History · Chapter 14 of 22

1 Kings 14

When Jeroboam's son falls sick, he sends his disguised wife to the blind prophet Ahijah, who recognizes her and pronounces doom on Jeroboam's house for his idolatry; the child dies as she returns. The narrative then turns to Judah, where Rehoboam allows high places, idols, and gross sin. Shishak of Egypt plunders the temple treasures, and Rehoboam replaces the gold shields with bronze. Both kings die amid continual war.

What happens in 1 Kings 14

Jeroboam's son Abijah falls ill, so Jeroboam sends his wife in disguise with a modest gift to Ahijah, the prophet who first foretold his kingship, hoping to learn the child's fate. God warns the blind Ahijah, who greets her as Jeroboam's wife and delivers heavy tidings: because Jeroboam has made other gods and cast God behind his back, disaster will fall on his house, and the sick child alone will be mourned and buried, for some good is found in him.

As she returns home, the boy dies. The chapter then shifts to Judah under Rehoboam, where the people build high places, images, and groves and even tolerate cultic prostitution, doing worse than their fathers. In Rehoboam's fifth year, Shishak of Egypt invades and carries off the temple and palace treasures, including Solomon's golden shields, which Rehoboam replaces with bronze. War continues between the two kings until both die.

1 Kings 14 in context

This chapter delivers God's verdict on both new dynasties. Ahijah, who once promised Jeroboam a sure house if he obeyed, now pronounces its destruction because of his calf worship. The narrative also introduces the running pattern of Kings: each reign is assessed by faithfulness to the LORD.

Judah under Rehoboam proves no better than the north, and Shishak's invasion, a documented historical campaign, strips the gold Solomon amassed. The replacement of gold shields with bronze becomes a fitting emblem of glory fading through unfaithfulness.

Main themes of 1 Kings 14

1 Kings 14 (KJV)

1At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2And 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. 3And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child. 4And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. 5And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman. 6And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. 7Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, 8And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; 9But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: 10Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. 11Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the LORD hath spoken it. 12Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. 13And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. 14Moreover the LORD shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now. 15For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the LORD to anger. 16And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. 17And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died; 18And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet. 19And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 20And the days which Jeroboam reigned were two and twenty years: and he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his stead. 21And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. 22And Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done. 23For they also built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree. 24And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 25And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem: 26And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 27And king Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house. 28And it was so, when the king went into the house of the LORD, that the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard chamber. 29Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 30And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. 31And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And Abijam his son reigned in his stead.

Verses to carry from 1 Kings 14

“And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the LORD God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.”1 Kings 14:13

“And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.”1 Kings 14:16

“And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.”1 Kings 14:26

Reflection

In a corrupt household headed for judgment, God still noticed one child in whom there was some good toward himself. That is deeply reassuring: God sees the sincere devotion no one else may recognize, even in the worst surroundings.

Your faithfulness is never lost on him, however dark your context. Ask that some good thing toward the LORD would be found and treasured in you.

A prayer from 1 Kings 14