1 Kings 14 commentary

“At that time,” when Jeroboam did evil, his child sickened. When sickness comes into our families, we should inquire whether there may not be some particular sin harboured in our houses, which the affliction is sent to convince us of, and reclaim us from. It had 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; but most people would rather be told their fortune, than their faults or their duty. He sent to Ahijah, because he had told him he should be king. Those who by sin disqualify themselves for comfort, yet expect that their ministers, because they are good men, should speak peace and comfort to them, greatly wrong themselves and their ministers. He sent his wife in disguise, that the prophet might only answer her question concerning her son. Thus some people would limit their ministers to smooth things, and care not for having the whole counsel of God declared to them, lest it should prophesy no good concerning them, but evil. But she shall know, at the first word, what she has to trust to. Tidings of a portion with hypocrites will be heavy tidings. God will judge men according to what they are, not by what they seem to be.

Whether we keep an account of God's mercies to us or not, he does; and he will set them in order before us, if we are ungrateful, to our greater confusion. Ahijah foretells the speedy death of the child then sick, in mercy to him. He only in the house of Jeroboam had affection for the true worship of God, and disliked the worship of the calves. To show the power and sovereignty of his grace, God saves some out of the worst families, in whom there is some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel. The righteous are removed from the evil to come in this world, to the good to come in a better world. It is often a bad sign for a family, when the best in it are buried out of it. Yet their death never can be a loss to themselves. It was a present affliction to the family and kingdom, by which both ought to have been instructed. God also tells the judgments which should come upon the people of Israel, for conforming to the worship Jeroboam established. After they left the house of David, the government never continued long in one family, but one undermined and destroyed another. Families and kingdoms are ruined by sin. If great men do wickedly, they draw many others, both into the guilt and punishment. The condemnation of those will be severest, who must answer, not only for their own sins, but for sins others have been drawn into, and kept in, by them.

Here is no good said of Rehoboam, and much said to the disadvantage of his subjects. The abounding of the worst crimes, of the worst of the heathen, in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen for his temple and his worship, shows that nothing can mend the hearts of fallen men but the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. On this alone may we depend; for this let us daily pray, in behalf of ourselves and all around us. The splendour of their temple, the pomp of their priesthood, and all the advantages with which their religion was attended, could not prevail to keep them close to it; nothing less than the pouring out the Spirit will keep God's Israel in their allegiance to him. Sin exposes, makes poor, and weakens any people. Shishak, king of Egypt, came and took away the treasures. Sin makes the gold become dim, changes the most fine gold, and turns it into brass.

CHAPTER 14

1Ki 14:1-20. Ahijah Denounces God's Judgments against Jeroboam.

1. At that time--a phrase used often loosely and indefinitely in sacred history. This domestic incident in the family of Jeroboam probably occurred towards the end of his reign; his son Abijah was of age and considered by the people the heir to the throne.

2. Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself--His natural and intense anxiety as a parent is here seen, blended with the deep and artful policy of an apostate king. The reason of this extreme caution was an unwillingness to acknowledge that he looked for information as to the future, not to his idols, but to the true God; and a fear that this step, if publicly known, might endanger the stability of his whole political system; and a strong impression that Ahijah, who was greatly offended with him, would, if consulted openly by his queen, either insult or refuse to receive her. For these reasons he selected his wife, as, in every view, the most proper for such a secret and confidential errand, but recommended her to assume the garb and manner of a peasant woman. Strange infatuation, to suppose that the God who could reveal futurity could not penetrate a flimsy disguise!

3-11. And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him--This was a present in unison with the peasant character she assumed. Cracknels are a kind of sweet seed-cake. The prophet was blind, but having received divine premonition of the pretended countrywoman's coming, he addressed her as the queen the moment she appeared, apprised her of the calamities which, in consequence of the ingratitude of Jeroboam, his apostasy, and outrageous misgovernment of Israel, impended over their house, as well as over the nation which too readily followed his idolatrous innovations.

12. the child shall die--The death and general lamentation felt through the country at the loss of the prince were also predicted. The reason for the profound regret shown at his death arose, according to Jewish writers, from his being decidedly opposed to the erection of the golden calves, and using his influence with his father to allow his subjects the free privilege of going to worship in Jerusalem.

13. all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him--the only one of Jeroboam's family who should receive the rites of sepulture.

14. the Lord shall raise him up a king ... but what? even now--namely, Baasha (1Ki 15:27); he was already raised--he was in being, though not in power.

17. Tirzah--a place of pre-eminent beauty (So 6:4), three hours' travelling east of Samaria, chosen when Israel became a separate kingdom, by the first monarch, and used during three short reigns as a residence of the royal house. The fertile plains and wooded hills in that part of the territory of Ephraim gave an opening to the formation of parks and pleasure-grounds similar to those which were the "paradises" of Assyrian and Persian monarchs [Stanley]. Its site is occupied by the large village of Taltise [Robinson]. As soon as the queen reached the gate of the palace, she received the intelligence that her son was dying, according to the prophet's prediction [1Ki 14:12].

19. the rest of the acts of Jeroboam--None of the threatenings denounced against this family produced any change in his policy or government.

1Ki 14:21-24. Rehoboam's Wicked Reign.

21. he reigned ... in Jerusalem--Its particular designation as "the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there," seems given here, both as a reflection on the apostasy of the ten tribes, and as a proof of the aggravated wickedness of introducing idolatry and its attendant vices there.

his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess--Her heathen extraction and her influence as queen mother are stated to account for Rehoboam's tendency to depart from the true religion. Led by the warning of the prophet (1Ki 12:23), as well as by the large immigration of Israelites into his kingdom (1Ki 12:17; 2Ch 11:16), he continued for the first three years of his reign a faithful patron of true religion (2Ch 11:17). But afterwards he began and encouraged a general apostasy; idolatry became the prevailing form of worship, and the religious state of the kingdom in his reign is described by the high places, the idolatrous statues, the groves and impure rites that with unchecked license were observed in them. The description is suited to the character of the Canaanitish worship.

1Ki 14:25-31. Shishak Spoils Jerusalem.

25-26. Shishak king of Egypt came up--He was the instrument in the hand of Providence for punishing the national defection. Even though this king had been Solomon's father-in-law, he was no relation of Rehoboam's; but there is a strong probability that he belonged to another dynasty (see on 2Ch 12:2). He was the Sheshonk of the Egyptian monuments, who is depicted on a bas-relief at Karnak, as dragging captives, who, from their peculiar physiognomy, are universally admitted to be Jews.

29. Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam ..., are they not written in the book of the chronicles?--not the book so called and comprehended in the sacred canon, but the national archives of Judah.

30. there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam--The former was prohibited from entering on an aggressive war; but as the two kingdoms kept up a jealous rivalry, he might be forced into vigilant measures of defense, and frequent skirmishes would take place on the borders.

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.

Ten loaves - Probably common or household bread.

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

Feign herself to be another woman - It would have been discreditable to Jeroboam's calves, if it had been known that he had consulted a prophet of Jehovah.

And rent the kingdom away from the house of David - That is, permitted it to be rent, because of the folly and insolence of Rehoboam.

Him that pisseth against the wall - Every male. The phrase should be thus rendered wherever it occurs.

Shall the dogs eat - They shall not have an honorable burial: and shall not come into the sepulchres of their fathers.

In him there is found some good thing - Far be it from God to destroy the righteous with the wicked; God respects even a little good, because it is a seed from himself. The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed.

For the Lord shall smite Israel - See this prophecy fulfilled, 1Kgs 15:28-30, when Baasha destroyed all the house and posterity of Jeroboam.

The rest of the acts of Jeroboam - are written in the - chronicles - For some important particulars relative to this reign, see 2 Chronicles 13:1-20.

There were also sodomites in the land - קדשים kedeshim, consecrated persons; persons who had devoted themselves, in practices of the greatest impurity, to the service of the most impure idols.

He took away the treasures - All the treasures which Solomon had amassed, both in the temple and in his own houses; a booty the most immense ever acquired in one place.

All the shields of gold which Solomon had made - These were three hundred in number, and were all made of beaten gold. See a computation of their value in the note on 1Kgs 10:17 (note).

The guard bare them - The guard probably were just three hundred, answering to the number of the shields.

Naamah an Ammonitess - He was born of a heathen mother, and begotten of an apostate father. From such an impure fountain could sweet water possibly spring?

Abijam his son reigned in his stead - Though righteousness cannot be propagated, because it is supernatural, yet unrighteousness may, for that is a genuine offspring of nature. Abijam was the wicked son of an apostate father and heathenish mother. Grace may be grafted on a crab stock; but let none do evil that good may come of it. A bad stock will produce bad fruit.

Dr. Kennicott observes that the name of this king of Judah is now expressed three ways: here and in four other places it is Abijam or Abim; in two others it is Abihu, but in eleven other places it is Abiah, as it is expressed by St. Matthew, Mat 1:7, Ῥοβοαμ εγεννησε τον ΑΒΙΑ; and this is the reading of thirteen of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and of thirteen respectable editions of the Hebrew Bible. The Syriac is the same. The Septuagint in the London Polyglot has αβιου, Abihu; but in the Complutensian and Antwerp Polyglots, it is αβια, Abiah. Though the common printed Vulgate has Abiam, yet the Editio Princeps of the Vulgate, some MSS., and the text in the Complutensian and Antwerp Polyglots, have Abia; which without doubt is the reading that should in all cases be followed.

The rabbins say, and particularly Rab. Sol. Jarchi, that the Shishak mentioned in this chapter is Pharaoh Necho, and that he invaded Israel in order to get the ivory throne of his son-in-law Solomon, which he had always coveted; and this throne he carried away. It appears however that he spoiled the temple, the king's palace, etc., and in short took every thing away without resistance which he chose to carry off. It is very likely that this had a good effect on Rehoboam; it probably caused him to frequent the temple, 1Kgs 14:28, which it is likely he had before neglected. This history is more particularly told in 2 Chron. 12, to which the reader will do well to refer; and as to Rehoboam, though so much positive iniquity is not laid to his charge as to his father, yet little can be said for his piety; the idolatry introduced by Solomon does not appear to have been lessened in the days of Rehoboam.

AT that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick .

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, v. 4. Or, Secondly, many Years of it, i. e. Whilst Ieroboam lived and 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. Matth. 4. 1.

By the stroke of God to punish Ieroboam's Rebellion against God.

2 And Jeroboam said to his wife , Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thy self , 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.

Partly, because he would trust none else with this secret; partly, because she might without suspition enquire concerning her own Child; and partly, because she would enquire most exactly, and diligently, and faithfully acquaint him with the whole truth.

Change thy habit, and voice, and go like a private and obscure person.

This caution proceeded: First, From the pride of his heart, which made him loath to confess his folly in worshipping such ignorant and helpless Idols, and to give Glory to the God whom he had forsaken. Secondly, From jealousie and suspition, lest the Prophet knowing this, 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 to forsake the sensless Calves, and to return to the God of Iudah, whom they had rashly forsaken.

Marginal references: Chap. 11. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

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.

A present, after the manner, Iudg. 13. 17. 1 Sam. 9. 7, 8. 2 King. 5. 15. and 8. 8. but mean, as became an ordinary Countrey Woman, which she personated.

To enquire the event of this sickness, as the following words imply.

Marginal references: Heb. in [illegible: 1 word] hand.; Or, [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Or, [illegible: 1 word] ▪

4 And 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.

Or, stood still, or were grown stiff; the Nerves, by which the Eyes and Lye-lids are moved, being contracted and withered.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] for [illegible: 1 word] ▪

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 thy self to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.

By which discovery he both reproves their folly, who thought to conceal themselves or their designs from that God from whom they expected and desired the discovery of the most secret things; and withal gives her assurance of the truth and certainty of that message which he was to deliver.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

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:

For so they were when Ieroboam was first set over them.

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 onely which was right in mine eyes,

Who though he fell into some sins, yet, first, he constantly persevered in the True Worship of God; from which thou art revolted. Secondly, He heartily repented of, and turned from all his sins, whereas thou art obstinate and incorrigible.

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 :

Above all the former Kings of my People, as Saul, and Solomon, and Rehoboam.

Or, other Gods, to wit, (for so and oft signifies among the Hebrews, as hath been formerly noted) molten images, namely, the Golden Calves: which he calls other gods, not as if the Israelites esteemed the Calves made of their own Gold, to be gods indeed, which it is incredible should find belief with any man in his wits, especially with the whole Body of the Israelites, who knew that the Ark and Cherubims, though made by Gods special direction, were not Gods, but onely Pledges of Gods presence, &c. Nor as if they thought them to be other gods in a strict and proper sense; for it is apparent that they still pretended to Worship the God of their Fathers, as the Iews at Ierusalem did, though in a differing manner; but onely because God rejected their whole Worship, and, howsoever they called or accounted it, he reckoned it a manifest defection from him, and a betaking of themselves to other gods, or devils, as they are called, 2 Chron. 11. 15. by whose instigation they were led to such Idolatrous practises, and whom alone they served and worshipped therein, whatsoever pretences they had to the contrary.

i. e. Whereby thou didst provoke me. For otherwise this was not Ieroboam's design in it, but onely to Establish himself in the Throne.

Despised, and disregarded, and forsaken me, and my Commands, and my Worship, as we do things which we cast behind our backs.

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.

Either, so much as a Dog: or, any male Children. Of which Phrase see the Notes on 1 Sam. 25. 22.

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 neglected by them, or spared as poor, impotent, helpless Creatures. But now, saith he, They shall be all searched out, and brought to destruction. See more on Deut. 32. 36.

Which they remove, as a loathsom thing, out of their Houses, and that thoroughly and universally.

Marginal references: Chap. 15. 29.; Chap. 21. 21. 2 King. 9. 8.

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.

So both sorts shall die unburied.

12 Arise thou therefore, get thee to thin[illegible: 1+ letters] own house; and when thy feet enter into the city , the child shall die.

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 the Kings door, v. 17. which possibly was near the Gates of the City. And by the event of this branch, judge of the Truth of the rest of my Prophecy.

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 .

Either, First, For the loss of so worthy and hopeful a Person. Or, Secondly, For the sad calamities which should follow his death, which possibly his moderation, and wisdom, and vertue, might have prevented, whereof his death was a certain presage and evidence. So they should mourn, not simply for him, but for their own loss in him.

Shall have the honour of Burial, denied to the rest, v. 11.

Some P[illegible: 1+ letters]ous inclinations and intentions of taking away the Calves, or of permitting or obliging his People to go up to Ierusalem to Worship, if God gave him Life and Authority to do it, and of trusting God with his Kingdom in that case.

Which is added for his greater commendation; he was good in the midst of so many temptations and wicked examples; a good branch of a bad stock.

Marginal references: 2 Chr. 12. 12. and 19. 3.

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.

Baasha, chap. 15. 28.

When he is so raised; in the very beginning of his Reign, chap. 15. 29.

But what do I say, he shall raise, as it were a thing to be done at a great distance of time: he hath already raised him in some sort: the man is now in being, if not in power, who shall do this: this Judgment shall be shortly executed.

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.

Because they obeyed Ieroboam's wicked command of Worshipping the Calves, and that willingly, Hos. 5. 11.

Easily and variously, hither and thither, with every wind. So shall the Kingdom and People of Israel be always in an unquiet and unsettled posture, tossed to and fro by Foreign Invasions, and Civil Wars; by opposite Kings and Factions, and by the dissentions of the People. See 2 King. 17. 18.

To wit, Euphrates, oft so called by way of eminency, as Gen. 15. 18. and 31. 21. 1 King. 4. 21, 24. This was accomplished in part, 2 King. 15. 29. and more fully, 2 King. 17. 6.

For the Worship of their Idols, Exod. 34. 13. Deut. 16. 21. God having before condemned the making and worshipping of the Calves, by which they designed or pretended to Worship the True God; he now takes notice that they were not contented with the Calves, but (as it is the nature of Idolatry, and all sin, to proceed from evil to worse) were many of them fallen into another and a worse kind of Idolatry, even their worship of the Heathenish Baals, which they commonly exercised in Groves. See on 1 King. 18. 19.

Marginal references: 2 Kin. 17. 23.

16 And he shall give Israel up, because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin .

To wit, by his invention, and making of the occasion of their sin, the Calves; by his example, by encouraging those and onely those that worshipped the Calves; and by his Authority requiring and compelling them to do it. This is mentioned as a monstrous aggravation of his wickedness, that he was not content with his own sin, but was the great Author, and chief cause, of drawing others into sin, and of corrupting and undoing the whole Kingdom: which therefore God would never forgive him, nor forget him, but upon all occasions mentions him with this Eternal brand of infamy upon him.

17 ¶ And Jeroboams wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah : and when she came to the threshold of the door , the child died.

An Ancient and Royal City, Ios. 12. 24. in a pleasant place, Cant. 6. 4. where the Kings of Israel had a Palace, chap. 15. 33. and 16. 6, 8, 23, 24. whither Ieroboam was now removed from Shechem, either for his pleasure, or for his Sons recovery, by the healthfulness of the place.

To wit, of the Kings House, which probably was upon, or by the Wall of the City, and near the Gate, which was the place of Judicature. See v. 12.

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 .

Heb. in the book of the words or things of the days, &c. By which you are not to understand that Canonical Book of the 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 Kings command from day to day; out of which the Sacred Penman by the direction of Gods Spirit, took out those passages which were most considerable and useful for Gods Honour, and Mens Edification.

20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned, were two and twenty years : and he slept with his fathers , and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

So he lived till Asa's second year, chap. 15. 25.

Either, First, He was Buried with his Ancestors. But their Sepulchre seems to be too mean and improper for a great King; and Kings use to be Buried in peculiar Sepulchres. Or, Secondly, He died, as his Fathers did.

Marginal references: Heb. lay down.

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 chuse out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his Name there: and his mothers name was Naamah, an Ammonitess .

Therefore he was born a year before Solomon was King, as appears from 1 King. 11. 42. This is noted as an aggravation of Rehoboam's folly, that he was old enough to have been wiser.

A People Cursed by God, and shut out of the Congregation of his People for ever, Deut. 23. 3. Neh. 13. 1. This is observed as one cause both of Gods displeasure in punishing Solomon with such a Son, and of Rehoboam's Apostacy after his three first years, 2 Chron. 11. 17.

Marginal references: 2 Chr. 12. 13.

22 And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousie with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.

After a little time, 2 Chron. 11. 17.

23 For they also built them high places , and images, and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree .

They followed the example of the Israelites, although they were better instructed, and had the Temple in their Kingdom, and liberty of access to it, which was denied to the Israelites; and the priviledge of Worshipping God in his own way, and the Counsels, and Sermons, and Examples of the Priests and Levites, to teach and stablish them, and the dreadful example of Israel's horrid Apostacy, to caution and terrify them.

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 his express Command to the contrary.

Not only after the manner of the Heathens and Israelites, but against a direct and particular prohibition.

The People were universally corrupted: which is a prodigious, all things considered, and is a clear evidence of the greatness and depth of the Original corruption of Mans nature, which without Gods Grace is ready to break forth into all sorts of wickedness.

Marginal references: Or, standing images, or, statues.

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.

i. e. Males, who prostitured their Bodies to the filthy Lusts of others: of whom see on Deut. 23. 17. who also did this in the worship, and to the honour of their Idols, as also the Women did, Numb. 25. 1, 2. And this might be one occasion of so great a spreading of Idolatry among the Lustful Israelites. And on the other side God doth frequently punish Idolatry with Corporal uncleanness, Rom. 1. 21, 28. See 1 King. 15. 12. and 22. 46. 2 King. 23. 7.

25 ¶ And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam , that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem .

Presently after his and his Peoples Apostacy, which was not till his fourth year: when the Apostatical Israelites enjoyed Peace and some kind of Prosperity, at first, for many Years together: of which difference two reasons may be given: First, That Iudah's sins were committed against clearer Light, and more powerful means and remedies of all sorts, and therefore deserved more severe and speedy Judgments. Secondly, That God discovered more Love to Iudah in chastizing them speedily, that so they might be humbled, and reformed, and so graciously preserved, as it happened; and more anger against Israel, that he spared them, and by their impunity hardned and ripened them to that total destruction which he intended to bring upon them.

Of whom see 1 King. 11. 40. and 2 Chron. 12. 2, &c. where this History is more fully described. He is thought by many to be Solomon's Brother-in-law. But how little such Relations signify among Princes, when their Interest is concerned, all Histories witness. Besides Rehoboam was not Solomon's Son by Pharaoh's Daughter, and so the relation was in a manner extinct.

Either, From ambition and a desire to enlarge his Empire: or, from jealousie of Rehoboam's growing-greatness: Of which see 2 Chron. 11. or, by Ieroboam's instigation: or, from a covetous desire of possessing these great treasures which David and Solomon had left: and, above all, by Gods Providence, disposing his heart to this expedition for Rehoboam's punishment.

26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the kings house, he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

It is implied, that first he took the City: which may seem strange, considering the great strength of that City, and how much time it took Nebuchadnezzar and Titus to take it. But, First, It might cost Shishak also some time, and a long Siege ere he took it, though that be not here related. Secondly, It is probable that David and Solomon in their building and altering of this City, had more respect to State and Magnificence, than to its defence, as having no great cause to fear the Invasion of any Enemies, and being too secure in reference to their Posterity, because of Gods promise of the Kingdom to be continued to them and to their seed for ever. And it is probable and certain, that after the division between Iudah and Israel, the Kings of Iudah did add very much to the Fortifications of this City.

Marginal references: Chap. 10 [illegible: 1 word] ▪

27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard , which kept the door of the kings house.

Whereas the Golden Shields, as being more precious, were kept in a certain place.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] ▪

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.

By which it seems the affliction had done him some good, and brought him back to the Worship of God, which he had forsaken, chap. 12. 1.

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 .

Such a Book of Chronicles as that mentioned above, ver. 19.

30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

Not an Invasive War with Potent Armies, which was forbidden, chap. 12. 12. and not revived till Abijam's Reign, 2 Chron. 13. but a defensive War from those Hostilities which by small Parties and Skirmishes they did to one another.

31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David▪ and his mothers name was Naamah an Ammonitess . And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

This is repeated as a thing very observable. See above, ver. 21.

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. השׁתּנּה, from שׁנה, 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 למלך, to be king, i.e., that he would become king, over this people. למלך stands for מלך להיות, 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, κολλυρίδα (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. עיניו קמוּ 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. וכזה כּזה; see at Jdg 18:4, וגו כבאהּ ויהי, “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 בּאה, according to the number and gender, refers to the אשּׁה implied in רגליה, 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. קשׁה (cf., 1Ki 12:13) is equivalent to קשׁה חזוּת; 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.” בּקיר משׁתּין, every male person; see at 1Sa 25:22. A synonymous expression is ועזוּב עצוּר, 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). לירבעם with ל 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 בּבאה as standing for בּבאהּ, and refers the suffix to the following word העיר (vid., Ewald, §309, c.). But as this use of the suffix would be very harsh, the question arises whether בּאה is not to be regarded as a feminine form of the infinitive, after the analogy of דּעה in Exo 2:4 and לדה 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. אליהוה 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. יד is placed before היּום, to give it the stronger emphasis, as in Exo 32:1 (compare Jos 9:12-13, and Ewald, §293, b.; and for עתּה גּם 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.” אשׁרים is used for idols generally, among which the golden calves are reckoned. ויתּן, 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.

1Ki 14:21

Reign of Rehoboam in Judah (compare 2 Chron 11:5-12:16). - 1Ki 14:21. Rehoboam, who ascended the throne at the age of forty-one, was born a year before the accession of Solomon (see at 1Ki 2:24). In the description of Jerusalem as the city chosen by the Lord (cf., 1Ki 11:36) there is implied not so much an indirect condemnation of the falling away of the ten tribes, as the striking contrast to the idolatry of Rehoboam referred to in 1Ki 14:23. The name of his mother is mentioned (here and in 1Ki 14:31), not because she seduced the king to idolatry (Ephr. Syr.), but generally on account of the great influence which the queen-mother appears to have had both upon the king personally and upon his government, as we may infer from the fact that the mother’s name is given in the case of every king of Judah (vid., 1Ki 15:2, 1Ki 15:13; 1Ki 22:42, etc.).

1Ki 14:22-24

The general characteristics of Rehoboam’s reign are supplied and more minutely defined in the account in the Chronicles. According to 2 Chron 11:5-12:1, he appears to have been brought to reflection by the announcement of the prophet, that the falling away of the ten tribes had come from the Lord as a punishment for Solomon’s idolatry (1Ki 12:23-24; 2Ch 11:2-4); and in the first years of his reign to have followed the law of God with earnestness, and to have been occupied in the establishment of his government partly by the fortification of different cities (2Ch 11:5-12), and partly by setting in order his domestic affairs, placing his numerous sons, who were born of his many wives and concubines, in the fortified cities of the land, and thus providing for them, and naming Abijam as his successor (2Ch 11:18-22); while his kingdom was still further strengthened by the priests, Levites, and pious Israelites who emigrated to Judah and Jerusalem from the ten tribes (2Ch 11:13-17). But this good beginning only lasted three years (2Ch 11:17). When he thought that he had sufficiently fortified his kingdom, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel (i.e., all the covenant nation) with him (2Ch 12:1). “Judah did that which was displeasing in the sight of the Lord; they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers (sc., under the Judges) had done with their sins.” קנּא, to provoke to jealousy (Num 5:14), is to be explained, when it refers to God, from the fact that the relation in which God stood to His people was regarded under the figure of a marriage, in which Jehovah appears as the husband of the nation, who is angry at the unfaithfulness of his wife, i.e., at the idolatry of the nation. Compare the remarks on קנּא אל in the Comm. on Exo 20:5.

1Ki 14:25-27

King Shishak of Egypt invaded the land with a powerful army, conquered all the fortified cities, penetrated to Jerusalem, and would probably have put an end to the kingdom of Judah, if God had not had compassion upon him, and saved him from destruction, in consequence of the humiliation of the king and of the chiefs of the nation, caused by the admonition of the prophet Shemaiah, so that after the conquest of Jerusalem Shishak contented himself with withdrawing, taking with him the treasures of the temple and of the royal palace. Compare the fuller account of this expedition in 2Ch 12:2-9. Shishak (שׁישׁק) was the first king of the twenty-second (or Bubastitic) dynasty, called Sesonchis in Jul. Afric., Sesonchosis in Eusebius, and upon the monuments on which Champollion first deciphered his name, Sheshonk or Sheshenk. Shishak has celebrated his expedition against Judah by a bas-relief on the outer wall of the pillar-hall erected by him in the first palace at Karnak, in which more than 130 figures are led in cords by Ammon and the goddess Muth with their hands bound upon their backs. The lower portion of the figures of this long row of prisoners is covered by escutcheons, the border of which being provided with battlements, shows that the prisoners are symbols of conquered cities. About a hundred of these escutcheons are still legible, and in the names upon them a large number of the names of cities in the kingdom of Judah have been deciphered with tolerable certainty.Compare Max Duncker, Gesch. des Alterthums, Bd. i. p. 909, ed. 3, and for the different copies of this bas-relief in the more recent works upon Egypt, Reutschi in Herzog’s Cycl. (art. Rehoboam). The latest attempts at deciphering are those by Brugsch, Geogr. Inschriften in den ägypt. Denkmältern, ii. p. 56ff., and O. Blau, Sisaqs Zug gegen Juda aus dem Denkmale bei Karnak erläutert, in the Deutsch. morgenl. Ztschr. xv. p. 233ff. Champollion’s interpretation of one of these escutcheons, in his Précis du système hierogl. p. 204, viz., Juda hammalek, “the king of Judah,” has been rejected by Lepsius and Brugsch as philologically inadmissible. Brugsch writes the name thus: Judh malk or Joud-hamalok, and identifies Judh with Jehudijeh, which Robinson (Pal. iii. p. 45) supposes to be the ancient Jehud (Jos 19:45). This Jehud in the tribe of Dan, Blau (p. 238) therefore also finds in the name; and it will not mislead any one that this city is reckoned as belonging to the tribe of Dan, since in the very same chapter (Jos 19:42) Ajalon is assigned to Dan, though it was nevertheless a fortress of Rehoboam (2Ch 11:10). But Blau has not given any explanation of the addition malk or malok, whereas Gust. Roesch takes it to be מלך, and supposes it to mean “Jehud of the king, namely, of Rehoboam or of Judah, on account of its being situated in Dan, which belonged to the northern kingdom.” But this is certainly incorrect. For where could the Egyptians have obtained this exact knowledge of the relation in which the tribes of the nation of Israel stood to one another?

Shishak was probably bent chiefly upon the conquest and plundering of the cities. But from Jerusalem, beside other treasures of the temple and palace, he also carried off the golden shields that had been made by Solomon (1Ki 10:16), in the place of which Rehoboam had copper ones made for his body-guard. The guard, רצים, runners, are still further described as המּלך בּית פּתח בּית ה השּׁמרים, “who kept the door of the king’s house,” i.e., supplied the sentinels for the gate of the royal palace.

1Ki 14:28

Whenever the king went into the house of Jehovah, the runners carried these shields; from which we may see that the king was accustomed to go to the temple with solemn pomp. These shields were not kept in the state-house of the forest of Lebanon (1Ki 10:17) as the golden shields were, but in the guard-chamber (תּא; see at Eze 40:7) of the runners.

1Ki 14:29-30

Further particulars are given in 2 Chron 11 and 12 concerning the rest of the acts of Rehoboam. “There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam the whole time (of their reign).” As nothing is said about any open war between them, and the prophet Shemaiah prohibited the attack which Rehoboam was about to make upon the tribes who had fallen away (1Ki 11:23.), מלחמה can only denote the hostile feelings and attitude of the two rulers towards one another.

1Ki 14:31 Death and burial of Rehoboam: as in the case of Solomon (1Ki 11:43). The name of the queen-mother has already been given in 1Ki 14:21, and the repetition of it here may be explained on the supposition that in the original sources employed by the author of our books it stood in this position. The son and successor of Rehoboam upon the throne is called Abijam (אביּם) in the account before us; whereas in the Chronicles he is always called Abijah (אביּה,   2Ch 12:16; 2Ch 13:1, etc., or אביּהוּ, 2Ch 13:21). אביּם, i.e., father of the sea, is unquestionably the older form of the name, which was reduced to אביּה, and then identified with the formation from אבי and יה = יהוּ (from יהוה).

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, v. 2, 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.

The Ruin of Jeroboam's House Foretold; Abijah's Character and Death. (b. c. 960.)

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 his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

When those that set up idols, and keep them up, go to enquire of the Lord, he determines to answer them, not according to the pretensions of their enquiry, but according to the multitude of their idols, Ezek. xiv. 4. So Jeroboam is answered here.

I. The prophet anticipates the enquiry concerning the child, and foretels the ruin of Jeroboam's house for the wickedness of it. No one else durst have carried such a message: a servant would have smothered it, but his own wife cannot be suspected of ill-will to him.

1. God calls himself the Lord God of Israel. Though Israel had forsaken God, God had not cast them off, nor given them a bill of divorce for their whoredoms. He is Israel's God, and therefore will take vengeance on him who did them the greatest mischief he could do them, debauched them and drew them away from God.

2. He upbraids Jeroboam with the great favour he had bestowed upon him, in making him king, exalting him from among the people, the common people, to be prince over God's chosen Israel, and taking the kingdom from the house of David, to bestow it upon him. Whether we keep an account of God's mercies to us or no, he does, and will set even them in order before us, if we be ungrateful, to our greater confusion; otherwise he gives and upbraids not.

3. He charges him with his impiety and apostasy, and his idolatry particularly: Thou hast done evil above all that were before thee, v. 9. Saul, that was rejected, never worshipped idols; Solomon did it but occasionally, in his dotage, and never made Israel to sin. Jeroboam's calves, though pretended to be set up in honour of the God of Israel, that brought them up out of Egypt, yet are here called other gods, or strange gods, because in them he worshipped God as the heathen worshipped their strange gods, because by them he changed the truth of God into a lie and represented him as altogether different from what he is, and because many of the ignorant worshippers terminated their devotion in the image, and did not at all regard the God of Israel. Though they were calves of gold, the richness of the metal was so far from making them acceptable to God that they provoked him to anger, designedly affronted him, under colour of pleasing him. In doing this, (1.) He had not set David before him (v. 8): Thou hast not been as my servant David, who, though he had his faults and some bad ones, yet never forsook the worship of God nor grew loose nor cold to that; his faithful adherence to that gained him this honourable character, that he followed God with all his heart, and herein he was proposed for an example to all his successors. Those did not do well that did not do like David. (2.) He had not set God before him, but (v. 9), "Thou hast cast me behind thy back, my law, my fear; thou hast neglected me, forgotten me, and preferred thy policies before my precepts."

4. He foretels the utter ruin of Jeroboam's house, v. 10, 11. He thought, by his idolatry, to establish his government, and by that he not only lost it, but brought destruction upon his family, the universal destruction of all the males, whether shut up or left, married or unmarried. (1.) Shameful destruction. They shall be taken away as dung, which is loathsome and which men are glad to be rid of. He worshipped dunghill-deities, and God removed his family as a great dunghill. Noble and royal families, if wicked, are no better in God's account. (2.) Unusual destruction. Their very dead bodies should be meat for the dogs in the street, or the birds of prey in the field, v. 11. Thus evil pursues sinners. See this fulfilled, ch. xv. 29.

5. He foretels the immediate death of the sick child, v. 12, 13.

(1.) In mercy to him, lest, if he live, he be infected with the sin, and so involved in the ruin, of his father's house. Observe the character given of him: In him was found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. He had an affection for the true worship of God and disliked the worship of the calves. Note, [1.] Those are good in whom are good things towards the Lord God of Israel, good inclinations, good intentions, good desires, towards him. [2.] Where there is but some good thing of that kind it will be found: God, who seeks it, sees it be it ever so little and is pleased with it. [3.] A little grace goes a great way with great people. It is so rare to find princes well affected to religion that, when they are so, they are worthy of double honour. [4.] Pious dispositions are in a peculiar manner amiable and acceptable when they are found in those that are young. The divine image in miniature has a peculiar beauty and lustre in it. [5.] Those that are good in bad times and places shine very brightly in the eyes of God. A good child in the house of Jeroboam is a miracle of divine grace: to be there untainted is like being in the fiery furnace unhurt, unsinged. Observe the care taken of him: he only, of all Jeroboam's family, shall die in honour, shall be buried, and shall be lamented as one that lived desired. Note, Those that are distinguished by divine grace shall be distinguished by divine providence. This hopeful child dies first of all the family, for God often takes those soonest whom he loves best. Heaven is the fittest place for them; this earth is not worthy of them.

(2.) In wrath to the family. [1.] It was a sign the family would be ruined when he was taken by whom it might have been reformed. The righteous are removed from the evil to come in this world, to the good to come in a better world. It is a bad omen to a family when the best in it are buried out of it; when what was valuable is picked out the rest is for the fire. [2.] It was likewise a present affliction to the family and kingdom, by which both ought to have been bettered; and this aggravated the affliction to the poor mother that she should not reach home time enough to see her son alive: When thy feet enter into the city, just then the child shall die. This was to be a sign to her of the accomplishment of the rest of the threatenings, as 1 Sam. ii. 34.

6. He foretels the setting up of another family to rule over Israel, v. 14. This was fulfilled in Baasha of Issachar, who conspired against Nadab the son of Jeroboam, in the second year of his reign, murdered him and all his family. "But what? Even now. Why do I speak of it as a thing at a distance? It is at the door. It shall be done even now." Sometimes God makes quick work with sinners; he did so with the house of Jeroboam. It was not twenty-four years from his first elevation to the final extirpation of his family.

7. He foretels the judgments which should come upon the people of Israel for conforming to the worship which Jeroboam had established. If the blind lead the blind, both the blind leaders and the blind followers shall fall into the ditch. It is here foretold, v. 15, (1.) That they should never be easy, nor rightly settled in their land, but continually shaken like a reed in the water. After they left the house of David, the government never continued long in one family, but one undermined and destroyed another, which must needs occasion great disorders and disturbances among the people. (2.) That they should, ere long, be totally expelled out of their land, that good land, and given up to ruin, v. 16. This was fulfilled in the captivity of the ten tribes by the king of Assyria. Families and kingdoms are ruined by sin, ruined by the wickedness of the heads of them. Jeroboam did sin, and made Israel to sin. If great men do wickedly, they involve many others both in the guilt and in the snare; multitudes follow their pernicious ways. They go to hell with a long train, and their condemnation will be the more intolerable, for they must answer, not only for their own sins, but for the sins which others have been drawn into and kept in by their influence.

II. Jeroboam's wife has nothing to say against the word of the Lord, but she goes home with a heavy heart to their house in Tirzah, a sweet delightful place, so the name signifies, famed for its beauty, Cant. vi. 4. But death, which will stain its beauty and embitter all its delights, cannot be shut out from it. Hither she came, and here we leave her attending the funeral of her son, and expecting the fate of her family. 1. The child died (v. 17), and justly did all Israel mourn, not only for the loss of so hopeful a prince, whom they were not worthy of, but because his death plucked up the flood-gates, and made a breach, at which an inundation of judgments broke in. 2. Jeroboam himself died soon after, v. 20. It is said (2 Chron. xiii. 20), The Lord struck him with some sore disease, so that he died miserably, when he had reigned twenty-two years, and left his crown to a son who lost it, and his life too, and all the lives of his family, within two years after. For a further account of him the reader is referred to the annals of his reign, drawn up by his own secretaries, or to the public records, like those in the Tower, called here, The Book or register, of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, to which recourse might then be had; but, not being divinely inspired, these records are long since lost.

Rehoboam's Disgrace and Death. (b. c. 960.)

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.

Judah's story and Israel's are intermixed in this book. Jeroboam out-lived Rehoboam, four or five years, yet his history is despatched first, that the account of Rehoboam's reign may be laid together; and a sad account it is.

I. Here is no good said of the king. All the account we have of him here is, 1. That he was forty-one years old when he began to reign, by which reckoning he was born in the last year of David, and had his education, and the forming of his mind, in the best days of Solomon; yet he lived not up to these advantages. Solomon's defection at last did more to corrupt him than his wisdom and devotion had done to give him good principles. 2. That he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city where God put his name, where he had opportunity enough to know his duty, if he had but had a heart to do it. 3. That his mother was Naamah, an Ammonitess; this is twice mentioned, v. 21, 31. It was strange that David would marry his son Solomon to an Ammonitess (for it was done while he lived), but it is probable that Solomon was in love with her, because she was Naamah, a beauty (so it signifies), and his father was loth to cross him, but it proved to have a very bad influence upon posterity. Probably she was daughter to Shobi the Ammonite, who was kind to David (2 Sam. xvii. 27), and David was too willing to requite him by matching his son into his family. None can imagine how lasting and how fatal the consequences may be of being unequally yoked with unbelievers. 4. That he had continual war with Jeroboam (v. 30), which could not but be a perpetual uneasiness to him. 5. That when he had reigned but seventeen years he died, and left his throne to his son. His father, and grandfather, and grandson, that reigned well, reigned long, forty years apiece. But sin often shortens men's lives and comforts.

II. Here is much evil said of the subjects, both as to their character and their condition.

1. See here how wicked and profane they were. It is a most sad account that is here given of their apostasy from God, v. 22-24. Judah, the only professing people God had in the world, did evil in his sight, in contempt and defiance of him and the tokens of his special presence with them; they provoked him to jealousy, as the adulterous wife provokes her husband by breaking the marriage-covenant. Their fathers had been bad enough, especially in the times of the judges, but they did abominable things, above all that their fathers had done. The magnificence of their temple, the pomp of their priesthood, and all the secular advantages with which their religion was attended, could not prevail to keep them to it. Nothing less than the pouring out of the Spirit from on high will keep God's Israel in their allegiance to him. The account here given of the wickedness of the Jews agrees with that which the apostle gives of the wickedness of the Gentile world (Rom. i. 21, 24), so that both Jew and Gentile are alike under sin, Rom. iii. 9. (1.) They became vain in their imaginations concerning God, and changed his glory into an image, for they built themselves high places, images, and groves (v. 23), profaning God's name by affixing to it their images, and God's ordinances by serving their idols with them. They foolishly fancies that they exalted God when they worshipped him on high hills and pleased him when they worshipped him under the pleasant shadow of green trees. (2.) They were given up to vile affections (as those idolaters Rom. i. 26, 27), for there were sodomites in the land (v. 24), men with men working that which is unseemly, and not to be thought of, much less mentioned, without abhorrence and indignation. They dishonoured God by one sin and then God left them to dishonour themselves by another. They profaned the privileges of a holy nation, therefore God gave them up to their own hearts' lusts, to imitate the abominations of the accursed Canaanites; and herein the Lord was righteous. And, when they did like those that were cast out, how could they expect any other than to be cast out like them?

2. See here how weak and poor they were; and this was the consequence of the former. Sin exposes, impoverishes, and weakens any people. Shishak, king of Egypt, came against them, and so far, either by force or surrender, made himself master of Jerusalem itself that he took away the treasures both of the temple and of the exchequer, of the house of the Lord and of the king's house, which David and Solomon had amassed, v. 25, 26. These, it is likely, tempted him to make his descent; and, to save the rest, Rehoboam perhaps tamely surrendered them, as Ahab, ch. xx. 4. He also took away the golden shields that were made but in his father's time, v. 26. These the king of Egypt carried off as trophies of his victory; and, instead of them, Rehoboam made brazen shields, which the life-guard carried before him when he went to church in state, v. 27, 28. This was an emblem of the diminution of his glory. Sin makes the gold become dim, changes the most fine gold, and turns it into brass. We commend Rehoboam for going to the house of the Lord, perhaps the oftener for the rebuke he had been under, and do not condemn him for going in pomp. Great men should honour God with their honour, and then they are themselves most honoured by it.