1 Kings14

King Jeroboam's son, Abijah, falls ill, prompting Jeroboam to send his disguised wife to the prophet Ahijah. Ahijah, divinely informed, reveals Jeroboam's severe judgment for his idolatry, prophesying the destruction of his house and Abijah's immediate death. The chapter concludes with Rehoboam's reign in Judah, marked by similar idolatry and an invasion by Shishak of Egypt, who plunders Jerusalem.
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Jeroboam's Wife Seeks the Prophet

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. ​

Ahijah Pronounces Judgment on Jeroboam

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.

Summary of Jeroboam's Reign

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.

Rehoboam's Wicked Reign in Judah

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. ​

Shishak Invades Jerusalem

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.

Study Notes for 1 Kings 14

Verse 2

Jeroboam’s attempt to disguise his wife shows that he feared the prophet Ahijah but refused to repent of the sins (the golden calves) that Ahijah had previously condemned.

Verse 4

Ahijah had previously prophesied Jeroboam’s kingship (11:29-39). Though now physically blind due to old age, his spiritual sight remains sharp, guided directly by the LORD.

Verse 5

God's immediate revelation to Ahijah underscores that human attempts at deception are futile before divine omniscience, affirming the prophet's authority despite his physical blindness.

Verse 6

The greeting 'wife of Jeroboam' immediately reveals the failure of the disguise and establishes the seriousness of the 'heavy tidings' (or harsh judgment) about to be delivered.

Verse 8

This verse establishes the key theological contrast in Kings: David is the standard of faithfulness and obedience, while Jeroboam failed precisely where David succeeded—in keeping God's commandments.

Verse 9

Jeroboam's 'evil above all that were before thee' refers primarily to his institutionalization of idolatry by setting up the golden calves at Bethel and Dan, causing the entire nation to sin.

Verse 10

The judgment is one of total annihilation of Jeroboam’s dynasty. The phrase 'him that pisseth against the wall' is a crude idiom signifying every male, ensuring no remnant of his royal line remains.

Verse 11

To be eaten by dogs and vultures was the ultimate indignity in the ancient world, signifying a total lack of proper burial and complete divine rejection.

Verse 13

Abijah's death is a tragic mercy; he is the only member of Jeroboam’s house to receive a proper burial because he alone showed some spiritual integrity 'toward the LORD God of Israel.'

Verse 15

Ahijah expands the judgment beyond Jeroboam's household to the entire Northern Kingdom. 'Beyond the river' (the Euphrates) is the first explicit prophecy of the Assyrian exile that would occur centuries later.

Verse 16

The text attributes the future downfall of Israel directly to Jeroboam, holding him responsible not just for his own sin, but for leading the entire nation into systemic idolatry.

Verse 21

Rehoboam’s mother, Naamah the Ammonitess, may explain the strong foreign religious influences that characterized his reign, as Ammonites were known for their idolatry (cf. 11:5).

Verse 22

Judah, the Southern Kingdom, quickly fell into sin comparable to Israel, provoking God to jealousy. This confirms the theological perspective that the division of the kingdom did not solve the problem of national unfaithfulness.

Verse 23

The building of high places, images, and groves indicates the widespread adoption of Canaanite fertility cults, a practice strictly forbidden in the Mosaic Law.

Verse 24

The term 'sodomites' (Hebrew *qadesh*) refers to male cult prostitutes actively involved in pagan rituals, demonstrating the depth of moral and religious corruption in Judah.

Verse 25

This invasion by Pharaoh Shishak (Sheshonq I) is a key synchronism, verifiable by Egyptian records, including a relief detailing the campaign on the walls of the Karnak Temple.

Verse 26

The plunder of the Temple and palace treasures is viewed as divine punishment for Rehoboam’s and Judah’s disobedience, reversing the wealth and security established by Solomon.

Verse 27

Replacing Solomon's golden shields with bronze ones symbolizes the drastic decline in the kingdom’s status, glory, and wealth immediately following the division and spiritual failure.

Verse 30

The constant 'war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam' confirms that the political division was accompanied by ongoing military conflict, preventing either kingdom from achieving stability or peace.

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