1 Kings14
American Standard Version · Public Domain
1At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
2And 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, who spake concerning me that I should be king over this people.
3And take with thee ten loaves, and cakes, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he will tell thee what shall become of the child.
4And 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.
5And Jehovah said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to inquire of thee concerning her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her; for it will be, when she cometh in, that she will feign herself to be another woman.
6And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.
7Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,
8and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee; and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes,
9but hast done evil above all that were before thee, and hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:
10therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every man-child, him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweepeth away dung, till it be all gone.
11Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the birds of the heavens eat: for Jehovah hath spoken it.
12Arise thou therefore, get thee to thy house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.
13And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
14Moreover Jehovah will raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.
15For Jehovah will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking Jehovah to anger.
16And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he hath made Israel to sin.
17And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and as she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.
18And all Israel buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the prophet.
19And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
20And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
21And 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 Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.
22And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done.
23For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;
24and there were also sodomites in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the nations which Jehovah drove out before the children of Israel.
25And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem;
26and he took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, 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.
27And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.
28And it was so, that, as oft as the king went into the house of Jehovah, the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber.
29Now 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?
30And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
31And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 1 Kings 14.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Abijah being sick, his mother consults Ahijah. (1–6). The destruction of Jeroboam's house. (7–20). Rehoboam's wicked reign. (21–31).
vv1-6
“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.
vv7-20
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.
vv21-31
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.
Key Words
עֵת: time, especially (adverb with preposition) now, when, etc.
אֲבִיָּה: Abijah, the name of several Israelite men and two Israelitesses
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
יָרׇבְעָם: Jarobam, the name of two Israelite kings
חָלָה: properly, to be rubbed or worn; hence (figuratively) to be weak, sick, afflicted; or (causatively) to grieve, make sick; also to stroke (in flattering), entreat
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
אִשָּׁה: a woman
שָׁנָה: to fold, i.e. duplicate (literally or figuratively); by implication, to transmute (transitive or intransitive)
לֹא: not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles
יָדַע: to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.)
Cross References
1 Kings 14Baasha of Issachar conspires and utterly destroys the house of Jeroboam, fulfilling Ahijah's prophecy.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Parallel account detailing Rehoboam's reign, age, years in Jerusalem, and his mother Naamah.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Parallel account of Shishak of Egypt looting Jerusalem and taking Solomon's gold shields.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jeroboam sends his wife to Ahijah, the very prophet who first promised him the kingdom.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Establishes custom of bringing a gift to a seer, though disguised as a simple peasant's offering.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Identical Hebrew idiom used to denote the complete extermination of all males in a doomed household.
Supported by JFB
Identical curse of being eaten by dogs and birds pronounced on Baasha's dynasty for similar sins.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Shishak of Egypt, who previously harbored Jeroboam, now plunders Jeroboam's rival Rehoboam.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Fulfillment of Ahijah's prophecy of captivity beyond the river Euphrates due to Assyrian exile.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Repeated biblical refrain indicting Jeroboam for his sins and for making Israel to sin.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Detailed account of the wars and acts of Jeroboam, particularly against Abijah of Judah.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallel account of Rehoboam replacing the stolen gold shields with inferior bronze/brazen ones.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Contrast with Saul's sinful disguise, highlighting Jeroboam's futile attempt to hide from God.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Deuteronomic law concerning the single place where the Lord chose to put His name.
Supported by JFB