1 Kings 14

and when thy feet enter the city, the child shall die. This was a sign that all the rest of his thrcatcnings should be fulfilled. and fell off from his.worship, into such. gross idolatrjvas exceeded that of Jeroboam’s. *<m;: Above all that their. fathers Jiad done.’]. Aboye all that had ■ been practised in the time of the judges.

1 Kings 14:1

jOLTthat time. Some time after those woes were denounced against him; but the phrase doth not denote any precise time. Abijah the son of Jeroboam ivas sick.] Being stricken by the hand of God with some disease.

1 Kings 14:2

And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself. Put on such apparel as the common people wear. Tliat thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam.] He would have her go on this errand, because he was sure she would report things truly to him: but yet would not have her known to be his wife, because he would have the prophet speak more freely and indifferently:’ or, perhaps, he was afraid he should threaten too heavily, if he knew who she was. And get thee to Shiloh; behold, there is the prophet Ahijah, which told me I should be king over this people.] This looks like great stupidity, that he should think to deceive a prophet, who could tell him future events: and therefore much more discover things present.

1 Kings 14:3

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. They that went to inquire of a prophet used to make him some present, as a token of their respect to him. (See 1 Sam. ix. 7.) And by such oblations the prophets supported themselves. This present which she made him was of such things as might make him think her to be a countrywoman, rather than a courtier.

1 Kings 14:4

And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to tlie house of Ahijah: but Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. In the Hebrew, his eyes stood for his hoariness. He seems to have had a film, or a cataract, grown over his eyes.

1 Kings 14:5

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 ttnto her;for it shall be, when she cometh to thee, that she shall feign herself to beanother woman.] He was as fully instructed how to treat her, as if he had seen and known her. Ver. G. And it came to pass, 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.] He discovered, her before she appeared, that she might give the greater credit to his words.

1 Kings 14:7

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 Israeli. Raised bim from a private person to be the king of the ten tribes.

1 Kings 14:8

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.] Though David committed some great sins, yet he was upright in his religion, and never started aside in the least unto otliergods. In which piety, God expected Jeroboam should have continued, as he admonished him, when he first sent Ahijah to him, (xi. 38.)

1 Kings 14:9

But hast done evil above all that were before thee. King Saul was not so bad;• nor Solomon: who, though he was drawn aside himself, yet did not study to make his people idolaters. For thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images.] Or, even molten images; that is, the golden calves. Which he did not think to be gods, but only representations of God: and yet God looked upon this worship which was paid to him before these images, as the worship of other gods: which are called devils in 2 Chron. xi. 1. To provoke me to anger.] That was the effect of this idolatrous worship. And hast cast me behind thy back.] Neglected me and my service. For those things we cast behind our backs which are nothing worth; and for which we have no regard or concern what becomes of them.

1 Kings 14:10

Tlierefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam. Severely punish it. And will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth, against the ivall.] That is, not leave a man of his family alive, as Ralbag interprets it. (See 1 Sam. xxv. 22.) And him that is shut up Und left in Israel.] That is, married or unmarried, as De Dieu expounds these words upon Deut. fxxxii. 3G. all sorts of men, of whatsoever state or condition they be. Others refer this to treasures shut up in secret places, and to flocks left in the field; or, to men taken captive, or that have escaped. As much as to say, There shall be an universal destruction. And thus Bochartus glosses (comprehending all these), " I will cut off every male, whether he be a captive, or a freeman; whether he live in the city, or in the country; be married or single." (See his Hierozoicon, par. i.lib. ii. cap. G6.) And I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam.] All his posterity. As a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.] Which servants remove so carefully, that they suffer not the least speck to remain.

1 Kings 14:11

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. That is, none of them shall be buried. For the Lord hath spoken it.] This is God’s irrevocable decree.

1 Kings 14:12

Arise thou therefore, get thee unto thy own house;

1 Kings 14:13

And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave. All the rest \ v ere to bo buried in the bowels of dogs, and of fowls of the air, (ver. 11.) Because in him is found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.] He was the only person of that family that disliked the worship of the calves, and perhaps intended to removo them when he had power; and suffer the people to go up to Jerusalem to worship, trusting God would preserve him in his kingdom. Some of the Jews say, that he broke down a hedge which his father had made, to keep people from going to Jerusalem, at the three great feasts. Ver.’ 14. Moreover, the Lord shall raise him tip a king over. Israel, who shall ait off the house of Jeroboam.’] This king was Baasha, (xv. 27, 28.) That day.] As soon as he was m&de king, (ver. 29.) Butwltat? even now.] What did I say (that day)? even just now* It is as sure as if it were now done. The Chaldee takes it otherwise; He shall destroy the house of Jeroboam; both that which livcth now at this day, and that which shall be born in time to come. But Kimchi puts no stop at this word vemah (and what), but continues it with what follows, in this manner, Wliat is this which shall now happen, to that ivhich shall come hereafter? that is, the present calamities shall be nothing to the future.* Which, agrees well enough with what follows, concerning the continual troubles that should be in Israel; and at last their captivity.

1 Kings 14:15

And the Lord shall smite Israel. For their consenting to that idolatrous worship which Jeroboam setup. As a reed is shaken in the ivater.] That is, they shall be in perpetual commotions by civil wars: having no quiet, but frequently changing their kings. Thus Bochartus excellently expounds it, in an epistle to our bishop Morley, p. 106, &c. The reason of this expression was, that several of their kings were afterward killed, and new families * started up; and between so many kings of so many families and tribes, their minds fluctuated and wavered; and they knew not where to fix themselves, and rest in quiet: therefore their condition is thus described in 2 Chrpn. xv. 5. “There was no peace to him that went in, or to him that came out,” &c. And he shall root tip Israel out of this good land, whicfi he gave to tjieir fathers.] Which he began to do first by Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, (2 Kings xv.,29.) and then finished it by Shalmaneser, (2 Kings xvii. 5, 6, &c.) And shall scatter them beyond the river.] That is, Euphrates: they being carried (as the forcnamed places tell us) into the country of the Modes. Because they liave made their groves.] In which they placed the images of their gods. For they were not contented with the calves, but fell to grosser idolatry; which was commonly practised in groves. (Sec Judg. iii. 7.) Provoking the Lord to anger.] For nothing was so detestable to him as this sin. Ver. 1G. And he shall give Israel up.] Into the hands of the heathen. Because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and ivho made Israel to sin.] Perverted the whole nation; who by his authority and example were led into idolatry.

1 Kings 14:17

And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah. A city in the tribe of Manasseh: which had been famous in ancient times, (Josh. xii. 24.) and became the royal seat, and continued so for some time, (xv„ 83.) being found more convenient, I suppose, than Shechem, where Jeroboam first settled, t And when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died.] It seems the king’s house was near the gate of the city: for it is said, rcr. 12. that as soon as she entered into the city, the child should die. And so it did, when she came to the threshold of the door of the palace.

1 Kings 14:18

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. Whereby he confirmed all the rest of his thrcatcnings against the house of Jeroboam and the people of Israel.

1 Kings 14:19

And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how fte warred, and how hereigned. How he behaved himself in war, and in peace. Behold, they are written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel.] Not in that book in the Bible called Chronicles; but in such a book as that wherein the acts of Solomon were recorded, day by day, xi. 41. (See there.)

1 Kings 14:20

And the days that Jeroboam reigned were twoand-twenty years: and he slept with his fathers; and Nadab his son reigned in his stead. His sleeping with his fathers seems to be a phrase signifying only that he died, as all before him did: not that he was buried with them, (as it is said of Rehoboam, ver. 31.) for they were private men, and he a king; who, no doubt, was magnificently interred by his son.

1 Kings 14:21

And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign. And therefore was born a year before Solomon came to the crown: for he reigned but forty years, xi. 42. And he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to pnt his name there.] A great honour to him, of which he was not worthy; and therefore God shortened his days, and did not let him reign so long as Jeroboam. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess.] It is much that David should suffer Solomon to marry “one of this country; unless she was proselyted, as the daughter of Pharaoh i$ supposed to have been. He himself, indeed, had married the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; but the son he had by her proved so wicked, that it might have been a caution to him not to’ marry his son, especially him he intended for the heir of his crown, to a stranger. Who, if she was proselyted, yet many think she did not so change her religion, but that she instilled ill principles’ into her son, and corrupted him. Nay, was one of those women that enticed Solomon to idolatry; for women of Amnion arc reckoned among his strange wives.

1 Kings 14:22

And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed. By joining other gods together with him. Which is an amazing thing, that, at the beginning of his reign, Rehoboam should do well for three years, (2 Chron. xi. 17.) and then forsook the law of God, (2 Chron. xii. 1.)

1 Kings 14:23

For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. They multiplied altars on every highhill; and set up images; and built temples for them: which I take to be meant by groves. For they could not be under every green tree; nor could they be said to be built, but to be planted; therefore it is reasonable to interpret them temples, or places of Divine worship. As among the heathens, Strabo testifies’(Geograph. lib. ix.) that the poets called their temples by the name of groves (ak<jr\ Kakovmv ra upa nravra), though they had no trees about them; because the custom was to have trees planted about their sacred places. In which the Israelites set up altars; directly contrary to the law: which intended to preserve unity in religion, by allowing one altar only.

1 Kings 14:24

And there were also Sodomites in the landT. This kind of wickedness often attended idolatry, (xv. 12. 2 Kings xxiii. 7. Horn. i.21. 28.) For among the heathens the most filthy things were practised in these shady dark places (their groves) by the worshippers of Venus, Bacchus, and Priapus. And such there were, it appears by the place now quoted, (2 Kings xxiii. 7.) among the Israelites: who, out of devotion to some false god or other, prostituted their bodies, contrary to nature, to be abused in honour of those gods, directly against the law, (Dent, xxiii. 17.) For when Josiah purged the temple, he is said to cast out the Sodomites: where by Kedeschim ourSelden understands the priests of Astarte. (Syntag. ii. do Diis Syris, cap. 2.)

1 Kings 14:25

Andit came to pass, that, in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishakking of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. f Poj3oa/zoc S’ awry napiBwue afiaxyrl ttjv 7roAiv. And Rehoboam (as Joscphus writes) delivered up the city to. him, without striking a stroke. For he had a vast army (as we read, 2 Chron. xii. 2.) wherewith he conquered Asia, as Herodotus tells us, who calls him Sesostris. For Josephus acknowledged he relates the same expedition that the Scripture doth, but under a different name. It may seem something strange, that Shishak being so nearly allied to Rehoboam should come up against him, and take his royal “city: but as kingdoms are never married, so Jeroboam, it is likely, who had lived long in Egypt, stirred him up to invade him, and thereby established himself in his new kingdom: for we read not a word of any cities in Israel that lie took, but only the fenced cities of Judah; (2 Chron.xii. 4.) Jeroboam, and his country remaining undisturbed. Besides, it must be remembered he was not the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, but £>f an Ammonitcss: and therefore there was no kindred between Rehoboam and Shishak. Ver. 2G. 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] These riches which David and Solomon had treasured up, tempted Shishak, it is probable, to this expedition against Jerusalem: for he did not intend to keep this city,.but only to spoil it.’ - And he look away the shields of gold which Solomon had made.] Which were in the house of the forest of Lebanon, (see x. 1G, 17.) which it seems he also plundered. This was a speedy vengeance for their sins; that so soon after Solo- \Oh. II. mon’s death, the splendour, wherein he left Jerusalem should be extinguished.. For Rehoboam served God three years; was corrupted in the fourth; and in the fifth was punished. ,. ^

1 Kings 14:27

And king Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields, and committed^ them into the hands of’the chief of the guards In the Hebrew the word for guard is runner:’ so called because they went before the king and behind him. “Which kept the door of the king’s house.’) These shields were not of much value; and So were committed to men in a mean office: whereas the golden ones were kept, as I said, in.the. house of the forest of Lebanon. t

1 Kings 14:28

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. He did not quite forsake God, but still continued to worship in the temple: and, perhaps, he now left the high places (after he had been thus chastised by the king of Egypt), and frequented the house of God better. Shields were carried before him thither for pomp’s sake, that he might not be’ contemned by his people; and that there might be no occasion for sedition, if they were disposed to.it, when they saw him so well guarded.

1 Kings 14:29

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?] He refers those that desired a larger account of him to the public Annals, as he had done when he concludes the: history of Jeroboam, ver. 19. (See there.)

1 Kings 14:30

And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their, days. This doth.not seem to agree with what we, read xii. 22. where God commanded Rehoboam and his people not to go to fight with Israel: and they obeyed his voice. But this’ is easily satisfied, by observing that the Jews wero commanded not to riaake war upon the Israelites; but they are not commanded’ not to defend themselves, if the Israelites made war upon them..And this was their case; the Israelites vexed them with continual incursions and depredations; though the house of David did not assault them, but only repelled their violence;* or, perhaps, upon the borders, they were continually endeavouring to get ground one of another; though they never came to a set battle.

1 Kings 14:31

And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and his mother’s name ivas Naamah, an Ammonitess. The repetition of this about his mother hath something remarkable in it, (sec ver. 21.) though it is hard to know what it is. Abarbinel thinks, it is as’much as to say, He did not repent at last; but as he lived, so he died, in the idolatry of his mother. •’.’ r • / And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.