Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 14:1-20. Visit of Jeroboam's Wife to Ahijah.—Here we have an ancient story with Deuteronomic additions. According to the LXX (1 Kings 12:24 g-m), Jeroboam sent his wife (Ano) to the prophet before he became king. Ahijah foretells the child's death, and the ruin of Jeroboam's house, but gives no reason for either calamity. He is introduced as a new person, and he is not blind. Ano is not yet queen, so she has no need to disguise herself. As 1 Kings 14:7-11 in the Heb. is obviously Deuteronomic, probably the early story merely related that Ahijah foretold the death of Ahijah. Notice that even in the Deuteronomic amplification Jeroboam's sin is not that of neglecting Jerusalem, but making "other gods and molten images" (1 Kings 14:9).

1 Kings 14:21-31. Reign of Rehoboam.—The formula in 1 Kings 14:21 is regularly employed in Kings. The LXX make his age sixteen, and gives him twelve years. The name of the king's mother is given, since she, and not the wife, was the chief lady of the court. The title she bore was not queen, but lady (gebhirah, 1 Kings 15:13). Being an Ammonitess, Naamah would naturally have encouraged her son in idolatry. But in 1 Kings 14:23, whereas it is usual in Kings to give the verdict on the king "he did good," "he did evil," in this case Judah is blamed; the LXX, however, says "Rehoboam did evil," etc. The sins of Judah are enumerated as building high places, setting up pillars (maççeboth), and Asherim (A.V. "groves") on every high hill, and under every green tree, and doing according to the abominations of the nations (1 Kings 14:23 f.). Even in Judah down to the days of Hezekiah there were many sanctuaries (for "high places" see on 1 Kings 3:1, and for "groves," etc. on 1 Kings 15:13 ff.). The chief event of the reign was the invasion of Shishak or Sheshonq, a king of the 22nd Egyptian dynasty (pp. 58, 71). This invasion is mentioned in the lists in the temple of Amun in Karnak, and Ephraimite as well as Judæan cities are enumerated. Here apparently it is introduced only to explain how the shields of gold disappeared from the Temple. In 2 Chronicles 12 Rehoboam is said to have repented of his sin at the exhortation of the prophet Shemaiah after Shishak's invasion.