1 Kings 14:5-17

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.¹ When she comes, she will be in a disguise.” 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.² 14:7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up³ from among the people and made you ruler over my people 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.⁴ 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.⁵ 14:10 So I am ready to bring disaster⁶ on the dynasty⁷ of Jeroboam. I will cut off every last male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, including even the weak and incapacitated.⁸ I will burn up the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one burns manure until it is completely consumed.⁹ 14:11 Dogs will eat the members of your family¹⁰ 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!

14:12 “As for you, get up and go home. When you set foot in the city, the boy will die. 14:13 All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He is the only one in Jeroboam’s family¹¹ who will receive a decent burial, for he is the only one in whom the Lord God of Israel found anything good. 14:14 The Lord will raise up a king over Israel who will cut off Jeroboam’s dynasty.¹² It is ready to happen!¹³ 14:15 The Lord will attack Israel, making it like a reed that sways in the water.¹⁴ He will remove Israel from this good land he gave to their ancestors¹⁵ and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River,¹⁶ because they angered the Lord by making Asherah poles.¹⁷ 14:16 He will hand Israel over to their enemies¹⁸ because of the sins which Jeroboam committed and which he made Israel commit.”

14:17 So Jeroboam’s wife got up and went back to¹⁹ Tirzah. As she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died.

¹sn Tell her so-and-so. Certainly the Lord gave Ahijah a specific message to give to Jeroboam’s wife (see vv. 6-16), but the author of Kings here condenses the Lord’s message with the words “so-and-so.” For dramatic effect he prefers to have us hear the message from Ahijah’s lips as he speaks to the king’s wife.

²tn Heb “I am sent to you [with] a hard [message].”

³tn The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 7-11 are one long sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (vv. 7-9) and the main clause announcing the punishment (vv. 10-11). The translation divides this lengthy sentence for stylistic reasons.

⁴tn Heb “what was right in my eyes.”

⁵tn Heb “you went and you made for yourself other gods, metal [ones], angering me, and you threw me behind your back.”

⁶sn Disaster. There is a wordplay in the Hebrew text. The word translated “disaster” (רָעָה, ra’ah) is from the same root as the expression “you have sinned” in v. 9 (וַתָּרַע [vattara’], from רָעַע, [ra’a’]). Jeroboam’s sins would receive an appropriate punishment.

⁷tn Heb “house.”

⁸tn Heb “and I will cut off from Jeroboam those who urinate against a wall (including both those who are) restrained and let free (or “abandoned”) in Israel.” The precise meaning of the idiomatic phrase עָצוּר וְעָזוּב (’atsur vÿ’azuv) is uncertain. For various options see HALOT 871 s.v. עצר 6 and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 107. The two terms are usually taken as polar opposites (“slaves and freemen” or “minors and adults”), but Cogan and Tadmor, on the basis of contextual considerations (note the usage with אֶפֶס [’efes], “nothing but”) in Deut 32:36 and 2 Kgs 14:26, argue convincingly that the terms are synonyms, meaning “restrained and abandoned,” and refer to incapable or incapacitated individuals.

⁹tn The traditional view understands the verb בָּעַר (ba’ar) to mean “burn.” Manure was sometimes used as fuel (see Ezek 4:12, 15). However, an alternate view takes בָּעַר as a homonym meaning “sweep away” (HALOT 146 s.v. II בער). In this case one might translate, “I will sweep away the dynasty of Jeroboam, just as one sweeps away manure it is gone” (cf. ASV, NASB, TEV). Either metaphor emphasizes the thorough and destructive nature of the coming judgment.

¹⁰tn The Hebrew text has “belonging to Jeroboam” here.

¹¹tn Heb “house.”

¹²tn Heb “house.”

¹³tn Heb “This is the day. What also now?” The precise meaning of the second half of the statement is uncertain.

¹⁴tn The elliptical Hebrew text reads literally “and the Lord will strike Israel as a reed sways in the water.”

¹⁵tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 22, 31).

¹⁶tn Heb “the River.” In biblical Hebrew this is a typical reference to the Euphrates River. The name “Euphrates” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷tn Heb “because they made their Asherah poles that anger the Lord”; or “their images of Asherah”; ASV, NASB “their Asherim”; NCV “they set up idols to worship Asherah.”

sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4).

¹⁸tn Heb “and he will give [up] Israel.”

¹⁹tn Heb “went and entered.”