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1 Kings 14

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Jeroboam's Wife Seeks the Prophet 1–6

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, who spake concerning me that I should be king over this people. ​
3
And 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.
4
And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. ​
5
And 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. ​
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. ​

Ahijah Pronounces Judgment on Jeroboam 7–18

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Go, 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,
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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, and 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 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. ​
11
Him 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. ​
12
Arise thou therefore, get thee to thy 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 Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. ​
14
Moreover Jehovah will raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.
15
For 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. ​
16
And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he hath made Israel to sin. ​
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And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: andas she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.
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And all Israel buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

Summary of Jeroboam's Reign 19–20

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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.
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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.

Rehoboam's Wicked Reign in Judah 21–24

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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 Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there: and his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. ​
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And 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. ​
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For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree; ​
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and 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. ​

Shishak Invades Jerusalem 25–31

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And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; ​
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and 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. ​
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And 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. ​
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And 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.
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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?
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And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ​
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 the Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Kings 14

Verse 2

get thee to Shiloh — Jeroboam sends his wife, in disguise, to the prophet whose word had made him king: Ahijah 'told me that I should be king over this people' (11:29–31). Shiloh was the place where 'the house of God was' in the days of Micah's image (Judg 18:31) and where Elkanah went yearly to worship (1 Sam 1:3).

Verse 4

his eyes were set — The verb is qum, to rise or stand, the one used of Eli: 'his eyes were dim, that he could not see' (1 Sam 4:15). Ahijah, who first met Jeroboam in the way in a new garment (11:29), is now blind from age. Shiloh had been Eli's place as well (1 Sam 1:3).

Verse 5

feign herself to be another woman — The word of the LORD comes to Ahijah before she arrives. 'Feign' is nakar, to treat as a stranger, used again in v.6. Amos 3:7 states the pattern: 'the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.'

Verse 6

heavy tidings — Qasheh, hard or severe, the word rendered 'grievous' of the yoke in 12:4. Ahijah knew her by 'the sound of her feet' and greeted her as 'thou wife of Jeroboam'. Hebrews says of God that 'all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do' (Heb 4:13).

Verse 8

my servant David — The measure was set when Ahijah first spoke to Jeroboam: 'as David my servant did' (11:38). 15:5 gives the same standard with its one exception: 'save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite'. The LORD's own testimony is 'a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will' (Acts 13:22).

Verse 9

molten images — Massekah, a cast image, the word used of the 'molten calf' at Sinai (Ex 32:4). 'Other gods' recalls the first commandment (Ex 20:3), and 'cast me behind thy back' is the LORD's own reproach elsewhere (Ezek 23:35). The charge covers the calves of Bethel and Dan (12:28–29).

Verse 10

him that pisseth against the wall — An idiom for every male, used also against the houses of Baasha (16:11) and Ahab (21:21). 'Shut up and left' is the phrase of Deut 32:36 and 2 Kings 14:26. The word was carried out in 15:29, where Baasha 'left not to Jeroboam any that breathed'.

Verse 11

the dogs eat… the fowls of the air eat — The sentence falls on those who die in the city and those who die in the field alike. It is repeated against Baasha (16:4) and Ahab (21:24), and it is among the curses of the covenant: 'thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth' (Deut 28:26).

Verse 13

some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel — The child alone of Jeroboam's house is to be mourned and buried, because 'there is found' (matsa) in him a good thing. The text gives no deed. Jehoshaphat is told in similar words, 'there are good things found in thee' (2 Chr 19:3). Compare Isa 57:1, 'the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.'

Verse 15

root up Israel out of this good land — The sentence reaches the nation. 'Beyond the river' looks to the exile of 2 Kings 17:6, when Israel was placed 'in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan'. 'This good land' is the phrase of Joshua's warning (Josh 23:15–16). 'Groves' is asherah, the wooden image set beside an altar.

Verse 16

who did sin, and who made Israel to sin — The charge is attached to the kings after him: Baasha 'walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin' (15:34). The end is told in 2 Kings 17:23: 'the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets.'

Verse 21

Naamah an Ammonitess — Rehoboam was forty-one when he began to reign (2 Chr 12:13 gives the same age). His mother was of the Ammonites, one of the nations whose women Solomon loved (11:1) and whose god Milcom he followed (11:5). Jerusalem is 'the city which the LORD did choose… to put his name there', as promised in 11:36.

Verse 22

provoked him to jealousy — Qana, the LORD's jealousy as in 'I the LORD thy God am a jealous God' (Ex 20:5). Psalm 78:58 uses it of Israel: 'they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.' Chronicles says Rehoboam 'forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him' (2 Chr 12:1).

Verse 23

on every high hill, and under every green tree — The wording is that of Deut 12:2, where Israel is told to destroy such places 'upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree'. 'Images' are matstsebah, standing pillars, and 'groves' are asherah, as in 14:15. Isa 57:5 also has 'under every green tree'.

Verse 24

sodomites — Qadesh, from the root for holy: a man set apart to an idol by prostitution (Strong's: a male devotee). Deut 23:17 forbids one among Israel's sons. Asa 'took away the sodomites out of the land' (15:12), and Josiah 'brake down the houses of the sodomites' by the house of the LORD (2 Kings 23:7).

Verse 25

Shishak king of Egypt — The king to whom Jeroboam had fled (11:40). Chronicles gives the cause: Rehoboam 'forsook the law of the LORD' (2 Chr 12:1), and Shemaiah said, 'Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak' (2 Chr 12:5). When they humbled themselves, the LORD said, 'I will not destroy them' (2 Chr 12:7).

Verse 26

the shields of gold which Solomon had made — These are the two hundred targets and three hundred shields of beaten gold of 10:16–17. Chronicles says Shishak 'took all' (2 Chr 12:9). The treasures of the house of the LORD that remained were later emptied by Asa to pay Benhadad (15:18).

Verse 27

brasen shields — Brass (nechosheth) replaced the gold, and the shields were 'committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard'. Chronicles adds that the guard carried them when the king entered the house of the LORD and returned them to the guard chamber (2 Chr 12:10–11).

Verse 30

war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days — This follows the LORD's word to Judah, 'Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren' (12:24). It is repeated in 15:6, and 15:7 carries it into the reign of Abijam: 'there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.' The word is milchamah, war.