The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 314

found] some [Heb. a] good thing [The the calves) the Lord shall smite I~rael, aa idea is not merelv that he was an amiable a reed [it.?,~ icavva, canna, cane) is shaken yonth, but the words imply some degree of [The construction is pregnant, viz., " ehnll piety, and almost enggest that he dissented smite Israel so that it shall be shaken e.s n from his father's ecclesiastical policy. "The reed," &c. (cf. Lnke vii. 24). "The image is Rabbins have a fable that he disobeyed h.is very striking, for Israel was brought so low father's command to hinder people travel- that every political influence bore it along" ling to Jerusalem to keep the feasts, and (Thenius)) in the water, and he shall root that he even removed obstructions in the up [se,me word as in Deut. xxix. 28; Jc:r. road " (Bahr)] toward the Lord God of xxiv. 6] Israel out of this good land, which Israel in the honse of Jeroboam. he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter Ver. 14.-Moreover [Heh. and] the Lord them beyond the river [i.e., the Euphrates; shall ra.tse him up a king over Israel, who see on eh. iv. 24. This is the first clear shall cnt off the house of Jeroboam [for the prophecy of the captivity foreshadowed by fulfilment, see eh. xv. 29) that day: but Moses (Dent. iv. 27 ; xxviii. 25, 36, 63, 64), what? even now. [Rawlinson only ex- and by Solomon (eh. viii. 46-50). For presses a general feeling when he says that its fnl.6.lment, see 2 Kings xvii. 6 ; xviii. " no satisfactory sense can be obtained from 11, &c.], because they have made their the Hebrew text," and suggests that it is groves [Heh. their .A.sherahs, i.e., images of corrupt or defective. The passage, no Aste.rte. The translation " grove " after the doubt, is one of extreme difficulty, and in- LXX. aAuo~, Vulg. lueus, is now abandoned. asmuch as the MSS. and Versions lend us It is clear some sort of idol is intended by no aid to its interpretation, affords scope for the term. Th.is is evident from ver. · 23, conjecture. The explanation I venture to where it is said the Aeherahs (A.V. groves) submit may, I hope, contribute-it can were bnilt "under every green tree" (cf. 2 hardly do more-to the elucidation of the Rings xvii. 10) ; from eh. xv. 13 (where see text. I observe that in ver. 13 in is used of note); from 2 Kings xxiii. 6, which tells Abijeh, "this one alone," &c. I ~~snme that how Josiah "brought out the Asherahs out it has the same import here, viz., " this one of the house of the Lord," and from the to-day," i.e., " this one dies or is cut off connexion in which the word is found with to-day, "ui•;:i being underetood,ae constantly, "molten images, carved images," &c. (ver. e.dve!'bially, = Jwdie (see, e.g., Gen. iv. 14; 23 ; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 19 ; xxxiv. 3, 4; cf. xxii. 14; 1 Rings ii. 24). It wonld be e. also Judg. iii. 7; 1 Kings xviii. 19). They natural reflection to the prophet who had were doubtless effigies of Ashtoreth, made just been speaking of the excision of the of wood (Dent. vii. 5; cf. 2 Kings xxiii. G), planted erect in the ground (Dent. xvi. 21), Jwuse of Jeroboam, "one perishes to-day, and were consecrated to her impure and jndgment is already begun," i.e. As to the revolting worship. It is clear from this rest, for itT-1¥ I wonld read itT-11(, which has passage that the frightful impurities of the practically the same sound, ~d. for which, T Canaanitish races had subsisted in the new consequently, ill;!~ is sometimes substituted kingdom by the side of the new sacra. They by the transcriber, as in eh. i. 18, 20, and had probably revived under J eroboam's rule, understand " And what wilt thon also do ? " having apparently been in abeyance since i.e., what will become of thee also ? It is the time of Gideon], provoking the Lord to qnite possible (ver. 11) that Jeroboam'e wife anger. [Ch. xiv. 22 ; xv. 30 ; xxi. 22; 2 perished in the wholesale destruction of hie Kings xvii. 11, 17; xxii. 17; Deut. iv. 25; hl)nBe, as it is clear from the severe punish- xxxii. 16, 21 ; J udg. ii. 12 ; Paa. lxxviii. 58. ment assigned to her (ver. 12) that she must Ver. 16.-And he shall [or, that he should] have shared in h.is sin. The readiness with give Israel up because of the sins of Jero- which she lent herself to this deceit (ver. 4) boam, who did sin, and who made Israel also favours the supposition that she had to sin. [These words became almost a for- approved hie policy. She wonld then have mula (eh. xv. 33, 34; xvi. 2, 19, &c.)] survived her husband only two years. Ver. 17.-And Jeroboam's wife arose, and Keil'e explanation, " cut oil the house of departed, and came [possibly she lingered Jeroboam this day," appears contrary to for some time on the road, dreading to actual fact, while to interpret "that day" return] to Tlrzah [Identified by Robinson (with the A. V.) is contrary to Hebrew and Van de Velde (Narrative, ii. 334! 335), grammar.] with Telluzah, or Taluse, a place m the Ver. 15.-For [Heb . .A.nd. The prophet mountains, six miles north of Shechem. now proceeds to state the share of the See Josh. xii. 24. Doth these writers admit, people in the punishment. They had however, that if this is indeed Tirznh, "all acquiesced in the wicked innovations of traces of royalty havo disappeared." "With Jeroboa.m and had joined in the worship of the exception of 11, few sepulchre.I co.ves, CB. JUV. 1-20.] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 817