Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 14:1
At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
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.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
At that time – The phrase here connects the narrative which follows with Jeroboams 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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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 Jeroboams rebellion against God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. At that timea phrase usedoften loosely and indefinitely in sacred history. This domesticincident in the family of Jeroboam probably occurred towards the endof his reign; his son Abijah was of age and considered by the peoplethe heir to the throne.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
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.
1Ki 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. , from , 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 (1Ki 11:38-39). But he turned to this prophet because he had spoken concerning him , to be king, i.e., that he would become king, over this people. stands for , 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 (1Ki 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., 1Sa 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, (lxx), crustulam (Vulg.). It is different in Jos 9:5.
1Ki 14:4-5 Ahijah could no longer see, because his eyes were blinded with age. as in 1Sa 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. ; see at Jdg 18:4, , “let it be if she comes and disguises herself;” i.e., if when she comes she should disguise herself.
1Ki 14:6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering the door (the participle , according to the number and gender, refers to the implied in , 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. (cf., 1Ki 12:13) is equivalent to ; for the construction, compare Ewald, 284, c.
1Ki 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., 1Ki 11:31), … but thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments…(cf., 1Ki 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.” , every male person; see at 1Sa 25:22. A synonymous expression is , 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 1Ki 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 1Ki 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). with of relationship, equivalent to of those related to Jeroboam. It is the same in 1Ki 14:13.
1Ki 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 as standing for , and refers the suffix to the following word (vid., Ewald, 309, c.). But as this use of the suffix would be very harsh, the question arises whether is not to be regarded as a feminine form of the infinitive, after the analogy of in Exo 2:4 and in 2Ki 19:3, etc. From the fulfilment of this declaration in 1Ki 14:17, 1Ki 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 (1Ki 14:18), and partly from what follows here in the next verse. means in his relation to Jehovah.
1Ki 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. is placed before , to give it the stronger emphasis, as in Exo 32:1 (compare Jos 9:12-13, and Ewald, 293, b.; and for compare Delitzsch on Job, i. p. 290, transl.).
1Ki 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.” is used for idols generally, among which the golden calves are reckoned. , that He may deliver up Israel, on account of the idolatrous forms of worship introduced by Jeroboam. For the fulfilment see 2Ki 15:29; 2Ki 17:23, and 2Ki 18:11. – In 1Ki 14:17, 1Ki 14:18 the exact fulfilment of Ahijah’s announcement concerning the death of Jeroboam’s sick son is described. According to 1Ki 14:17, Jeroboam was then residing at Thirza, whereas he had at first resided at Shechem (1Ki 12:25). Thirza is probably the present Talluza, on the north of Shechem (see at Jos 12:24).
1Ki 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 (2Ch 13:2.). See also the Comm. on 1Ki 14:30. He was followed on the throne by his son Nadab.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Abijah’s Sickness; the Prophet Ahijah Consulted. | B. C. 960. |
1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 And Jeroboam said to 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 king over this people. 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. 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 were set by reason of his age. 5 And the LORD 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, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.
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, v. 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. xiii. 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 (ch. xiii. 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,1Ki 14:2; 1Ki 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, ch. xiii. 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 (2 Kings i. 2) and Benhadad (2 Kings viii. 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, v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Commentary on First Kings – Chapter 14 AND Second Chronicles – Chapter 12
Sick Prince, 1Ki 14:1-6
Jeroboam must have been reigning quite some time when the events of the present reading took place. The legacy of his false worship and sin against the Lord was steadily coming to the judgment day. The little prince, Abijhah, was near death, and Jeroboam bethought himself again of the God he had long since ignored. The calves were not sufficient for an answer to his need, nor did he consult his many priests of his own making. Instead his mind went back to old Ahijah, now old and all but forgotten. The wicked king remembered how he was met on that long-ago day by a younger Prophet Ahijah wearing a new coat. Strangely the prophet had torn up his new coat and given ten pieces to Jeroboam, announcing that he would become king over ten of the twelve tribes of Israel. Perhaps he thought little of the prediction at the time, for he was already contemplating greater things. But now he considered the accuracy of Ahijah’s prediction.
Thinking, then, that this old prophet, who knew the future of Jeroboam’s ambitions, could also predict the future of the little sick prince. Yet, there was no reason why Ahijah might not refuse a hearing to the king, for he knew he had lived contrary to the God of the prophet. Maybe Jeroboam remembered the prediction of the prophet out of Judah again, who tried to turn him around and showed the Lord’s displeasure with his calves. There was nothing to recommend the king’s problem to the Lord’s prophet.
Jeroboam thought perhaps he could deceive the Lord by deceiving the prophet and get a favorable response to his problem. Thus he might save little Abijah’s life by making the Lord think it was someone else who was making request for help. He dared not go himself to Ahijah, nor would risk recognition of the real petitioner for help other than through disguise of his wife. So she is to dress as another and carry a fine present of food, such as an old man might enjoy and enlist his help. So she carried him ten loaves of bread, cracknels (hard-baked biscuits, punctured with holes), and. a cruse of honey. She was to inquire what was to be the outcome of her child’s illness.
Ahijah was very old, blind with old age, and not likely to recognize anyone by sight. But the Lord knew the scheme of wicked King Jeroboam and his wife. He spoke to the old prophet and told him that the wife of the king was coming to him to inquire concerning the illness of her son, and that she would pretend to be another woman. Therefore she had no secrets when she reached the house of Ahijah. When he heard her feet coming in at the door he invited her, “Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? God has given me a grave message for you.” Jeroboam could not frustrate God, nor can He ever be deluded! (1Co 6:9-10).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM
1 Kings 12-22.
IN resuming our study of I Kings, in this 12th chapter we confront a sudden turn in history. The falling of such a man as Solomon is a shock to history itself; a stop so sudden in its impetuous rush, that all society is shaken in consequence, and wonder as to what next? takes possession of the people. The text of Scripture does not always take account of time. How many days elapsed between the emptying of Davids throne by Solomons death, and the accession to the same on the part of Rehoboam, we are not told; but the pivotal points in this adjustment are made plain, and in the study of them one fact shines clearly forth, namely, that God, the true King of Israel, lived and reigned.
Men make their plans and attempt their executions, but history records how the Divine will overrules them all. The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord (Pro 16:33).
Teachers have called attention to the fitness of renaming the fifth Book of the New Testament, and instead of calling it, The Acts of the Apostles, declare it, The Acts of the Holy Ghost. So in this Old Testament history we seem to be studying the acts of the kings of Judah and Israel, but they are necessarily interpreted in the light of the will of the King of kings, the Lord of Glory. Whosoever sitteth upon the throne, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Keeping that fact before us, we find these eleven chapters are as full of spiritual suggestions as they are replete with historic incidents, and in the interest of time as it relates itself to the most important truths, I ask your attention to the great opposing personalities that are herein discovered; to Jeroboam vs. Rehoboam; to Elijah vs. Ahab, and to Micaiah vs. false prophets.
JEROBOAM VS. REHOBOAM
Coming events cast their shadows before! We had not finished the 11th chapter when Jeroboam, the son of Neb at, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomons servant, the son of a widow, was lifting his hand against the king, and Ahijah, the prophet, was kindling his ambitions by telling him that the God of Israel would rend the kingdom out of Solomons hands and give ten tribes to him. The path, therefore, of Rehoboam, Solomons son, was not clear. If he came to the kingdom he must both put down his opponent and placate his people. This dual task requires wisdom, and the subject of the complaint was one with which the counsellors of the old king were alone familiar. When Rehoboam consulted them, they advised moderation in speech and conduct.
That is a hard word for ambitious youth. It is a consent to place a leash on passionate strength. The impetuous prince straightway made appeal to young men and secured from them the counsel his inexperienced spirit craved, namely the counsel of rigor, expressed in. the threat, my little finger shall be thicker than my fathers loins (1Ki 12:10).
Men, particularly inexperienced men, commonly accept the counsels that fit with their own plans and desires, and Rehoboam was no exception.
But even then, history is not made apart from the will and plan of God. The very decision of Rehoboam is a part of the prophecy of Ahijah as much so as the perfidy of Judas was prophecy converted into history. Whether God rules in all things may be a question! That God is familiar with all contingencies before they come to pass is not even debatable, and that He presides over history is a settled truth. If Judas betrayed Jesus that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled, so also Rehoboam refused wise counsel and accepted the false, that the word which the Lord spake by Ahijah the Shilonite should stand. Foreknowledge of human conduct does not render God morally responsible in any measure for what men may do, but it does enable Him to administer all history, and in the end to work out His own will.
In the remaining portion of this chapter and running through the 16th of the same book, there are at least three outstanding lessons to be learned by the observant student.
The Menace of mistaken counsels! Modern science is proving that all space is a unity, and transmission of sound by the radio is demonstrating that the speech made in America can actually be heard on every continent of the world; and yet more certain still is it that single events influence and affect history more positively and permanently than a spoken word affects the element of ether.
If it had been the rule of Rehoboam alone, the result of this consultation with the old men first and with the young men later must still have been important, but with limitations, both in time and effect. When it is remembered, however, that all human history, to the end of the age, would take color from the decision reached by this young king, then who can measure the importance of wise counsel?
The cheapest commodity is advice; that is to say, it is everywhere on exhibit and offered for nothing, but in the end it comes at the greatest conceivable cost or proves itself to have been a most invaluable contribution. In other words, counsel makes or mars. The world to this hour is suffering from Rehoboams mistake, not alone in the division of the sons of Abraham, but since that day, every Gentile nation has felt the evil influence of the same.
There is a philosophy, popular at this time, to the effect that it does not make much difference what you tell youth; whether you counsel them concerning the true God in heaven, or tell them that the only God there is is a one-celled animal; whether you lead them to believe that the inspired record of Genesis is true, or scoff their minds into an utter skepticism; whether you impress them with the notion that they are apesbetter developed, or the true creatures of Gods own thought, plan and power. There seems to be an impression that the counsel of youth finds no expression in the character of mature men and womena philosophy as false as the devil who fathers it.
I tell you that the counsels of youth determine everything! America, one hundred years from now, will be reaping the harvest of what is sown in the minds of the young men at this moment. If they are taught the truth, they will bless the world. If they are taught a lie, they will curse it! A correct counsel for the young is of too infinite moment to be banished from society through the specious plea of skeptics who cry Academic freedom. Rehoboam was not a beardless boy when they counselled him falsely. He was forty-one years of age, and yet, with even such maturity of years, he succumbed, and the nations have suffered in consequence. How vastly more deleterious is the effect of false counsel upon the ten and fifteen and twenty year old youth! To teach him falsehoods in the name of academic freedom is to flout all sound philosophy, fly in the face of all mans experience and seek to cover rotting skepticism with a wholesome sounding phrase!
But to pass on to another and kindred point, involving chapter 13:
The immorality of compromise with false ministers. When in the study of the week we came to a careful consideration of this 13th chapter, we felt exactly as though we were listening to an address in the Convention of the Christian Fundamentalists. Here is a true prophet of God with a Divinely given message, and a commission, and on his way. He is overtaken by a false prophet, a new theologian, a man with a social message, and is asked to sit at meat with him and prove himself a good fellow, and is even told that this is the will of the Lord. So the true prophet went back with the false prophet and did eat bread and drink water and the consequence was his repudiation by the false prophet first and a speedy judgment upon his disobedience, executed by his death at the paw of a lion (1Ki 13:11-32). The false prophet mourned him, buried and built a tomb to him, and requested of his own sons that he be let to lie beside him when his days are done.
How modern it all sounds! The greatest single plea presented by the new theologian of the present is that of good fellowship. They want us to sit at the same table with them; they want us to be silent about our differences; they want us to believe in their human and natural philosophies; that they are as true prophets of God as are the men who come with the revealed Word; and if we yield to their persuasions, compromise with them on the great matters in dispute between us. Deep in their own souls they despise us for our failure to stand for what we knew to be the inspired Word, and yet when we are dead, they will build tombs to us, and ask to be buried at our sides!
Meantime, every true minister of the Gospel must determine whether he will yield to such social and philosophic enticements or whether he will take his place with John and in obedience to the revelation made to that prophet, receive him not into your house, neither hid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds (2Jn 1:10-11).
Moving on to chapters 14 to 16, we find another fundamental truth waiting to be apprehended and emphasized, namely,
The folly of attempting to purchase acceptable prophecy. Here again the Old Testament times are being duplicated in the New Testament day. The son of Jeroboam fell sick. Ahijah the prophet was consulted by the queen mother, who came in disguise, with gifts and flatteries. The old mans vision had failed; his eyes were set by reason of age, he could not see; but age does not dim the vision of the Lord, and He revealed her personality to Ahijah and told him both her plan and purpose. So at the sound of her feet at the door, the old prophet said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings (1Ki 14:6), and he pronounced judgment upon the king and his house and plainly declared that God would raise up another king over Israel who should cut off the whole house of Jeroboam in justice against the kings sin; and the prophecy came to pass, and Jeroboam, who had reigned twenty-two years, slept with his fathers, and Rehoboam, son of Solomon, who reigned in Judah, went also to his grave. Singularly enough, the death of these kings is recorded in the same chapter.
Then follows the long list of the kings on either side, conflicts, divisions, disasters and judgments (chaps. 15; 16). There are plenty of people who would like to purchase acceptable prophecy. There are plenty of women who, like Jeroboams wife, do not want the truth of God. They want smooth words; they want the prophet to say there is no sickness; they want him to affirm there is no death; they want him even to deny the reality of the same. Such people are perfectly willing to pay a price. They go to the healers, with ten loaves and cracknels and a cruse of honey. False philosophy is a profitable business, but it never yet exempted anybody from peril, never saved a single scientist from sin or sickness or death. It never kept a solitary throne upon a stable foundation and it never will.
It is interesting to watch these thrones rock, totter and fall one after another, and to find in every instance a fulfilment of the prophetic word of the Lord. Though heaven and earth shall pass away, not one jot or tittle of all that God has spoken shall fail.
But to turn afresh to our text and study another subject.
ELIJAH VS. AHAB
Read 1 Kings 17-21.
The histories of potentates and prophets run parallel in the Books of the Kings. Their views of life are divergent. Elijah and Ahab have little in common beyond the fact that they are contemporaneous, and dwell in the same empire. Elijahs character so far outshines that of Ahab that we consider the latter only as his conduct is seen in the light of the former. Let us learn again,
A pessimistic pronouncement does not disprove the prophet of God. When Elijah the Tishbite comes upon the scene, his first speech is, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years (1Ki 17:1). No! wonder he was non-acceptable! Unpalatable truths make unpopular preachers. The men who dont want to believe in the prophecies concerning the Second Coming of Christ, denounce as pessimists those who faithfully quote and believe Gods word upon that subject, and feel that by the very name they have discredited and discountenanced them. But Revelation pays little regard to what men want. It never consults public opinion that it may suit its speech to the same. It gives out the truth, knowing that in the end the knowledge of the truth is the worlds sorest need. If a famine is coming, it is foolish to shut ones ears against its prediction and be overtaken by starvation; and, if Christ is coming, it is foolish to repudiate the prophecy, to be shamed by His sudden appearance.
When will men learn that the prophet of God is not appointed to repeat the nonsensical platitudes of a Coue, or the filched and false aphorisms of a Mary Baker Eddy? The test of the prophets has not changed one whit in thirty centuries. To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them (Isa 8:20). When a prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken (Deu 18:22). Only a few years ago the post millenarians of America were telling us that war was forever over; that in the evolution of the race we had developed a better wisdom and adopted a more righteous way, and they held to scorn those who believed that in the last days wars would rend the world; and that famines, and pestilences would follow in the wake of them. But the words of Jeremiah the Prophet are the test of all such opponents of the truth, The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him (Jer 28:9).
The 18th chapter has a further suggestionThe Prophets faith and speech is his sufficient self-defense. In this chapter, Elijah suddenly appears and sends, by the mouth of the Prophet Obadiah, word to Ahab, Elijah is here! He had no fear! He dared to face Ahab, the professed king of Israel, confident in the Potentate of Heaven, Israels true King. In answer to Ahabs question, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? he set up his defense, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy fathers house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord (1Ki 18:17-18), and by faith he proposed a challenge, involving the entire company of Baal prophets, The God that answereth by fire, let Him be God (1Ki 18:24). We know the result; Jehovah revealed Himself as a God that heareth and answereth prayer, and it was made manifest that Baal was no god at all, and the consequence is the slaughter of the false prophets and the justification of Elijah. What other defense does the true prophet need for his person than he has in the King of kings, the Lord of Glory? And what other defense for his message than that he brings the Word of the Lord?
It doesnt concern me that certain of my brethren write, We wont accept the article on the Second Coming of Christ to be found in the Confession of Faith of the Fundamentalists of America. My concern is in another subject. Are these articles justified by the Word, and fortified in the sacred sentences thereof? The Lord is the defense of the true minister, and the Word the one and only justification of his message.
The endangered prophet has the assurance of Divine care and provision. The execution of the false prophets stirred Jezebel to desperate decision. The life of Elijah is threatened. A womans rage holds nothing in reverence. The fury of Jezebel was a thousandfold more dangerous than the anger of Ahab, and from it Elijah fled; before it, Elijah fainted; in the face of it, Elijah requested for himself that he might die (1 Kings 19).
And yet it is impossible to believe that Elijahs fear and discouragement were the fruits of cowardice. Instead they were the natural reactions of an overstrained spirit; doubtless in part, the result of having slain the false prophets in keeping with the customs of the day, when he had no command from the Lord, and also the protest of an overtaxed mind and body.
How grateful readers should be that the whole story is recorded, for with it is also written the story of Gods tenderness and the repeated instances of Gods care. Two visits from an angel, food and drink; a still, small voice; a gracious declaration of the 7,000 fraternal souls. What refreshing for body, mind and spirit! God truly cares for the whole man, and concerns Himself for him who ministers in His Word.
But to conclude our study with the consideration of,
MICAIAH VS. FALSE PROPHETS
and to learn from these three remaining chapters, 20 to 22, three important lessons:
Ahab wages successful war when he has Gods Word for his warrant. In his battle against Benhadad the king of Syria, he had Gods promise against Syria, Behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord (1Ki 20:13). The battle was won when that word was spoken. Ahab is no saint. His life and conduct are not acceptable to Jehovah, but he is king of Israel, the ruler over Gods people, and God cares for His own, and when they are at war with sinners, men who do not so much as name God, Jehovah is likely to be on their side.
Even poor leadership is not likely to doom a good cause. God does not lose His interest in right, when the evil rule. A thousandfold better to fight for a just cause with weak leadership than for an unjust cause, superbly led. The boasted scholarship of modernism fills me with no fear in trying to stand before it. Intellectual superiority, when it sets itself against God, is insanity; and even the great Gladstone of England had no objection to being found in fellowship with the plain people. He was that countrys Commoner indeed, and Americas great Commoner, William Jennings Bryan, was brainy enough to know that battles will finally be won upon the basis of right and wrong, which is only another way of saying, If God be for us, who can be against us? Where God is, there is victory! In the last analysis, the success of an enterprise does not depend upon its human leadership but rests with the Divine favor instead.
But to the 21st chapter and learn another lesson The covetousness of a king may be indulged at the cost of a kingdom. Here we have the record of Naboths vineyard, desired by Ahab and refused by its rightful owner. People may be disposed to condemn Naboth for not selling out when his superior proffered him a fair price, but only such as are ignorant of the Word would so speak. Naboth was more anxious to be loyal to the King of kings than to this petty potentate. He could not forget the Word of the Lord written in Num 36:7, So shall not the inheritance of the Children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the Children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers; and if Ahab had known the Word of the Lord, he would have been reminded of Eze 46:18, Moreover the prince shall not take of the peoples inheritance by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession.
Some men have sought to justify Ahab here by saying this was not covetousness, since he offered Naboth a proper price for it, but the defense is insufficient. The man who so far covets his neighbors possessions as to secure his death in order to appropriate the same is an enemy alike of God and of man, and cannot escape the judgment of the Lord. Hence it is written, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine (1Ki 21:19).
Truly, as Joseph Parker says, When Ahab went down to take possession of that vineyard, a death warrant was awaiting him. Yea, all the world does move under the hand of God and there are righteous results everywhere operative, and justice is a thousand fold more often meted out than men ever imagine.
A defenseless boy may be picked off a train in Florida and a purchasable judge may fine him an amount that he knows the lad does not have, and under the pretense of justice fling him into prison to die at the hands of a flogging brute in the form of a man, and months may pass; no mention of the matter reach the public, and in consequence the criminal chuckles to himself, My deeds are covered! Justice, if it sleep, is not dead, and in an unexpected moment it will arouse itself to speak in thunder tones, quickening the whole nation into a united jury that shall pass sentence and demand judgment. God lives!
Finally, The temporal interests of Gods Kingdom rest between true and false prophets. The last chapter tells the story of Micaiah, Gods true Prophet, and of a company of men who profess to be prophets, but who are possessed by a lying spirit. There were about 400 of these. Majorities do not settle questions of revelation, not even when they are 400 to 1! The more false prophets you have, the less dependable is their counsel. For the first time since Solomons death, the two kingdoms, Judah and Israel, have a prospect of being united. The lying spirit in the mouth of the false prophets did promise the project and assure the united forces of a final victory against the enemy.
Alas for the faith of men who follow those who have no sure word of prophecy! Micaiah, the true prophet, may be smitten on the cheek; may be thrust into prison; may be fed with the bread of affliction and the water of shame, but His word will not fail on that account. Throughout the length and breadth of the land, on this beautiful Sunday morning, there are hundreds of true prophets of God whom certain ecclesiastical potentates are seeking to silence. In the Methodist denomination, bishops are refusing them appointments. In the Baptist and Congregational denominations, State Secretaries are setting their faces against them, and are seeking to influence leading church officials to reject them, and cast them out.
Suffering is the true prophets experience, but better a Micaiah in prison with scant bread and unslaked thirst, than a deceived king marching forth to a battle that shall leave him dead on the field. The after-history of the prophet we do not know. God for His own reasons left that in obscurity. What matters it? If, as a free man he breathed his last as Moses did, on Nebos heights; if as a martyr he yielded up his spirit as did Stephen in Jerusalem; if as Paul he perished in prison, what matters it? An angel came to claim Moses body; Heaven opened to receive Stephens spirit; and Paul quit the earth with a triumphant shout! The kingdom is suffering; its king and subjects are still evil in the sight of the Lord; Baal, the false god of worship is an insult to the most High, but the prophets spirit is safe!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE REIGNS OF JEROBOAM AND REHOBOAM
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
1Ki. 14:1. Abijah, the son of JeroboamNatural heir to the kingdom. His sickness, therefore, seemed to imperil the continuance of Jeroboams house.
1Ki. 14:2. There is Ahijah the prophetHe was appropriately selected, because Ahijah was the prophet who, in Solomons 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 honeyThese were gifts which a humble peasant woman would take, and accorded with the disguised appearance of the kings wife. The ten loaves were more probably a kind of hearth cake, (Sept.) Crustula (Vulg.).
1Ki. 14:4. Could not see, for his eyes were setKeil 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 theeInasmuch has he had established idolatry as a legalised state institution. Hast cast Me behind thy backthe 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 leftAn alliterative phrase probably meaning those under guardian; not of age. Keil suggests, him who is left to himselfunmarried. 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, ; this, to-day, viz., cut off the house of Jeroboam, this very day, in the death of his son. But what? Even now . 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 grovesTheir Asherahs; statues of the female deity elsewhere called Ashtarte.
1Ki. 14:17. TirzahNow 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 Jeroboams 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. Gideons ephod became a snare contrarily to his intentions (Jdg. 8:27). Solomons 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 Jeroboams 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 Israels 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 monarchs 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.
116 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 Ahijahs 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 continuanceliving under the tyranny of Jeroboam, where all was new and revolutionaryhe 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 Jeroboams 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 Jeroboams 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 sons disease, and did he think he could not know his wifes 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 beoften 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 Jehovahs 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 mothers heart; and scarcely, perhaps, intelligible to her stunned intellect. Here was the beginning of judgment upon Jereboam and upon her, because she was hisjudgment 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 judgmentmercy, 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 Lords vindicatory justice would thus be spared the seeming harshness of bringing ruin upon a righteous king for his fathers crimes. Alas! how little do we know the real objects of the various incidents of life and deathof 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 Lords best beloved die betimestaken from the evil to comewhile 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 Gods 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 hereI. That goodness may be partial and yet true.
1. Abijahs 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) Abijahs 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 disciplehe was a weak one; a bright lighthe 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 springsin unlikely places, in unlikely heartsGod knows it. And He accepts it. Learn here:
1. A lesson in judging of others. We must be charitablemen 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 Jeroboams 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 thiswhich rung continually in her ears in all her homeward wayWhen 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 mothers 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 Jeroboams 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.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
I. THE DECREE AGAINST JEROBOAM 14:120
The commencement of the divine retribution against the house of Jeroboam is related in this unit. The same prophet who foretold Jeroboams reign over Israel now issued a decree of doom against his dynasty. Here is narrated (1) the mission of the kings wife(1Ki. 14:1-5); (2) the message of the prophet (1Ki. 14:6-16); (3) and the mourning over the kings son (1Ki. 14:17-18). To this is appended (4) a concluding note on the reign of Jeroboam (1Ki. 14:19-20).
A. THE MISSION OF THE KINGS WIFE 14:15
TRANSLATION
(1) At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. (2) And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray you, disguise yourself, that it might not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh. Behold Ahijah the prophet is there. He is the one who spoke concerning me that I would be king over this people. (3) And take in your hand ten loaves of bread, and cakes and a jar of honey, and go unto him. He shall tell you what shall become of the lad. (4) And the wife of Jeroboam did so, and arose and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah was not able to see, for his eyes were set because of his age. (5) And the LORD had said unto Ahijah, Behold the wife of Jeroboam is about to come to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you speak unto her. And it shall come to pass when she comes that she will pretend to be another woman.
COMMENTS
Some time seems to have elapsed since the events of the last chapter, and the reign of Jeroboam is coming to a close. The capital has been transferred from Shechem (1Ki. 12:25) to Tirzah, probably because the latter town was easier to defend. During those days, the crown prince Abijah[355] (Yahweh is my father) fell desperately sick (1Ki. 14:1). The fact that Jeroboam gave his son a name ending in yah (short for Yahweh) has been adduced as proof that he did not regard himself as disloyal to the national Deity, although he had repudiated the national sanctuary in Jerusalem. Apart from the fact that the child may have been born prior to the establishment of the calf religion, it remains a precarious procedure to draw inferences about a mans theology from the names that he gave his children.
[355] It is most interesting to note that both Jeroboam and Rehoboam gave their sons and intended successors the name Abijah. cf. 2Ch. 12:16.
Suspecting that the illness of his son was punitive, Jeroboam determined to secure from the prophet of God some word as to the prognosis for the lad. The kings decision to seek help from Ahijah was based on the prophets support of him in the past. But realizing that his own religious activities would bring only censure and rebuke and perhaps an unfavorable prediction, Jeroboam determined to send his wife to seek the oracle. Even she must disguise (lit., change) herself so that neither the prophet nor the populace[356] would recognize her as the queen (1Ki. 14:2).
[356] According to Slotki (SBB, p. 104) the disguise was intended to be a protection against the kings personal enemies and was not intended to conceal her identity from the prophet.
The commission was too delicate to be entrusted to a servant or stranger. The inconsistency of the king is seen in that while he anticipated receiving from the prophet reliable insight into the future, he expected the old man to be deceived by his wifes disguise. At any rate, the wife was instructed to take with her certain giftsten loaves, some cakes, a leather bottle of honeyas presents for the prophet. The present was purposely a poor one for the sake of maintaining the deception. The reason for this elaborate preparation is so that the king might learn what the fate of his young son would be (1Ki. 14:3). Probably Jeroboam hoped for more than just information; he may have hoped to trick the old prophet into a declaration that the son would recover. In godless superstition he apparently believed that whatever the prophet said would come to pass even if he were tricked into saying it.
The queen was just as anxious as her husband to secure the pronouncement of the prophet and so, as soon as she had made the necessary preparations, she hastened to Shiloh. Shiloh would be about thirty miles distant from Tirzahmore than a days journey for the queen, as the road involves some toilsome climbing. Ahijah lived in his own house in Shiloh and spent his days there in darkness because his eyes had set, i.e., his pupils would not adjust to the light (1Ki. 14:4). Why Ahijah had remained in the North when other godly Israelites were migrating to the South is not stated. Some suggest it was because of his old age and others that he felt a duty to remain and be as best he could a witness for truth.
The attempted deception was frustrated by a direct revelation from the Lord. Ahijah was told who was coming to his house and for what purpose she was coming (1Ki. 14:5).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(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.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jeroboam’s Wife Approaches Ahijah The Prophet Concerning The Sickness of Their Son ( 1Ki 14:1-18 ).
The life story of Jeroboam concludes with a quite remarkable story. It would appear that there was one member of the house of Jeroboam who was still seeking to be faithful to YHWH, and that was Abijah, the son of Jeroboam. And because YHWH intended to bring shame and disgrace on the whole house of Jeroboam He chose to save Abijah from this disgrace by bringing him to a premature, but honourable, death, followed by full mourning and a respectable burial. Like the man of God in the previous story it is the true believer who comes to premature death, within God’s purposes.
It is true that in neither case is there a hint of resurrection. Such a doctrine was unknown in Israel at that time. But resurrection is the only thing that makes ultimate sense in both these cases (and Elijah will also shortly be snatched away into ‘heaven’ – 2Ki 2:1; 2Ki 2:11). And certainly David seems to have had a sense the death was not the end for the true believer (Psa 16:11; Psa 17:15; Psa 23:6). What this story does therefore clearly teach is that it is better to die in a true relationship with God, than to live on without it.
In the story Jeroboam sends his wife in disguise to discover from Ahijah the prophet what will happen to his ailing son (of unknown age). But forewarned by YHWH Ahijah takes the opportunity to denounce Jeroboam for his failure to live by the covenant that YHWH had made with him and declares that the child, the only member of the house of Jeroboam who is pleasing to YHWH, will die. It should be noted that this demonstrates that in spite of his apostasy, Jeroboam recognised that truth could only be found with the true prophets of YHWH. He had also demonstrated that when he had called on the man of God to heal him. In other words in his heart he really knew where the truth lay, but he saw it as too costly to accept.
Analysis.
a
b And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age’ (1Ki 14:4).
c And YHWH said to Ahijah, “See, the wife of Jeroboam comes to enquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her, for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend that she is another woman” (1Ki 14:5).
d And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, “Come in, you wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend that you are another? For I am sent to you with heavy tidings” (1Ki 14:6).
e “Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, ‘Forasmuch as I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you, and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do only what was right in my eyes, but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back” (1Ki 14:7-9).
d “Therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every man-child, him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung, until it is all gone. Him who dies of Jeroboam in the city will the dogs eat, and him who dies in the field will the birds of the heavens eat. For YHWH has spoken it” (1Ki 14:10-11).
c “Arise you therefore, get you to your house, and when your feet enter the city, the child will die, and all Israel will mourn for him, and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing towards YHWH, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. Moreover YHWH will raise him up a king over Israel, who will cut off the house of Jeroboam that day. But what? even now. For YHWH will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and He will root up Israel out of this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking YHWH to anger. And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin” (1Ki 14:12-16).
b And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah, and as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died (1Ki 14:17).
a And all Israel buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of YHWH, which He spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet (1Ki 14:18).
Note that in ‘a’ Jeroboam sends his wife incognito to the prophet Ahijah in order to discover what will happen to his ailing son, and in the parallel the child was buried, and mourned by Israel as Ahijah had said. In ‘b’ Jeroboam’s wife arose and went to Shiloh, and in the parallel she arose and went to Tirzah. In ‘c’ YHWH tells Ahijah what he must say to Jeroboam’s wife, and in the parallel we learn what he was told to say. In ‘d’ Ahijah tells her that he has heavy tidings for the house of Jeroboam, and in the parallel we learn what those heavy tidings were. Centrally in ‘e’ Jeroboam is informed why he has been rejected.
1Ki 14:1
‘ At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.’
Abijah the son of Jeroboam had become very ill. We know neither the nature of the sickness nor the age of Jeroboam’s son, although the assumption from 1Ki 14:13 must be that he had reached the age of accountability. We can recognise, however, that the sickness was a very serious one, leaving open the possibility of his death. That was why Jeroboam was so concerned.
1Ki 14:2
‘ And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, I pray you, and disguise yourself, that you be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam, and get yourself to Shiloh. Look, there is Ahijah the prophet, who spoke concerning me that I should be king over this people”
So Jeroboam, aware that he was not looked on by the true prophets of YHWH as acceptable, but equally aware that they alone had the true ability to look behind events, urged his wife to go in disguise to Ahijah the prophet in Shiloh. Ahijah was the prophet who had initially declared that he would become king over Israel (1Ki 11:37-38), which gave him a certain status in Jeroboam’s eyes.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Kingdom In Crisis And The Collapse Of An Empire ( 1Ki 12:1 to 1Ki 14:31 ).
The death of Solomon, as always with the death of a king who had ruled powerfully for a long time and had been somewhat autocratic, resulted in hopes being raised among the people that things might now be made better for them. Indeed they appear to have been quite satisfied with the thought of Rehoboam being their king, as long as he would meet them halfway, and they actually gathered at Shechem to negotiate with him for that purpose. It was a real opportunity. Had Rehoboam made concessions, and retained the loyalty of Israel, the combined kingdom would have remained a power, and the tributaries watching in expectation might have hesitated about making trouble. But let Israel and Judah once become divided into two nations, and the driving force and the power base would be lost, and men like Hadad in Edom and Rezon in Damascus (1Ki 11:14-25) would soon ensure the collapse of the empire. And ever waiting in the wings for the collapse of the empire was the powerful Shishak of Egypt in a revived Egypt, just waiting for his opportunity to break up the trade monopoly which Solomon had built up.
On the death of Solomon Israel were ready to accept Rehoboam as their king, and they assembled at Shechem, which they clearly saw as the local Sanctuary of the northern tribes when it came to such matters. The very choice of Shechem indicated that they were calling on the king to recognise his obligations under the Law of Moses. Shechem was the place to which Israel had first gathered under Joshua for the reading of the Law and the renewal of the covenant (Jos 8:30-35), in obedience to the command of YHWH through Moses (Deu 11:29-32; Deu 27:1-26), and was the place where Joshua himself had renewed the covenant after the initial stages of the invasion were over and Israel were settled in the land (Jos 24:1-28). It was a recognised place at which YHWH had recorded His Name (suggested by Jos 8:30-31 with Exo 20:24). It was the place where the stone of witness had been set up (Jos 24:26) and it may well be that the regular reading of the covenant required by the Law of Moses took place at Shechem whose two local mountains Ebal and Gerizim, together with the narrow valley that lay between them, formed a natural amphitheatre (see Deu 27:1-26).
Rehoboam should, of course have recognised that the very choice of this site for their gathering emphasised that Israel saw themselves as separate from Judah when it came to crowning a new king, and were calling on him to renew his obedience to the Law of Moses, and to walking in the ways of YHWH, something which Solomon had signally failed to do. Solomon had previously slipped into the joint kingship so easily, because he had done it while David was still alive, and when the kingdom was at peace. It had thus been easy to forget this independent feeling in Israel, and the fact that kingship in Israel had always been by popular acclamation. It had been so for Saul (1Sa 10:24; 1Sa 11:12-13), for David (2Sa 5:1-3) and indeed for Solomon (1Ch 29:22). And we should not forget how delicate had been the situation after Absalom’s rebellion (2Sa 19:9-15; 2Sa 19:41 to 2Sa 20:2). Israel did not see themselves as Judah’s lapdog.
But sadly Rehoboam had been brought up in Solomon’s court, and he had been bred with a sense of arrogance and with the feeling that all Israel and Judah were there to do his bidding. He saw himself as ‘a king like the kings of the nations’. In his view the people were simply there to be whipped into line. And while when he took advice from his father’s older counsellors they gave him good advice as to the need to meet the people half way, he preferred the advice of the younger arrogant aristocrats like himself who assured him that what was needed was to show them who was in charge. So what brought about Rehoboam’s rejection was the arrogance that had become so much a part of Solomon’s lifestyle, and which he had passed on to his son. In contrast, in the case of Jeroboam, his downfall would come about through his turning his back on the covenant and diluting Yahwism, in order, as he saw it, to protect his kingdom. This would result in his destroying the religious heart of Israel, something which would affect all the kings who followed him. Thus both aspects of Solomon’s failures came out in his successors.
Overall Analysis ( 1Ki 12:1 to 1Ki 14:31 ).
a
b Rehoboam Is Rejected By Israel And Jeroboam Becomes King of Israel In Accordance With YHWH’s Covenant (1Ki 12:17-24).
c In Disobedience Jeroboam Sets Up The Golden Calves, Appoints Alien Priests And Establishes Alien High Places (1Ki 12:25-32).
d The Alien Altar Is Condemned By A Man Of God (1Ki 12:33 to 1Ki 13:10).
c In Disobedience The Man Of God Eats And Drink In Israel And Is Slain (1Ki 13:11-32).
b Jeroboam’s House Loses The Kingship Because Of The Sins of Jeroboam (1Ki 13:33 to 1Ki 14:20).
a The Unhappy Reign Of Rehoboam Which Is The Consequence Of His Intransigence (1Ki 14:21-31).
Note that in ‘a’ Rehoboam’s reign commenced unhappily and in the parallel it continued unhappily. In ‘b’ Jeroboam received the Kingship through YHWH’s covenant, and in the parallel his house loses the kingship because of his sin. In ‘c’ Jeroboam acts in disobedience against YHWH and in the parallel the man of God acts in disobedience against YHWH. Central in ‘d’ is the condemnation of the alien altar by the man of God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Ki 14:1-2 Comments Human Depravity – 1Ki 14:1-2 shows the true nature of depraved mankind. Jerobam was exalted to be king. He became proud and sinful. God warned him of repenting. No repentance came, so God is cutting off his seed. Then when sickness comes, man many times turns back to God, but often it is too late (Pro 29:1). The previous verse (1Ki 13:34) states that God would cut off the seed of Jeroboam.
Pro 29:1, “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”
1Ki 14:5 And the LORD 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.
1Ki 14:5
1Ki 14:27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.
1Ki 14:27
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Reign of Jeroboam over Northern Israel (930-909 B.C.) In 1Ki 12:1 to 1Ki 14:20 we have the story of Jeroboam ruling over the northern kingdom of Israel. It is important to draw a parallel account of Jeroboam’s reign to that of King David and Solomon. The reigns of both David and Solomon record the judgment of adversaries, the establishment of their thrones, the institution of national worship, God makes a covenant with David and Solomon, the prosperity of their reigns, their sin and judgment, and an epilogue. Jeroboam’s rule follows a similar sequence of events.
1. Jereboam Establishes His Throne 1Ki 12:1-24
2. Jereboam Institutes National Worship 1Ki 12:25-33
3. God Speaks to Jereboam thru a Prophet 1Ki 13:1-32
4. Jereboam’s Sin and Judgment 1Ki 13:33 to 1Ki 14:18
5. Epilogue to Jereboam’s Reign 1Ki 14:19-20
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Ahijah’s Prophecy against Jeroboam
v. 1. At that time, v. 2. And Jeroboam said to his wife, v. 3. And take with thee, 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, v. 5. And the Lord said unto Ahijah, v. 6. And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound, v. 7. Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, v. 8. and rent the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it thee, v. 9. but hast done evil above all that were before thee, v. 10. therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, 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, v. 12. Arise thou, therefore, get thee to thine own house; and when thy feet enter into the city, v. 13. And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, v. 14. Moreover, the Lord shall raise Him up a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day, v. 15. For the Lord shall smite Israel, v. 16. And He shall give Israel up, v. 17. And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah, 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, v. 20. And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years. And he slept with his fathers,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
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 treatsa 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 (1Ki 14:14). He too, like Solomon, has sown to the wind and now reaps to the whirlwind. This section is omitted in the Vat. LXX.
1Ki 14:1
At that time [or about () that time. The king is now settled at Tirzah (1Ki 14:17). 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”. It is very probable that this consideration suggested the transfer, of which Ewald despaired of discovering the cause (“Hist. Israel,” 1Ki 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 uncommonit was borne by a son of Rehoboam (1Ki 13:31; 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
. Jeroboam evidently suspected that this sickness was punitive, and he would not have others think so too], Arise, I pray thee, and disguise [lit; change. The word suggests that the disguise was to be effected by a change of garments. “She must put off her robes and put on a russet coat” (ib.) Possibly the queen was not unknown to the prophet (1Ki 14:4)] thyself, that thou [Observe the archaic form for , which latter the Keri would substitute, quite needlessly, here] be not known [Heb. and they (i.e; those whom she met, not the prophet only) shall not know that thou art, etc.] to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh [the modern Seilun. “There is no site in the country fixed with greater certainty than that of Shiloh”. The identification, however, was only effected in 1838. Conder gives some interesting particulars which lead him to believe that we can identify the very site of the tabernacle. For its history, see Jos 16:5; Jos 18:1-10; Jdg 18:31; Jdg 21:19; 1Sa 4:3; Jer 41:5. Presuming that Tirzah is to be identified with Teiasir (see on Jer 41:17) Shiloh would be over thirty miles’ distantmore than a day’s journey to the queen, as the road involves some toilsome climbing]: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet [see on 1Ki 11:29. Shiloh was probably the birthplace, as well as the residence, of Ahijah. It was in the territory of Ephraim (Jos 16:6), and at no great distance from Bethel. We can only explain Ahijah’s continued residence there, after the migration of the God-fearing Israelites to the southern kingdom, not by his great age, but by the supposition that, having been concerned in the transfer of the kingdom to Jeroboam, he felt it a duty to stay and watch his career. And the time has now come when he can be useful. His relations with Jeroboam had apparently so far been good. He had not protested, so far as we know, against the calf worship, but then God had sent another prophet to do that], which told me that I should be king [Heb. he spake of me for king] over this people. [So that he had already proved himself a true prophet, and so far a prophet of good.]
1Ki 14:3
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 Heb 13:7], and cracknels [or cakes, as marg. The original word ( pupugit) means “pricked,” or “spotted.” It is the word translated “mouldy” in 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, 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 2Ki 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.
1Ki 14:4
And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came [probably on the second day] to the house of Ahijah. But [rather Now] Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set [Heb. stood. Same word as in 1Sa 4:15. Cf. Gen 27:1. In amaurosis the pupil is set, and does not contract with the light. A partial paralysis of the optic nerve is common in extreme old age] by reason of his age. [Heb. for hoariness, i.e. old age.]
1Ki 14:5
And the Lord said unto Ahijah [the attempted deceit was frustrated by a direct revelation, the same which disclosed the fate of the child. “God laughs in heaven at the frivolous fetches of crafty politicians” (Hall)]. Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son [or concerning , properly “to,” ad, has the meaning of de, after verbs of speaking. Cf. Gen 20:2; 1Sa 4:19, etc.; Jer 40:16. Gesenius remarks on the similar use of in the New Testament: Act 2:25; Eph 5:32]; for he is sick: thus and thus [cf. Jdg 18:4; 2Sa 11:25. is a form of ] shalt thou say unto her, for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman [Heb. make herself strange].
1Ki 14:6
And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound [Heb. voice] of her feet as she came in [ should strictly be plural, in agreement with feet. It is in the singular, probably because the writer is thinking of the woman. But see Ewald, 317 a, and cf. 1Sa 4:15] at [Heb. in] the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? [Heb. makest thyself strange, as in verse 5] for [the Heb. “and” brings out the meaning much better, which is, “Thou art cleverly playing a part, and I all the while have a message,” etc.] I am sent to thee with heavy [same word as in 1Ki 12:13; there translated rough] tidings. [Heb. omits. For the construction see Ewald, 284 c.]
1Ki 14:7
Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord Cod of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people [compare 2Sa 12:8; Psa 78:70; 1Ki 16:2], and made thee prince over my people Israel. [God still claims dominion over Israel, despite the schism. They are still His people, and He is still their God],
1Ki 14:8
And rent [same word as in the former prophecy of Ahijah, 1Ki 11:30, 1Ki 11:31] the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David [who had been proposed to Jeroboam as his example, 1Ki 11:38. This name, as that of a prince of the rival house, would now be almost hateful to Jeroboam], who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart [cf. 1Ki 11:33, 1Ki 11:38; 1Ki 15:5], to do that only which was right in mine eyes;
1Ki 14:9
But hast done evil above all that were before thee [perhaps preceding kings are not meant, so much as judgesjudices et duces Israelis (Le Clerc). Kings, however, are not excluded. Both Saul and Solomon had sinned (1 Samuel passim; 1Ki 11:5, 1Ki 11:6), though neither had set up an organized idolism and “made Israel to sin”]: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods [in defiance of the decalogue (Exo 20:4). Jeroboam, no doubt, insisted that his calves were not idols, but cherubic symbols. But God does not recognize this distinction. Practically they were “other gods,” and so they are here called derisively], and molten images [the word is used of the golden calf, Exo 32:4, Exo 32:8. See also Exo 34:17; Deu 9:12; Jdg 17:3, Jdg 17:4. The “other gods” and the “molten images” are but two names for the same thing, viz; the calves of Bethel and Dan], to provoke me to anger [This was the result, not, of course, the object of Jeroboam’s idolatrous worship], and hast cast me [The order of the Hebrew stamps the “me” as emphatic, “and ME hast thou cast, etc.] behind thy back [This strong expression only occurs here and in Eze 23:35. It forcibly expresses Jeroboam’s, contemptuous disregard of God’s revealed will. In Psa 1:1-6 :17, Neh 9:26, we have somewhat similar phrases]:
1Ki 14:10
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 (1Ki 2:35) on this subject, and the same applies to Palestine; i.e; the men sit down for this purpose, covered with their garments (Jdg 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 Bhr, “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 Bhr (“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 9:1-37 :87; 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 an gone.
1Ki 14:11
Him that dieth of Jeroboam [Heb. to Jeroboam, i.e; belonging to, of the house of. “Of Jeroboam,” conveys the idea of his seed. It is possible that his wife shared in the general doom], in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air [Heb. heavens, as in Gen 1:26; Gen 2:19; Gen 7:23, etc.] eat [This was a terrible threat to a Jewthat the dead body should fall a prey to dogs and wild beasts. Cf. Psa 79:2; Jer 7:33; Jer 16:4; Jer 34:20; Eze 29:5, etc. For him it had a factitious horror, because of the threatening of Deu 28:26; cf. Rev 19:17, Rev 19:18. It was, therefore, the climax of disgrace and misfortune; the greatest dishonour that could be offered to the dust and to the memory. Hence the threat of David (1Sa 17:46; cf. 1Sa 17:44); hence the devotion of Rizpah (2Sa 21:10), and the complaint of the Psalmist (Psa 79:2). Cf. Homer, Iliad Rev 1:4, Rev 1:5.
“Whose limbs, unburied on the naked shore,
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore.”
Dogs, it is well known, are the scavengers of Eastern cities. They exist there in great numbers, and in a semi-savage state, and the carcases of animals and carrion of all sorts are left for them to consume, which they do most effectually, roaming the streets all night (Psa 59:6, Psa 59:14) in search of garbage. Vultures and other birds of prey perform a similar office in the open country (Job 39:29, Job 39:30; Mat 24:28)]: for the Lord hath spoken it.
1Ki 14:12
Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child [Heb. then the child. This is the force of the ] shall die. [This was “the sign that the Lord hath spoken” (Heb 13:3). The death of the child at the precise moment of the return should serve as an earnest and foretaste of the doom just denounced.]
1Ki 14:13
And an Israel shall mourn for him [no doubt he was heir to the throne] and bury him [mentioned to heighten the contrast. He should be the one exception to the rule of 1Ki 14:11]: for he [Heb. this] only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found [Heb, was found] some [Heb. a] good thing [The idea is not merely that he was an amiable youth, but the words imply some degree of piety, and almost suggest that he dissented from his father’s ecclesiastical policy. “The Rabbins have a fable that he disobeyed his father’s command to hinder people travelling to Jerusalem to keep the feasts, and that he even removed obstructions in the road” (Bhr)] toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.
1Ki 14:14
Moreover [Heb. and] the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam [for the fulfilment, see 1Ki 15:29] that day: but what? even now. [Rawlinson only expresses a general feeling when he says that “no satisfactory sense can be obtained from the Hebrew text,” and suggests that it is corrupt or defective. The passage, no doubt, is one of extreme difficulty, and inasmuch as the MSS. and Versions lend us no aid to its interpretation, affords scope for conjecture. The explanation I venture to submit may, I hope, contributeit can hardly do moreto the elucidation of the text. I observe that in 1Ki 15:13 is used of Abijah, “this one alone,” etc. I assume that it has the same import here, viz; “this one today,” i.e; “this one dies or is cut off today,” being understood as constantly, adverbially,hodie (see, e.g; Gen 4:14; Gen 22:14; 1Ki 2:24). It would be a natural reflection to the prophet who had just been speaking of the excision of the house of Jeroboam, “one perishes today, judgment is already begun,” i.e. As to the rest, for I would read , which has practically the same sound, and for which, consequently, is sometimes substituted by the transcriber, as in 1Ki 1:18, 1Ki 1:20, and understand “And what wilt thou also do?” i.e; what will become of thee also? It is quite possible (1Ki 1:11) that Jeroboam’s wife perished in the wholesale destruction of his house, as it is clear from the severe punishment assigned to her (1Ki 1:12) that she must have shared in his sin. The readiness with which she lent herself to this deceit (1Ki 1:4) also favours the supposition that she had approved his policy. She would then have survived her husband only two years. Keil’s explanation, “cut off the house of Jeroboam this day,” appears contrary to actual fact, while to interpret “that day” (with the A.V.) is contrary to Hebrew grammar.]
1Ki 14:15
For [Heb. And. The prophet now proceeds to state the share of the people in the punishment. They had acquiesced in the wicked innovations of Jeroboam and had joined in the worship of the calves] the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed [ , canna, cane] is shaken [The construction is pregnant, viz; “shall smite Israel so that it shall be shaken as a reed,” etc. (cf. Luk 7:24). “The image is very striking, for Israel was brought so low that every political influence bore it along” (Thenius)] in the water, and he shall root up [same word as in Deu 29:28; Jer 24:6] Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river [i.e; the Euphrates; see on 1Ki 4:24. This is the first clear prophecy of the captivity foreshadowed by Moses (Deu 4:27; Deu 28:25, Deu 28:36, Deu 28:63, Deu 28:64), and by Solomon (1Ki 8:46-50). For its fulfilment, see 2Ki 17:6; 2Ki 18:11, etc.], because they have made their groves [Heb. their Asherahs, i.e; images of Astarte. The translation “grove” after the LXX. , Vulg. lucus, is now abandoned. It is clear some sort of idol is intended by the term. This is evident from verse 23, where it is said the Asherahs (A.V. groves) were built “under every green tree” (cf. 2Ki 17:10); from 1Ki 15:13 (where see note); from 2Ki 23:6, which tells how Josiah “brought out the Asherahs out of the house of the Lord,” and from the connexion in which the word is found with “molten images, carved images,” etc. (2Ki 23:23; 2Ch 33:19; 2Ch 34:3, 2Ch 34:4; cf. also Jdg 3:7; 1Ki 18:19). They were doubtless effigies of Ashtoreth, made of wood (Deu 7:5; cf. 2Ki 23:6), planted erect in the ground (Deu 16:21), and were consecrated to her impure and revolting worship. It is clear from this passage that the frightful impurities of the Canaanitish races had subsisted in the new kingdom by the side of the new sacra. They had probably revived under Jeroboam’s rule, having apparently been in abeyance since the time of Gideon], provoking the Lord to anger. [1Ki 14:22; 1Ki 15:30; 1Ki 21:22; 2Ki 17:11, 2Ki 17:17; 2Ki 22:17; Deu 4:25; Deu 32:16, Deu 32:21; Jdg 2:12; Psa 78:58.
1Ki 14:16
And he shall [or, that he should] give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. [These words became almost a formula (1Ki 15:33, 1Ki 15:34; 1Ki 16:2, 1Ki 16:19, etc.)]
1Ki 14:17
And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came [possibly she lingered for some time on the road, dreading to return] to Tirzah [Identified by Robinson and Van de Velds, with Telluzah, or Taluse, a place in the mountains, six miles north of Shechem. See Jos 12:24. Both these writers admit, however, that if this is indeed Tirzah, “all traces of royalty have disappeared.” “With the exception of a few sepulchral caves, subterranean granaries, wells, and old hewn stones, nothing of ancient Tirzah remains in Taluse.” Condor recognizes the name in the modern Teiasira village near Jezreel, in the Great Plain which “contains the exact letters of the Hebrew word, though the two last radicals are interchanged in position.” “The beauty of the position the ancient remains, and the old main road from the place to Shechem seem to agree well with the idea of its having once been a capital”. Some of its “numerous rock-cut sepulchres,” he thinks, may be the tombs of the early kings of Israel. It was famed for its beauty (Son 6:4), and for this reason, perhaps, among others (see on Jos 12:1) was selected by Jeroboam for his residence. It is not certain that it had taken the place of Shechem as the political capital]: and when she came [the Hebrew is much more graphic. “She came to and the child died”] to the threshold of the door [Heb. house], the child died. [This statement seems at first sight to contradict that of verse 12, which says the child should die as she entered the city. But the palace may have been on the edge of the city (Rawl.), or the “city” may have been little more than the palace.]
1Ki 14:18
And they buried him [see on 1Ki 14:13]; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by the hand [see on 1Ki 2:25] of his servant Ahijah the prophet, [it was a token of the righteous judgment of God that the same prophet who announced Jeroboam’s exaltation predicted his fall.]
1Ki 14:19
And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred [see 1Ki 14:30; 2Ch 13:2], and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. [As to this work, see Introduction, Section VI. The exact title is “the book of the words (or matters) of the days,” i.e; the record of daily occurrences.]
1Ki 14:20
And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years [Bhr remarks that the exploits of this long reign find no mention in Scripture; the historian dwells exclusively on the sin, the consequences of which were of so much greater moment]: and he slept with his fathers [Jeroboam’s end would appear to have been untimely. After his defeat by Abijah, we are told, “the Lord struck him, and he died,” which may either mean that he died by a lingering disease (2Ch 21:18, 2Ch 21:19) or more suddenly (2Sa 12:15), but which certainly implies that he died “by the visitation of God.” I have suggested elsewhere that the “stroke” was not improbably his son’s death, which was at once so tragical and such a bitter foretaste of judgment to come. He may have “warred and reigned” (1Ki 14:19) after this event. He may also have steadily drooped to his grave], and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
HOMILETICS
1Ki 14:1-20
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 (1Ki 14:1)”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 (1Ki 13:1-34.) 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 other (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” (1Ki 13:2). 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.'”
4. “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” (Gen 40:1-23 :31). 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?
5. “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).
6. “He shall tell thee what shall become of the child“ (1Ki 13:3). 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).
7. “His eyes were set“ (1Ki 13:4). 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.
8. “I am sent to thee with heavy tidings“ (verse 6). Compare Eze 14:4. “I the 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.
9. “I exalted thee from among the people“ (Eze 14:7). 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).
10. “Other gods and molten images“ (Luk 10:9). 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). 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.
11. “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 patternhis name is mentioned six timeshere He accuses the king of contemning that example. There He speaks of 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.
12. “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.
13. “When thy feet enter into the city the child shall die“ (1Ki 12:12). 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,
14. “And all Israel shall mourn for him“ (1Ki 12:13). 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 (1Ki 12:11).
(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).
15. “For the Lord shall smite Israel“ (1Ki 12:15). 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.
16. “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).
17. “And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah“ (1Ki 12:17). 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 (1Ki 12:11, 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.
18. “And they buried him“ (1Ki 12:18). 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” (Wis. 5:4, 5, 15).
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD
1Ki 14:1-3
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 9:13-15; 1Sa 28:15-19).
(2) Such were presages of the awful judgment to come (Mat 24:37 -89; 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 othersvicariously. 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, Psa 9:13; Psa 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.
(9) 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 (1Ki 14:2). 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 Mat 15:14; 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.
(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.
1Ki 14:4-6
Spiritual Vision.
When the season of retributions set in upon Jeroboam, and his son Abijah was smitten with sickness, he sent to the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite to inquire of the word of Jehovah, what should become of the child. He was unwilling it should be publicly known that, in such an emergency, he had recourse to the prophet of the Lord rather than to his calves (compare 2Ki 1:2). He accordingly entrusted this delicate business to his wife, and enjoined that she should disguise herself. The text evinces how futile were these expedients. Note
I. SIN SEEKS DISGUISES.
1. Truth needs none.
(1) It is naturally open. “He that doeth truth cometh to the light.”
(2) It has nothing to be ashamed of. It is self-consistent, harmonious, lovely.
(3) It ought to be displayed; its influence is elevating (Php 2:15, Php 2:16). The saint who hides his light wrongs his race.
(4) Churches are constituted that Christians should, to the best advantage, witness for Christ. They are the candlesticks (see Mat 5:14-16; Rev 1:20). Note: Christians should discourage the eccentricity that would lead them away from the Churches.
2. It is otherwise with sin.
(1) It is naturally close. The sinner has as instinctive an aversion to the light as the owl and the bat, his types.
(2) It has everything to be ashamed of. It is self-contradictory, discordant, frightfully and monstrously ugly.
(3) It ought, by the impenitent sinner, to be concealed. For he could only desire to disclose it in order to infect and demoralize others.
(4) But the true should drag it to the light, that its deformity might be seen, abhorred, and execrated.
II. GOD SEES THROUGH ALL DISGUISES.
1. Nature itself teaches this.
(1) He that formed the eye, can He not see? (Exo 4:10-12; Psa 94:9.)
(2) He that formed the mind, can He not perceive? (1Ch 28:9; Psa 7:9; Pro 15:11; Rev 2:23.)
2. It is evinced in the visions of prophecy.
(1) How far-reaching are those visions! The end was seen from the beginning. The instalments fulfilled certify the remainder.
(2) How deep their insight into the secret workings of the heart! The secret ambition of Jeroboam, when he was yet the servant of Solomon, was read by Ahijah (1Ki 11:37). Now he sees through the disguise of the queen and reads its motives.
3. This should be considered.
(1) How foolish are disguises where God is concerned! And where is God not concerned?
(2) Those who would deceive God only deceive themselves.
(3) What disclosures will the day of judgment make! (1Co 3:13; 1Co 4:5.) What a day of trembling to the hypocrite!
III. GOD CAN OPEN THE EYES OF THE BLIND.
1. Literally.
(1) Miracles upon the sight were occasionally wrought in ancient times (Gen 19:11; 2Ki 6:18).
(2) Many such were wrought by Christ.
2. Spiritually.
(1) The prophets were gifted with spiritual vision. They were therefore called seers. Their prophecies were called visions.
(2) Such vision had Ahijah. His natural sight had now failed him (1Ki 14:4), yet he saw Jeroboam’s queen before she came into his presence, saw through her disguises, and discerned the purpose of her visit.
(3) Spiritual vision is not exclusively the privilege of prophets.
(a) God gives this to the sinner when He discovers to him the exceeding sinfulness of sin. God strips him of the disguises by which he would deceive himself, and exhibits his own life likeness to his conscience.
(b) God gives it to believers, when He witnesses His pardon and their adoption, to their spirits. (See Act 26:17, Act 26:18; Eph 1:18.) Have your eyes been opened? Pray God that Satan may never succeed in throwing his dust into them.J.A.M.
1Ki 14:7-11
Hard Tidings.
Such is the character given by the prophet to the matter of the text (1Ki 14:6). What we translate “heavy tidings” is, in the Hebrew, as in the margin, hard. The uses of the word () in several places suggest that it should be here taken as indicating retributive judgments merited by one who had hardened his heart in sin. Observe
I. PRIVILEGES INVOLVE RESPONSIBILITIES. Thus
1. Special favour calls for special gratitude.
(1) Jeroboam was “exalted from among the people.” He was “an Ephrathite of Zereda,” an obscure place, mentioned once, and that only in connection with his birth (ch1Ki 11:26). The names of his parents also had remained in obscurity but for the figure he cut in history.
(2) He was made “prince” over the “people of God.” This was a splendid distinction. A people is great, not through its number or the extent of its territories, but from its virtues (see Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 26:18, Deu 26:19). What an influence has that people exerted upon human destinies!
(3) The kingdom rent from the house of David was given to him. Jeroboam, then, was placed in succession to that David who had led the armies of Israel to victory! Also to that Solomon who had built the temple, and who, in the earlier part of his career, fined the world with the fame of surpassing wisdom!
2. The favored are compared with their peers.
(1) Jeroboam was a compeer to David. Both were need from humble stationDavid from the sheep, Jeroboam from the army (1Ki 11:28). Both ascended the throne of Israelfounded dynasties.
(2) But how do they compare? “David kept the commandments of God”followed Him “with all his heart.” This did not Jeroboam. Melancholy record, he did nothing for God!
3. They are contrasted with their peers.
(1) Jeroboam “had done evil above all that were before him.” More than Saul, who never worshipped idols. More than Solomon, who did not make Israel to sin.
(2) Jeroboam made “other gods; and” (or even) “molten images.” Note: He intended his calves to represent the God of Israel; but the God of Israel Himself calls them “other gods.” So are the images of Antichrist other gods though baptized with Christian names. This was worse than the idolatry of Solomon. The caricaturing of the true God is more offensive to Him than the worshipping of His creatures. Let the worshippers of barbarous pictures of the Holy Trinity, in which the Almighty is pourtrayed as a decrepit old man, and such like, seriously consider this.
(3) Jeroboam is described as having “cast” the God of Israel “behind his back.” What a startling figure! How descriptive of the sin of those who now neglect God!
II. RESPONSIBILITIES ABUSED PROVOKE JUDGMENTS. Amongst these may he mentioned
1. The bitter sense of wasted opportunity.
(1) Jeroboam is reminded that he once had the grand chance of making for himself a “sure house like David” (see 1Ki 11:38). What golden opportunities may we not have wasted!
(2) That though the more glorious chance was missed and lost, he had then a gracious season of warnings, which also he let slip. (See events recorded 1Ki 13:1-34.) This respite improved might have averted, and would have mitigated, the severity of the judgments impending (compare 1Ki 21:29).
2. The knowledge that the day of vengeance has set in.
(1) An admonition of such a day was implied in the earlier prophecy of Ahijah, in the judgments then denounced against the house of David for the sin of Solomon (1Ki 11:30-38).
(2) This admonition was declared explicitly in the message of the man of God from Judah, and solemnly impressed by the signs attending and following (1Ki 13:1-34.)
(3) Now Ahijah announces that these judgments are taking effect. But even now, had Jeroboam come to God in the spirit of repentance, though his sin is “unto death,” yet might he save his soul. It is hard now to break a chain so riveted as that is by which he has bound himself. No repentante being evinced, the knell of doom sounds forth like the echoes of the closing door of Noah’s ark, which announced mercy fled and wrath begun.
3. The severity of the sentence.
(1) The honour of the house of Jeroboam is to be brought down to ignominy.
(2) The carcases of members of this family are to be consumed by carrion feeders. Such are the swords of the wicked (compare Gen 15:11; Jer 34:18-20). Whether by the sword of Baasha, or literally, after that sword had done its part, the words of Ahijah came true (see 1Ki 15:29). “The doom of the house of Jeroboam was a figure of that of the house of this man of sin (see Rev 19:17, Rev 19:18). God knows the proud afar off. But He gives grace to the humble.J.A.M.
1Ki 14:12-14
The Reprobate’s Doom.
In the queen of Jeroboam we see a remarkable messenger. For she went as messenger from a king and returned as messenger from a prophet. Her message in the first instance was simple, but in her return twofold. She brings a message to the king, and with it a message also to the nation. The message to the king brings
I. HEAVY TIDINGS RESPECTING ABIJAH.
1. As to the issue of his illness.
(1) “The child shall die.” This is a direct answer to the question with which the royal messenger was charged (1Ki 14:3). Here was the withering of a limb of Jeroboam’s family answering to the sign of the withering of his arm (see 1Ki 13:4).
(2) The king does not now ask for the restoration of the child as he had done for the restoration of his arm (1Ki 13:6). He did not even ask, in time, that the judgment might be averted. How could he, without repenting of his sin? Note: The descents of depravity, like those of natural gravitation, are in accelerating degrees.
(3) This judgment is the signal that the season of retributions has now fairly set in. What a horror to wake up to such a conviction! “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
2. As to the near approach of his death.
(1) “When thy feet enter into the city.” Every step of the queen’s advance over that twelve miles from Shiloh to Tirzah measured a stride of death towards his victim. Do we sufficiently realize the fact that this is the case with us in passing through the journey of life?
(2) What must have been the conflict in the heart of the queen? Maternal affection would urge her steps with speed that she might see her son alive. Yet was it a race with death; and death was first at the palace. That monster overtakes the swiftest. If he passes one it is to strike another, and so that the recoil of his sting may wound the trembling heart.
3. As to the circumstances attending. “All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him;” but for him only of the royal family, “because in him there is found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel.” Hence learns
(1) God’s punishments are discriminative. He does not overlook the good in the evil.
(2) Yet the good suffer with the evil. Abijah dies for the sin of his father. Christ dies for the sin of the world. But in His death is life to the believer.
(3) Still the good suffer for their good. They are taken away from evil to come. Had Abijah lived he might have been drawn into his father’s sin. God often takes them soonest whom He loves best.
(4) The evil suffer in the good, Jeroboam had reason to mourn the loss of the best of his family. So had Israel, since the succession would now open to a wicked prince. Note: We should pray for the preservation of virtuous and useful lives. Especially so when such are found in seats of power and influence.
II. HEAVY TIDINGS RESPECTING HIS SURVIVORS.
1. They are devoted to extermination.
(1) This as a general fact was already known.
(2) It is now published with additional circumstance. The agent that shall effect it is one who shall himself mount the throne of Israel.
(3) This was fulfilled to the letter (see 1Ki 15:27-30).
2. Judgment will come speedily.
(1) Some think this exclamation of the prophet, “But what? Even now” arose from his having seen that this would be the case.
(2) So it proved. Within two years Jeroboam died. He was succeeded by Nadab, who two years later was slain by Baasha. In that time also, and by the same hand, the predicted extermination was completed.
(3) “The wicked do not live out half their days.” This is true of dynasties as of individuals. The dynasty of Jeroboam lasted only four and twenty years.J.A.M.
1Ki 14:15-16
The Future of Israel.
The vision of the Shilonite concerning the house of Israel, now before us, seems to have come upon him suddenly. We think the exclamation, “But what? Even now!” was the half-involuntary expression of the surprise of this new revelation. This utterance should, then, have stood at the beginning of 1Ki 14:15 rather than at the end of the verse preceding. The connecting particle “For,” with which 1Ki 14:15 now opens, favours this view. The new vision describes the then future calamities of Israel, together with their provoking causes.
I. HE WAS HENCEFORTH TO BE TROUBLED IN HIS OWN LAND. He is there to stagger and tremble under the stroke of God
1. “As a reed is shaken in the water.”
(1) The reed is a figure of frailty. Rabshakeh, in describing the inability of the Egyptians to support Hezekiah against the Assyrians, compares them to a bruised reed (2Ki 18:21; Isa 36:6; see also Eze 39:6). Contrariwise, our Lord, asserting the stability and vigour of John Baptist, said that he was no “reed shaken with the wind” (Mat 11:7). In derision of the royalty of Jesus the soldiers put a reed in His hand for a sceptre (Mat 27:29). Subsequent history bore emphatic testimony to the instability and feebleness of Ephraim.
(2) The reed is “shaken in the water.” This element is at once a symbol of trouble and of people (see Psa 69:17; Rev 17:15). So disquiet, arising from popular tumults and civil war, is suggested. And did not this become fact? The frequent changes of dynasty kept the nation in perpetual broils. These evils were aggravated by wars with their brethren of Judah.
2. As a reed shaken by the wind.
(1) This is not asserted, but implied, since reeds shake in water when moved by winds. And foreign influences had much to do with the troubles of Israel.
(2) Foreign idolatries introduced by Solomon’s wives were at the root of the troubles.
(3) The wars between Israel and Judah brought foreign armies upon the scene Egyptians, Syrians, and Assyrians. By these rough winds the troubles were aggravated.
II. THEN TO BE SCATTERED IN THE LANDS OF STRANGERS.
1. A captivity of Israel is foretold.
(1) The settlement of the people in Canaan is frequently described in Scripture under the figure of the planting of a vine there (see Psa 64:2; Psa 80:8; Jer 2:21; Jer 11:17).
(2) This is now to be reversed. “He shall root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers.” Suppose the vine had feeling; what a painful process!
2. Also the region of their dispersion.
(1) “I will scatter them beyond the river” i.e; the Euphrates, for thus, by emphasis, this river is ever distinguished in Scripture (see Gen 15:18; compare Deu 11:24 with 1Ki 4:21 and Psa 72:8).
(2) This river also stands for the Assyrians, through whose territory it flowed. Their armies invading Israel are likened to the Euphrates rising and overflowing its western bank (see Isa 8:7).
(3) How literally was all this accomplished (see 2Ki 15:29; 2Ki 17:6, 2Ki 17:18).
III. THESE VISITATIONS WERE TO EXPRESS THE ANGER OF GOD.
1. First provoked by their Canaanitish idolatries.
(1) These are represented here by “their groves.” The word Asherah ( ) occurs thirty-nine times, and is everywhere translated groves, yet it may well be doubted whether this is its meaning. For take the next occurrence after that in our text, viz; verse 28 of this chapter: How could a grove be built under a green tree? How could a grove be made in the house of the Lord? (See 2Ki 21:7; 2Ki 23:6, 2Ki 23:18)
(2) These Asheroth, or Asherim, appear to have been images made of wood, cased in metal, perhaps fashioned like goats, which were worshipped with abominable rites. They were popular Canaanitish divinities, and for this reason to be execrated by Israelites (see Exo 34:18; Deu 16:21).
(3) But for all this they fell into the snare of worshipping together with the Baalim, or Bulls, and other Canaanitish idols (Jdg 3:7; Jdg 6:25; 1Ki 18:19).
2. Then by their complicity in the sin of Jeroboam.
(1) This addition to their earlier idolatries filled up the measure of their iniquity. For it completely alienated them from the worship of Jehovah in His temple.
(2) They forsook the Lord, so He threatens to “give up Israel for the sin of Jeroboam,” as He had also given up the house of Jeroboam to judgment.J.A.M.
1Ki 14:17-18
Death and Mourning.
With a heavy heart the queen of Jeroboam moved along the road from Shiloh to Tirzah, and received the salute of death at the threshold of the palace. This sad event was soon followed by a state funeral and by a public mourning. In all this note how
I. SORROW TARNISHES HUMAN SPLENDOUR.
1. Survey this palace of Tirzah.
(1) This is not the only palace of Jeroboam. Soon alter his promotion to the crown of Israel we find him building a palace at Shechem. That commemorated the event of his elevation; for there those circumstances occurred which gave rise to it (see 1Ki 12:1-33.)
(2) But this palace did not long satisfy the royal ambition. We find the king presently engaged in building a second at Penuel, in the tribe of Gad, eastward of Jordan (1Ki 12:25). Those who come suddenly to fortune commonly affect great splendour.
(3) Now we find him occupying a third. This probably was the most magnificent. It is situated in a place famous for its beauty in the days of Solomon (see Son 6:4). From this it had its name (), which signifies pleasantness. Doubtless the palace was in keeping with the place, for it was preferred as the royal residence until its destruction by fire (1Ki 16:18).
2. Behold in this paradise a corpse!
(1) Death has smitten Abijah, the best and most promising of the royal family. What a scene of grief when the mother, arrived from Shiloh, entered that chamber! What a dense gloom would rest on the household! In that solemn moment how vain must earthly splendour have appeared!
(2) And does not sorrow still mingle with all earthly scenes! Why, then, should we not rather set our affections upon things above?
(3) Wealth cannot bribe death. The King of Terrors enters the palace of royalty as certainly as he enters the cottage of poverty. To the great this enemy is even more formidable than to the humble, for they have more to leave. The acquisitions of the worldling, therefore, are only giving point and venom to the sting of death.
II. IT HAS RELIEFS AND AGGRAVATIONS.
1. The reliefs are the fruits of virtue.
(1) The public mourning would be a solace to the royal family. A king might provide a pompous funeral for his son, but he could not command the heart of the nation to mourn
(2) This public mourning was a tribute to the virtues of the prince (see 1Ki 14:13).
(3) There was pure comfort in the reflection that the spirit of the pious youth is away from a world of sin, in the companionship of saints and holy angels.
2. The aggravations are the fruits of sin.
(1) How the grief of Jeroboam must have been embittered by the fact that this bereavement came not as a messenger of mercy to him, but as a visitation of judgment!
(2) How it must have alarmed him to know that it was but the first of a series of judgments destined to issue in the extermination of his house!
(3) The very virtues of the prince first taken, in this view, became an aggravation, for he is removed as too good a prince for so wicked a people, and to make way for the succession of a wicked prince to punish them.J.A.M.
1Ki 14:19, 1Ki 14:20
The Review.
The text reminds us
I. THAT THE SEASON OF DEATH IS A TIME FOR REFLECTION.
1. In presence of a corpse the giddiest pause.
(1) This is seen when an ordinary funeral passes along the streets, in the sombre countenances of the bystanders, if not in more special tokens of respect. It is more evident still when the deceased may have been an acquaintance or a relative. But most so in the very house of mourning, where the relies are seen shrouded in their pallor and immobility.
(2) What trains of thought are started!
(a) What a mystery is death!
(b) What a mystery is life!
(c) What a mystery is futurity!the spirit worldthe resurrectionthe judgmentheavenhell.
(d) Are we prepared to encounter the inevitable? Who can forecast the moment?
(e) Why should we defer the needful preparation?
2. When a monarch dies a nation thinks.
(1) This is so under ordinary conditions. The social position occupied is so elevated that the event is conspicuous to all. What a leveller is death! In this article all claim kindred, the prince and the beggar (Pro 22:2).
(2) But Jeroboam’s death was by the stroke of God (2Ch 13:20). Such a conspicuous judgment was fitting to the man of sin (see Isa 11:4; 2Th 2:8; Rev 19:15). How alarmingly would such a death speak to workers of iniquity!
(3) The demise of Jeroboam opened the succession to Nadab, who, without the genius of his father, followed in his iniquities.
3. But the virtuous only are lamented.
(1) Jeroboam was buried. He did come to the sepulchre “with his fathers.” And he may have had the formality of a family mourning. His household may have gone barefoot, wept, torn their clothes, smote on their breasts, lay on the ground and fasted, as the custom was.
(2) But there was no national mourning. The public mourning for Moses and Aaron lasted thirty days, that for Saul seven (Num 20:29; Deu 34:8; 1Sa 31:13). For Abijah, a pious prince of the house of Jeroboam, there was a national mourning, though he never came to the throne; but for Jeroboam, after a reign of twenty-two years, no mourning! (1Ki 14:13.)
(3) What a contrastthe apathy of the nation, now at the close of their experiment at king making, to the enthusiasm at its commencement (1Ki 12:20)! How seldom do revolutionists adequately consider the end! They often anticipate a paradise and find a hell.
II. THAT WE SHOULD, THEREFORE, SO LIVE THAT SUCH REFLECTIONS MAY PROVE GRATEFUL. To this end our policy should be
1. Pure.
(1) Such was not the policy of Jeroboam. When his people became restive under his rule, and he feared they would return to Rehoboam, instead of looking to God, he forsook Him and made Israel to sin.
(2) The policy of purity is the policy of faith. Faith in Godin Christin truth.
2. Peaceable.
(1) Peace is kin to purity (Jas 3:17). God made peace for Jeroboam before he had departed from Him (see 1Ki 12:21-24). So does He still undertake for His people (Pro 16:7).
(2) Wars are born of evil lusts (Jas 4:1). When Jeroboam forsook the Lord, then commenced an embroilment in hostilities from which he was never free. First with Rehoboam (1Ki 14:30), then with Abijah (2Ch 13:1-22).
3. So shall we avoid disaster.
(1) By pursuing an opposite policy Jeroboam brought disaster upon himself. His body was smitten by God. There is no evidence of any repentance to the saving of his soul.
(2) He brought disaster upon his family. The best of his sons died prematurely for his sin. Two years later he perished himself. Still two years later and his race became exterminated with violence.
(3) He brought disaster upon his people. Impatient of taxation under Rehoboam, they made him king, but got no relief, having to build palaces and sustain wars. And by their complicity in his idolatry they filled up the measure of their iniquity and incurred the anger of God, which involved them in the miseries of foreign invasion and captivity. What profit is there in a crown that is retained by the policy of sin? The whole world is dearly purchased with the loss of the soul.J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND
1Ki 14:13
Early Piety in an Unexpected Place.
(A Sermon to Young People.) Jeroboam had married in Egypt a princess named Ano. She was the elder sister of Tahpenes, the wife of Shishak, king of Egypt. Their home had been gladdened by the birth of a child, whom they brought with them on Jeroboam’s return to his own tribe and country. This child, Abijah, on whom their affections and the hopes of the people were fixed, was stricken by illness, and seemed likely to die. Then the parents turned to the Lord in their trouble, for the calves at Bethel and Dan, they knew, were powerless to help them. [Note the frequency with which those who in theory deny God, or in practice forget Him, seek His help in their time of fear and grief.] They would not send to the temple at Jerusalem for several reasons; but Jeroboam remembered the old prophet, Ahijah, who had spoken to him in the field some years before (1Ki 11:29-31), and foretold that he should rule over the ten tribes of Israel. Accordingly, Queen Ano secretly set out for Shiloh (the ancient sanctuary), where, in a humble home, the prophet lived. She disguised herself as a poor woman, and took a present such as a peasant would offerten loaves, two rolls for the children of the prophet, a bunch of raisins, and a jar of honey. Jeroboam hoped he might, by this deceit, get a word of hope about the dying boy, for he knew that he could not expect comfort from Ahijah, because he had grievously disobeyed his command. He feared, therefore, that if the man of God recognized And he would rebuke this sin. The attempt was vain. The prophet, nearly blind though he was, knew by revelation who was coming. Terrible were the words of doom he uttered about the house of Jeroboam; and the only gleam of comfort for the parents was that in Abijah “there was found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel,” so that he should not have the curse of living to see and share the woe and shame which were coming. Abijah gives us an example of piety which is worthy of consideration, especially by the young.
I. ABIJAH‘S PIETY WAS EARLY.
1. Define piety. It is right disposition toward God, resulting from the secret influence of God’s Holy Spirit. It reveals itself in desires after what is good, and pure, and true; in resolutions to seek these; in prayers, through which the heart pours out its love and longing towards God. This should be more natural to us than to Abijah. He knew of God’s power, we know of His love. He had heard of the Shekinah; we have heard of Jesus Christ, who says, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Children ran to Jesus once, and found rest and gladness in His love; why not now?
2. Describe early piety. Show how it is cultivated, hindered, and revealed. Urge upon parents and teachers the importance of expecting it. We overlook the “blade,” and then wonder we do not see later “the full corn in the ear.” If we accept the teaching of Jesus Christ, it is evident that a child is naturally more likely than an adult to enter His kingdom. To be a child is a necessity; to “become a child” is an arduous struggle, and sometimes a sore humiliation. The door of mercy is so low that children can most easily pass through it. Happy is the home which is adorned by the presence of a child disciple. There are those now estranged from God who may have a fulfilment of the words, “a little child shall lead them.”
II. ABIJAH‘S PIETY WAS SINCERE.
1. Some good thing was IN himthat is, in his heart. It was not something put on and off, like a garment; but an abiding principle, influencing the thoughts as well as the life. Nothing is more offensive to God than pretended piety. The long-faced visage which never smiles, the cant phrases which express what cannot really be honestly felt by a child, are hideous to man and God.
2. This good thing was “toward the Lord God of Israel.” It reminds us of the phrase, “repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” We may turn from sin to respectability, but that is not repentance towards God. We may love to do right things because they please men, but this is not piety towards God. “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1Sa 16:7).
III. ABIJAH‘S PIETY WAS DISCERNIBLE. “It was found in him.”
1. God saw it. He spoke of it to His servant Ahijah, as of something He rejoiced to find. God is ever looking for what is good, in the world and in your heart. Though the world is corrupt, and men have done abominable works, the Lord looks down from heaven to see if there are any that understand and seek God. See Psa 14:1,
2. Compare this with the Lord’s parables of the woman seeking the lost piece of silver and of the father going out to look for and meet the returning prodigal. Not only your faults and sins, but your good wishes and holy thoughts and silent prayers are recognized by God.
2. Man saw it. Ahijah did not proclaim his pietythat would have been offensive, especially in a childbut it was “found” in him. He was so young that he could take no active part in the service of God, and was unable publicly to oppose his father’s idolatry; but his parents, and the courtiers, and the servants must have been sometimes shamed by his earnest eyes. A noiseless violet makes the hedgerow fragrant. It bewrays itself by its sweetness.
IV. ABIJAH‘S PIETY WAS UNEXPECTED. He belonged to the house of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin. His mother was probably still a heathen; his father was ambitious, cruel, and irreligious, and, so far as we know, this little boy alone, in all the court, loved the “God of Israel.” His piety was the more conspicuous on this account, just as the stars are brightest when the sky is dark, and the cedars are most beautiful when surrounding trees are leafless. Describe the position of children in a godless home, with irreligious companions, etc. Even there it is not impossible to love and serve the Lord.
CONCLUSION. It seems at first sight, especially to children, a strange reward that was given to Abijahto die young. But there were peculiar reasons for this. He was delivered from a sinful world, a distracted country, and evil influences; nor did he ever see those dear to him murdered and dishonoured. He was “taken away from the evil to come,” If the veil were rent, and we could see the heavenly home in its beauty and sinlessness, we should understand what Paul meant when he said, “To depart and to be with Christ is far better.” Every parent whose child dies in the Lord may hear amidst his sobs the words of Jesus, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Little one, precious one,
Summoned away,
Ere life’s uprising sun
Dawned into day,
Gone from thy mother’s arms,
Gone to the Saviour’s breast,
Safe from life’s rude alarms,
Blissful thy rest.”
A.R.
HOMILIES BY J. WAITE
1Ki 14:17, 1Ki 14:18
The Dead Child.
Following the order of events as they appear in the Hebrew text rather than in the Septuagint, we regard this as the first of the calamities that befell the house of Jeroboam, until it became extinct on the death of Nadab (1Ki 15:29), as the penalty of his transgression in violating the religious unity of the nation. So soon was he made to feel that he was in the grasp of a Power that could not be mocked or trifled with, and against which it was vain for him to rebel The narrative is full of touching interest, and has many points of moral teaching. It illustrates
I. THE TENDERNESS OF NATURAL AFFECTION EVEN IN A BAD MAN. We have no reason to doubt that genuine parental feeling prompted both Jeroboam and his wife in their appeal to the prophet. One cannot but sympathize with them in their distress at the fatal sickness of their child. Human nature in its deepest degradation is not altogether lost to the touches of tender emotion. The thrill of parental love may be found in hearts so debased and hardened that nothing else can move them. The most ferocious savage will defend his own, and “barbarous people” are capable of “showing no little kindness” even to strangers (Act 28:1-31.) But in many cases there is no real moral worth in these affections and amenities. They can scarcely be called “redeeming qualities.” Parental feeling is often little else than an animal instinct. It may exist side by side with the most grovelling passions and the most complete moral obliquity. Jeroboam loved his child, and yet, in proud self-will and impious defiance of the Divine authority, he could secure his own carnal ends at the cost of the utter spiritual degradation of the people.
II. THE BLINDNESS OF A SINFUL INFATUATION. The king flies in his distress to the prophet whom he has long slighted and ignored. He sought no counsel from him in the setting up of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. But now, as if he had himself fulfilled all the conditions of the Divine promise, he thinks to get from the prophet a word to confirm his hope of a “sure house” (1Ki 11:38). Such is the folly of human nature. When the shadow of adversity falls on men they try, with something like a superstitious impulse, to get consolation from religious sources which, in the time of their prosperity, they neglected and despised. But what could Jeroboam expect from the oracle of a God whom he sinned against so grievously but “heavy tidings” respecting his child? He bids his wife “feign herself to be another woman;” but how could he dream that a prophet, who had power to read the future, would not be able to penetrate the false disguise? Thus, when men’s hearts are “set in them to do evil” do they resort to vain subterfuges, and flatter themselves with a delusive hope. Thus do they often rush blindly on their own condemnation and ruin; provoking, and even antedating, the very calamities they have so much cause to dread.
III. THE CURSE OF SIN ON THE SACRED RELATIONSHIPS OF LIFE. It is terribly expressive of the hatefulness, in God’s sight, of Jeroboam’s impiety that the very flower and crown of his house should be thus strickenthe fairest and the best, the one who seemed likely to justify his name Abijah (“Jehovah is my Father”)because already in his young heart there was found “some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel.” So is it often in the course of human history. The evil men do comes back to them, not only in divers forms of retribution, but often in the form of penalties that pierce them in the tenderest part. The dearest ties of life are broken. Or they see their own moral deformity reflected in those whom they would fain shield from its bitter consequences. Or their brightest hopes are withered at the root, and that which might have been, and was intended to be, the source of the purest earthly joy becomes the occasion of keenest sorrow.
IV. THE BLENDING OF AN ELEMENT OF MERCY WITH GOD‘S SEVEREST JUDGMENTS. We see here how the innocent suffer with the guilty. The iniquity of the fathers is visited upon the children (Exo 20:5). Yet to the child himself, in this instance, it was a gracious visitation.
(1) He was emphatically “taken from the evil to come.”
(2) His incipient piety was recognized and crowned by this translation to happier sphere.
(3) It was his special privilege to die a natural and not a violent deaththe only one of the house of Jeroboam who should “go to the grave in peace.” Thus in the darkest Divine judgment there is a gleam, of mercy. There is “light in the cloud.” It has a “silver lining.” The sufferings of innocent children, and the fact that so large a proportion of the human race die in infancy, are dark mysteries to us. But even here we see the dispensation of an all-wise Love, remembering Him who said, “It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Mat 18:14). “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mar 10:14).W.
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART
1Ki 14:1-20
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.'”
2. 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.
3. 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!
4. Gifts (1Ki 14:3) could not make up the lack of a true, penitent heart.
III. THE LORD‘S ANSWER.
1. Disguise is impossible before God (1Ki 14:5, 1Ki 14:6). 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 (1Ki 14:7-9). 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 (1Ki 14:17-20).
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.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
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 Jeroboams 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 Jeroboams 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 prophets conditionunswerving loyalty to Jehovahhe 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 does not mean mouldy loaves (Hess, Dereser, and others), for means punctured, spotted, but not therefore mouldy; the Sept. gives , the Vulgate crustula. The expression (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). , 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. , 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 Godthe opposite from having God before ones 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 , 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 , 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. Luthers 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 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 Jeroboams elevation.
1Ki 14:13-14. Some good thing toward the Lord God, 1Ki 14:13. is not to be connected with , 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 fathers 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 : 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 as well as with 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). 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 (Phnician) 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). Jeroboams image-worship is here regarded as a continual evil and source of all ruin. Keils assertion that stands for any idols, among which the golden calves are to be numbered, is not susceptible of proof.
1Ki 14:17-18. And Jeroboams 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 (), and he died. Bertheaus 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 Ahijahs 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. Ahijahs 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 Davids 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 Jeroboams 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 Jeroboams house, and the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, is as little to be doubted as the prediction connected with it, that of Abijahs death, whom the blind prophet had not even seen.
3. Ahijahs prophecy repeatedly describes the consequence and working of Jeroboams 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 Jehovahs anger, and , 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 , 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 Gods 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 Ahijahs prediction, namely, cutting off Jeroboams 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 Jeroboams 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 beoften 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. Ahijahs 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.[ lit. spake of me for king.
[3]1Ki 14:3.[ 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 , adding , supposing them to be a sort of cakes for the children, and adds to these , raisins.
[4]1Ki 14:5.[The peculiar form occurs elsewhere only in Jdg 18:4 and Sam. 1Ki 11:25.
[5]1Ki 14:10.[The reading , found in many MSS. instead of , scarcely modifies the sense.
[6]1Ki 14:10.[The difficult words 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 is taken in the A. V. as if it were the noun . 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. , Piel. 3.F. G.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
In this chapter begins the history of Israel and Judah in the division of the two kingdoms; so that attention should be paid in the reading to distinguish to which the subject belongs. The chapter opens with the relation of the affairs of Israel under king Jeroboam, and concludes his reign. The latter end of the chapter relates to the affairs of the kingdom of Judah under Rehoboam, and the close of his reign.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. (2) And Jeroboam said to 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 king over this people. (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.
Was not this sickness of Jeroboam’s son, and perhaps his heir, enough to have arrested the heart of the father to seek the Lord? Is it possible to behold Jeroboam as convinced that the Lord’s prophet was a sure prophet; and yet to attempt the deceiving him, as is here said. Alas! to what a desperate state is the mind of the sinner capable of being reduced, void of grace!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
III
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE TWO KINGDOMS
1Ki 12:25-15:8
The theme of this section is the beginnings of the two rival kingdoms, or the measures adopted by the rival kings to establish their respective kingdoms. This is a period of twenty-four years and covers the reigns of Jeroboam and his son Nadab) kings of Israel, and of Rehoboam and his son Abijah, kings of Judah.
The initial measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish his kingdom was as follows: First, he built a city at Shechem, where the great popular assembly was held, and which was and had been since Jacob’s time, a holy place. That, he made his capital. Second, as a large part of his territory, including two and a half tribes, was across the Jordan, he built another city and fortified it at Penuel, so as to command the fords of the Jordan, and this secured his kingdom on both sides of this river. Third, he established his residence at Tirzah, first mentioned in the book of Joshua, and in Solomon’s Song we have the expression: “As beautiful as Tirzah.” It was also in the hill country of Ephraim, and it was a beautiful mountain palace.
The initial measure of Rehoboam was to fortify and supply with provisions, garrisons, and munitions of war, fifteen cities on the southern and western frontiers, for a defense mainly against Egypt. A new dynasty had come to the front in Egypt. Shishak was a very formidable and vigorous opponent, not to be compared with the weak dynasty with which Solomon made an alliance by marriage. This Shishak was really a great man. Egypt was the power that Rehoboam and Judah feared.
Other measures of Jeroboam were political expedients in, order to keep the ten tribes from going to Jerusalem to the great feasts. He saw what had been the great power of Jerusalem and its Temple and worship as a unifying force, and he said to himself, “If my people go every year to Jerusalem they will imbibe its spirit, and the result will be that they will ultimately turn back to Rehoboam the king of Judah and will kill me. Now, how am I to stop this annual pilgrimage of my people to Jerusalem?” And these were the expedients that he devised: First, he established calf worship. He had two molten calves put up, viz: one at Dan, in the extreme upper part of his territory and one at Bethel, the place where Jacob was converted and a holy place. It will be remembered that when the tribe of Dan left the territory allotted to them, they migrated to the very northern part of the country, captured the places there, and worshiped the images they had taken there from Micah. There had been, then, ever since the times of the judges, a place of worship at Dan, but it was an image worship.
Second, he established a new order of priesthood. He refused to permit the Levites and their priests, left in the citiesin his territory, to minister for him; he was afraid of them. And so he created a new order of priesthood by taking any man from any tribe that pleased him and making him a priest. Third, he made a new feast to take the place of the Feast of Tabernacles. That feast the Jews generally attended, and millions would go every year, and they would dwell in tents. Now, he determined to have a feast to take the place of the Feast of Tabernacles, and as the season of the year was later in the northern part of the country, he made his feast just one month later than that of Tabernacles, as the record tells us: “He ordained a feast devised in his own heart.” The Feast of Tabernacles was on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and he put his feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, just a month later.
Fourth, he established high places for worship of wooden images. In the book of Judges we learn how Gideon cut down the groves, that is, the forest of images. However, Jeroboam established what is called in the Revised Version, “he-goat worship.” What is meant by it? Among the Greeks it was the worship of Pan. Pan is an image with a man’s face and the form of a goat; these he-goats are sometimes called satyrs. These are heathen minor deities, and allusion is made to them in the book of Leviticus. They are sometimes called devils, and that is what they really were, i. e., demons: it was a kind of demon worship. Now, for his priesthood he made houses at Dan and at Bethel, and in all of these high places, and there this he-goat, or demon worship, was carried on. These were his political expedients.
The calf worship that he established was a mixture of calf and Jehovah worship. When Moses stayed up in the mountain so long, the people asked Aaron to mold a calf for them to worship, as a symbol of Jehovah. It was not an entire abandonment of Jehovah worship, but it was the worship of Jehovah under the symbol of a calf, and they said of that calf that Aaron made, “Behold the god that brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” That was an express violation of the commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven or molten image, in the likeness of anything in the heaven above or the earth beneath, and bow down and worship before it.”
This fundamental innovation in religion weakened his kingdom and strengthened Judah. Now, 2Ch 11:16-17 tells us as follows: “And after them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek the Lord, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice unto the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, strong, three years: for they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.”
The priests and the Levites were the teaching forces, as well as the guides in religion. When they banish religious teachers from a kingdom, or expatriate its best men, they do a great harm to that kingdom; they take away those who have the power to keep up the religious idea. That was a tremendous loss to the nation of Israel. These were laymen, too, the best people of the land. As I have already said, one of the peculiarities of the book of Chronicles is to record every secession from Israel back to Judah, and we will come to many a one before we get through, and thus we will see that a remnant of the ten tribes was saved.
Now, it weakened Jeroboam in the following ways: It completely separated his people from God; second, it perpetuated a sin for 253 years that readily ate out the heart of the religious nature of the people and caused their ultimate downfall. Two passages of Scripture show how far-reaching the effect of this sin was. 1Ki 14 , commencing at 1Ki 14:15 reads as follows: “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 he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he has made Israel to sin.” Now, when we come to the end of the period of the divided kingdom, we will find the other passage, 2Ki 17:21-23 . This passage accounts for the downfall of the ten tribes. Commencing at 1Ki 14:21 : “For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam, the son of Nabat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the Lord, and made them sin a great sin. And the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight. . . . So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria, unto this day.” Now, we cannot overemphasize the magnitude of a sin that destroys a nation, and I do not know any sin but the sin of Adam more far-reaching in its consequences than the sin of Jeroboam.
How often at the end of a reign of an Israelitish king does this refrain come: “He did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin”? We may say that this was the inscription on the tomb of every Israelitish king, not one of them a good man. I used to say that sin is like Bermuda grass, indestructible, and that no man can commit a single sin; that it is a great breeder, it makes other sins. I have used this illustration: A hunter may think that he sees just one quail, but when he flushes him there is always a pair or a covey. And I have used this passage from Longfellow’s “Hiawatha” to show the multiplying power of sin: Never swoops the soaring vulture Oil his quarry in the desert, on some Sick or wounded bison, but another vulture watching From his high aerial lockout Sees the downward plunge and follows. And a third pursues the second; Coming from the invisible ether, first a speck, And then a vulture, till the air is dark with pinions.
All have witnessed the way in which buzzards flock to a car-cass. From these illustrations we get some conception of this multiplying power of sin. And I repeat that aside from the sin of Adam, no sin described in the Bible as I can now recall, has such a long fearful sweep as the sin of Jeroboam. Jehovah announced his displeasure by sending a man out of Judah, a man of God, it does not give his name and he came to Bethel on the day that the worship of the calf was to commence, and came into the presence of Jeroboam who was about to officiate as high priest and used these words (what solemn words they are): “Oh, Altar, Altar, Thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall they burn upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which the Lord hath spoken: Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out.” How long before that was fulfilled? We have to turn forward to the reign of Josiah to find an exact fulfilment of it.
Let us see how Jeroboam received this announcement of the prophet of God. In 1Ki 13:4 we have these words: “And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar at Beth-el, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him.” And his hand which he put forth toward the prophet became rigid (he could not move it) and it dried up. There he stood with that dried up, shriveled arm. He then begged the prophet to pray for him, and the prophet prayed for him and the hand was healed.
The tragic end of the nameless prophet was as follows: Jeroboam asked this prophet to be his guest. He declined because God had told him not to go into anybody’s house, and not to tarry in that place, but to come straight back when he had delivered his message. The prophet refused to accept the invitation of Jeroboam. But there was an old man in Bethel, who was himself a prophet, there were schools of the prophets established over the land. Now, this prophet heard of the miracles performed by the prophet from Judah and sent after the man of God, urging him to come back and take bread with him. The nameless prophet said, “I have been commanded not to do that.” The other said, “I also am a prophet, and bid you to come back,” and he went back, and then came the warning to him that he should die. On leaving the house a lion met him and smote him from the ass upon which he was riding and killed him. The lion did not eat him he was not mangled but the people found his dead body there.
I shall never forget that when I was a little bit of a child this was the Sunday school lesson, “The Fate of the Disobedient Prophet.” There was a picture of it in the Sunday school book. The old prophet that lived there at Bethel took him and buried him in a secret place, that his bones should not fall under the denunciation he had himself given. The old prophet said to his children, “When I die, bury me by the side of this man of God; I do not want my bones taken up and burned on that altar.”
Jeroboam did not relent in his purpose on the announcement of this prophecy and its marvelous sign, for that very day the altar split wide open and the ashes fell out; and then there was the miracle of staying his hand, but he did not repent and give up his evil purpose. The record says, “After this thing Jeroboam returned not away from his evil ways, but made again from among all the people priests of the high places; whosoever would, he consecrated him that there might be priests of the high places. And this thing became a sin unto the house of Jeroboam,” and he destroyed it off the face of the earth. So this sin not only destroyed the people ultimately, but it destroyed him and all of his house. His policy in the main accompanied his object. The record tells us that the people, the main body of them, quit going to Jerusalem, but joined in this idolatrous worship that Jeroboam had prescribed. The effect on Jeroboam himself was destructive. The record says that the Lord smote him and all of his house perished not a man, woman, or child was left. This is voiced by Jehovah himself, and the occasion of it was that his son was sick, and he told his wife to go to the prophet, Ahijah, who had announced to him that he would get ten tribes in the division of the kingdom. He told his wife to disguise herself, and take presents with her, and go and ask that prophet that the child might live. But the Spirit of God informed the prophet of the disguise before the woman got there, and he met her with this terrible announcement: “And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. Go, tell Jeroboam, that because of this evil I will cut off every man child, him that is shut up and him that is left out, and I will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepest away refuse, and him that dieth in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls eat. The Lord hath spoken. Rise and get thee to thine own house, and when thy feet enter into the city the child shall die. And all Israel shall mourn for him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family shall come to the grave.” He is the only one of the family that shall ever receive burial. And then he goes on to say that this sin would destroy the entire nation. This is one of the most solemn utterances in the Bible.
The next measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish himself was an alliance with Shishak. It will be remembered that he fled to Egypt in the days of Solomon, and married into the family of this very Shishak. He made an alliance with Shishak to invade Judah, of which we will speak presently. Jeroboam himself reigned twenty-two years; his son reigned after him two years; his dynasty, therefore, lasted twenty-four years. Rehoboam and his son Abijah, and his son Asa, came to the throne before Jeroboam died. The attitude of the two kingdoms toward each other was war continually, all the days of Jeroboam’s life and the life of his son. But Rehoboam prospered three years just as long as the people remained faithful unto God. His sin and the sin of his people we find in 1Ki 14:22-24 , and some of it is awful. Let us look at it: “And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord;… For they also built them high places on every high hill and under every green tree; and there were also Sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord drove out before the children of Israel.”
This sin was punished. The record tells us that Shishak, the king of Egypt, invaded the land with a vast army, with much cavalry and many chariots of war. He easily broke through those fifteen cities of defense and came up to Jerusalem, and as his armies surrounded Jerusalem Rehoboam and all the peopie prayed to God and repented of their sins. Mark this difference between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. And God delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. But Shishak carried away all of those rich treasures that had been gathered by Solomon; the golden shields he took away with him, and made the land tributary to Egypt.
Archeology throws some light on this invasion of Shishak. Not a great while ago, in uncovering the ruins of the temple of Karnak on the Nile, there was found the inscription of Shishak on his return from this invasion. It shows what cities he captured, and how he had taken away the treasures from Jerusalem. But the important light that it throws on the period is this: Among the cities captured it gives the names of the Levitical cities in Israel. He did not destroy any of the cities of Jeroboam, but all the Levitical or Canaanite cities that remained faithful to Judah he captured. That is shown in the inscriptions such of them as are discernible. Is it not strange that after thousands of years the spade keeps turning up proof of the truth of the Bible? When archeology first commenced the radical critics said that it would destroy the Bible. Inscriptions on monuments, deep carvings in rock that the dust of centuries has settled upon, are brought to light and demonstrate that this book does not deal in lies. We need to fear nothing as having the power to destroy the testimony of this book.
The length of Rehoboam’s reign was seventeen years; that of his son was three years. The great event in Abijah’s reign was the war with Jeroboam. He raised an army of 4,000,000 men and went into Ephraim and met Jeroboam with 8,000,000 men, and Jeroboam divided his forces into two parts, to take them on two sides. But before the battle commenced there was a prelude that to me has always been interesting. We find it in 2Ch 13:4-12 , as follows: “And Abijah stood up upon Mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel; ought ye not to know that Jehovah the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and his sons by a covenant of salt? Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his Lord. And there were gathered unto him worthless men, base fellows, that strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the land of the sons of David; and ye are a great multitude) and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. Have ye not driven out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the people of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and we have priests ministering unto Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work; and they burn unto the Lord every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense: the shewbread also they set in order upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken him. And, behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.”
That was a very hard message, and in the battle which followed Abijah’s army killed more Israelites than there were in his own army he had only 40,000 men and he killed half a million. The effect of this battle was terrific. The record tells us that Jeroboam never recovered from that battle. But Abijah was a very strong man, yet not as faithful to Jehovah as he boasts to Jeroboam.
The state of affairs at the end of the twenty-four years was as follows: Jeroboam was dead, smitten of God; his son, after an inglorious reign of two years, was murdered by Baasha, and only one of the family of Jeroboam ever received burial; Baasha killed every one of them that was alive. Now, in the other kingdom, Asa, one of the greatest of the kings of Judah, had come to the throne, and that is the way they stand at the end of the twenty-four years.
QUESTIONS
1. What was the time period of this chapter, who were the kings of Israel and Judah and the time each reigned respectively?
2. What were the initial measures adopted by Jeroboam to establish his kingdom?
3. What was the initial measure of Rehoboam and why this particular measure?
4. What other measures, or political expedients, adopted by Jeroboam?
5. What was the calf worship which he established?
6. What was the effect of this fundamental innovation and how do you account for it?
7. What was the sad refrain at the end of the reign of each of the Israelitish kings? Illustrate.
8. How did Jehovah show his displeasure and what was the fulfilment of the prophecy of the “nameless prophet”?
9. How did Jeroboam receive the message and what the result?
10. Relate the tragic story of the nameless prophet.
11. What was the effect of this great demonstration on Jeroboam?
12. Did his policy in the main accomplish his object?
13. What was the effect on Jeroboam himself?
14. How was this voiced by Jehovah and what the occasion of it?
15. What was the next measure adopted by Jeroboam to establish himself?
16. How long did Jeroboam reign, how many kings of Judah during his reign, how long his dynasty and what its end?
17. What was the attitude of the two kingdoms toward each other?
18. How long did Rehoboam prosper?
19. What was his sin and the sin of his people?
20. How was this sin punished?
21. What light does archeology throw on the invasion of Shishak?
22. What was the length of Rehoboam’s reign, how long his son’s reign and what great event of Abijah’s reign?
23. What was the effect of the battle between Abijah and Jeroboam?
24. What were the characteristics of Abijah?
25. What was the state of affairs in each kingdom, respectively, at the end of twenty-four years?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 14
So at that time his son Abijah became sick. And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that they won’t know you as the wife of Jeroboam; and go to Shiloh: for there is a prophet there whose name is Ahijah, and he is the one that told me that I was going to become the king over these people. Take ten loaves of bread, some cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: and he will tell you what’s going to happen to our child. So Jeroboam’s wife did so, she arose, went to Shiloh, and she came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age ( 1Ki 14:1-4 ).
He was so old that he had gone blind.
But the LORD said to Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to ask something of you for her son; for he is sick: so this is what you’re to say, thus and thus shall you say unto her: for it shall be, when she comes in, that she’s going to feign herself [or be disguised] so that she’ll look like another woman. And so it was, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, she came up to the door, when she knocked on the door, he said, Come on in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why are you feigning yourself to be someone else? [Why have you got this disguise on?] for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings ( 1Ki 14:5-6 ).
It is humorous that a person would think that he could disguise the truth about himself with God. And yet so often people find themselves in that position of trying to deceive God. Men are often in a disguise when they come to the house of the Lord. They seek to appear to be something they really aren’t. But God can see through each disguise.
We remember in the birth of the church in the New Testament when there was such great fervor and zeal, that people were going out and selling their houses and possessions and bringing the money in and laying it at the apostles’ feet. They all were just sharing everything together. There was a certain couple, Ananias and Sapphira, who sold a possession. But they conspired to hold back a part of it for themselves and bring in just a part of what they made which was perfectly all right, except that they were feigning to give everything. They were pretending that they were bringing it all in.
And so Ananias came in first and he laid this money before Peter. And Peter said, “Did you sell your house for so much?”
“Yep.”
He said, “Why have you conspired in your heart to lie against God? To lie against the Holy Spirit? You’ve not lied unto man, you’ve lied unto God. Now while the house was in your name, wasn’t it yours?”
“Yep.”
“Did anyone require you to sell it?”
“Nope.”
“Did anyone require that you bring everything?”
“Nope.” But yet you’re putting on this big front. You’re trying to deceive God. And Ananias fell over dead and they carried him out. His wife didn’t hear about it and she came in pretty soon with her part and laid it there at Peter’s feet.
“Is that what you sold your house for?”
“Yep.”
“Why is it that you and your husband would conspire together to deceive God? Behold, the feet of those that carried your husband are going to carry you out, too.” And she fell over dead.
We can be thankful, I guess, that that same power doesn’t exist in the church today. I wonder how many of us would last through a service? We surely wouldn’t last through some of the songs that we sing. “Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my hand, my feet, my moments, my days. Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold.” Everybody drops over dead.
So it is wrong to think that you can deceive God. Here she comes, all disguised. And while she’s knocking on the door, the old blind prophet, prophet’s old, blind anyhow. He couldn’t see all of this gear that she put on and you know tried to disguise up. He couldn’t see it anyhow. He was blind. And yet he says, “Come on in, thou wife of Jeroboam. How come you’ve put on that weird disguise? I have heavy tidings for you.” They were heavy tidings indeed.
Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, And I tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you: yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all of his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes; But you have done evil above all that were before thee: for you’ve gone and made other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and you have cast me behind thy back: Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off all of the house of Jeroboam ( 1Ki 14:7-10 ).
Now the Lord declares that I have given to you all of these things. I’ve blessed you. I made you the prince and the king over My people. And yet you have given nothing back. You turned your back on Me and cast Me behind your back. And therefore, because of your wickedness, you’re to be cut off and all of your house.
And those that die from your family in the city the dogs are going to eat; and those that die in the field the vultures will eat: Now go on home: and when your feet enter into the city, your child is going to die. And all Israel will mourn for him, and bury him: but he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day. For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of the good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made groves, provoking the LORD to anger ( 1Ki 14:11-15 ).
And so already at the beginning of the history of the nation of Israel, God is already predicting the judgment that is going to fall some four hundred and fifty years later upon the nation. Because they turned against God, because they began to worship these other gods, they’re going to be scattered. They’re going to be driven out of the land that God has given to them.
And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin. So his wife arose, and when she came to the threshold of her house, her child died; And they buried him; and all Israel mourned according to the word of the LORD, which he had spoken by Ahijah the prophet. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel ( 1Ki 14:16-19 ).
Now we do have the chronicles of the kings of Judah. They are known in the Old Testament as First and Second Chronicles. However, we do not have the chronicles of the kings of Israel. So First and Second Chronicles really deal with the chronicles of the-they are actually sort of court records of the kings of Judah. The kings of Israel are mentioned in Chronicles only in passing as they are co-reigning about the same time as the kings of Judah. But basically, First and Second Chronicles deal with the kings of Judah. These chronicles of the kings of Israel are other books that we do not have at the present time.
Jeroboam reigned then over Israel for twenty-two years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead. And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he began to reign, he reigned for seventeen years in Jerusalem ( 1Ki 14:20-21 ),
So now we’re going to start bouncing back and forth from the Northern Kingdom to the Southern Kingdom. So you’re going to have to watch and I’ll try to bring the changes for you so that you know when you’re in the north and you know when you’re in the south. So meanwhile, back in the ranch. In Judah, in Jerusalem, the descendant of Solomon, Rehoboam, in the Southern Kingdom, he was forty-one years old. He reigned for seventeen years.
And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. For they began to build high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, under every green tree. And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all of the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel ( 1Ki 14:22-24 ).
Now there are those today that are trying to have us accept homosexuality as, you know, just as a common thing. Tremendous pressure, that they might be accepted and be totally accepted in our society. That there not be any laws that would restrain them from any kind of position that they might want to hold. If they want to teach your children in the public school, they should have every right in the world to teach your children in the public school though they have a perverted lifestyle and all. And there’s tremendous pressure to accept them.
In fact, they have probably one of the strongest and most well-organized and financed lobbying groups in the country today. And it’s a rare politician that really doesn’t bow unto them because of the tremendous political power that they are able to wield. They also, of course, have created their own churches. And they try to make what they are doing as biblically acceptable and scripturally acceptable. That it is just another way of life and another form of living, that as Christians, we should love everybody and love everything and we should accept them and all.
There was a church in San Francisco, an Orthodox Presbyterian church who had hired an organist who, when he was found to be a homosexual, the church fired him. And he turned around and sued the church for a hundred thousand dollars because of the laws in San Francisco that do not allow any discrimination for a man’s sexual preferences. Fortunately, the courts dismissed his suit for which we praise the Lord.
Actually, Calvary Chapel had sent some money to the Presbyterian church in order that they might defend themselves in this suit. And we are glad for the outcome of the suit this last week when the judge dismissed the suit and granted the church the immunity from that particular law on the basic constitutional rights of the freedom of religion. But if this was such an accepted thing and God would have us to accept it, then surely God would not make reference to it as one of the evils that was existing in the land, the fact that they had allowed these people, and no doubt, to practice openly. And this is one of the evils that is mentioned in the land and later on in a spiritual reform. We find that king Asa got rid of all of the sodomites out of the land. That was listed as a part of the reform in the land.
When the morals of a nation sink so low that the people have such bravado in their sin that they begin to publicly flaunt their perversion and sin, that nation is ripening for judgment, even as was Sodom and Gomorrah. I fear for our nation and we need to pray. I do feel that we as a church should not hate these people who have chosen this lifestyle. But as a church we cannot accept them either. We pray for them that they might have a true conversion and be born again and turn from that wickedness and follow and serve the Lord. But we surely can have no real fellowship with them lest we be partakers of their unrighteous deeds.
So still now in Judah, Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.
In the fifth year of his reign, Shishak who was the king of Egypt invaded the land. And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house ( 1Ki 14:25-26 );
So all of this tremendous loot that Solomon had brought together was now ripped off by the king of Egypt. That’s one of the tough things about having a lot is that there’s always someone out to rip you off. I have a friend who is involved with the Mafia and he was sharing with me how that there is sort of a big roll of money that just moves around the circles. He said we all know where it is. He said every once in a while, I get a hold of it. And he said when I have it, he says, “Man, I just you know just loathe it”. And he says, “But whenever I have it, all of the guys out there are figuring some scam or some way to get it away from me.” And he said ultimately I fall for one of their scams and they rip it off. And then they have it for awhile and then we’re all figuring out some scam to rip it off from them. And he said this big wad of money just keeps moving around in a circle and we each get to hold it every once in a while. But he said it’s just all of us ripping off each other constantly that we might hold this money for a time.
And while I was talking to him it happened to be the time that he had it. And he opened his safe and showed me this tremendous amount of money. And he said, “But I won’t have it for long.” He said sooner or later they’re going to get to me with some scam and he said they’ll take it from me.
Now here was all of this treasure that Solomon amasses. So all of the greedy kings around him, “Wow,” you know, you become the prime target. And so he gets ripped off and they take it down to Egypt. So then everybody knows it’s in Egypt, so they’re going to start you know ripping off the Egyptians then.
So Rehoboam made brass shields ( 1Ki 14:27 ),
Remember Solomon made these gold shields, three pounds of gold per shield. But he replaced them, Rehoboam replaced the shields with brass shields. Now brass is always a symbol of judgment. And it really is the beginning of God’s judgment because of their turning away from the Lord.
And so it came to pass when the king went into the house of the LORD, that the guard bare them, and brought them back to the guard’s chamber. And the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, all that he did, are written in the chronicles of [the kings of Israel] ( 1Ki 14:28-29 ).
So we’ll get those when we get to Chronicles.
Or the kings of Judah [rather] ( 1Ki 14:29 ).
And we do have the chronicles of the kings of Judah.
Now there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. Rehoboam slept with his fathers, he was buried in the city of David. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead ( 1Ki 14:30-31 ).
Now it is interesting that both men named their sons the same thing. However, Abijah or Abijah and Abijam, they’re close to the same thing, they mean the same. He’s called Abijah later on. But the king of Jeroboam died. The king of Rehoboam, Abijah or Abijam became the king in his father’s stead. And he reigned for three years in Jerusalem. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
In the story now recorded God is seen acting in judgment. The sickness of the son of Jeroboam was the first stroke of punishment and in connection therewith the prophet Ahijah uttered the doom of the man who had so grievously sinned.
In the name of God he reminded him through his wife, that his exaltation to power had been by the act of God, and declared that, because of his sin he and all his were to be swept away.
In the meantime, the southern kingdom of Judah was also sinning. Thus so quickly after David the nation. Was steeped in idolatry, and utterly failed to bear to the surrounding nations testimony to the purity of the divine government, although such testimony constituted the very purpose for which the nation had been created.
To fail to fuIfil God’s purpose is ever worse than to be merely useless. Peoples unrepentant because of the failure of the chosen become a scourge in the hand of God. This is seen in the invasion and spoliation of Judah by Shishak. The great principle uttered long after by Christ is seen here in its working. Salt which loses its savor is flung out, to be trodden under foot of men, whose corruption it ought to have prevented.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Blind Prophet Sees Jeroboams Doom
1Ki 14:1-16
How blind we become when we sin against our conscience! Each act of willful sin puts another shade on the window of the soul. Their foolish heart was darkened, Rom 1:21. Surely if the prophet were able to predict the issue of this sickness, he would be able to penetrate the mothers disguise, although she brought only the gifts of a poor peasant woman. Jeroboam had devised this ruse, partly, because he did not wish the nation to know that he was consulting a prophet of Jehovah-an act which might invalidate his new temple and the calves, and also because he wanted to get a more favorable answer than that which he anticipated in case the prophet recognized the inquirer. We may disguise ourselves as we will, but we cannot cheat God, and no dissembling can ever turn away the arrow that speeds straight to the guilty heart.
Jewish historians say that the exception was made in Abijahs case, 1Ki 14:13, because he interceded with his father that all Israelites who wished might be allowed to go to the feasts at Jerusalem, without being penalized. There is always discrimination in the divine judgments. How often God has brought beautiful lives out of foul surroundings, as the pure lily-cup out of a muddy pond!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
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.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 14 The Passing of Jeroboam and Rehoboam
1. Sickness and death of Jeroboams son (1Ki 14:1-18)
2. Jeroboams reign and death (1Ki 14:19-20)
3. Rehoboams 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 Jeroboams 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 childs 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 Jeroboams 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.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
that time: 1Ki 13:33, 1Ki 13:34
the son: 1Ki 14:12, 1Ki 14:13, Exo 20:5, 1Sa 4:19, 1Sa 4:20, 1Sa 31:2, 2Sa 12:15
Reciprocal: 1Ki 14:27 – guard 1Ki 15:8 – Abijam 2Ki 8:8 – inquire Jer 37:17 – asked
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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 Jeroboams eldest son.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 14:2. Ahijah the prophet; an illustrious man of God, now full of days, and full of grace.
1Ki 14:3. Ten loaves. A rustic present, that it might not excite suspicion of a royal visit. It is usual in all Asia and Africa to approach illustrious men with a present as a mark of respect, and not as a bribe. 1Sa 9:7.
1Ki 14:6. I am sentwith heavy tidings. The whole speech which follows, assumes the highest character of judicial eloquence, and a majesty becoming the dignity of the oracle.
1Ki 14:17. Tirzah, Latin Thersa, a most beautiful city, situate on a hill, about three hours northeast of Samaria. Song of Solomon, Son 6:4. It was the seat of government till Omri built the latter city.
1Ki 14:21. Rehoboam was forty and one years old. This is supposed to be a mistake, and that he was only twenty one, when he began to reign. But we know the particular time of his birth, from the forty years which Solomon reigned; the Hebrew may therefore be correct.
1Ki 14:25. Shishak king of Egypt. See 2Ch 12:2, where this invasion is more fully related.
REFLECTIONS.
Having in the preseding chapter seen the triumph, the error, the punishment of the man of God, and the impenitence of Jeroboam, notwithstanding all the prodigies which the Lord had granted, we come now to trace his punishment. The first stroke fell on Abijah, his less offending son, and the heir apparent; and it is very mysterious that the Lord should smite the son for the instruction of the father. If this hard stroke failed to bring the king to his right mind, it was a signal happiness for the child, as it delivered him out of the miseries of this sinful world, and concealed him from the total extirpation of his fathers house. We should never murmur at the death of children, because we do not know the evils which might befal them in future life.
Jeroboam, smitten in his son, was embarrassed what to do. He had no faith in Bethel, nor in Dan; and to go and entreat the Lord would expose both his calves and his priests to utter disgrace. He therefore resolved to send his wife to do it in disguise: but how preposterous was the plan. If the prophet, now blind and retired, God often heavily afflicting his most favoured servants, was to receive a revelation concerning the issue of this princes sickness, why did it not enter the kings mind, that God would at the same time discover the disguised inquirer. Oh what straits, what shame and difficulties do the wicked often reduce themselves to by their sins. And how could he expect that God would grant him an answer of peace in his sins? Learn then, oh my soul, never to approach the Lord in disguise, but with the simplicity of a child; and never in thy sins, for the prayer of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.
We learn farther, that the answer which God grants to wicked men, accords with their conscience and moral state. The king in his trouble sought to Ahijah for comfort, because this prophet had foretold his elevation to the throne; and comfort he would have received, had he served the Lord as David, whose throne he shared; but being an apostate, he is reproached with his sin; he is apprized that every male of his house should die an unnatural death, and their carcases be exposed to the dogs and the fowls. That the prince now sick, should alone die in his bed, and even as soon as the mothers feet entered the city, and that the Lord would raise up another king to execute all his vengeance on Jeroboam. What a mirror for the great, the proud, and all who set themselves above the law of the Lord!
From the imprudent and unsanctified manner in which Jeroboam sent to enquire of God, during the sickness of his son, let us learn, under the like afflictions, not to pry with unhallowed freedom into the secrets of providence. What would our weakness and fond affection say? Our children are dearer to God than to us: if it be his sovereign pleasure to take our Abijahs from the evil to come, let us adore and weep in silence. So did the Psalmist: I held my tongue and kept silence, for it was thy doing.
And why wish to know the issue of a mortal sickness before the time? If a man or an angel was commissioned to tell it, he would be an Ahijah with heavy tidings. And is there any consideration more sanctifying than the suspense of providence? A whole family in tears, a whole family purging itself from sin, and renewing its covenant with God, is a sight the most lovely under heaven. But woe to the families who seek the Lord in their sins: other strokes of the ax yet remain, till they are rooted out of the earth. Oh Jeroboam, Jeroboam! wounded and weeping under the arrows of Omnipotence, thou knowest the truth; why wilt thou pervert the worship of the Lord? Why wilt thou, and against miracles, plead the example of Jacob, and call the kneeling to thy calves the worship of JEHOVAH? Jacob had no idols around his altars. Why should thy crown be dearer to thee than salvation? Why shouldest thou forfeit thy covenant, destroy thyself, thy family, and thy people? Oh Jeroboam, Jeroboam, that thou hadst hearkened to Ahijah when he rent thy garment. Oh that thou hadst hearkened also to the man of God when he rent thy altar; then had thy people been happy under the wings of JEHOVAH, and he would have built thee a sure house. But now there is no more remedy.
In Judah we have here a farther subject of lamentation. Corrupted by high example, and by bad neighbours, he also did evil in the sight of the Lord. He continued to profane his country with the worship of many idols. In morals he resembled the Canaanites whom the Lord destroyed. Therefore Shishak king of Egypt was commissioned to humble him in his pride. He stripped the temple of all the golden shields, and all the cups which Solomon had prepared. Thus the Lord from the first to the last, dealt with his people according to his covenant. When obedient he caused them to inherit its blessing; and when disobedient all its curses assuredly pursued them; and thus the Lord will ever deal with his church and people.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Ki 14:1-20. Visit of Jeroboams Wife to Ahijah.Here we have an ancient story with Deuteronomic additions. According to the LXX (1Ki 12:24 g-m), Jeroboam sent his wife (Ano) to the prophet before he became king. Ahijah foretells the childs death, and the ruin of Jeroboams house, but gives no reason for either calamity. He is introduced as a new person, and he is not blind. Ano is not yet queen, so she has no need to disguise herself. As 1Ki 14:7-11 in the Heb. is obviously Deuteronomic, probably the early story merely related that Ahijah foretold the death of Ahijah. Notice that even in the Deuteronomic amplification Jeroboams sin is not that of neglecting Jerusalem, but making other gods and molten images (1Ki 14:9).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
JEREBOAM WARNED THROUGH HIS SON’S DEATH
Though God had sought to reach Jereboam’s conscience by the message and actions of the man of God, this produced no effect. So God used another means, by the severe illness of Jereboam’s son. Jereboam wanted help for the boy, and could only think of Ahijah the prophet who had told him he would be king. But his conscience so troubled him that in telling his wife to go to Ahijah, he ordered her to disguise herself (v.2). Jereboam was totally insensible of the sovereign omniscience of God. He wanted information from God and thought he could fool God into giving him the information without knowing to whom he was giving it!
Of course Jereboam thought it necessary to send a present to God’s servant for the information he would give (v.3). As his wife was coming to the house of Ahijah, the Lord told Ahijah (who could not see by reason of age) that the wife of Jereboam was coming to him, pretending to be another woman (vs.4-5).
Therefore, as she came to the door, Ahijah said, “Come in, wife of Jereboam. Why do you pretend to be another person?” (v.6). He did not give her opportunity to say anything, but gave her a dreadfully solemn message from God to tell her husband. Because Jereboam had been exalted by God and made ruler over Israel, tearing the kingdom away from the house of David, yet Jereboam, in contrast to David, did more evil than anyone before him, in turning to every kind of idolatry, rejecting God’s authority, therefore God would bring disaster to the house of Jereboam. He would cut off in death every male descendant of Jereboam, discarding them as though they were only garbage (vs.7-10). They would not be given a burial, for the dogs would eat those who died in the city and scavenging birds would eat those who died in the countryside. Then Ahijah added, “The Lord has spoken!” (v.11).
He further told Jereboam’s wife to go to her own house and that when she entered the city her child would die. But he, in contrast to Jereboam’s other sons, was an exception and would be mourned by Israel and given a burial, because in the baby there was found something good toward the Lord God of Israel (vs.12-13). This illustrates the fact that in many cases it is better for a person to die as an infant than to continue to live in an atmosphere where the Lord is dishonored.
Ahijah added more to his message, as seen in verse 14, that the Lord would raise up a king over Israel who would cut off the house of Jereboam. This was a matter absolutely decided. The Lord would so shake Israel as to uproot them from the land He had given to their fathers and scatter them beyond the river (Euphrates), because by Israel’s idolatry they had provoked His fierce anger (vs.14-15). Israel would be given up because of the sins of Jereboam who made Israel sin (v.16). This message of the unsparing anger and vengeance of God against Jereboam’s sin was in great contrast to Ahijah’s first message to Jereboam (ch.11:28-39).
Jereboam’s wife had received a shocking message indeed to carry home to her husband! She could do nothing but go home and face the fact of her child’s death as soon as she arrived in the city (v.17). As Ahijah had said, the child was buried and all Israel mourned for him. Jereboam was to learn that his disobedience to God did not only affect himself, but all of his family while he was living and the welfare of his family after he died, as well as the condition of the nation over which he ruled, both at the time of his ruling, and for many years afterward. This is surely a striking illustration of the truth that none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself. Our influence is a far more serious matter than we generally think. The truth of this is seen in an outstanding way in the history of all the kings, for kings had a prominent place that made them more responsible than the common people.
JEREBOAM’S DEATH
(vs.19-20)
This first ruler of the divided kingdom of Israel (Jereboam) had nothing in his reign for which God could commend him, though he reigned for 22 years, and did have a burial. It was his descendants who were not to be buried. His son Nadab succeeded him, though that succession did not continue, for various men overthrew kings in Israel in order to take the throne themselves.
REHOBOAM’S REIGN OVER JUDAH
(vs.21-31)
Though David and Solomon had both reigned 40 years, Rehoboam reigned over Judah only 17 years, dying at the age of 58 (v.21). It was no advantage to him that his mother, Naamah, was an Ammonitess. She had turned away Solomon’s heart from the Lord to the worship of Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites (ch.11:4-5). Having such a mother, it is not surprising that Rehoboam followed idolatrous practices also.
Judah of course did not follow Jereboam in his idol worship, for Judah continued to hold the temple worship at Jerusalem. But in spite of having the wonderful privilege of the true worship of God in God’s prescribed center, Judah took the initiative in serving and worshiping idols (v.22), as an addition to the true worship of God. They had seen Solomon’s example, not only in worshiping Milcom but in making high places for his many idolatrous wives and favoring all their evil religions. This is the boasted “tolerance” of our own day, which tolerates anything except the exclusive worship of the living God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. But Judah became worse than their fathers in provoking the Lord to jealousy by their gross evil (v.22). This scripture does not speak of their revolting crimes against other people, but of their brazenly insulting God by their false worship.
Yet wickedness in human relationships cannot but follow when people despise their Creator, as verse 24 indicates. There were perverted people in the land, those who practiced sodomy and prostitution in their religious ceremonies, the same as did the nations God had dispossessed before Israel when they came to Canaan.
Within five years after Rehoboam’s taking the throne of Judah, God moved Shishak, the king of Egypt, to come against Judah (v.25), and to take away much of the wealth that Solomon had collected, including the large number of gold shields he had made (v.26). Egypt pictures the world in its independence of God. The gold is typical of the glory of God, but since Rehoboam had no regard for God’s glory, the gold shields only testified to Rehoboam’s hypocrisy. Thus, disobedience to God will rob from us all that is precious in the blessings of the Word of God. Our worldliness virtually invites the world to take possession of what ought to be ours.
Instead of the gold shields, Rehoboam had bronze (or copper) shields made (v.27). How vastly inferior these were! While gold speaks of God’s glory, copper speaks of holiness. Christendom today has sadly copied Rehoboam’s example. They have lost sight of God’s glory and instead have adopted the principle of holiness, speaking plausibly about having a holy life, but leaving Christ totally out of the picture. Shields are for protection. Is there any real protection in our boasted claims of holiness as compared to a living faith in the Son of God?
There is more of the history of Rehoboam in 2 Chronicles, but with little to be commended. He strengthened himself for war, but his wars were more against Israel than against the nations (v.30). How sadly this has been the case in the history of the professing church also! Instead of waging war against the onslaughts of Satan and his hosts, Christians have too frequently contended against one another with disastrous results!
Rehoboam died and was buried in the city of David, and again it is mentioned that his mother’s name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. His son Abijam succeeded him in reigning over Judah. As we can expect, Abijam’s reign was no better.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
The prophecy of judgment on Jeroboam’s dynasty 14:1-18
Whereas the prophecy of the young prophet from Judah dealt with Jeroboam’s religious cult, this one predicted the fate of the king’s descendants. Compare Samuel’s prediction concerning unfaithful Saul’s descendants (1 Samuel 13).
Jeroboam probably sent his wife to see Ahijah because that prophet had previously given a favorable prophecy to him (1Ki 11:29-39). He probably hoped his gift (1Ki 14:3) would win the prophet’s favor as Jeroboam had won the favor of the old prophet of Bethel. Ahijah’s ability to recognize the queen should have convinced her that what he said was from the Lord. Yahweh was still the God of Israel (1Ki 14:7), even though Jeroboam refused to acknowledge Him as such. David’s viewing himself as Yahweh’s servant, keeping His commandments, and following Him with all his heart (1Ki 14:8), contrast with Jeroboam’s views and practices.
Jeroboam was extremely evil (1Ki 14:9) because he set up a new cult. In judgment, God would cut off Jeroboam’s descendants so he would not have a continuing dynasty. This is what the Lord had done to Eli and Saul for their similar disregard of God. Jeroboam’s descendants would not even enjoy burial. Wild animals would eat them, a terrible disgrace in the minds of ancient Semites (1Ki 14:11; cf. 1Ki 16:4; 1Ki 21:24; Deu 28:26). [Note: Patterson and Austel, p. 123.] The sign that this would happen would be the death of Jeroboam’s sick child (1Ki 14:12). His death at this time was really a divine blessing in view of what he would have experienced had he lived (1Ki 14:13). The king God raised up (1Ki 14:14) was Baasha (1Ki 15:27-29). God compared Jeroboam’s Israel to a shaky reed planted in unstable water (1Ki 14:15), like the papyrus reeds Jeroboam had seen in Egypt when he lived there. God handed Israel over to captivity eventually, but only temporarily (1Ki 14:16).
Evidently Jeroboam had moved his capital from Shechem to Tirzah (modern Tell el-Far’ah), seven miles to the northeast, and was living there (1Ki 14:17). [Note: See "Tirzah: An Early Capital of Israel," Buried History 22:1 (March 1986):14-24.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
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.”