mh_parser/vol_split/11 - 1Kings/Chapter 14.xml

<div2 id="iKi.xv" n="xv" next="iKi.xvi" prev="iKi.xiv" progress="56.94%" title="Chapter XIV">
<h2 id="iKi.xv-p0.1">F I R S T   K I N G S</h2>
<h3 id="iKi.xv-p0.2">CHAP. XIV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="iKi.xv-p1">The kingdom being divided into that of Judah and
that of Israel, we must henceforward, in these books of Kings,
expect and attend their separate history, the succession of their
kings, and the affairs of their kingdoms, accounted for distinctly.
In this chapter we have, I. The prophecy of the destruction of
Jeroboam's house, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.7-1Kgs.14.16" parsed="|1Kgs|14|7|14|16" passage="1Ki 14:7-16">ver.
7-16</scripRef>. The sickness of his child was the occasion of it
(<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.1-1Kgs.14.6" parsed="|1Kgs|14|1|14|6" passage="1Ki 14:1-6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>), and the death
of his child the earnest of it (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.17-1Kgs.14.18" parsed="|1Kgs|14|17|14|18" passage="1Ki 14:17,18">ver. 17, 18</scripRef>), together with the
conclusion of his reign, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.19-1Kgs.14.20" parsed="|1Kgs|14|19|14|20" passage="1Ki 14:19,20">ver. 19,
20</scripRef>. II. The history of the declension and diminution of
Rehoboam's house and kingdom (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.21-1Kgs.14.28" parsed="|1Kgs|14|21|14|28" passage="1Ki 14:21-28">ver.
21-28</scripRef>) and the conclusion of his reign, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.29-1Kgs.14.31" parsed="|1Kgs|14|29|14|31" passage="1Ki 14:29-31">ver. 29-31</scripRef>. In both we may read
the mischievous consequences of sin and the calamities it brings on
kingdoms and families.</p>
<scripCom id="iKi.xv-p0.1_1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14" parsed="|1Kgs|14|0|0|0" passage="1Ki 14" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="iKi.xv-p0.2_1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.1-1Kgs.14.6" parsed="|1Kgs|14|1|14|6" passage="1Ki 14:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1Kgs.14.1-1Kgs.14.6">
<h4 id="iKi.xv-p1.9">Abijah's Sickness; the Prophet Ahijah
Consulted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 960.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iKi.xv-p2">1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell
sick.   2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee,
and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of
Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there <i>is</i> Ahijah
the prophet, which told me that <i>I should be</i> king over this
people.   3 And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and
a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall
become of the child.   4 And Jeroboam's wife did so, and
arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But
Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
  5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p2.1">Lord</span> said unto
Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee
for her son; for he <i>is</i> sick: thus and thus shalt thou say
unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign
herself <i>to be</i> another <i>woman.</i>   6 And it was
<i>so,</i> when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in
at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why
feignest thou thyself <i>to be</i> another? for I <i>am</i> sent to
thee <i>with</i> heavy <i>tidings.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p3">How Jeroboam persisted in his contempt of
God and religion we read in the close of the foregoing chapter.
Here we are told how God proceeded in his controversy with him; for
when God judges he will overcome, and sinners shall either bend or
break before him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p4">I. His child fell sick, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.1" parsed="|1Kgs|14|1|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. It is probable that he was his
eldest son, and heir-apparent to the crown; for at his death all
the kingdom went into mourning for him, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.13.1-1Kgs.13.34" parsed="|1Kgs|13|1|13|34" passage="1Ki 13:1-34"><i>ch.</i> xiii.</scripRef> His dignity as a prince,
his age as a young prince, and his interest in heaven as a pious
prince, could not exempt him from sickness, dangerous sickness. Let
none be secure of the continuance of their health, but improve it,
while it continues, for the best purposes. Lord, <i>behold, he whom
thou lovest,</i> thy favourite, he whom Israel loves, their
darling, <i>is sick. At that time,</i> when Jeroboam prostituted
the profaned the priesthood (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.13.33" parsed="|1Kgs|13|33|0|0" passage="1Ki 13:33"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 33</scripRef>), his child sickened.
When sickness comes into our families we should enquire whether
there be not some particular sin harboured in our houses, which the
affliction is sent to convince us of and reclaim us from.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p5">II. He sent his wife in disguise to enquire
of Ahijah the prophet <i>what should become of the child,</i>
<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.2-1Kgs.14.3" parsed="|1Kgs|14|2|14|3" passage="1Ki 14:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. The
sickness of his child touched him in a tender part. The withering
of this branch of the family would, perhaps, be as sore an
affliction to him as the withering of that branch of his body,
<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.13.4" parsed="|2Kgs|13|4|0|0" passage="2Ki 13:4"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 4</scripRef>. Such is
the force of natural affection; our children are ourselves but once
removed. Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p6">1. Jeroboam's great desire, under this
affliction, is to know <i>what shall become of the child,</i>
whether he will live or die. (1.) It would have been more prudent
if he had desired to know what means they should use for the
recovery of the child, what they should give him, and what they
should do to him; but by this instance, and those of Ahaziah
(<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.1.2" parsed="|2Kgs|1|2|0|0" passage="2Ki 1:2">2 Kings i. 2</scripRef>) and Benhadad
(<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.8.8" parsed="|2Kgs|8|8|0|0" passage="2Ki 8:8">2 Kings viii. 8</scripRef>), it should
seem they had then such a foolish notion of fatality as took them
off from all use of means; for, if they were sure the patient would
live, they thought means needless; if he would die, they thought
them useless; not considering that duty is ours, events are God's,
and that he that ordained the end ordained the means. Why should a
prophet be desired to show that which a little time will show? (2.)
It would have been more pious if he had desired to know wherefore
God contended with him, had begged the prophet's prayers, and cast
away his idols from him; then the child might have been restored to
him, as his hand was. But most people would rather be told their
fortune than their faults or their duty.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p7">2. That he might know the child's doom, he
sent to Ahijah the prophet, who lived obscurely and neglected in
Shiloh, blind through age, yet still blest with the visions of the
Almighty, which need not bodily eyes, but are rather favoured by
the want of them, the eyes of the mind being then most intent and
least diverted. Jeroboam sent not to him for advice about the
setting up of his calves, or the consecrating of his priests, but
had recourse to him in his distress, when the gods he served could
give him no relief. <i>Lord, in trouble have those visited thee</i>
who before slighted thee. Some have by sickness been reminded of
their forgotten ministers and praying friends. He sent to Ahijah,
because he had <i>told him he should be king,</i> <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.2" parsed="|1Kgs|14|2|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. "He was once the
messenger of good tidings, surely he will be so again." Those that
by sin disqualify themselves for comfort, and yet expect their
ministers, because they are good men, should speak peace and
comfort to them, greatly wrong both themselves and their
ministers.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p8">3. He sent his wife to enquire of the
prophet, because she could best put the question without naming
names, or making any other description than this, "Sir, I have a
son ill; will he recover or not?" The heart of her husband safely
trusted in her that she would be faithful both in delivering the
message and bringing him the answer; and it seems there were none
of all his counsellors in whom he could repose such a confidence;
otherwise the sick child could very ill spare her, for mothers are
the best nurses, and it would have been much fitter for her to have
staid at home to tend him than go to Shiloh to enquire what would
become of him. If she go, she must be <i>incognito—in
disguise,</i> must change her dress, cover her face, and go by
another name, not only to conceal herself from her own court and the
country through which she passed (as if it were below her quality
to go upon such an errand, and what she had reason to be ashamed
of, as Nicodemus that came to Jesus by night, whereas it is no
disparagement to the greatest to attend God's prophets), but also
to conceal herself from the prophet himself, that he might only
answer her question concerning her son, and not enter upon the
unpleasing subject of her husband's defection. Thus some people
love to prescribe to their ministers, limit them to smooth things,
and care not for having the <i>whole counsel of God declared</i> to
them, lest it prove to prophesy <i>no good concerning them, but
evil.</i> But what a strange notion had Jeroboam of God's prophet
when he believed that he could and would certainly tell what would
<i>become of the child,</i> and yet either could not or would not
discover who was the mother! Could he see into the thick darkness
of futurity, and yet not see through the thin veil of this
disguise? Did Jeroboam think the God of Israel like his calves,
just what he pleased? <i>Be not deceived, God is not
mocked.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p9">III. God gave Ahijah notice of the approach
of Jeroboam's wife, and that she came in disguise, and full
instructions what to say to her (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.5" parsed="|1Kgs|14|5|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), which enabled him, as she came
in at the door, to call her by her name, to her great surprise, and
so to discover to all about him who she was (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.6" parsed="|1Kgs|14|6|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>Come in, thou wife of
Jeroboam, why feignest thou thyself to be another?</i> He had no
regard, 1. To her rank. She was a queen, but what was that to him,
who had a message to deliver to her immediately from God, before
whom all the children of men stand upon the same level? Nor, 2. To
her present. It was usual for those who consulted prophets to bring
them tokens of respect, which they accepted, and yet were no
hirelings. She brought him a handsome country present (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.3" parsed="|1Kgs|14|3|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), but he did not think
himself obliged by that to give her any finer language than the
nature of her message required. Nor, 3. To her industrious
concealment of herself. It is a piece of civility not to take
notice of those who desire not to be taken notice of; but the
prophet was no courtier, nor gave flattering titles; plain dealing
is best, and she shall know, at the first word, what she has to
trust to: <i>I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.</i> Note, Those
who think by their disguises to hide themselves from God will be
wretchedly confounded when they find themselves disappointed in the
day of discovery. Sinners now appear in the garb of saints, and are
taken to be such; but how will they blush and tremble when they
find themselves stripped of their false colours, and are called by
their own name: "Go out, thou treacherous false-hearted hypocrite.
<i>I never knew thee. Why feignest thou thyself to be another?</i>"
Tidings of a portion with hypocrites will be heavy tidings. God
will judge men according to what they are, not according to what
they seem.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iKi.xv-p0.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.7-1Kgs.14.20" parsed="|1Kgs|14|7|14|20" passage="1Ki 14:7-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1Kgs.14.7-1Kgs.14.20">
<h4 id="iKi.xv-p9.5">The Ruin of Jeroboam's House Foretold;
Abijah's Character and Death. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p9.6">b. c.</span> 960.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iKi.xv-p10">7 Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p10.1">Lord</span> God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee
from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,
  8 And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and
gave it thee: and <i>yet</i> thou hast not been as my servant
David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his
heart, to do <i>that</i> only <i>which was</i> right in mine eyes;
  9 But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for
thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to
provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:   10
Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam,
and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall,
<i>and</i> him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take
away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away
dung, till it be all gone.   11 Him that dieth of Jeroboam in
the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall
the fowls of the air eat: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p10.2">Lord</span> hath spoken <i>it.</i>   12 Arise thou
therefore, get thee to thine own house: <i>and</i> when thy feet
enter into the city, the child shall die.   13 And all Israel
shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall
come to the grave, because in him there is found <i>some</i> good
thing toward the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p10.3">Lord</span> God of Israel
in the house of Jeroboam.   14 Moreover the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p10.4">Lord</span> shall raise him up a king over Israel, who
shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.
  15 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p10.5">Lord</span> shall smite
Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up
Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and
shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their
groves, provoking the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p10.6">Lord</span> to anger.
  16 And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of
Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.   17 And
Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: <i>and</i>
when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;  
18 And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according
to the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p10.7">Lord</span>, which he
spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.   19 And
the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he
reigned, behold, they <i>are</i> written in the book of the
chronicles of the kings of Israel.   20 And the days which
Jeroboam reigned <i>were</i> two and twenty years: and he slept
with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p11">When those that set up idols, and keep them
up, go to enquire of the Lord, he determines to answer them, not
according to the pretensions of their enquiry, but <i>according to
the multitude of their idols,</i> <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.14.4" parsed="|Ezek|14|4|0|0" passage="Eze 14:4">Ezek. xiv. 4</scripRef>. So Jeroboam is answered
here.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p12">I. The prophet anticipates the enquiry
concerning the child, and foretels the ruin of Jeroboam's house for
the wickedness of it. No one else durst have carried such a
message: a servant would have smothered it, but his own wife cannot
be suspected of ill-will to him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p13">1. God calls himself the <i>Lord God of
Israel.</i> Though Israel had forsaken God, God had not cast them
off, nor given them a bill of divorce for their whoredoms. He is
Israel's God, and therefore will take vengeance on him who did them
the greatest mischief he could do them, debauched them and drew
them away from God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p14">2. He upbraids Jeroboam with the great
favour he had bestowed upon him, in making him king, exalting him
from among the people, the common people, to be prince over God's
chosen Israel, and taking the kingdom <i>from the house of
David,</i> to bestow it upon him. Whether we keep an account of
God's mercies to us or no, he does, and will set even them in order
before us, if we be ungrateful, to our greater confusion; otherwise
he gives and upbraids not.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p15">3. He charges him with his impiety and
apostasy, and his idolatry particularly: <i>Thou hast done evil
above all that were before thee,</i> <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.9" parsed="|1Kgs|14|9|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Saul, that was rejected, never
worshipped idols; Solomon did it but occasionally, in his dotage,
and never made Israel to sin. Jeroboam's calves, though pretended
to be set up in honour of the God of Israel, that brought <i>them
up out of Egypt,</i> yet are here called <i>other gods,</i> or
<i>strange gods,</i> because in them he worshipped God as the
heathen worshipped their strange gods, because by them he
<i>changed the truth of God into a lie</i> and represented him as
altogether different from what he is, and because many of the
ignorant worshippers terminated their devotion in the image, and
did not at all regard the God of Israel. Though they were calves of
gold, the richness of the metal was so far from making them
acceptable to God that they <i>provoked him to anger,</i>
designedly affronted him, under colour of pleasing him. In doing
this, (1.) He had not set David before him (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.8" parsed="|1Kgs|14|8|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Thou hast not been as my
servant David,</i> who, though he had his faults and some bad ones,
yet never forsook the worship of God nor grew loose nor cold to
that; his faithful adherence to that gained him this honourable
character, that he <i>followed God with all his heart,</i> and
herein he was proposed for an example to all his successors. Those
did not do well that did not do like David. (2.) He had not <i>set
God before him,</i> but (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.9" parsed="|1Kgs|14|9|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>), "<i>Thou hast cast me behind thy back,</i> my law,
my fear; thou hast neglected me, forgotten me, and preferred thy
policies before my precepts."</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p16">4. He foretels the utter ruin of Jeroboam's
house, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.10-1Kgs.14.11" parsed="|1Kgs|14|10|14|11" passage="1Ki 14:10,11"><i>v.</i> 10,
11</scripRef>. He thought, by his idolatry, to establish his
government, and by that he not only lost it, but brought
destruction upon his family, the universal destruction of all the
males, whether shut up or left, married or unmarried. (1.) Shameful
destruction. They shall be taken away as dung, which is loathsome
and which men are glad to be rid of. He worshipped
dunghill-deities, and God removed his family as a great dunghill.
Noble and royal families, if wicked, are no better in God's
account. (2.) Unusual destruction. Their very dead bodies should be
meat for the dogs in the street, or the birds of prey in the field,
<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.11" parsed="|1Kgs|14|11|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Thus evil
pursues sinners. See this fulfilled, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.15.29" parsed="|1Kgs|15|29|0|0" passage="1Ki 15:29"><i>ch.</i> xv. 29</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p17">5. He foretels the immediate death of the
sick child, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.12-1Kgs.14.13" parsed="|1Kgs|14|12|14|13" passage="1Ki 14:12,13"><i>v.</i> 12,
13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p18">(1.) In mercy to him, lest, if he live, he
be infected with the sin, and so involved in the ruin, of his
father's house. Observe the character given of him: <i>In him was
found some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel, in the house
of Jeroboam.</i> He had an affection for the true worship of God
and disliked the worship of the calves. Note, [1.] Those are good
<i>in whom are good things towards the Lord God of Israel,</i> good
inclinations, good intentions, good desires, towards him. [2.]
Where there is but <i>some</i> good thing of that kind it will be
found: God, who seeks it, sees it be it ever so little and is
pleased with it. [3.] A little grace goes a great way with great
people. It is so rare to find princes well affected to religion
that, when they are so, they are worthy of double honour. [4.]
Pious dispositions are in a peculiar manner amiable and acceptable
when they are found in those that are young. The divine image in
miniature has a peculiar beauty and lustre in it. [5.] Those that
are good in bad times and places shine very brightly in the eyes of
God. A good child <i>in the house of Jeroboam</i> is a miracle of
divine grace: to be there untainted is like being in the fiery
furnace unhurt, unsinged. Observe the care taken of him: he only,
of all Jeroboam's family, shall die in honour, shall be buried, and
shall be lamented as one that lived desired. Note, Those that are
distinguished by divine grace shall be distinguished by divine
providence. This hopeful child dies first of all the family, for
God often <i>takes those soonest whom he loves best.</i> Heaven is
the fittest place for them; this earth is not worthy of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p19">(2.) In wrath to the family. [1.] It was a
sign the family would be ruined when <i>he</i> was taken by whom it
might have been reformed. The righteous are removed from the evil
to come in this world, to the good to come in a better world. It is
a bad omen to a family when the best in it are buried out of it;
when what was valuable is picked out the rest is for the fire. [2.]
It was likewise a present affliction to the family and kingdom, by
which both ought to have been bettered; and this aggravated the
affliction to the poor mother that she should not reach home time
enough to see her son alive: <i>When thy feet enter into the
city,</i> just then <i>the child shall die.</i> This was to be a
sign to her of the accomplishment of the rest of the threatenings,
as <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.34" parsed="|1Sam|2|34|0|0" passage="1Sa 2:34">1 Sam. ii. 34</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p20">6. He foretels the setting up of another
family to rule over Israel, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.14" parsed="|1Kgs|14|14|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>. This was fulfilled in Baasha of Issachar, who
conspired against Nadab the son of Jeroboam, in the second year of
his reign, murdered him and all his family. "<i>But what? Even
now.</i> Why do I speak of it as a thing at a distance? It is at
the door. It shall be done <i>even now.</i>" Sometimes God makes
quick work with sinners; he did so with the house of Jeroboam. It
was not twenty-four years from his first elevation to the final
extirpation of his family.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p21">7. He foretels the judgments which should
come upon the people of Israel for conforming to the worship which
Jeroboam had established. <i>If the blind lead the blind,</i> both
the blind leaders and the blind followers shall <i>fall into the
ditch.</i> It is here foretold, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.15" parsed="|1Kgs|14|15|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>, (1.) That they should never be
easy, nor rightly settled in their land, but continually <i>shaken
like a reed in the water.</i> After they left the house of David,
the government never continued long in one family, but one
undermined and destroyed another, which must needs occasion great
disorders and disturbances among the people. (2.) That they should,
ere long, be totally expelled out of their land, that good land,
and given up to ruin, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.16" parsed="|1Kgs|14|16|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>. This was fulfilled in the captivity of the ten
tribes by the king of Assyria. Families and kingdoms are ruined by
sin, ruined by the wickedness of the heads of them. <i>Jeroboam did
sin, and made Israel to sin.</i> If great men do wickedly, they
involve many others both in the guilt and in the snare; multitudes
<i>follow their pernicious ways.</i> They go to hell with a long
train, and their condemnation will be the more intolerable, for
they must answer, not only for their own sins, but for the sins
which others have been drawn into and kept in by their
influence.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p22">II. Jeroboam's wife has nothing to say
against the word of the Lord, but she goes home with a heavy heart
to their house in <i>Tirzah,</i> a <i>sweet delightful place,</i>
so the name signifies, famed for its beauty, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Song.6.4" parsed="|Song|6|4|0|0" passage="So 6:4">Cant. vi. 4</scripRef>. But death, which will stain its
beauty and embitter all its delights, cannot be shut out from it.
Hither she came, and here we leave her attending the funeral of her
son, and expecting the fate of her family. 1. <i>The child died</i>
(<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.17" parsed="|1Kgs|14|17|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), and justly
did all Israel mourn, not only for the loss of so hopeful a prince,
whom they were not worthy of, but because his death plucked up the
flood-gates, and made a breach, at which an inundation of judgments
broke in. 2. Jeroboam himself died soon after, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.20" parsed="|1Kgs|14|20|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. It is said (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.13.20" parsed="|2Chr|13|20|0|0" passage="2Ch 13:20">2 Chron. xiii. 20</scripRef>), <i>The Lord struck
him</i> with some sore disease, so that he died miserably, when he
had reigned twenty-two years, and left his crown to a son who lost
it, and his life too, and all the lives of his family, within two
years after. For a further account of him the reader is referred to
the annals of his reign, drawn up by his own secretaries, or to the
public records, like those in the Tower, called here, <i>The
Book</i> or register, <i>of the Chronicles of the Kings of
Israel,</i> to which recourse might then be had; but, not being
divinely inspired, these records are long since lost.</p>
</div><scripCom id="iKi.xv-p0.4" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.21-1Kgs.14.31" parsed="|1Kgs|14|21|14|31" passage="1Ki 14:21-31" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:1Kgs.14.21-1Kgs.14.31">
<h4 id="iKi.xv-p22.6">Rehoboam's Disgrace and
Death. (<span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p22.7">b. c.</span> 960.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="iKi.xv-p23">21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in
Judah. Rehoboam <i>was</i> forty and one years old when he began to
reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which
the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p23.1">Lord</span> did choose out of all the
tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name
<i>was</i> Naamah an Ammonitess.   22 And Judah did evil in
the sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p23.2">Lord</span>, and they
provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed,
above all that their fathers had done.   23 For they also
built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill,
and under every green tree.   24 And there were also sodomites
in the land: <i>and</i> they did according to all the abominations
of the nations which the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p23.3">Lord</span> cast
out before the children of Israel.   25 And it came to pass in
the fifth year of king Rehoboam, <i>that</i> Shishak king of Egypt
came up against Jerusalem:   26 And he took away the treasures
of the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p23.4">Lord</span>, and the
treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took
away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.   27 And
king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed
<i>them</i> unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept
the door of the king's house.   28 And it was <i>so,</i> when
the king went into the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="iKi.xv-p23.5">Lord</span>, that the guard bare them, and brought them
back into the guard chamber.   29 Now the rest of the acts of
Rehoboam, and all that he did, <i>are</i> they not written in the
book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?   30 And there
was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all <i>their</i> days.  
31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his
fathers in the city of David. And his mother's name <i>was</i>
Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p24">Judah's story and Israel's are intermixed
in this book. Jeroboam out-lived Rehoboam, four or five years, yet
his history is despatched first, that the account of Rehoboam's
reign may be laid together; and a sad account it is.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p25">I. Here is no good said of the king. All
the account we have of him here is, 1. That he was forty-one years
old when he began to reign, by which reckoning he was born in the
last year of David, and had his education, and the forming of his
mind, in the best days of Solomon; yet he lived not up to these
advantages. Solomon's defection at last did more to corrupt him
than his wisdom and devotion had done to give him good principles.
2. That he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, <i>the city where
God put his name,</i> where he had opportunity enough to know his
duty, if he had but had a heart to do it. 3. That his mother was
Naamah, an Ammonitess; this is twice mentioned, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.21 Bible:1Kgs.14.31" parsed="|1Kgs|14|21|0|0;|1Kgs|14|31|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:21,31"><i>v.</i> 21, 31</scripRef>. It was strange that
David would marry his son Solomon to an Ammonitess (for it was done
while he lived), but it is probable that Solomon was in love with
her, because she was <i>Naamah,</i> a <i>beauty</i> (so it
signifies), and his father was loth to cross him, but it proved to
have a very bad influence upon posterity. Probably she was daughter
to Shobi the Ammonite, who was kind to David (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.17.27" parsed="|2Sam|17|27|0|0" passage="2Sa 17:27">2 Sam. xvii. 27</scripRef>), and David was too willing
to requite him by matching his son into his family. None can
imagine how lasting and how fatal the consequences may be of being
unequally yoked with unbelievers. 4. That he had continual war with
Jeroboam (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.30" parsed="|1Kgs|14|30|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>),
which could not but be a perpetual uneasiness to him. 5. That when
he had reigned but seventeen years he died, and left his throne to
his son. His father, and grandfather, and grandson, that reigned
well, reigned long, forty years apiece. But sin often shortens
men's lives and comforts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p26">II. Here is much evil said of the subjects,
both as to their character and their condition.</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p27">1. See here how wicked and profane they
were. It is a most sad account that is here given of their apostasy
from God, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.22-1Kgs.14.24" parsed="|1Kgs|14|22|14|24" passage="1Ki 14:22-24"><i>v.</i>
22-24</scripRef>. Judah, the only professing people God had in the
world, <i>did evil in his sight,</i> in contempt and defiance of
him and the tokens of his special presence with them; <i>they
provoked him to jealousy,</i> as the adulterous wife provokes her
husband by breaking the marriage-covenant. Their fathers had been
bad enough, especially in the times of the judges, but they did
abominable things, <i>above all that their fathers had done.</i>
The magnificence of their temple, the pomp of their priesthood, and
all the secular advantages with which their religion was attended,
could not prevail to keep them to it. Nothing less than the
<i>pouring out of the Spirit from on high</i> will keep God's
Israel in their allegiance to him. The account here given of the
wickedness of the Jews agrees with that which the apostle gives of
the wickedness of the Gentile world (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.21 Bible:Rom.1.24" parsed="|Rom|1|21|0|0;|Rom|1|24|0|0" passage="Ro 1:21,24">Rom. i. 21, 24</scripRef>), so that both <i>Jew and
Gentile are</i> alike <i>under sin,</i> <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p27.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.9" parsed="|Rom|3|9|0|0" passage="Ro 3:9">Rom. iii. 9</scripRef>. (1.) They became <i>vain in their
imaginations</i> concerning God, and <i>changed his glory into an
image,</i> for they built themselves <i>high places, images, and
groves</i> (<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p27.4" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.23" parsed="|1Kgs|14|23|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>),
profaning God's name by affixing to it their images, and God's
ordinances by serving their idols with them. They foolishly fancies
that they exalted God when they worshipped him on high hills and
pleased him when they worshipped him under the pleasant shadow of
green trees. (2.) They were given up to vile affections (as those
idolaters <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p27.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.26-Rom.1.27" parsed="|Rom|1|26|1|27" passage="Ro 1:26,27">Rom. i. 26,
27</scripRef>), for there were <i>sodomites in the land</i>
(<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p27.6" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.24" parsed="|1Kgs|14|24|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), <i>men
with men working that which is unseemly,</i> and not to be thought
of, much less mentioned, without abhorrence and indignation. They
dishonoured God by one sin and then God left them to dishonour
themselves by another. They profaned the privileges of a holy
nation, therefore God gave them up to their own hearts' lusts, to
imitate the abominations of the accursed Canaanites; and herein the
Lord was righteous. And, when they did <i>like those that were cast
out,</i> how could they expect any other than to be cast out like
them?</p>
<p class="indent" id="iKi.xv-p28">2. See here how weak and poor they were;
and this was the consequence of the former. Sin exposes,
impoverishes, and weakens any people. Shishak, king of Egypt, came
against them, and so far, either by force or surrender, made
himself master of Jerusalem itself that he took away the treasures
both of the temple and of the exchequer, of the house of the Lord
and of the king's house, which David and Solomon had amassed,
<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.25-1Kgs.14.26" parsed="|1Kgs|14|25|14|26" passage="1Ki 14:25,26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>.
These, it is likely, tempted him to make his descent; and, to save
the rest, Rehoboam perhaps tamely surrendered them, as Ahab,
<scripRef id="iKi.xv-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.20.4" parsed="|1Kgs|20|4|0|0" passage="1Ki 20:4"><i>ch.</i> xx. 4</scripRef>. He also
took away the golden shields that were made but in his father's
time, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.26" parsed="|1Kgs|14|26|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. These
the king of Egypt carried off as trophies of his victory; and,
instead of them, Rehoboam made brazen shields, which the life-guard
carried before him when he went to church in state, <scripRef id="iKi.xv-p28.4" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.27-1Kgs.14.28" parsed="|1Kgs|14|27|14|28" passage="1Ki 14:27,28"><i>v.</i> 27, 28</scripRef>. This was an
emblem of the diminution of his glory. Sin makes the gold become
dim, changes the most fine gold, and turns it into brass. We
commend Rehoboam for going to <i>the house of the Lord,</i> perhaps
the oftener for the rebuke he had been under, and do not condemn
him for going in pomp. Great men should honour God with their
honour, and then they are themselves most honoured by it.</p>
</div></div2>