1 Kings 14:3

1Ki 14:3 And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.

Ver. 3. And take with thee ten loaves.] A poor country present, that she might seem none other than a plain country woman, yet willing to show her thankfulness.

And cracknels.] Or, Plain cakes; Heb., Punctata, tenues placentulas punctis respersas.

And a cruse of honey.] Or, Bottle, a narrow mouthed vessel, that when it is emptied soundeth bakbuk, that is the Hebrew word here used. See the like in Job 39:30, where the vultures are said to glut glut blood, by an onomatopoeia.

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 14:3. Take with thee ten loaves, &c. — It was usual for those that went to inquire of a prophet to make him some present as a token of their respect for him, 1Sa 9:7. The present which she was here directed to take, was of such things as suited the disguise in which she was to go, and were calculated to make Ahijah think her a country woman rather than a queen. And go to him — To inquire the event of this sickness, as the following words imply. It would have been more pious to have inquired why God contended with him; to have desired the prophet to pray for him, and to have cast away his idols; then the child might have been restored to him, as his hand was: “but most people,” says Henry, “would rather be told their fortune, than told their faults, or their duty.”

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

14:3 It was customary to take a gift to a prophet when seeking his counsel (2 Kgs 5:5; 8:8). King Jeroboam’s wife took everyday commodities to supplement her disguise.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hebrew, in thine hand.

Or, wafers.

According to the custom when they went to ask counsel of Prophets, 1 Sam. 9:7.

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

And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him--This was a present in unison with the peasant character she assumed. Cracknels are a kind of sweet seed-cake. The prophet was blind, but having received divine premonition of the pretended countrywoman's coming, he addressed her as the queen the moment she appeared, apprised her of the calamities which, in consequence of the ingratitude of Jeroboam, his apostasy, and outrageous misgovernment of Israel, impended over their house, as well as over the nation which too readily followed his idolatrous innovations.

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 3. Ten loaves] Probably common or household bread.

Cracknels] נקדים nikkuddim, spotted, or perforated bread; thin cakes, pierced through with many holes, the same as is called Jews' bread to the present day, and used by them at the passover. It was customary to give presents to all great personages; and no person consulted a prophet without bringing something in his hand.

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

(3) And take.—The presentation of this offering, designedly simple and rustic in character, accords with the custom (1Sa_9:7-8) of approaching the prophet at all times with some present, however trifling. In itself an act simply of homage, it would easily degenerate into the treatment of the prophetic function as a mere matter of merchandise. (See above, 1Ki_13:7.)

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

3. cracknels] The word so rendered is found only here and in Jos_9:5, of the bread of the Gibeonites, which became mouldy. Some take the word there in the sense of crumbling, so dry that it crumbled into bits. In the present passage however it must mean a sort of cake, perhaps dry baked. The whole of the present which the queen was to take with her was such as a woman of humble position would bring. The traditional interpretation of the Talmud makes the word to mean small cakes about the size of half an egg. The LXX. (Alex.) adds as explanatory, that they were for the prophet’s children.

and a cruse] The word only occurs here and in Jer_19:1; Jer_19:10, where it is rendered ‘bottle’.

he shall tell thee what shall become of the child] It reveals to us a singular condition of mind, when we see the king confident in the prophet’s power of foretelling the future even in the case of an individual life, and yet thinking that the queen could go to him with her question and he not know who was making the inquiry.

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.

And Jeroboam's wife did so, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Abijah,.... Disguised herself, and took this long journey, and found the prophet's house; which she did partly in obedience to her husband, and partly from affection to her child: but Abijah could not see; her or anybody else that came into the room to him:

for his eyes were set by reason of his age; or "stood" fixed and immovable, as the eyes of blind men are; or the nerves and muscles of his eyes stood within the holes thereof, so that he could not see objects.

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

See the marginal reference The presents here were selected for the purpose of deception, being such as a poor country person would have been likely to bring. Jeroboam counted also on Ahijah’s blindness 1Ki 14:4 as favoring his plan of deception (compare Gen 27:1, Gen 27:22).

Cracknels - See the margin. The Hebrew word is thought to mean a kind of cake which crumbled easily.

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

Cracknels. Hebrew nikkudim, "cakes full of holes," &c., Josue ix. 12. (Calmet) --- Septuagint give a double translation, "cakes and raisins." Arabic, "fruits." Syriac adds "dried." It was customary to make presents to the prophets, 1 Kings ix. 7. (Calmet) --- But these were mean, that the woman might not be known. (Du Hamel) --- It is not said that Ahias deigned to receive them. (St. Jerome in Mic. iii.)

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).

A cruse of honey; a present, after the manner, Jdg 13:17; 1Sa 9:7,8; 2Ki 5:15; 8:8; but mean, as became an ordinary country woman, which she personated.

And go to him, to inquire the event of this sickness, as the following words imply.

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

3. Cracknels — נקדים, seems to denote a small sprinkled or punctured cake, baked hard for the purpose of keeping well during a long journey. Such small hard-baked biscuit are still used by the common people in the East. Compare Jos_9:5, where the word is erroneously rendered mouldy. The bread, the cracknels, and the honey were to be used as honorary presents for the prophet, according to the customs of the times. See note on 1Sa_9:7.

What shall become of the child — Henry well calls attention to the “notion of fatality” evinced in this inquiry of Jeroboam, and also in that of Ahaziah, (2Ki_1:2,) and that of Ben-hadad. 2Ki_8:8. They inquire simply what the end will be, not what means they should use for recovery.

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

And take with thee Heb. in thine hand ten loaves Ten would seem to have been a usual number. (1Sa_17:18) On the subject of gifts or fees to prophets, judges, etc., see on Jos_9:5, Jos_9:12, where Gesenius would render "crumbs." Mouldy bread would hardly be taken as a present. These cakes, according to the LXX, Cod. Alex., were for the prophet"s children and a cruse i.e. , leather bottle, qBuqB Bakbuk, is clearly an onomatopoetic word, suggested by the bubbling noise of liquids in emptying of honey Spices and other delicacies were often given as presents, and honey was a special product of the country. (Exo_3:8; Deu_8:8; 2Sa_17:29) The honey sent by Jacob to Joseph was probably "honey of grapes". The present was purposely a poor one, for the sake of maintaining the deception; i.e., it was a part of the disguise, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of Heb. be to the child . At first it strikes us as strange that Jeroboam merely asks what the result will be. He does not petition, that is to say, as in 1Ki_13:6, for a cure. But we find the same peculiarity, which some would explain by the fatalism of the East, in 2Ki_1:2, and ch. 8:9, In the present instance, however, no such explanation is needed. For

(1) Jeroboam could hardly ask a favour of a prophet of Jehovah, or hope that it would be granted if he did, and

(2) if, as he feared, the sickness was judicial, it would be useless to ask for healing. The infatuation which insisted on a disguise for the purpose of deceiving the prophet, who nevertheless was believed to be able to divine the issue of the sickness, is very characteristic, and has had many parallels since.

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

And take - A present, after the manner, but mean, as became an ordinary country woman, which she personated. It had been more pious to inquire, why God contended with him.

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

Biscuits. A type of parched grain, dried in an oven, and they make flour from it to make it into a dish called שתיתא, in the language of the Gemara.

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.