The First Book of the Kings, commonly called the Third Book of the Kings
1 Kings 14
Chapter XIV · Vol. II, pp. 745–747
1 Abijah being sick, Jeroboam sendeth his wife disguised with presents to the prophet Ahijah at Shiloh. 5 Ahijah, forewarned by God, denounceth God's judgments. 17 Abijah dieth, and is buried. 19 Nadab succeedeth Jeroboam. 21 Rehoboam's wicked reign. 25 Shishak spoileth Jerusalem. 29 Abijam succeedeth Rehoboam.
2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and cdisguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam,1 and get thee to dShiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that eI should be king over this people.
c 1 Sa.28.8. ch.22.30. 2 Ch.18.29.
1 Jeroboam had openly renounced the Mosaic institutions, by violating the first principles of the decalogue, and yet, in his time of need, he has recourse to a prophet of the Lord. This inconsistency is to be accounted for in three ways. (1) The idea of local gods, common to all idolaters. (2) The admission of superiority in one over another, in oracular responses. (3) The readiness of wicked men to acknowledge the true God in times of trouble, whom they had forgotten in their day of prosperity.—C.
d Jos.18.1. Ps.78.60,67. Je.7.12,14; 26.6.
e ch.11.29-38.
3 And ftake with thee2 ten loaves, and cracknels,3 and a cruse4 of honey, and go to him: he gshall tell thee what shall become of the child.
f 1 Sa.9.7,8. 2 Ki.5.5,15. ch.13.7.
2 Heb. in thine hand. It was customary to carry a present to a prophet when he was inquired of, 1 Sa. 9. 7. Patrick thinks this was designedly a poor present, to conceal the feigned character she had assumed; yet D'Arvieux mentions that when he waited on an Arab emir, his mother and sister sent him a present of 'pastry, honey, and fresh butter, with a bason of sweetmeats of Damascus,' a present not unlike that of Jeroboam's wife to the prophet. And presents of provisions are still made in the East, by persons in good circumstances to others whom they respect. We need not therefore suppose that the queen thought the affectation of a very low condition necessary for her purpose.—I.
3 Or, cakes.
4 Or, bottle.
g 2 Ki.8.9; 1.6.? 2 Sa.12.14. Am.3.7. Ps.25.14.
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; for his eyes hwere set by reason of his age.
5 And the iLORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; 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.
6 And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, kthou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with lheavy tidings.
7 Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, mForasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,
m ch.11.31,37; 12.24; 16.2. 2 Sa.12.7,8. Ps.75.6,7.
8 And nrent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, owho kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes;4
A.M. 3048. B.C. 956.
n ch.11.11-13,31-38; 12.1-20.
o ch.2.4; 15.5. Ac.13.22,36.
4 David sinned, and his sins are recorded and condemned; how then can he be characterized as in the text? In two ways he is entitled to this description. 1. He followed God with all his heart in opposition to idolatry, which he never countenanced. 2. In zealously reforming the church of God, according to the divine model, in doctrine and worship. 3. In faith unswerving in the divine promises, and in deep repentance wherever he had sinned. Here, by grace truly he denied himself, took up his cross, and followed Christ, even God in Christ, reconciling him to himself, and not imputing his trespasses.—C.
9 But phast 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 qhast cast me behind thy back:
10 Therefore, behold, rI will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam shim that pisseth against the wall,5 and him that is shut up and left in Israel,6 and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away tdung, till it be all gone.
r ch.15.29; 16.3,4; 21.21. Am.3.6.
s Or, every male, 2 Ki.9.8; 14.26. 1 Sa.25.22. ch.16.11. De.32.36.
5 Even to a dog, 1 Sa.25.22.—C.
6 'Shut up and secure in Israel,' viz. in the walled towns that Jeroboam had fortified, ch.12.25.—C.
t 2 Ki.21.13. Is.14.23. Eze.26.4. ch.15.29. Ps.83.10.
11 Himu 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 hath spoken it.
12 Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house; and xwhen thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.
x ver.17.
13 And all Israel yshall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found somez good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.7
y Je.22.18. Nu.20.29. De.34.8.
z 2 Ch.19.3. Phile.6. 2 Pe.2.8,9. Ge.42.18.
7 By what practical means this 'remnant according to the election of grace' was converted to the true God, we are not informed; still it is refreshing and delightful to see him as 'a brand plucked out of the burning;' and though cut off by a premature death, he was taken home from the evil to come, and doubtless had a 'desire to depart and be with Christ,' whose day, in common with all believers, he saw and longed for.—C.
14 Moreover, athe LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? beven now.
15 For the LORD cshall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water,8 and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river,9 because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.
c 1 Sa.12.22,25. 2 Ki.17.6; 15.29. Ps.52.5. De.8.7,8; 28.16-68. Le.26.15-39. Am.5.27.
8 The water-reed, like the aspen leaf, is shaken by the slightest breeze, and bent by every ripple.—C.
9 In Assyria, Media, Chaldea, &c.
16 And dhe shall give Israel up, because of the sins of Jeroboam, ewho did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
17 And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to fTirzah: and gwhen she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;
f Jos.12.24. ch.16.6,8,15,25. Ca.6.4.
g 1 Sa.2.30-34. ver.12,13.
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 servant1 Ahijah the prophet.
A.M. 3048. B.C. 956.
1 'Spake by his servant' (Boothroyd); or, if translated as in the text—'spake by the hand of his servant' held up to heaven in the attitude of appeal, warning, and threatening.—C.
19 And hthe 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.2
h 2 Ch.13.2-20. ch.15.31; 16.5,14,20,27?; 11.41.
2 No good reason appears for supposing with most expositors that these Chronicles are not the books of that name, but certain annals from which the two books of Chronicles were afterwards compiled. The parts referred to seem to be 2 Ch. 10. 3; 11. 14; 12. 15; 13. 1-20, which parts, instead of being composed long after this book of Kings, it is more natural to suppose were written before it, just as we now find it, and subsequently incorporated with the other narratives.—C.
20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers;3 and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
3 B.C. 954.
21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned4 in Judah. Rehoboami was forty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city kwhich the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother's name was Naamah an lAmmonitess.5
4 B.C. 975.
i 2 Ch.12.13, and yet very foolish, Ec.4.13.
k ch.11.36; 8.16,44. Ps.78.68,69; 132.13,14; 87.1,2; 48.1,2. 2 Ch.6.6.
l ch.11.1,2; ver.31.
5 A note of genealogy that may go far to account for Rehoboam's apostasy and anti-national feelings.—C.
22 And Judah mdid evil in the sight of the LORD,6 and they provoked him nto 7jealousy with their sins which they had committed, oabove all that their fathers had done.
23 For they also pbuilt them high places, and images,8 and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
p De.12.2. ch.3.2. 2 Ch.28.4. 2 Ki.17.9,10. Je.2.28; 11.13. Ho.4.12,13; 8.11; 12.11. Is.57.5. Ro.1.21-24.
8 Or standing images, or statues.
24 And there were also qsodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.9
q ch.15.12; 22.46. Ge.19.5. Ju.19.22. Ro.1.24,26,27. De.23.17; 18.10. 2 Ki.23.7. Le.18.24.
9 Idolatry led to immorality. The reason was that the rites by which the deities of the Ammonites, Moabites, and Phœnicians were worshipped, were in many cases most obscene. The high-places became scenes of revelry and the grossest licentiousness.—P.
25 And it came to pass, in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that rShishak king of 1Egypt came up against Jerusalem:
r 2 Ch.12.2. ch.11.40.
1 See note on ch. 11. 40. Besides what is there stated, it is worthy of remark that amongst the sculptures is one representing thirty conquered nations at the feet of the conqueror, and one of these inscribed 'Jouda-ha-Melek,' the king of Judah or the Jews.—C.
26 And he took away the streasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all tthe shields of gold which Solomon had made.
s ch.7.51; 15.18. Ps.127.1,2.
27 And king Rehoboam umade in their stead brazen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of xthe guard, which kept the door of the king's house.
x Heb. runners, 1 Sa.22.17.
28 And it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber.
29 Now ythe rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah?
y 2 Ch.12.15. ver.19; ch.11.41; 15.23; 22.45.
31 And aRehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David;2 and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess:3 and Abijam his son reigned in his stead.
A.M. 3046. B.C. 958.
a 2 Ch.12.13,16. ch.11.43; 15.8,24; 22.50; ver.20.
2 B.C. 958.
3 This is not a mere repetition, but a repeated warning in the history of an idolatrous son and an idolatrous mother.—C.
Notes
[Ver. 14. The concluding part of this verse is very obscure. The Hebrew words may be literally translated as follows:—'. . . who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam.—This is the day. And what, even now!' The meaning seems to be that Ahijah, after predicting the fall of Jeroboam's house, was enabled by prophetic vision to see its near approach, and then he broke out into the abrupt exclamation—'This is the day:' i.e. the time is at hand when it shall happen. 'And what even now' is about to occur? The son and heir of Jeroboam is just expiring. His only hope of succession is gone. P.]
Ver. 17. [Tirzah was an ancient city of Ephraim, in the mountains, beautifully situated, about 4 miles north of Shechem. Its site is now occupied by the large village of Telluzah. P.]
Ver. 26. [A fuller account of Shishak's invasion is given in 2 Ch. 12. 2-9. He has been identified as the first of the Diospolitan dynasty. His name occurs on Egyptian tablets in the form Sheshouk. He appears to have been an Ethiopian, and to have dethroned Pharaoh, Solomon's father-in-law. In Karnac there is a bas-relief representing him bearing to the feet of his gods the chiefs of vanquished nations; and among them is one with a Jewish physiognomy, and having the inscription Yuda Melki, 'kingdom of Judah.' P.]
Reflections.—When God visits our family with his rod, we ought to search out the sinful cause. And as sickness and death are equally the lot of young and old, we should always expect and prepare for it. It is common for sinners to be more anxious about the removal of their troubles than of their sins; and under trouble to apply for the assistance of God's ministers, whom they heartily hate. But it is absolute folly for those who do evil to expect from God's faithful ministers an answer of peace. It is daring to attempt imposing upon them, however aged and blind. But as no covering can hide the hypocrite from the eye of God, no presents, nor compliments, nor flattery must ever divert a minister from a bold and free declaration of the mind of God. Fearfully confounded will such imposers appear when he discovers them, especially at his awful bar. And ingratitude for singular favours, and seduction of others to sin, entail upon the transgressors the most terrible ruin. God tenderly bestows his grace upon all, even the worst of families. He takes of such the greatest care, and often removes them from the evil to come by an honourable death. How amiable is early religion! and happy is it to be early ripe for, and transported to, the joy of the Lord! At the same time it is a fearful prelude of destruction to families or nations when the godly die out from among them. Alas! that, notwithstanding warnings and judgments upon the wicked, their pattern should be so greedily followed! Even amidst weakness and distress men will become more and more wicked; while God, to punish former sins, gives them up to their hearts' lusts, till they have ripened themselves for his judgments. God's instruments are always ready at hand for chastising even his professed people: and sin quickly reduces the wealthiest to poverty and debasement. Jerusalem is now emptied of her gold and silver; yet not chiefly Shishak, but sin hath done it.