“At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam was sick” (1 Kings 14:1); this was a blow keenly felt and a reason for great anxiety on the part of the king. If this cherished son, his successor, should die, what would become of the monarchy he had thought to secure to himself by so much cunning? For Jeroboam was what men call a great politician. He had other sons, no doubt, but this one, the heir, enjoyed God’s favor and that of the people. It is thus that the folly of human strategy devised apart from God becomes manifest. The Lord had assured Jeroboam of the kingdom, but he had preferred to secure it for himself by forsaking the Lord. He must learn whether his way was the way of wisdom. He had not reckoned with death; his plans had not taken into consideration the one thing men can never escape, and they were at the point of being reduced to nothing.
What to do? He remembers the prophet “who told [him] that [he] should be king over this people” (1 Kings 14:2). He knew these things. “He will tell thee what shall become of the lad.” Jeroboam acknowledges the man of God’s ability and thinks that he can help him. One thing, however, is lacking, that which an unconverted soul always lacks—the consciousness of having to do with God; it just does not enter his mind that he is about to come before Him. If it were otherwise, could he be telling his wife to disguise herself? No, even this profane king could hardly suppose he could hide from God by being disguised. But God was not in his thoughts, so he does not take account of the connection between the prophet and Jehovah. That which the man of God had said had come to pass; therefore it was worthwhile to consult him. Jeroboam would as easily consult a fortuneteller. “Disguise thyself,” he tells his wife, “that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam.” And indeed he had good reason for this. What would his people say if he, their head, who had fabricated a new religion, should turn back to the representatives of the old faith, to the prophets of Jehovah, to seek help and light from them? And then, had he not learned at his own expense that these prophets were not favorably disposed towards him? Perhaps Ahijah who at one time had spoken well of him would be more favorable... In any event, disguise yourself, he says, and bring him some presents — not such as would go with the dignity of a queen, which would give us away, but after all, a present is always in order when one goes to consult a prophet!
Ahijah was dwelling in his own city in the territory of Ephraim. He is called Ahijah the Shilonite (1 Kings 11:29; 12:15). It was fitting that God have His prophet in Israel and on the other hand, how well suited was this place for the prophet of the Lord! It was at Shiloh that the ark had remained during the long period of the judges and of the priesthood of Eli. One could call it to mind in Israel now that one could no longer go up to the temple at Jerusalem. To the faithful, obliged to dwell among the ten tribes, at least there remained the remembrance of the worship of former days, the initial blessings connected with the presence of the tabernacle at Shiloh. “For go now,” said the Lord, “unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My name to dwell at the first” (Jer. 7:12). A man of faith must not forget that the name of the Lord had been placed there, and he could consequently reside there as well. In the troublesome circumstances in which Israel now was, perhaps Ahijah had no more to do at Shiloh than did the old prophet at Bethel, but he was separated from idolatry there and fit to receive communications from God who had placed His name there. How good it is in a day of ruin to remember that which was from the beginning! One can always find God there, for if His ways change in the different dispensations, He Himself never changes. He can still reveal Himself to the faithful soul there in the place where He has placed His name in the beginning.
Ahijah lived in hope at Shiloh. Apparently all was against him; how could he still be useful in service? “And Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.” But the prophet’s dull eyes did not hinder his spiritual vision, as had been the case with Eli. He remained in direct connection with the Lord. God speaks to him, reveals to him who it is who is about to come to him, for what purpose, and that she will come disguised (1 Kings 14:5). Ahijah’s natural sight could never discern all this, but by grace, the Lord had given him his real sight. He had seen everything; He sees in the present and in the future. Ahijah knew and saw because the Lord knew and saw. Blessing of this kind is found only in communion of heart with God. May it ever be ours! It is not our weaknesses that hinder divine communications from being granted us; it is our worldliness and our disobedience. God finds satisfaction in weak vessels if their hearts are faithful to Him, and the weakest — Paul was a testimony to this publicly — receive most precious revelations right here in this world.
“I am sent to thee,” says Ahijah to Jeroboam’s wife, “with a hard message” (1 Kings 14:6). As he could not go to her, God brought her to him, and to Himself who had ordered all things from the child’s illness right down to the thoughts and decisions of Jeroboam, in order to bring this latter face to face with the Word that the Lord had sent against him by the prophet. “Thou hast not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments, and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only that which is right in My sight” (1 Kings 14:8). Could David have spoken thus of himself? No — neither he nor any other man. But God had chastened him as a son whom one acknowledges, and the discipline had borne fruit. In virtue of his sacrifice God had been able to pass over the sin of His servant, never to remember it any more, and to consider only the fruit produced in his heart, His own work in which He could find pleasure. But to Jeroboam He says, “But thou hast done evil above all that were before thee, and hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke Me to anger, and hast cast Me behind thy back” (1 Kings 14:9). Jeroboam had dispensed with God, had despised Him as a useless object. And is it any different today? Man dispenses with God as with a “negligible quantity”; he banishes Him from his life, casting Him behind his back so as to see Him no more. That which man has before him is the pursuit of his own plans, his ambition, and his well-being; he does not think about what he has cast behind him. But the moment will arrive when like Jeroboam, he must turn around to meet the God whom he has counted as nothing face to face. Then he will hear this terrible word: “I... will take away the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone” (1 Kings 14:10). God will cast him to the dogs and to the fowl of the heavens. So much for the future. But for the present, death is at the door: “When thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die” (1 Kings 14:12).
He shall die! What a judgment upon Jeroboam! What grace for the child! He was one of the Lord’s elect. “In him there is found something good toward Jehovah the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam” (1 Kings 14:13). The eyes and heart of God rested upon this weak offshoot of family given up to destruction. There too God had a remnant according to the election of grace. Of such a young child was the kingdom of heaven. He could not remain in Israel. God would take him out of the scene of judgment to have him with Himself. He was righteous. “The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from before the evil. He entereth into peace” (Isa. 57:1, 2). Just so before the flood the righteous, Noah’s contemporaries, were gathered up; just so the saints will be gathered up at the approaching day of the coming of the Lord: “I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev. 3:10). But what?—already now! Yes, judgment is at the door; there will be no more delay. Oh, if only men’s consciences might be reached before it is too late! Already now! How this reminds us of the words in the Revelation: “The time is near. Let him that does unrighteously do unrighteously still; and let the filthy make himself filthy still... “ (Rev. 22:10, 11).
But the people must be judged, too (1 Kings 14:15-16), not just because the king had seduced them, but because they had themselves sinned, for “they have made their Asherahs, provoking Jehovah to anger.” They must be judged according to the principle set forth in Romans 5:12: “As by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death; and thus death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
From this moment Jeroboam’s history comes to a close. The chronicles of the kings of Israel have recorded it, but God passes over it in silence. If He makes mention of it somewhat in the 2 Chronicles, it is in reference to Abijah, Rehoboam’s successor. Nadab, Jeroboam’s son, succeeds his father.
In a few words (1 Kings 14:21-31) we have the history of Rehoboam, king of Judah. It does not appear to be he himself who introduced idolatry into his land. It was rather the act of the people (1 Kings 14:22), but Rehoboam in allowing the evil to become established in his kingdom is just as guilty as Judah, because he was responsible for Judah’s conduct (cf. 2 Chron. 12:1, 2, 14). His mother, it is twice repeated (1 Kings 14:21, 31), was Naamah, an Ammonitess. How this would have influenced the sin of Judah, for Solomon had built high places for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon, for the sake of this woman and her fellow-countrywomen, if there were such among the kings’ wives. Idolatry goes hand in hand with most horrible corruption (1 Kings 14:24; Rom. 1)—and such things took place among the people of God! God had destroyed the cities of the plain and had cast out before His people the nations whose iniquity had become full. What would He do to Judah?
Shishak, the king of Egypt, comes up against Jerusalem (1 Kings 14:25-28). All Solomon’s prosperity, the treasures of the temple, the riches of the king’s house, the golden shields of his guard, all is gone, and so quickly! In less than seventeen years the kingdom of David’s son collapses — all its glory is cast down and trodden underfoot! The gold is gone, and only brass is left in its place (1 Kings 14:27).