1 Kings 14

At that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, became sick.

1At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.

NoteJeroboam was the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, which had broken away from Solomon's son Rehoboam a chapter earlier. The two kingdoms (Israel in the north, Judah in the south) are tracked side by side from here on. This son Abijah is not the same person as Abijam, Rehoboam's son, who appears at the end of the chapter, though the two names are close.

2Jeroboam said to his wife, "Please get up and put on a disguise, so no one will know you are Jeroboam's wife. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there. He is the one who told me I would be king over this people.

2And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people.

NoteShiloh, about ten miles north of Bethel, had been Israel's chief sanctuary before Jerusalem; the aged prophet Ahijah still lived there. A prophet was a person understood to speak messages received from God, and people consulted prophets about ordinary matters (illness, lost property, the outcome of a journey) as well as about affairs of state. The disguise is so that the household and neighbors will not report that the king's wife has come asking about his heir.

3Take ten loaves of bread with you, some small cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy."

3And 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.

NoteBringing a gift was normal etiquette when consulting a prophet, and the size and quality of the gift signaled the status of the person asking. Ten plain loaves, some small cakes and a jar of honey are what a village woman would bring, part of the disguise, not a royal offering.

4Jeroboam's wife did what he said. She got up, went to Shiloh, and came to Ahijah's house. Ahijah could not see, because his eyes had failed with old age.

4And 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.

5But the LORD had said to Ahijah, "Jeroboam's wife is coming to ask you about her son, because he is sick. Say this and this to her. When she arrives, she will be pretending to be another woman."

5And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.

6So when Ahijah heard her footsteps at the door, he said, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been sent to you with bad news.

6And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.

7Go and tell Jeroboam that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I lifted you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.

7Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,

8I tore the kingdom away from David's family and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with his whole heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.

8And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes;

9You have done more evil than everyone who came before you. You went and made other gods for yourself, and metal images, to make me angry, and you have thrown me behind your back.

9But 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:

Note"Thrown me behind your back" is a Hebrew idiom for discarding something as worthless, putting it out of sight where you no longer have to look at it.

10So I am bringing disaster on Jeroboam's family. I will cut off from Jeroboam every male in Israel, slave or free. I will burn up what is left of Jeroboam's family, the way a person burns up dung until it is all gone.

10Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.

NoteThe King James "him that pisseth against the wall" is a blunt Hebrew idiom for a male, distinguishing men from women by posture; it appears several times in these books as a way of saying no male heir will survive. The following phrase, "him that is shut up and left," is an old legal pairing whose exact sense is disputed, most take it as a merism meaning everyone without exception, whether bound (in service, or under some restriction) or free. The Hebrew verb translated "take away" can also mean "burn up"; dried dung was ordinary household fuel, so the image is of sweeping out or burning off a heap of it until nothing remains.

11Dogs will eat anyone in Jeroboam's family who dies in the city, and birds will eat anyone who dies out in the open country.' The LORD has said it.

11Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it.

NoteDogs in this world were scavengers around towns, not pets. To be left unburied for dogs and carrion birds was the worst fate imaginable for a family, burial in the ancestral tomb was the mark of an honorable death, and its denial was a public disgrace.

12As for you, get up and go home. The moment your feet enter the city, the child will die.

12Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.

13All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one of Jeroboam's family who will be laid in a grave, because he is the only one in Jeroboam's household in whom the LORD, the God of Israel, has found anything good.

13And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

14And the LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who will cut off Jeroboam's family. This is the day. Yes, even now.

14Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now.

NoteThe last clause of this verse, King James "but what? even now", is one of the most obscure sentences in Hebrew Kings. The words are short and the syntax broken, and translators differ widely; the rendering keeps the abruptness rather than smoothing it into a guess.

15The LORD will strike Israel until it shakes like a reed in the water. He will pull Israel up out of this good land he gave their ancestors, and scatter them beyond the River, because they made their Asherah poles and made the LORD angry.

15For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger.

Note"The River," without a name, always means the Euphrates, the far northeastern boundary of the known world for Israelites, the direction from which Assyria would later deport the northern kingdom. An Asherah pole was a wooden cult object, either a carved image or a living or planted tree, standing for the goddess Asherah; the King James translates the word "grove." A reed shaken in water is a marsh plant with no root-hold, whipped about by current and wind.

16He will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam committed and caused Israel to commit."

16And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.

17Then Jeroboam's wife got up and left, and came to Tirzah. As she stepped onto the doorway of the house, the boy died.

17And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;

NoteTirzah, north of Shechem, served as the northern kingdom's royal residence before Samaria was founded.

18They buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, just as the LORD had said through his servant Ahijah the prophet.

18And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.

19The rest of what Jeroboam did, how he fought his wars and how he ruled, is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

19And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

NoteThe Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel was a royal annal, an official court record, now lost. It is not the biblical books of 1 and 2 Chronicles. The writer cites it repeatedly as a source where a reader could look up the military and administrative detail he is leaving out.

20Jeroboam ruled for twenty-two years. Then he died, and his son Nadab became king in his place.

20And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.

Note"Slept with his fathers" is the standard formula for dying and being laid in the family tomb; in these books it usually implies a natural death rather than assassination or death in battle.

21Meanwhile, Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled seventeen years in Jerusalem. That was the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel as the place for his name. Rehoboam's mother was Naamah, a woman from Ammon.

21And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess.

Note"The place for his name" is covenant language for a site formally claimed as God's own, where his name is invoked in worship. Naming the king's mother is part of the fixed formula used for every king of Judah, the queen mother held a recognized position at court. Ammon was a small kingdom east of the Jordan, a frequent enemy of Israel; foreign royal marriages sealed treaties.

22Judah did what was evil in the LORD's sight. The sins they committed stirred up his jealous anger more than anything their ancestors had done.

22And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "jealousy" is the term used of a husband's exclusive claim on his wife. Applied to God it does not mean envy; it is the language of an exclusive relationship being violated by worship given elsewhere.

23They built for themselves worship sites on the hilltops, along with sacred stone pillars and Asherah poles, on every high hill and under every green tree.

23For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree.

NoteA high place was an open-air worship site, usually on a hilltop or ridge, with an altar and often a standing stone and a sacred pole. Standing stones (Hebrew massebot) were upright stones set up to mark a divine presence. "On every high hill and under every green tree" is a stock phrase for the whole network of local country shrines.

24There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. The people copied all the disgusting practices of the nations the LORD had driven out ahead of the Israelites.

24And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

NoteThe King James "sodomites" translates the Hebrew qadesh, literally "consecrated man", a male attached to a shrine, generally understood as a cult prostitute. The word says nothing about the city of Sodom; the King James translators supplied that association. "Abominations" renders a word for practices regarded as ritually detestable and forbidden.

25In the fifth year of King Rehoboam's rule, Shishak, the king of Egypt, came up and attacked Jerusalem.

25And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem:

NoteShishak is Sheshonq I, founder of Egypt's twenty-second dynasty. His own account of this campaign survives carved on a temple wall at Karnak, listing towns he claimed to have taken in Israel and Judah, one of the earliest points where the biblical narrative and an outside record touch.

26He carried off the treasures of the LORD's temple and the treasures of the king's palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.

26And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.

NoteThe gold shields were ceremonial, made by Solomon for display in the palace armory and carried in procession, not used in battle.

27So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them, and he put them in the care of the commanders of the guard who watched the door of the king's palace.

27And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.

NoteBronze was the ordinary metal for armor and fittings; substituting it for gold is a plain measure of what the treasury had left after Shishak's visit. The shields were still paraded, but they were now cheap ones.

28Whenever the king went into the LORD's temple, the guards carried the shields, and afterward they took them back to the guardroom.

28And it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.

29The rest of what Rehoboam did, everything he did, is written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

29Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

30There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam the whole time they ruled.

30And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

31Rehoboam died and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His mother was Naamah, a woman from Ammon. His son Abijam became king in his place.

31And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

NoteThe City of David was the oldest fortified part of Jerusalem, the ridge David captured from the Jebusites, where the kings of Judah were buried. Abijam is called Abijah elsewhere in the Bible; the two forms are variants of the same name.