1 Kings 14:17

_AND JEROBOAM'S WIFE AROSE, AND DEPARTED, AND CAME TO TIRZAH: AND WHEN SHE CAME TO THE THRESHOLD OF THE DOOR, THE CHILD DIED;_ Tirzah - the residence of an ancient king of Canaan; a place of pre-eminent beauty (Song of Solomon 6:4), and probably of great salubrity also, three hours traveling east of Samaria; chosen, when Israel became a separate kingdom, by the first monarch, in whose reign, 'it was to Shechem what Windsor is to London' (Porter's 'Handbook,' p. 348), and used during three short reigns (about 40 years) as a residence of the royal house (Joshua 12:24; 1 Kings 15:17). The fertile plains and wooded hills in that part of the territory of Ephraim gave an opening to the forma

7-20 Whether we keep an account of God's mercies to us or not, he does; and he will set them in order before us, if we are ungrateful, to our greater confusion. Ahijah foretells the speedy death of the child then sick, in mercy to him. He only in the house of Jeroboam had affection for the true worship of God, and disliked the worship of the calves. To show the power and sovereignty of his grace, God saves some out of the worst families, in whom there is some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel. The righteous are removed from the evil to come in this world, to the good to come in a better world. It is often a bad sign for a family, when the best in it are buried out of it. Yet their death never can be a loss to themselves. It was a present affliction to the family and kingdom, by which both ought to have been instructed. God also tells the judgments which should come upon the peop...

Jeroboam had by this time removed from Shechem, and established a new capital in Tirzah, one of the old Canaanite towns Joshua 12:24 - a town of great reputation for beauty, counted in that respect on a par with Jerusalem Song of Solomon 6:4. Tirzah is perhaps to be identified with “Telluzah,” a place in the mountains about 9 miles distant from Shechem (Nablous) (or with Teiasir - Conder). It may have been the palatial residence of the kings rather than the actual capital of the country. It remained the capital until Omri built Samaria 1 Kings 16:23. Toward the close of the kingdom it appears again as the city of Menahem, who murdered Shallum and succeeded him...

EXPOSITION THE DEATH OF JEROBOAM'S SON.—The protest of the prophet of Judah, the signs which supported it, and above all the solemn visitation, with its strange portents, which straightway followed it, having alike failed to arrest Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:33) in his high-handed and shameless depravation of the true religion, we now read of the retribution which came upon his family, and which began with the sickness and death of his firstborn. We can hardly regard this as a part of the discipline designed to reform the king, and so avert the schism, for the narrative distinctly conveys the impression that Jeroboam's day of grace was past, and that judgment was already begun. Moreover these events would seem to belong to a much later period than that of which the preceding chapter treats—a peri

AND JEROBOAM'S WIFE AROSE, AND DEPARTED, e.] Upon this speech of the prophet's to her: AND CAME TO TIRZAH where Jeroboam now had his court, and where their son now was; it was a royal city in the time of the Canaanites, and is commonly placed in the tribe of Manasseh, and was a very pleasant one, as its name signifies, to which there is an allusion, Song of Solomon 6:4, Joshua 12:24, AND WHEN SHE CAME TO THE THRESHOLD OF THE DOOR, THE CHILD DIED: just as she was about to step over the threshold of the royal palace, which seems to have been at the entering of the city of Tirzah, 1 Kings 14:12....

CHAPTER 14 THE PASSING OF JEROBOAM AND REHOBOAM _ 1. Sickness and death of Jeroboam's son (1 Kings 14:1)_ 2. Jeroboam's reign and death (1 Kings 14:19) 3. Rehoboam's apostasy, punishment and death (1 Kings 14:21) We come now to the passing of both kings, Jeroboam of Israel and Rehoboam of Judah. Abijah (Jehovah is my father), the son of wicked Jeroboam, was sick. “That child was the one green spot in Jeroboam's life and home; the one germ of hope. And as his father loved him truly, so all Israel had set their hopes on him. Upon the inner life of this child, its struggles and its victories, lies the veil of Scripture silence; and best that it should be so. But now his pulses were b

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 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 King

TIRZAH. Afterward made the capital by Baasha (1 Kings 15:21), till Samaria was built by Omri (1 Kings 15:33. 1Ki 16:8, 1 Kings 16:15; 1 Kings 16:23; 1 Kings 16:24)....

_and came to Tirzah_ This place has not been identified with certainty. It was an ancient city, mentioned first Joshua 12:24. Its beauty is celebrated in Song of Solomon 6:4. Jeroboam, as we see here, made it a royal residence, and it was so used, and by some kings as a place of burial, till Omri built Samaria. It was almost certainly on the west of Jordan, and probably not far from the present _Nablous_. The LXX. (_Alex._) gives εἱς γῆν Σαριρά, on which see 1 Kings 12:2 additional note. _to the threshold of the door_ The Hebrew (as R.V. gives) has -the threshold of the HOUSE....

C. THE MOURNING OVER JEROBOAM'S SON 14:17-18 TRANSLATION (17) And the wife of Jeroboam arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah, and when she was about to enter the threshold of the door, the lad died. (18) And all Israel buried him, and lamented for him according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by the hand of His servant Ahijah the prophet. COMMENTS With sad heart the queen arose to make the long twenty-five mile trek back to the capital at Tirzah.[362] When the distraught lady entered the threshold of the palace, her son died (1 Kings 14:17). At first sight this statement seems to be at variance with the prediction of 1 Kings 14:12, that the child would die when the queen entered the _city._ But the palace may have been on the edge of the city, or the city may have b