3<\/strong>. cracknels<\/em> ] The word so rendered is found only here and in Jos 9:5<\/span>, of the bread of the Gibeonites, which became mouldy<\/em>. Some take the word there in the sense of crumbling<\/em>, so dry that it crumbled into bits. In the present passage however it must mean a sort of cake, perhaps dry baked. The whole of the present which the queen was to take with her was such as a woman of humble position would bring. The traditional interpretation of the Talmud makes the word to mean small cakes about the size of half an egg. The LXX. ( Alex.<\/em>) adds as explanatory, that they were for the prophet’s children.<\/p>\n and a cruse<\/em> ] The word only occurs here and in Jer 19:1<\/span>; Jer 19:10<\/span>, where it is rendered ‘bottle’.<\/p>\n he shall tell thee what shall become of the child<\/em> ] It reveals to us a singular condition of mind, when we see the king confident in the prophet’s power of foretelling the future even in the case of an individual life, and yet thinking that the queen could go to him with her question and he not know who was making the inquiry.<\/p>\n See the marginal reference The presents here were selected for the purpose of deception, being such as a poor country person would have been likely to bring. Jeroboam counted also on Ahijahs blindness 1Ki 14:4<\/span> as favoring his plan of deception (compare Gen 27:1<\/span>, Gen 27:22<\/span>).<\/P> Cracknels – <\/B>See the margin. The Hebrew word is thought to mean a kind of cake which crumbled easily.<\/P> <\/p>\n Verse 3<\/span>. Ten loaves<\/B><\/I>] Probably common or household bread.<\/P> <\/P> Cracknels<\/B><\/I>] nikkuddim, spotted<\/I>, or perforated<\/I> bread; thin cakes, pierced through with many holes, the same as is called Jews’ bread<\/I> to the present day, and used by them at the passover. It was customary to give presents to all great personages; and no person consulted a prophet without bringing something in his hand.<\/P> <\/p>\n A cruse of honey; <\/B>a present, after the manner, Jdg 13:17<\/span>; 1Sa 9:7<\/span>,8<\/span>; 2Ki 5:15<\/span>; 8:8<\/span>; but mean, as became an ordinary country woman, which she personated. <\/P> And go to him, <\/B>to inquire the event of this sickness, as the following words imply. <\/P> <\/p>\n 3-11. And take with thee ten loaves,and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him<\/B>This was apresent in unison with the peasant character she assumed. Cracknelsare a kind of sweet seed-cake. The prophet was blind, but havingreceived divine premonition of the pretended countrywoman’s coming,he addressed her as the queen the moment she appeared, apprised herof the calamities which, in consequence of the ingratitude ofJeroboam, his apostasy, and outrageous misgovernment of Israel,impended over their house, as well as over the nation which tooreadily followed his idolatrous innovations.<\/P><\/p>\n And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him<\/strong>,…. It being usual to carry a present to a prophet when he was inquired of on any account, see 1Sa 9:7<\/span> and this being a plain present, and of such things as the country afforded, she might be taken for a plain countrywoman, and not for such a personage as she was: the ten loaves could not be large for a woman to carry, most probably made of wheat; the cracknels, according to the Greek version in Drusius, were for the prophet’s children; they very likely were spiced, or were sweetened with honey, and might be somewhat like our simnels; they seem to have their name in Hebrew from having points and pricks in them for the sake of ornament; such as Plautus h calls “scribilitae”, because as Turnebus i says, they were marked and pricked, and seemed as if they were written:<\/p>\n he shall tell thee what shall become of the child<\/strong>; whether it should live or die, for that was all he wanted to know; he did not desire to know what should be done to the child for its recovery, nor to request the prophet’s prayers for it.<\/p>\n h Prolog. Poenulo, ver. 43. i Adversar. l. 23. c. 10.<\/p>\n (3) And take.<\/strong>The presentation of this offering, designedly simple and rustic in character, accords with the custom (1Sa. 9:7-8<\/span>) of approaching the prophet at all times with some present, however trifling. In itself an act simply of homage, it would easily degenerate into the treatment of the prophetic function as a mere matter of merchandise. (See above, 1Ki. 13:7<\/span>.)<\/p>\n 3<\/strong>. <\/strong> Cracknels <\/strong> , seems to denote a small sprinkled or punctured cake, baked hard for the purpose of keeping well during a long journey. Such small hard-baked biscuit are still used by the common people in the East. Compare Jos 9:5<\/span>, where the word is erroneously rendered mouldy. <\/em> The bread, the cracknels, and the honey were to be used as honorary presents for the prophet, according to the customs of the times. See note on 1Sa 9:7<\/span>. <\/p>\n What shall become of the child <\/strong> Henry well calls attention to the “notion of fatality” evinced in this inquiry of Jeroboam, and also in that of Ahaziah, (2Ki 1:2<\/span>,) and that of Ben-hadad. 2Ki 8:8<\/span>. They inquire simply what the end will be, not what means they should use for recovery.<\/p>\n “<\/strong> And take with you ten loaves, and cakes, and a cruse of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child.” <\/p>\n He also told his wife to take with her a good supply of provisions for the prophet. This was not a bribe, but normal practise. The size of the gift was limited lest Ahijah guess who it was from. We should note in this regard that prophets were regularly consulted on health matters, and other matters of local concern, and it was seemingly considered right to take them food. Compare Samuel in 1Sa 9:6-7<\/span>. Worldly people, however, probably thought that the more generous the gift that they sent, the more generous would be the reply, for that was how they behaved in their own lives. And his hope was that the prophet would give him good news about his young son, and might even heal him. <\/p>\n 1Ki 14:4<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> 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.’ <\/p>\n Jeroboam’s wife obediently did what she was told, and rose up and went to Shiloh, to the house of Ahijah the prophet. Ahijah was blind through old age and could not see clearly. Shiloh had by this time been partly restored after its mauling by the Philistines. <\/p>\n 1Ki 14:5<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> 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.” ’ <\/p>\n But while Ahijah was at least partially blind physically, he was not spiritually blind, and YHWH still spoke to him. YHWH forewarned him who was coming to see him, and the reason for her visit, and that she would be in disguise. And He also told Ahijah what he was to say to her from YHWH, once she had arrived. <\/p>\n 1Ki 14:6<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ‘<\/strong> 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” <\/p>\n When the woman entered, no doubt hoping that her disguise would not be penetrated by the blind old prophet, she must have been greatly disconcerted when he welcomed her as the wife of Jeroboam, and asked her why she was pretending to be someone else. (Although he hardly needed to be a prophet to know in fact the reason for the subterfuge). The point behind his question was that she should have known that nothing was hidden from YHWH, the all-seeing. He then informed her that he had heavy tidings for her. <\/p>\n 1Ki 14:7-9<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “<\/strong> 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,” <\/p>\n The heavy tidings concerned the covenant that YHWH had made with Jeroboam through Ahijah. As the God of Israel YHWH had exalted Jeroboam over Israel, and had made him prince (nagid, YHWH’s war-leader) over them, and had torn a large proportion of David’s kingdom from his house and had given it to Jeroboam. But Jeroboam had not responded in kind. He had not behaved like David, who had kept His commandments and followed Him with all his heart, doing only what was right in His eyes, but had rather done evil more than all who had come before him. He had made for himself ‘other gods’ and molten images in order to provoke YHWH to anger, and as a result he had cast YHWH behind his back. The molten images were, of course, the golden calves. The ‘other gods’ were the result of the syncretism that his actions had brought into Israel’s worship with the result that they were worshipping Baal and Asherah as well, at the same time as they worshipped YHWH, and even probably sometimes worshipped Baal under the name of YHWH. (It was easy to mix up YHWH with Baal nominally, because Baal meant ‘lord’ and YHWH could be addressed as ‘baali’ – ‘my Lord’ – Hosea 3:16-17). But the underlying attributes of the god that they were worshipping were those of Baal, with plenty of ritual sex and no morals. They had cast YHWH and His pure covenant behind their backs. <\/p>\n “Have done evil above all who were before you.”<\/strong> There was a long history in Israel of leaders who had failed YHWH’s people, commencing with Aaron who had made the golden calf, but Jeroboam had out-sinned them all. It should be noted that there is nothing particularly ‘Deuteronomic’ about these words. The ideas are simply generally Mosaic. <\/p>\n “And have cast me behind your back.”<\/strong> Compare Eze 23:35<\/span>. It indicates total rejection (compare Jesus’ words to Peter, “get you behind me Satan” – Mat 16:23<\/span>). <\/p>\n 1Ki 14:3<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Take with thee ten loaves, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> What the presents were which were made to the ancient prophets, we are not always told; but all the particulars of that made to Ahijah, by Jeroboam’s queen, are here given us. I very much question, however, whether that was any part of the disguise that she assumed, as Bishop Patrick supposes, who imagines that she presented him with such things as might make the prophet think her to be a country woman, rather than a courtier. It undoubtedly was not a present which proclaimed royalty; that would have been contrary to Jeroboam’s intention of her being unknown. But it does not appear to have been in the estimation of the East a present only fit for a countrywoman to have made; for D’Arvieux tells us, that when he waited upon an Arab emir, his mother and sister, to gratify whose curiosity that visit was made, sent him early in the morning, after his arrival in the camp, a present of pastry, honey, fresh butter, with a bason of sweetmeats of Damascus. Now this present differs but little from that of Jeroboam’s wife, who carried loaves, cracknels, <\/em>or other cakes enriched with seeds, (a species of bread then and still very common in the East,), and a cruse of honey, and was made by princesses, that avowed their quality. <\/em>See Observations, <\/em>p. 236 where the reader will find more respecting the custom of making presents in the East; and p. 133, where the author endeavours at large to confirm the meaning which he gives to the word nikkuddim, cracknels.<\/em> <\/p>\n 1Ki 14:3 And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.<\/p>\n Ver. 3. And take with thee ten loaves.<\/strong> ] A poor country present, that she might seem none other than a plain country woman, yet willing to show her thankfulness. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And cracknels.<\/strong> ] Or, Plain cakes; Heb., Punctata, tenues placentulas punctis respersas.<\/em> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And a cruse of honey.<\/strong> ] Or, Bottle, a narrow mouthed vessel, that when it is emptied soundeth bakbuk,<\/em> that is the Hebrew word here used. See the like in Job 39:30<\/span> , where the vultures are said to glut glut blood, by an onomatopoeia.<\/p>\n cruse = flask, or bottle. <\/p>\n he. Some codices, with Septuagint, read “and he”. <\/p>\n And take: 1Ki 13:7, 1Sa 9:7, 1Sa 9:8, 2Ki 4:42, 2Ki 5:5, 2Ki 5:15, 2Ki 8:7-9 <\/p>\n with thee: Heb. in thine hand <\/p>\n cracknels: or, cakes, Nikkoodim, spotted, or perforated cakes; either, as some suppose, thin cakes pierced through with holes, the same as is called Jews’ bread to the present day, and used by them at the passover; or, as Mr. Harmer imagines, cakes spotted with seeds, as with sesamum, Roman coriander, etc., such as he proves from Rauwolff, Russell, and Hanway, are still used in the East. This was certainly not a present that proclaimed royalty; but it does not appear to have been, in the estimation of the East, a present only fit for a country woman to have made, as Bp. Patrick supposes: for D’Arvieux informs us, that when he waited on an Arab emir, his mother and sisters sent him a present of pastry, honey, and fresh butter, with a bason of sweetmeats of Damascus. <\/p>\n cruse: or, bottle <\/p>\n he shall tell: 2Ki 1:2, 2Ki 8:8, Luk 7:2, Luk 7:3, Joh 4:47, Joh 4:48, Joh 11:3 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: 1Sa 28:8 – disguised 1Ki 14:12 – when thy feet Jer 21:2 – Inquire Dan 4:18 – but<\/p>\n 1Ki 14:3. Take with thee ten loaves, &c. It was usual for those that went to inquire of a prophet to make him some present as a token of their respect for him, 1Sa 9:7. The present which she was here directed to take, was of such things as suited the disguise in which she was to go, and were calculated to make Ahijah think her a country woman rather than a queen. And go to him To inquire the event of this sickness, as the following words imply. It would have been more pious to have inquired why God contended with him; to have desired the prophet to pray for him, and to have cast away his idols; then the child might have been restored to him, as his hand was: but most people, says Henry, would rather be told their fortune, than told their faults, or their duty.<\/p>\n 14:3 And take with {b} thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.<\/p>\n (b) According to the custom when they went to ask counsel of prophets, 1Sa 9:7.<\/p>\n 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. 3. cracknels ] The word so rendered is found only here and in Jos 9:5, of the bread of the Gibeonites, which became mouldy. Some take the word … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 14:3”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"