1 Kings 14

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, Ahijah the prophet is there, who told 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 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 dim 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.

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 to 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 who 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 urinates 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 of Jeroboam that dieth 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 up for Himself 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 Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger.

16 And He shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned 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 spoke by the hand of His servant Ahijah the prophet.

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.

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 chose 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 for themselves high places, and images and Asherah poles 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.

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 brazen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, who 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 bore 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.

1 Kings 14 Commentary

Chapter 14

Abijah being sick, his mother consults Ahijah. (1-6) The destruction of Jeroboam's house. (7-20) Rehoboam's wicked reign. (21-31)

Verses 1-6 "At that time," when Jeroboam did evil, his child sickened. When sickness comes into our families, we should inquire whether there may not be some particular sin harboured in our houses, which the affliction is sent to convince us of, and reclaim us from. It had been more pious if he had desired to know wherefore God contended with him; had begged the prophet's prayers, and cast away his idols from him; but most people would rather be told their fortune, than their faults or their duty. He sent to Ahijah, because he had told him he should be king. Those who by sin disqualify themselves for comfort, yet expect that their ministers, because they are good men, should speak peace and comfort to them, greatly wrong themselves and their ministers. He sent his wife in disguise, that the prophet might only answer her question concerning her son. Thus some people would limit their ministers to smooth things, and care not for having the whole counsel of God declared to them, lest it should prophesy no good concerning them, but evil. But she shall know, at the first word, what she has to trust to. Tidings of a portion with hypocrites will be heavy tidings. God will judge men according to what they are, not by what they seem to be.

Verses 7-20 Whether we keep an account of God's mercies to us or not, he does; and he will set them in order before us, if we are ungrateful, to our greater confusion. Ahijah foretells the speedy death of the child then sick, in mercy to him. He only in the house of Jeroboam had affection for the true worship of God, and disliked the worship of the calves. To show the power and sovereignty of his grace, God saves some out of the worst families, in whom there is some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel. The righteous are removed from the evil to come in this world, to the good to come in a better world. It is often a bad sign for a family, when the best in it are buried out of it. Yet their death never can be a loss to themselves. It was a present affliction to the family and kingdom, by which both ought to have been instructed. God also tells the judgments which should come upon the people of Israel, for conforming to the worship Jeroboam established. After they left the house of David, the government never continued long in one family, but one undermined and destroyed another. Families and kingdoms are ruined by sin. If great men do wickedly, they draw many others, both into the guilt and punishment. The condemnation of those will be severest, who must answer, not only for their own sins, but for sins others have been drawn into, and kept in, by them.

Verses 21-31 Here is no good said of Rehoboam, and much said to the disadvantage of his subjects. The abounding of the worst crimes, of the worst of the heathen, in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen for his temple and his worship, shows that nothing can mend the hearts of fallen men but the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. On this alone may we depend; for this let us daily pray, in behalf of ourselves and all around us. The splendour of their temple, the pomp of their priesthood, and all the advantages with which their religion was attended, could not prevail to keep them close to it; nothing less than the pouring out the Spirit will keep God's Israel in their allegiance to him. Sin exposes, makes poor, and weakens any people. Shishak, king of Egypt, came and took away the treasures. Sin makes the gold become dim, changes the most fine gold, and turns it into brass.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 14

This chapter relates the sickness of Jeroboam's son, the application of his wife, at his instance, to the prophet Ahijah, in the child's favour, 1Ki 14:1-6, the prophecy of the prophet concerning the ruin of Jeroboam's house, and the death of the child, which came to pass, 1Ki 14:7-18, an account of the years of Jeroboam's reign, and also of Rehoboam's, 1Ki 14:19-21, and of the evil things done and suffered by the latter in his kingdom, and the calamities that came upon him for it, 1Ki 14:22-28 and the conclusion of his reign, 1Ki 14:29-31.