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. |
7 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, |
8 And 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; |
9 But 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: |
10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. |
11 Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it. |
12 Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. |
13 And 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 God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. |
14 Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now. |
15 For 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 to anger. |
16 And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. |
17 And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died; |
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. |
19 And 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. |
20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with this fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead. |
21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. |
22 And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. |
23 For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. |
24 And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. |
25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: |
26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. |
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. |
28 And it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber. |
29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? |
30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. |
31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead. |
14 Jeroboam sends to the prophet, to enquire concerning his sick son, Ki1 14:1-6.
The destruction of Jeroboam's household told, Ki1 14:7-16.
The death of his child, Ki1 14:17-18.
The conclusion of his reign, Ki1 14:19-20.
The declension of Rehoboam's house and kingdom, Ki1 14:21-28.
The conclusion of his reign, Ki1 14:28-31.
14:1 At that time - Presently after the things described in the former chapter; which, though related in the beginning of his reign, yet might bedone a good while after it, and so Ahijah the prophet might be very old,as he is described to be ver. Ki1 14:4. It is probable he was his eldest son.
14:2 His wife - Because she might without suspicion enquire concerning her own child; and because she would enquire exactly, and diligently, andfaithfully acquaint him with the truth. Disguise - Change thy habit, andvoice, and go like a private and obscure person. This caution proceeded:first, from the pride of his heart, which made him loth to confess his follyin worshipping such helpless idols, and to give glory to the God whom he hadforsaken. Secondly, from jealousy and suspicion, lest the prophet knowingthis, should either give her no answer, or make it worse than indeed it was.Thirdly, from policy, lest his people should by his example be drawn toforsake the calves, and to return to the God of Judah.
14:3 And take - A present, after the manner, but mean, as became an ordinary country woman, which she personated. It had been more pious toenquire, why God contended with him.
14:6 Thou wife - By which discovery he both reproves their folly, who thought to conceal themselves from God, and withal gives her assuranceof the truth, and certainty of that message which he was to deliver.
14:8 David - Who though he fell into some sins, yet, first, he constantly persevered in the true worship of God; from which thou artrevolted. Secondly, he heartily repented of, and turned from all hissins whereas thou art obstinate and incorrigible.
14:9 Above all - Above all the former kings of my people, as Saul, and Solomon, and Rehoboam. Images - Namely the golden calves: notas if they thought them to be other gods in a proper sense; for it isapparent they still pretended to worship the God of their fathers, butbecause God rejected their whole worship, and, howsoever they accountedit, he reckoned it a manifest defection from him, and a betaking themselvesto other gods, or devils, as they are called, Ch2 11:15,whom alone they served and worshipped therein, whatsoever pretences theyhad to the contrary. To provoke - Whereby thou didst provoke me. Forotherwise this was not Jeroboam's design in it, but only to establishhimself in the throne. Hast cast - Despised and forsaken me, and mycommands, and my worship, as we do things which we cast behind our backs.
14:10 Shut up - Those who had escaped the fury of their enemies invading them, either because they were shut up in caves, or castles,or strong towns, or, because they were left, over - looked or neglectedby them, or spared as poor, impotent, helpless creatures. But now, saithhe, they shall be all searched out, and brought to destruction.Dung - Which they remove, as a loathsome thing, out of their houses, andthat throughly and universally.
14:11 Eat - So both sorts shall die unburied.
14:12 When, etc - Presently upon thy entrance into the city; when thou art gone but a little way in it, even as far as to the threshold of theking's door, ver. Ki1 14:17, which possibly was near the gates of the city.And by this judge of the truth of the rest of my prophecy.
14:13 Shall mourn - For the loss of so worthy and hopeful a person, and for the sad calamities which will follow his death, which possibly hismoderation, and wisdom, and virtue, might have prevented. So they shouldmourn, not simply for him, but for their own loss in him. Grave - Shallhave the honour of burial. Some good - Pious intentions of taking awaythe calves, and of permitting or obliging his people to go up toJerusalem to worship, if God gave him life and authority to do it, andof trusting God with his kingdom. In the house - Which is added for hisgreater commendation; he was good in the midst of so many temptations andwicked examples; a good branch of a bad flock.
14:14 A king - Baasha, chap.Ki1 15:28.That day - When he is so raised; in the very beginning of his reign,chap.Ki1 15:29.But what? - But what do I say, he shall raise, as it were a thing tobe done at a great distance of time: the man is now in being if not inpower, who shall do this: this judgment shall be shortly executed.Sometimes God makes quick work with sinners. He did so with the house ofJeroboam. It was not twenty four years from his first elevation, to thefinal extirpation of his family.
14:15 Is shaken - Hither and thither, with every wind. So shall the kingdom and people of Israel be always in an unquiet and unsettledposture, tossed to and fro by foreign invasions and civil wars; by oppositekings and factions, and by the dissensions of the people.The river - Euphrates, so called by way of eminency, this wasaccomplished in part Ki2 15:29, and more fully, Ki2 17:6.Groves - For the worship of their idols, God having before condemned themaking and worshipping of the calves, by which they pretended to worship thetrue God; he now takes notice that they were not contented with the calves,but (as it is in the nature of idolatry, and all sin, to proceed from evilto worse) were many of them fallen into a worse kind of idolatry, even theirworship of the heathenish Baals, which they commonly exercised in groves.
14:16 Who made, etc - By his invention, and making the occasion of their sin, the calves; by his example, encouraging those and only thosethat worshipped the calves; and by his authority requiring and compellingthem to do it. This is mentioned as a monstrous aggravation of hiswickedness, that he was not content with his own sin, but was the greatauthor of drawing others into sin, and of corrupting and undoing the wholekingdom, which therefore God would never forgive him, but upon all occasionsmentions him with this eternal brand of infamy upon him.
14:17 Tirzah - An ancient and royal city, in a pleasant place, where the kings of Israel had a palace, whither Jeroboam was now removedfrom Shechem, either for his pleasure, or for his son's recovery, bythe healthfulness of the place. The threshold - Of the king's house,which probably was upon, or by the wall of the city, and near the gate.
14:18 Mourned - And justly: not only for the loss of an hopeful prince, but because his death plucked up the floodgates, at which an inundation ofjudgments broke in.
14:19 The chronicles - not that canonical book of chronicles; for that was written long after this book: but a book of civil records, the annals,wherein all remarkable passages were recorded by the king's command fromday to day; out of which the sacred penman by the direction of God'sspirit, took those passages which were most useful for God's honour, andmens edification.
14:21 Forty one years - Therefore he was born a year before Solomon was king, as appears from chap.Ki1 11:42, this is noted as an aggravationof Rehoboam's folly, that he was old enough to have been wiser.An Ammonitess - A people cursed by God, and shut out of the congregationof his people for ever. This is observed as one cause both of God'sdispleasure in punishing Solomon with such a son, and of Rehoboam'sapostacy after his three first years, Ch2 11:17. None can imaginehow fatal and how lasting are the consequence of being unequally yoked withan unbeliever.
14:22 In the sight of the Lord - In contempt and defiance of him, and the tokens of his special presence. Jealousy - As the adulterous wifeprovokes her husband, by breaking the marriage covenant.
14:23 They also - Followed the example of the Israelites, although they were better instructed, and had the temple in their kingdom, andliberty of access to it, and the privilege of worshipping God in hisown way, and the counsels, and sermons, and examples of the priests andLevites, and the dreadful example of Israel's horrid apostacy,to caution and terrify them. High places - Which was unlawful, and,now especially when the temple was built, and ready to receive them;unnecessary, and therefore expressed a greater contempt of God and hisexpress command. Groves - Not only after the manner of the Heathensand Israelites, but against a direct and particular prohibition.Under every green tree - The people were universally corrupted: whichis prodigious, all things considered, and is a clear evidence of thegreatness and depth of the original corruption of man's nature.
14:24 Abomination - They dishonoured God by one sin, and then God left them to dishonour themselves by another.
14:25 Fifth year - Presently after his and his people's apostacy, which was not 'till his fourth year: while apostate, Israel enjoyed peace andsome kind of prosperity, of which difference, two reasons may be given:first, Judah's sins were committed against clearer light, and morepowerful means and remedies of all sorts, and therefore deserved moresevere and speedy judgments. Secondly, God discovered more love to Judahin chastizing them speedily, that they might be humbled, reformed, andpreserved, as it happened; and more anger against Israel, whom he sparedto that total destruction which he intended to bring upon them.Sishak - He is thought to be Solomon's brother - in - law. But how littlesuch relations signify among princes, when their interest is concerned, allhistories witness. Besides Rehoboam was not Solomon's son byPharaoh's daughter and so the relation was in a manner extinct.Came up - Either, from a desire to enlarge his empire: or, byJeroboam's instigation: or from a covetous desire of possessing thosegreat treasures which David and Solomon had left: and above all, byGod's providence, disposing his heart to this expedition for Rehoboam'spunishment.
14:26 He took - First the city: which may seem strange, considering the great strength of it, and how much time it took Nebuchadnezzar andTitus to take it. But, first, it might cost Shishak also a longsiege though that be not here related. Secondly, it is probable Davidand Solomon in their building and altering the city, had more respect tostate and magnificence than to its defence, as having no great cause to fearthe invasion of any enemies. And it is certain, that after the divisionbetween Judah and Israel, the kings of Judah added very much tothe fortifications of it.
14:27 Brazen shields - This was an emblem of the diminution of his glory. Sin makes the gold become dim, it changes the most fine gold andturns it into brass.
14:28 To the house, etc - By which it seems the affliction had done him some good, and brought him back to the worship of God, which hehad forsaken.
14:30 Was war - Not an invasive war with potent armies, which was forbidden, chap.Ki1 12:24, and not revived 'tillAbijam's reign, Ch2 13:1-3, but a defensive war from thosehostilities which by small parties and skirmishes they did to one another.
14:31 An Ammonitess - This is repeated as a thing very observable.