ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for 1 Kings 14

1 Kings 14:1–20 Jeroboam had been promised a dynasty (“house”) just like David’s (11:38). His desire to have a temple (“house”) just like David’s, however, led him into disobedience. These verses describe the results of Jeroboam’s desire to have more than he was promised.

1 Kings 14:2 disguise yourself. In spite of the events of ch. 13, Jeroboam apparently believes that he can fool the old prophet Ahijah into giving him a positive message about his son.

1 Kings 14:10 Since Jeroboam has failed to be like David (v. 8) and has worshiped other gods as Solomon did (v. 9), his dynasty will come to an end for lack of male descendants.

1 Kings 14:11 Jeroboam’s dynasty will come to a dishonorable end, since the bodies mentioned will not be buried but will be eaten by dogs and birds. (See 1 Sam. 31:8–13 for the importance Israelites placed on having a proper burial.) Only Jeroboam’s son Abijah will escape this fate (1 Kings 14:13).

1 Kings 14:15 In the absence of a strong dynasty to rule Israel, the nation is destined to know only the instability of a reed . . . shaken (or “swaying”) in the water. Eventually the Israelites will be exiled to a land beyond the Euphrates River, Assyria (2 Kings 17:1–6, 21–23). Their idolatry includes making Asherim, or Asherah poles, connected with the worship of the goddess Asherah.

1 Kings 14:17 Jeroboam has apparently moved his royal court to Tirzah.

1 Kings 14:19 the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. The author(s) of Kings specifically claim to have had access to written sources about the monarchic period, both for Israel and for Judah (e.g., v. 29; 22:45; 2 Kings 12:19; 20:20; 23:28). The reference here is to the Israelite royal record, preserved in palace archives and temple libraries along with foreign annals and inscriptions of various kinds. No copy of any of these chronicles remains today; they are not found in the Bible, and they are different from the books of 1–2 Chronicles. By the end of the second millennium b.c., literacy was widespread in and around Palestine, and writing was being employed in legal, business, literary, and religious texts.

1 Kings 14:21–31 The text now returns to Rehoboam’s reign and what has been happening in Judah.

1 Kings 14:22–24 Judah did what was evil. The whole nation has become involved in idolatrous worship.

1 Kings 14:23 High places and Asherim (see notes on 3:2; 14:15) are aspects of Judah’s idolatrous worship. Pillars are among the Canaanite cult objects which Deut. 12:3 says the people must destroy upon entering the land. These pillars were upright stones of various sizes. They were dedicated to particular deities.

1 Kings 14:24 male cult prostitutes. Worship under Rehoboam included prostitution. The people may have seen it as a way to persuade the gods and goddesses to deliver fertility to the land and the people.

1 Kings 14:25–26 Shishak king of Egypt has often been identified with the pharaoh Sheshonq I (945–924 b.c.), founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty in Egypt. His army apparently passed through Judah on its way to fight in northern Israel.