Глава 14

1–18. The prophet Ahijah announced the judgment of God on the house of Jeroboam and the beginning of the execution of the judgment in the death of Abijah, the son of Jeroboam. 19–21. Concluding remarks on Jeroboam's 22-year reign. 22–31. Reign of Rehoboam: spread of wickedness; invasion of Susakim, enmity with the kingdom of Israel, death of Rehoboam. 1 Kings 14:1. At that time Abijah, the son of Jeroboam, fell ill. 1 Kings 14:2. And Jeroboam said to his wife, Get up and change your clothes, so that they will not know that you are Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. There is the prophet Ahijah; he predicted to me that I would be the king of this people. 1 Kings 14:3. And take with you [for the man of God] ten loaves of bread, and cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him: he will tell you what will happen to the boy. 1 Kings 14:4. Jeroboam's wife did just that: she got up, went to Shiloh, and came to Ahijah's house. Ahiya could no longer see, for his eyes had become motionless from old age. 1 Kings 14:5. And the Lord said to Ahijah: Behold, Jeroboam’s wife comes to ask you about her son, for he is sick; tell her this and that; she will come in disguise. 1 Kings 14:6. Ahijah, hearing the rustle of her feet as she entered the door, said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam; Why did you need to change clothes? I am a formidable messenger to you. The connection of Chapter XIV with the previous one is not so much chronological - rather, on the contrary, the narrative of Chapter. XIV refers to the last half of the reign of Jeroboam - as much as logical, causal: Jeroboam’s insensitivity to divine admonition through the prophet (chap. XIII) caused a terrible visit from God for him - in the form of the illness of his best son Abijah (cf. v. 13), and together with the prophetic foreshadowing of the death of the entire house of Jeroboam. Family grief prompts Jeroboam to remember the prophet Ahijah, through whom Jehovah once promised to build Jeroboam a “strong house” (1 Kings 11:38) and from whom he now awaits confirmation of the continuation of his dynasty. But realizing his unfaithfulness to Jehovah’s covenants (1 Kings 11:37–38), Jeroboam himself does not dare to go to the prophet, from whom he could expect condemnation of his policy, which separated Israel from Jehovah and the church; and he sends his wife, but orders her to change clothes, so as not to be recognized both by random people they meet and by the prophet himself. Advising her to take - according to the custom of the East, to appear to respectable persons, including the prophets (1 Kings 9:8; 2 Kings 5:15,23,8:8) with gifts - some gifts to the prophet, Jeroboam deliberately chooses for this purpose insignificant objects, like gifts from the poor (in the LXX, Glorious Art. 3 there is an addition: τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτον καὶ σταφίδας, and “his children and the bunch”). The deception, as they might have thought, could have remained undetected all the more easily since the prophet was blind from old age (cf. 1 Samuel 4:15). But the prophet received a warning from Jehovah about the upcoming arrival of Jeroboam’s wife (the end of v. 5, according to the Hebrew and Russian texts, is the end of Jehovah’s speech; according to the Greek-Slavic, the continuation of the story). And the prophet directly reveals the queen’s secret and, having warned her that he has terrible things to tell her, he pronounces a speech about the destruction of not only the house of Jeroboam, from which his promising son Abijah will be the first to die, but also the entire kingdom of Israel, which betrayed Jehovah along with its first king, Jeroboam. 1 Kings 14:7. Go and tell Jeroboam, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I have raised you up from among the common people and made you leader of my people Israel, 1 Kings 14:8. and you tore away the kingdom from the house of David and gave it to you; But you are not like My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, doing only what was right in My sight; 1 Kings 14:9. You acted worse than all those who were before you, and you went and made for yourself other gods and idols in order to provoke Me, but you threw Me back; 1 Kings 14:10. for this I will bring trouble upon the house of Jeroboam, and I will destroy from Jeroboam even the one who urinates against the wall, the prisoner, and the one who remains in Israel, and I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as one sweeps away rubbish, clean; 1 Kings 14:11. whoever dies in Jeroboam's city will be eaten by dogs, and whoever dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air; so the Lord said. 1 Kings 14:12. Get up and go to your house; and as soon as your foot sets foot in the city, the child will die; 1 Kings 14:13. and all Israel will mourn for him and bury him, for he alone will go into Jeroboam’s tomb, because in him, from the house of Jeroboam, something good was found before the Lord God of Israel. 1 Kings 14:14. And the Lord will raise up for Himself a king over Israel, who will destroy the house of Jeroboam in that day; So what? even now. 1 Kings 14:15. And the Lord will strike Israel, and he will be like a reed that is shaken in water, and he will cast out the Israelites from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the river, because they have made idols for themselves, provoking the Lord; 1 Kings 14:16. and [the Lord] will betray Israel for the sins of Jeroboam, which he himself committed and through which he caused Israel to sin. The very speech of the prophet Ahijah is divided into two parts: v. 7–11 and 12–16, each of which represents a periodic construction. Art. 7–9 speak about Jeroboam’s crime: “you did worse than all those who were before you, and you went and made for yourself other gods and graven images” (v. 9). “Who were before you” - not predecessors in the kingdom, Saul, David and Solomon - they could not be called examples of wickedness - but in general rulers of the people, leaders of the people; “other gods and graven images” (Hebrew malekot, cast images) - can also mean the cult of golden calves (although Jeroboam and the Israelites wanted to honor Jehovah in them), since calf service could easily turn into pure idolatry; however, the latter probably took place in the kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam (v. 15). “But I (Jehovah) was thrown away back" (literally: "behind"): an expression of deliberate and persistent disregard for the worship of Jehovah "I will destroy from Jeroboam even the one who urinates against the wall, who is imprisoned and remains in Israel" (v. 10) - a common expression in speech about the extermination of a house, offspring, dynasty or people (1 Kings 25:22; 1 Kings 16:11,21:21; 2 Kings 9:8); “urinating against the wall” – originally an epithet for a dog, and then for a man, as opposed to a woman; “prisoner and remaining” – Heb. atsur veazuv, LXX: ἐπεχόμενον κ . καταλελειμμένον, glor.: “held and abandoned”, Vulg.: clansum et novissimum, according to the most likely explanation: “minor and adult” (Sebast. Schmidt: puer qai domo adhuc detinetur et gui emancipatus est. According to Filaret, “from baby to adult”). The complete destruction of the descendants or house of Jeroboam was, indeed, carried out by the 3rd king of Israel, Baasha (1 Kings 15:28–29). To be deprived of burial (v. 11) was a subject of horror for the ancient Jew (Deut. 28:26; Jer. 8:2,12:9, etc.), 12–13: the prophet’s actual answer to the question about his sick son. The latter must die immediately, but only he - because something good was found in him before the Lord 13 - will enter the tomb (v. 13), while all the other members of the house of Jeroboam will be deprived of burial (v. 11). End of Art. 14 presents a fragmentary speech, the thought is this: the death of Abijah is only the beginning of the disasters of the house of Jeroboam and Israel. 15–16 art. they talk about the coming judgment over the entire kingdom of Israel, and the words: (Israel will be), “like a reed shaken in water” remarkably accurately characterize the entire history of the kingdom of Israel from separation from Judah to the fall - an image of political instability, confusion of Israel, which led to its expulsion from the land of its fathers and dispersion beyond the Euphrates (cf. 2 Kings 15:29,17:23,18:11). “Because they made idols for themselves,” Heb. ashert, LXX: τὰ ἄλοη, Vulg.: lucos, Slav.: “oak groves”; Thus, ancient translations consider Asherah to be the name of a sacred grove of an idolatrous cult: this meaning is confirmed, for example, (Judges 6:25,30) (Gideon cut down Asherah - the sacred tree of Baal) or (Deut. 16:21) (it is forbidden to plant Asherah - a grove); in other places, Asherah also means a wooden statue or idol of the goddess (Is. 27:9; Deut. 7:5), although usually in connection with groves (Hos. 4:13; Eze. 6:13; Is. 1:29; Jer. 17:2). According to most interpreters and archaeologists, Asherah is only another name for Asherah, since both of these names are often combined and confused (Judges 2:13,10:6; 1 Samuel 7:4). See M. Palmov, Idolatry among the Ancient Jews, p. 308–322. 1 Kings 14:17. And Jeroboam's wife arose, and went, and came to Tirzah; and as soon as she crossed the threshold of the house, the child died. 1 Kings 14:18. And they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke through His servant Ahijah the prophet. Literally exact fulfillment of the prophet's prediction, v. 12. “Tirzah” (in LXX Z αριρα; glorified: “Sarira”; in the Komlutensky Bible: Θέρσα; Vulg.: Thersa) – formerly the capital of one of the Canaanite kings (Josh. 12:24); now, from Jeroboam to Omri, it became the capital of the Israelite kings (1 Kings 15:21,33,16:6–15; 2 Kings 15:14,16), was known for the beauty of its location (Song 6:4), (cf. Onomast 504. Guerin. Samarie I, 365, identifies Tirzah with the village of Talluz near Nablus). 1 Kings 14:19. The other deeds of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he reigned, are described in the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 1 Kings 14:20. The reign of Jeroboam was twenty-two years; and he slept with his fathers, and Nebat his son reigned in his stead. The end of Jeroboam's 22-year reign. The details of the reign were described in the "chronicle of the kings of Israel"; it also talked about how Jeroboam fought, which the book of 3 Kings does not mention, but which (namely the war of Jeroboam with the Jewish king Abijah) speaks in detail (2 Chronicles 13:2-20); according to (2 Chronicles 13:20) the Lord struck Jeroboam, and he died - probably from a serious or sudden illness. Son and successor of Jeroboam in Heb. in the text and in the Vulgate it is called Nadab, in the LXX, Slavic-Russian. Ναβάτ, Navat (in Complutensk: Ναδάβ): the latter occurred through the confusion of the name of the son of Jeroboam with the name of the father of this king (1 Kings 11:26). 1 Kings 14:21. Rehoboam, son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel for His name to dwell there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. 1 Kings 14:22. And Judas did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him more than all that their fathers had done by the sins which they had committed. 1 Kings 14:23. And they built themselves high places and statues and churches on every high hill and under every shady tree. 1 Kings 14:24. And there were also fornicators in the land, and they did all the abominations of those nations whom the Lord drove out from before the children of Israel. Reign of Rehoboam, duration - 17 years, and general character; the retreat of the king and the people from pure service to Jehovah, which retreat in Rehoboam took place, probably, under the influence of his mother, the Ammonite Naamah (this may be indicated by the double mention of her, vv. 21 and 31). However, the short, condensed story of the 3rd book of Kings about the reign of Rehoboam must be filled in with detail (2 Chronicles 11:5-23, 12:1-16), from which, by the way, it is clear (2 Chronicles 11:17) that in the first 3 years of his reign, Rehoboam and his subjects followed the path of David and Solomon (at the best time of the latter’s life), which contributed to the strengthening of the kingdom of Judah; only “when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he became strong, then he left the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him” (2 Chronicles 12:1). Manifestations of wickedness in Judea were now not only the old high places, statues and churches (which spread in the second half of Solomon’s reign) (1 Kings 11:4-8), but also the most disgusting type of idolatry: religious prostitution and debauchery at the churches of some deities, for example, Asherah-Ashera (as well as the Babylonian Belita): “fornicators”, Vulg.: effeminati, Heb. kadesh, kadeshim, proper: dedicated (corresponding to Greek ὶερόδουλος) – men who indulged in debauchery in honor of the deity (Deut. 23:17; 1 Kings 22:46,15:12; 2 Kings 23:7); equally, and even predominantly, women, kedeshot, did this (Hos.4:14; Deut.23:18; Gen.38:21). LXX, the Slavs give a different, very dark, reading of the beginning of Art. 24: σύνδεσμος ἐγενήθη ἐν τῆ γῆ, “there was confusion in the land” (cf. Blessed Theodoret, question 45). 1 Kings 14:25. In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Shusakim, king of Egypt, came out against Jerusalem 1 Kings 14:26. and he took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house [and the golden shields that David took from the servants of Hadadezer king of Zob and brought into Jerusalem]. I took everything; He also took all the golden shields that Solomon had made. The consequence of the wickedness and debauchery that settled in the kingdom of Judah under Rehoboam was the devastating invasion in the 5th year of the reign of Rehoboam by the Egyptian pharaoh Susakim, Heb. Shishak (in Manetho Σεσοτγχις). This was the patron and, perhaps, a relative of Jeroboam (cf. 1 Kings 11:40); therefore, his invasion of Judea and Jerusalem is explained by the influence or request of Jeroboam. But on the surviving inscription of Sheshenq on the walls of the Karnak Church of Amun, several cities that were very important in the strategic sense of the Kingdom of Israel are named among the captured cities; Aialon, Taanach, Megiddo, Sunem, etc., therefore, the campaign also touched the northern kingdom and reached at least the Jezreel Valley. Of the jewelry taken by Shusakim, the golden shields made by Solomon are named 14 (1 Kings 10:16). By the expression “he took everything” (v. 26) the rabbis mean mainly the throne of Solomon. In a more detailed report about this invasion in (2 Chronicles 12:2–9,12), it is mentioned that the threatening denunciation of Rehoboam and his princes by the prophet Samei that followed during the invasion of Shusakim aroused repentance in the government and people and softened the wrath of God, so that the people and Jerusalem were saved (cf. I. Fla. Jude. Ancient. VIII, 10, 2–4). 1 Kings 14:27. And King Rehoboam made copper shields instead of them and gave them into the hands of the captains of the guard who guarded the entrance to the king's house. 1 Kings 14:28. When the king went out to the house of the Lord, the bodyguards carried them, and then again carried them to the bodyguard's chamber. Instead of the precious gold shields taken by Shusakim, Rehoboam made bronze or copper ones and gave them to the bodyguards, Heb. ratim - walkers (1 Kings 1:5), together with the king’s bodyguards, his guard (cf. 1 Kings 22:17; 2 Kings 10:25,11:4,11,19), apparently replacing the former Chelethites and Peletheites. Along the river Kimhi, Rehoboam, by decreeing the shields, intended to prevent an attempt on his life, which he feared. More likely, shields were used when the king entered the church for the solemnity of the procession. The shields of Rehoboam were kept in a special chamber (Heb. ta), and not in the house of the forest of Lebanon, like Solomon's (1 Kings 10.17); suggest (Kittel) that the house of the Lebanese forest was plundered by Susakim. 1 Kings 14:29. The rest of Rehoboam and all that he did is written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. 1 Kings 14:30. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of their lives. 1 Kings 14:31. And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead. (2 Chronicles 11:18–23) complements 1 Kings with a message about Rehoboam’s family life: he had 18 wives and 60 concubines, 28 sons and 60 daughters; He sent all his sons to the fortified cities, but gave primacy among them to Abijah, the son of his beloved wife Maacah, the daughter of Absalom; Abijah became Rehoboam's successor on the throne. According to (2 Chronicles 12:15), “the acts of Rehoboam, the first and the last, are described in the records of Samei the prophet and Adda the seer, in the genealogies”: from this it is clear that the chronicle of the kings of Judah was the work of the prophets. The war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam (v. 30), apparently, should be understood in the sense of only a hostile mood - in fact, the war opened only under Abijah (2 Chron. 13: 2-20). According to the rabbis, this good thing in Abijah was that he made it easier for the people of Israel to visit Jerusalem and the church LXX also mention shields once brought by David from Syria (2 Sam. 8:7); so kudos. Russian synod. translation has this addition in brackets You might be interested in: