1 Kings 14:10

1Ki 14:10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, [and] him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.

Ver. 10. Him that pisseth against the, wall] Ne canibus quidem parcam; not so much as a dog of his shall escape.

And him that is shut up - in some garrison - and left,] viz., To shift as they may, there being not room in the hold to receive them; as there is not for all the bees in a hive, but some are fain to hang on it at the hive’s mouth on heaps

As a man taketh away dung.] That the pavement may be pure. Delebo omnes reliquias et quisquilias tuae familiae, I will sweep thee with the besem of destruction; and make an utter riddance of thee. {a}

{a} Scopis everram, evertam.

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 14:10-11. Will cut off him that is shut up — Those who had escaped the fury of their enemies invading them, either because they were shut up in caves, or castles, or strong towns: or, because they were left, overlooked, or neglected by them, or spared as poor, impotent, helpless creatures. But now, saith he, they shall be all searched out, and brought to destruction. As a man taketh away dung — Which they remove as a loathsome thing, out of their houses, and that thoroughly and universally. Shall the fowls of the air eat — So both sorts shall die and lie on the ground unburied.

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

Every male even to the dogs, 1 Sam. 25:22.

As well him that is in the stronghold, as him that is abroad.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam--Strong expressions are here used to indicate the utter extirpation of his house;

him that is shut up and left in Israel--means those who were concealed with the greatest privacy, as the heirs of royalty often are where polygamy prevails; the other phrase, from the loose garments of the East having led to a different practice from what prevails in the West, cannot refer to men; it must signify either a very young boy, or rather, perhaps, a dog, so entire would be the destruction of Jeroboam's house that none, not even a dog, belonging to it should escape. This peculiar phrase occurs only in regard to the threatened extermination of a family (Sa1 25:22-34). See the manner of extermination (Kg1 16:4; Kg1 21:24).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Him that pisseth against the wall] Every male. The phrase should be thus rendered wherever it occurs.

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

(10) Him . . . and him.—The first phrase is used also in 1Ki_21:21, 2Ki_9:8, to signify, “every male,” implying (possibly with a touch of contempt) that even the lowest should be destroyed. The words following have in the original no conjunction and between them. They are in antithesis to each other, signifying in some form two opposite divisions of males. The literal sense seems to be “him who is shut up, or bound, and him who is left loose;” and this phrase has been variously interpreted as “the bond and the free,” “the married and the unmarried,” “the child” who keeps at home, “and the man” who goes abroad. Perhaps the last of these best suits the context; it is like “the old and young” of Jos_6:21, Est_3:13, Eze_9:6, &c.

As a man taketh away dung.—The same contemptuous tone runs on to the end of the verse. The house of Jeroboam is the filth which pollutes the sacred band of Israel; to its last relics it is to be swept away by the besom of destruction. (Comp. 2Ki_9:37; Psa_83:10.)

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

10. and will cut off] The entire family is to be exterminated. R.V. ‘will cut off from Jeroboam every man child’.

and him that is shut up and left in Israel] There is no conjunction at the beginning of this phrase, which is used to explain the comprehensiveness of what has gone before. The words are alliterative, and apparently proverbial, in the original. The R.V. has given the sense somewhat more fully: ‘him that is shut up and him that is left at large’. That is whether a man be young and so under wardship, or older, and free to go about as he pleases. Hence the expression amounts to ‘young and old’.

and will take away the remnant] The verb is one that is frequently used of exterminating wickedness and the wicked, but the word translated ‘remnant’ is only a preposition meaning ‘after’. The sense is ‘I will clear away after the house of Jeroboam’, i.e., not only that they shall be taken away, but all traces of their existence shall be removed. As the verb in the latter clause would be most naturally rendered by ‘sweep’, the R.V. has translated the whole passage ‘and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepeth away dung’, where ‘utterly’ gives the force of the literal rendering very well.

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.

Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat,.... The meaning is, that they should have no burial:

for the Lord hath spoken it; and therefore shall be fulfilled, for what he hath said he will do, Num 23:19.

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

All the males of the family of Jeroboam were put to death by Baasha 1Ki 15:28-29. The phrase “will cut off,” etc., appears to have been a common expression among the Jews from the time of David 1Sa 25:22 to that of Jehu 2Ki 9:8, but scarcely either before or after. We may suspect that, where the author of Kings uses it, he found it in the documents which he consulted.

Him that is shut up and left in Israel - See the marginal reference note.

And will take away the remnant ... - The idea is, that the whole family is to be cleared away at once, as men clear away ordure or any vile refuse.

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

Wall. Every male child, or every dog. See 1 Kings xxv. 22. (Haydock) --- The Hebrew word mashtin, in Spanish and French, signifies a "shepherd’s dog." --- Israel. This proverbial expression signifies, that even those who keep at home, and meddle not with the affairs of war, will not escape; (Calmet) nor shall those who have run away from the field of battle, (Haydock) nor the most precious or contemptible things be spared, Deuteronomy xxxii. 36., and 4 Kings xiv. 26. (Menochius) --- Clean. This family is compared to something most disgusting, (Haydock) because it had introduced idolatry, and the prediction against it was literally fulfilled by Baasa, (chap. xv. 29.; Tirinus) "as the vintner seeks in the vineyard even for the last grape." (Syriac and Arabic)

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).

See Poole "1Sa 25:22".

Him that is shut up and left; those who had escaped the fury of their enemies invading them, either because they were shut up in caves, or castles, or strong towns; or because they were left, overlooked or neglected by them, or spared as poor, impotent, helpless creatures. But now, saith he, they shall be all searched out, and brought to destruction. See Poole "Deu 32:26".

As a man taketh away dung; which they remove as a loathsome thing out of their houses, and that thoroughly and universally.

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

10. Him that pisseth against the wall — The vilest and most insignificant domestic in his household. See note on 1Sa_25:22.

Him that is shut up and left in Israel — According to some these words designate the bond and the free in Israel; according to others, the marred and the single. The words עצור ועזוב, mean literally, shut up and loosed, and may refer to such cases of confinement and freedom as are indicated by the translations above given. The slave is shut up to service, the husband to the cares of a household; and loosed may be the opposite of either of these thoughts. But it is better, both here and elsewhere, where the phrase occurs, (Deu_32:36; 1Ki_21:21; 2Ki_14:26,) to take shut up and left in the wider sense of the prisoner and the one not yet taken, the fettered and the free. The idea is that of a people besieged by a conquering force; some are captured and shut up in prison, others are not yet taken, but one destiny awaits both — to be cut off. The expression is hyperbolical, but in keeping with Oriental forms of speech.

The remnant — If after the fierce destructions just named there should yet be a remnant of this wicked house that had escaped thus far, even that remnant shall be most vilely taken off. Observe how 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, lastly, the lone few that may have escaped death during the siege.

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

Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house The punishment fell on the house, (1Ki_15:29) not, however, to the exclusion of the prime offender (2Ch_13:20; cf. 1Ki_21:29) The reader will observe that the judgments denounced against Jeroboam"s sin, like all those of the Old Testament, are temporal. The recompense to come is completely ignored. These severe retributions are calculated and proportioned precisely as if there were no hereafter of Jeroboam, and win cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall This phrase, which Rawlinson observes is confined to the period from David to Jehu, is by him, and generally, understood to mean "every male." (It is found in 1Sa_25:22; 1Ki_16:11 1Ki_21:21; and 2Ki_9:8) But it is noteworthy, as Gesenius has remarked, that this is not a habit of Eastern men. Every traveller in Egypt will confirm the remark of Herodotus (ch. 2:35) on this subject, and the same applies to Palestine; i.e., the men sit down for this purpose, covered with their garments (Jud_1:3:24; 1Sa_24:3) Some, consequently, have been led to suppose that the reference is to the dog, but animals would hardly share in the destruction of the royal house. Gesenius is probably right when he interprets it of boys. Thus understood, it lends additional meaning to the passages where it occurs. It expresses extermination, root and branch, man and boy, and him that is shut up and left in Israel A proverbial expression (Deu_32:36; 1Ki_21:21; 2Ki_9:8) and involving some play upon words. It evidently means "men of all kinds," but as to the precise signification of the terms "shut up" and "left," there has been much difference of opinion, some

(1) interpreting them to mean respectively married and single also Keil, al.); others

(2) bond and free Gesen, al.); others

(3) precious and vile; and others again

(4) minors and those of age. (so Bahr, "All the male descendants, even the minors, were threatened with destruction.") On the whole perhaps (2) is preferable, and will take away the remnant Heb. exterminate after" (Gesen.) or sweep after" (Keil). The first rendering is the more literal. The "after" is explained, not as Bahr ("as often as a new scion arises I will take it away"), but by the fact that one who expels another follows after him (Gesen.) of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung cf. 2Ki_9:7; Job_20:7; Jer_8:2 Jer_9:22 Jer_16:4. This word expresses the loathing and contempt with which they would be treated till it be gone.

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

Shut up - Those who had escaped the fury of their enemies invading them, either because they were shut up in caves, or castles, or strong towns, or, because they were left, over-looked or neglected by them, or spared as poor, impotent, helpless creatures. But now, saith he, they shall be all searched out, and brought to destruction. Dung - Which they remove, as a loathsome thing, out of their houses, and that throughly and universally.

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

Male child. [Targum] Yonoson rendered, “one who knows knowledge,” [i.e.,] he who places it into the walls of his heart.

Any that are restrained and that are abandoned. עצור is one who has someone restraining him, as in, “This one will rule over My people.” And עזוב is one who has no one restraining him.

As one removes. As the one who digests food which [eventually] becomes dung, so will I expunge after him until he is totally consumed.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.