1 Kings 14:15

PROPHECIES OF THE REMOVAL OF ISRAEL FROM PALESTINE; THEIR DEPORTION BEYOND THE EUPHRATES; AND OF THEIR EVENTUAL JUDICIAL HARDENING

"For Jehovah will smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking Jehovah to anger. And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he hath made Israel to sin."

"He will root up Israel out of this good land ... and scatter them beyond the River" (1 Kings 14:15). Many of the scholars which we have consulted on this chapter are of no help whatever. Here we have one of the great O.T. prophecies, spoken long centuries before its fulfillment, regarding the removal of Israel from Palestine and the scattering of them beyond the Euphrates; but the critical community which have assigned to themselves the task of getting rid of all predictive prophecy in the Bible, reject this prophecy out of hand. How?

They declare that the words of this prophecy are not from God at all, but from a "Deuteronomist editor,"[1] or that they are merely, "A statement of the philosophy of the final editors of Kings."[2]

This writer is unwilling to allow any human being, regardless of his alleged scholarship, to take a passage from the Holy Bible which is there attributed to one of God's prophets, and which is certified unto us under the declaration that, "Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel," and then to write that, "The prophecy is merely the opinion of the historian," and that it was falsely put into the mouth of God's prophet by some mythical editor living centuries afterward. This writer has never seen a single line of proof regarding such false theories, and, if the critics can prove it, why haven't they done it? We feel only pity for those who may be willing to accept the imaginations of critics instead of the Bible.

To this writer, that type of Biblical commentary is nothing but unbelief, and our reaction to it is the same as that of the apostle Paul, "Let God be true, but every man a liar" (Romans 3:4). If one should allow such false "explanations" of any prophecy, it would be the equivalent of discarding the Holy Bible and allowing the enemies of Christianity to re-write it!

In this passage, we are confronted with the fundamental conflict between our acceptance of this Bible as the true Word of God and the evil insinuations of many writers to the effect that it is no such thing. If they do not believe it is the Word of God, why should they discuss it at all? If, as some affirm, it is merely the philosophy of later editors, it is less than worthless. And to repeat the question, "Why do they write about it"? We believe the true answer for some such writers, at least, is that their purpose is to destroy Christian faith.

"He will give Israel up, because of ... sin" (1 Kings 14:16). This prophecy of God is just as wonderful as the other one in this passage. It is amazing that none of the commentators available to us has even mentioned this, and yet it is one of the great O.T. prophecies regarding Israel, namely, that God would "give them up." The first chapter of Romans explains what it means when God "gives up" a people, or a person (Romans 1:24,26,28). It is the same as judicial hardening, blinding, darkening of the mind, or the sending of a strong delusion. Like all other prophecies of God, this one also was fulfilled. Isaiah stated that it had already happened (Isaiah 6:9-10), and his statement is repeatedly quoted in the N.T. (Matthew 13:13ff and Acts 28:26ff).