KINGS
COMMONLY CALLED
THE THIRD BOOK OF THE KINGS
THE THIRD BOOK OF THE KINGS
CHAPTER 14
Ahijah foretells the ruin of Jeroboam’s house, the death of his child, and the scattering of Israel because of their idolatry—Jeroboam dies and Nadab reigns—Judah, under Rehoboam, turns to wickedness—Shishak of Egypt takes treasures from temple—Rehoboam dies and Abijam reigns.
2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, [ Jeroboam knows that he need the help of the prophet, but he also knows that he cannot be the one tp ask for that help. So he asks his wife to do it.] Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; [ Go in disguise so that the prophet will not know that it is you. Interesting that they know the power of the prophet that he can heal, that he can see the things of God. So what power do they not think that he has? Will he not have the power od discernment? We can trick him. ] and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be 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; [ Well I guess we don't need to disguise ourselves since Ahijah is blind, right. So you have t think that Jeroboam is thinking we got this now, it is going to be easier than I expected to get what we are asking since there is no way that Ahijah will know who we are. ] for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
5 ¶ And 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.
[ So the Lord tells Ahijah that Jeroboam's wife is going to pretend to be someone else and come and ask a favor of you. God see;s all and as a result so does God's prophet.] ]
6 And 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? [ He hears her coming in, and right away asks why is she pretending to be someone else. Wow talk about your cover being blown. Tue prophets are able to see with Gods eyes. Do we ever approach God or his servants in disguise? By trying to look valant or righteous to get something from God. We want you to do something fro us, without the willingness to do what God wants. Or put another way do we want the influence of God or his servants for our purpose and not for the will of God. ] for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.
7 Go, 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,
[ I God brought you up to this throne. ]
8 And 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;
[ In other words I did not take the kingdom away from David to put it in the hands of someone who was worse. I gave you the change to be better, but you are not doing so. You were called by ne to be something better, please be that person. ]
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:
[ Pretty strong language from God. You have put me on the back seat, a place where you do not even listen to me, out of sight out of mind, and if that is not enough you replaced me with false Gods of your own. Not only did you turn yourself away but also the people. So what will the result be for your son. ]
10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, [ Whether this is God's language or this is the prophet's language being bold with Jeroboam in language that he can understand, we do not know. ] 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.
[ You can all of your posterity will be wiped out. None shall be left. Dung is pitched away, thrown out to get rid of the smell and all that goes with it. So here we are talking about the northern kingdom, as he mentions "all that is left in Israel" So they will become lost tribes. ]
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 LORD hath spoken it.
12 Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.
[ Here is the bad news that you can tell you husband. When you enter the city your son will die, ]
13 And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: [ Now the good news to tell your husband. Your son (him) will be able to have a proper burial. ] for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, [ After that he will be the only heir that wil have a proper burial. ] because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.
14 Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: [ It will be the one who succeeds you that will make your seed completely disappear. ] but what? even now.
[ I have already put this into motion, it begins right now. ]
15 For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, [ The tribes of Israel that are in the North. ] which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, [ Places of worship where they are not worshiping the God of Israel. ] provoking the LORD to anger.
16 And he shall give Israel up [ Notice what he does not say here. he does not say I will give up on Israel, but rather I will let this group go, I will give them up. Because you have removed me, you have expelled me, so I cannot be of value in helpping you against your enemies so you will be given up into your enemies hands - thus they will be scattered. ] because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.
[ Not only did he sin but he also set things in motion that caused Israel to sin. The grives, the idols... ]
17 ¶ And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;
[ The prophecy was fulfilled the moment that she entered the house. How hard would that be to walk back to your home knowing that the minute you enter the house your son will die. ]
18 And they buried him; a [ As was prophesied. ] 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.
19 And 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.
[ These are not the Book of Chronicles that we have in the old testement today, but rather they chronicles, or kept records of all of the acts of the kings and then those records were later used to as the source bring the old testament books forward. Like the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles... ]
20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: [ The length of his rein. ] and he slept with his fathers, [ He died. ] and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
[ His son was his sucessor. ]
21 ¶ And Rehoboam the son of solomon reigned in Judah. [ Mean while down south here is what was happening. The southern kingdom. ] 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. [ The temple site, temple city, city of zion, city of David, City of God which is what Jerusalem means. ] And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess.
22 And 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.
[ Ut would appear that they are getting worse as time goes on, not getting better. ]
23 For they also built them high places, [ They built their own places of worship, they had a temple, but they choose a different direction, on purpose. Kind of in Go's face. ] and images, and groves, [ Pagan sites of pagan rituals including idol worship and sexual acts. The word groves is translated many times from the original word - Asherah referred to shrines to a fertility goddess, not to forests, groves, or trees in general. It is another example of God's repeated warnings against idolatry. Asherah was the consort of Baal, whose worshipers were always a thorn in the side of Israel, and the two were often worshiped together as male and female aspects of fertility worship. See Judges 6 for one example. And as the verses you cite show, cutting down asherah is always found in the context of doing away with idols and idol-worship. ] on every high hill, and under every green tree.
24 And there were also sodomites [ Male prostitutes. “sodomite” is taken from the city of sodom (Genesis 19:1-26). The definition of sodomite refers to anyone who actively engages in homosexual or lesbian acts. Usually they were associated with the pagan rituals of these pagan cults. ] in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.
[ So they are doing the same things that the nations around them are doing. They are supposed to know better, to do better, but no. God has done so much to help them but they have not become any better for it. These are the things that got the other nations kicked out of the promised land, so what do you think will happen to them? You should have a pretty good idea how God is going to deal with you as well. You did all of this with the priesthood of God in your midst. ]
25 ¶ And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem:
26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, [ Evidence in a way that God is no longer in the temple, aas a result the master of the house is gone. So there is no ne left to defend the mater's house, as a result it is raided. ] 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, [ A symbolic suggestion that things are getting worse for Israel all the time. Here we see that they traded in their shields of gold for ones of brass. Suggesting that the faith of Israel was diminishing as well, and when they tried to replace their original faith in Gos they replaced it with something that was inferior. ] and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.
28 And it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD, [ Not sure if this really means what it says here. Did the King who was from the tribe of Judah really go into the house of God? If so there is another problem as they were not honoring the statutes of God who said that only those of the tribe of Levi could enter the temple. So many this teaches us more about the tribe of Judah, that they did not respect the house of God. If this is the case then the temple has descended into a common/public place. Is it more like a museum where you keep a few religious relic's but it does not function to its intent to be a spiritual place. So we can see that the tribe of Judah to the south is behaving much like the tribes to the north. ] that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.