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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Kings 14:1 - 14:1
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Reign of Jeroboam. - Vv. 1-18. Ahijah's prophecy against Jeroboam and the kingdom of Israel. - As Jeroboam did not desist from his idolatry notwithstanding the threatened punishment, the Lord visited him with the illness of his son, and directed the prophet Ahijah, to whom his wife had gone to ask counsel concerning the result of the illness, to predict to him not only the cutting off of his house and the death of his sick son, but also the thrusting away of Israel out of the land of its fathers beyond the Euphrates, and in confirmation of this threat caused the sick son to die when the returning mother crossed the threshold of her house again.
1Ki 14:1-3
When his son fell sick, Jeroboam said to his wife: Disguise thyself, that thou mayest not be known as the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh to the prophet Ahijah, who told me that I should be king over this people; he will tell thee how it will fare with the boy. הִשְׁתַּנֶּה, from שָׁנָה, to alter one's self, i.e., to disguise one's self. She was to go to Shiloh disguised, so as not to be recognised, to deceive the old prophet, because otherwise Jeroboam did not promise himself any favourable answer, as he had contemptuously neglected Ahijah's admonition (1Ki 11:38-39). But he turned to this prophet because he had spoken concerning him לְמֶלֶךְ, to be king, i.e., that he would become king, over this people. לְמֶלֶךְ stands for מֶלֶךְ לִהְיֹות, with which the infinitive esse can be omitted (vid., Ewald, §336, b.). As this prophecy, which was so favourable to Jeroboam, had come to pass (1Ki 11:29-30), he hoped that he might also obtain from Ahijah a divine revelation concerning the result of his son's illness, provided that he did not know who it was who came to seek counsel concerning her sick son. To complete the deception, she was to take with her as a present for the prophet (cf., 1Sa 9:8) “ten loaves and crumbs” and a jar with honey, i.e., a trifling gift such as a simple citizen's wife might take. According to the early versions and the context, a kind of plain cake, κολλυρίδα (lxx), crustulam (Vulg.). It is different in Jos 9:5.
1Ki 14:4-5
Ahijah could no longer see, because his eyes were blinded with age. עֵינָיו קָמוּ as in 1Sa 4:15, an expression applied to the black cataract, amaurosis. It was therefore all the less possible for him to recognise in a natural manner the woman who was coming to him. But before her arrival the Lord had not only revealed to him her coming and her object, but had also told him what he was to say to her if she should disguise herself when she came. וְכָזֶה כָּזֹה; see at Jdg 18:4, וגו כְבֹאָהּ וִיהִי, “let it be if she comes and disguises herself;” i.e., if when she comes she should disguise herself.
1Ki 14:6
When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering the door (the participle בָּאָה, according to the number and gender, refers to the אִשָּׁה implied in רַגְלֶיהָ, vid., Ewald, §317, c.), he addressed her by her name, charged her with her disguise of herself, and told her that he was entrusted with a hard saying to her. קָשָׁה (cf., 1Ki 12:13) is equivalent to קָשָׁה חָזוּת; for the construction, compare Ewald, §284, c.
1Ki 14:7-11
The saying was as follows: “Therefore, because thou hast exalted thyself from the people, and I have made thee prince over my people Israel (cf., 1Ki 11:31), ... but thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments...(cf., 1Ki 11:34), and hast done worse than all who were before thee (judices nimirum et duces Israelis - Cler.), and hast gone and hast made thyself other gods (contrary to the express command in Exo 20:2-3), ... and hast cast me behind thy back: therefore I bring misfortune upon the house of Jeroboam,” etc. The expression, to cast God behind the back, which only occurs here and in Eze 23:35, denotes the most scornful contempt of God, the strict opposite of “keeping God before the eyes and in the heart.” בְּקִיר מַשְׁתִּין, every male person; see at 1Sa 25:22. A synonymous expression is וְעָזוּב עָצוּר, the fettered (i.e., probably the married) and the free (or single); see at Deu 32:36. “In Israel,” i.e., in the kingdom of the ten tribes. The threat is strengthened by the clause in 1Ki 14:10, “and I will sweep out after the house of Jeroboam, as one sweepeth out dung, even to the end,” which expresses shameful and utter extermination; and this threat is still further strengthened in 1Ki 14:11 by the threat added from Deu 28:26, that of those cut off not one is to come to the grave, but their bodies are to be devoured by the dogs and birds of prey, - the worst disgrace that could befall the dead. Instead of wild beasts (Deu 28:26) the dogs are mentioned here, because in the East they wander out in the streets without owners, and are so wild and ravenous that they even devour corpses (vid., Harmar, Beobachtungen, i. p. 198). לְיָרָבְעָם with לְ of relationship, equivalent to of those related to Jeroboam. It is the same in 1Ki 14:13.
1Ki 14:12-13
After this announcement of the judgment upon the house of Jeroboam, Ahijah gave the wife information concerning her sick son. He would die as soon as she entered the city, and of all the male members of the house of Jeroboam he only would receive the honour of a proper burial, because in him there was some good thing towards Jehovah found. Ewald (§247, b.) regards the form בְּבֹאָה as standing for בְּבֹאָהּ, and refers the suffix to the following word הָעִיר (vid., Ewald, §309, c.). But as this use of the suffix would be very harsh, the question arises whether בֹּאָה is not to be regarded as a feminine form of the infinitive, after the analogy of דֵּעָה in Exo 2:4 and לֵדָה in 2Ki 19:3, etc. From the fulfilment of this declaration in 1Ki 14:17, 1Ki 14:18 Jeroboam was to learn that the threatened destruction of his royal house would also be just as certainly fulfilled. The sick son appears to have been the heir-presumptive to the throne. This may be inferred partly from the lamentation of all Israel at his death (1Ki 14:18), and partly from what follows here in the next verse. אֶליְהֹוָה means in his relation to Jehovah.
1Ki 14:14
“Jehovah will raise Himself up a king over Israel, who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this day; but what (sc., do I say)? even now,” sc., has He raised him up. This appears to be the simplest explanation of the last words of the verse, of which very various interpretations have been given. יָד is placed before הַיֹּום, to give it the stronger emphasis, as in Exo 32:1 (compare Jos 9:12-13, and Ewald, §293, b.; and for עַתָּה גַּם compare Delitzsch on Job, i. p. 290, transl.).
1Ki 14:15-18
But in order that not only Jeroboam, but also the people who had joined in his idolatry, might perceive the severity of the divine judgment, Ahijah also announced to the nation its banishment into exile beyond the Euphrates. “Jehovah will smite Israel, as the reed shakes in the water,” is an abbreviated phrase for: Jehovah will smite Israel in such a manner that it will sway to and fro like a reed in the water moved by a strong wind, which has not a sufficiently firm hold to resist the violence of the storm. “And will thrust them out of the good land,” etc., as Moses threatened the transgressors of the law (Deu 29:27), “and scatter them beyond the river (Euphrates),” i.e., banish them among the heathen, from whom God brought out and chose their forefather (Jos 24:3), “because they have made themselves Ashera-idols, to provoke Jehovah.” אֲשֵׁרִים is used for idols generally, among which the golden calves are reckoned. וְיִתֵּן, that He may deliver up Israel, on account of the idolatrous forms of worship introduced by Jeroboam. For the fulfilment see 2Ki 15:29; 2Ki 17:23, and 2Ki 18:11. - In 1Ki 14:17, 1Ki 14:18 the exact fulfilment of Ahijah's announcement concerning the death of Jeroboam's sick son is described. According to 1Ki 14:17, Jeroboam was then residing at Thirza, whereas he had at first resided at Shechem (1Ki 12:25). Thirza is probably the present Talluza, on the north of Shechem (see at Jos 12:24).
1Ki 14:19-20
End of Jeroboam's reign. Of the wars, which were described in the annals of the kings, the war with Abijam of Judah is the only one of which we have any account (2Ch 13:2.). See also the Comm. on 1Ki 14:30. He was followed on the throne by his son Nadab.