
Text -- 1 Kings 16:34 (NET)




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collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)
Wesley: 1Ki 16:34 - -- This is added, as an instance of the certainty of divine predictions, this being fulfilled eight hundred years after it was threatened; and withal, as...
This is added, as an instance of the certainty of divine predictions, this being fulfilled eight hundred years after it was threatened; and withal, as a warning to the Israelites, not to think themselves innocent or safe, because the judgment threatened against them by Ahijah, 1Ki 14:15, was not yet executed. Or, as an evidence of the horrible corruption of his times, and of that high contempt of God which then reigned.

Wesley: 1Ki 16:34 - -- Who lived in Bethel, the seat and sink of idolatry, wherewith he was throughly leavened.
Who lived in Bethel, the seat and sink of idolatry, wherewith he was throughly leavened.

Wesley: 1Ki 16:34 - -- That is, in the beginning of his building, God took away his first-born, and others successively in the progress of the work, and the youngest when he...
That is, in the beginning of his building, God took away his first-born, and others successively in the progress of the work, and the youngest when he finished it. And so he found by his own sad experience, the truth of God's word.
JFB -> 1Ki 16:34
JFB: 1Ki 16:34 - -- (see on Jos 6:26). The curse took effect on the family of this reckless man but whether his oldest son died at the time of laying the foundation, and ...
(see on Jos 6:26). The curse took effect on the family of this reckless man but whether his oldest son died at the time of laying the foundation, and the youngest at the completion of the work, or whether he lost all his sons in rapid succession, till, at the end of the undertaking, he found himself childless, the poetical form of the ban does not enable us to determine. Some modern commentators think there is no reference either to the natural or violent deaths of Hiel's sons; but that he began in presence of his oldest son, but some unexpected difficulties, losses, or obstacles, delayed the completion till his old age, when the gates were set up in the presence of his youngest son. But the curse was fulfilled more than five hundred years after it was uttered; and from Jericho being inhabited after Joshua's time (Jdg 3:13; 2Sa 10:5), it has been supposed that the act against which the curse was directed, was an attempt at the restoration of the walls--the very walls which had been miraculously cast down. It seems to have been within the territory of Israel; and the unresisted act of Hiel affords a painful evidence how far the people of Israel had lost all knowledge of, or respect for, the word of God.
Clarke -> 1Ki 16:34
Clarke: 1Ki 16:34 - -- Did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho - I wish the reader to refer to my note on Jos 6:26, for a general view of this subject. I shall add a few obs...
Did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho - I wish the reader to refer to my note on Jos 6:26, for a general view of this subject. I shall add a few observations. Joshua’ s curse is well known: "Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho; he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born; and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it,"Jos 6:26. This is the curse, but the meaning of its terms is not very obvious. Let us see how this is to be understood from the manner in which it was accomplished
"In his days did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho; he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub; according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun."This prediction was delivered upwards of five hundred years before the event; and though it was most circumstantially fulfilled, yet we know not the precise meaning of some of the terms used in the original execration, and in this place, where its fulfillment is mentioned. There are three opinions on the words, lay the foundation in his first-born, and set up the gates in his youngest son
1. It is thought that when he laid the foundation of the city, his eldest son, the hope of his family, died by the hand and judgment of God, and that all his children died in succession; so that when the doors were ready to be hung, his youngest and last child died, and thus, instead of securing himself a name, his whole family became extinct
2. These expressions signify only great delay in the building; that he who should undertake it should spend nearly his whole life in it; all the time in which he was capable of procreating children; in a word, that if a man laid the foundation when his first-born came into the world, his youngest and last son should be born before the walls should be in readiness to admit the gates to be set up in them; and that the expression is of the proverbial kind, intimating greatly protracted labor, occasioned by multitudinous hinderances and delays
3. That he who rebuilt this city should, in laying the foundation, slay or sacrifice his firstborn, in order to consecrate it, and secure the assistance of the objects of his idolatrous worship; and should slay his youngest at the completion of the work, as a gratitude-offering for the assistance received. This latter opinion seems to be countenanced by the Chaldee, which represents Hiel as slaying his first-born Abiram, and his youngest son Segub
But who was Hiel the Beth-elite? The Chaldee calls him Hiel of Beth-mome, or the Beth-momite; the Vulgate, Hiel of Beth-el; the Septuagint, Hiel the Baithelite; the Syriac represents Ahab as the builder: "Also in his days did Ahab build Jericho, the place of execration;"the Arabic, "Also in his days did Hiel build the house of idols - to wit, Jericho."The MSS. give us no help. None of these versions, the Chaldee excepted, intimates that the children were either slain or died; which circumstance seems to strengthen the opinion, that the passage is to be understood of delays and hinderances. Add to this, Why should the innocent children of Hiel suffer for their father’ s presumption? And is it likely that, if Hiel lost his first-born when he laid the foundation, he would have proceeded under this evidence of the Divine displeasure, and at the risk of losing his whole family? Which of these opinions is the right one, or whether any of them be correct, is more than I can pretend to state. A curse seems to rest still upon Jericho: it is not yet blotted out of the map of Palestine, but it is reduced to a miserable village, consisting of about thirty wretched cottages, and the governor’ s dilapidated castle; nor is there any ruin there to indicate its former splendor.
Defender -> 1Ki 16:34
Defender: 1Ki 16:34 - -- This terrible event was a precise fulfillment of Joshua's prophecy at the time he had destroyed Jericho over 500 years before (Jos 6:26). Hiel determi...
This terrible event was a precise fulfillment of Joshua's prophecy at the time he had destroyed Jericho over 500 years before (Jos 6:26). Hiel determined to rebuild the fortifications of Jericho, defying Joshua's curse on anyone attempting this, evidently as a gesture of Baalite defiance of Jehovah. It cost him the lives of his sons, either as sacrifices to Baal or as casualties of the construction work."
TSK -> 1Ki 16:34

collapse allCommentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)
Barnes -> 1Ki 16:34
Barnes: 1Ki 16:34 - -- This seems to be adduced as a proof of the general impiety of Ahab’ s time. The curse of Joshua against the man who should rebuild Jericho had ...
This seems to be adduced as a proof of the general impiety of Ahab’ s time. The curse of Joshua against the man who should rebuild Jericho had hitherto been believed and respected. But now faith in the old religion had so decayed, that Joshua’ s malediction had lost its power. Hiel, a Bethelite of wealth and station, undertook to restore the long-ruined fortress. But he suffered for his temerity. In exact accordance with the words of Joshua’ s curse, he lost his firstborn son when he began to lay anew the foundations of the walls, and his youngest when he completed his work by setting up the gates. We need not suppose that Jericho had been absolutely uninhabited up to this time. But it was a ruined and desolate place without the necessary protection of walls, and containing probably but few houses (Jdg 3:13 note). Hiel re-established it as a city, and it soon became once more a place of some importance 2Ch 28:15.
Poole -> 1Ki 16:34
Poole: 1Ki 16:34 - -- In his days: this is here added,
1. As a character of the time, and an instance of the truth and certainty of Divine predictions and comminations, t...
In his days: this is here added,
1. As a character of the time, and an instance of the truth and certainty of Divine predictions and comminations, this being fulfilled eight hundred years after it was threatened; and withal, as a warning to the Israelites, not to think themselves innocent or safe, because the judgment threatened against them by Ahijah, 1Ki 14:15 , was not yet executed, though they continued in that calf-worship which he condemned; but to expect the certain accomplishment of it in due time, if they persisted in their impenitency. Or,
2. As an evidence of the horrible corruption of his times, and of that high contempt of God which then reigned.
Hiel the Beth-elite who lived in Beth-el, the seat and sink of idolatry, wherewith he was thoroughly leavened.
Built Jericho a place seated in the tribe of Benjamin, but belonging to the kingdom of Israel; which place he seems to have chosen for his buildings; not so much for his own advantage as out of a contempt of the true God, and of his threatenings, which he designed to convince of falsehood by his own experience; and out of an ambitious desire to. advance his own reputation and interest thereby, by attempting that which he knew his king and queen too would be highly pleased with.
He laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub i.e. in the beginning of his building God took away his first-born, and others successively in the progress of the work, and the youngest when he finished it. And so he found by his own sad experience the truth of God’ s word, and how vain it was to contend with him.
Quest. Why did not God rather punish Hiel himself?
Answ This was a terrible punishment, to see his children cut off by Divine vengeance before their time, one after another; and all this for his own folly and rashness. Compare Jer 52:10 . And as for Hiel himself, possibly after he had been spared so long, that he might be an eyewitness of his sons untimely deaths, he also might be cut off, though it be not recorded, as not belonging to the prophecy here mentioned; or if not, his present impunity was his greatest misery; either as it continued his torment in the sad and lasting remembrance of his loss and misery; or as it was a mean to harden his heart so for greater judgments, to which he was reserved.
According to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua of which See Poole "Jos 6:26" .
Haydock -> 1Ki 16:34
Haydock: 1Ki 16:34 - -- Hand. Josue had committed this curse to writing. (Haydock) ---
Hiel, an idolater, did not regard it, and Achab had not zeal to attempt to hinder h...
Hand. Josue had committed this curse to writing. (Haydock) ---
Hiel, an idolater, did not regard it, and Achab had not zeal to attempt to hinder him. But divine Providence punished his audacity. (Calmet) ---
All his sons perished, while the city was rebuilding. (Worthington) ---
See Josue vi. 26. (Calmet)
Gill -> 1Ki 16:34
Gill: 1Ki 16:34 - -- And in his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho,.... Which was forbidden by Joshua under an anathema; but this man, either ignorant of that adjur...
And in his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho,.... Which was forbidden by Joshua under an anathema; but this man, either ignorant of that adjuration of Joshua, or in contempt and defiance of it, and knowing it might please the king and queen, set about the rebuilding of it; and it being done by the leave and under the authority of Ahab, is mentioned together with his wicked actions:
he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn: that is, his firstborn died as soon as he laid the foundation of the city, but this did not deter him from going on with it:
and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub; all the rest of his children died as he was rebuilding the city, until only his youngest son was left, and he was taken off by death just as he had finished it, signified by setting up the gates of it: all which was
according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun: between four hundred and five hundred years ago. It was after this a place of great note, and so continued many hundreds of years; See Gill on Jos 6:26 but is now, as Mr. Maundrell says k, a poor nasty village of the Arabs.

expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: 1Ki 16:34 Warned through Joshua son of Nun. For the background to this statement, see Josh 6:26, where Joshua pronounces a curse on the one who dares to rebuild...
Geneva Bible -> 1Ki 16:34
Geneva Bible: 1Ki 16:34 In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build ( n ) Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his yo...

expand allCommentary -- Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis -> 1Ki 16:1-34
TSK Synopsis: 1Ki 16:1-34 - --1 Jehu's prophecy against Baasha.5 Elah succeeds him.8 Zimri, conspiring against Elah, succeeds him.11 Zimri executes Jehu's prophecy.15 Omri, made ki...
MHCC -> 1Ki 16:29-34
MHCC: 1Ki 16:29-34 - --Ahab did evil above all that reigned before him, and did it with a particular enmity both against Jehovah and Israel. He was not satisfied with breaki...
Matthew Henry -> 1Ki 16:29-34
Matthew Henry: 1Ki 16:29-34 - -- We have here the beginning of the reign of Ahab, of whom we have more particulars recorded than of any of the kings of Israel. We have here only a g...
Keil-Delitzsch -> 1Ki 16:34
Keil-Delitzsch: 1Ki 16:34 - --
In his time Hiël the Bethelite ( האלי בּית ; compare Ges. § 111. 1 with § 86, 2. 5) built Jericho: "he laid the foundation of it with A...
Constable -> 1Ki 16:29--22:41; 1Ki 16:29-34
Constable: 1Ki 16:29--22:41 - --1. Ahab's evil reign in Israel 16:29-22:40
Ahab ruled Israel from Samaria for 22 years (874-853 ...
