1 Kings 14

Jerobeam sendeth his wife unto the Prophet Ahia, to enquire what should become of his son that was sick, vers. 1, etc. Who foretelleth him his ruin, because of his idolatry, 7. Item, the death of his child, 12. And the destruction of Israel, 15. His son dieth, and he likewise, and Nadab his son reigneth, 17. Rehabeam and Juda sin against the Lord, 21. They are punished by Sisak, King of Egypt, 25. After the death of Rehabeam doth Abiam his son reign, 29.

1. At that time, [viz. When Jerobeam went on in the way of his abominable idolatry mentioned in the end of the former chapter] Ahia the son of Jerobeam was sick.

2. And Jerobeam said unto his wife; Get thee now up, and disguise thy self, [Heb. Alter thy self, viz. In apparel, ornaments, train, words, behaviour, and gestures] that it be not perceived that thou art Jerobeam’s wife; and go thy ways to Silo [a City lying in the tribe of Ephraim, where the Tent of the Congregation, and the Ark of God were a long time: and where the Prophet Ahia, who spake concerning me that I should be King over this people. [see above chapter 11. 31.]

3. And take in thine hand ten loaves, and cakes, [Heb. Prickt cakes, in which certain pricks, tokens, marks, were made or imprinted for ornaments sake. Oth. Cracknels, or, biscate] and a cruse [or, bottle] of honey [viz. For a Present for the Prophet, which in those times was used by many, not to reward the service of the Prophets, but to honour and grace their persons. See Judges 13:17. 1 Samuel 9:7, 8. 2 King 5. 15. & 8 ver. 8.] and go to him , he will make known to thee, what shall happen to this lad. [i.e. whether he shall recover, or die of his sickness.]

4. And Jerobeam’s wife did so, and got her up, and went to Silo, and came into the house of Ahia: now Ahia could not see; for his eyes stood stiff, by reason of his age: [Heb. Stood through, or from his grayness ; i.e. his sight grown thick and stiff, and consequently dark, by reason of his great age, which is usually accompanied with gray hairs.]

5. But the LORD said unto Ahia; Behold, Jerobeam’s wife cometh to ask a thing of thee, [viz. What shall become of her son’s sickness] concerning her son, for he is sick; thus and thus, thou shalt speak unto her. Understand hereby that which the Prophet was charged to certify and denounce, and is related hereafter, ver. 7, & c.] and it shall be, when she cometh in, that she will behave herself strange. [see above on v. 2.]

6. And it came to pass when Ahia heard the noise of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in thou wife of Jerobeam, why doest thou behave thyself so strange? [Or, to what end (is) this, that thou behaves thy self strange?] for i am sent [viz. By the Lord] to thee with an hard (message). [Which after the recounting of God’s mercies shewed to Jerobeam, setteth before him his abominable sins, with a Prediction of the righteous and fearful judgements of God, that should follow thereupon: or, for some hard thing.]

7. Go thy ways, tell Jerobeam: Thus saith the LORD the God of Israel: Forasmuch, as I exalted thee out of the midst of the people, and made thee a Leader [Compare above chapter 1. 35. & below chapter 16. 2. & 2 King 25. 5. 2 Chron. 6. 5. Where the Hebrew word is likewise so translated] over my people Israel.

8. And have rent the Kingdom from the house of David, and given that unto thee; and thou hast not been, as David my servant (was), who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, [see above chapter 2. On vers. 4.] to do only that which is right in mine eyes.]

9. But hast done evil, doing much more than all that were before thee, and hast gone , and hast made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back. [i.e. Disdainfully despised, and disloyally forsaken. The Lord speaketh also thus, Nehem. 9. 26. Ezekiel 23:35.]

10. Therefore behold, I will bring evil [i.e. Mischief, judgement, vengeance: see Gen. 19. On ver. 19.] upon the house [i.e. family: so in the sequel. Item, 2 Sam. 3. 10. & 9. 3. And below chapter 16. 3.] of Jerobeam, and destroy from Jerobeam him that passeth against the wall, [understand hereby a total, and utter destruction, wherein none is spared, even not so much as a dog. So 1 Samuel 25:22, 34. And below chapter 16. 11. & 21. 21. & 2 King 9. 8.] him that is shut up [see the explaining of this phrase, Deut. 32. On ver. 36.] and forsaken in Israel; and I will put away the posterity of the house of Jeroboam, as the dung is done away, until it be utterly perished.

11. Him that dieth of Jerobeam in the City, shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field, shall the Fowls of the Heaven cat: [A phrase signifying an unhappy death, with the loss of the grave. See the same also below chapter 16. 4. & 21. 24.] for the LORD hath spoken it.

12. Thou then get thee up, go to thine house; when thy feet shall have entered into the City [viz. Upon the threshold of thine house; as appeareth by the fulfilling hereof, below verse 17.] then shall the Child die.

13. And all Israel shall mourn for him, [viz. The good (ones) in Israel, because of the good hope they had conceived of this young man ; the bad to please the father. Of the mourning and lamenting of the godly (ones) for the dead, see Gen. 23. On vers. 2.] and bury him; for this (man) only of Jerobeam shall come to the grave: [burial is also a mercy of God, because it is the last civil honour done to the dead in this life, and a spiritual instruction to the living of the life, and a spiritual instruction to the living of the life to come, by the renewing of the hope of the resurrection from the dead. See Gen. 13. On ver. 4.] because in him there is found some good thing [i.e. some beginnings of the fear of God, and true piety, not by nature, but wrought in him by the spirit of God, Joshua 1:13. And 3. 6.] before the LORD the God of Israel in the house of Jerobeam.

14. But the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, [viz. Baesa, of whom see below chapter 15. 27.] who shall it also be now? [i.e. what shall now further God shall raise up one hereafter , or in time to come? He hath also now done it . That is, he hath already raised him up one, that he might begin to execute this threatened judgement.]

15. The LORD shall also smite Israel, as a read in the water is driven about, [viz. Hither and thither by all manner of winds, so should Israel be disquieted, and troubled by dissensions within, and wars without] and shall pluck up Israel out of this good land, which he gave unto their fathers, and shall scatter them on the other side of the River; [viz. Euphrates. See Gen. 31. On vers. 11. He foretelleth the transportation of the Israelites into Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Media, of the accomplishment whereof (which happened about 240 years after this time) we may read 2 Kings 17:6.] because they have made themselves groves, [See of these Exod. 34. On v. 31. Deu. 7. On v. 5. Under one kind of idolatry God understandeth the rest; yea all false worships. Oth. Grove-gods, grove-images. So verse 23.] provoking the LORD to anger.

16. And he shall give up Israel, [viz. Into the hands of their Enemies] because of the sins of Jerobeam, that sinned, [or, wherewith he sinned, or which he sinned. Understand the sin of Idolatry, of which see above chapter 12. V. 28, 29, & c. And 13. V. 33, 34.] and who made Israel to sin. [or, and wherewith he made Israel to sin: or, and which he made Israel to sin. To wit, by setting abominable idol-worship, and commanding his subjects to practise idolatry, and obstinately forcing them thereunto by his own example.]

17. Then Jerobeam’s wife gat her up, and went, and came to Tirza; [A city lying in the tribe of Manasseh, where the court of the Kings of Israel was, before they dwelt in Samaria. It was very fair and pleasant, so that the spouse of Christ is compared unto it , Song of Solomon 6:1. See of this city, Jos. 12. V. 24. And below chapter 16. 8.] now when she came upon the threshold of the house, then the young men died. [as was foretold by the Prophet Ahia, above v. 12.]

18. And they buried him, and all Israel lamented for him; according to the word of the LORD, which he had spoken by the ministry [Heb. By the hand. See Lev. 8. On v. 36.] of his servant Ahia the Prophet. [above ver. 13.]

19. Now the rest of the acts of Jerobeam, how he warred, and how he reigned; behold, they are written in the book of the words; or acts of things of the Kings of Israel. So below vers. 29. Of the Kings of Judah. By this book is not to be understood the two books of Chronicles, contained in the scriptures of the Old Testament, and (as is conceived) first written by Ezra, who lived a long time after those times: But thereby is to be understood certain writings containing the Histories of the government of the Kings of both Kingdoms, which without prejudice or detriment of the doctrine of salvation, are not extant now, and out of which the books of Chronicles left us in holy scripture, were (as some conceive ) gathered and composed by Ezra through the instinct and inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Compare above chapter 11. The annotate. On v. 41.]

20. Now the days that Jerobeam reigned, are two and twenty years: and he fell asleep with his Fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

21. Now Rehebeam the son of Salomon reigned in Judah: Rehabeam was one and fourty years old, [Heb. A son of one and fourty years] when he became King, and reigned seventeen years at Jerusalem, in the city which the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there; [see above chapter 8. On v. 29.] and his mothers name was Naama, [so below v. 31.] the Amonitess.[among other heathenish women, that seduced Salomon from the Lord, are the Ammonitish women also named, above chapter 11. 1, 2, & c. Of which without doubt this was one of the chiefest, who not only seduced her husband to idolatry, but also her son her son Rehabeam, after he had served the Lord three years, 2 Chron. 11. 17.]

22. And Judah did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, [viz. After that Rehabeam had reigned three years. See 2 Chron. 11. 17. And 12. On v. 1.] and they provoked him to jealousy [see Deu. 4. On v. 24.] with their sins which they had sinned, more than all their Fathers had done.

23. For they also, [i.e. not only the blinded heathen, and backsliding Israelites, but also the Jews themselves, with whom God had preserved the light of the truth, and the purity of worship] built them high places, and images reared, and groves: [see Deu. 12. On v. 3] upon all (or every) high hill, and under all (or avery) green tree. [See Deu. 12. On v. 2.]

24. There were also buggerers [see Deu. 23. On ver. 17.] in the land: they did according to all the abominations of the heathen, [see some kinds of these abominations described, Deu. 18. v. 9, 10, 11, 12. 2 Chron. 33. 2, 3, 4, & c. Romans 1:25, 26, & c.] which the LORD had driven out of possession from the face of the children of Israel;

25. Now it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehabeam; (that) Sisak the King of Egypt [See of this man also above chapter 11. 40. and 2 Chron. 12. 2.] came up against Jerusalem.

26. And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the Kings house; yea he took all away: [viz. All the gold and silver, and all that which was of any special value, that he could come at, and was not hid from his sight. Compare below chapter 15. 18.] he took away also all the golden shields which Salomon had made. [See above chapter 10. 16, 17. And 2 Chron. 9. 15.]

27. And King Rehabeam made in their room copper shields: and he charged (them) under the hand of the chief of the guard, [Heb. Runners. Understand pages, lackeys, or life-guard, which great Lords and Princes are wont to have about them, being at home, or abroad, 1 Samuel 22:17. 2 Kings 11:19. So called, because they run on the way before and about their Lords, 2 Sam. 15. 1. 1 Kings 1:5.] which kept the door of the Kings house.

28. And it came to pass, when the King went into the house of the LORD, (that) the guard carried them; [viz. The shields. These the guard carried, when they conducted the King to the house of the Lord] and brought them back into the guard-chamber. [understand some appointed place, where the guard usually kept close together.]

29. Now the rest of the acts of Rehabeam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah. [See above on v. 19.]

30. And there was war between Rehabeam, and between Jerobeam [Understand this of defensive war, which Rehabeam waged to defend his own Kingdom; and not of offensive, to take the Kingdom of Israel, for this was forbidden him by the Prophet Semaja, above chapter 12. 24.] all (their) days. [this insertion is in the like case expressed by the holy Ghost, below chapter 15, v. 16, 32.]

31. And Rehabeam fell asleep with his Fathers, and was buried by his Fathers in the city of David; [see above chapter 2. On vers. 10.] and his mother’s name was Naama, the Ammonitess: and Abiam [otherwise called Abia 2 Chronicles 12:16 and 13.1] his so reigned in his stead.