1 Kings 14:16

And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:7-20 Whether we keep an account of God's mercies to us or not, he does; and he will set them in order before us, if we are ungrateful, to our greater confusion. Ahijah foretells the speedy death of the child then sick, in mercy to him. He only in the house of Jeroboam had affection for the true worship of God, and disliked the worship of the calves. To show the power and sovereignty of his grace, God saves some out of the worst families, in whom there is some good thing towards the Lord God of Israel. The righteous are removed from the evil to come in this world, to the good to come in a better world. It is often a bad sign for a family, when the best in it are buried out of it. Yet their death never can be a loss to themselves. It was a present affliction to the family and kingdom, by which both ought to have been instructed. God also tells the judgments which should come upon the people of Israel, for conforming to the worship Jeroboam established. After they left the house of David, the government never continued long in one family, but one undermined and destroyed another. Families and kingdoms are ruined by sin. If great men do wickedly, they draw many others, both into the guilt and punishment. The condemnation of those will be severest, who must answer, not only for their own sins, but for sins others have been drawn into, and kept in, by them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The general prophecy of Moses Deuteronomy 29:28, that the disobedient Israelites would be rooted up out of their land, and cast into another land, is here for the first time repeated, and is definitively applied to the ten tribes, which are to be removed "beyond the river" (the Euphrates, 1 Kings 4:21, 1 Kings 4:24), and "scattered." On the fulfillment of this prophecy, and especially on the "scattering" of the ten tribes, see 2 Kings 17:6 note.

Groves - See Exodus 34:13 note. The grove or, "asherah"-) worship, adopted from the Canaanite nations, appears to have died away after the fierce onslaught which Gideon made upon it Judges 6:25-31. It now revived, and became one of the most popular of the idolatries both in Israel and Judah (1 Kings 14:23, and compare the marginal references).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. the Lord shall raise him up a king … but what? even now—namely, Baasha (1Ki 15:27); he was already raised—he was in being, though not in power.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To wit, by his invention, and making of the occasion of their sin, the calves; by his example, by encouraging those, and only those, that worshipped the calves; and by his authority, requiring and compelling them to do it. This is mentioned as a monstrous aggravation of his wickedness, that he was not content with his own sin, but was the great author and chief cause of drawing others into sin, and of corrupting and undoing the whole kingdom; which therefore God would never forgive him, nor forget him, but upon all occasions mentions him with this eternal brand of infamy upon him.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he shall give Israel up,.... Into the hands of their enemies:

because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin; by his devices and stratagems, by his example and edicts, and by the methods he took to prevent Israel from worshipping in the manner and place he directed to.

Geneva Study Bible

And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who {n} made Israel to sin.

(n) The people will not be excused when they do evil at the commandment of their governors.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. and he shall give Israel up] i.e. Into the hands of their enemies.

who did sin, and who made Israel to sin] It is better with R.V. to take the relative as refering to ‘the sin.’ Render, which he hath sinned and wherewith he hath made Israel to sin.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - And he shall [or, that he should] give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin. [These words became almost a formula (1 Kings 15:33, 34; 1 Kings 16:2, 19, etc.)] 1 Kings 14:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

But in order that not only Jeroboam, but also the people who had joined in his idolatry, might perceive the severity of the divine judgment, Ahijah also announced to the nation its banishment into exile beyond the Euphrates. "Jehovah will smite Israel, as the reed shakes in the water," is an abbreviated phrase for: Jehovah will smite Israel in such a manner that it will sway to and fro like a reed in the water moved by a strong wind, which has not a sufficiently firm hold to resist the violence of the storm. "And will thrust them out of the good land," etc., as Moses threatened the transgressors of the law (Deuteronomy 29:27), "and scatter them beyond the river (Euphrates)," i.e., banish them among the heathen, from whom God brought out and chose their forefather (Joshua 24:3), "because they have made themselves Ashera-idols, to provoke Jehovah." אשׁרים is used for idols generally, among which the golden calves are reckoned. ויתּן, that He may deliver up Israel, on account of the idolatrous forms of worship introduced by Jeroboam. For the fulfilment see 2 Kings 15:29; 2 Kings 17:23, and 2 Kings 18:11. - In 1 Kings 14:17, 1 Kings 14:18 the exact fulfilment of Ahijah's announcement concerning the death of Jeroboam's sick son is described. According to 1 Kings 14:17, Jeroboam was then residing at Thirza, whereas he had at first resided at Shechem (1 Kings 12:25). Thirza is probably the present Talluza, on the north of Shechem (see at Joshua 12:24).