John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 12:1



INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 12



This chapter relates Rehoboam's going to Shechem to be made king, and Jeroboam's return from Egypt, 1Ki 12:1, the people's request to Rehoboam to be eased of their taxes, as the condition of making him king, 1Ki 12:3, his answer to them, after three days, having had the advice both of the old and young men, which latter he followed, and gave in a rough answer, 1Ki 12:5, upon which ten tribes revolted from him, and two abode by him, 1Ki 12:16, wherefore he meditated a war against the ten tribes, but was forbid by the Lord to engage in it, 1Ki 12:21 and Jeroboam, in order to establish his kingdom, and preserve the people from a revolt to the house of David, because of the temple worship at Jerusalem, devised a scheme of idolatrous worship in his own territories, 1Ki 12:25.



Ver. 1. And Rehoboam went to Shechem,.... After the death and internment of his father:



for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king: as was pretended, though in reality it was to seek occasion against him, and make Jeroboam king; it is very probable they knew of the prophecy of Ahijah, and therefore would not go to Jerusalem, but to Shechem, a city in the tribe of Ephraim, of which Jeroboam was, and where he had sowed the seeds of sedition when ruler there; and this place they chose, partly because they could more freely speak what they had in their minds, and partly for the safety of Jeroboam they had sent for on this occasion; so that Rehoboam went thither not of choice, but of necessity. The Jews {c} observe that this place was very ominous; here Dinah was ravished, Joseph was sold, Abimelech exercised tyranny, and here now the kingdom was divided.



{c} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 102. 1.





1 Kings 12:2



Ver. 2. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it,.... Of the death of Solomon, and of the meeting of the Israelites at Shechem:



(for he was fled from the presence of King Solomon; see 1Ki 11:40



and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt;) until the death of Solomon; some render the words, "Jeroboam, returned out of Egypt" {d}, which agrees with

2Ch 10:2, this he did on hearing the above news, and on being sent for by some of his friends, as follows.



{d} Myrumb-bvyw "reversus est de Aegypto", V. L. Ex Egypto, b pro Nm, Vatablus.





1 Kings 12:3



Ver. 3. That they sent and called him,.... That is, the people of Israel, some of the principal of them, especially of the tribe of Ephraim, sent messengers to him, and gave him an invitation to come to them at Shechem; or, they had sent {e}, as Kimchi interprets it, which was the reason of his returning from Egypt, at least one of them:



and Jeroboam, and all the congregation of Israel, came; the chief men of them, the heads of the people; these, with Jeroboam at the head of them, who was come out of Egypt, came to Shechem, where Rehoboam was, and they had appointed to meet him:



and spake unto Rehoboam; one in the name of them all, perhaps Jeroboam:



saying; as follows.



{e} So Pagninus, Montanus.





1 Kings 12:4



Ver. 4. Thy father made our yoke grievous,.... Laid heavy taxes upon them, for the finishing of his buildings, for the maintenance of his household, for keeping such a large number of horses and chariots, and for the salaries of his officers, and for the support of his magnificent court; though they had very little reason to complain, since this was for the honour and grandeur of their nation, and they enjoyed their liberty, and lived in peace, plenty, and safety all his days; and such an abundance of riches was brought unto them by him that silver was as the stones of the street; though perhaps the taxes might be increased in the latter part of his life, for the support of his vast number of wives, and of their idolatrous worship, and for the defence of himself and kingdom against the attempts of Hadad and Rezon; but, as most interpreters observe, what they find most reason to complain of, they take no notice of, even the idolatry he had set up among them:



now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us lighter; that is, ease them of their taxes, or lessen them:



and we will serve thee; acknowledge him as their king, give him homage, and yield obedience to him.





1 Kings 12:5



Ver. 5. And he said unto them, depart yet for three days, then come again to me,.... Suggesting that he would consider of their proposal and inquire into the merits of it and as things should appear to him he would give them an answer in three days time; which at first sight may seem a point of prudence in him, to take time for deliberation and counsel in this affair, but in his case and circumstance it was very imprudent; for he might easily see there was discontent among the people, and a faction forming against him, and, by taking time to himself, he gave them time to take their measures, and hasten and ripen them for a revolt; for, by giving them such an answer, they might plainly perceive he was not inclined to give them satisfaction; it would have been the most advisable in him to have promised them at once that he would make them easy:



and the people departed; to their quarters, and there remained to the third day.





1 Kings 12:6



Ver. 6. And King Rehoboam consulted with the old men that stood before Solomon his father, while he yet lived,.... Which was very prudently done; for as these were men in years, and had been his father's counsellors, from whom, do doubt, they had learnt much wisdom, being often in cabinet council with him, they were capable of giving him the best advice:



and said, how do you advise, that I may answer this people? what answer would you advise me to give to them, and in what manner?





1 Kings 12:7



Ver. 7. And they spake unto him, saying,.... They gave their advice as follows:



if thou wilt be servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them; condescend to them, behave in an humble manner towards them, for this day however, and gratify and oblige them; though indeed a king is but a servant to his people, and his administration of government a doing service to them; hence Antigonus {f}, a king, mild, humble, and gentle, perceiving his son to behave in a fierce and violent manner towards his subjects, said to him, my son, dost thou not know that our glorious kingdom is a servitude?



and answer them, and speak good words unto them; give them a soft answer, and speak kindly and gently to them, and make them fair promises, and give them reason to expect that their requests will be granted:



then they will be thy servants for ever; such conduct would so win upon them, and make such an impressions upon them, that they would for ever after entertain high opinion of him, and be strongly affected and attached to him, and readily serve him.



{f} Apud Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 2. c. 20.





1 Kings 12:8



Ver. 8. But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him,.... He did not rightly relish it, nor cordially receive it; it did not suit with his haughty temper, he could not brook it, to stoop to his people; he thought it a lessening of his dignity to do anything that looked like courting their favour; and therefore determined not to take the advice given him by the old men, but to seek for other:



and consulted with the men, that were grown up with him, and which stood before him; the sons of nobles, with whom he had his education, and who were his companions from his youth upwards, and who were now officers in his court, and of his privy council, being his favourites, and those he consulted on this occasion; and though they are called young men, as they were in comparison of the old men, yet since they were contemporary with Rehoboam, who was now forty one years of age, they must be about forty, or not much under, and at an age to be wiser than they appeared to be.





1 Kings 12:9



Ver. 9. And he said unto them, what counsel give ye, that we may answer this people, saying,.... See Gill on "1Ki 12:4".





1 Kings 12:10



Ver. 10. And the young men that were grown up with him, spake unto him, saying,.... Gave him the following advice:



thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying; as is said, 1Ki 12:4



thus shall thou say unto them, my little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins; or, "is thicker" {g} signifying that he had more strength and power than his father had, and that he would make them know it, and they should feel the weight of it, and instead of lessening he would increase their taxes; for also hereby was intimated, that his glory, grandeur, and magnificence, was greater than his father's, especially when he first came to the kingdom, and therefore required the same taxes, or greater, to support it; and perhaps reference may be had to the difference of their age, Solomon being a child, or a very young man, when he came to the throne; whereas Rehoboam was upwards of forty years of age, and capable of judging what was fit to be done, and not to be talked to and treated after this manner, nor to receive the kingdom upon a condition of the people's prescribing.



{g} hbe "grossior est", V. L. Pagninus; "densior est", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.





1 Kings 12:11



Ver. 11. And now, whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke,.... Which was putting words into his mouth, owning the charge and accusation brought against his father, as he did, 1Ki 12:14, which was very unbecoming, if true; unless this is said according to the sense of the people:



I will add to your yoke; make it heavier, lay more taxes on them:



my father hath chastised you with whips; which was putting a lie into his mouth, and which he uttered, 1Ki 12:14 for no instance of severity exercised on the people in general can be given during the whole reign of Solomon:



but I will chastise you with scorpions; treat them more roughly, and with greater rigour: whips may mean smaller ones, these horse whips, as in the Targum; which gave an acute pain, like the sting of scorpions, or made a wound like one. Ben Gersom says, these were rods with thorns on them, which pierced and gave much pain. Weemse {h} thinks these are alluded to by thorns in the sides, Nu 33:55, for whipping with them was about the sides, and not along the back. Abarbinel calls them iron thorns, rods that had iron prongs or rowels to them, which tore the flesh extremely. Isidore {i} says, a rod that is smooth is called a rod, but, if knotty and prickled, it is rightly called a scorpion, because it makes a wound in the body arched or crooked. Pliny {k} ascribes the invention of this sort of scorpions to the Cretians.



{h} Christian Synagogue, paragraph 6. diatrib. 2. p. 190. {i} Origin. l. 5. c. 27. p. 39. {k} Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 56.





1 Kings 12:12



Ver. 12. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day,.... Jeroboam came to him at the head of the people, being the head of the faction, and designed for their king:



as the king had appointed, saying, come to me again the third day; see

1Ki 12:5.





1 Kings 12:13



Ver. 13. And the king answered the people roughly,.... In a blustering manner, gave them hard words and severe menaces, being worked up to such a spirit by his young counsellors:



and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him: to give them good words and kind promises.





1 Kings 12:14



Ver. 14. And spake to them after the counsel of the young men,.... And in the very language in which they gave it:



saying, my father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke; my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions, See Gill on "1Ki 12:11".





1 Kings 12:15



Ver. 15. Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people,.... To lessen their taxes, and ease them of their burdens, as they desired:



for the cause was from the Lord; it was according to his will and appointment; the defection of the people was willed by the Lord, and various things in Providence turned up to alienate their minds from Rehoboam, and dispose them to a revolt from him in favour of Jeroboam; and the Lord suffered the counsellors of Rehoboam to give him the advice they did, and gave him up to the folly of his own heart to take it:



that he might perform his saying, which the Lord spake to Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat; see 1Ki 11:29.





1 Kings 12:16



Ver. 16. So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them,.... To grant their requests:



the people answered the king, saying, what portion have we in David? or in his posterity, which are not of our tribes, nor are we obliged to have a king of that family; nor can we expect any benefit or advantage from thence, as may be easily concluded from the rough answer of Rehoboam:



neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse; so they called David by way of contempt; which was great ingratitude, when he had done such great things for them, and he and his son Solomon had raised them to the pitch of wealth and glory they now enjoyed; these were seditious expressions, and seem to be borrowed from a seditious person in the times of David, 2Sa 20:1



to your tents, O Israel; signifying it was high time to depart from Rehoboam, and to have nothing to say to him, or do with him, but retire to their habitations, to consider whom to set as king over them:



now see to thine own house, David; thou son or grandson of David; not his own house and family, and mind his domestic affairs, nor the house of the sanctuary in his tribe, as many of the Jewish writers interpret it; but rather the tribe of Judah, of which he was, and would have him consider to what a narrow compass his kingdom would be brought, who was just now blustering and boasting of his grandeur as a king:



so Israel departed unto their tents; to their cities, as the Targum, and their habitations there, without recognizing Rehoboam as their king, or swearing allegiance, or giving homage to him as such.





1 Kings 12:17



Ver. 17. But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah,.... Either such Israelites of the ten tribes that had before dwelt, or now upon this removed, for the sake of worship, to dwell in the tribe of Judah; or else that part of Israel, the tribe of Judah, which dwelt in the cities belonging to it:



Rehoboam reigned over them; they owned him to be their king, and submitted to his government.





1 Kings 12:18



Ver. 18. Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute,.... There was one of this name in this office in the time of David, 2Sa 20:24, this is the same with Adoniram, as Jarchi thinks, see 1Ki 4:6, him he sent either to collect the tribute of the Ephraimites, to show his authority; or rather to call the people back to have some further discourse with them, and endeavour to soften things, and bring them to a compliance, so Josephus {l}; but it was too late, and he employed a very improper person; the heavy taxes were their complaint, and a tax gatherer, and especially one that was at the head of the tribute, must be of all men the most disagreeable to them; this is another instance of the folly and false steps of Rehoboam:



and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died; the populace fell upon him at once, and stoned him to death; and which, though contrary to law and justice, was approved of and applauded by their principal men and all the people; so irritated and provoked were they by Rehoboam's answer to them. Hottinger {m} says, this man was buried in Shechem, which is very probable; but it is not expressed here, as he suggests it is; however, a grave stone, found A. D. 1480, in Spain, with this inscription, is not genuine,



"this is the grave of Adoniram, a servant of King Solomon, who came to collect tribute, and died such a day:''



therefore King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem; from Shechem, fearing they would treat him in the same manner in their rage and fury; his courage was now cooled, and his haughty and hectoring spirit was now brought down, and he was glad to make use of his chariot for flight; this is the first time we read of a king of Israel riding in a chariot; though before of Sisera, a Canaanitish captain, and that only in a chariot of war.



{l} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 8. sect. 3. {m} Praefat. ad Cipp. Hebr. p. 4. Vid. Walton. in Bibl. Polyglott. Prolegom. 3. sect. 35. p. 22.





1 Kings 12:19



Ver. 19. So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day. In which the writer of this book lived, and so continued until their captivity by the king of Assyria. Their revolt is called a rebellion; for though it was according to the purpose and will of God, yet the people had no command or order from God for it, and was done without consulting him, and was a rejection of their lawful prince.





1 Kings 12:20



Ver. 20. And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again,.... Out of Egypt; the chief men knew of it before, for he had headed them in their approach and address to Rehoboam; but the people in common had not, and especially those of the various tribes besides that of Ephraim:



that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel; they sent for him from his tent or house, which probably was in Shechem, and gave him an invitation to come to their assembly, met together to deliberate about a king; when they unanimously chose him to be king over Israel, that is, over the ten tribes, and inaugurated him into his office:



there was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only; in which Benjamin was included, as appears from the following verse; that being joined to it, and mixed with it, and both having a part in Jerusalem, and so ever after the kingdom was denominated the kingdom of Judah.





1 Kings 12:21



Ver. 21. And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, &e.] From Shechem, which was forty miles {n} from Jerusalem:



he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon; which not only shows courage reassumed by Rehoboam, now safely home, but the hearty attachment of Judah and Benjamin to him, who raised presently so numerous an army in his favour; and had it not been that the Lord was against their going to battle with Israel, in all probability they might have gained their point, Jeroboam being scarcely settled in his kingdom, and having no forces raised.



{n} Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 2. p. 1007.





1 Kings 12:22



Ver. 22. But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God,.... A prophet in those days, see 2Ch 12:15 and the word that came to him, as in the Targum, is called the word of prophecy:



saying; as follows.





1 Kings 12:23



Ver. 23. Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon king of Judah,.... He is called king before, but of what tribe or tribes is not expressly said, only it is implied in 1Ki 12:17 and he is only acknowledged king of Judah by the Lord himself:



and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin; which made but one house, as before but one tribe, 1Ki 11:36



and to the remnant of the people; of the other tribes that might dwell among them at Jerusalem, and especially Simeon, whose inheritance was within the tribe of Judah, Jos 19:1



saying: as follows.





1 Kings 12:24



Ver. 24. Thus saith the Lord,.... A common preface the prophets used when they spoke in the name of the Lord:



ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel; and that because they were their brethren; though that is not the only reason, another follows:



return every man to his house, for this thing is from me; it was according to the will of God, as Josephus rightly says {o}; it was by his ordination and appointment, though Jeroboam and the people sinned in the way and manner in which they brought it about; and therefore to fight against Israel, in order to regain the kingdom, would be fighting against God, and so to no purpose:



they hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart according to the word of the Lord; they knew Shemaiah was a prophet of the Lord, and they believed the message he brought came from him, and therefore hearkened and were obedient to it; and with the consent of Rehoboam were disbanded, and returned to their habitations, being satisfied with, and submissive to, the will of God, both king and people.



{o} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 8. c. 8. sect. 3.)





1 Kings 12:25



Ver. 25. Then Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein,.... Not that this city had lain in ruins from the times of Abimelech, Jud 9:45 for then it would not have been a proper place for the convention of the people, 1Ki 12:1 but he repaired the walls of it, and fortified it, and built a palace in it for his residence:



and went out from thence, and built Penuel; a place on the other side Jordan, the tower of which was beaten down by Gideon, Jud 8:17 and might be now rebuilt, or at least the city was repaired by him, and anew fortified, perhaps for the better security of his dominions on that side Jordan; though Fortunatus Scacchus {p} is of opinion that this was an altar, the same as at Carmel, 1Ki 18:30, which Jeroboam built, and called by this name in testimony of the common religion of the Israelites and Jews.



{p} Elaeochrism. Myrothec. l. 2. c. 58. col. 593.





1 Kings 12:26



Ver. 26. And Jeroboam said in his heart, &c,] As he was musing about the state of his kingdom and the affairs of it:



now shall the kingdom return to the house of David; such were his fears, unless some method could be taken to prevent it, particularly with respect to religion, which was what his thoughts were employed about.





1 Kings 12:27



Ver. 27. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem,.... In the temple there, three times in the year, which all the males were obliged to, besides other times, when they had occasion to offer sacrifice, which they might do nowhere else:



then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah; being drawn by the magnificence of the temple, the beauty and order of worship in it, the holiness of the place, and the grandeur of the royal court, and the persuasions of the priests and prophets of the Lord, both to keep to the service of the Lord, and to obey their lawful sovereign; and besides, they might be in fear they should be taken up and punished as traitors, and therefore would choose to submit to Rehoboam, that they might have the liberty of sacrificing without fear; Jeroboam seems conscious himself that Rehoboam was their liege lord and lawful king:



and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah; his fears ran so high, that he should not only lose his kingdom, but his life, unless some step was taken to make an alteration in religious worship.





1 Kings 12:28



Ver. 28. Whereupon the king took counsel,.... Of some of his principal men, that had as little religion as himself, and were only concerned for the civil state; and the result of their consultation was as follows:



and made two calves of gold; in imitation of that which was made by Aaron, and encouraged by his example and success; and having been in Egypt some time, he might have learned the calf or ox worship there, and might take his pattern from thence, and have two as they had; the one they called Apis, which was worshipped at Memphis, and another called Mnevis, worshipped at Hierapolis, as many learned men have observed; these were she calves, according to the Septuagint and Josephus {q}:



and said unto them; not his counsellors, but the people of the land:



it is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; pretending he sought their ease, by contriving a method to prevent their long fatiguing journeys, to go up with their sacrifices, firstfruits, &c. and the Jews {r} say the firstfruits ceased from going up to Jerusalem on the twenty third of Sivan, which answers to part of May and part of June, on which day they kept a fast on that account:



behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt; using the same words Aaron did on a like occasion; not that he thought these were really gods, and had divinity in them; nor could he hope or expect that the people would believe they had; but that these were representations of the true God, who had brought them out of Egypt; and that it might as well be supposed that God would cause his Shechinah to dwell in them as between the cherubim over the ark.



{q} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 8. c. 8.) sect. 4. {r} Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 580. sect. 2.





1 Kings 12:29



Ver. 29. And he set the one in Bethel,.... In the southern part of the land, on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin; and the rather he chose this place, because its name signifies the house of God, and had been a sacred place, where Jacob more than once enjoyed the divine Presence:



and the other put he in Dan: in the northern part of the land, for the convenience of the inhabitants of those parts; and the rather, since it had been a place resorted to in former times, because of the teraphim of Micah there.





1 Kings 12:30



Ver. 30. And this thing became a sin,.... The cause and occasion of the sin of idolatry; it led them by degrees to leave off the worship of God, and to worship these calves as gods:



for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan; which was the furthest off, such was their great zeal for idolatrous worship; or they went thither before that at Bethel was set up; and even they at Bethel would go as far as Dan to worship, such was their veneration for both the calves. Abarbinel is of opinion that these calves were not made by Jeroboam for idolatrous uses, only the altar later mentioned; and that he never worshipped before them, nor sacrificed to them, nor even built the altar before them; but that these were set up as signs, and in memory of his kingdom, like the pillars in Solomon's temple; that he chose the calf or ox as emblems of his family, the family of Joseph, De 33:17 two to represent Ephraim and Manasseh; golden ones, to denote the majesty and perpetuity of his kingdom; and he set these, the one at Bethel, at the entrance of it, and the other at Dan, at the further borders of it; and that he did not call those gods, but the only true God, as he that brought Israel out of Egypt; only signified by that expression, that he was everywhere, there as well as at Jerusalem; but that the Israelites, who were taken with sensible objects, on visiting these out of curiosity, it became a snare to them, and they fell into the worship of them; just as Gideon's ephod, and Moses' brasen serpent, were unto them.





1 Kings 12:31



Ver. 31. And he made an house of high places,.... Or "altars" {s}, built a temple at Dan, and set up several altars in it for sacrifice, both for burnt offerings, and for incense, as at Jerusalem:



and made priests of the lowest of the people; this clause seems not so well rendered; for this would have been very unpopular, and brought his new form of worship into contempt, to make the dregs of the people priests, which was not only a very sacred office, but of great honour; it was usual in some nations for kings to be priests also {t}, and Jeroboam himself exercised this office, 1Ki 12:33 and therefore would never put the meanest of the people into it, but rather those of higher rank: the words may be literally rendered, "from the extremities" or "ends of the people" {u}; meaning not merely from the extremist parts of his country, but rather out of the whole of the people; out of all sorts of them, out of any of them, without any distinction of tribe: for so it follows,



which were not of the sons of Levi; and as by this means he enriched himself, by taking the cities that belonged to the priests and Levites, which they were obliged to leave, and from whence he drove them, 2Ch 11:14 so he pleased the people by laying open the priesthood common to them, and freeing them from the payment of tithes, and the like.





{s} twmb "altarium", Vatablus. {t} Rex Anius, &c. Virgil. l. 3. Vid. Servium in ib. {u} Meh twuqm "de extremitatibus populi", Vatablus, Piscator.





1 Kings 12:32



Ver. 32. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah,.... The feast of tabernacles, which was on the fifteenth day of the seventh month; this was done chiefly for the sake of an alteration; though Abarbinel thinks, because the fruits of the land were not so soon ripe nor so soon gathered, in the northern parts of the land, as nearer Jerusalem, he judged this month the fittest for the feast of ingathering the fruits; and he might hope to get more people to come to his feast, when all were gathered in:



and he offered upon the altar (so he did in Bethel), sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: this he did by his priests, or rather he himself did it, see 1Ki 13:4, this shows that Jeroboam made these calves for worship, and did sacrifice to them, at least as representations of God. Abarbinel, to make this agree with his hypothesis, gives this sense of the clause, that he did not sacrifice to the calves, but to God, because of them, that his kingdom, which they were a sign of, might be continued; and there being but one calf in a place, he could not be said to sacrifice to them both, but to God, because of both; or else he thinks this must be done after the people had turned aside to them, and not when Jeroboam made them. The clause in the parenthesis, "so he did in Bethel", intimates that he did the same in Bethel as in Dan, of which what is said before is spoken; that is, that he made an house of high places in Bethel also, made priests out of all the people, such as were not of the tribe of Levi, appointed the feast of the fifteenth day of the eighth month to be observed there also, and he himself offered on the altar there:



and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made: to officiate there.





1 Kings 12:33



Ver. 33. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month,.... As he had done in Dan:



even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; the feast of tabernacles was of God's appointing, but the time of keeping he had devised himself, changing it from the seventh month, or Tisri, which answers to our September and October, to the eighth month, or Marchesvan, which answers to part of October and part of November:



and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel; to be observed by them as the feast of tabernacles was by the priests of Judah and Benjamin:



and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense; which none but the priests should do; perhaps the reason why the same resentment was not shown as to Uzziah was, because this was not at the altar of the Lord: whether he burnt incense after the manner of the Jewish priests, or as the priests of Egypt did to the sun, where he had been for some time, is not certain; the former burnt incense only twice a day, morning and evening, the latter three times; at sunrising they burnt rosin, about noon myrrh, and about sun setting "kuphi", which was a compound of sixteen sorts {w}.



{w} Plutarch de lside & Osiride.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 13:1



INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 13



In this chapter is an account of a man of God being sent to exclaim against Jeroboam's altar, and threaten its destruction, of which he gave a sign, which was accomplished, and with it the withering of the king's hand, which was healed upon the prophet's prayer for him, 1Ki 13:1, who would have entertained him at his house, but he refused the offer, and departed, 1Ki 13:8, but an old prophet in Bethel hearing of him, rode after him, and fetched him back to eat bread with him, through a lie he told him, 1Ki 13:11 upon which the word came to the old prophet, threatening the man of God with death for disobeying his command, and which was accordingly executed by a lion that met him in the way, and slew him, 1Ki 13:20, of which the old prophet being informed, went and took up his carcass, and buried it in his own sepulchre, where he charged his sons to bury him also when dead, believing that all the man of God had said would be fulfilled, 1Ki 13:25 and the chapter is closed with observing the continuance of Jeroboam in his idolatry, 1Ki 13:33.



Ver. 1. And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah,.... Whom Josephus {x} calls Jadon, perhaps the same with Iddo, who is by the Jewish writers {y} generally thought to be this man of God, and which may seem to be countenanced by 2Ch 9:29 but cannot be, because this man was quickly slain, whereas Iddo lived after Rehoboam, and wrote his acts, first and last, nay, after Ahijah his son, 2Ch 13:22 and for the same reason Shemaiah cannot be the man of God, 1Ki 12:22, though Tertullian {z} calls him Sameas, and designs Shemaiah: but, whoever he was, he came



by the word of the Lord to Bethel: that is, by his command:



and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense; at the time he came, 1Ki 12:33.



{x} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 8. c. 8. sect. 3.) {y} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 20. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 11. 1. Jarch & Kimchi in loc. {z} De Jejuniis, c. 16.





1 Kings 13:2



Ver. 2. And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord,.... By his order and command:



and said, O altar, altar; addressing himself not to Jeroboam, but the altar, thereby reproving his stupidity, the altar being as ready to hear as he; and because that was what moved the indignation of the Lord; and the word is repeated, to show the vehemency of the prophet's spirit, and his zeal against it; though the Jews commonly say it respects both altars, that at Dan, as well as this at Bethel:



thus saith the Lord, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; who was not born until three hundred years after this, according to the Jewish writers {a}: but it is generally reckoned to be more, even three hundred and fifty or three hundred and sixty years; this is a clear proof of the prescience, predetermination, and providence of God with respect to future events, contingent ones, such as depend upon the will of men; for what more so than giving a name to a child?



upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee; all which was fulfilled by Josiah, 2Ki 23:15, it may be read, "the bones of a man", which the Jews understand of Jeroboam; but may only signify that, instead of the bones of beasts, which were burnt on it, the bones of men should be burnt, and even of the priests themselves; a glaring proof this of the truth of prophecy, and of divine revelation.



{a} Pirke Eliezer, c. 17.





1 Kings 13:3



Ver. 3. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, this is the sign which the Lord hath spoken,.... As a confirmation of the truth of what the prophet had said, and for the proof of his being a true prophet of the Lord:



behold, the altar shall be rent; of itself, by an invisible hand, by the power of God:



and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out; signifying it should be entirely demolished, not only shaken but destroyed, so as not to be capable of retaining the ashes on it; this was an emblem of the utter abolition of idolatry here in future times.





1 Kings 13:4



Ver. 4. And it came to pass, when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who had cried against the altar in Bethel,.... He was highly provoked: so that he put forth his hand from the altar; on which he was burning incense:



saying, lay hold on him; he put forth his hand, and either shook it at the prophet, threatening what he would do to him; or as beckoning to the people to seize him, and which he also expressed:



and his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him; he could not move it one way nor another, but it remained in the same position, the nerves and muscles being shrunk; which was a further confirmation of the prophet's mission from God, being one of those concerning whom he says, "do my prophets no harm", and a fresh token of the certain performance of what he had said.





1 Kings 13:5



Ver. 5. The altar also was rent,.... Split into two parts perhaps, and one fell one way, and the other another;



and the ashes poured out from the altar; the ashes of the burnt offering, these were spilled on the ground; all which was done without any outward force, or any visible means thereof:



according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord; by his direction and order.





1 Kings 13:6



Ver. 6. And the king answered and said unto the man of God,.... In another tone than when he bid the people lay hold on him; not in a haughty, but humble manner; not as threatening, but supplicating:



entreat now the face of the Lord thy God; he does not say "my God", for he had apostatized from him, and served other gods, but "thy" God, whose prophet he was, and who had an interest in him, as clearly appeared by what he had said and done by him;



and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again; not that the anger of God might be turned away from him, and he enjoy the divine favour, and have an application of pardoning grace made to him, only to have this outward mercy, this temporal favour restored to him, the use of his hand:



and the man of God besought the Lord; not rendering evil for evil; but being of a forgiving spirit, though the king had stretched out his hand against him, he lifted up his hands to heaven for him:



and the king's hand was restored again, and became as it was before; which was another instance of divine power, and a further proof of the prophet's divine mission; from whence it might be concluded, that what he had prophesied of would be fulfilled, and was an instance also of divine goodness to the king, which should have led him to repentance, but did not.





1 Kings 13:7



Ver. 7. And the king said unto the man of God, come home with me, and refresh thyself,.... By eating a meal with him, after such a journey he had taken, and delivered his prophecies, and put up his prayers for the king:



and I will give thee a reward; for his prayers, by means of which his hand was restored to him; but takes no notice of the Lord, the author of this miraculous cure, nor expresses the least degree of thankfulness and gratitude to him.





1 Kings 13:8



Ver. 8. And the man of God said unto the king,.... In answer to his civility to him, to assure him it was not out of contempt to him, or ill will to him, or slight of his favour, but in obedience to the will of God:



if thou wilt give half of thine house; of the riches in it, and even of his kingdom:



I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place; this idolatrous place; the reason follows.





1 Kings 13:9



Ver. 9. For so it was charged me by the word of the Lord,.... The command of the Lord, by which he came to Bethel, and cried against the altar there, 1Ki 13:1



saying, eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest: signifying that no communion was to be had with idolaters, nor any example to be set and followed; but the way to them, and to their idolatry, was to be shunned and avoided.





1 Kings 13:10



Ver. 10. So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. Neither ate nor drank with the king, though that is not expressed; nor did he go back the same way he came; but in each particular observed the divine command, and was obedient to it.





1 Kings 13:11



Ver. 11. Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel,.... The Targum is, a false prophet, so Josephus {b}; it is hard to say what he was, a good man or a bad man; if a good man, he was guilty of many things which are not in his favour, as dwelling in such an idolatrous place suffering his sons to attend idolatrous worship, and telling the man of God a premeditated lie; and yet there are several things which seem contrary to his being a bad man, and of an ill character, since he is called an old prophet, did not attend idolatrous worship, showed great respect to the man of God, had the word of God sent unto him concerning him, believed that what he had prophesied should come to pass, buried the man of God in his own grave, and desired his sons to bury him with him. In some copies his name is said to be Micah, as Kimchi observes, and other Jewish writers {c} say the same; though some take him to be Amaziah the priest of Bethel, and others Gersom the son of Moses {d}, but without any foundation; though he now dwelt at Bethel, he was originally of Samaria, 2Ki 23:18,



and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; that the altar was rent, and the ashes poured out, as he had said, and that Jeroboam's hand withered, and was restored upon his prayer to God:



the words which he had spoken unto the king; that one should be born of the family of David, Josiah by name, that should offer the idolatrous priests, and burn the bones of men upon that altar, and that that should be rent, and its ashes poured forth, which was done:



them they told also their father; gave him a particular account of his actions and words.



{b} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 9. sect. 1. {c} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 104. 1. {d} Shalshalet Hakabala, ut supra. (fol. 11. 1.) Shirhalbirim Rabba, fol. 10. 2.





1 Kings 13:12



Ver. 12. And their father said unto them, what way went he?.... Having a strong inclination to see him, and converse with him:



for his sons had seen what way the man of God went which came from Judah; they took notice of it; and, as the Targum, they showed it to their father.





1 Kings 13:13



Ver. 13. And he said unto his sons, saddle me the ass,.... Which he used to ride on; intimating he had a mind to ride after him, and overtake him, as he might reasonably think he might, since the man of God was on foot:



so they saddled him the ass, and he rode thereon; after the man of God, taking the way his sons directed.





1 Kings 13:14



Ver. 14. And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak,.... To shelter him from the heat, and being faint, hungry, and thirsty; so the ancients of old made use of oaks for a covering, before houses were invented {e}; thus Abraham pitched his tent in the plain, or under the oak, of Mamre, Ge 13:18



and he said unto him, art thou the man of God that camest from Judah? which he might guess at from his habit, and from the description his sons had given of him:



and he said, I am; owned himself to be the person he inquired after.



{e} Suidas in voce dendruazein.





1 Kings 13:15



Ver. 15. Then said he unto him, come home with me, and eat bread. In which invitation no doubt he was hearty, and might have no ill design in it, only to have some conversation with him, as being a good man, and a prophet of the Lord, especially upon the subject of his prophecies at Bethel.





1 Kings 13:16



Ver. 16. And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee,.... Into the city, and into his house in it, being such an idolatrous place, and especially being forbidden of God:



neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place; he was resolute and determined to abide by the commandment of the Lord, though there is reason to believe that he was now both hungry and thirsty.





1 Kings 13:17



Ver. 17. For it was said to me by the word of the Lord,.... By the angel that was sent to him, who gave him his message and instructions; which he was persuaded came from the Lord himself, and therefore looked upon himself under obligation to regard them as such:



thou shall eat no bread, &c. the same that he observed to the king, 1Ki 13:9.





1 Kings 13:18



Ver. 18. And he said unto him,.... That is, the old prophet said to the man of God:



I am a prophet also as thou art; meaning, that he was a prophet of the true God, and not of any idol deity; that he not only believed in him, and was a worshipper of him, but had revelations from him, and of the same things this man of God had, and that he believed that what he had prophesied of would certainly come to pass:



and an angel spoke unto me by the word of the Lord; was sent and dispatched by the order of the Lord with the following message:



saying, bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water; and so be refreshed, and be fit to proceed on in his journey:



[but] he lied unto him; no messenger nor message being sent to him by the Lord, but was wholly a device and stratagem of his own to persuade the man of God to return with him, that he might have his company and conversation.





1 Kings 13:19



Ver. 19. So he went back with him,.... In which he sinned; for as he had most certainly the command of God not to eat and drink in that place, he ought to have had the countermand from the Lord, and not trusted to another person. There are some things indeed which may be said in his favour, and be an apology for him, as that this man was an ancient prophet of the Lord, as he appeared to him; and that though he was forbid to eat and drink with idolaters, yet he thought he might with a prophet of the Lord, and especially as he affirmed he had the direction of an angel of the Lord for it; nor could he conceive that the prophet had any interest to serve by it, but rather it might be chargeable and burdensome to him; and he might think the Lord, out of compassion on him, had countermanded his former orders, and the circumstances he was in might the more incline him to listen to these plausible pretences; but, after all, he ought to have taken no directions but from the Lord himself; in this he failed:



and did eat bread in his house, and drink water; contrary to the express command of God.





1 Kings 13:20



Ver. 20. And it came to pass, as they sat at the table,.... The old prophet, with his sons, and the man of God; the Arabic version adds, "and did eat", there being a pause in the Hebrew text, as if something was wanting, and to be understood and supplied:



that the word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back; that is, to the old prophet, who was the means of bringing back the man of God; the word did not come to him who had transgressed the command of the Lord, but to him who was the occasion of it; though Abarbinel is of opinion that the word came to the latter, and so some versions, both ancient and modern, render the clause, "to the prophet whom he had brought back" {f} and which is countenanced by what is said, 1Ki 13:26,



according to the word of the Lord which he spoke unto him: but the former sense best agrees with what follows.



{f} Syr. Ar. Junius & Tremellius.





1 Kings 13:21



Ver. 21. And he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah,.... His mind being greatly affected with the word brought to him, partly on his own account, who, by a lie his conscience must accuse him of, had been the means of seducing the man of God, and partly on his account, who was threatened with death for complying with him:



saying, thus saith the Lord; being obliged to deliver, in the name of the Lord, what was said unto him:



forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord; the order that came out of his mouth, as follows:



and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee; not to eat nor drink in Bethel.





1 Kings 13:22



Ver. 22. But camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord did say to thee, eat no bread, nor drink no water,.... Which command he observed when first there, though invited by the king; and yet, after he had got out of the place, was prevailed upon to return and transgress the command:



thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers; signifying that he should die before he came to the land of Judah, and he should be buried in another place, and which was verified.





1 Kings 13:23



Ver. 23. And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk,.... That is, had finished the meal; for he had begun to eat and drink before the word came, which came while they were eating and drinking; and it seems this did not hinder their proceeding to make an end of their meal, which one would have thought would have spoiled their appetite:



that he saddled for him the ass, [to wit], for the prophet whom he had brought back; he ordered his sons to get it ready for him, that he might not walk on foot as he had; though it does not appear that either he or any of his servants accompanied him, but the contrary.





1 Kings 13:24



Ver. 24. And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him,.... Perhaps not far from Bethel; and this lion might come out of the same wood the she bears did, that devoured the children that mocked the prophet, as Bishop Patrick conjectures, 2Ki 2:23



and his carcass was cast in the way; in the high road, where it seems the lion seized him, and he fell:



and the ass stood by it; disregarded and unhurt by the lion, though the prophet was pulled off of the back of him:



the lion also stood by the carcass: not offering to tear it in pieces and devour it, but rather, as if he was the guard of it, to keep off all others from meddling with it; these circumstances are very surprising, and show the thing to be of God; for when the lion had done what he had a commission to do, which was to kill the prophet, he was to do no more.





1 Kings 13:25



Ver. 25. And, behold, men passed by,.... Travellers on the road; nor did the lion offer to seize on them, nor desert the carcass upon their approach:



and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass; as before described:



and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt; which was Bethel, by which means he came to have knowledge of it.





1 Kings 13:26



Ver. 26. And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard thereof,.... The old prophet, that had deceived him, by telling him a lie:



he said, it is the man of God, who was disobedient unto the word of the Lord; but not a syllable does he say of his own sin in deceiving him; though one would think his own conscience must smite him for it:



therefore the Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, which hath torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake unto him; and that by himself, 1Ki 13:21.





1 Kings 13:27



Ver. 27. And he spoke to his sons, saying, saddle me the ass,.... For it seems he had more than one, for he had sent away the man of God with one before: and they saddled him; the ass he commonly rode on.





1 Kings 13:28



Ver. 28. And he went and found his carcass cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass,.... As before described:



the lion had not eaten the carcass, nor torn the ass; both which were very marvellous; as also that the ass should stand so quietly, and without fear, by the carcass along with the lion and not run away; but here both stayed till the prophet came to take care of the carcass, which shows the singular providence of God in this affair; and that though he chastised the man of God with a temporal judgment for his offence, yet he was dear to him, and even his carcass precious in his sight.





1 Kings 13:29



Ver. 29. And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God,.... The lion perhaps made off as soon as he came, or, if he stayed, the prophet was not afraid of him, seeing he did not attempt to devour the carcass, nor touch the ass, nor do any hurt to those that passed by:



and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back; to his own city:



and the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and to bury him; to perform the funeral rites, according to the custom of the place.





1 Kings 13:30



Ver. 30. And he laid his carcass in his own grave,.... Which he had prepared for himself; for, as he came from Samaria, it could not be the sepulchre of his fathers; and this was showing all the respect, and doing all the honour to him, he well could:



and they mourned over him; the prophet and his sons: saying,



alas, my brother; which was an usual form of lamentation at funerals in later times, see Jer 22:18.





1 Kings 13:31



Ver. 31. And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying,.... He gave them the following charge:



when I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; as it was his own, it might be reasonably thought they would bury him in it without such a charge; but, lest they should not, he gives it:



lay my bones beside his bones; his view in this was, that when Josiah came to burn the bones of the priests, he would spare the bones of this man of God; and so his, lying by them, and mingled with them, would be spared also, and so it proved, 2Ki 23:18.





1 Kings 13:32



Ver. 32. For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel,.... That the priests should be offered on it, and men's bones be burnt upon it; for as for its being rent, and the ashes of it poured out, that had been done already:



and against all the houses of the high places which are in Samaria, shall surely come to pass: by which it appears that there were temples, and high places, and altars built in other parts of the kingdom besides Dan and Bethel, of the destruction of which the man of God prophesied, though not before mentioned; all which the old prophet gave credit to, and firmly believed would be accomplished. The kingdom of Israel, in later times, had the name of Samaria, from the chief city of it, Isa 7:9, here spoken of by anticipation, for as yet it was not in being, see 1Ki 16:24 and either it has its name here by way of prophecy, or else given by the writer of this book, as what it went by in his time.





1 Kings 13:33



Ver. 33. After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way,.... From the idolatrous practices he had started, and was establishing; though he had seen his altar rent, and the ashes poured out as the man of God predicted, his own hand withered, and that restored again upon the prayer of the prophet; and though he had heard of the death he died for his disobedience to the command of God, and the several marvellous things that attended it; these were so far from reforming him, that he seemed to be the more hardened thereby:



but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: and officiated there, and indeed those of the tribe of Levi would not serve there, and therefore were expelled their cities; see 2Ch 11:14.





1 Kings 13:34



Ver. 34. And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam,.... All the above things were sins in themselves, as building high places, and putting priests in them, whoever would; but the sense is, that these were the causes of punishment, or of evil things being inflicted on Jeroboam's family; sin is put for the punishment of sin, as it often is:



even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth; so that it become utterly extinct; and the next thing we hear of is the sickness and death of his son.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 14:1



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, 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, an account of the years of Jeroboam's reign, and also of Rehoboam's, 1Ki 14:19, 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 and the conclusion of his reign, 1Ki 14:29.



Ver. 1. At that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell sick. Being smitten of God with some disease, as a punishment of Jeroboam's sin; how long this was after the above things were done cannot be said.





1 Kings 14:2



Ver. 2. And Jeroboam said to his wife,.... Who she was is not known:



arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself; put off her royal apparel, and clothe herself like a common person, mimic the dress and language of a country woman:



that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam: by any that should see her on the road, or at the city she was to go to, or by the prophet to whom she would be sent:



and get thee to Shiloh; which, according to Bunting {g}, was twenty four miles, from Tirzah, where Jeroboam now lived, see 1Ki 14:17



behold, there is Ahijah the prophet: called from thence the Shilonite, 1Ki 11:29,



which told me that I should be king over this people: and this coming to pass, proved him to be a true prophet, and to be credited in what he should say concerning their child. Jeroboam desired his wife to go on this errand, because he did not care it should be known that he applied to any of the prophets of the Lord; nor did he choose it should be known whose child was inquired about, which another must have told, whereas his wife could speak of it as her own; and she was the fittest person to give an account of the child's illness, and would ask the most proper and pertinent questions, and bring him back a faithful report; and he would have her be disguised, lest the prophet, who bore no good will to him because of his apostasy, should refuse to give any answer at all, or else give a very rough and disagreeable one.



{g} Travels, &c. p. 161.





1 Kings 14:3



Ver. 3. And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him,.... It being usual to carry a present to a prophet when he was inquired of on any account, see 1Sa 9:7 and this being a plain present, and of such things as the country afforded, she might be taken for a plain countrywoman, and not for such a personage as she was: the ten loaves could not be large for a woman to carry, most probably made of wheat; the cracknels, according to the Greek version in Drusius, were for the prophet's children; they very likely were spiced, or were sweetened with honey, and might be somewhat like our simnels; they seem to have their name in Hebrew from having points and pricks in them for the sake of ornament; such as Plautus {h} calls "scribilitae", because as Turnebus {i} says, they were marked and pricked, and seemed as if they were written:



he shall tell thee what shall become of the child; whether it should live or die, for that was all he wanted to know; he did not desire to know what should be done to the child for its recovery, nor to request the prophet's prayers for it.



{h} Prolog. Poenulo, ver. 43. {i} Adversar. l. 23. c. 10.





1 Kings 14:4



Ver. 4. And Jeroboam's wife did so, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Abijah,.... Disguised herself, and took this long journey, and found the prophet's house; which she did partly in obedience to her husband, and partly from affection to her child: but Abijah could not see; her or anybody else that came into the room to him:



for his eyes were set by reason of his age; or "stood" fixed and immovable, as the eyes of blind men are; or the nerves and muscles of his eyes stood within the holes thereof, so that he could not see objects.





1 Kings 14:5



Ver. 5. And the Lord said unto Abijah,.... Either in a dream, or by an impulse upon his mind, before Jeroboam's wife came in:



behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son, for he is sick; to know whether he will recover or not:



thus and thus shall thou say unto her; as after expressed in some following verses:



for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself another woman; to the people that let her in, and introduce her to the prophet, and to the prophet himself; pretend herself to be a countrywoman come to ask a question of the prophet concerning her son that was ill of a disease.





1 Kings 14:6



Ver. 6. And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door,.... Of the room where the prophet was:



that he said, come in, thou wife of Jeroboam, why feignest thou thyself to be another? which must greatly surprise and confound her, as well as lay open to her the folly of her and her husband to imagine that she could be secreted from God, and a prophet of his; or that a prophet could tell her what was future, and yet not know her that was present; and this might serve to assure her, and so her husband, that what the prophet after delivered would certainly come to pass:



for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings; or hard things, such as would be very disagreeable to her and her husband.





1 Kings 14:7



Ver. 7. Go tell Jeroboam,.... Thy husband:



thus saith the Lord God of Israel; so he continued to be, though they had revolted from him:



forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people; the common people, from a low estate in which he was:



and made thee prince over my people Israel; so they were when he made them king over them; and there were some among them still that loved the Lord, served and feared him, of which the prophet himself, now speaking, was an instance.





1 Kings 14:8



Ver. 8. And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee,.... Even ten parts out of twelve:



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; who never was guilty of idolatry, but always constantly and cordially attended the pure worship of God, and was careful to do everything in that according to the will of God, whatever else he might be deficient in.





1 Kings 14:9



Ver. 9. But hast done evil above all that were before thee,.... Not only above David, but above Saul, who never gave into idolatry, yea, even above Solomon, who, though he connived at idolatry, and might be guilty of it in some instances, yet did not attempt to draw his people into it; and if this was the latter end of Jeroboam's reign, which is probable, Rehoboam and Abijam might be both dead; and though they were blameworthy in some things, yet not so bad as Jeroboam; though perhaps this may respect only such who had been kings of Israel before him:



for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger; the two calves of gold; for however he might colour things over, and pretend he did not look upon these as gods, but as representations of God, and that he did not worship them, but God by them, yet the Lord considered it as idolatry, than which nothing is more provoking to him:



and hast cast me behind thy back; as unworthy of his regard; or my worship, as the Targum, which he neglected, and showed no concern for.





1 Kings 14:10



Ver. 10. Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam,.... Calamities, destruction, and ruin:



and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall; not leave a dog of his, or rather a male, see 1Sa 25:22



and him that is shut up and left in Israel; in garrisons or in prisons, in cities or in fields, or in whatsoever situation or circumstances they may be. Some interpret it of wealth and substance; it signifies an entire destruction it may be of men and goods, see De 32:36



and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone; signifying that Jeroboam's family was as loathsome and abominable to the Lord as dung is to men; and that he would make as clean a riddance of them as men do of dung when they sweep it out, and will not leave the least scrap behind.





1 Kings 14:11



Ver. 11. Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat,.... The meaning is, that they should have no burial:



for the Lord hath spoken it; and therefore shall be fulfilled, for what he hath said he will do, Nu 23:19.





1 Kings 14:12



Ver. 12. Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house,.... With all haste, as soon as she could:



and when thy feet enter the city; the city of Tirzah, very probably the king's palace stood at the entry of it, see 1Ki 14:17,



the child shall die; this is an answer to the question she was to ask, and at the same time a token of the sure and certain fulfilment of all the prophet had spoken in the name of the Lord.





1 Kings 14:13



Ver. 13. And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him,.... Give him an honourable interment, and follow him to the grave with lamentation, because he was the heir apparent to the throne, and an hopeful prince, of whom they had raised expectations; that when he came to the throne things would take a different turn, especially in matters of religion, and they might fear, he being removed, things would grow worse instead of better:



for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave; or be buried, the rest should be devoured by dogs or fowls:



because in him there is found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam; the principles of grace were implanted, and seeds of piety and religion sown in his heart; and there appeared a disposition of mind, and desires in him to the name of God, and the remembrance of it; or to his pure worship and service; it might be discerned that he had a dislike of idolatry, and a desire to have true religion restored. The Jews say {k} that this good thing in him was, that he was the means of removing the watch or guards that were placed in the way to hinder the Israelites from going up to the feasts of the Lord.



{k} T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 28. 2.





1 Kings 14:14



Ver. 14. Moreover the Lord shall raise up a king over Israel,.... Baasha is meant, 1Ki 15:29



who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day; immediately, as soon as on the throne, he should destroy his whole family, as he did, 1Ki 15:29,



but what? even now; shall it be that day? yes; even at that very time, and which will be very quickly from this time; for as it may be supposed this was said at the latter end of Jeroboam's reign, and his son and successor reigned but two years ere this prophecy was accomplished. The Targum is,



"who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam, him that is living today, and shall be from henceforward.''





1 Kings 14:15



Ver. 15. And the Lord shall smite Israel as a reed is shaken in the water,.... Either by the wind or by the stream; and may signify the fluctuating and uncertain condition Israel should be in future reigns, through civil wars, and the translation of the kingdom into different families; so that there was continually disquietude and uneasiness, and no settled peace and tranquillity:



and he shall root up Israel out this good land he gave to their fathers; which was brought about, first by Tiglathpileser, and then by Shalmaneser, kings of Assyria, that carried them captives from hence:



and shall scatter them beyond the river; the river Euphrates, as the Targum: or, as others, the river Gozan, 2Ki 17:6



because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger: in which groves they placed idols, and worshipped them, which was highly provoking to the Lord, and the cause of their dispersion.





1 Kings 14:16



Ver. 16. And he shall give Israel up,.... Into the hands of their enemies:



because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin; by his devices and stratagems, by his example and edicts, and by the methods he took to prevent Israel from worshipping in the manner and place he directed to.





1 Kings 14:17



Ver. 17. And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, &e.] Upon this speech of the prophet's to her:



and came to Tirzah; where Jeroboam now had his court, and where their son now was; it was a royal city in the time of the Canaanites, and is commonly placed in the tribe of Manasseh, and was a very pleasant one, as its name signifies, to which there is an allusion, So 6:4,

See Gill on "Jos 12:24",



and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died: just as she was about to step over the threshold of the royal palace, which seems to have been at the entering of the city of Tirzah, 1Ki 14:12.





1 Kings 14:18



Ver. 18. And they buried him,.... In an honourable manner, suitable to his rank and pedigree:



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, 1Ki 14:13.





1 Kings 14:19



Ver. 19. And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred,.... As he did with Rehoboam, 1Ki 14:30, and with Abijam his son, who was an more than a match for him, see 2Ch 13:1



and how he reigned; over the people of Israel, whether wisely, and justly, and in clemency, or not:



behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel; not in that canonical book of Scripture, so called, for in that there is very little account of the reign of Jeroboam; but in the annals and diaries of the kings of Israel, written by persons appointed for that purpose, and out of which it is generally thought that inspired writers, by divine direction, took what was thought proper to be transmitted to future times. So with the Romans, from their very beginning to the times of Mutius, all the events of every year were committed to writing by the order of the Pontifex Maximus, and lay open to be read by the people in common; and these, as Tully {l} says, were what are called annals.



{l} De Oratore, l. 2. c. 34.





1 Kings 14:20



Ver. 20. And the days which Jeroboam reigned were twenty two years,.... So that he outlived Rehoboam five years, and lived to the second year of the reign of his grandson Asa:



and he slept with his fathers; or died as they did:



and Nadab his son reigned in his stead; who perhaps was younger than Abijah, whose sickness and death are before related.





1 Kings 14:21



Ver. 21. And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah,.... Over the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, when Jeroboam reigned over the other ten:



Rehoboam [was] forty one years old when he began to reign; being born one year before his father Solomon began to reign, and so it might have been expected he would have begun his reign more wisely than he did:



and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem; not half so long as his father and grandfather, being neither so wise nor so good a prince as either of them:



the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there; to have a temple built for him, and his worship carried on in it; which was an aggravation of the sin of Rehoboam, that he should reign in such a place, and yet be guilty of the crimes he was; the three first years he reigned well, but afterwards forsook the law of the Lord, 2Ch 11:17



and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess; and which is observed again, 1Ki 14:31, she being the instrument of drawing him into idolatry, which it is very probable she practised in the days of Solomon, 1Ki 11:5.





1 Kings 14:22



Ver. 22. And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... At the end of three years, from the beginning of the reign of Rehoboam:



and they provoked him to jealousy, with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done; that is, with their idolatries; for they were the sins which moved the Lord to jealousy, and provoked the eyes of his glory; in which they had outdone not the ten tribes, but their fathers, in the times of Moses, Joshua, and the judges, and of their kings before their separation, Saul, David, and Solomon.





1 Kings 14:23



Ver. 23. For they also built them high places,.... Which, though allowed of, or at least connived at, before the temple was built, and when the tabernacle was unfixed, yet afterwards unlawful; and the tribe of Judah could have no excuse for them, who had the temple in their tribe:



and images; contrary to the express command of God, Ex 20:4,



and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree; that is, set up idols, and temples for idols, amidst groves of trees, and under all green trees; as was the custom of the Heathens, who sacrificed on the heights of hills and tops of mountains, as was particularly the custom of the Persians, as both Herodotus {m} and Xenophon {n} relate; and with the Getae, a people in Thrace, was a mountain they reckoned sacred {o}.



{m} Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 131. {n} Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 45. {o} Strabo Geograph. l. 7. p. 206.





1 Kings 14:24



Ver. 24. And there were also Sodomites in the land, &e.] Such as were addicted to unnatural lusts between men and men, which the men of Sodom were guilty of, from whence they had their name: Jarchi interprets the word adultery and some versions render it whoremongers; and filthy actions of this nature, both by men and women, usually attended idolatrous practices among the heathens; in their temples and groves such wickednesses were privately perpetrated:



[and] they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel; the Canaanites, of whose uncleannesses, incests, and bestialities, see Le 18:1.





1 Kings 14:25



Ver. 25. And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam,.... Two years after he and his people fell into the above wicked practices:



that Shishak, king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; of whom see

1Ki 11:40, this was suffered as a chastisement from the Lord for their abominations.





1 Kings 14:26



Ver. 26. And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord,.... Which perhaps Jeroboam had informed him of, and for the sake of which he came, as well as to make a diversion in favour of Jeroboam, who had contracted an intimacy with him when in Egypt; and who might have no regard for Rehoboam, who was not a son of Pharaoh's daughter, and so no relation to him: these were the treasures which David had left to his son Solomon, and had dedicated for the temple, even gold, silver, and vessels, which he put among the treasures of the house of the Lord, and perhaps added to them, 1Ki 7:51, and the treasures of the king's house; the riches, gold, silver, and jewels, whatever of worth and value he had in his chests and cabinets:



he even took away all: that he could find and come at; for that there were some left is plain from 1Ki 15:18,



and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made; and which were put in the house of the forest of Lebanon, 1Ki 10:16.





1 Kings 14:27



Ver. 27. And King Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields,.... For the king of Egypt had so stripped him of his gold, that he was not able to replace golden ones:



and committed them into the hands of the chief of the guard; or "runners" {p}, that went before the king, or attended him as his bodyguard when he went abroad:



which kept the door of the king's house; which kept guard night and day in their turns.



{p} Myurh "cursorum", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.





1 Kings 14:28



Ver. 28. And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord,.... The temple; for though he had fallen into idolatry, he had not wholly forsaken the worship of God in the temple, and perhaps by the late humbling providence he might be stirred up to attend there more frequently:



that the guard bare them: before him, partly for pomp and grandeur, and partly to keep in awe such as were inclined to mutiny and sedition:



and brought them back into the guard chamber; when the king returned, the place where the guard lodged and slept by turns.





1 Kings 14:29



Ver. 29. Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did,.... In the course of his reign, that was memorable:



are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? who had annalists or historiographers to write for them, as the kings of Israel had, 1Ki 14:19, in the writing of which, especially with respect to genealogies, Shemaiah the prophet, and Iddo the seer, were concerned, 2Ch 12:15.





1 Kings 14:30



Ver. 30. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. For though Rehoboam did not enter into an offensive war, and attack the children of Israel, being dissuaded from it by Shemaiah the prophet in the name of the Lord, yet he might maintain a defensive war; and though there were no pitched battles between them as afterwards, in his son's time, yet there might be skirmishes and bickerings on the borders of their countries.





1 Kings 14:31



Ver. 31. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David,.... Where David and Solomon were buried, 1Ki 2:10 and his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonitess; which is repeated, that it might be observed as what was the leading step to his idolatry, and the means of his continuing in it:



and Abijam his son reigned in his stead; of whom there is a further account in the following chapter.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 15:1



INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 15



In this chapter we have a short history of the reign of Abijam, 1Ki 15:1 and of Asa, 1Ki 14:9, both kings of Judah; and of the reigns of Nadab the son of Jeroboam, and of Baasha, who destroyed his family, both kings of Israel, 1Ki 15:25.



Ver. 1. Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah. That is, began to reign; and by this it appears that Rehoboam was in the eighteenth year of his reign when he died, for he and Jeroboam began their reign at the same time.





1 Kings 15:2



Ver. 2. Three years reigned he in Jerusalem,.... And three only; his reign was short, and indeed not three full years, only one whole year and part of two others; for Asa his son began to reign in the twentieth of Jeroboam, 1Ki 15:9 so that he reigned part of his eighteenth, this whole nineteenth, and part of his twentieth:



and his mother's name was Maachah the daughter of Abishalom; called Absalom, 2Ch 11:20, generally supposed by the Jews to be Absalom the son of David, and which may seem not improbable, since his other two wives were of his father's family, 2Ch 11:18. Josephus says {q} she was the daughter of Tamar the daughter of Absalom, and so his granddaughter; and which may account for her being called Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, 2Ch 13:2 since the difference between Maachah and Michaiah is not very great; and Uriel might he the name of Tamar's husband; though it is most likely that both father and daughter had two names; she seems to be mentioned here, to observe that she was the cause and means of her son's disagreeable walk, as follows, see

1Ki 15:13.



{q} Antiqu. l. 8. c. 10. sect. 1.





1 Kings 15:3



Ver. 3. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him,.... Having such bad examples as both parents to copy after; it chiefly respects idolatrous practices, see 1Ki 14:23,



and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God; he did profess the true God, and worshipped him, but not wholly, and only, and sincerely; he worshipped other gods besides him: and so his heart was not



as the heart of David his father; who was a sole and sincere worshipper of God, never departed from him and his service.





1 Kings 15:4



Ver. 4. Nevertheless, for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem,.... A kingdom there, as the Targum, splendid and glorious, to be continued in his posterity: to set up his son after him; in it:



and to establish Jerusalem: to continue that in which the temple was, for the sake of which, and the worship of God in it, there was a succession of David's posterity on the throne of Judah.





1 Kings 15:5



Ver. 5. Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord,.... With respect to worship: and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life; especially in matters of religion, nor even in his moral walk and conversation, deliberately, studiously, and with design:



save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite; the killing of him, and other sins which led on to it, and were in connection with it; Abarbinel thinks, because the affair of Bathsheba is not mentioned, that was not reckoned to David as a sin; but no doubt it was, and is included here.





1 Kings 15:6



Ver. 6. And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. Not the days of Rehoboam, though that was true, and is observed, 1Ki 14:30, but all the days of Abijam, before he came to the throne, and in which, when a young man, he was concerned, and which still continued between him and Jeroboam; though some think he is called by his father's name, as Rehoboam is called David, 1Ki 12:16.





1 Kings 15:7



Ver. 7. Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?.... Which seem to be written by Iddo the prophet, see 2Ch 13:22,



and there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam; and a famous pitched battle between them we read of in 2Ch 13:3.





1 Kings 15:8



Ver. 8. And Abijam slept with his fathers,.... That is, died as they did:



and they buried him in the city of David, in the sepulchre of his royal ancestors, David, Solomon, and Rehoboam:



and Asa his son reigned in his stead; who perhaps was the eldest of his twenty two sons, 2Ch 13:21.





1 Kings 15:9



Ver. 9. And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. How this is to be accounted for

See Gill on "1Ki 15:2".





1 Kings 15:10



Ver. 10. And forty one years reigned he in Jerusalem,.... Being a good king, had the blessing of a long reign, and reached, and even exceeded, the years of the reigns of David and Solomon:



and his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom; that is the name of his grandmother, see 1Ki 15:2 she is called his mother, not because she brought him forth, but because she brought him up; and this is observed to his commendation, that though he was educated by an idolatrous woman, yet was not corrupted by her as his father was.





1 Kings 15:11



Ver. 11. And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father. In his personal walk and conversation, in his government of the nation, and especially in the matters of his God, and of religion, he made David his pattern and example to copy after.





1 Kings 15:12



Ver. 12. And he took away the Sodomites out of the land,.... Which were in the times of Rehoboam, 1Ki 14:24, and continued in his father's reign; those he took away, either by driving them out of the land, or by putting them to death according to the law of God, Le 20:13 even as many of them as he had knowledge of, for some remained, see 1Ki 22:46,



and removed all the idols that his fathers had made; or suffered to be made, as Solomon, Rehoboam, and Abijam, see 1Ki 11:7.





1 Kings 15:13



Ver. 13. And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen,.... From the kingdom, as the Targum; from having any share in the government, as she might have had during his minority, his mother being dead, as some conjecture; and not only took away her power and authority, but all the ensigns of it, and perhaps forbid her the court: or he removed her from the queen, his own wife, that she might not be corrupted by her; or rather it was from presiding over the rites of the idol next mentioned, and the worshipping of it:



because she had made an idol in a grove; which had its name from horror and trembling; either because it was of a terrible aspect, or injected horror into its worshippers, or brought terrible calamities and judgments upon them: according to some Jewish writers {r}, it was a Priapus, of an obscene figure; and so others {s}, who suppose she presided over the sacred rites of this impure deity, the same with Baalpeor; and the Heathens used to place Priapus in their gardens {t}, to fright away birds, See Gill on "Jer 49:16", others take it to be Pan, from whence the word "Panic", used for any great fright:



and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron: and cast the ashes of it into it, that none might have any profit by it, the gold and silver on it, and in indignation to it, see Ex 32:20.



{r} T. Bab. Avodah Zarah, fol. 44. 1. {s} Vid. D. Herbert de Cherbury de Relig. Gent. c. 4. p. 34. Lyram in loc. {t} "----custos es pauperis horti", Virgil. Bucol. Ecl. 7. ver. 34. & Georgic. l. 4. ver. 110. "----furum aviumque maxima formido", Horat. Sermon. l. 1. ode 8.





1 Kings 15:14



Ver. 14. But the high places were not removed,.... That is, such as had been used for the worship of God, before the temple was built, which yet now should have been removed, since sacrifice was now only to be offered there; but he might think they were still lawful, or the people had such an opinion of them, that it was difficult and dangerous to attempt to remove them; otherwise high places for idolatry were removed by him, 2Ch 14:3,



nevertheless, Asa's heart was perfect all his days; he was sincere in the worship of God, and did everything to the best of his knowledge and capacity for restoring true religion, and destroying idolatry.





1 Kings 15:15



Ver. 15. And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated,.... The spoils he had taken in war from Jeroboam, and which he had devoted to religious uses, but lived not to perform his vows, which his son now did for him; so that it seems, notwithstanding the sins he fell into, he had some regard to God and his worship, see

2Ch 13:19



and the things which himself had dedicated; out of the spoils taken from the Ethiopians, 2Ch 14:13, these he brought into the house of the Lord, silver, and gold, and vessels; of various sorts.





1 Kings 15:16



Ver. 16. And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days:] That is as long as they lived together; for Baasha died many years before Asa, and this must be reckoned from the time the war began between them. Baasha did not begin his reign until the third year of Asa, 1Ki 15:25 and in the first ten years of Asa's reign the land was quiet and free from war, 2Ch 14:1 of which there must be seven in the reign of Baasha, who is here made mention of out of course, for Nadab reigned before him, 1Ki 15:25, the reason of which Abarbinel thinks is, that the historian, having given an account of the good deeds of Asa, relates his failings before he proceeds to the other part of his history.





1 Kings 15:17



Ver. 17. And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah,.... Which, in 2Ch 16:1 is said to be in the thirty sixth year of Asa's reign, or rather of his kingdom; for it can never mean the year of his reign, for Baasha was dead many years before that, since his reign began in the third of Asa, and he reigned but twenty four years, and therefore must die in the twenty seventh of Asa; but it is to be understood of the kingdom of Judah, when it was divided from Israel; from that time to this were thirty six years, seventeen under Rehoboam, three under Abijam, so that this year must be the sixteenth of Asa; thus it is calculated in the Jewish chronology {u}, and which is followed by many of the best of our chronologers:



and built Ramah; a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:25, but taken by the king of Israel, which he rebuilt or fortified:



that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah; that his people might not go to and from Jerusalem, and worship at the temple there; this garrison lying on the borders of both kingdoms, he thought hereby to cut off all communication between them.



{u} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 16.





1 Kings 15:18



Ver. 18. Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house,.... What was left untaken away by Shishak king of Egypt, 1Ki 14:26, or what he had put there dedicated by his father and himself, 1Ki 15:15 and be they either, they were not to be taken, especially the treasures of the house of the Lord, and put to profane use, and particularly to such bad purposes as these were:



and delivered them into the hands of his servants: to be disposed of as next directed:



and King Asa sent them to Benhadad the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus; according to some chronologers {w}, Hezion, the grandfather of this Benhadad, is the same with Rezon the first king of Damascus, 1Ki 11:23, who was succeeded by Tabrimon, and he by Benhadad:



saying: as follows.



{w} Usher. Annal. A. M. 3064. Marsham. Canon. Chron. Seculum 13. p. 346.





1 Kings 15:19



Ver. 19. There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father,.... For though Hezion, if he is the same with Rezon, was an adversary to Israel in the days of Solomon, 1Ki 11:25, yet it seems his son was not, but was a confederate with the kings of Israel and Judah:



behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; taken out of the treasury of the temple and his own treasury:



come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me; it was sinful in him to take the money out of the temple, to which it was dedicated; it was more so to make use of it to bribe an Heathen to break his covenant and alliance with another, in order to serve him; in which he betrayed great distrust of the Lord, and of his power to help him; which was the more aggravated, when he had had such a wonderful appearance of God for him against the Ethiopians, see 2Ch 16:7.





1 Kings 15:20



Ver. 20. So Benhadad hearkened unto King Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel,.... He broke off his alliance with the king of Israel; and as he had a standing army, with proper officers, he sent them directly to take the cities of Israel:



and he smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali; places which lay on the northern part of Israel, the nearest to Syria. Ijon some place in the tribe of Naphtali, others in Asher; it seems to be on the extreme border of the land northward, as Dan also was; hence the phrase from Dan to Beersheba, i.e. from north to south. Abelbethmaachah is the same with Abelmaim, 2Ch 16:4 which perhaps is the same with that Abela, placed by Jerome {x} between Damascus and Paneas, supposed to be the Enhydra of Pliny {y}. Cinneroth is the same with Gennesaret, a fruitful country in Galilee, from which is a sea or lake of that name, mentioned in the New Testament, and was in the tribe of Naphtali, the land of which was seized upon at this time.



{x} De loc. Heb. fol. 83. K. {y} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 19.





1 Kings 15:21



Ver. 21. And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof,.... What was doing in the northern part of his kingdom:



that he left off building of Ramah; which was the thing designed to be answered by this diversion:



and dwelt in Tirzah; in the tribe of Manasseh, nearer at hand, to observe and stop the motions of the Syrian king.





1 Kings 15:22



Ver. 22. Then King Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah,.... Summoned men of all sorts, ranks, and degrees:



(none was exempted;) the Jews {z} say, not so much as a newly married man, whom the law excused from war the first year, nor the disciples of the wise men:



and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; or fortified the place; these; the men of Judah, whom Asa summoned, carried off:



and King Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah; which were both in the tribe of Benjamin, and which he fortified, Jos 18:24.



{z} Jarchi & Kimchi in loc.





1 Kings 15:23



Ver. 23. The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?.... Some of which are to be met with in the canonical book of that name, 2Ch 14:1, and others in the annals of the kings, out of which the Scripture account was taken:



nevertheless, in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet; seized with the gout, as the Jews say {a}, and which was two years before his death, see 2Ch 16:12.



{a} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 48. 2. So Clemens of Alexandria, Stromat. l. 1. p. 326.





1 Kings 15:24



Ver. 24. And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father,.... In a sepulchre there he himself had made, and in great pomp and solemnity, being laid on a bed filled with sweet odours and spices, prepared according to art, and which were burned for him, 2Ch 16:14,



and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead; a very pious and worthy prince.





1 Kings 15:25



Ver. 25. And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah,.... Before Baasha did:



and reigned over Israel two years, not two whole years; for he began in the second of Asa, and in the third of that king's reign Baasha slew him, and reigned in his stead, 1Ki 15:28.





1 Kings 15:26



Ver. 26. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Committed idolatry, than which nothing is a greater evil in his sight:



and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin: in making and worshipping of golden calves.





1 Kings 15:27



Ver. 27. And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar,.... A man of that tribe; but who he was, or his father, is nowhere else said, very probably an officer in Nadab's army:



conspired against him; laid a scheme to take away his life, and seize the kingdom:



and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon; a city in the tribe of Dan, Jos 19:44



which belongeth to the Philistines; it was a city given to the Levites, Jos 21:23 and they being driven from it by Jeroboam, the Philistines seized on it, or had heretofore made a conquest of it; and Nadab was desirous of getting it out of their hands, and therefore besieged it, as follows:



for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon; and while he was besieging it, Baasha took the opportunity to slay him, where his carcass lay exposed to dogs, or fowls of the air, and had no burial, as Ahijah predicted, 1Ki 14:11.





1 Kings 15:28



Ver. 28. Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead. Which seems to be his only or chief view in slaying him, to get possession of his kingdom.





1 Kings 15:29



Ver. 29. And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam,.... That he might have no rival, or any that could pretend any title to the crown:



he left not Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according to the saying of the Lord, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite; not that his intention in destroying Jeroboam's family was to fulfil that prophecy, but so it was eventually; see

1Ki 14:10.





1 Kings 15:30



Ver. 30. Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the Lord God of Israel. Not that Baasha destroyed the family of Jeroboam because of his sins, which did so much mischief to Israel, and were so provoking to the Lord, from any dislike or hatred of them, for he walked in the same, 1Ki 15:34, but the Lord threatened this by his prophet, and suffered it to be done because of his abominations.





1 Kings 15:31



Ver. 31. Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did,.... In his short reign, which yet were more than here related:



are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? in which those of his father Jeroboam were written, 1Ki 14:19.





1 Kings 15:32



Ver. 32. And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. For being a wicked man, and an idolater, Asa had no respect for him, though he had slain the family of Jeroboam; nor had Baasha any regard to Judah, nor to the worship of God at Jerusalem, so that there was no good understanding between them, but frequent acts of hostility, see 1Ki 15:16.





1 Kings 15:33



Ver. 33. In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah,.... Which is repeated, partly to observe that the whole kingdom submitted to him, though an usurper and murderer, and the place where he kept his court, as also the time of his reign, as follows:



twenty four years; which were as long as both Jeroboam and his son reigned.





1 Kings 15:34



Ver. 34. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... As Nadab did, whom he slew:



and walked in the way of Jeroboam; whose family he destroyed:



and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin; in worshipping the golden calves; so that it was not out of dislike to idolatry, but out of malice and ambition, that he slew the family of Jeroboam.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

1 Kings 16:1



INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 16



This chapter contains a prophecy of the ruin of the family of Baasha, and an account of his death, 1Ki 16:1, and of his son's reigning in his stead two years, who was slain by Zimri one of his captains, 1Ki 16:8, and who reigned but seven days, 1Ki 16:15, and the people being divided between Tibni and Omri, the party for the latter prevailed, and he was made king, and reigned twelve years, 1Ki 16:21, and was succeeded by his son Ahab, a very wicked prince, 1Ki 16:29, and the chapter is concluded with the rebuilding of Jericho, 1Ki 16:34.



Ver. 1. Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani,.... The seer that reproved Asa, 2Ch 16:7, so that this man was the son of a prophet then living, and was a young man; for we hear of him several years after reproving Jehoshaphat, 2Ch 19:2, and as a writer of history, 2Ch 20:34, the prophecy that came to him from the Lord was



against Baasha; king of Israel:



saying; as follows.





1 Kings 16:2



Ver. 2. Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust,.... From a very low estate, and mean family:



and made thee prince over my people Israel; as they were of right, and ought to have been; and though Baasha got the kingdom by treachery and murder, yet the translation of the kingdom to him was according to the appointment of God, and by his overruling providence; and even his act of killing Nadab was a fulfilment of a prophecy of his; and had he done it in obedience to the will of God, and in vengeance for his sin, would not have been blameworthy, since then he would have been an executioner of the, justice of God:



and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; committing and encouraging the same idolatrous practices, so very provoking to God.





1 Kings 16:3



Ver. 3. Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house,.... By death, there shall be none of his family remaining in any branch of it:



and I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat; execute the same judgment on it, and in the same manner, their sins being alike.





1 Kings 16:4



Ver. 4. Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat, and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat. They should not have burial, which is just the same that was threatened to and executed on Jeroboam's family, 1Ki 14:11.





1 Kings 16:5



Ver. 5. Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?] As those of Jeroboam and Nadab were, 1Ki 14:19.





1 Kings 16:6



Ver. 6. So Baasha slept with his fathers,.... Or died, not a violent, but natural, death:



and was buried in Tirzah; where was the royal palace of the kings of Israel:



and Elah his son reigned in his stead; yet but a short time.





1 Kings 16:7



Ver. 7. And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, came the word of the Lord against Baasha, and against his house,.... Which is here repeated, as Abarbinel thinks, because in the former prophecy the threatening was on account not of his own sin, but because he made Israel to sin; but here it is because of his own evil works, as it follows:



even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam: worshipping the golden calves as they did:



and because he killed him; either Jeroboam; for, according to Dr. Lightfoot {b}, he was alive this year; rather Nadab the son of Jeroboam, who it is certain was slain by Baasha; though it may refer, as Abarbinel thinks, to the whole house of Jeroboam; though it was agreeable to the will of God, yet was not done by Baasha with any regard to it, but to gratify his malice and ambition, and therefore punishable for it.



{b} Works, vol. 1. p. 79.





1 Kings 16:8



Ver. 8. In the twenty sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years. Not complete, for he died in the twenty seventh of Asa, 1Ki 16:10 he reigned just the time that Nadab the son of Jeroboam did, 1Ki 15:25.





1 Kings 16:9



Ver. 9. And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots,.... His military chariots; there were two captains of them, and this was one of them; so the Targum,



"one of the two masters or captains of the chariots:''



conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirzah; who had the charge of his wine and other liquors, to which he was addicted beyond measure; and this was a fit opportunity for Zimri to fall upon him, and slay him, when he was drunk, and off his guard, and his army at the same time was besieging Gibbethon, 1Ki 16:15 so that there was a very great likeness in what befell the family of Baasha, to that of the family of Jeroboam; for as the son of the one, and of the other, reigned but two years, so they were both slain by their servants, and both at a time when Gibbethon was besieged; the Targum takes this Arza to be the temple of an idol so called, near the royal palace.





1 Kings 16:10



Ver. 10. And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him,.... When in his drunken fit: and this was



in the twenty seventh year of Asa; when Elah had not reigned two full years:



and reigned in his stead; that is, Zimri; his reign was short indeed, but seven days, 1Ki 16:15.





1 Kings 16:11



Ver. 11. And it came to pass when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne,.... Perhaps the very first day,



that he slew all the house of Baasha; his whole family, all the children that he had, that there might be none to make pretensions to the throne:



he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks nor of his friends; not any that might avenge the blood of his family, that might have a right or inclination to do it.





1 Kings 16:12



Ver. 12. Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet. That not only his posterity, but all any way related to him, should be cut off; yea, it seems to have been carried further, even to all that were in any connection with him in point of friendship, see 1Ki 16:3.





1 Kings 16:13



Ver. 13. For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son,.... By which it appears that the son trod in the steps of his father, and was therefore cut off:



by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities; their idols, which had nothing in them, and cannot be of any service to their worshippers; and to serve such, and neglect the worship of the true God, and draw others into the same iniquity, must be very provoking to the most High.





1 Kings 16:14



Ver. 14. Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?] See 1Ki 16:5.





1 Kings 16:15



Ver. 15. In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah, &c] Until the army under Omri came and took the palace, and destroyed him:



and the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belongeth to the Philistines; it was besieged in Nadab's time, but upon his death, by Baasha, the siege was raised; or however, if then taken, it was recovered by the Philistines, and now besieged again by the Israelites, see 1Ki 15:27.





1 Kings 16:16



Ver. 16. And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired, and hath also slain the king,.... Tidings came to the army of what he had done, which was displeasing to them:



wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp; that is, all Israel that were in the army proclaimed Omri, their general, king; just as the Roman army declared Vespasian, their general, emperor of Rome, and as several of the emperors were chosen.





1 Kings 16:17



Ver. 17. And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him,.... He, and the army under him, broke up the siege of that place, and marched to Tirzah; which, according, to Bunting {c} were thirty six miles distant from each other: and they besieged Tirzah; the royal city, in which Zimri was.



{c} Travels, &c. p. 162.





1 Kings 16:18



Ver. 18. And it came to pass, that when Zimri saw that the city was taken,.... That Omri, and the army with him, had got into it, being a place not much fortified, and Zimri not having force enough to defend it against such an army:



that he went into the palace of the king's house; into the innermost and most splendid, as well as the strongest part of it:



and burnt the king's house over him with fire, and he died; that he might not fall into the hands of his rival, who he might fear would use him ill, and that he might not enjoy the royal palace; though Kimchi thinks that Omri set fire to the palace, and burnt it over the head of Zimri, in which he perished; and this sense the text will bear.





1 Kings 16:19



Ver. 19. For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the Lord,.... In the former part of his life, as well as now:



in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did to make Israel sin; worshipping the golden calves, which he might do while a captain of the chariots, and also since he usurped the crown, sacrificing to them by way of thanksgiving, for being in possession of the kingdom; and though his reign was so short, he might give plain and strong intimations that he should continue the worship of idols.





1 Kings 16:20



Ver. 20. Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the kings of Israel?] What he did both before and after his usurpation, during the seven days he was king, and the manner of his conspiracy, and success in it.





1 Kings 16:21



Ver. 21. Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts,.... About the succession in the kingdom:



half the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king: these were the friends of Zimri, or however such who did not like that the army should impose a king upon them; who this Tibni was is not said:



and half followed Omri; the general of the army, perhaps the whole of that.





1 Kings 16:22



Ver. 22. But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath,.... Very probably they had a battle, in which the latter were worsted:



so Tibni died; in the battle:



and Omri reigned; took possession of the throne, his rival being slain.





1 Kings 16:23



Ver. 23. In the thirty first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel twelve years,.... Which are to be reckoned not from the thirty first of Asa; for Ahab the son of Omri began to reign in his thirty eighth year, and so his reign would be but seven or eight years; but they are reckoned from the twenty seventh of Asa, the beginning of it, when Elah was slain by Zimri, and he died, which to the end of the thirty eight of Asa make twelve years; for the division, according to the Jewish chronology {d}, lasted four years; Jarchi says five {e}; and from the beginning of that his reign is reckoned, though he did not reign over all Israel, or completely, until the thirty first of Asa, when Tibni died:



six years reigned he in Tirzah; the royal city of the kings of Israel, from Jeroboam to this time, and the other six he reigned in Samaria, built by him, as in the next verse.



{d} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 17. p. 45. {e} So Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 11. 2.





1 Kings 16:24



Ver. 24. And he bought the hill of Samaria of Shemer, for two talents of silver,.... A talent of silver, according to Brerewood {f}, was of our money three hundred and seventy five pounds, so that this hill was purchased at seven hundred and fifty pounds:



and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria; its name from him was Shomeron, which is the Hebrew name for Samaria; which, according to Bunting {g} was six miles from Tirzah, and ever after the royal seat of the kings of Israel.



{f} De Ponder. & Pret. c. 4. {g} Ut supra, (Travels, &c.) p. 163.





1 Kings 16:25



Ver. 25. But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord,.... Openly and publicly, as if it were in defiance of him:



and did worse than all that were before him; taking no warning by the judgments inflicted on them, which aggravated his sins; and besides, he not only worshipped the calves, as the rest, and drew Israel by his example into the same, as they did, but he published edicts and decrees, obliging them to worship them, and forbidding them to go to Jerusalem, called "the statutes of Omri", Mic 6:16.





1 Kings 16:26



Ver. 26. For he walked in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin,.... Worshipping the calves;



to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger with their vanities; these, and whatsoever idols else were worshipped by him, see 1Ki 16:13.





1 Kings 16:27



Ver. 27. Now the rest of the acts of Omri, which he did, and his might which he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?] Where those of the preceding kings were written, see 1Ki 14:19.





1 Kings 16:28



Ver. 28. So Omri slept with his fathers,.... Died a natural death:



and was buried in Samaria; the city he had built, and now the royal seat and metropolis of the kingdom:



and Ahab his son reigned in his stead; of whom much is said in the following history.





1 Kings 16:29



Ver. 29. And in the thirty fifth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel,.... At the latter end of it, the same year his father died, see 1Ki 16:23



and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty two years; the same number of years Jeroboam did, 1Ki 14:20.





1 Kings 16:30



Ver. 30. And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, above all that were before him. Adding other idols to the calves, and those more abominable than they; since the other kings pretended to worship God in them, but he worshipped other gods besides him, as the following verses show.





1 Kings 16:31



Ver. 31. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,.... To worship the golden calves he set up:



that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians; who is called Ithobalus and Itobalus king of the Tyrians, by Heathen historians {h}; and, by Theophilus of Antioch {i}, Juthobalus, priest of Astarte; for Tyre and Zidon were under one king. This woman was not only of another nation, and an idolater, but a very filthy woman, and is made the emblem of the whore of Rome, Re 2:20



and went and served Baal, and worshipped him that is, went to Zidon and Tyre, and worshipped his wife's gods, which were either Jupiter Thalassius, the god of the Zidoaians, or Hercules, whom the Tyrians worshipped.



{h} Menander apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 8. c. 13. sect. 1, 2. & contr. Apion. l. 1. c. 21. Diodor. Sicul. apud Junium in loc. {i} Ad Autolye. l. 3. p. 132.





1 Kings 16:32



Ver. 32. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. That he might not go so far as Tyre or Zidon; and for his wife's convenience also he built a temple in Samaria for Baal, and erected an altar there to offer sacrifices upon it unto him; so open and daring was he in his idolatrous practices.





1 Kings 16:33



Ver. 33. And Ahab made a grove,.... About the temple of Baal, or elsewhere, in which he placed an idol, and where all manner of filthiness was secretly committed; or rather "Asherah", rendered "grove", is Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, an image of which Ahab made:



and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him: his idolatries being more open and barefaced, and without any excuse, presence, or colour, as well as more numerous.





1 Kings 16:34



Ver. 34. And in his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho,.... Which was forbidden by Joshua under an anathema; but this man, either ignorant of that adjuration of Joshua, or in contempt and defiance of it, and knowing it might please the king and queen, set about the rebuilding of it; and it being done by the leave and under the authority of Ahab, is mentioned together with his wicked actions:



he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn: that is, his firstborn died as soon as he laid the foundation of the city, but this did not deter him from going on with it:



and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub; all the rest of his children died as he was rebuilding the city, until only his youngest son was left, and he was taken off by death just as he had finished it, signified by setting up the gates of it: all which was



according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun: between four hundred and five hundred years ago. It was after this a place of great note, and so continued many hundreds of years;

See Gill on "Jos 6:26" but is now, as Mr. Maundrell says {k}, a poor nasty village of the Arabs.



{k} Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 81.

 

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