1 Kings 12:1--16:28
Rehoboam <07346> [Rehoboam.]
Shechem ........ Shechem <07927> [Shechem.]
[Sichem.]
[Sychem.]
Jeroboam son ... Nebat <01121 05028 03379> [Jeroboam the son of Nebat.]
lighten <05923> [our yoke.]
consulted ....................... advise <03289> [consulted.]
show a willingness to help ............ servants <05650> [If thou wilt.]
said <02896 01696> [speak good.]
said .... Say ........ said ............... Say <0559 01696> [Thus shalt thou.]
harsher <06995 05666> [My little finger.]
A proverbial mode of expression: "My little finger is thicker than my father's thigh." As much as the thigh surpasses the little finger in thickness, so much does my power exceed that of my father; and the use I shall make of it to oppress and tax you shall be in proportion.
make ... even heavier <03254> [I will add.]
punished ........ punish <03256> [but I will chastise.]
Should you rebel or become disaffected, my father's whip shall be a scorpion in my hand. His was chastisement, mine shall be punishment. Celsius and Hiller conjecture that {Æ’krabbim} denotes a thorny kind of shrub, whose prickles are of a venomous nature, called by the Arabs scorpion thorns, from the exquisite pain which they inflict. But the Chaldee renders it {margenin,} and the Syriac {moragyai,} i.e., [maragnai,] scourges; and in the parallel place of Chronicles the Arabic has {saut,} a scourge. Isidore, and after him Calmet and others, assert that the scorpion was a sort of severe whip, the lashes of which were armed with knots or points that sunk into and tore the flesh.
whips that really sting your flesh <06137> [scorpions.]
Return <07725> [Come to me again.]
responded <06030> [answered.]
harshly <07186> [roughly. Heb. hardly.]
rejected <05800> [forsook.]
advice <06098> [the counsel.]
father ... heavy ............ father <01 03513> [My father made.]
turn of events <05438> [the cause.]
The cause of all this confusion and anarchy was Rehoboam's folly, cruelty, and despotic tyranny, and this was certainly not "from the Lord," nor does the original text speak this doctrine. See an elucidation of a similar passage at 2 Sa 24:1. It says, {sibbah,} (from {savav,} to turn, change,) "the change or Revolution was from the Lord;" which is consistent with all the preceding declarations. God stirred up the people to revolt from a man who had neither skill nor humanity to govern them. God serves his own wise and righteous purpose by the imprudences and iniquities of men, and snares sinners in the work of their own hands. "He maketh the wrath of man to praise him."
<06965> [that he might.]
portion <02506> [What portion.]
homes ................. homes <0168> [to your tents.]
When ...................................... look <07200> [now see.]
Israel .................................. Israel ........... Israel <03478> [So Israel.]
Israelites <01121> [the children.]
Adoniram <0151> [Adoram.]
[Adoniram.]
[Hadoram. all Israel.]
managed <0553> [made speed. Heb. strengthened himself. flee to Jerusalem.]
Israel <03478> [Israel.]
rebellion against <06586> [rebelled. or, fell away.]
day <03117> [unto this day.]
king <04427> [and made him.]
<0310> [none that followed.]
Rehoboam ........................... Rehoboam <07346> [when Rehoboam.]
180,000 <03967> [an hundred.]
Shemaiah <08098> [Shemaiah.]
prophet <0376> [the man.]
[See on]
attack <05927> [Ye shall not go up.]
caused ............ as ..... ordered <01697> [for this thing.]
obeyed <08085> [They hearkened.]
built .................. built <01129> [built.]
Shechem <07927> [Shechem.]
Penuel <06439> [Penuel.]
himself <0559 03820> [said in his heart.]
kingdom <04467> [Now shall.]
up <05927> [go up.]
kill <02026> [and they shall.]
consulted <03289> [took counsel.]
two golden calves <08147 05695 02091> [two calves of gold.]
He invented a political religion, and instituted feasts in his own times, different from those appointed by Jehovah; gave the people certain objects of adoration, and pretended to think that it would be both inconvenient and oppressive to them to go up to Jerusalem to worship. These calves were doubtless of the same kind as the calf which was set up by Aaron; and it is remarkable, that in pointing them out to the people he should use the same words that Aaron used on that occasion, when they must have heard what terrible judgments fell upon their forefathers for this idolatry. Solomon's idolatry, however, had prepared the people for Jeroboam's abominations.
people .... too much <07227> [It is too much.]
gods <0430> [behold.]
Bethel <01008> [Beth-el.]
Dan <01835> [Dan.]
sin <02403> [became a sin.]
temples <01004> [an house.]
priests <03548> [priests.]
festival ............ festival <02282> [like unto.]
altar <04196 05927> [offered upon the altar. or, went up to the altar. sacrificing. or, to sacrifice. he placed.]
offered sacrifices .... altar ............... went up .... altar <04196 05927> [offered upon the altar. or, went up to the altar, etc.]
month <02320> [in the month.]
offered sacrifices .................. went up <05927> [he offered.]
offer sacrifices <06999> [and burnt incense. Heb. to burn incense.]
arrived <0935> [there came.]
<01697> [by the word.]
Jeroboam <03379> [Jeroboam.]
sacrifice <06999> [burn. or, offer.]
altar ... altar altar <04196> [O altar.]
named Josiah <02977 08034> [Josiah by name.]
sacrifice <02076> [offer.]
Seize <08610> [Lay hold.]
hand ....... hand <03027> [his hand.]
<06440> [now.]
<02470> [besought.]
Lord .................... Lord's <03068> [Lord. Heb. face of the Lord.]
me <05582> [refresh.]
give <05414> [I will give.]
As great men in the East make no presents to equals or inferiors when visited, Sir John Chardin thinks that the king intended by this to treat the prophet as his superior.
give <05414> [If.]
go <0935> [go.]
gave <06680> [For.]
eat <0398 03899> [Eat no bread.]
an old prophet <0259 02205 05030> [an old prophet.]
sons <01121> [sons. Heb. son. came.]
sitting <03427> [sitting.]
prophet ................ prophet <0376> [Art thou.]
strict orders <01697> [It was. Heb. a word was. by the word.]
angel <04397> [an angel.]
lying <03584> [But.]
Lord spoke <03068 01697> [the word of the Lord.]
"A great clamour," says Dr. Kennicott, "has been raised against this part of history, on account of God's denouncing sentence on the true prophet by the mouth of the false prophet; but if we examine with attention the original words here, they will be found to signify either he who brought him back, or, whom he had brought back; for the very same words, {asher heshivo,} occur again, ver. 23, where they are now translated, whom he had brought back; and where they cannot be translated otherwise. This being the case, we are at liberty to consider the words of the Lord as delivered to the true prophet, thus brought back; and then the sentence is pronounced by God himself, calling to him out of heaven, as in Ge 22:11. And that this doom was thus pronounced by God, not by the false prophet, we are assured in ver. 26. 'The Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, according to the word of the Lord, which He spake unto him.' Josephus [and also the Arabic] asserts, that the sentence was declared by God to the true prophet."
says <0559> [Thus saith.]
rebelled <04784> [thou hast disobeyed.]
ate ............... eat <0398> [eaten.]
said <01696> [of the.]
corpse <05038> [carcase.]
lion ...................... lion <0738> [a lion.]
prophet <0376> [the man.]
ripped <07665> [torn. Heb. broken. which he spake.]
lion ...... lion .... eaten <0738 0398> [the lion had.]
All here was supernatural. The lion, though he had killed the man, yet, contrary to his nature, did not devour him, nor tear the ass, nor meddle with the travellers that passed by; while the ass stood quietly by, not fearing the lion, nor betaking himself to flight: both stood as guardians of the fallen prophet, till this extraordinary intelligence was carried into the city which rendered the miracle the more illustrious and plainly shewed that this event did not happen by chance. This concatenation of miracles marked the death of the man of God as a Divine rebuke for his disobedience in eating bread at idolatrous Beth-el; and here we see, as in various other cases, that "often judgment begins at the house of God." The true prophet, for suffering himself to be seduced by the old prophet, and for receiving that as a revelation from God which was opposed to the revelation which himself had received, and which was confirmed by so many miracles, is slain by a lion, and his body deprived of the burial of his fathers; while the wicked king and the fallen prophet are both permitted to live.
<07665> [torn. Heb. broken.]
mourned ..... Ah <05594 01945> [mourned over.]
put ... bones ..... bones <03240 06106> [lay my bones.]
prophecy ... announced <01697> [the saying.]
temples <01004> [the houses.]
cities <05892> [in the cities.]
Jeroboam <03379> [A.M. 3030-3050. B.C. 974-954. Jeroboam.]
change ...... continued <07725 06213> [made again. Heb. returned and made.]
wanted <02655> [whosoever.]
priests ............ consecrated .... priest <04390 03548> [consecrated him. Heb. filled his hand.]
sin <02403> [became sin.]
<03582> [to cut it off.]
time <06256> [that time.]
son <01121> [the son.]
Disguise ....... recognize <08138 03045> [disguise thyself.]
Ahijah <0281> [Ahijah.]
Take <03947> [And take.]
loaves <03027> [with thee. Heb. in thine hand. cracknels. or, cakes.]
{Nikkoodim,} spotted, or perforated cakes; either, as some suppose, thin cakes pierced through with holes, the same as is called Jews' bread to the present day, and used by them at the passover; or, as Mr. Harmer imagines, cakes spotted with seeds, as with sesamum, Roman coriander, etc., such as he proves from Rauwolff, Russell, and Hanway, are still used in the East. This was certainly not a present that proclaimed royalty; but it does not appear to have been, in the estimation of the East, a present only fit for a country woman to have made, as Bp. Patrick supposes: for D'Arvieux informs us, that when he waited on an Arab emir, his mother and sisters sent him a present of pastry, honey, and fresh butter, with a bason of sweetmeats of Damascus.
container <01228> [cruse. or, bottle. he shall tell.]
Shiloh <07887> [Shiloh.]
eyesight <05869> [for his eyes.]
told ................ lost ....... age <06965 07869> [were set by reason of his age. Heb. stood for his hoariness.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
wife <0802> [thou wife.]
pretending <05234> [why feignest.]
commissioned <07971> [for I am.]
bad <07186> [heavy tidings. Heb. hard tidings.]
says <03282> [Forasmuch.]
tore <07167> [rent.]
Davidic .............. servant David <01732 05650> [my servant David.]
sinned ............... making <06213> [hast done.]
<03212> [thou hast gone.]
angered <03707> [to provoke.]
completely disregarded <07993 0310> [cast me.]
bring <0935> [I will bring.]
male <08366> [him that pisseth.]
weak <06113> [him that is shut up.]
burn up ......... burns <01197> [as a man taketh.]
die ................ die <04191> [that dieth.]
foot <07272> [when thy feet.]
mourn <05594> [shall mourn.]
found <04672> [there is found.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
[but what.]
Lord ....................................... Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
reed <07070> [as a reed.]
Israel .............. remove Israel <03478 05428> [root up Israel.]
good land <0127 02896> [this good land.]
scatter <02219> [shall scatter.]
beyond ... Euphrates <05104 05676> [beyond the river. i.e., Beyond the river Euphrates. because.]
Lord ....................................... Lord <03068> [provoking.]
hand Israel over ................ Israel <03478 05414> [he shall give Israel.]
committed ....... commit <02398> [who did sin.]
Tirzah <08656> [Tirzah.]
Tirzah was a city of Ephraim, to which tribe Jeroboam belonged; and appears to have been pleasantly situated, as it is said in So 6:4, "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah," though its precise situation cannot now be ascertained. It seems to have been the royal city, and the seat of government for a long time after the revolt of the ten tribes, till Omri built Samaria.
went back ...... crossed <0935> [when she came.]
battles <03898> [A.M. 3029-3050. B.C. 975-954. how he warred.]
scroll <05612> [book.]
passed away <07901> [slept. Heb. lay down.]
Nadab <05070> [Nadab.]
Rehoboam .............. he <07346> [Rehoboam.]
city <05892> [the city.]
be ... home ........ named <07760 08034> [to put his name.]
Naamah <05279> [Naamah.]
Judah <03063> [Judah.]
jealous <07065> [they provoked.]
ancestors <01> [all.]
built <01129> [built.]
sacred pillars <04676> [images. or, standing images, or statues.]
Asherah poles <0842> [groves.]
green <07488> [under every.]
male cultic prostitutes <06945> [And there.]
Shishak <07895> [A.M. 3034. B.C. 970. Shishak.]
took ............... took <03947> [he took away.]
golden shields <02091 04043> [the shields of gold.]
made <06213> [made.]
guard <07323> [guard. Heb. runners.]
royal guard ........... guardroom <08372 07323> [the guard chamber.]
recorded <03789> [A.M. 3029-3046. B.C. 975-958. are they not written.]
Rehoboam <07346> [A.M. 3046. B.C. 958. Rehoboam.]
mother <0517> [his mother's.]
Abijah <038> [Abijam.]
Dr. Kennicott observes, that the name of this king of Judah is now expressed three ways; here and in four other places, it is Abijam; in two others (2 Ch 13:20, 21) it is Abijahu; but in eleven others it is Abijah or Abiah, as it is expressed by St. Matthew, (ch. 1:7,) [Abia;] and this is the reading of thirteen of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and of thirteen respectable editions of the Hebrew Bible. The Syriac is the same. The Septuagint in the London Polyglott has [Abiou,] Abihu; but in the Complutensian and Antwerp Polyglotts it has [Abia,] Abiah; and the Editio Princeps of the Vulgate, some MSS. and the text in these two Polyglotts, instead of Abiam, have Abia.
[Abia.]
[Abijah.]
[Abia.]
mother <0517> [his mother's.]
Maacah <04601> [Maachah.]
[Michaiah the daughter of Uriel. Abishalom.]
[Absalom.]
sinful <02403> [all the sins.]
wholeheartedly ........ as <03824> [and his heart.]
David's <01732> [for David's.]
dynasty <05414 05216> [give him.]
dynasty <05216> [lamp. or, candle.]
by protecting <05975> [and to establish.]
David <01732> [David.]
involving <01697> [save only.]
war <04421> [there was war.]
Instead of Rehoboam fourteen MSS., the Arabic, and some copies of the Targum, read Abijam. The Syriac has "Abia, the son of Rehoboam;" and the Editio Princeps of the Vulgate has Abia. This is doubtless the true reading, as otherwise it would be an unnecessary repetition of ch. 14:30, and a repetition which interrupts the history of Abijah: (see 2 Ch 13:3, etc.)
rest <03499> [the rest.]
war <04421> [there was war.]
Abijah <038> [A.M. 3049. B.C. 955. Abijam.]
Asa <0609> [Asa.]
grandmother <0517> [A.M. 3049-3090. B.C. 955-914. mother's. that is, grandmother's.]
Asa <0609> [Asa.]
male cultic prostitutes <06945> [the sodomites.]
idols <01544> [all the idols.]
Maacah <04601> [Maachah.]
grandmother <0517> [his mother.]
cut down <03772> [destroyed. Heb. cut off.]
burned <08313> [and burnt.]
Valley <05158> [the brook.]
[Cedron.]
high places <01116> [the high places.]
devoted <08003> [was perfect.]
brought <0935> [he brought.]
holy <06944> [things. Heb. holy.]
Baasha <01201> [A.M. 3074. B.C. 930. Baasha.]
Ramah <07414> [Ramah.]
By building Ramah is here meant fortifying it, in order to prevent all intercourse with the kingdom of Judah, lest his subjects should cleave to the house of David: for Ramah was a city of Benjamin, situated on the confines of both kingdoms, probably on a hill, as the name imports, commanding a narrow defile between the mountains, through which lay the principal road to Jerusalem; so that a fortification being erected here, no communication could be held between the people of Israel and Judah, without Baasha's permission.
prevent <05414> [he might not suffer.]
Asa ............................. He <0609> [Asa.]
Ben Hadad <01130> [Ben-hadad.]
Damascus <01834> [Damascus.]
treaty ....................... treaty <01285> [There is a league.]
treaty ..................... Break ... treaty <01285 06565> [break thy league.]
retreat <05927> [depart. Heb. go up.]
Ijon <05859> [Ijon.]
Probably the same as Hazar-enan, a frontier town to Damascus, (Eze 48:1;) and perhaps the Inna of Coele-Syria, long. 68 degrees and a half, lat. 33 degrees, according to Ptolemy.
Dan <01835> [Dan.]
Abel Beth Maacah <062> [Abel-beth-maachah.]
Kinnereth <03672> [Cinneroth.]
Baasha <01201> [when Baasha.]
Tirzah <08656> [Tirzah.]
ordered <08085> [made a proclamation.]
exemptions <05355> [exempted. Heb. free. Geba.]
[Gaba.]
Mizpah <04709> [Mizpah.]
[Mizpeh.]
rest .... events ............................ Annals <03499 01697> [rest of all.]
a <06256> [in the time.]
buried <06912> [A.M. 3090. B.C. 914. was buried.]
Of his splendid and costly funeral we read in 2 Ch 16:14.
Jehoshaphat <03092> [Jehoshaphat.]
[Josaphat.]
Nadab <05070> [A.M. 3050-3051. B.C. 954-953. Nadab.]
king ..... ruled <04427> [began to reign. Heb. reigned.]
did evil <07451 06213> [he did evil.]
<03212> [walked.]
sin <02403> [in his sin.]
Baasha son ........... Nadab <01121 01201> [Baasha the son.]
conspired <07194> [conspired.]
Gibbethon .................. Gibbethon <01405> [Gibbethon.]
Jeroboam's <07604 03379> [he left not.]
sins <02403> [the sins.]
<03708> [by his provocation.]
recorded <03789> [A.M. 3050-3051. B.C. 954-953. are they not written.]
war <04421> [A.M. 3051-3074. B.C. 953-930. there was war.]
That is, there was a constant spirit of hostility kept up between the two kingdoms, and no doubt frequent skirmishing between the bordering parties; but there was no open war till Baasha king of Israel began to build Ramah, which was, according to 2 Ch 15:19; 16:1, in the thirty-sixth year of Asa; but according to ch. 16:8, 9, his son was killed by Zimri in the twenty-sixth year of Asa, and consequently he could not make war upon him in the thirty-sixth year of his reign. Chronologers endeavour to reconcile this, by saying that the years should be reckoned, not from the beginning of Asa's reign, but from the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. We must either adopt this mode of solution, or admit that there is a mistake in some of the numbers, probably in the parallel places in Chronicles, but which we have no direct means of correcting.
year ..................... twenty-four years <06242 0702 08141> [twenty and four years.]
did evil <07451 06213> [he did evil.]
<03212> [walked.]
Jehu <03058> [A.M. 3073. B.C. 931. Jehu.]
Hanani <02607> [Hanani.]
raised ...... dust <07311 06083> [I exalted thee.]
[thou has walked.]
[has made my people.]
family ... make ... family .... family <01004 05414> [will make thy house.]
Dogs ... eat ................... eat <03611 0398> [shall the dogs eat.]
rest <03499> [A.M. 3051-3074. B.C. 953-930. the rest.]
Baasha <01201> [A.M. 3074. B.C. 930. Baasha.]
Tirzah <08656> [Tirzah.]
Elah <0425> [Elah.]
predicting <03027> [the hand.]
family ............................ dynasty <01004> [and against his house.]
angered <03707> [in provoking.]
actions <04639> [with the work.]
<05221> [because he killed him.]
This the Vulgate understands of Jehu the prophet; some think Baasha is intended; others Nadab the son of Jeroboam; and others Jeroboam, whom Baasha destroyed in his posterity by cruelly murdering them all.
twenty-sixth <06242> [A.M. 3075. B.C. 929. In the twenty.]
Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa, and reigned 24 years; yet he died and was succeeded by Elah in the 26th year of Asa; and, in like manner, Elah, who began to reign in the 26th year of Asa, and was killed in the 27th, is said to have reigned two years. Thus it is evident that a part of a year is calculated as a whole year. In the Chinese annals, the whole year in which a king dies is ascribed to his reign, the years of the succeeding king being reckoned only from the beginning of the following year.
servant <05650> [his servant.]
conspired <07194> [conspired.]
drinking <08354> [drinking.]
house ....... palace <01004> [steward of. Heb. which was over.]
Zimri <02174> [Zimri.]
king <04427> [reigned.]
killed <05221> [he slew.]
male <07604 08366> [he left him.]
relatives .... friends <01350 07453> [neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends. or, both his kinsmen and his friends.]
just <01697> [according.]
through Jehu ... prophet <03027 03058 05030> [by Jehu the prophet. Heb. by the hand of Jehu the prophet.]
Lord <03068> [in provoking.]
worthless idols <01892> [vanities.]
recorded <03789> [they not written.]
twenty-seventh ................ seven <07651> [seven.]
army ... deployed <05971 02583> [And the people were encamped.]
Omri <06018> [Omri.]
besieged Tirzah <08656 06696> [besieged Tirzah.]
royal palace ... set ... palace <01004 08313 04428> [and burnt the king's house.]
did <06213> [in doing.]
sins ....................... sinning <02403> [in his.]
rest <03499> [the rest.]
divided <02505> [divided.]
thirty-first <07970> [A.M. 3079-3086. B.C. 925-918. the thirty.]
As it is stated in verses 10 and 15, that Zimri began to reign in the 27th year of Asa; and as he reigned only seven days, and Omri immediately succeeded him, this could not be the 31st, but in the 27th year of Asa. Jarchi, from Sedar Olam, reconciles this, by stating that Tibni and Omri began to reign jointly in the 27th year of Asa; and that Tibni dying about five years afterwards, Omri began to reign alone in the 31st year of Asa.
year ............... twelve years <08147 08141> [twelve years.]
named ... city <08034 05892> [the name of the city.]
Samaria .............................. Samaria <08111> [Samaria. Heb. Shomeron.]
Samaria was situated on a agreeable and fertile hill in the tribe of Ephraim, twelve miles from Dothaim and four from Atharoth, according to Eusebius, and one day's journey from Jerusalem, according to Josephus.
<07489> [did worse.]
<03212> [he walked.]
worthless <01892> [their vanities.]
rest <03499> [the rest.]
Omri passed away <06018 07901> [So Omri slept.]
