And Jeroboam said to his wife
Who she was is not known:
arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself;
put off her royal apparel, and clothe herself like a common person, mimic the dress and language of a country woman:
that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam:
by any that should see her on the road, or at the city she was to go to, or by the prophet to whom she would be sent:
and get thee to Shiloh;
which, according to Bunting F7, was twenty four miles, from Tirzah, where Jeroboam now lived, see ( 1 Kings 14:17 )
behold, there is Ahijah the prophet:
called from thence the Shilonite, ( 1 Kings 11:29 ) ,
which told me that I should be king over this people:
and this coming to pass, proved him to be a true prophet, and to be credited in what he should say concerning their child. Jeroboam desired his wife to go on this errand, because he did not care it should be known that he applied to any of the prophets of the Lord; nor did he choose it should be known whose child was inquired about, which another must have told, whereas his wife could speak of it as her own; and she was the fittest person to give an account of the child's illness, and would ask the most proper and pertinent questions, and bring him back a faithful report; and he would have her be disguised, lest the prophet, who bore no good will to him because of his apostasy, should refuse to give any answer at all, or else give a very rough and disagreeable one.