1 Kings 14:2

_AND JEROBOAM SAID TO HIS WIFE, ARISE, I PRAY THEE, AND DISGUISE THYSELF, THAT THOU BE NOT KNOWN TO BE THE WIFE OF JEROBOAM; AND GET THEE TO SHILOH: BEHOLD, THERE IS AHIJAH THE PROPHET, WHICH TOLD ME THAT I SHOULD BE KING OVER THIS PEOPLE._ Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise ... disguise thyself. His natural and intense anxiety as a parent is here seen, blended with the deep and artful policy of an apostate king. The reason of his extreme caution was an unwillingness to acknowledge that he looked for information as to the future, not to any of the prophets of Beth-el, but to an independent prophet of the true God; a fear that this step, if publicly known, might endanger the stability of his whole political system; and a strong impression that Ahijah, who was greatly offended with him would, if consulted openly by himself, either insult or refuse to receive him. For these reasons he select...

1-6 "At that time," when Jeroboam did evil, his child sickened. When sickness comes into our families, we should inquire whether there may not be some particular sin harboured in our houses, which the affliction is sent to convince us of, and reclaim us from. It had been more pious if he had desired to know wherefore God contended with him; had begged the prophet's prayers, and cast away his idols from him; but most people would rather be told their fortune, than their faults or their duty. He sent to Ahijah, because he had told him he should be king. Those who by sin disqualify themselves for comfort, yet expect that their ministers, because they are good men, should speak peace and comfort to them, greatly wrong themselves and their ministers. He sent his wife in disguise, that the prophet might only answer her question concerning her son. Thus some people would limit their ministers...

DISGUISE THYSELF - Jeroboam fears that even Ahijah the Shilonite, who in some sort made him king, will scarcely give his queen a favorable answer. The king’s conscience tells him that he has not performed the conditions on which he was promised “a sure house” 1 Kings 11:38....

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 SAID TO HIS WIFE,.... Who she was is not known: ARISE, I PRAY THEE, AND DISGUISE THYSELF; put off her royal apparel, and clothe herself like a common person, mimic the dress and language of a country woman: THAT THOU BE NOT KNOWN TO BE THE WIFE OF JEROBOAM: by any that should see her on the road, or at the city she was to go to, or by the prophet to whom she would be sent: AND GET THEE TO SHILOH; which, according to Bunting g, was twenty four miles, from Tirzah, where Jeroboam now lived, see 1 Kings 14:17 BEHOLD, THERE IS AHIJAH THE PROPHET: called from thence the Shilonite, 1 Kings 11:29, WHICH TOLD ME THAT I SHOULD BE KING OVER THIS PEOPLE: and this coming to pass, proved him to be a true p

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

GET THEE TO SHILOH. He had no confidence in his own gods. They were only political expedients....

_and disguise thyself_ She was to put on such a dress that no one would recognise her for the queen. Jeroboam no doubt felt that the prophets generally were against him, and that if it were known that he was the applicant, he would receive an unfavourable answer. Josephus describes the queen as putting aside her royal robe, and assuming the dress of a private person. Otherwise she could scarcely have gone abroad on her errand. Of course she was also to conceal her identity from Ahijah, but as he was not able to see, the dress would have mattered little on his account. In the LXX. (_Alex._) it is said -they shall not know thee", i.e. people generally. _Ahijah_ On Ahijah and Shiloh see above on 1 Kings 11:29. _which told me that I should be king_ R.V. - WHICH SPAKE CONCERNING ME that I should be king". This is somewhat nearer to the Hebrew, but the difficulty

ARISE, I PRAY THEE, AND DISGUISE THYSELF— Jeroboam 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 is not to be imagined 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 that she would be diligent in her inquiry; and as a wife, faithful in her report; but there were sundry reasons why he might desire her to disguise herself: fo...