1 Kings 14:11

“ Him who dies of Jeroboam in the city will the dogs eat, and him who dies in the field will the birds of the heavens eat. For YHWH has spoken it.”

Furthermore the deaths of all his household would be violent. Thus if they died in the city their bodies would be left for the scavenger dogs which infested every city to eat. And if they died in the open countryside they would be left to the scavenging birds, for there would be no one to bury them. The picture was a dismal one, but it was the consequence of disobedience, and failing to walk in YHWH's ways. It would in fact happen almost literally, for when Baasha assassinated Jeroboam's son he then proceeded to murder all the other members of the royal family (1 Kings 15:29).

1 Kings 14:12

“ Arise you therefore, get you to your house, and when your feet enter the city, the child will die, and all Israel will mourn for him, and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing towards YHWH, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.”

Furthermore he had no good news for them even as regards their ailing son. For as soon as she returned home her son would die. But he pointed out that he would be the fortunate one, for he alone of Jeroboam's sons would be properly mourned and buried. He alone would come to a respectable grave. And that was because there was that in him, alone of all the house of Jeroboam, which pleased YHWH. Paradoxically then YHWH was in fact looking after his best interests in letting him die. He was doing it because of His love for him. While there was at this stage no inkling of the resurrection, David had made declarations in the Psalms that suggested some kind of continuing existence (Psalms 16:11; Psalms 17:15; Psalms 24:6), and that alone really makes sense of this promise. True believers knew that they were in the hand of God.