel, and have put away the posterity of the house of Jeroboam, as one putteth away the dung till its consumption;
11 him who dieth of Jeroboam in a city do the dogs eat, and him who dieth in a field do fowl of the heavens eat, for Jehovah hath spoken.
12 `And thou, rise, go to thy house; in the going in of thy feet to the city -- hath the lad died;
13 and all Israel have mourned for him, and buried him, for this one -- by himself -- cometh of Jeroboam unto a grave, because there hath been found in him a good thing towards Jehovah, God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
14 `And Jehovah hath raised up for Him a king over Israel who cutteth off the house of Jeroboam this day -- and what? -- even now!
15 And Jehovah hath smitten Israel as the reed is moved by the waters, and hath plucked Israel from off this good ground that He gave to their fathers, and scattered them beyond the River, because that they made their shrines, provoking Jehovah to anger;
16 and He giveth up Israel because of the sins of Jeroboam that he sinned, and that he caused Israel to sin.'
17 And the wife of Jeroboam riseth, and goeth, and cometh to Tirzah; she hath come in to the threshold of the house, and the youth dieth;
18 and they bury him, and mourn for him do all Israel, according to the word of Jehovah, that he spake by the hand of His servant Ahijah the prophet.
19 And the rest of the matters of Jeroboam, how he fought, and how he reigned, lo, they are written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.
20 And the days that Jeroboam reigned `are' twenty and two years, and he lieth with his fathers, and reign doth Nadab his son in his stead.
21 And Rehoboam son of Solomon hath reigned in Judah; a son of forty and one years `is' Rehoboam in his reigning, and seventeen years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, the city that Jehovah chose to set His name there, out of all the tribes of Israel, and the name of his mother `is' Naamah the Ammonitess.
22 And Judah doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and they make Him zealous above all that their fathers did by their sins that they have sinned.
23 And they build -- also they -- for themselves high places, and standing-pillars, and shrines, on every high height, and under every green tree;
24 and also a whoremonger hath been in the land; they have done according to all the abominations of the nations that Jehovah dispossessed from the presence of the sons of Israel.
25 And it cometh to pass, in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, gone up hath Shishak king of Egypt against Jerusalem,
26 and he taketh the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the house of the king, yea, the whole he hath taken; and he taketh all the shields of gold that Solomon made.
27 And king Rehoboam maketh in their stead shields of brass, and hath made `them' a charge on the hand of the heads of the runners, those keeping the opening of the house of the king,
28 and it cometh to pass, from the going in of the king to the house of Jehovah, the runners bear them, and have brought them back unto the chamber of the runners.
29 And the rest of the matters of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written on the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?
30 And war hath been between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days;
31 and Rehoboam lieth with his fathers, and is buried with his fathers, in the city of David, and the name of his mother `is' Naamah the Ammonitess, and reign doth Abijam his son in his stead.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Kings 14
Commentary on 1 Kings 14 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 14
1Ki 14:1-20. Ahijah Denounces God's Judgments against Jeroboam.
1. At that time—a phrase used often loosely and indefinitely in sacred history. This domestic incident in the family of Jeroboam probably occurred towards the end of his reign; his son Abijah was of age and considered by the people the heir to the throne.
2. Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself—His natural and intense anxiety as a parent is here seen, blended with the deep and artful policy of an apostate king. The reason of this extreme caution was an unwillingness to acknowledge that he looked for information as to the future, not to his idols, but to the true God; and a fear that this step, if publicly known, might endanger the stability of his whole political system; and a strong impression that Ahijah, who was greatly offended with him, would, if consulted openly by his queen, either insult or refuse to receive her. For these reasons he selected his wife, as, in every view, the most proper for such a secret and confidential errand, but recommended her to assume the garb and manner of a peasant woman. Strange infatuation, to suppose that the God who could reveal futurity could not penetrate a flimsy disguise!
3-11. And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him—This was a present in unison with the peasant character she assumed. Cracknels are a kind of sweet seed-cake. The prophet was blind, but having received divine premonition of the pretended countrywoman's coming, he addressed her as the queen the moment she appeared, apprised her of the calamities which, in consequence of the ingratitude of Jeroboam, his apostasy, and outrageous misgovernment of Israel, impended over their house, as well as over the nation which too readily followed his idolatrous innovations.
8. thou hast not been as my servant David—David, though he fell into grievous sins, repented and always maintained the pure worship of God as enjoined by the law.
10, 11. I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam—Strong expressions are here used to indicate the utter extirpation of his house;
him that is shut up and left in Israel—means those who were concealed with the greatest privacy, as the heirs of royalty often are where polygamy prevails; the other phrase, from the loose garments of the East having led to a different practice from what prevails in the West, cannot refer to men; it must signify either a very young boy, or rather, perhaps, a dog, so entire would be the destruction of Jeroboam's house that none, not even a dog, belonging to it should escape. This peculiar phrase occurs only in regard to the threatened extermination of a family (1Sa 25:22-34). See the manner of extermination (1Ki 16:4; 21:24).
12. the child shall die—The death and general lamentation felt through the country at the loss of the prince were also predicted. The reason for the profound regret shown at his death arose, according to Jewish writers, from his being decidedly opposed to the erection of the golden calves, and using his influence with his father to allow his subjects the free privilege of going to worship in Jerusalem.
13. all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him—the only one of Jeroboam's family who should receive the rites of sepulture.
14. the Lord shall raise him up a king … but what? even now—namely, Baasha (1Ki 15:27); he was already raised—he was in being, though not in power.
17. Tirzah—a place of pre-eminent beauty (So 6:4), three hours' travelling east of Samaria, chosen when Israel became a separate kingdom, by the first monarch, and used during three short reigns as a residence of the royal house. The fertile plains and wooded hills in that part of the territory of Ephraim gave an opening to the formation of parks and pleasure-grounds similar to those which were the "paradises" of Assyrian and Persian monarchs [Stanley]. Its site is occupied by the large village of Taltise [Robinson]. As soon as the queen reached the gate of the palace, she received the intelligence that her son was dying, according to the prophet's prediction [1Ki 14:12].
19. the rest of the acts of Jeroboam—None of the threatenings denounced against this family produced any change in his policy or government.
1Ki 14:21-24. Rehoboam's Wicked Reign.
21. he reigned … in Jerusalem—Its particular designation as "the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there," seems given here, both as a reflection on the apostasy of the ten tribes, and as a proof of the aggravated wickedness of introducing idolatry and its attendant vices there.
his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess—Her heathen extraction and her influence as queen mother are stated to account for Rehoboam's tendency to depart from the true religion. Led by the warning of the prophet (1Ki 12:23), as well as by the large immigration of Israelites into his kingdom (1Ki 12:17; 2Ch 11:16), he continued for the first three years of his reign a faithful patron of true religion (2Ch 11:17). But afterwards he began and encouraged a general apostasy; idolatry became the prevailing form of worship, and the religious state of the kingdom in his reign is described by the high places, the idolatrous statues, the groves and impure rites that with unchecked license were observed in them. The description is suited to the character of the Canaanitish worship.
1Ki 14:25-31. Shishak Spoils Jerusalem.
25, 26. Shishak king of Egypt came up—He was the instrument in the hand of Providence for punishing the national defection. Even though this king had been Solomon's father-in-law, he was no relation of Rehoboam's; but there is a strong probability that he belonged to another dynasty (see on 2Ch 12:2). He was the Sheshonk of the Egyptian monuments, who is depicted on a bas-relief at Karnak, as dragging captives, who, from their peculiar physiognomy, are universally admitted to be Jews.
29. Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam …, are they not written in the book of the chronicles?—not the book so called and comprehended in the sacred canon, but the national archives of Judah.
30. there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam—The former was prohibited from entering on an aggressive war; but as the two kingdoms kept up a jealous rivalry, he might be forced into vigilant measures of defense, and frequent skirmishes would take place on the borders.