1 Kings 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.

8. thou hast not been as my servant David--David, though he fell into

grievous sins, repented and always maintained the pure worship of God

as enjoined by the law.

10, 11. I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam--Strong

expressions are here used to indicate the utter extirpation of his

house;

him that is shut up and left in Israel--means those who were concealed

with the greatest privacy, as the heirs of royalty often are where

polygamy prevails; the other phrase, from the loose garments of the

East having led to a different practice from what prevails in the West,

cannot refer to men; it must signify either a very young boy, or

rather, perhaps, a dog, so entire would be the destruction of

Jeroboam's house that none, not even a dog, belonging to it should

escape. This peculiar phrase occurs only in regard to the threatened

extermination of a family

(1Sa 25:22-34).

See the manner of extermination

(1Ki 16:4; 21:24).

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.