1 Kings 14:21-31

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Kings 14:21-31

Judah's story and Israel's are intermixed in this book. Jeroboam out-lived Rehoboam, four or five years, yet his history is despatched first, that the account of Rehoboam's reign may be laid together; and a sad account it is. I. Here is no good said of the king. All the account we have of him here is, 1. That he was forty-one years old when he began to reign, by which reckoning he was born in the last year of David, and had his education, and the forming of his mind, in the best days of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 14:21

And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah ,.... Over the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, when Jeroboam reigned over the other ten: Rehoboam was forty one years old when he began to reign ; being born one year before his father Solomon began to reign, and so it might have been expected he would have begun his reign more wisely than he did: and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem ; not half so long as his father and grandfather, being neither so wise nor so good a prince... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 14:22

And Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord ,.... At the end of three years, from the beginning of the reign of Rehoboam: and they provoked him to jealousy, with their sins which they had committed, above all that their fathers had done ; that is, with their idolatries; for they were the sins which moved the Lord to jealousy, and provoked the eyes of his glory; in which they had outdone not the ten tribes, but their fathers, in the times of Moses, Joshua, and the judges, and of their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 14:23

For they also built them high places ,.... Which, though allowed of, or at least connived at, before the temple was built, and when the tabernacle was unfixed, yet afterwards unlawful; and the tribe of Judah could have no excuse for them, who had the temple in their tribe: and images ; contrary to the express command of God, Exodus 20:4 , and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree ; that is, set up idols, and temples for idols, amidst groves of trees, and under all... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 14:24

And there were also Sodomites in the land , Such as were addicted to unnatural lusts between men and men, which the men of Sodom were guilty of, from whence they had their name: Jarchi interprets the word adultery and some versions render it whoremongers; and filthy actions of this nature, both by men and women, usually attended idolatrous practices among the heathens; in their temples and groves such wickednesses were privately perpetrated: and they did according to all the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 14:25

And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam ,.... Two years after he and his people fell into the above wicked practices: that Shishak, king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem ; of whom see 1 Kings 11:40 , this was suffered as a chastisement from the Lord for their abominations. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 14:26

And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord ,.... Which perhaps Jeroboam had informed him of, and for the sake of which he came, as well as to make a diversion in favour of Jeroboam, who had contracted an intimacy with him when in Egypt; and who might have no regard for Rehoboam, who was not a son of Pharaoh's daughter, and so no relation to him: these were the treasures which David had left to his son Solomon, and had dedicated for the temple, even gold, silver, and vessels,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 14:27

And King Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields ,.... For the king of Egypt had so stripped him of his gold, that he was not able to replace golden ones: and committed them into the hands of the chief of the guard ; or "runners" F16 הרצים "cursorum", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.; , that went before the king, or attended him as his bodyguard when he went abroad: which kept the door of the king's house ; which kept guard night and day in their turns. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 14:28

And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord ,.... The temple; for though he had fallen into idolatry, he had not wholly forsaken the worship of God in the temple, and perhaps by the late humbling providence he might be stirred up to attend there more frequently: that the guard bare them : before him, partly for pomp and grandeur, and partly to keep in awe such as were inclined to mutiny and sedition: and brought them back into the guard chamber ; when the king... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Kings 14:29

Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did ,.... In the course of his reign, that was memorable: are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah ? who had annalists or historiographers to write for them, as the kings of Israel had, 1 Kings 14:19 , in the writing of which, especially with respect to genealogies, Shemaiah the prophet, and Iddo the seer, were concerned, 2 Chronicles 12:15 . read more

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