Of the prophet who prophesied A. M. 3029. B. C. 975. I. KINGS. 16 And he said, 'I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place: 17 For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest. 18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him. against Jeroboam's altar. 21 And he cried unto the man of A. M. 3029. B. C. 975. God that came from Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the LORD, and hast not kept the commandment which the LORD thy God commanded thee, 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, and drink no water; thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers. 23 ¶ And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled for him the ass, to wit, for the prophet whom 19 So he went back with him, and did eat he had brought back. 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 came unto the prophet that brought him back : i Verses 8, 9.- 4 Heb. a word was. rest in this shady place,) and especially with hunger and thirst, verse 9. And the old prophet might easily guess that this was the prophet from Judah, by his age and carriage, and, it may be, by his prophetic mantle, and by the character which his sons had given of him. Verse 18. But he lied unto him—And yet, probably, not with any evil design, but out of curiosity, to know from his own mouth the truth and all the particulars of the message which he had just delivered to Jeroboam; and to express his kindness to him, and relieve his hunger and weariness, whereby, possibly, he thought he should please God. In this, however, he greatly erred, and involved both himself and the prophet from Judah in guilt and wrath. Verse 19. So he went back with him—Too readily hearkening to his words, and not considering that what God himself had expressly commanded, nothing but the express command of the same God could set aside: otherwise the commands of God might be made of none effect by any one who should feign to have a divine commission. Verses 20-22. The word of the Lord came, &c. -God obliged the prophet, who had caused him to sin, to denounce a punishment against him for it, that it might the more affect him; nothing being more piercing than to be reflected on by those who have caused us to err. And he cried unto the man of Gol—With a loud voice, the effect of his passion, both for his own guilt and shame, and for the prophet's approaching misery. Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord-That is, the word of command coming out of his mouth; thy carcass shall not come into the sepulchre of thy fathers-Thou shalt not die a natural, but a violent death, and that in this journey, before thou returnest to thy own habitation. 24 And when he was gone, ma lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcass was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass. * Chap. xx. 35; 1 Thess. iv. 15. Ver. 9.- -m Chap. xx. 36. Verses 23, 24. He saddled for him the ass-But it is observable, he does not accompany him: his guilty conscience making him fear to be involved in the same judgment with him. A lion met him by the way, and slew him-There was a wood not far from Bethel, out of which the two she-bears came, mentioned 2 Kings ii. 24; and, it is not unlikely, that out of the same wood came the lion that slew this prophet. His carcass was cast in the way-His dead body fell to the ground, and lay in the place where the soul left it. The lion also stood by the carcass-Which plainly showed that he was sent by God to execute only what God had threatened, and not to move one step beyond that commission, otherwise, agreeable to his nature and fierceness, he || would certainly have devoured the carcass and torn the ass. "Some have thought," says Dr. Dodd, "that this prophet's was a small offence to have met with so severe a punishment: but the true state of the case is this: the prophet from Judah had sufficient evidence of the truth of his own revelation; had sufficient cause to suspect some corrupt ends in the prophet who came to recall him; and had sufficient reason to expect an interposition of the same power that gave him the injunction to repeal it; and, therefore, his crime was an easy credulity, a complying with an offer merely to gratify a petulant appetite, which he knew was repugnant to a divine command. It argued a great levity, if not infidelity, of his own revelation, to listen to the pretended one of another man." It must be acknowledged, however, to be strange, that the lying prophet should escape, while he, who, notwithstanding this error, was truly a man of God, is so severely punished. But judgment must begin at the house of God: God must correct his own children first. And there is a judgment to come, when these things shall be called The disobedient prophet B. C. 975. CHAPTER XIII. A. M. 3029. 25 And behold, men passed by, and saw the carcass cast in the way, and the lion standing by the carcass: 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, who was disobedient unto the word of the LORD: 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. 5 Heb. broken. over again, and when those who sinned most and Verses 25, 26. They came and told it in the city -As a wonderful thing that the lion should neither fall upon his prey, nor hurt them who passed by, but suffer them to go on quietly. Who was disobecient unto the word of the Lord-Which was the true reason why he was so severely punished, in || order that other prophets might not, upon any pretence or excuse, neglect punctually to attend to, and observe all the divine injunctions; for, had they not been deterred from neglecting and disregarding them, the authority of prophecy would have been soon lessened, and consequently the people have sooner or more readily fallen into idolatry. Which hath torn and slain him, according to the word of the Lord-God had not expressly said that a lion should tear him; but, that he should suffer a violent death in some way, was implied in the threatening that his carcass should not come into the sepulchre is slain by a lion. B. C. 975. 27 And he spake to his sons, say- A. M. 3029. ing, Saddle me the ass. And they saddled him. 28 And he went and found his carcass cast in the way, and the ass and the lion standing by the carcass: the lion had not eaten the carcass, nor torn the ass. 29 And the prophet took up the carcass of the man of God, 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 carcass in his own grave; Heb. broken. tion was divine, and would be infallibly accomplished in its proper time: and 3d, As a token of God's favour to the deceased prophet, of whose very carcass he took such special care; thereby signifying, that, although for wise and just reasons he thought fit to take away his life, yet his remains were precious to him. Verses 29, 30. The prophet, (namely, the old prophet,) took up the carcass of the man of God"If there were any truth," says Henry, "in the vulgar opinion, sure the corpse bled afresh when he touched it; for he was, in effect, the murderer." He laid his carcass in his own grave-A poor reparation this of the injury done him in deceiving him, and persuading him to disobey the command of God to his ruin. Hereby, however, the divine threatening, (in verse 22,) was fulfilled; and withal, the memory of his prophecy was revived from time to time, by the sight of his grave, and preserved among them; and even his carcass, resting there, might be a witness of their madness and desperate wickedness, in continuing to practise their abominable, idolatrous worship, after such an assurance of the dreadful effects of it. They mourned over him-Namely, the old prophet and his sons, and others, whom common humanity taught to lament the untimely death of so worthy a person. Saying, Alas! my brother-Which was a usual form of expression in funeral lamentations. "The case, indeed, was very piteous," says Henry, "that so Verse 28. He found, &c.-Here was a concur- good a man, so faithful a prophet, and one so bold rence of miracles: that the ass did not run away in God's cause, should, for one offence, die as a from the lion, according to his nature, but boldly criminal, while an old, lying prophet lived at ease, stood still, as waiting to carry the prophet to his bu- and an idolatrous prince in pomp and power. Thy rial; that the lion did not devour his prey, nor tear way, O God, is in the sea, and thy path in the great the ass, nor meddle with the travellers that passed waters! We cannot judge of men by their sufferby, nor hurt the old prophet, when he came to the ings, nor of sins by their present punishments. spot, nor his ass; nor yet go away, when he had With some the flesh is destroyed, that the spirit done his work, but stood still, as if, 1st, To preserve may be saved; while, with others, the flesh is pamthe carcass of the prophet, whom he had slain, from pered, that the soul may ripen for hell." The other wild beasts or fowls: 2d, As an evidence that reader will be pleased to see a similar reflection by the prophet's death was not casual, nor the effect of Dr. Dodd. "Upon a review of this narrative, who disposition, but of God's singular can fail to admire the unsearchable secrets of the and just judgment, who had directed the lion, by a divine justice? Jeroboam revolts from his lawful supernatural power, how far to go, and where to sovereign, forsakes the worship of the true God, stop; and, consequently, that the prophet's predic-engages the people in gross idolatry, and is himself of his fathers. a lion's ravenous Jeroboam continues I. KINGS. in his idolatry. A. M. 3029. and they mourned over him, saying, || which are in the cities of Samaria, A. M. 3029. shall surely come to pass. B. C. 975. "Alas, my brother! 31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying which he cried by the word of the LORD against the altar in Beth-el, and against all the houses of the high places a Jer. xxii. 18. B. C. 975. 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 of the high places. 34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. 2 Kings xxiii. 17.—p Ver. 2; 2 Kings xxiii. 7 Heb. returned and made.- — 16, 19.- -9 Ch. xvi. 24. Heb. filled his hand, Judg. xvii. 12. might easily be inferred from what he had predicted. Thus, by the mouth of two witnesses, was it established, if possible, to convince Jeroboam. hardened by the menaces and miracles of the prophet, who was sent to him; a false prophet deceives an innocent man with a lie, and draws him into an act of disobedience, contrary to his inclination; yet Verse 33. After this-That is, after all these this wicked Jeroboam, and this seducing prophet, things; the singular number being put for the pluescape immediate punishment, while the other, who ral; after so many evident and successive miracles; might mean no ill, perhaps, in turning back, is slain || Jeroboam returned not from his evil ways—He was by a lion, and his body deprived of the sepulchre not at all changed in his principles or practice, but of his fathers! We must acknowledge, indeed, that continued in his idolatry. Made again of the lowthe depths of the judgments of God are an abyss est of the people, &c.-He abated not so much as a which our understandings cannot fathom; but no- circumstance in his idolatrous worship. Whosoever thing certainly can be a more sensible proof of the|| would he consecrated him, &c.—Without any respect certainty of another life, and of the eternal recom- to tribe, or family, or integrity of body,or mind, or life, penses or punishments which attend it, than to see all which things were to be regarded in the priesthood the righteous so rigorously treated here, for slight offences, while, sentence not being speedily executed against evil men, we have an assurance from thence that God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil, Eccles. xii. 14.” Verse 34. This thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam-An occasion of sin, and a mean of hard ening all his posterity in their idolatry; or, rather, it became a punishment, as the word sin often signifies. This his obstinate continuance in his idolatry, after such warnings, brought dreadful punishVerses 31, 32. When I am dead, &c.-Though ments upon his family, and these not of an ordinary he was a lying prophet, yet he desired to die the kind; but such as effected its utter extirpation. We death of a true prophet. Gather not my soul with may reflect here with Ostervald, on the astonishing the sinners of Beth-el, but with this man of God: blindness and ingratitude of Jeroboam. "Instead because, what he cried against the altar of Beth-el of relying on the promises which God had made shall surely come to pass-Which he might easily him, to preserve the kingdom in his family, if he conclude, both from the miracles wrought by the continued faithful, fearing lest his subjects should prophet of Judah, and from the wonderful particu- forsake him, if they went to worship at Jerusalem; lars of his death. And against all the high places out of a false policy he set up an idolatrous worship which are in the cities of Samaria-That is, of the in his kingdom, which occasioned the ruin of his kingdom of Samaria, as it was called, though not family, and at last the ruin of the kingdom of the when this fact was done, yet before these books were ten tribes. Thus men, instead of trusting to God, written. Samaria was properly the name of one in the faithful discharge of their duty, for security, city; but, as it became the capital of the kingdom have recourse to ill methods, whereby they draw of Israel, that whole kingdom was so called from it. upon themselves, at length, those very misfortunes The prophet of Judah had not indeed threatened as they mean to avoid." Indeed, all those betray themmuch as the prophet of Beth-el here mentions, (un-selves effectually, who endeavour to support themless he said more than is related verse 2,) but it selves or families by any sin. CHAPTER XIV. Jeroboam sends to the prophet to inquire concerning his sick son, 1-6. The destruction of Jeroboam's house foretold, 7–16. The death of his child, 17, 18. The conclusion of his reign, 19, 20. The declension of Rehoboam's house and kingdom, 24-28. The conclusion of his reign, 29–31. Jeroboam sends his wife A. M. 3048. CHAPTER XIV. AYAT that time Abijah the son of Je B. C. 956. roboam fell sick. 3 And take 1with thee ten loaves, and 'cracknels, and a 3 cruise 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. disguised to Ahijah. B. C. 956. the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a 4. M. 3048. || 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. 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? for I am sent to thee with 5 heavy tidings. e 8 And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou 5¶ And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold,|| hast not been as my servant David, who kept Chapter xi. 31.1 Samuel ix. 7.- Heb. in thine hand. Heb. stood for his hoariness.——— - Heb. hard d 2 Sam. xii. 7; Chap. xvi. 2.- e Chap. xi. 31.- Chap. xi. 33, 38; xv. 5. NOTES ON CHAPTER XIV. here directed to take, was of such things as suited Verse 1. At that time-Presently after the things the disguise in which she was to go, and were calcurelated in the foregoing chapter, which, though ap-||lated to make Ahijah think her a country woman parently connected with the beginning of his reign,|| rather than a queen. And go to him—To inquire yet might possibly be done a good while after it, and the event of this sickness, as the following words so Ahijah the prophet be very old, as he is described imply. It would have been more pious to have into be, verse 4. It is probable this Abijah was Jero- quired why God contended with him; to have deboam's eldest son. sired the prophet to pray for him, and to have cast away his idols; then the child might have been restored to him, as his hand was: "but most people,” says Henry, would rather be told their fortune, than told their faults, or their duty." Verse 2. Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, &c.He most probably sent his wife to consult the prophet at Shiloh, because this was a secret not to be intrusted with any body else; a secret which, had it been divulged, might have endangered his whole government; because, if once his subjects came to understand that he himself had no confidence in the calves which he had set up, but in any matter of importance had recourse to true worshippers of God, it can hardly be conceived what an inducement this would have been for them to forsake these senseless idols, and to return to the worship of the God of Israel, whom they had imprudently forsaken. The queen then was the only person in whom he could have confidence. As a mother he knew she would be diligent in her inquiry; and as a wife faithful in her report"-Dodd. Disguise thyself-Change thy habit and voice, and go like a private and obscure person. This caution proceeded, first, from the pride of his heart, which made him unwilling to confess his folly in worshipping such helpless idols, and to give glory to the God whom he had forsaken: secondly, from jealousy and suspicion, lest the Prophet Ahijah, (who he knew was greatly offended at him for the idolatry he had introduced,) if he knew ber to be his wife, should either give her no answer, or make things worse than indeed they were. Verse 3. Take with thee ten loaves, &c.-It was usual for those that went to inquire of a prophet to make him some present as a token of their respect for him, 1 Sam. ix. 7. The present which she was Verse 4. But Ahijah could not see-He not only lived obscure and neglected in Shiloh, but was blind through age: yet he was still blessed with the visions of the Almighty; which require not bodily eyes; but are rather favoured by the want of them, the eyes of the mind being then most intent and least diverted. His eyes were set, &c.-Hebrew, 10 p, kamu misheibo, stood for his hoariness— No longer performed their office, by reason of his great age. Perhaps the fibres and muscles by which the eyes and eye-lids are moved, were contracted and withered, the optic nerves become effete, or film or cataract was grown over his eyes. Verse 6. Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam-He called her aloud by her name before she entered the house, doubtless to her great surprise, and thus not only showed that he knew her, notwithstanding the disguise in which she had come, but discovered to all about him who she was. By which discovery he both reproved their folly, who thought to conceal themselves from God, and withal gave her assurance of the truth and certainty of that message which he was to deliver, that she might give the greater credit to his words. Verse 8. Thou hast not been as my servant David-Who, though he fell into some sins, yet, 1st, He constantly persevered in the true worship of The prediction of Ahijah B. C. 956. B. C. 956. A. M. 3048. my commandments, and who follow- || field shall the fowls of the air eat: A. M. 3048. ed me with all his heart, to do that for the LORD hath spoken it. only which was right in mine eyes; 12 Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. 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, 1and 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 m Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the 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 some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. 14 P Moreover, the LORD 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 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 m I Chap. xvi. 4; xxi. 24.- Verse 17o 2 Chron. xii. 12; xix. 3. -p Chap. xv. 27, 28, 29. 2 Kings xvii. 6; Psalm lii. 5.- r Josh. xxiii. 15, 16. upon thy entrance into the city; when thou art gone but a little way in it, even as far as the threshold of the king's door, (verse 17,) the child shall die -And by this judge of the truth of the rest of my prophecy. Verse 9. But hast done evil above all that were before thee-Above all the judges and former kings of my people, none of whom set up images, and Verse 13. All Israel shall mourn for him-For persuaded the people to worship them. For thou the loss of so worthy and hopeful a person, and for hast made thee other gods, and molten images- the sad calamities which will follow his death, which Namely, the golden calves: not as if they thought possibly his moderation, and wisdom, and virtue, them to be other gods in a proper sense, but only might have prevented. So they should mourn, not representations of the true God; for it is apparent simply for him, but for their own loss in him. He they still pretended to worship the God of their only shall come to the grave-Shall have the honour fathers; but because God rejected their whole wor- of burial. In him is found some good-Pious intenship, and, howsoever they accounted it, he reckoned tions of taking away the calves, and of permitting it a manifest defection from him, and a betaking or obliging his people to go up to Jerusalem to worthemselves to other gods, or devils, as they are call-ship, if God gave him life and authority to do it, and ed 2 Chron. xi. 15, whom alone they served and worshipped therein, whatsoever pretences they had to the contrary. To provoke-Whereby thou didst provoke me. For otherwise this was not Jeroboam's design in it, but only to establish himself in the throne. And hast cast me behind thy back-Despised and forsaken me, and my commands, and my worship, as we do things which we cast behind our backs. Verses 10, 11. Will cut off him that is shut up Those who had escaped the fury of their enemies invading them, either because they were shut up in caves, or castles, or strong towns: or, because they were left, overlooked, or neglected by them, or spared as poor, impotent, helpless creatures. But now, saith he, they shall be all searched out, and brought to destruction. As a man taketh away dung-Which they remove as a loathsome thing, out of their houses, and that thoroughly and universally. Shall the fowls of the air eat--So both sorts shall die and lie on the ground unburied. Verse 12. When thy feet enter into the city-Or, rather, when thy feet have entered: that is, presently of trusting God with his kingdom. In the house of Jeroboam-Which is added for his greater commendation; he was good in the midst of so many temptations and wicked examples; a good branch of a bad stock. Verse 14. The Lord shall raise him up a king— This king was Baasha, chap. xv. 27. Who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day-When he is so raised up, in the very beginning of his reign. But what ?-Do I say he shall raise, as if it were a thing to be done at a great distance of time? The man is now in being, if not in power, who shall do this: this judgment shall be shortly executed. Sometimes God makes quick work with sinners. He did so with the house of Jeroboam. It was not twentyfour years from his first elevation to the final extirpation of his family. Verses 15, 16. For the Lord shall smite Israel-For consenting to that idolatrous worship which Jeroboam set up. As a reed is shaken in the waterHither and thither, with every wind. So shall the kingdom and people of Israel be always in an unquiet and unsettled state, tossed to and fro by > |