1 Kings 14

1 At that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, got sick.

2 Jeroboam told his wife, "Go to Shiloh, but disguise yourself so that people will not recognize you as my wife. The prophet Ahijah, who told me I would be king of these people, is there.

3 Take ten loaves of bread, some raisins, and a jar of honey with you, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."

4 Jeroboam's wife did this. She left, went to Shiloh, and came to the home of Ahijah. Ahijah couldn't see. His eyesight had failed because he was old.

5 However, the LORD had told Ahijah, "Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about her son who is sick. When she comes, she will pretend to be someone else." He also told Ahijah what to say to her.

6 Ahijah heard her footsteps when she came into the room. He said, "Come in. You're Jeroboam's wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I've been told to give you some terrible news.

7 Tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the LORD God of Israel says: I picked you out of the people and made you a leader over my people Israel.

8 I tore the kingdom away from David's heirs and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David. He obeyed my commands and faithfully followed me by doing only what I considered right.

9 You have done more evil things than everyone before you. You made other gods, metal idols, for yourself. You made me furious and turned your back to me.

10 "'That is why I will bring disaster on Jeroboam's house. I will destroy every male in his house, whether slave or freeman in Israel. I will burn down Jeroboam's house. It will burn like manure until it is gone.

11 If anyone from Jeroboam's house dies in the city, dogs will eat him. If anyone dies in the country, birds will eat him.' The LORD has said this!

12 "Get up, and go home. The moment you set foot in the city the child will die.

13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one of Jeroboam's family who will be [properly] buried. He was the only one in Jeroboam's house in whom the LORD God of Israel found anything good.

14 The LORD will appoint a king over Israel. That king will destroy Jeroboam's house. This will happen today. It will happen right now.

15 "The LORD will strike Israel like cattails which shake in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River because they dedicated poles to the goddess Asherah and made the LORD furious.

16 So the LORD will desert Israel because of Jeroboam's sins, the sins which he led Israel to commit."

17 Jeroboam's wife got up, left, and went to Tirzah. When she walked across the threshold of her home, the boy died.

18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him as the LORD had said through his servant, the prophet Ahijah.

19 Everything else concerning Jeroboam, his wars, and his reign is written in the official records of the kings of Israel.

20 Jeroboam ruled for 22 years. Then he lay down in death with his ancestors. His son Nadab succeeded him as king.

21 Rehoboam, son of Solomon, ruled Judah. He was 41 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD chose from all the tribes of Israel, the city where the LORD put his name. Rehoboam's mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.

22 The people of Judah did what the LORD considered evil. Their sins made him more angry than anything their ancestors had done.

23 They built worship sites for themselves and [put up] large stones and Asherah poles to worship on every high hill and under every large tree.

24 There were even male prostitutes in the temples of idols throughout the land. The people of Judah did all the disgusting practices done by the nations that the LORD had forced out of the Israelites' way.

25 In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem.

26 He took the treasures from the LORD's temple and the royal palace. He took them all. He took all the gold shields Solomon had made.

27 So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and put them by the entrance to the royal palace, where the captains of the guards were stationed.

28 Whenever the king went into the LORD's temple, guards carried the shields and then returned them to the guardroom.

29 Isn't everything else concerning Rehoboam--everything he did--written in the official records of the kings of Judah?

30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as they lived.

31 Rehoboam lay down in death with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. (His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah.) His son Abijam succeeded him as king.

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.