AT THAT TIME - The phrase here connects the narrative which follows with Jeroboam’s persistence in his evil courses. The event related is the first judgment upon him for his obduracy, the beginning of the cutting off of his house from the face of the earth. ABIJAH - We see by this name that Jeroboa... [ Continue Reading ]
DISGUISE THYSELF - Jeroboam fears that even Ahijah the Shilonite, who in some sort made him king, will scarcely give his queen a favorable answer. The king’s conscience tells him that he has not performed the conditions on which he was promised “a sure house” 1 Kings 11:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
See the marginal reference The presents here were selected for the purpose of deception, being such as a poor country person would have been likely to bring. Jeroboam counted also on Ahijah’s blindness 1 Kings 14:4 as favoring his plan of deception (compare Genesis 27:1, Genesis 27:22). CRACKNELS -... [ Continue Reading ]
FEIGN HERSELF TO BE ANOTHER WOMAN - literally, “she shall make herself strange,” i. e., “she shall come in disguised.” So 1 Kings 14:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I AM SENT TO THEE - Rather, “I also am sent to thee.” As thou hast a message to me from thy husband, so have I a message to thee from the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
As Jeroboam’s appointment to the kingdom had been formally announced to him by the prophet Ahijah, so the same prophet is commissioned to acquaint him with his forfeiture of it. Compare 1 Samuel 15:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
ABOVE ALL THAT WERE BEFORE THEE - i. e., above all previous rulers of the people, whether Judges or kings. Hereto none of the rulers of Israel had set up the idolatrous worship of ephod, teraphim, and the like Judges 18:17, as a substitute for the true religion, or sought to impose an idolatrous sys... [ Continue Reading ]
All the males of the family of Jeroboam were put to death by Baasha 1 Kings 15:28. The phrase “will cut off,” etc., appears to have been a common expression among the Jews from the time of David 1 Samuel 25:22 to that of Jehu 2 Kings 9:8, but scarcely either before or after. We may suspect that, whe... [ Continue Reading ]
The dogs are the chief scavengers of Oriental cities (compare Psalms 59:6, Psalms 59:14). And the vulture is the chief scavenger in the country districts, assisted sometimes by kites and crows (see Job 39:27, where the vulture, not the eagle, is intended). Vultures are very abundant in Palestine.... [ Continue Reading ]
The child was evidently a prince of some promise. It is probable that he was heir to the throne.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Hebrew text of this verse appears to be defective in this place. No satisfactory sense can be obtained from it. The true meaning of the original passage is possibly: “Yahweh shall raise up a king who will destroy the house of Jeroboam on the day that he is raised up. What do I say? He will destr... [ Continue Reading ]
The general prophecy of Moses Deuteronomy 29:28, that the disobedient Israelites would be rooted up out of their land, and cast into another land, is here for the first time repeated, and is definitively applied to the ten tribes, which are to be removed “beyond the river” (the Euphrates, 1 Kings 4:... [ Continue Reading ]
Jeroboam had by this time removed from Shechem, and established a new capital in Tirzah, one of the old Canaanite towns Joshua 12:24 - a town of great reputation for beauty, counted in that respect on a par with Jerusalem Song of Solomon 6:4. Tirzah is perhaps to be identified with “Telluzah,” a pla... [ Continue Reading ]
The wars of Jeroboam may be divided into: (1) his wars with Rehoboam (see 1 Kings 14:25, 1 Kings 14:30); and (2) his war with Abijam (see the marginal reference). THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL - (of Judah, 1 Kings 14:29). See the Introduction.... [ Continue Reading ]
On the age of Rehoboam at his accession, see 1 Kings 12:8 note. The 17 years of his reign must have been complete, or a little more than complete, if Abijam ascended the throne in the “eighteenth” year of Jeroboam 1 Kings 15:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
This defection of Judah did not take place until Rehoboam’s fourth year (marginal reference). THEY PROVOKED HIM TO JEALOUSY - Compare Exodus 20:5; and on the force of the metaphor involved in the word, see Exodus 34:15 note.... [ Continue Reading ]
The words “they also” are emphatic. Not only did the Israelites make themselves high places 1Ki 12:31; 1 Kings 13:32, but the people of Judah also. The “high places,” which are said to have been “built,” were probably small shrines or tabernacles hung with bright-colored tapestry Ezekiel 16:16, like... [ Continue Reading ]
SODOMITES - literally, ” (men) consecrated.” The men in question were in fact “consecrated” to the mother of the gods, the famous “Dea Syra,” whose priests, or rather devotees, they were considered to be. The nature of the ancient idolatries is best understood by recollecting that persons of this de... [ Continue Reading ]
The examination of the famous inscription of Shishak at Karnak has resulted in the proof that the expedition commemorated was directed against Palestine, and has further thrown a good deal of light on the relations of the two kingdoms at the period. Of the fifteen fenced cities fortified by Rehoboam... [ Continue Reading ]
The circumstances of Shishak’s invasion, related here with extreme brevity, are given with some fulness by the author of Chronicles (marginal reference). It is still a question whether the submission of the Jewish king is or is not expressly recorded in the Karnak inscription. Midway in the list of... [ Continue Reading ]
It appears from this verse that Rehoboam, notwithstanding that he encouraged, and perhaps secretly practiced, idolatry (1 Kings 14:22, compare 1Ki 15:3, 1 Kings 15:12; 2 Chronicles 12:1), maintained a public profession of faith in Yahweh, and attended in state the temple services. Compare the conduc... [ Continue Reading ]
SLEPT WITH HIS FATHERS AND WAS BURIED ... - Compare 1 Kings 11:43. The expression is a sort of formula, and is used with respect to all the kings of Judah, except two or three. The writer probably regards the fact, which he records so carefully, as a continuation of God’s mercy to David. HIS MOTHER... [ Continue Reading ]