Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
1 Kings 14:3
“ And take with you ten loaves, and cakes, and a cruse of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child.”
He also told his wife to take with her a good supply of provisions for the prophet. This was not a bribe, but normal practise. The size of the gift was limited lest Ahijah guess who it was from. We should note in this regard that prophets were regularly consulted on health matters, and other matters of local concern, and it was seemingly considered right to take them food. Compare Samuel in 1 Samuel 9:6. Worldly people, however, probably thought that the more generous the gift that they sent, the more generous would be the reply, for that was how they behaved in their own lives. And his hope was that the prophet would give him good news about his young son, and might even heal him.
‘ And Jeroboam's wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age.'
Jeroboam's wife obediently did what she was told, and rose up and went to Shiloh, to the house of Ahijah the prophet. Ahijah was blind through old age and could not see clearly. Shiloh had by this time been partly restored after its mauling by the Philistines.
‘ And YHWH said to Ahijah, “See, the wife of Jeroboam comes to enquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus shall you say to her, for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend that she is another woman.” '
But while Ahijah was at least partially blind physically, he was not spiritually blind, and YHWH still spoke to him. YHWH forewarned him who was coming to see him, and the reason for her visit, and that she would be in disguise. And He also told Ahijah what he was to say to her from YHWH, once she had arrived.
‘ And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, “Come in, you wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend that you are another? For I am sent to you with heavy tidings”
When the woman entered, no doubt hoping that her disguise would not be penetrated by the blind old prophet, she must have been greatly disconcerted when he welcomed her as the wife of Jeroboam, and asked her why she was pretending to be someone else. (Although he hardly needed to be a prophet to know in fact the reason for the subterfuge). The point behind his question was that she should have known that nothing was hidden from YHWH, the all-seeing. He then informed her that he had heavy tidings for her.
“ Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, ‘Forasmuch as I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel, and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it to you, and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do only what was right in my eyes, but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back,”
The heavy tidings concerned the covenant that YHWH had made with Jeroboam through Ahijah. As the God of Israel YHWH had exalted Jeroboam over Israel, and had made him prince (nagid, YHWH's war-leader) over them, and had torn a large proportion of David's kingdom from his house and had given it to Jeroboam. But Jeroboam had not responded in kind. He had not behaved like David, who had kept His commandments and followed Him with all his heart, doing only what was right in His eyes, but had rather done evil more than all who had come before him. He had made for himself ‘other gods' and molten images in order to provoke YHWH to anger, and as a result he had cast YHWH behind his back. The molten images were, of course, the golden calves. The ‘other gods' were the result of the syncretism that his actions had brought into Israel's worship with the result that they were worshipping Baal and Asherah as well, at the same time as they worshipped YHWH, and even probably sometimes worshipped Baal under the name of YHWH. (It was easy to mix up YHWH with Baal nominally, because Baal meant ‘lord' and YHWH could be addressed as ‘baali' - ‘my Lord' - Hosea 3:16-17). But the underlying attributes of the god that they were worshipping were those of Baal, with plenty of ritual sex and no morals. They had cast YHWH and His pure covenant behind their backs.
“Have done evil above all who were before you.” There was a long history in Israel of leaders who had failed YHWH's people, commencing with Aaron who had made the golden calf, but Jeroboam had out-sinned them all. It should be noted that there is nothing particularly ‘Deuteronomic' about these words. The ideas are simply generally Mosaic.
“And have cast me behind your back.” Compare Ezekiel 23:35. It indicates total rejection (compare Jesus' words to Peter, “get you behind me Satan” - Matthew 16:23).