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, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people.
get thee to Shiloh. He had no confidence in his own gods. They were only political expedients.
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.
cruse = flask, or bottle.
he. Some codices, with Septuagint, read "and he".
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 set by reason of his age.
were set. Compare 1 Samuel 4:15 . One of the nine afflicted with blindness. See note on Genesis 19:11 .
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.
door = entrance.
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 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 that 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:
all Not merely kings, but all other rulers. No anachronism.
other gods. Jehovah does not recognize the calves as being what Jeroboam intended, mere political expedients. See note on 1 Kings 14:2 .
10.
Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth 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.
him that, &c. = every male.
shut up and left. The commentators speak of the text being obscure or corrupt. But 'azab is a Homonym, meaning: (1) to leave (as in Genesis 2:24 ; Genesis 39:6 . Nehemiah 5:10 . Psalms 49:10 . Mai. 1 Kings 4:1 ); and (2) to restore, repair, fortify (as in Nehemiah 3:8 . Exodus 23:5 (see note there). Deuteronomy 32:36 . Deuteronomy 14:10 . 2 Kings 14:26 . Jeremiah 49:25 ). Here it means "strengthened and fortified": i.e. they will not escape. Compare 1 Kings 21:21 . 2 Kings 9:8 .
as = according as.
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: 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.
grave = a burying-place. Hebrew. keber, not sheol.
14.
Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.
but what? even now. Here again the text is supposed to be obscure. It is on account of the Figures of speech ( App-6 ) used: (1) Ellipsis = "But what [am I saying That day'? ] Even now [hath He raised him up]". (2) Note the Figure of speech Amphidiorthosis. App-6 .
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 groves, provoking the LORD to anger.
smite Israel, [shaking him] as a reed is shaken, &c. The Figure of speech Ellipsis ( App-6 ) to be thus supplied.
this good land. Occurs only here and Joshua 23:13 , Joshua 23:15 . the river: i.e. the Euphrates.
groves = ' A sherim.
16.
And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
made Israel to sin. The first of twenty-one occurrences in these two books: 1 Kings 14:16 ; 1 Kings 15:26 , 1Ki 15:30 , 1 Kings 15:34 ; 1 Kings 16:19 , 1Ki 16:26 ; 1 Kings 21:22 ; 1 Kings 22:52 . 2Ki 3:3 ; 2 Kings 10:29 , 2 Kings 10:31 ; 2Ki 13:2 , 2 Kings 13:6 , 2 Kings 13:11 ; 2Ki 14:24 ; 2 Kings 15:9 , 2 Kings 15:18 , 2Ki 15:24 , 2 Kings 15:28 ; 2 Kings 16:13 ; 2Ki 17:21 ; 2 Kings 23:15 .
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;
Tirzah. Afterward made the capital by Baasha (1 Kings 15:21 ), till Samaria was built by Omri (1 Kings 15:33 ; 1Ki 16:8 , 1 Kings 16:15 , 1 Kings 16:23 , 1 Kings 16:24 ).
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.
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.
the rest. See 2 Chronicles 13:3-20 .
20.
And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with this fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
two and twenty years. In 1 Kings 15:25 Nadab reigned two years, and began in the second year of Asa, which was the twenty-first of Jeroboam, so that Nadab's two years fall within the time of his father's twenty-two. But from 2 Chronicles 13:20 we learn that Jeroboam was stricken with a languishing disease, in which time Nadab reigned with him, and died the same year as his father. The number "twentytwo" is associated with disorganization and disintegration (= 2x11). It is associated with the worst two reigns: Jeroboam, here; and Ahab in 1 Kings 16:29 .
slept with his fathers = died. See notes on Deuteronomy 31:16 . Said of the wicked Jeroboam and Ahab, as well as of good David and Jehoshaphat.
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 did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess.
mother's name. Mentioned here and in the case of each successive king (Compare 1 Kings 15:10 ; 1 Kings 22:42 . 2 Kings 8:26 , &c.); because the king's character stands connected with the mother ; and because of the position which the queen dowager occupied (Compare 1 Kings 2:19 , 1 Kings 15:13 .Jeremiah 13:18; Jeremiah 13:18 ).
Ammonitess. Twice mentioned, and in connection with Jerusalem. See 1 Kings 14:31 .
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.
jealousy. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6 .
23.
For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.
groves. See note on Exodus 34:13 , and App-42 .
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.
sodomites. Committers of the sin of Sodom (Genesis 19 ). Male prostitutes, dedicated to idolatry involving this sin. Connected with the 'Asherah. App-42 . Compare Deuteronomy 23:17 . Deuteronomy 15:12 ; Deu 22:46 .
children = sons.
25.
And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem:
Shishak. Founder of the twenty-second dynasty.
against. See note on Judges 1:8 , and App-53 .
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.
all = "all [he could find]".
all the shields. Some codices, with three early printed editions, and Vulgate, omit "all".
27.
And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which 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 bare 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.
Rehoboam. Being named first he was probably the aggressor, contrary to 1 Kings 12:24 .
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.
Abijam = Abijah.