B³ z 1. Rehoboam. Accession to kingdom. a c 2-4. Petition of Jeroboam. Made. d 5. Dismissal. b 6-11. Answer concidered. a d 12. Return. c 13,14. Petition of Rehoboam. Answered. z 15. Rehoboam. Tearing of kingdom.
880 B.C.
12)
1 And Rehoboam went to Shechem (= back, or shoulder. A national sanctuary [Josh.24:1]. Now Nablous, corruption of Neapolis, the [New town] of Vespasian. The site of Abraham's first altar. Jacob's first home. Here the tribes met. Here Joseph was buried. All this before Jebus became Jerusalem. Hence the envy of Ephraim for Judah [Isa.11:13]. Degraded by new name, Sychar = drunkeness [Isa.28:1-7]. Yet here alone in all the world is the Paschal lamb still slain): for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.
2 And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard [of it], }for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt;}
3 That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
4 “Your father made our yoke grievous (made by Jeroboam himself owing to opportunity afforded by Solomon's action [11:28]): now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve you.”
5 And he said to them, “Depart yet [for] three days, then come again to me.” And the People departed.
6 And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, “How do you all advise that I may answer this People?”
7 And they spake to him, saying, “If thou will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever” (Heb. all the days: i.e. always).
8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, [and] which stood before him:
9 And he said to them, “What counsel give you all that we may answer this People, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Make the yoke which your father did put upon us lighter?’ ”
10 And the young men that were grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus shall you speak to this People that spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but make you [it] lighter to us;’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little [finger] shall be thicker than my father's loins.
11 And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father has chastised you with whips (the badge of the taskmaster on the Egyptian monuments. Cp. Ex.1:10,14; 15:13,14 ["beaten"]), but I will chastise you with scorpions.’ ” (a knotted whip, so called; as we well another kind of whip the "cat")
12 So Jeroboam (= whose people are many) and all the People came to Rehoboam (= enlarger of the people) the third day, according as the king had appointed, saying, “Come to me again the third day.”
13 And the king answered the People roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they councelled him;
14 And spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, 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.”
15 Wherefore the king listened not to the People; for the turning [of events] (or, overruling) was from the Lord (Yehovah), that He might perform His saying, which the Lord (Yehovah) spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat (cp. 11:31).
E¹ K 12:20. Jeroboam. Accession. L 12:21-24. Reign. Assured. L 12:25-14:18. Reign. Events. K 14:18,20. Jeroboam. Record.
20 And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only (see "one tribe", 11:32).
21 And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men (180,000. In David's time there were 470,000. See 2 Sam.24:9), which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
22 But the word of God (Elohim) came to Shemaiah (= heard by Yehovah) the man of God (Elohim) (= prophet. 1st occ, Deut.33:1), saying,
23 “Speak to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the People, saying,
24 ‘Thus says the Lord (Yehovah), “You all shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the sons of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from Me.” ’ ” (i.e. the division of the kingdom. Not the rebellion of Jeroboam. Cp. 2 Chron.13:4-14) They listened therefore to the word of Yehovah, and returned to depart, according to the word of Yehovah.
L M 12:25. Reign. Beginning. N e 12:26-33. Idolatry. Commenced. f 13:1-32. Warning. Prophet from Judah. N e 13:33,34. Idolatry. Persistance. f 14:1-17. Warning. Ahijah. M 14:18. Reign. End.
880 to 858 B.C.
25 Then Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim (or repaired. This doubtless included increased fortification [2 Chron.11:11]. Mesha uses the word [on Moabite stone] of cities he took), and dwelt therein; and went out from that place, and built Penuel (= face of God. On east of Jordan [Gen.32:30. Judg.8:9).
26 And Jeroboam said in his heart (or beter transalted "mind"), “Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:
27 If this People go up to do sacrifice in the house of Yehovah at Jerusalem (his apostacy was wilful, designed, and delberate), then shall the mind of this People turn again to their lord, [even] to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
28 Whereupon the king took counsel ("but not of Yehovah" [Isa.30:1]), and made two calves [of] gold, and said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold your gods (cp. Ex.32:4. Hos.8:5,6; 10:5), O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
29 And he set the one in Beth-el (was desecrated by Josiah [2 Kings 23:15]), and the other put he in Dan (see Gen.49:17. Carried away by Tiglath-pileser [2 Kings 15:29]. The sons of Jonathan, the grandson of Moses [see Judg.18:30], were ready to act as priests).
30 And this thing became a sin (hence the repeated stigma who "made Israel to sin". Cp. 13:34; 14:16; 15:26,30,34; 16:2,19,26, &c.): for the People went [to worship] before the one, [even] to Dan.
31 And he made a house of high places (not merely "high places"), and made priests of the lowest of the People, which were not of the sons of Levi.
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, and he offered up upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made.
33 So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, [even] in the month which he had devised of his own mind (Heb. text reads "by himself". Man-made feast go with man-made priests [v.31]); and ordained a feast to the sons of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
f h i¹ 1,2. Jeroboam. Warned. Arrival. j¹ 3. Sign given. " i² 4. Jeroboam. Smitten. " j² 5. Sign fulfilled. " i³ 6. Jeroboam. Healed. " h k¹ 7-10. Obedience. Return. l¹ 11-14. Old prophet. " k² 15-19. Disobedience. " l² 20-32. Old prophet. "
13)
1 And, behold, there came a man of God (Elohim) (cp. Deut.33:1) out of Judah by the word of the Lord (Yehovah) to Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord (Yehovah), and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the Lord (Yehovah); ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah (= whom Yehovah heals. Cyrus is the only other so foretold [177 years before]. Josiah knew [2 Kings 23:17,18]. Cyrus knew [2 Chron.36:22,23. Isa.44:28]) by name; and upon you shall he offer ([in sacrifice] = slay, or saughter) the priests of the high places that burn incense upon you, and human bones shall be burnt upon you.’ ” (this was fulfilled in 2 Kings 23:16 [360 years later])
3 And he gave a sign the same day (we have similar signs in Ex.3:12. 2 Kings 19:29; 20:8. Isa.7:14; 8:18), saying, “This [is] the sign which the Lord (Yehovah) has spoken; Behold, the altar shall be torn, and the ashes that [are] upon it shall be poured out.”
4 And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God (Elohim), which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar (1 of the 11 rulers who thus assaulted the Lord's (Yehovah's) witnesses. See Ex.10:28), saying, “Lay hold on him.” And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him.
5 The altar also was torn, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of Elohim had given by the word of the Lord (Yehovah).
6 And the king answered and said to the man of God (Elohim), “Intreat now the face of the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) (he dare not say "my God"), and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again.” And the man of God (Elohim) besought the Lord (Yehovah), and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as [it was] before.
7 And the king said to the man of God (Elohim), “Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give you a reward.”
8 And the man of God (Elohim) said to the king, “If you will give me half your house (remembering Num.22:18; 24:13), I will not go in with you, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place:
9 For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord (Yehovah), saying, ‘Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that you came.’ ”
10 So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Beth-el.
11 Now there dwelt an old prophet in Beth-el (a true prophet could not have remained there. Cp. 2 Chron.11:16,17); and whose sons came and told him all the works that the man of God (Elohim) had done that day in Beth-el: and the words which he had spoken to the king, them they told also to their father.
12 And their father said to them, “What way went he?” For his sons had seen what way the man of God (Elohim) went, which came from Judah.
13 And he said to his sons, “Saddle for me the ass.” So they saddled for him the ass: and he rode thereon,
14 And went after the man of God (Elohim), and found him sitting under the oak: and he said to him, “[Are] you the man of God (Elohim) that came from Judah?” And he said, “I [am].”
15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me, and eat bread.”
16 And he said, “I may not return with you, nor go in with you: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place:
17 For it was said to me by the word of the Lord (Yehovah) (cp. "charged": showing a weakening from v.9), ‘You shall eat no bread (to avoid what might have been offered to idols) nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that you came.’ ”
18 He said to him, “I [am] a prophet also as you [are]; and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord (Yehovah) (a solemn warning for all who listen to any revelation outside Scripture which purports to come from God, even though an "old prophet" asserts it. Cp. Gal.1:8,9. Of all such it may be said "he lied to him"), saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” [But] he lied to him.
19 So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house, and drank water.
20 And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord (Yehovah) came to the prophet that brought him back:
21 And he cried to the man of God (Elohim) that came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the Lord (Yehovah), ‘Forasmuch as you have rebelled against the mouth of Yehovah (the same expression used of Moses and Aaron at Moriah [Num.20:24; 27:27;14]. Safety found only in the path of obedience. Cp. v.26), and have not kept the commandment which the Lord (Yehovah) your God (Elohim) commanded you,
22 But came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place, of the which the Lord [Yehovah] did say to you, ‘Eat no bread, and drink no water;’ your carcase shall not come to the sepulchre of your fathers.’ ” (Heb. keber, a burying-place)
23 And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, [that is to say], for the prophet whom he had brought back.
24 And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way (for lions in Palestine see Judg.14:5. 1 Sam.17:54. 2 Sam.23:20. 1 Kings 20:36), and slew him: and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcase.
25 And, behold, men passed by, and saw the carcase cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcase: and they came and told [it] in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
26 And when the prophet that brought him back from the way heard [thereof], he said, “It [is] the man of God (Elohim), who was disobedient to the word of the Lord (Yehovah) (by listening to the alledged word of an angel, instead of obeying the voice of Yehovah. See v.18): therefore Yehovah has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him, and slain him, according to the word of the Lord (Yehovah), which He spoke to him” (cp. v.22).
27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, “Saddle for me the ass.” And they saddled [him].
28 And he went and found his carcase cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcase: the lion had not eaten the carcase, nor torn the ass.
29 And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God (Elohim), and laid it upon the ass, and brought it back: and the old prophet came to the city, to mourn and to bury him.
30 And he laid his carcase in his own sepulche (see v.22, a pit); and they mourned over him, [saying], “Alas, my brother!”
31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, “When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of Elohim [is] buried; lay my bones beside his bones (i.e. lay them not with the bones of those referred to in v.2. Cp. 2 Kings 23:18):
32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the Lord (Yehovah) against the altar in Beth-el (cp.v.2), and against all the houses of the high places which [are] in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”
33 After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the People priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became [one] of the priests (some codices read "became priests) of the high places.
34 And this thing became the sin to the house of Jeroboam (see 12:30), even to cut [it] off, and to destroy [it] from off the face of the earth.
f m¹ 1-4. Message from Jeroboam by his wife. n¹ 5,6. Messenger revealed to Ahjah. m² 7-11. Message from Yehovah to Jeroboam. n² 12,13. Messenger to return. m³ 14-16. Message from Yehovah. n³ 17. Messenger returns.
about 863 B.C.
14)
1 At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, “Arise, I pray you, and disguise yourself, that you be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get you to Shiloh (he had no confidence in his own gods. They were only political expedients): 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 flask (or bottle) of honey, and go to him: and he shall tell you 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 (cp. 1 Sam.4:15. One of 9 afflcted wth blindness. See Gen.19:11).
5 And the Lord (Yehovah) said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam comes to ask a thing of you for her son; for he [is] sick: thus and thus shall you say to her: for it shall be, when she comes in, that she shall feign herself [to be] another [woman].”
6 And it was [so], when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the entrance, that he said, “Come in, you wife of Jeroboam; why feign you yourself [to be] another? for I [am] sent to you [with] heavy [tidings].
7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord God (Yehovah Elohim) of Israel, “Forasmuch as I exalted you from among the People, and made you prince over My People Israel,
8 And tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you: and [yet] you have not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments, and who followed Me with all his heart (= mind), to do [that] only [which was] right in My eyes;
9 But has done evil above all that were before you (not merely kings, but all other rulers. No anachronism): for you have gone and made you other gods (Yehovah does not recognise the calves as being what Jeroboam intended, mere political expedients. See v.2), and molten images, to provoke Me to anger, and have cast Me behind your back:
10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisses against the wall (= every male), [and] him that is shut up and left in Israel (the commentators speak of the text being obscure and corrupt. But ‘ãzab is a homonym, meaning: (1) to leave [as in Gen.2:24; 39:6. Neh.5:10. Ps.49:10. Mal.4:1]; and (2) to restore; repair, fortify [as in Neh.3:8. Ex.23:5. Deut.32:36.1 Kings 14:10. 2 Kings 14:26. Jer. 49:25]. Here it means "strengthened and fortified": i.e. they will not escape. Cp. 21:21. 2 Kings 9:8), and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, according as a man takes away dung, till it be all gone.
11 Him that dies of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dies in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord (Yehovah) has spoken [it].” ’
12 Arise you therefore, get you to your own house: [and] when your 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 (= burying-place, not sheõl), because in him there is found [some] good thing toward the Lord God (Yehovah Elohim) of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.
14 Moreover the Lord (Yehovah) shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now (here again the text is supposed to be obscure. It is on account of the Figures of speech used: (1) Ellipsis = "But what am I saying 'That day'? Even now has He raised him up". (2) Note the Fig. Amphidiorthõsis = double correction, a correction setting right both hearer and speaker).
15 For the Lord (Yehovah) shall smite Israel, [shaking him] 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 (i.e. the Euphrates), because they have made their groves (= Áshêrim. See Deut.16:21), provoking Yehovah to anger.
16 And He shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin” (first of 21 occ. in these two Books of Kings. #21 = Exceeding sinfulness of sin).
17 And Jeroboam's wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah (= delight. Afterward made the captal of Basha [15:21], till Samaria was built by Omri [15:33; 16:8,15,23,24]): [and] when she came to the threshold of the entrance, the child died;
18 And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord (Yehovah), which He spoke 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 (see 2 Chron.13:3-20).
880 to 858 B.C.
20 And the days which Jeroboam reigned [were] twenty-two years (in 15:25 Nadab reigned 2 years, and began in the second year of Asa, which was the 21st of Jeroboam, so that Nadab's 2 years fall within the time of his father's 22. But from 2 Chron.13:20 we learn that Jeroboam was stricken with a languishing disease, in which time Nadab reigned with him, and died the same year as his father. The number "22" is associated with disorganisation and disintegration [= 2 x 11. It is associated with the worst 2 reigns: Jeroboam here;and Ahab in 16:29): and he slept with his fathers (= died. See Deut.31:16. Said of the wicked Jeroboam and Ahab, as well as of good David and Jehoshaphat), and Nadab his son reigned in his stead.
F¹ P¹ 14:21-31. Rehoboam. P² 15:1-8. Abijam. P³ 15:9-24. Asa.
P¹ O 21. Introduction. P 22-24. Sins. Committed. P 25-28. Sins. Punished. O 29-31. Conclusion.
880 to 863 B.C.
21 And 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 (#17 = victory), the city which the Lord (Yehovah) did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name [was] Naamah (Naamah = lovliness. Mentioned here and in the case of each successive king [cp. 15:10; 22:42. 2 Kings 8:26, &c.]; because the king's character stands connected with the mother; and because of the position which the queen dowager occupied [cp. 2:19; 15:13. Jer.13:18]) an Ammonitess (twice mention, and in connection with Jerusalem. See v.31).
22 And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord (Yehovah), 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 (= Astoreth. See Ex.34:13), on every high hill, and under every green tree.
24 And there were also sodomites in the land (Committers of the sin of Sodom [Gen.19]. Male prostitutes, dedicated to idolatry involving this sin. Connected with the ’Ashtêrah. Cp. Deut.23:17. 1 Kings 15:12; 22:46. 2 Kings 23:7): [and] they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord (Yehovah) cast out before the sons of Israel.
25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, [that] Shishak king of Egypt (founder of the 22nd dynasty. Campaign described on the wall of the temple in Karnak, near Thebes, with portrait of Rehoboam) came up against Jerusalem (see Judg.1:8):
26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord (Yehovah), and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all [he could find]: 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 [them] to 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 (Yehovah), 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, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all [their] days (being named first he was probably the aggressor, contrary to 12:24).
31 And 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 Abijah his son reigned in his stead.