14:1 At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became sick. 

 

King Jeroboam of Israel named his son Abijah. Abijah means “My Father is Jehovah.” Abijah became very sick.

 

14:2 Jeroboam told his wife, “Disguise yourself so that people cannot recognize you are Jeroboam’s wife. Then go to Shiloh; Ahijah the prophet, who told me I would rule over this nation, lives there.

 

King Jeroboam asked his wife to disguise herself, go to Shiloh, and seek out Ahijah the prophet. Ahijah was the prophet who predicted that Jeroboam would be king over the ten northern tribes.

 

14:3 Take ten loaves of bread, some small cakes, and a container of honey and visit him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.” 

 

The queen was to bring a gift to the prophet and inquire about the future of their boy. This gift was the gift of a commoner, not the gift of royalty.

 

14:4 Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and visited Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see; he had lost his eyesight in his old age.

 

Ahijah the prophet was very old and blind at this time. Jeroboam was hoping that he could take advantage of the prophet’s blindness.

 

14:5 But the Lord had told Ahijah, “Look, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to find out from you what will happen to her son, for he is sick. Tell her so-and-so. When she comes, she will be in a disguise.” 

 

Jehovah informed Ahijah the prophet of the queen’s coming deception.

 

14:6 When Ahijah heard the sound of her footsteps as she came through the door, he said, “Come on in, wife of Jeroboam! Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been commissioned to give you bad news.

 

Ahijah proved that he was a prophet of Jehovah by identifying the queen before she even knocked on the door.

 

14:7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel. 

 

King Jeroboam instituted the worship of the calf god in Israel. However, Ahijah the prophet disagreed with King Jeroboam and his wife, as he called Jehovah “the God of Israel.” Jehovah the living God, not the non-living calf god, was the one who raised up Jeroboam as king of Israel.

 

14:8 I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only what I approve.

 

All of the kings of Israel and Judah were measured by the human standard of King David.

 

14:9 You have sinned more than all who came before you. You went and angered me by making other gods, formed out of metal; you have completely disregarded me.

 

King Jeroboam was supposed to establish two states which both worshiped the same God in Jerusalem. Instead, he established two states, two different religions, and two different priesthoods. King Jeroboam led Israel into national idolatry.

 

14:10 So I am ready to bring disaster on the dynasty of Jeroboam. I will cut off every last male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated. I will burn up the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one burns manure until it is completely consumed.

 

King Jeroboam had more light and more responsibility than other kings and subjects. Therefore, his punishment would be more severe. His entire dynasty was going to be executed by God.

 

14:11 Dogs will eat the members of your family who die in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat the ones who die in the country.” ’ Indeed, the Lord has announced it! 

 

The dynasty of King Jeroboam would die violent deaths. They would not be buried. Dogs and birds would feast upon their unburied bodies.

 

14:12 “As for you, get up and go home. When you set foot in the city, the boy will die. 

 

As soon as the queen sets foot in her city, her son would die. Jehovah was sending a strong message to Israel that she was serving a rebellious king who had led her into idolatry.

 

14:13 All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. 

 

The queen’s son would be the only son of Jeroboam who would receive a decent burial. He would be mourned and honored in Israel. God declared this son as righteous, meaning that he was justified by God. This commendation could possibly suggest that this child, not having reached the age of conscious sin, was safe in Christ.

 

14:14 The Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off Jeroboam’s dynasty. It is ready to happen!

 

Jehovah had already begun to raise up a new king who would purge all of Jeroboam’s sons out of office. This was standard operation procedure for pagan kings. 

 

14:15 The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water. He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles.

 

Asherah poles were totem poles which were made in the shape of the erect male penis. Since Israel had chosen to worship the erect male penis over Jehovah, then Jehovah would remove Israel from the land via the Assyrian Captivity.

 

14:16 He will hand Israel over to their enemies because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit.” 

 

Jehovah would hand Israel over to Assyria.

 

14:17 So Jeroboam’s wife got up and went back to Tirzah. As she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died. 

 

Jeroboam’s son died as soon as Jeroboam’s wife walked into the city. The fulfillment of this short-term prophecy authenticated that the long-term prophecy would be fulfilled as well. 

 

When modern charismatics prophesy, they prophesy in long-term prophecies only. They do not prophesy a short-term prophecy to authenticate their long-term prophecy, because the unfulfillment of the short-term prophecy would prove them to be a false prophet.

 

Beware of anyone who claims to be a prophet today. The Word of God is complete. Prophets have disappeared. The only divine revelation today is the written Word of God. Satan places false prophets and tongue speakers into local churches in order to muddy the waters and make theological issues less clear. Believers need to quit listening to false prophets in the local church and instead study the written Word of God through gifted pastor-teachers.

 

14:18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him, just as the Lord had predicted through his servant the prophet Ahijah. 

 

Israel mourned the death of King Jeroboam’s son, just as Ahijah predicted.

 

14:19 The rest of the events of Jeroboam’s reign, including the details of his battles and rule, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

 

The rest of Jeroboam’s events were recorded in “the Annals of the Kings of Israel.” This was a secular book which recorded the royal history of the Israelite kings. This book was not inspired. It no long exists to this day.

 

14:20 Jeroboam ruled for twenty-two years; then he passed away. His son Nadab replaced him as king. 

 

King Jeroboam died. His son Nadab became the next king of Israel. According to Ahijah the prophet. King Nadab would suffer a violent death and be eaten by animals. This prophecy was public knowledge to Israel.

 

14:21 Now Rehoboam son of Solomon ruled in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. His mother was an Ammonite woman named Naamah. 

 

King Rehoboam was the son of Solomon and the ruler of the southern kingdom of Judah. He ruled Judah from Jerusalem for seventeen years. Judah was the smaller nation, but they carried the messianic line.

 

King Rehoboam’s mother was part of King Solomon’s harem of pagan wives who led Solomon into idolatry. She was an Ammonite who worshiped Molech. Molech was an Ammonite god who demanded infant sacrifices. She was most likely partially responsible for teaching her son the rituals of paganism. This may be why Rehoboam tolerated paganism in Judah. His father Solomon and his mother both tolerated paganism, and so did Rehoboam.

 

14:22 Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. They made him more jealous by their sins than their ancestors had done.

 

Just like Israel, Judah fell into idolatry. 

 

14:23 They even built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 

 

Judah was supposed to offer sacrifices only at the temple in Jerusalem at the three required feasts of Israel. Instead, they were influenced by Israel and they began worshiping the erect penis on the top of every high hill in Judah. 

 

14:24 There were also male cultic prostitutes in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites. 

 

Judah became involved in worshiping sex through the prostitution temples. The prostitution temples contained both male (sodomite) and female prostitutes. Jehovah vomited the Canaanites out of the land for this kind of practice. Judah possessed more light, so they would be punished more severely.

 

14:25 In King Rehoboam’s fifth year, King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 

 

Judah was smaller than Israel. Since Judah violated the Mosaic Covenant by worshiping idols, then they were no longer protected by Jehovah. King Shishak observed this weakness and used his free will to attack Israel. Jehovah planned this attack before the foundations of the world and allowed Shishak to do so.

 

Pharaoh Shishak was the founder of the 22nd dynasty of Egypt. He allowed his daughter to marry Solomon. Now that Solomon was dead and Judah was weaker, Shishak attacked Israel. He took 156 cities in Judah, Israel, Edom, and Philistia. 

 

14:26 He took away the treasures of the Lord’s temple and of the royal palace; he took everything, including all the golden shields that Solomon had made. 

 

King Shishak took away all of the golden shields which Solomon had made. This was a great theft which robbed Judah of much of her national wealth. The division of the kingdom weakened Judah so much, that she was not able to defend her capital city. Archaeologists have excavated the mummy of Pharaoh Shishak. It was encased in a golden sarcophagus. This gold most likely came from King Rehoboam’s treasury. 

 

14:27 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned them to the officers of the royal guard who protected the entrance to the royal palace. 

 

To appease the people, King Rehoboam replaced the gold shields with bronze shields. The people of Judah began to notice the weakness of their king. They most likely blamed their defeat on the king rather than upon their own worship of idols.

 

14:28 Whenever the king visited the Lord’s temple, the royal guard carried them and then brought them back to the guardroom. 

 

The gold and bronze shields were always used for show. They demonstrated the wealth and power of Israel. These new bronze shields demonstrated the moral weakness of Israel. Israel lost protection from Jehovah because of Israel’s love of idolatry. Israel enjoyed worshiping the erect penis more than God.

 

14:29 The rest of the events of Rehoboam’s reign, including his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.

 

The historical events of King Rehoboam’s life was recorded in “the Annals of the Kings of Judah.” This was a secular book which no longer exists.

 

14:30 Rehoboam and Jeroboam were continually at war with each other. 

 

Instead of two states worshiping one God at Jerusalem, Israel and Judah were involved in civil war.

 

14:31 Rehoboam passed away and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother was an Ammonite named Naamah. His son Abijah replaced him as king.

 

King Rehoboam passed away and was buried in Jerusalem. His mother was an Ammonite, which was a tribe from the incestuous relationship between Lot and his younger daughter. This Ammonite mother did not do a very good job of raising Rehoboam, because he tolerated idolatry. Abijah, the son of King Rehoboam, became the next king of Judah.