1 Kings 14:1

How Jeroboam persisted in his contempt of God and religion we read in the close of the foregoing chapter. Here we are told how God proceeded in his controversy with him; for when God judges he will overcome, and sinners shall either bend or break before him.

I. His child fell sick, Kg1 14:1. It is probable that he was his eldest son, and heir-apparent to the crown; for at his death all the kingdom went into mourning for him, ch. 13. His dignity as a prince, his age as a young prince, and his interest in heaven as a pious prince, could not exempt him from sickness, dangerous sickness. Let none be secure of the continuance of their health, but improve it, while it continues, for the best purposes. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest, thy favourite, he whom Israel loves, their darling, is sick. At that time, when Jeroboam prostituted the profaned the priesthood (Kg1 13:33), his child sickened. When sickness comes into our families we should enquire whether there be not some particular sin harboured in our houses, which the affliction is sent to convince us of and reclaim us from.

II. He sent his wife in disguise to enquire of Ahijah the prophet what should become of the child, Kg1 14:2, Kg1 14:3. The sickness of his child touched him in a tender part. The withering of this branch of the family would, perhaps, be as sore an affliction to him as the withering of that branch of his body, Kg1 13:4. Such is the force of natural affection; our children are ourselves but once removed. Now,

1. Jeroboam's great desire, under this affliction, is to know what shall become of the child, whether he will live or die. (1.) It would have been more prudent if he had desired to know what means they should use for the recovery of the child, what they should give him, and what they should do to him; but by this instance, and those of Ahaziah (Kg2 1:2) and Benhadad (Kg2 8:8), it should seem they had then such a foolish notion of fatality as took them off from all use of means; for, if they were sure the patient would live, they thought means needless; if he would die, they thought them useless; not considering that duty is ours, events are God's, and that he that ordained the end ordained the means. Why should a prophet be desired to show that which a little time will show? (2.) It would have been more pious if he had desired to know wherefore God contended with him, had begged the prophet's prayers, and cast away his idols from him; then the child might have been restored to him, as his hand was. But most people would rather be told their fortune than their faults or their duty.

2. That he might know the child's doom, he sent to Ahijah the prophet, who lived obscurely and neglected in Shiloh, blind through age, yet still blest with the visions of the Almighty, which need not bodily eyes, but are rather favoured by the want of them, the eyes of the mind being then most intent and least diverted. Jeroboam sent not to him for advice about the setting up of his calves, or the consecrating of his priests, but had recourse to him in his distress, when the gods he served could give him no relief. Lord, in trouble have those visited thee who before slighted thee. Some have by sickness been reminded of their forgotten ministers and praying friends. He sent to Ahijah, because he had told him he should be king, Kg1 13:2. "He was once the messenger of good tidings, surely he will be so again." Those that by sin disqualify themselves for comfort, and yet expect their ministers, because they are good men, should speak peace and comfort to them, greatly wrong both themselves and their ministers.

3. He sent his wife to enquire of the prophet, because she could best put the question without naming names, or making any other description than this, "Sir, I have a son ill; will he recover or not?" The heart of her husband safely trusted in her that she would be faithful both in delivering the message and bringing him the answer; and it seems there were none of all his counsellors in whom he could repose such a confidence; otherwise the sick child could very ill spare her, for mothers are the best nurses, and it would have been much fitter for her to have staid at home to tend him than go to Shiloh to enquire what would become of him. If she go, she must be incognito - in disguise, must change her dress, cover her face, and go by another name, not only to conceal herself from her own court and the country through which she passed (as if it were below her quality to go upon such an errand, and what she had reason to be ashamed of, as Nicodemus that came to Jesus by night, whereas it is no disparagement to the greatest to attend God's prophets), but also to conceal herself from the prophet himself, that he might only answer her question concerning her son, and not enter upon the unpleasing subject of her husband's defection. Thus some people love to prescribe to their ministers, limit them to smooth things, and care not for having the whole counsel of God declared to them, lest it prove to prophesy no good concerning them, but evil. But what a strange notion had Jeroboam of God's prophet when he believed that he could and would certainly tell what would become of the child, and yet either could not or would not discover who was the mother! Could he see into the thick darkness of futurity, and yet not see through the thin veil of this disguise? Did Jeroboam think the God of Israel like his calves, just what he pleased? Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

III. God gave Ahijah notice of the approach of Jeroboam's wife, and that she came in disguise, and full instructions what to say to her (Kg1 14:5), which enabled him, as she came in at the door, to call her by her name, to her great surprise, and so to discover to all about him who she was (Kg1 14:6): Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam, why feignest thou thyself to be another? He had no regard, 1. To her rank. She was a queen, but what was that to him, who had a message to deliver to her immediately from God, before whom all the children of men stand upon the same level? Nor, 2. To her present. It was usual for those who consulted prophets to bring them tokens of respect, which they accepted, and yet were no hirelings. She brought him a handsome country present (Kg1 14:3), but he did not think himself obliged by that to give her any finer language than the nature of her message required. Nor, 3. To her industrious concealment of herself. It is a piece of civility not to take notice of those who desire not to be taken notice of; but the prophet was no courtier, nor gave flattering titles; plain dealing is best, and she shall know, at the first word, what she has to trust to: I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Note, Those who think by their disguises to hide themselves from God will be wretchedly confounded when they find themselves disappointed in the day of discovery. Sinners now appear in the garb of saints, and are taken to be such; but how will they blush and tremble when they find themselves stripped of their false colours, and are called by their own name: "Go out, thou treacherous false-hearted hypocrite. I never knew thee. Why feignest thou thyself to be another?" Tidings of a portion with hypocrites will be heavy tidings. God will judge men according to what they are, not according to what they seem.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Chap. 1Ki_14:1-20. Jeroboam’s inquiry concerning his sick child. The prophet’s answer. Close of Jeroboam’s reign (Not in Chronicles)

1. At that time] The order of the narrative shews that the writer of Kings connects the sickness of Jeroboam’s son with the events which have been narrated in the previous chapter in the nature of a divine judgement. The whole of this section 1–20 is omitted by the LXX. (Vat.)

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 14:1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.

Ver. 1. At that time.] While Jeroboam did evil as he could, walking contrary to God, God also walked as contrary to him; for is it fit that he should lay down the bucklers first

Abijah the son of Jeroboam.] His son and heir, likely, as was also Rehoboam’s son Abijah, not Abiud, as Sulpitius Severus calleth him.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki_14:1-18

At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.

A good boy and a bad family

One beautiful flower in a desert; one lovely rose amongst thorns; one fruitful branch on a corrupt tree. We are going to speak of a boy who was like that flower, rose, or branch.

I. This boys father was very wicked. God had been kind to this man. Instead of remembering Gods kindness and obeying Him, he tried to put away all thoughts of God from his mind, and disobeyed Him. He caused two calves of gold to be made. One he placed in Dan and the other in Bethel These he worshipped himself. Sin is like descending a hill, a river in its course, a tree in its progress. This was seen in his life. Some of the kings who preceded him were wicked, but he was the worst.

II. This boys mother was a deceiver.

III. Although this boy had a wicked father and a deceiving mother, he was good. We are told that in him there was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.

1. This good thing was religion. It is called good for four reasons:

(1) It comes from the good God.

(2) It makes those good who truly receive it.

(3) It leads them to do good to others.

(4) It prepares them for the good place, heaven.

2. Religion was in this boy:

(1) In his mind.

(2) In his heart.

(3) In all his words and actions.

Religion was found in this boy.

(1) It was found by God, for He sees all things.

(2) It was found by the boy himself. It made him happy, strong and hopeful.

(3) It was found by all who knew him. To them he was a shining light, or as a city on a hill.

3. How could he be so unlike his father and mother?

(1) He believed what was written in the sacred Scriptures.

(2) He prayed to God.

(3) His win was the king of his circumstance.

Imitate him in these three things. If some of you have ungodly homes, you will then learn, as he did, that you can be godly there.

IV. This boy died. (A. McAuslane, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 14:1. At that time — Presently after the things related in the foregoing chapter, which, though apparently connected with the beginning of his reign, yet might possibly be done a good while after it, and so Ahijah the prophet be very old, as he is described to be, 1Ki 14:4. It is probable this Abijah was Jeroboam’s eldest son.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

AHIJAH’S SECOND PROPHECY, 1Ki_14:1-18.

The mysterious prophet of Judah has just pronounced against the altar of Bethel the coming judgments of Jehovah, and now, behold, another prophet at Shiloh proclaims the miserable end of the house of Jeroboam.

Mark how prominent becomes the antagonism between the prophet and the king.

1. At that time — While Jeroboam was engaged in his impious sacrilege and idolatry.

Abijah — Probably the king’s oldest son, and heir-apparent to the crown.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE REIGNS OF JEROBOAM AND REHOBOAM

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—

1Ki_14:1. Abijah, the son of Jeroboam—Natural heir to the kingdom. His sickness, therefore, seemed to imperil the continuance of Jeroboam’s house.

1Ki_14:2. There is Ahijah the prophet—He was appropriately selected, because Ahijah was the prophet who, in Solomon’s days, pledged the kingdom to Jeroboam (chap. 1Ki_11:29). And since Ahijah promised him a “sure house” (1Ki_11:38), though conditional upon his piety, he sent to him to learn how this illness accorded with the prediction: he desired the rewards, though he forsook the course, of righteousness.

1Ki_14:3. Take with thee loaves, cracknels, and honey—These were gifts which a humble peasant woman would take, and accorded with the disguised appearance of the king’s wife. The “ten loaves “were more probably a kind of hearth cake—נִקֻּדִּים, κολλυριδες (Sept.) Crustula (Vulg.).

1Ki_14:4. Could not see, for his eyes were set—Keil thinks that he suffered from “grey cataracts,” resulting from the decay of the optic nerves through age, as in the case of Eli (1Sa_4:15).

1Ki_14:9. Done evil above all that were before thee—Inasmuch has he had established idolatry as a legalised “state institution.” Hast cast Me behind thy back—the most forcible expression possible, signifying deliberate insulte and contempt of Jehovah. It only occurs again in Eze_23:35, q.v.

1Ki_14:10. Cut off from Jeroboam him that, &c.—“An expression no doubt originally used of dogs” (Lange), and therefore a contemptuous description of ignominious persons. Only need of those in great disfavour in parallel Scriptures. Keil, however, differs from this exposition of the phrase, and regards it as a forceful and figurative expression of “extermination of a family to the last man.” Him that is shut up and left—An alliterative phrase—עָצוּר וְעָזב—probably meaning those under guardian; not of age. Keil suggests, him who is left to himself—unmarried. Thenius renders the whole sentence thus: “All the male descendants of the king, even the minors also,” were threatened with destruction.

1Ki_14:14. Cut off the house of Jeroboam that day; but what? even now. “That day,” זֶה הַיּוֹם; this, to-day, viz., cut off the house of Jeroboam, this very day, in the death of his son. “But what? Even now”—וּמֶה גַּם־עַתָּה. And what is happening even now? or, but what [say I]? Even now [the usurper is raised up]. See how truly this was a fact (chap. 1Ki_15:27).

1Ki_14:15. Made their groves—Their Asherahs; statues of the female deity elsewhere called Ashtarte.

1Ki_14:17. Tirzah—Now Taltise, a scene of eminent beauty (Song Son_6:4), chosen as a scene of royal residence on this account, situate about three hours’ jonrney east of Samaria.

HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_14:1-20

DIVINE JUDGMENTS

CALAMITIES are now fast closing round and accumulating upon the head of the impenitent Jeroboam. The power he has defied and provoked must make itself felt; and the righteousness of the Divine mercy, so long and so often despised, must be vindicated. The crisis of his fate is approaching. Yet another and last effort is made to save him. As the coming tempest gives signals of its advance, and reaches the climax of its fury by graduated stages, so the judgments of heaven do not overtake the wicked without pre-admonition and ample opportunity for repentance.

I. That Divine judgments are not sent without due warning.

1. This warning is repeated. “At that time” (1Ki_14:1). The force of this phrase is to connect the narrative which follows with Jeroboam’s persistence in his evil courses. The withered hand, the rent altar, the solemn message of the mysterious prophet of Judah and his melancholy fate, were so many warnings to the impenitent king. To all these yet another is added; and the event here related is the first judgment upon Jeroboam for his obduracy, the beginning of the cutting off of his house from the face of the earth. God never wearies in His efforts to save the sinner: His voice is ever calling him to repentance.

2. This warning appeals to the tenderest human feelings (1Ki_14:2-3). In this instance it appeals to the instinct of parental love, a love awakened and intensified by the immediate danger of a sick and dying child. The darling child is often snatched away as a warning to the family. As a solitary flower is more lovely because of the barrenness that surrounds it, and as a little light is heightened in brilliancy by its darkened background, so the simple piety of a child is all the more suggestive in its warning and teaching when discovered in the midst of prevalent iniquity.

3. This warning is often given by the same person who has before uttered promises of good (1Ki_14:4-6, comp. with 1Ki_11:29-39). Ahijah, who had before spoken words of promise and of hope, was commissioned to convey “heavy tidings” of coming judgment. This fact should have led Jeroboam to reflection, and to pause before he took the next fatal step to self-abandonment and ruin. The faithful minister must speak of judgment, as well as of mercy (1Sa_15:26-28).

II. That Divine judgments are explicitly declared.

1. The reasons for the Divine judgments are given (1Ki_14:7-9). Jeroboam had been exalted with honour, power, and greatness, even to the detriment and humbling of the favourite tribe of Judah; and he had treated the gracious intentions of Jehovah with colossal ingratitude and unexampled impiety. Whatever idolatries the Israelites had been guilty of previously, whether in the earlier or the later times, by their worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, of the groves, of the gods of Syria, Moab, and Ammon (Jdg_2:13; Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25; Jdg_10:6; 1Ki_11:33), yet hitherto none of their rulers had set up the idolatrous worship of ephods, teraphim, and the like (Jdg_18:17), as a substitute for the true religion, or sought to impose an idolatrous system on the nation. Gideon’s ephod “became a snare contrarily to his intentions (Jdg_8:27). Solomon’s high places were private-built for the use of his wives, and not designed to attract the people. Jeroboam was the first ruler who set himself to turn the Israelites away from the true worship and establish a poor counterfeit of it, which he strove to make, and succeeded in making, the religion of the great mass of his subjects. Of all this, he is plainly reminded when the Divine judgments are declared against him.

2. The nature of the Divine judgments is stated.

(1.) It is personal (1Ki_14:10-14). Jeroboam and his house shall be cut off. The prophet associates no dignity with any portion of Jeroboam’s doomed house. He sees in it only the vile slave, or the slaughtered victim of Divine judgment, whether already a prisoner, or still fighting to keep free from the hands of the foe, or the lone few that may have escaped death during the siege. They suffer the horrible punishment threatened in the law to the impious transgressor (Deu_28:26), and the foulest indignity that a conquered and slaughtered foe could be exposed to (comp. 1Ki_5:11, with 1Sa_17:46). He who transmits sin to his descendants involves them in the punishment connected with its continued commission.

(2). It is national (1Ki_14:15-16). Here is the first positive announcement of the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles as a punishment of Israel’s sins. Already, in earlier times, had a rooting up and scattering of the people been threatened in cases of disobedience (Deu_28:63; Deu_29:27; Jos_23:16); but Ahijah is the first of that long line of prophets that hold up exile beyond the river Euphrates as a certainly coming woe. The people that share in a monarch’s sin will inevitably share in its punishment.

3. The agent of Divine judgments is mentioned (1Ki_14:14). This king was Baasha; and we learn the fulfilment of the prophetic threat from chap. 1Ki_15:27-30. The agents of Divine vengeance are already stationed all down the lines of future human history.

III. That Divine judgments are inevitable (1Ki_14:17-20). Already the judgment had begun in the death of this innocent and pious son. Jeroboam soon followed, struck down by a dire disease which dragged him down to a miserable death (2Ch_13:20). Destruction often overtakes sinners in the midst of their career. Death pays no more respect to palaces than to the clay-built hut. No power in earth or hell can avert the righteous punishment of wrong-doing.

LESSONS:—

1. Ruin is not far from a kingdom when righteousness is expelled and iniquity triumphant.

2. We cannot plead the examples of others, however high in office and power, to screen our sins from the Divine judgments.

3. A genuine repentance is the only protection against threatened judgments.

GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES

1Ki_14:1-20. Jeroboam in need and in distress. I. He is only concerned about the taking away of the need and the lifting off of the punishment, not in the renunciation of his sin and the conversion of the heart, which should have been the result of his need, as it is the case now with so many. II. He seeks consolation and help, not at the hands of his false priests and spiritual hirelings, whom he himself did not trust, but from the prophet, about whom he did not trouble himself after he had nothing to ask. Thus it is always. In need and necessity unbelievers and the children of this world seek for consolation and comfort from a spiritual preacher, and despise the finery of the hirelings who care only for the wool, and not for the sheep. III. He does not himself apply to the prophet, because he has an evil conscience, and he sends his wife in a disguise, for before the world he does not wish to be viewed as one who cares much for prophets. This is the folly of the wise of this world, that they suppose they can deceive God as they deceive men. But the Lord sees what is concealed in the darkness, and gives to every one what he has deserved.—Lange.

1–16 The sight of the sick boy whom he cared for brought back, perhaps, the thought of himself when he had still youthful freshness and hope, when he felt the wrongs which Solomon was inflicting upon the land, and dreamed that he might be its deliverer. And with these thoughts would come the recollection of the man who had told him how, if he walked in right ways, God would make him a sure house. A sad and profitable reflection if he had paused to dwell upon it. But the lying habit of mind which he had contracted by converse with the priests of the high places only urged him to consider how he could bribe Ahijah to tell him something about the child which he would like to hear. This fragment of Ahijah’s history marks out with much clearness the office of a prophet in Israel. Living under the brilliant government of Solomon, where all had the outward face of prosperity and continuance—living under the tyranny of Jeroboam, where all was new and revolutionary—he had still to say, “There is an eternal order which cannot be violated. Whosoever defies it will bring ruin upon himself and upon his house. God is; a power which sets Him at nought and substitutes changeable things in His place, cannot abide. It may be appointed to punish an evil which has been working secretly; it will last its hour; but it is doomed. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” The prophets could speak this word knowing it to be true. And they could speak another which was more terrible. They could say, “Israel must suffer for Jeroboam’s sins. Not by an arbitrary decree, which punishes one for the crimes of another; but because the heart of the people has gone along with the ruler; because a ruler embodies it himself, and presents in open act the temper and spirit of those whom he rules; because if they would be saved from the consequences of his evil doings, they must turn to the everlasting King. This is an universal principle which comes out with fresh power in each stage of Jewish history.—Maurice.

1Ki_14:1-6. Anxious forebodings.

1. Arise from a consciousness of wrong-doing.

2. Aggravated by family affliction.

3. Cannot be concealed by the cleverest disguise.

4. Are only too surely realised.

1Ki_14:1. When the threatening, warning word of God bears no fruit, God at last sends the cross, especially the cross in the household, to humble us, to bring us to a knowledge of our sins, and to lead us to the cross of Christ. God generally lays hold upon men in those respects where it is mostly grievous to them (2Sa_12:14; Joh_4:47).—Starke.

1Ki_14:2-3. Extremity draws Jeroboam’s thoughts to the prophet, whom else he had not cared to remember. Certainly his heart despised those base priests of his places; neither could he trust either to the gods or to the clergy of his own making; his conscience rests upon the fidelity of that man whose doctrine he had forsaken. How did the idolater strive against his own heart, while he inwardly despised those whom he professed to honour, and inwardly honoured them whom he professed to despise. Wicked breasts are false to themselves, neither trusting to their own choice, nor making choice of that which they may dare to trust. But, O! the gross folly mixed with the craft of wickedness. Could Jeroboam think that the prophet could know the event of his son’s disease, and did he think he could not know his wife’s disguise? The one was present, the other future; this was but wrapt up in a clout, that event was wrapt in the counsel of God; yet this politic head presumes that the greater shall be revealed, where the lesser shall be hid. There was never a wicked man that was not infatuate, and in nothing more than in those things wherein he hoped most to transcend the reach of others.—Bp. Hall.

1Ki_14:2. Jeroboam did not wish to be seen having anything to do with the prophet by any one. Worldly people are ashamed to make it known that they believe in anything, even if it be a superstitious faith. If God send thee necessity and distress, take no bye-ways, but go to Him and pour out thine heart before Him; He hears all who call upon Him, all who earnestly cry unto Him. Disguise thyself, that no one mark who and what thou art. This is the bad advice which the world gives for the conduct of life, and which passes current with it as the true wisdom thereof. How social life is vitiated by this sin, by the endeavour to seem before people rather than to be—often it is like a masquerade! It is even more deceived by actions, by mien, and manner, than by words. The art of disguise corrupts man in the profoundest ground of his being, and transforms him into an incarnate lie.—Lange.

He would not have it known in Israel that his queen went on such an errand. It would show that neither his calves nor his self-made priests could help him in the time of trouble. His heart had become so infatuated and clouded by his false worship as to imagine that Jehovah’s prophet might not detect his guile. He dared not meet the old prophet, but sent his wife, for a sense of his own sins admonished him that he deserved condemnation, and would receive it if he went in person to Ahijah.—Whedon.

1Ki_14:3-4. The little bit of faith which worldly people often exhibit is but part of their selfishness. The fore-knowledge of the future in the affairs of daily life man would gladly possess, because he will not yield himself in faith to the will of God. Hence flow often superstition, fortune-telling, dream interpretation, astrology, both among the heathens, as well as among Christians. The gift of God neither should nor can be sold or bought for money. As a rule, unbelief is bound with superstition. Jeroboam did not believe when God spoke to him by word and deed, and yet he believed that by means of a few loaves and cakes he could persuade God to reveal the future to him. The history of religion in modern times confirms and illustrates this.—Cramer.

1Ki_14:3. Henry well calls attention to the “notion of fatality” evinced in this enquiry of Jeroboam, and also in that of Ahaziah (2Ki_1:2), and that of Benhadad (2Ki_8:8). They enquire simply what the end will be, not what means they should use for recovery.—Whedon.

1Ki_14:4-6. The wife of Jeroboam before the prophet.

1. She means to deceive the aged blind prophet by a disguise, but the Lord gives him sight (Psa_146:8). He gives strength to the weary, and power to the feeble. The Lord ever gives sight to his true servants, so that the world cannot deceive and blind them.

2. She hopes, by her present, to secure the desired answer; but at the hour, the Lord gives him the word he shall speak. It is the spirit of God who speaks through him (Mat_10:19). A true servant of God proclaims the word of truth to every one, without respect of persons, no matter how hard it be for him. This often is his hard but sacred duty.—Lange.

1Ki_14:4. Putting off her royal attire, and putting on more demure apparel, like as many hypocrites do, conforming themselves to the company they come into, and walking in a disguise till God detect them.—Trapp.

1Ki_14:6. The visions of Ahijah were inward; neither was his bodily sight more dusky than the eyes of his mind were clear and piercing. It was not the common light of men whereby he saw, but divine illumination; things absent, things future, were no less obvious to those spiritual beams, than present things are to us. Ere the quick eyes of that great lady can discern him, he hath espied her; and, so soon as he hears the sound of her feet, she hears from him the sound of her name, “Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam.” How God laughs in heaven at the frivolous fetches of crafty politicians, and when they think themselves most sure, shames them with a detection, with a defeat! What an idleness it is for foolish hypocrites to hope they can dance in a net, unseen of heaven.—Bp. Hall.

1Ki_14:7-16. Woful tidings these for a mother’s heart; and scarcely, perhaps, intelligible to her stunned intellect. Here was the beginning of judgment upon Jereboam and upon her, because she was his—judgment in taking away the only well-conditioned and worthy son; and judgment stored up in and for the ill-conditioned ones who were suffered to remain. God, when it suits the purpose of His wisdom and His justice, can afflict no less by what He spares than by what He takes. Yet there was mercy in this judgment—mercy, strange as it seems to say, to that amiable youth on whom the sentence of death was passed. It is so stated; and it is more intelligible than it seems. It was because there was some good thing found in him that he should die. Death was to be for him a reward, a blessing, a deliverance. He should die peaceably upon his bed; for him all Israel should mourn; for him many tears should be shed, and he should be brought with honour to his tomb; more than all, he would be taken from the evil that hung over his house; and the Lord’s vindicatory justice would thus be spared the seeming harshness of bringing ruin upon a righteous king for his father’s crimes. Alas! how little do we know the real objects of the various incidents of life and death—of mercy, of punishment, and of trial! In this case, the motives were disclosed, and we are suffered to glance upon some of the great secrets of death, which form the trying mysteries of life. With this instance in view, we can find the parallels of lives, full of hope and promise, prematurely taken, and that in mercy, as we can judge, to those who depart. The Heavenly Husbandman often gathers for his garner the fruit that early ripens, without suffering it to hang needlessly long, beaten by storms, upon the tree. Oh! how often, as many a grieved heart can tell, do the Lord’s best beloved die betimes—taken from the evil to come—while the unripe, the evil, the injurious, live long for mischief to themselves and others. Roses and lilies wither far sooner than thorns and thistles.—Kitto.

1Ki_14:7-16. Terrible is that vengeance which God thunders against him by his prophet, whose passionate message upbraids him with his promotions, chargeth him with his sins, and, lastly, denounceth his judgments. No mouth was fitter to cast this royalty in the teeth of Jeroboam than that by which it was foretold, fore-promised; every circumstance of the advancement aggravates the sin. “I exalted thee;” thou couldst not rise to honour alone. “I exalted thee from among the people;” not from the peers, thy rank was but common before this rise. “I exalted thee from among the people, to be a prince;” subordinate height was not enough for thee; no seat would serve thee but a throne; “yea, to be a prince of my people Israel.” No nation was for thee but my chosen one; none but my royal inheritance; neither did I raise thee into a vacant throne; a forlorn and forsaken principality might be thankless, but “I rent the kingdom from another for thy sake.” Yea. from what other but the grandchild of David! Out of his hand did I wrest the sceptre, to give it into thine. O, what high favours doth God sometimes cast away upon unworthy subjects! How do His abused bounties double both their sin and judgment!—Bp. Hall.

1Ki_14:9. Unexampled wickedness. Seen—

1. In the basest ingratitude for great favours.

2. In the reckless abuse of great privileges.

3. In the persistent and defiant commission of great crimes.

4. In stolid indifference to the most awful warnings.

5. In the utter rejection of God.

6. Merits unexampled punishment.

1Ki_14:10-15. Not a blessing, but a curse rests upon a house which turns its back upon the Lord and His commandments. And so, also, a people who forget the faith of their fathers lose all territory, are given up to all convulsions from within and from without, and go to destruction. Sin is the destruction of the people (Heb_10:28-30).

1Ki_14:11. Dogs are the chief scavengers of Oriental cities. Troops of dogs, more than half wild, scour the streets by night, clearing away all the offal and carrion they can find. The vulture in the country districts, assisted sometimes by kites and crows, does the work of the dog in towns.—Rawlinson.

—To be cast out unburied is no great matter, natural men slight it. There is little difference to lie eaten of beasts above ground, or of worms beneath; yet when foretold to a man as a judgment denounced from God, as against that king (Jer_22:19), it hath its own weight, carrying some stamp of God’s despising him; and though a man feels it not when it is done, yet he feels it looking on it beforehand, especially as threatened of God; sees himself, as it were, dragged about and torn.—Leighton.

—The ancient Medes are said to have thrown the bodies of their dying relatives to dogs, supposing it dishonourable to expire on their beds, or be deposited in the earth.—Mavor.

1Ki_14:12-13. The death of a beloved child, for whom God has prepared good, is often the only and the supreme means of turning away the heart of the parents from sin and the world, and of winning them to the life in God to which they are strangers. For many a child it is a Divine blessing when it is early taken out of this vain world, and called away from surroundings in which there is danger of the corruption both of soul and body.

1Ki_14:13. Imperfect goodness. We are taught here—I. That goodness may be partial and yet true.

1. Abijah’s goodness was true.

(1). It was a “good thing in him.” In whatever particular acts his piety found manifestation, it sprang from his heart.

(2). It was “a good thing found in him.” The Hebrew word here used signifies “finding without seeking.” In other words, his goodness was evident, manifest.

(3). It was “a good thing toward the Lord God of Israel.” True goodness springs from the love and fear of God. The goodness of the text was heart-felt, sincere, fruit-bearing, God-honouring goodness. Yet,

(2) Abijah’s goodness was imperfect. “Some good thing.” This is not the fullest eulogy. Not like the eulogy of Job, Caleb, Nathaniel, &c. All the surroundings of Abijah were most unfortunate. The tender opening flower was surrounded by a vicious atmosphere; and no wonder that, in some respects, it lacked completeness; no wonder that some of its leaves bore the taint of mildew. A true disciple—he was a weak one; a bright light—he was not the brightest. II. That real, but imperfect goodness is recognized and accepted by God. God praised and rewarded the piety of the young prince. God cannot overlook imperfect goodness. The eye readily discovers that in which we delight; God loves goodness, and wherever it springs—in unlikely places, in unlikely hearts—God knows it. And He accepts it. Learn here:

1. A lesson in judging of others. We must be charitable—men may be true, and not perfect. The jewel may have a flaw, and yet be a jewel.

2. There is a solemn lesson in this subject for those who, in most favourable circumstances, lack true goodness. Abijah, in most unfavourable circumstances, was true and beautiful. And so there are ever such. With nothing to help them but the grace of God, they live pure, godly, noble lives. What shall be said of those who lack true goodness despite the fact that they have every help and encouragement? God is not a hard master; but He must condemn such. 3. A lesson of encouragement for many who feel that with many failings they yet have the root of the matter in them. Your flowers are half hidden in the weeds; but be of good comfort; aim at the highest, work for it, hope for it, and He shall not cast you out.—W. L. Watkinson.

—Dr. Kane, finding a flower under the Humbolt glacier, was more affected by it because it grew beneath the lip and cold bosom of the ice, than he would have been by the most gorgeous garden bloom. So some single struggling grace in the heart of one far removed from Divine influences may be dearer to God than a whole catalogue of virtues in the life of one more favoured of heaven.

—And let me tell you, that as it is a eulogy in any one to be good in a bad family, so it must proportionably be a horrid brand upon any one to be bad in a good family. It was thought fit to be put upon record, concerning Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, that “there was some good thing found in him;” good desires, good inclinations, even in so wicked a family, as Jeroboam’s was. It is proportionably a horrid mark upon that person who continueth ungodly in a godly family; that is, a prayless wretch in a praying family; whose heart, at least, never prayeth, hath no desires after God; no contrition, no sense in the confession of sin; no love, no gratitude in the acknowledgment of mercy. For one to continue ungodly in a godly family, or to go out ungodly from a godly family, what a horrid thing will this be! How much of terror and amazement will it carry in it at last, when the case comes to open itself to view, and to be looked upon and considered in its proper and native aspect! And even as it now is, to think with oneself, “That such or such children or fellow-servants in a family where I may have lived a considerable time, may have had their hearts melted in hearing the Word read and applied, but mine was always hard; they have had their souls humbled in the acknowledgment of sin, but mine was unhumbled; they have had desires enlarged in seeking for mercy, but I had no desire after spiritual good.” To live so in a good family, and to go out such from a good family. Oh! the horror of this ease, and the reflections it will cause in the close of time; or, if not so, in an eternity of misery that will never end!—Howe.

—If we would wish to discover whether there were any particles of steel in a large quantity of rubbish, it would not be the wisest way to search for them, and especially in the dark, but to hold a large and efficacious magnet over it. And this, if it be there, is the way to discover true religion in our souls. The truths and promises of God are, to a principle of religion in the mind, that which the magnet is to the steel; if there be any in us, the proper exhibition of the Gospel will ordinarily draw it forth.—A. Fuller.

1Ki_14:16. The fatal consequences of sin. I. Sin corrupts the individual the more it is committed. “The sins of Jeroboam who did sin.” II. Is contagious in its nature and tyrannical in its rule. “And made Israel to sin.” III. Involves a whole nation in degradation and ruin. “And He shall give Israel up.”

—To tempt and lead another into sin, is worse than to sin thyself. It shows sin to be of great growth in that man that doth it knowingly and willingly. Herbs and flowers do not shed their seed till ripe; creatures propagate not till they are of stature and age! What do those that tempt others, but diffuse their wicked opinions and practices, and, as it were, raise up seed to the devil, thereby to keep up the name of their infernal father in the world? This shows sin to be mighty in them indeed!—Gurnall.

—If the Lord say, he who offends one of the least of these (Mat_18:6), what will He say to those who give offence to an entire people, at the head of which they stand, through unbelief and immorality, and beguile them into an apostasy from the living God?

1Ki_14:17. Doleful were the tidings the disguised princess had to bear back to the beautiful town of Tirzah. All remoter griefs were probably to her swallowed up in this—which rung continually in her ears in all her homeward way—“When thy feet enter into the city the child shall die.” It is heavy tidings to a mother that she must lose her well-beloved son; but it is a grievous aggravation of her trouble that she might not see him before she died. They who were about him knew not that he was to die to-day, and therefore could not estimate the preciousness of his last hours, and the privilege of being then near him, and of receiving his embrace. She knew: but she might not be near, nor pour out upon her dying son the fulness of a mother’s heart. Knowing that her son lay on his death bed, her first impulse must have been to fly home to receive his dying kiss; but her second to linger by the way, as if to protract that dear life which must close the moment she entered the city. Never, surely, before or since, was a distressed mother so wofully torn between the antagonist impulses of her affection! At last her weary steps reached the city; and as she entered the gates her son died, and she was only in time to press to her arms the heart still warm, although it had ceased to beat.—Kitto.

1Ki_14:18. Sorrow for the dead.

1. May melt the hardest heart.

2. Is profound and general at the grave of the good.

3. Does not always lead to the abandonment of sin.

—A nation in mourning.

1. A pathetic sight.

2. Shows an appreciation of a virtuous life in the midst of national corruption.

3. Affords an opportunity for making serious resolutions to live a truer life.

—Yet what a mixture is here of severity and favour in one act!—favour to the son, severity to the father: severity to the father, that he must lose such a son; favour to the son, that he shall be taken from such a father. Jeroboam is wicked, and therefore he shall not enjoy an Abijah; Abijah hath some good things, therefore he shall be removed from the danger of the depravation of Jeroboam. The best are fittest for heaven, the earth is fittest for the worst; this is the region of sin and misery, that of immortality. It is no argument of disfavour to be taken early from a well-led life, as not of approbation to age in sin.—Bp. Hall.

1Ki_14:19-20. The Scripture says, the memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the godless will perish (Pro_10:7). The first is true of David, the last of Jeroboam, whose name is not like an ointment pouring out diffusing sweet perfume (Ecc_1:3), but is a savour of death unto death; for with his name, for all the future, this word is connected, “Who sinned, and made Israel to sin.” Of what use is it to have worn a worldly crown two-and-twenty years, to have striven and fought for it, when the crown of life does not succeed it, which they alone obtain who are faithful unto death! (Rev_2:10).—Lange.

1Ki_14:20. He lay down. “This shall ye have of my hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow” (Isa_1:11). He died not the common death of all men, but by some remarkable stroke: beside the loss of five hundred thousand of his men in one battle with Ahijah king of Judah (2Ch_13:17-20).

—The details of Jeroboam’s end are lost to us. It is overclouded by unsuccessful wars with Judah, by wasting illness, and by the violent convulsion in which his remains, and those of his children, were torn from their sepulchres. To observe clearly wherein his sins consisted, is to observe the moral of the whole part of the history. It was not that he had revolted against the house of Judah, for this, according to the narrative, had been put upon him by the direct providence and sanction of God. Nor that he had fallen into idolatry. This was the sin of Solomon and Rehoboam, against which his whole life was a perpetual protest. It was that to secure certain good ends, he adopted doubtful and dangerous means. The anticipations of the prophets concerning him had been frustrated. Like the apostolic Las Casas, in the sad history of South America, they saw with bitter grief the failure of the institution which they had fostered, and from which they had hoped so much. It is this reflection which gives a keenness of regret to the epithet so many times repeated, “The sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.” To keep the first commandment, he broke the second; to preserve the belief in the unity of God, he broke the unity and tampered with the spiritual conception of the national worship. The ancient sanctity of Dan and Bethel, the time-honoured Egyptian sanction of the Sacred Calf, were mighty precedents; the Golden Image was doubtless intended as a likeness of the one true God. But the mere fact of setting up such a likeness broke down the sacred awe which had hitherto marked the Divine presence, and accustomed the minds of the Israelites to the very sin against which the new form was intended to be a safeguard. From worshipping God under a false and unauthorized form, they gradually learnt to worship other gods altogether, and the venerable sanctuaries at Dan and Bethel prepared the way for the temples of Ashtaroth and Baal at Samaria and Jezreel; and the religion of the kingdom of Israel at last sank lower even than that of the kingdom of Judah, against which it had revolted. “The sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat,” is the sin again and again repeated in the policy, half worldly, half religious, which has prevailed through large tracts of ecclesiastical history. Many are the forms of worship in the Christian Church which, with high pretensions, have been nothing else but “so many various and opposite ways of breaking the second commandment.” Many a time has the end been held to justify the means; and the Divine character been degraded by the pretence or even the sincere intention of upholding His cause: for the sake of secular aggrandisement; for the sake of binding together good systems, which, it was feared, would otherwise fall to pieces; for the sake of supporting the faith of the multitude, from the fear lest they should fall away to rival sects, or lest the enemy should come and take away their place and nation, false arguments have been used in support of religious truth, false miracles promulgated or tolerated, false readings in the sacred text defended. And so the faith of mankind has been undermined by the very means intended to preserve it. The whole subsequent history is a record of the mode by which, with the best intentions, a church and nation may be corrupted.—Stanley.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Reign of Jeroboam. - Vv. 1-18. Ahijah's prophecy against Jeroboam and the kingdom of Israel. - As Jeroboam did not desist from his idolatry notwithstanding the threatened punishment, the Lord visited him with the illness of his son, and directed the prophet Ahijah, to whom his wife had gone to ask counsel concerning the result of the illness, to predict to him not only the cutting off of his house and the death of his sick son, but also the thrusting away of Israel out of the land of its fathers beyond the Euphrates, and in confirmation of this threat caused the sick son to die when the returning mother crossed the threshold of her house again.

Kg1 14:1-3

When his son fell sick, Jeroboam said to his wife: Disguise thyself, that thou mayest not be known as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh to the prophet Ahijah, who told me that I should be king over this people; he will tell thee how it will fare with the boy. השׁתּנּה, from שׁנה, to alter one's self, i.e., to disguise one's self. She was to go to Shiloh disguised, so as not to be recognised, to deceive the old prophet, because otherwise Jeroboam did not promise himself any favourable answer, as he had contemptuously neglected Ahijah's admonition (Kg1 11:38-39). But he turned to this prophet because he had spoken concerning him למלך, to be king, i.e., that he would become king, over this people. למלך stands for מלך להיות, with which the infinitive esse can be omitted (vid., Ewald, 336, b.). As this prophecy, which was so favourable to Jeroboam, had come to pass (Kg1 11:29-30), he hoped that he might also obtain from Ahijah a divine revelation concerning the result of his son's illness, provided that he did not know who it was who came to seek counsel concerning her sick son. To complete the deception, she was to take with her as a present for the prophet (cf., Sa1 9:8) "ten loaves and crumbs" and a jar with honey, i.e., a trifling gift such as a simple citizen's wife might take. According to the early versions and the context, a kind of plain cake, κολλυρίδα (lxx), crustulam (Vulg.). It is different in Jos 9:5.

Kg1 14:4-5

Ahijah could no longer see, because his eyes were blinded with age. עיניו קמוּ as in Sa1 4:15, an expression applied to the black cataract, amaurosis. It was therefore all the less possible for him to recognise in a natural manner the woman who was coming to him. But before her arrival the Lord had not only revealed to him her coming and her object, but had also told him what he was to say to her if she should disguise herself when she came. וכזה כּזה; see at Jdg 18:4, וגו כבאהּ ויהי, "let it be if she comes and disguises herself;" i.e., if when she comes she should disguise herself.

Kg1 14:6

When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering the door (the participle בּאה, according to the number and gender, refers to the אשּׁה implied in רגליה, vid., Ewald, 317, c.), he addressed her by her name, charged her with her disguise of herself, and told her that he was entrusted with a hard saying to her. קשׁה (cf., Kg1 12:13) is equivalent to קשׁה חזוּת; for the construction, compare Ewald, 284, c.

Kg1 14:7-11

The saying was as follows: "Therefore, because thou hast exalted thyself from the people, and I have made thee prince over my people Israel (cf., Kg1 11:31), ... but thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments...(cf., Kg1 11:34), and hast done worse than all who were before thee (judices nimirum et duces Israelis - Cler.), and hast gone and hast made thyself other gods (contrary to the express command in Exo 20:2-3), ... and hast cast me behind thy back: therefore I bring misfortune upon the house of Jeroboam," etc. The expression, to cast God behind the back, which only occurs here and in Eze 23:35, denotes the most scornful contempt of God, the strict opposite of "keeping God before the eyes and in the heart." בּקיר משׁתּין, every male person; see at Sa1 25:22. A synonymous expression is ועזוּב עצוּר, the fettered (i.e., probably the married) and the free (or single); see at Deu 32:36. "In Israel," i.e., in the kingdom of the ten tribes. The threat is strengthened by the clause in Kg1 14:10, "and I will sweep out after the house of Jeroboam, as one sweepeth out dung, even to the end," which expresses shameful and utter extermination; and this threat is still further strengthened in Kg1 14:11 by the threat added from Deu 28:26, that of those cut off not one is to come to the grave, but their bodies are to be devoured by the dogs and birds of prey, - the worst disgrace that could befall the dead. Instead of wild beasts (Deu 28:26) the dogs are mentioned here, because in the East they wander out in the streets without owners, and are so wild and ravenous that they even devour corpses (vid., Harmar, Beobachtungen, i. p. 198). לירבעם with ל of relationship, equivalent to of those related to Jeroboam. It is the same in Kg1 14:13.

Kg1 14:12-13

After this announcement of the judgment upon the house of Jeroboam, Ahijah gave the wife information concerning her sick son. He would die as soon as she entered the city, and of all the male members of the house of Jeroboam he only would receive the honour of a proper burial, because in him there was some good thing towards Jehovah found. Ewald (247, b.) regards the form בּבאה as standing for בּבאהּ, and refers the suffix to the following word העיר (vid., Ewald, 309, c.). But as this use of the suffix would be very harsh, the question arises whether בּאה is not to be regarded as a feminine form of the infinitive, after the analogy of דּעה in Exo 2:4 and לדה in Kg2 19:3, etc. From the fulfilment of this declaration in Kg1 14:17, Kg1 14:18 Jeroboam was to learn that the threatened destruction of his royal house would also be just as certainly fulfilled. The sick son appears to have been the heir-presumptive to the throne. This may be inferred partly from the lamentation of all Israel at his death (Kg1 14:18), and partly from what follows here in the next verse. אליהוה means in his relation to Jehovah.

Kg1 14:14

"Jehovah will raise Himself up a king over Israel, who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this day; but what (sc., do I say)? even now," sc., has He raised him up. This appears to be the simplest explanation of the last words of the verse, of which very various interpretations have been given. יד is placed before היּום, to give it the stronger emphasis, as in Exo 32:1 (compare Jos 9:12-13, and Ewald, 293, b.; and for עתּה גּם compare Delitzsch on Job, i. p. 290, transl.).

Kg1 14:15-18

But in order that not only Jeroboam, but also the people who had joined in his idolatry, might perceive the severity of the divine judgment, Ahijah also announced to the nation its banishment into exile beyond the Euphrates. "Jehovah will smite Israel, as the reed shakes in the water," is an abbreviated phrase for: Jehovah will smite Israel in such a manner that it will sway to and fro like a reed in the water moved by a strong wind, which has not a sufficiently firm hold to resist the violence of the storm. "And will thrust them out of the good land," etc., as Moses threatened the transgressors of the law (Deu 29:27), "and scatter them beyond the river (Euphrates)," i.e., banish them among the heathen, from whom God brought out and chose their forefather (Jos 24:3), "because they have made themselves Ashera-idols, to provoke Jehovah." אשׁרים is used for idols generally, among which the golden calves are reckoned. ויתּן, that He may deliver up Israel, on account of the idolatrous forms of worship introduced by Jeroboam. For the fulfilment see Kg2 15:29; Kg2 17:23, and Kg2 18:11. - In Kg1 14:17, Kg1 14:18 the exact fulfilment of Ahijah's announcement concerning the death of Jeroboam's sick son is described. According to Kg1 14:17, Jeroboam was then residing at Thirza, whereas he had at first resided at Shechem (Kg1 12:25). Thirza is probably the present Talluza, on the north of Shechem (see at Jos 12:24).

Kg1 14:19-20

End of Jeroboam's reign. Of the wars, which were described in the annals of the kings, the war with Abijam of Judah is the only one of which we have any account (Ch2 13:2.). See also the Comm. on Kg1 14:30. He was followed on the throne by his son Nadab.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

B.—The prophecy of Ahijah against the house and kingdom of Jeroboam, and the death of the latter.

1Ki_14:1-20

11 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. And Jeroboam said 2to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king2 over this people. 3And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels,3 and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. 4And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. 5And the Lord [Jehovah] said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus4 shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman. 6And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I 7am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Go tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah] God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, 8and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; 9but hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: 10therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon5 the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left6 in Israel, and will take away the remnant7 of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. 11Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord [Jehovah] hath spoken it. 12Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. 13And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord [Jehovah] 14God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. Moreover, the Lord [Jehovah] shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboamthat day: but what? even now. 15For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord [Jehovah] to anger. 16And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. 17And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah; and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died: 18and they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord [Jehovah], which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.

19And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel. 20And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

Exegetical and Critical

1Ki_14:1-6. At that time, &c. As Jeroboam was not led to a change of heart by what is recorded in chap, 13., a visitation overtook him in the form of the illness of his promising son Abijah, who was doubtless to have been his successor. Then, when in distress, he thought of the prophet who once promised him the kingdom, and a “sure house” (1Ki_11:38); he thought of Ahijah, whose prophecy respecting the kingdom had been fulfilled, and he hoped to receive from him a sure answer to a question which concerned the continuance of his dynasty. But, conscious that he had not fulfilled the prophet’s condition—unswerving loyalty to Jehovah—he did not venture to go himself, but tried to deceive him, and, as it were, to steal an answer from him. He sends the mother, the most natural intercessor for the son; she is disguised, so that no one can know her and tell the prophet who she is. The presents that it was customary to take (1Sa_9:8) were purposely very small, for she wished, no doubt, to appear to the prophet as a very poor woman; but נִקֻּדִּים does not mean “mouldy loaves” (Hess, Dereser, and others), for נָקֹד means punctured, spotted, but not therefore mouldy; the Sept. gives κολλυρίς, the Vulgate crustula. The expression קָמוּ עֵינָיו (1Ki_14:4), i.e., his eyes stood (were set), “means the gray cataracts, amaurosis, that take place in old age, through paralysis of the optic nerves” (Keil) (1Sa_4:15). קָשָׁה, 1Ki_14:6, is the same as in 1Ki_12:13.

1Ki_14:7-9. Go tell Jeroboam, &c. 1Ki_14:7. The older commentators remark that the prophecy which begins here and ends in 1Ki_14:16 takes a rhythmical form. It has ten verses (1Ki_14:7-16), five of which make one section (1Ki_14:7-16); the first section is in 3 + 2, and the second in 2 + 3 verses. Jeroboam had sinned above all that were before him (1Ki_14:9); for none, whether king, judge, or leader, had made an unlawful worship a State institution, and forcibly maintained it to gratify lust of power and selfishness; Solomon had only permitted the idolatrous worship, and that first to his already idolatrous wives. מַסֵּכוֹת, the same as in Deu_9:12; Jdg_17:3-4, molten images. Worship of images is here placed on a level with worship of idols, because it involuntarily leads to it (see Hist. and Eth. on 1Ki_12:28). “The expression, hast cast me (God) behind thy back, which occurs nowhere else but in Eze_23:35, is the strongest possible phraseology to denote intentional contempt of God—the opposite from having God before one’s eyes; and it is stronger than ‘cast Thy law behind their backs,’ Neh_9:26” (Keil).

1Ki_14:10-12. Therefore behold, I will bring evil, 1Ki_14:10. The expression “that pisseth against the wall” in 1Sa_25:22 (1Ki_16:11; 1Ki_21:21; 2Ki_9:8), was, no doubt, originally used of dogs, and was not an honorable way of alluding to the male sex; for it is employed in all these passages only of those who are to be cast away and rooted out. The words עָצוּר וְעָזוּב, which are mostly connected with it, are epexegetical; literally, the detained, and those set free, which Seb. Schmidt rightly interprets puer, qui domi adhuc detinetur et qui emancipatus est; the male descendants not of age are under guardians (2Ki_10:1; 2Ki_10:5; 1Ch_27:32). This is the only explanation which suits the word בְּיִשְׁרָאֵל, which “refers to an intruded, or already assumed share in public life” (Thenius); all the male descendants of the king, even the minors, were threatened with destruction. Luther’s translation, “those shut up and forsaken in Israel,” is decidedly erroneous. “Behind the house of Jeroboam” means: as often as a new scion arises I shall take it away, &c. (cf. Isa_14:23). The Vulgate which Luther followed is wrong: mundabo reliquias domus Jeroboam. The threat reaches its climax in 1Ki_14:11, which foretells the frightful and disgraceful manner of the destruction. To remain unburied was an intolerable thought to the Hebrews; and in all the ancient world it was accounted the severest disgrace, because in such cases the corpse became the prey of the birds or of wild beasts, or of the voracious dogs in the East, that ran wild and were reckoned unclean. According to Deu_28:26 this punishment was a divine curse. The same threat occurs elsewhere, especially in Jeremiah (1Ki_16:4; 1Ki_21:24; Eze_29:5; Eze_39:17; Jer_7:33; Jer_8:2; Jer_9:22; Jer_12:9; Jer_14:16). cf. Winer R.- W.-B. I. s. 148. The כִּי at the end is to heighten the effect, as elsewhere, and is = imo (Ewald, Lehrb. der hebr. Sprache § 330 b); yes, Jehovah will fulfil this as well as the former prophecy of Jeroboam’s elevation.

1Ki_14:13-14. Some good thing toward the Lord God, 1Ki_14:13. אֶל יְהוָֹה is not to be connected with נמצא, and then translated as the Vulgate has it, a domino (Thenius); but it means towards, or in relation to, Jehovah (cf. 2Ki_6:11). The whole context shows that it can scarcely mean anything else than that this son, from whom the king and people hoped so much, was inclined to the pure and lawful worship of Jehovah. The Rabbins have a fable that he disobeyed his father’s command to hinder people from travelling to Jerusalem to keep the feasts, and that he even removed obstructions in the road. The abrupt words in 1Ki_14:14 : וּמֶה גַּם־עָתָּה are obscure, and are very variously explained. Thenius adopts the view of the Chald.: He shall cut off the house of Jeroboam “that which now (lives), and that which shall be (born) to it.” But the athnach with הַיּוֹם as well as with מֶה contradicts this, which means not quod but quid. The meaning seems to be: Jehovah will raise up a king, who at a certain period shall cut off the house of Jeroboam; what now occurs (the death of the boy) is the sign and beginning of this complete destruction. The interrogatory form makes the words more impressive. The Hirsch-berger Bible says: “And what shall I say (on that coming day)? It is even now come;” Keil also; “but what (sc. say I)? even now (viz. he has raised him up).”

1Ki_14:14-16. For the Lord shall smite Israel, 1Ki_14:15. Smiting refers to the wasting of Israel by hostile nations, before the Assyrian captivity. A “reed” continually waves to and fro in water, as it cannot resist the force of the wind and waves. “The image is very striking, for Israel was brought so low, that every political influence bore it along” (Thenius). The “scattering” took place in the captivity (2Ki_15:29; 2Ki_17:23; 2Ki_18:11). אֲשֵׁרִים does not mean groves (Luther), but the statues of the female deity, elsewhere called Astarte (see above on 1Ki_11:5), who stands over against Baal, the Canaanitish (Phœnician) male deity. These statues were wooden (upright tree-stems); the worship was licentious (Jdg_3:7; Jdg_6:25 sq.;2Ki_23:7; Eze_23:42 sq.). It is not expressly said that images of Astarte were erected under Jeroboam, but 1Ki_14:23 remarks that this was done in Judah under Rehoboam, how much more then in Israel. The Astarte worship existed in the time of the Judges (cf. on the place). Jeroboam’s image-worship is here regarded as a continual evil and source of all ruin. Keil’s assertion that “אֲשֵׁרִים stands for any idols, among which the golden calves are to be numbered,” is not susceptible of proof.

1Ki_14:17-18. And Jeroboam’s wife … to Tirzah, 1Ki_14:17. According to Jos_12:24, Tirzah was originally a Canaanitish royal city, situated in a beautiful district (Ecc_6:4). We cannot ascertain its precise situation; it was probably near Shechem; Robinson thinks it was rather north of Mount Ebal; former travellers state that they found a Tersah on a high mountain, three hours’ distance east of Samaria (cf. Winer, R.-W.-B. II. s. 613). According to 1Ki_12:25, Shechem was the residence of Jeroboam; and he must either have changed it afterwards to Tirzah, or the latter must have been only a summer residence. Penuel, mentioned above, was not a place of residence but a fortress; so that the present passage does not at all contradict that one, as Thenius thinks. The kings Baasha and Asa and Elah resided at Tirzah (1Ki_15:21; 1Ki_15:33; 1Ki_16:8).

1Ki_14:19-20. The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, &c., 1Ki_14:19. For the book of the contemporaneous history of the kings of Israel see Introduction § 2. What is only alluded to by our author, in the words “how he warred,” is fully given by the Chronicler, from the book of the prophet Iddo; 2Ch_13:2-20. This is an account of a great defeat of Jeroboam by king Abijah, and it says at the end: “and the Lord struck him (וַיִּגְּפֵהוּ), and he died.” Bertheau’s supposition that this refers to the defeat itself, is scarcely right; neither can it mean a sudden death (Thenius), but, as in 2Ch_21:18, a severe and painful illness.

Historical and Ethical

1. From the long reign (twenty-two years ) of Jeroboam, whose history closes with the present section, our author only selects those deeds that bear on his apostasy from the fundamental law of Israel, i.e., on “the sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.” He passes over all the rest that Jeroboam did as a shrewd and powerful regent or warrior, because it was of far less importance to the history of the kingdom and of the entire theocracy than that sin which especially characterized his government, and the results of which were felt for hundreds of years. David was the king who faithfully kept the fundamental law, and was therefore the type of a theocratic king, but Jeroboam was the king who openly broke the fundamental law, made the bull-worship the religion of the State, and used it as a bulwark of his kingdom over against Judah. He was the real cause of the apostasy of all the after kings of the ten tribes, for they all regarded it as the support of their power, and as a firm wall of separation between both kingdoms. This is the reason why the account of his reign significantly closes with the divine sentence on him and the apostate kingdom. It was a divine dispensation that he himself, after all warnings and threatenings had been in vain, called forth this divine sentence by the deceitful means he took, and even from the very prophet who had announced to him his future elevation; so that he could judge from the fulfilment of that announcement that the sentence would also come to pass. As his sin was the type of the sin of all succeeding kings and of the whole kingdom, so Ahijah’s prediction is the type of all succeeding predictions regarding this kingdom; it forms the key-tone that rings through all of them (1Ki_16:4; 1Ki_21:23; 1Ki_22:28; 2Ki_9:36).

2. Ahijah’s prophecy, in form as well as in contents (cf. above on 1Ki_14:7) is a perfectly connected whole. It refers back (1Ki_14:7-8) to the former prediction, 1Ki_11:30, particularly to 1 Kings 14:37 sq. After, in 1Ki_14:8, it is stated in a general way that Jeroboam did not follow David’s example, which was the condition imposed upon him. 1Ki_14:9 declares how he sinned; then follows, in 1Ki_14:10-11, the announcement of the punishment, which was to be a shameful destruction of his house; 1Ki_14:12-13 apply this to the heir-apparent, to the sick and only son, who was, indeed, also to die, but he was not to perish so disgracefully, because some “good thing” was found in him. 1Ki_14:10-11 are repeated in 1Ki_14:14, and it is added who is to carry out this sentence; but as Jeroboam had drawn all Israel into his sin, and they had consented thereto, the prophecy finally proceeds in 1Ki_14:15-16 to deal with guilty Israel, pronouncing its disastrous future and final ruin. This alone shows how unfounded the assertion of the recent criticism is, that the form of the prediction, as it now is, is not the original. According to Ewald, 1Ki_14:9; 1Ki_14:15 are “clearly an addition of the later (i.e., fifth Deuteronomical) author;” the style of 1Ki_14:9 is peculiar to this author, and 1Ki_14:15 interrupts the connection. But 1Ki_14:9 is an essential part of the whole, and its omission would leave a serious gap; the following sentence of punishment is founded on what 1Ki_14:9 states. Just as little does 1Ki_14:15 break the connection; it rather forms the object and acme of the prediction, pronouncing the natural and necessary end of Jeroboam’s sin. To take away this conclusion is to break off the point of the whole. Thenius only objects to the second half of 1Ki_14:15, on account of the expression; “beyond the river;” this he thinks is from an “elaborator.” But the Euphrates is generally given as the extreme limit of the land that was promised to the fathers (Gen_15:18; Exo_23:31; Deu_1:7; Deu_11:24; Jos_1:3-4; Psa_80:12). The prophet, when he wished to say that Israel should lose the land given to their fathers, could scarcely use any other form of expression than that they should be sent away beyond the river; a case which Solomon foresaw as possible (see above). If criticism did not take it for granted that any genuine prediction is impossible, it would not think of doubting the authenticity of this. That the prophet predicted the cutting off of Jeroboam’s house, and the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, is as little to be doubted as the prediction connected with it, that of Abijah’s death, whom the blind prophet had not even seen.

3. Ahijah’s prophecy repeatedly describes the consequence and working of “Jeroboam’s sin” (1Ki_14:9; 1Ki_14:15) in the words, provoked the Lord to anger. This expression occurs in other parts of the Old Testament also (1Ki_14:22; 1Ki_16:2; 1Ki_16:7; 1Ki_16:13; 1Ki_21:22; 2Ki_17:11; 2Ki_17:17; 2Ki_23:26; Deu_4:25; Deu_31:29; Deu_32:16; Deu_32:21; 2Ch_23:25; Eze_8:17; Eze_16:26; Psa_78:58); it by no means presupposes rude, anthropopathical ideas of the nature of God, but is founded on perfectly just views of the deity. The two expressions for Jehovah’s anger, כעם and קנא, which are cited in the above passages, sometimes interchanged and sometimes used synonymously, are employed only in reference to a particular sin, i.e., apostasy from Jehovah through idolatry or image-worship, and never of sin in general; and they have, therefore, direct reference to the fundamental law, the covenant, in which this sin is forbidden, with the addition, “for the Lord thy God is a אֵל קַנָּא,” i.e., a jealous God. Jehovah had from love chosen Israel out of all peoples to be His people, and had made a covenant with them (Exo_19:4-5; Deu_4:36-40; Deu_7:6-13; Deu_10:14-15; Psa_47:5; Jer_31:3), that they should be a holy people, even as He is holy (Lev_19:2). The holy love of Jehovah to his people is so great and strong that each departure of Israel from the covenant excites His “jealousy;” Jehovah, “the holy God,” is, as such, also “a jealous God” (Jos_24:19), and He would appear as faithless and unholy if He were indifferent to idolatry and image-worship, which are breaches of the covenant, and therefore called adultery and whoredom (Jer_3:9, and many other places). Offence against the holy love of God awakens His jealousy, which manifests itself in retributive justice, i. e., it provokes Him to anger. “Just anger can only be conceived of as closely united with mercy. The Old Testament proclaims this high and blessed truth with a voice above that of man. This is its greatest excellence, and conspicuously with it is to be seen its peculiar sublimity, which consists in its preaching at one and the same time the all-consuming wrath of God and the ardor of His mercy, surpassing infinitely that of a mother. Both are closely and inseparably interwoven on every page, the thunder of God’s wrath and the quickening spring-breath of His mercy. Classical antiquity had no genuine, awe-inspiring knowledge of divine anger, neither had it any living consciousness of the divine mercy” (Rothe, Theologische Ethik II. s. 203).

4. The divine judgments announced in Ahijah’s prediction, namely, cutting off Jeroboam’s house, and dispersion of Israel out of the good land given to their fathers, correspond with the nature of the old covenant, which has its form in the bodily and in the temporal. As natural descent and derivation was the condition of belonging to the chosen covenant people, so the curse and blessing, good and evil bound up with the covenant relation, were of a material, temporal nature. As natural descent determined a right to partake of the covenant with Jehovah, so also natural posterity was blessing and peace, while the dying out or cutting off of a race was a curse and misfortune. This is the reason why David, who was faithful to the covenant, was promised that he should always have a light, i.e., a house forever (1Ki_11:36; 1Ki_15:4; 2Sa_21:17), while the speedy and shameful extinction of his house was announced to the unfaithful Jeroboam. So also the “good land,” flowing with milk and honey, was promised to the whole of the chosen people; but when they broke the covenant and partook of Jeroboam’s sin they were deprived of the good land, were scattered in strange lands, and ceased to be a nation, which was to them the greatest punishment.

Homiletical and Practical

1Ki_14:1-20. The last divine warning to Jeroboam, (a) through the illness of his son, (b) through the prediction of the prophet. Jeroboam in need and in distress, (a) He is only concerned about the taking away of the need and the lifting off of the punishment, not in the renunciation of his sin and the conversion of the heart, which should have been the result of his need, as it is the case now with so many, (b) He seeks consolation and help, not at the hands of his false priests and spiritual hirelings, whom he himself did not trust, but from the prophet, about whom he did not long trouble himself after he had nothing to ask. Thus it is always. In need and necessity unbelievers and the children of this world seek for consolation and comfort from a spiritual preacher, and despise the finery of the hirelings who care only for the wool and not for the sheep, (c) He does not himself apply to the prophet, because he has an evil conscience, and he sends his wife in a disguise, for before the world he does not wish to be viewed as one who cares much for prophets. This is the folly of the wise of this world, that they suppose they can deceive God as they deceive men. But the Lord sees what is concealed in the darkness, and gives to every one what he has deserved.

1Ki_14:1. When the threatening, warning word of God bears no fruit, God at last sends the cross, especially the cross in the household, to humble us, to bring us to a knowledge of our sins, and to lead us to the cross of Christ.—Starke: God generally lays hold upon men in those respects where it is most grievous to them (2Sa_12:14; Joh_4:47).

1Ki_14:2. Calw. B.: Jeroboam did not wish to be seen having anything to do with the prophet, by any one. Worldly people are ashamed to make it known that they believe in anything, even if it be a superstitious faith. If God send thee necessity and distress, take no by-ways, but go to Him and pour out thine heart before Him; He hears all who call upon Him, all who earnestly cry unto Him. Disguise thyself, that no one mark who and what thou art! This is the bad advice which the world gives for the conduct of life, and which passes current with it as the true wisdom thereof. How social life is vitiated by this sin, by the endeavor to seem before people rather than to be—often it is like a masquerade! It is even more deceived by actions, by mien and manner, than by words. The art of disguise corrupts man in the profoundest ground of his being, and transforms him into an incarnate lie.

1Ki_14:3-4. Calw. B.: The little bit of faith which worldly people often exhibit is but part of their selfishness.…The foreknowledge of the future in the affairs of daily life man would gladly possess, because he will not yield himself, in faith, to the will of God. Hence flow often superstition, fortune-telling, dream-interpretation, astrology, both among the heathens as well as among Christians.—Cramer: The gift of God neither should nor can be sold or bought for money. As a rule, unbelief is bound with superstition. Jeroboam did not believe when God spoke to him by word and deed (chap. 13), and yet he believed that by means of a few loaves and cakes he could persuade God to reveal the future to him. [The history of religion in modern times confirms and illustrates this.]

1Ki_14:4-6. The wife of Jeroboam before the prophet, (a) She means to deceive the aged blind prophet by a disguise, but the Lord gives him sight (Ps. 156:8). He gives strength to the weary and power to the feeble. The Lord ever gives sight to His true servants, so that the world cannot deceive and blind them. (b) She hopes, by her present, to secure the desired answer, but, at the hour, the Lord gives him the word he shall speak; it is the Spirit of God who speaks through him (Mat_10:19 sq.). A true servant of God proclaims the word of truth to every one, without respect of persons, no matter how hard it be for him. This often is his hard yet sacred duty.

1Ki_14:7-16. Ahijah’s sermon of repentance and retribution, (a) Against Jeroboam, who corrupted Israel. (b) Against Israel, allowing themselves to be corrupted.

1Ki_14:7 sq. How often it happens that the very ones whom God raises from the dust, and to whom He gives the largest favors, turn their back upon and forget Him. So Jeroboam, so Israel. Deu_32:6.

1Ki_14:10; 1Ki_14:15. Not a blessing but a curse rests upon a house which turns its back upon the Lord and His commandments. And so also a people who forget the faith of their fathers lose all territory, are given up to all convulsions from within and from without, and go to destruction. Sin is the destruction of the people. (Heb_10:28-30.)

1Ki_14:12-13. The death of a beloved child, for whom God has prepared good, is often the only and the supreme means of turning away the heart of the parents from sin and the world, and of winning them to the life in God to which they are strangers. For many a child it is a divine blessing when it is early taken out of this vain world and called away from surroundings in which there is danger of the corruption both of soul and body.

1Ki_14:15. Israel, it is thine own sin that thou hast destroyed thyself.

1Ki_14:16. If the Lord say,—he who offends one of the least of these, &c., &c. (Mat_18:6), what will He say to those who give offence to an entire people, at the head of which they stand, through unbelief and immorality, and beguile them into an apostasy from the living God?

1Ki_14:18. What the Saviour said to those who bewailed Him on His way to death, Weep not for me, but, &c. (Luk_23:28), might have been said to the whole people Israel, and is true to-day of so many who are weeping over a grave. We should carry the dead in whom good before God is found with honor to their rest in the grave.

1Ki_14:19-20. The Scripture says (Pro_10:7), The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the godless will perish (rot). The first is true of David, the last of Jeroboam, whose name is not like an ointment poured out (i.e., diffusing sweet perfume, Ecc_1:3), but is a savor of death unto death; for with his name, for all the future, this word is connected: who sinned and made Israel to sin. Of what use is it to have worn a worldly crown two and twenty years, to have striven and fought for it, when the crown of life does not succeed it, which they alone obtain who are faithful unto death (Rev_2:10)?

Footnotes:

[1]1Ki_14:1.—[The Vat. Sept. omits the first twenty verses of this chapter, i.e., the whole of this section.

[2]1Ki_14:2.—[דִבֶּר עָלַי לְמֶלֶךְ lit. “spake of me for king.”

[3]1Ki_14:3.—[נִקֻּדִּים occurs only here and in Jos_9:5; Jos_9:12, where it is rendered in the A. V. by the adjective mouldy. The sense of the word seems to be “that which is easily crumbled.” The Alex. Sept. translates by κολλυρίδα, adding τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτοῦ, supposing them to be a sort of cakes for the children, and adds to these σταθίδας, raisins.

[4]1Ki_14:5.—[The peculiar form כָּזֹה וְכָזֶה occurs elsewhere only in Jdg_18:4 and Sam. 1Ki_11:25.

[5]1Ki_14:10.—[The reading עַל בֵּית, found in many MSS. instead of אֶל־בֵּית, scarcely modifies the sense.

[6]1Ki_14:10.—[The difficult words עָצוּר וְעָזוּב are so literally translated in the A. V. as to give a scarcely intelligible sense. There is no uniformity in the ancient VV. although it seems to have been understood as an expression to designate all classes. Our author translates “those under age and those of age.” Keil makes the sense to be “the married and the single.” The phrase occurs also 1Ki_21:21, and 2Ki_9:8; 2Ki_14:26, and is taken from Deu_32:37.

[7]1Ki_14:10.—[The proposition אַ‍ֽחֲרֵי is taken in the A. V. as if it were the noun אַ‍ֽחֲרִית. So also the Vulg. There is really nothing in the Heb. answering to the word remnant. On the construction of the verb with this prep. see Gesenius lex. s. v. בָּעַר, Piel. 3.—F. G.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 14 The Passing of Jeroboam and Rehoboam

1. Sickness and death of Jeroboam’s son (1Ki 14:1-18)

2. Jeroboam’s reign and death (1Ki 14:19-20)

3. Rehoboam’s apostasy, punishment and death (1Ki 14:21-31)

We come now to the passing of both kings, Jeroboam of Israel and Rehoboam of Judah. Abijah (Jehovah is my father), the son of wicked Jeroboam, was sick. “That child was the one green spot in Jeroboam’s life and home; the one germ of hope. And as his father loved him truly, so all Israel had set their hopes on him. Upon the inner life of this child, its struggles and its victories, lies the veil of Scripture silence; and best that it should be so. But now his pulses were beating quick and weak, and that life of love and hope seemed fast ebbing. None with the father in those hours of darkness, neither counsellor, courtier, prophet nor priest, save the child’s mother.” (A. Edersheim, Bible History) Then the unhappy king remembered Ahijah, who had first announced his exaltation to be king (11:31). Disguised the wife of Jeroboam proceeds to Shiloh not to ask prayer for the sick son but to find out (as if consulting a fortune teller) what should become of the child. Ahijah was blind. What need was there for Jeroboam’s wife to feign to be another? And the Lord saw her coming and announced her approach to blind Ahijah. She hears from his lips not good tidings, but a message of judgment. Judgment upon the house of Jeroboam is announced and when the feet of the mother entered Tirzah once more the child would die. Concerning the child, Ahijah, the prophet, said: “In him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.” Thus the little one was saved and removed from the evil to come upon the house of Jeroboam. Then Jeroboam died. In 2Ch 13:20 we read “the LORD struck him and he died.” Nadab reigned after him for only two years.

Then follows the passing of Rehoboam. (in 2 Chronicles 11 we find the fuller record. He had 18 wives and 60 concubines. His family consisted of 28 sons and 60 daughters.) His reign was begun well, but he also turned against the Lord, and Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. Idolatry and immorality flourished. A corrupted worship led to a corrupted life. Departure from God and His Word leads always to moral decline. Our times bear witness to this. Then the punishment came in the fifth year of his reign. Shishak, King of Egypt, took Jerusalem and carried away the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the King. He took away the golden shields of Solomon so that Rehoboam had to substitute shields of brass. Shishak was the founder of the twenty-second dynasty. Jeroboam had been with him (11:40), and it is not improbable that at his instigation Shishak made his expedition to Jerusalem. In the temple ruins of Amon at Karnak, near Thebes, are recorded more than sixty Ephraimitic cities that paid tribute to Shishak, also the names of many more Judean cities; there also is a picture of Rehoboam. The detailed description of Shishak and his invasion, the work of Shemaiah the prophet in averting a greater disaster, we find in 2 Chronicles 12.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

DOOM OF THE HOUSE OF NEBAT

1Ki_14:1-20

"Whom the gods love die young."

-EPICTET.

THE other story about Jeroboam is full of pathos; and though here, too, there are obvious signs that, in its present form, it could hardly have come from a contemporary source, it doubtless records a historic tradition. It is missing in the Septuagint, though in some copies the blank is supplied from Aquilas version.

Jeroboam was living with his queen at Tirzah when as a judgment on him for his neglect of the Divine warning, his eldest and much loved son, Abijah, fell sick. Torn with anxiety the king asked his wife to disguise herself that she might not be recognized on her journey, and to go to Shiloh, where Ahijah the prophet lived, to inquire about the dear youths fate. "Take with you," he said, "as a present to the prophet ten loaves, and some little cakes for the prophets children, and a cruse of honey."

Jeroboam remembered that Ahijahs former prophecy had been fulfilled, and believed that he would again be able to reveal the future, and say whether the heir to the throne would recover. The queen obeyed; and if she were indeed the Egyptian princess Ano, it must have been for her a strange experience. Through the winding valley, she reached the home of the aged prophet unrecognized. But he had received a Divine intimation of her errand; and though his eyes were now blind with the gutta serena, he at once addressed her by name when he heard the sound of her approaching footsteps. The message which he was bidden to pronounce was utterly terrible; it was unrelieved by a single gleam of mitigation or a single expression of pity. It reproached and denounced Jeroboam for faithless ingratitude in that he had cast God behind his back; it threatened hopeless and shameful extermination to all his house. His dynasty should be swept away like dung. The corpses of his children should be left unburied and be devoured by vultures and wild dogs. The moment the feet of the queen reached her house the youth should die, and this bereavement, heavy as it was, should be the sole act of mercy in the tragedy, for it should take away Abijah from the dreadful days to come, because in him alone of the House of Jeroboam had God seen something good. The avenger should be a new king, and all this should come to pass "even now."

This speech of the prophet is given in a rhythmical form, and has probably been mingled with later touches. It falls into two strophes (1Ki_14:7-11, 1Ki_14:12-16) of 3+2 and 2+3 verses. The expressions "thou hast done above all that were before thee, for thou hast gone and made thee other gods" (1Ki_14:9) hardly suits the case of Jeroboam; and the omission by the LXX of the prophecy of Israels ultimate captivity, together with the treatment of the prophecy by Josephus, throw some doubt on 1Ki_14:9, 1Ki_14:15, and 1Ki_14:16. They seem to charge Jeroboam with sanctioning Asherim, or wooden images of the nature-goddess Asherah, of which we read in the history of Judah, but which are never mentioned in the acts of Jeroboam, and do not accord with his avowed policy. These may possibly be due to the forms which the tradition assumed in later days.

The awful prophecy was fulfilled. As the hapless mother set foot on the threshold of her palace at beautiful Tirzah the young prince died, and she heard the wail of the mourners for him. He alone was buried in the grave of his fathers, and Israel mourned for him. He was evidently a prince of much hope and promise, and the deaths of such princes have always peculiarly affected the sympathy of nations. We know in Roman history the sigh which arose at the early death of Marcellus:-

"Ostendent terris hunc tantum fata neque ultra Esse sinent. Nimium vobis, Romana propago, Visa potens, superi, propria haec si dona fuissent, Heu miserande puer, si qua fate aspera rumpas Tu Marcellus eris."

We know the remark of Tacitus as he contemplates the deaths of Germanicus, Caius, and Drusus, Piso Licinianus, Britannicus, and Titus, breves atque infaustos Populi Romani amores.

We know how, when Prince William was drowned in the White Ship, Henry of England never smiled again; and how the nation mourned the deaths of Prince Alfonso, of the Black Prince, of Prince Arthur, of Prince Henry, of the Princess Charlotte, of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale. But these untimely deaths of youths in their early bloom, before their day,

"Impositique rogis juvenes ante ora parentum."

are not half so deplorable as the case of those who have grown up like Nero to blight every hope which has been formed of them. When Louis le Bien-Aime lay ill of the fever at Metz which seemed likely to be fatal, all France wept and prayed for him. He recovered, and grew up to be that portent of selfish boredom and callous sensuality, Louis XV It was better that Abijah should die than that he should live to be overwhelmed in the shameful ruin which soon overtook his house.

It was better far that he should die than that he should grow up to frustrate the promise of his youth. He was beckoned by the hand of God, "because in him was found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel." We are not told wherein the goodness consisted, but Rabbinic tradition guessed that in opposition to his father he discountenanced the calf-worship and encouraged and helped the people to continue their visits to Jerusalem. Such a king might indeed have recovered the whole kingdom, and have dispossessed Davids degenerate line. But it was not to be. The fiat against Israel had gone forth, though a long space was to intervene before it was fulfilled. And Gods fiats are irrevocable, because with Him there is no changeableness neither shadow of turning.

"The moving finger writes, and having writ,

Moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,

Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it."

But the passage about Abijah has a unique preciousness, because it stands alone in Scripture as an expression of the truth that early death is no sign at all of the Divine anger, and that the length or brevity of life are matters of little significance to God, seeing that, at the best, the longest life is but as one tick of the clock in the eternal silence. The promise to filial obedience, "that thy days may be long," in the Fifth Commandment is primarily national; and although undoubtedly "length of days" then, as now, was regarded as a blessing, {See Job_12:12 Psa_21:4 Pro_3:2-16} yet the blessing is purely relative, and wholly incommensurate with others which affect the character and the life to come. This passage may be the consolation of many thousands of hearts that ache for some dear lost child. "Is it well with the child? It is well!" The story of Cleobis and Biton shows how fully the wisest of the ancients had recognized the truth that early death may be a boon of God to save His children from being snared in the evil days. "Honorable age, says the Book of Wisdom, is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. But wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. He pleased God, and was beloved of Him: so that living among sinners he was translated. Yea, speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: for his soul pleased the Lord: therefore He hastens to take him away from among the wicked." It is the truth so beautifully expressed by Seneca: "Vita non quam diu sed quam bene acta refert"; by St. Ambrose: "Perfecta est aetas, ubi perfecta est virtus"; by Shakespeare:-

"The good die early

And they whose hearts are dry as summer dust

Burn to the socket";

and by Ben Jonson:-

"It is not growing like a tree

In bulk, doth make man better be:

Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,

To fall, a log at last, dry, bald and sere";

"A lily of a day Is fairer far in May,

Although it fall and die that night-

It was the plant and flower of Light.

In small proportions we just beauties see,

And in short measures life may perfect be"

It is recorded also on the tomb of a gallant youth, in Westminster Abbey, "Francis Holles, who died at eighteen years of age after noble deeds":-

"Mans life is measured by the work, not days;

Not aged sloth, but active youth, hath praise."

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

CHAPTER XIV

Abijah, son of Jeroboam, falls sick, 1.

Jeroboam sends his wife disguised to Ahijah the prophet, and

with her a present, to inquire concerning his son, 2-4.

Ahijah discovers her by a Divine intimation and delivers to her

a heavy message concerning the destruction of Jeroboam's house,

and the death of her son, 5-16.

The child dies, according to the prediction of Ahijah, 17.

Jeroboam's reign and death, 18-20.

Rehoboam's bad reign, and the apostasy of Judah, 21-24.

Shishak, king of Egypt, invades Judea, spoils the temple, and

takes away the golden shields made by Solomon; instead of which

Rehoboam makes others of brass, 25-28.

Rehoboam's reign and death, 29-31.

NOTES ON CHAP. XIV

Verse 1. Abijah - fell sick] This was but a prelude to the miseries which fell on the house of Jeroboam; but it was another merciful warning, intended to turn him from his idolatry and wickedness.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(1) Abijah (“whose father is Jehovah”).—The coincidence of names in the sons of Jeroboam and Rehoboam is curious. Possibly it may be more than coincidence, if (as seems likely) the births of both took place about the same time, when Jeroboam was in favour with Solomon.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell sick. Being smitten of God with some disease, as a punishment of Jeroboam's sin; how long this was after the above things were done cannot be said.

At that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell sick. Being smitten of God with some disease, as a punishment of Jeroboam's sin; how long this was after the above things were done cannot be said.

1 Kings 14:2

kg1 14:2

kg1 14:2

kg1 14:2And Jeroboam said to his wife,.... Who she was is not known:

arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself; put off her royal apparel, and clothe herself like a common person, mimic the dress and language of a country woman:

that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam: by any that should see her on the road, or at the city she was to go to, or by the prophet to whom she would be sent:

and get thee to Shiloh; which, according to Bunting (g), was twenty four miles, from Tirzah, where Jeroboam now lived, see Kg1 14:17.

behold, there is Ahijah the prophet: called from thence the Shilonite, Kg1 11:29,

which told me that I should be king over this people: and this coming to pass, proved him to be a true prophet, and to be credited in what he should say concerning their child. Jeroboam desired his wife to go on this errand, because he did not care it should be known that he applied to any of the prophets of the Lord; nor did he choose it should be known whose child was inquired about, which another must have told, whereas his wife could speak of it as her own; and she was the fittest person to give an account of the child's illness, and would ask the most proper and pertinent questions, and bring him back a faithful report; and he would have her be disguised, lest the prophet, who bore no good will to him because of his apostasy, should refuse to give any answer at all, or else give a very rough and disagreeable one.

(g) Travels, &c. p. 161.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

At that time - The phrase here connects the narrative which follows with Jeroboam’s persistence in his evil courses. The event related is the first judgment upon him for his obduracy, the beginning of the cutting off of his house from the face of the earth.

Abijah - We see by this name that Jeroboam did not intend to desert the worship of Yahweh, since its signification is “Yahweh is my father,” or “Yahweh is my desire” Job 34:36.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

At. The Septuagint omit the 20 verses following. But Grabe’s edition has them marked with asterisks, (Haydock) as being supplied from Theodotion, &c. The Vatican copy gives a great part, with some circumstances which occur no where else, chap. xii. 24. (Calmet) --- The wife of Jeroboam is there called Ano, (Menochius) the elder sister of the queen of Egypt, Thekemina. See chap. xi. 19; where Adad marries another sister. (Haydock) --- Time. This expression does not determine the year. (St. Chrysostom, &c.) --- The passage in the Vatican Septuagint seems to place this death before Jeroboam ascended the throne: but it took place rather at the end of his reign, ver. 14. Abia seems to have been his eldest son, and fit for command; so that the people mourn for him, which they would hardly have done for an infant. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Either, first, Presently after the things described in the former chapter; which though related in the beginning of his reign, yet might be done a good while after it, and so Ahijah the prophet might be very old, as he is described to be, 1Ki 14:4. Or, secondly, Many years after it, i.e. whilst Jeroboam persisted in his former course; for this phrase is oft used indefinitely, and without respect to the time last mentioned before it, as Dan 12:1; Mat 4:1. Abijah fell sick, by the stroke of God, to punish Jeroboam’s rebellion against God.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Sins of Jeroboam and Rehoboam and their Punishment

2. Shiloh] The modern Seilûn, N. of Bethel and E. of the road leading from Bethel to Shechem (Jdg_21:19).

3. Take with thee] The gift proffered by the queen was a small one to suit her disguise: contrast 2Ki_5:5. Cruse] a flask or bottle (and so in 1Ki_17:12).

9. Above all that were before thee] Solomon's idolatry was perhaps worse than Jeroboam's in being the worship of false gods, but it was at any rate not deliberately propagated among the people at large.

10. Shut up and left] A comprehensive phrase to describe all classes, but its precise signification is uncertain. It has been taken to mean (a) restrained by, and free from, ceremonial impurity (which prevented persons suffering from it from entering the Temple, cp. Jer_36:5); (b) imprisoned and free (cp. Jer_33:1); (c) married and single; (d) under, and over, age. Will.. remnant] For the fulfilment of the prediction see 1Ki_15:29.

13. He only.. grave] Abijah, for his goodness, was taken away from the evil to come (cp. Isa_57:1), though it is possible that the reward of his piety is meant to be not a timely death, but an honourable burial.

14. But what? even now] i.e. is not the predicted event happening even now?

15. The river] i.e. the Euphrates. Groves] RV 'Asherim' (pi. of Asherah), and so in 1Ki_14:23 and elsewhere. These were poles used as religious emblems (cp. Isa_17:8), and were probably intended to imitate trees, which, from being endowed with life and growth, were in early ages thought to be the abodes of divine powers, and so were regarded as appropriate seats of worship: cp. 1Ki_14:23. Though perhaps most commonly associated with Ashtoreth, the goddess of fertility and productiveness, they were not the exclusive symbols of any particular deity; and the Israelites were inclined to adopt them even in connexion with the worship of their own God, as may be gathered from the prohibition against planting 'an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord'(Deu_16:21 RV), and the fact that though Jehu restored in Israel the worship of the Lord, yet in the reign of his son Jehoahaz 'there remained the Asherah in Samaria' (2Ki_13:6 RV).

17. Tirzah] afterwards the capital, until Samaria was built by Omri (see 1Ki_15:33; 1Ki_16:8, 1Ki_16:15, 1Ki_16:23). It was NW. of Shechem, Overlooking the Jordan valley.

19. The rest of the acts of Jeroboam] see 2Ch_13:3-20, which describes a severe defeat which he sustained at the hands of Abijah of Judah. The book of the chronicles] probably annals based on the state documents kept by the official recorder. A similar reference occurs in connexion with most of the following reigns.

21. Forty and one years old] It is implied in 2Ch_12:8; 2Ch_13:3 that Rehoboam was young when he came to the throne; and one MS of the LXX here substitutes 'sixteen years old.' His mother's name] the name of the mother of each succeeding king (see 1Ki_15:10; 1Ki_22:42; 2Ki_8:25, etc.) is expressly mentioned because of the position which the queen dowager occupied: see on 1Ki_2:19.

23. Images] RV 'pillars': for their significance see on 1Ki_7:15.

24. Sodomites] Persons who dedicated themselves to the impure rites which were observed in honour of certain deities in the neighbourhood of their temples.

25. Shishak] see on 1Ki_11:40. A list of towns taken by Shishak has been preserved in an inscription by the conqueror himself at Karnak in Egypt. Among them were Keilah, Socoh, Aijalon, Beth-horon. Gibeon and Makkedah in Judah, and Taanach, Shunem, and Mahanaim in N. Israel. The mention of Israelite as well as Judasan towns seems to imply that Shishak attacked both of the Hebrew sovereigns, unless the towns in Israel were in revolt against Jeroboam, and the Egyptians were helping him to reduce them.

31. Abijam] called Abijah in LXX and in 2Ch_12:16. The latter is probably the correct form of the name.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE DEATH OF JEROBOAM"S SON. The protest of the prophet of Judah, the signs which supported it, and above all the solemn visitation, with its strange portents, which straightway followed it, having alike failed to arrest Jeroboam (1Ki_13:33) in his high-handed and shameless depravation of the true religion, we now read of the retribution which came upon his family, and which began with the sickness and death of his firstborn. We can hardly regard this as a part of the discipline designed to reform the king, and so avert the schism, for the narrative distinctly conveys the impression that Jeroboam"s day of grace was past, and that judgment was already begun. Moreover these events would seem to belong to a much later period than that of which the preceding chapter treats a period, indeed, not far distant from the close of Jeroboam"s reign. He then heard, as was fitting, from the venerable prophet who had been God"s messenger to announce to him his future reign over the ten tribes, that the death of the youth whom he had destined to succeed him was but the beginning of sorrows, and foreshadowed the Speedy and shameful extinction of his family (ver. 14). He too, like Solomon, has sown to the wind and now reaps to the whirlwind. This section is omitted in the Vat. LXX.

At that time or about (K) that time. The king is now settled at Tirzah (ver. 17). In 1Ki_12:25 we left him residing at Shechem. The time referred to is that somewhat indefinite period mentioned in 1Ki_13:33, 1Ki_13:34. These opening words clearly connect the sickness with Jeroboam"s impenitence. What led the king to move his Court to Tirzah, Shechem being, as we have already seen, not only the capital of Ephraim, but "the natural capital of Palestine," "its central situation, its accessibility, and its wonderfully fine water supply" giving it "advantages not enjoyed by any other city in the land" (Conder), we are not told; but it is interesting and instructive to find that it has one conspicuous disadvantage as a capital, viz., that it is "commanded by a hill on either side so close to the town, that the old geographer, Marino Sanuto, in the fourteenth century, considers the place to be untenable by any military force, because stones might be rolled clown upon the houses, from either Ebal or Gerizim" (Conder, p. 16. Cf. Jud_1:9:36) It is very probable that this consideration suggested the transfer, of which Ewald despaired of discovering the cause ("Hist. Israel," 4:23) Abijah Rawlinson sees in the name, which means "Jehovah is his father," an indication that Jeroboam "did not intend to desert the worship of Jehovah." But the name was probably bestowed long before the schism possibly in Egypt. It is more likely that it connects itself, if with anything, with the message of Jehovah to him. (1Ki_11:28) But the name was not uncommon it was borne by a son of Rehoboam (ver. 31; compare Ahijah, below), and inferences from names must necessarily be precarious the son of Jeroboam fell sick. The historian undoubtedly means us to see the finger of God in this sickness. This was one of the penalties of disobedience (Deu_28:22, Deu_28:58-61; Exo_23:25)

Vers. 1-20.

Abijah and Ahijah.

Perhaps there is no single section of this book more full of lessons, and lessons of the most varied kind, than this. Let us try to gather something of what God has strawed with so liberal a hand.

1. At that time (ver. 1) the time of 1Ki_13:33. The sickness of the child distinctly connects itself with the father"s persistence in sin. (see Deu_7:15 Deu_28:22, Deu_28:61) The hard and impenitent heart treasures to itself wrath. (Rom_2:5) Warnings (ch. 13.) have been unheeded: it is now the time for judgment. "If we sin wilfully," etc. (Heb_10:26, Heb_10:27) Deus kabet suas horas et moras . As "the fulness of time" gave us a Redeemer, so it will give us a Judge.

2. Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell sick" (ib.) Observe

(1) The pious son sickened, and died; the impenitent father and the worthless brother lived." Then sickness is no invariable proof of God"s displeasure. "Behold, he whom thou lovest is sick" (Joh_11:3; cf. Heb_12:6) "Whom the gods love, die young." The fable of Ganymede is full of significance.

Te rapuit coelum, tales nam gaudet habere Illustres animas degeneresque fugit.

Tis ever thus, "tis ever thus with all that"s best below, The dearest, noblest, loveliest are always first to go; The bird that sings the sweetest, the pine that crowns the rock, The glory of the garden, the flower of the flock.

"Tis ever thus, "tis ever thus with creatures heavenly fair, Too finely framed to bide the brunt more earthly creatures bear; A little while they dwell with us, blest ministers of love, Then spread their wings we had not seen, and seek their home above.

See also Longfellow"s poem of "The Reaper and the Flowers.

(2) Sickness spares none. "Neither his dignity as a prince, nor his age as a young prince, nor his interest with heaven as a pious prince could exempt him from sickness" (M. Henry). As to the purpose of sickness, see Homiletics, pp. 12, 13. Perhaps this child, in whom was some good thing, only needed the discipline of sickness to make him fruitful in every good work. "After ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect," etc.. (1Pe_5:10)

(3) The sickness of his son, while it was a judgment on Jeroboam, was a warning to Israel. "A cloud and darkness" to the one; it gave light to the. (Exo_14:20)

Let us be patient! These severe afflictions Not from the ground arise, But oftentimes celestial benedictions Assume this dark disguise.

3. "Get thee to Shiloh" (ver. 2). But Shiloh was not one of his sanctuaries. Why not to Bethel? There were his priests and prophets. (see on 1Ki_22:6) But Jeroboam only does what many more have clone since.

He has one religion for health, another for sickness. Like Joab, he turns in adversity to the altar which he scorned in prosperity. He would fain share the consolations of those to whose admonitions he never listened. This sending to Ahijah is one result of the sickness of Abijah.

"There is no God," the foolish saith, But none, "there is no sorrow;" And nature oft, in time of need, The cry of faith will borrow.

Eyes that the preacher could not school By wayside graves are raised, And lips say, "God be pitiful," Which ne"er said, "God be praised.

1. There is Ahijah the prophet" (ib.) Whom he has never troubled since the day when "he spake of him for king". (1Ki_11:31) "Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him". (1Ki_11:30) The ministers of Christ may well be content if they are sent for in times of sorrow and sickness. "Lord, in trouble have they visited thee". (Isa_26:16) We think scorn of those who only come near us when they want something. But how often do we serve God thus?

2. Disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam" (ib.) Was ever grosser infatuation than this? Jeroboam, the most astute of politicians, the Machiavelli of the Old World, thinks that a prophet who can peer into futurity cannot penetrate his flimsy disguises. It never occurs to him that "the seer" can see through a woman"s veil. Ahithophel is not the only statesman whose wisdom has been turned into foolishess. (2Sa_15:31) What an illustration does this history afford of that saying of the Temanite, "He taketh the wise in their own craftiness". (Job_5:13; 1Co_3:19)

3. He shall tell thee what shall become of the child" (ver. 3). A strange object for such a journey. It is not, "what to do for the child;" still less, "what to do for the sin;" but simply, what should be the issue of the sickness. But that, time would show. It needed no ghost, no prophet to declare that. Che sara sara. Probably Jeroboam despaired of obtaining more. There are petitions "which for our unworthiness we dare not ask." Despair is not uncommonly the end of presumption. "Sin makes such a strangeness between God and man, that the guilty heart either thinks not of suing to God, or fears it" (Bp. Hall). Or was it fatalism prompted this inquiry? It has often been remarked that unbelief and superstition are very near of kin. Man cannot divest himself of all belief. Head and heart alike "abhor a vacuum." Those who will not believe in one God shall be the victims of strong delusions, and shall believe a lie. (2Th_2:11)

Hear the just law, the judgment of the skies, He that hates truth shall be the dupe of lies; And he that will be cheated to the last, Delusions strong as hell shall bind him fast.

Witness Julian the Apostate, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Robert Owen, and many more. The Chinese people the air with demons and spirits of the dead. Infidel France thinks it unlucky to travel on a Friday. "There was never wicked man that was not infatuate" (Hall).

1. His eyes were set" (ver. 4). Yet "having his eyes open". (Num_24:4) Reason is "the candle of the Lord." Revelation is a "light to the feet, and a lamp to the path." Inspiration is as "eyes to the blind." "Visions of the Almighty need not bodily eyes, but are rather favoured by the want of them" (Henry). The eye is but the instrument of vision. Eyes of flesh are not the organs of the spirit.

2. I am sent to thee with heavy tidings" (ver. 6). Compare Eze_14:4. "Ithe Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols." Heavy tidings for heavy transgression. The sentence should be proportionate to the sin. "Whatsoever a man soweth," etc.

3. I exalted thee from among the people" (ver. 7). It was Jeroboam"s abuse of the singular favours he had received, and his forgetfulness of Divine benefits, that so much enhanced his sin. Cf. 1Ki_11:9; 1Sa_15:17 ("When thou wast little in thine own sight 2Sa_12:8, 2Sa_12:9; Psa_73:10 ("Took him from the sheepfolds," etc.) Luk_12:48 ("Unto whomsoever much is given," etc.) Luk_10:15 ("Exalted to heaven, thrust down to hell It is well to remember the rock whence we were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence we were digged. (Isa_51:1)

1. Other gods and molten images" (ver. 9). Men often disguise their sins under specious names. "Cherubic symbols" was perhaps Jeroboam"s name for his calves. He would not allow that they were images or idols. Josephus happily reproduces the language he held to his subjects: "I suppose, my countrymen, you know that every place hath God in it," etc. (Ant. 8:8. 4).

2. But God calls things as they really are. Longfellow truly says that "things are not what they seem." But they are what they seem to the Omniscient.

3. And rent the kingdom away from the house of David," etc. Note the contrast between this language and the discourse which Ahijah held with Jeroboam once before. That meeting was full of promises; this message is fall of upbraidings. Then God declared that He would rend the kingdom; here He complains that He has done so, and done so in vain. Then He proposed David as Jeroboam"s pattern his name is mentioned six times here He accuses the king of contemning that example. There He speaksof a "sure house;" here, of "taking away the remnant of the house," "as a man taketh away dung." Yet "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." It is Jeroboam"s sin has made this difference.

1. "I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off," etc. Compare 1Ki_12:27. "And they shall kill me." So the very means which Jeroboam took to secure his throne procured its overthrow. "The engineer is hoist with his own petard." If he could but have trusted God his kingdom would have lasted. But he must needs prop it up himself, with rotten supports, and leaning on these he brought it speedily to the ground.

2. When thy feet enter into the city the child shall die" (ver. 12). For the second time does a prophet give Jeroboam a sign the same day. And the second sign was hardly less significant than the first. For the mother was, in some sense, the cause of her child"s death. Her step on the threshold was the signal for the severance of his "thin-spun life." It was not only a foretaste, consequently, of the doom awaiting the entire house; it was also a shadowing forth of the cause of that destruction. The sins of the father were visited upon the children,

1. And all Israel shall mourn for him" (ver. 13). The most, and the most genuine, tears are shed over the graves of children. (Is it that many of us, as we grow older, become less lovely and engaging, less desirable as companions?) Yet of this child it might justly have been said, "Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him". (Jer_22:10) For

1. be was taken away from the evil to come (ver. 11).

2. He escaped the butchery of Baasha.

And he escaped, too, the danger of contamination and moral ruin. His life was not unduly shortened. Life is to be measured not by the beats of the pulse, but by the life work we have accomplished. "He being made perfect in a short time fulfilled a long time.

It may be by the calendar of years You are the elder man; but "tis the sun Of knowledge on the mind"s dial shining bright And chronicling deeds and thoughts that makes true time.

(3) The "good thing toward the Lord God of Israel" was an earnest of better things to come. "Little faith can enter heaven." "A little grace goes a great way with great people. Those that are good in bad times and places shine very bright in the eyes of God. A good child in the house of Jeroboam is a miracle of Divine grace" (Henry).

1. For the Lord shall smite Israel" (ver. 15). For if Jeroboam had "made Israel to sin," Israel had loved to have it so. (1Ki_12:30) He could not have had his calves and sanctuaries without priests; and calves, sanctuaries, and priests would have been useless without worshippers. But as the king, so the people. Jeroboam was but a sample of many thousands of his subjects. As the chief offender, he was the first to suffer, and suffered most. But the nation that had shared his sin must suffer in its measure and turn.

2. Beyond the river" (ib.) The judgments of God are governed by a lex talionis. Not only "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," but, "Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours". (Jer_5:19)

4. And Jeroboam"s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah" (ver. 17). It is hardly possible to realize the horror with which the princess, still wearing her disguise, heard the doom of her house, and who shall attempt to describe the agonies of that journey home. Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, (2Sa_21:10 sqq.) has been called the Mater Dolorosa of the Old Testament, but the title equally belongs to Jeroboam"s wife. But why, let us ask, does she suffer such things? Why must this sword pierce her soul? Was it not because of her share in the sin? As she is included in the sentence against the house (ver. 11, Heb.), it is probable that she had aided and abetted her husband in his irreligious and schismatic policy. And now she must drink of his cup: she must be the first to taste its bitterness; she must bring death to one child and tell of disgrace worse than death to the rest.

5. And they buried him" (ver. 18). In Tirzah the beautiful, (Son_6:4) great lamentation was made over him. And indeed his seemed to be a case for tears. The heir to the throne, he was never to ascend it. The possessor of singular gifts and advantages, he was never to exercise the former or enjoy the latter. Had he lived, he might have effected a reformation, and suppressed the calf worship. But now the grave closes over him, and he is no more seen. What a proof this of a life to come! Otherwise there would be injustice with God, inequality in His dealings with men. "But the righteous live forevermore, their reward also is with the Lord." "We fools counted his life madness and his end to be without honour. How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints". (RAPC Wis 5:4, 5, 15)

HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD. Vers. 1-3.

The Impenitent Seeker.

The day of judgment will come at the end of the world, when the heavens and earth shall be burnt up (2Th_2:7-10; 2Pe_3:7) But this has its prelude in a season of judgments which overtakes the sinner in this life. Jeroboam, having sinned away his day of grace, had now entered into such a season. But of this he seems to have been doubtful. Hence learn

I THAT THE SINNER MAY BE SURPRISED IN HIS SEASON OF JUDGMENTS.

1. That there are such seasons is evident.

(1) Witness the great deluge. (Gen_6:11-13) Also the rain of fire on the cities of the plain. (Gen_19:13) The overthrow of nations. Signal visitations upon notorious sinners. (Exo 9:18-15; 1Sa_28:15-19)

(2) Such were presages of the awful judgment to come (Mat_24:37-39; 2Pe_2:4-6 Jud_1:5-7; Rev_18:4)

2. But all afflictions are not such retributions.

(1) Some are entailed upon us through the fall, and alike affect the penitent and impenitent (Gen_3:16-18; Job_5:17; 1Co_10:13)

(2) Some come to us through the wickedness and blundering of those around us. Many suffer, irrespective of their character, as when a ship is wrecked through the drunkenness of the master.

(3) Some are appointed or permitted for disciplinary and educational purposes. These are often amongst our greatest blessings.

(4) Sometimes we suffer for the benefit of others vicariously. When this is voluntary it is very Christ like (see Psa_22:11; Col_1:24)

(5) Under all these we have a refuge in God. (Psa_9:9, 13 46:1)

3. These may be confounded.

(1) Had Jeroboam known that the mercy of God had reached its limit, and that the season of retribution had set in, he might have spared his queen her journey to Shiloh.

(2) But what else could he have expected? Was he not obstinately wedded to his sins? Had he not before him the history of Saul? (1Sa_28:15-19)

(3) Men still, in our day, presume upon the mercy of God to their destruction. Eminently the ease with those who defer repentance. Learn further

II THAT A SINNER MAY SEEK THE LORD TO NO GOOD PURPOSE. This happens

1. When the end sought is unprofitable.

(1) Such was the case with Jeroboam. His inquiry should have been, not, "What shall become of the child?" but, "How may the anger of God be averted?" (Compare 2Sa_12:16, 2Sa_12:17) But he was not prepared to repent of his sin.

(2) His inquiry was one of curiosity as to the future. Similar curiosity was manifested by Saul under similar circumstances. It is unseemly for a sinner to pry into Divine mysteries rather than seek the salvation of his soul

2. When the spirit of the seeker is improper.

(1) He did not, indeed, seek his calves. (compare 2Ki_1:2) He rather sought Ahijah, because the spirit of prophecy was with him (ver. 2). But he had no such faith in his calves.

(2) Why, then, did he not renounce them? He had reasons of worldly policy against this. (see 1Ki_12:20-28) He was therefore a deceiver of the people. Hence he would have his queen disguise herself. So several of the Popes were known to have been infidels.

(3) So were he and his dupes doomed to perish together (see Matthew 2Th_2:9-12; 1Ti_4:1, 1Ti_4:2)

3. When the manner of the search is unworthy.

(1) He paid a respect to the man of God. This was the meaning of his present. (see 1Sa_9:7, 1Sa_9:8) Hence such gifts are caned blessings (see Gen_33:10, Gen_33:11; Jud_1:15; 1Sa_25:17 1Sa_30:26, marg.; 2Ki_5:15)

(2) Even Jacob would eat of his son"s venison before he proceeded to bless him (see Gen_27:4, Gen_27:19, Gen_27:25, Gen_27:31; see also. 1Ki_17:11)

(3) So are God"s blessings and sacrifices offered to Him commonly associated. (see Gen_8:20-22 Gen_9:1-17) All His blessings come to us through the sacrifice of Christ; and especially so when we, by faith, present Christ to Him.

(4) But here was no sacrifice; and the value of the gift was small What were a few loaves, a few cakes, and a cruse of honey as a gift from a king! (Compare 2Ki_5:5 2Ki_8:9) The meanness of his present was another reason why he would have his queen disguised.

What an argument for early piety is here! Surrender to Christ before you are overtaken by a season of judgments. How admonitory is this subject to the effect that prayer should be true; that we should seek the right thing, in the right spirit, and in the right manner! J.A.M.

HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART Vers. 1-20.

Affliction and judgment.

I THE STRICKEN KING. Abijah seems to have been heir to the throne, and to have been alike the king"s and the people"s hope. The father"s heart was touched: the king saw the dynasty threatened, to establish which he had ventured so much. The voice of God, against which the car was closed, will be heard again in the quietness of the sick chamber, in the silence of death. God follows us through deepening sorrows, if haply we may turn ere we are overwhelmed by the waters of destruction.

II THE RESORT FOR HELP.

1. His trouble drives him towards God. It is meant to do this. It is the touching of God"s hand that we may look up and live.

Eyes which the preacher could not school By wayside graves are raised, And lips cry, "God be pitiful," Which ne"er said, "God be praised.

1. He is drawn by the remembrance of past mercy. "Behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, who told me that I should be king over this people." The remembrances of mercies are cords to draw back straying hearts to God. The thought of what God has done makes a holy place for faith, and rears an altar whence may rise the incense of accepted prayer.

2. His hope is defeated by his own deceit. "Disguise thyself, that thou be not known as the wife of Jeroboam." He thought he might find help without owning and yielding his sin. How many prayers are like Jeroboam"s embassy! Men wish to find mercy and yet cling to their sinful life, and imagine that because their wicked practices are kept behind their back they are not there in God"s sight!

3. Gifts (ver. 3) could not make up the lack of a true, penitent heart.

III THE LORD"S ANSWER.

1. Disguise is impossible before God (vers. 5, 6). We can conceal nothing from Him; and one word of His (Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam!") is enough to rend every veil of pretence from the soul and overwhelm it with shame. We may now close the ears to the voice of accusing conscience, but we go onward, as she went, to where the Judge will name us.

2. God"s name. "The Lord God of Israel." Not only will the covering be torn from the sinner"s heart and life; God will be revealed. He is the mighty avenger of those who have been seduced and sinned against.

3. Jeroboam"s ingratitude (vers. 7-9). He was taken from among the people, and yet he had shown no anxiety to discharge aright the duties of the high office committed to him.

(1) Human patterns were despised ("Thou hast not been as my servant David").

(2) God Himself was east behind his back.

4. The doom.

(1) There was deepest dishonour for him. His house was overthrown and removed as the vilest refuse.

(2) There was destruction for his people. For the impenitent and all who are led by them there is, and can be, only utter and eternal ruin.

IV THE SHADOW OF FALLING JUDGMENT (vers. 17-20).

1. Abijah"s death. The light of the home, the hope of the land, is taken.

2. Jeroboam"s death. "The Lord struck him and he died". (2Ch_13:20) The clear intellect and the strong hand are smitten and removed. Slowly but surely the word advances to its accomplishment. are there no shadows of judgment on thy path? Have no words come true that make thy heart tremble because of those other words which God"s lips have also spoken? J.U.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jeroboam sends to the prophet, to inquire concerning his sick son, ver. 1-6. The destruction of Jeroboam's household told, ver. 7-16. The death of his child, ver. 17, 18. The conclusion of his reign, ver. 19, 20. The declension of Rehoboam's house and kingdom, ver. 21-28. The conclusion of his reign, ver. 28-31.

At that time - Presently after the things described in the former chapter; which, though related in the beginning of his reign, yet might be done a good while after it, and so Ahijah the prophet might be very old, as he is described to be ver. 4. It is probable he was his eldest son.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Ahijah’s Prophecy against Jeroboam

v. 1. At that time, after Jeroboam had refused to repent of his evil ways, Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell sick. It was evidently the crown prince, the successor to the throne, who became ill.

v. 2. And Jeroboam said to his wife, the mother being naturally very vitally interested in the welfare of her son, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, mainly by putting on such garments as would probably deceive the average person, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh; behold, there is Ahijah, the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. By concealing the identity of his wife, on account of his having ignored the warning to be faithful to Jehovah, 1Ki 11:38-39, Jeroboam intended to obtain a favorable answer from the prophet.

v. 3. And take with thee, namely, as presents to the seer, 1Sa 9:8, ten loaves and cracknels, probably a kind of cake,and a cruse, or bottle,of honey, and go to him; he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. The presents were purposely such as any ordinary woman of the people might have brought, and Jeroboam thought he might once more receive a Revelation favorable to his family by proceeding in this manner.

v. 4. And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see, he was on the point of turning blind; for his eyes were set by reason of his age, through paralysis of the optic nerves. Cf 1Sa 4:15.

v. 5. And the Lord said unto Ahijah, revealing the entire matter to him before the arrival of Jeroboam’s wife, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son, to get information from the representative of the Lord; for he is sick. Thus and thus shalt thou say unto her; for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.

v. 6. And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound, the scraping, of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? The deception deserved a reproof. For I am sent to thee with heavy tidings, as a messenger of hard news, of misfortune.

v. 7. Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the reproof and the prophecy being given in a rhythmical form, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over My people Israel,

v. 8. and rent the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it thee, namely, the ten northern tribes, and yet thou hast not been as My servant David, who had been placed before his eyes as a model and example, 1Ki 11:38, who kept My commandments, and who followed Me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in Mine eyes,

v. 9. but hast done evil above all that were before thee, namely, by making idolatrous worship a national institution; for thou hast gone and made thee other gods and molten images, the two calf figures, to provoke Me to anger, and hast cast Me behind thy back, the strongest expression to denote intentional and blasphemous contempt for God;

v. 10. therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, upon his family, upon all his descendants, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, exterminate them down to the very last man, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, literally, "the detained and those set free," that is, all the male members, both those that were still minors and ’those who were of age, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as often as a new scion arises, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone, both the shameful and the complete extermination being emphasized.

v. 11. Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field, out in the open country, shall the fowls of the air eat, to the disgrace of not being buried was added that of being devoured by unclean animals; for the Lord hath spoken it.

v. 12. Arise thou, therefore, get thee to thine own house; and when thy feet enter into the city, namely, Tirzah, the royal residence at that time, the child shall die.

v. 13. And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, this being at least one word of comfort; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, be buried in an honorable fashion, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam, he had inclined to the pure and lawful worship of Jehovah.

v. 14. Moreover, the Lord shall raise Him up a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day, during his reign; but what? Even now; the destruction which was to begin now would be completed at the time spoken of by Jehovah; complete annihilation was only a matter of time.

v. 15. For the Lord shall smite Israel, by the attacks and inroads of heathen nations, as a reed is shaken in the water, this referring to the events of the next two centuries, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land which He gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, as a result of their captivity beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their groves, tree-trunks dedicated to the heathen goddess Astarte, provoking the Lord to anger.

v. 16. And He shall give Israel up, deliver the entire nation, because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin, this expression now becoming the stock phrase to characterize the transgression of Jeroboam.

v. 17. And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah, which may have been a summer residence of Jeroboam; and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died.

v. 18. And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord which He spake by the hand of His servant Ahijah, the prophet.

v. 19. And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, the royal deeds for which he was noted, how he warred, 2Ch 2:13 ff. and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.

v. 20. And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years. And he slept with his fathers, having been struck with a severe and painful illness; and Nadab, his son, reigned in his stead. Jeroboam evidently died in his sins. It is a terrible thing if one who once knew the Lord and received evidences of His rich favor dies the death of a godless fool.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 14:12

I. Whose child shall die? King Jeroboam’s child, the beloved son of a king, most likely the heir to the throne. There was another king—the one who has been called the king of terrors. All the crowned heads in the world bow before him. And the prince was to become the subject of King Death. He was the child of a very bad man. Jeroboam was a teacher of sin, yet he had a very good child.

II. Why was the child to die? To punish his ungodly father. God had given Jeroboam the chance of being a very great man, but he made Israel to sin, and for that God determined to punish him. It is likely that this wicked man was very fond of his children, for when God means to punish, He can strike us on the most tender place.

III. When did the child die? The prophet told the poor mother that the boy would die just as she reached home. She returned to the palace with her heart heavy and sad, for she felt, "I am killing him in my haste to see him. He will die before I reach home."

IV. Life may be a worse thing than death. All Israel mourned for Abijah. It was not to be so with the other children of Jeroboam. They were to be so hated and despised on account of their great wickedness, that men would rejoice when they were dead and out of the way. Abijah was the best off, for though he died so early, it was better to die and be buried quietly than to live to be hated in life and loathed in death.

Serve the Lord God of Abijah; then, whether we live to be old or die in the springtime of life, all shall be well.

T. Champness, Little Foxes that Spoil the Vines, p. 95.

Reference: 1Ki 14:12-27.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 352.

1Ki 14:13

I. Look first at the description of Abijah’s piety. The "good thing" in him was not any material endowment, neither was it any moral excellence. The good thing was a "good thing toward the Lord God of Israel," a gracious, a spiritual, a Divine, a holy thing. There are two things which, when found in a man, are good and acceptable to God. (1) The first is true repentance, or what the Bible calls the "broken and contrite heart." (2) The second is "faith in that one sacrifice which doth for sin atone." Amongst all the princes of the royal house, Abijah alone refused to worship the golden calves which his father had made. In the Mosaic ritual he doubtless saw, though it might be with dim and imperfect vision, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who should one day die for the sins of the world.

II. There are one or two special lessons to be drawn from the case of Abijah. (1) Do we not learn how real piety may exist under most adverse and unfavourable circumstances? The brightest diamonds have been found in the darkest mines, and the richest pearls in the deepest seas. (2) Even a young and brief life may be fruitful in blessing. Young as Abijah was, the whole nation mourned for him. The length of life is not to be judged by the number of its years. That life is the longest in which God has been best served and the world most benefited. (3) Piety in life is the only guarantee of peace in death. An early departure from this world is not a thing to be dreaded provided our heart is right with God. If you would come to your grave in peace, be it sooner or be it later, there must be found in you "some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel."

J. Thain Davidson, Forewarned—Forearmed, p. 135.

References: 1Ki 14:13.—J. H. Evans, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 169; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 88; HomileticMagazine, vol. vii., p. 217; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix., No. 1745. 1Ki 15:22.—Parker, Fountain, Oct. 30th, 1879.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

disguise yourself

"change how you appear to others"

you will not be recognized

This can be stated in active form. AT: "no one will recognize you" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

Abijah

Jeroboam

Shiloh

Ahijah

prophet

king

people group

honey

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.