1Ki 14 | EE | STEP | Jeroboam’s son was called Abijah. At that time, Abijah became ill.

1 Kings 14

The prophet Ahijah and King Jeroboam

1 Jeroboam’s son was called Abijah. At that time, Abijah became ill. 2 So Jeroboam said to his wife, ‘Cause yourself to seem different so people will not recognise you as the wife of Jeroboam. Then go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there. He told me that I would rule the people of Israel. 3 Take 10 loaves of bread with you. Also take some cakes and a jar of honey. Then go to Ahijah. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.’ 4 So Jeroboam’s wife did what he said to her. She went to Ahijah’s house in Shiloh. Ahijah could not see because he was very old. 5 But the LORD had said to Ahijah, ‘Jeroboam’s wife will come to you. She will ask you about her son, who is ill. You must give her the answer that I tell you. She will soon arrive. Then, she will say that she is somebody else.’

6 So, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet on the ground, he said, ‘Come in, Jeroboam’s wife! You need not cause yourself to seem like somebody else. The LORD has given me bad news for you. 7 Go and tell this to Jeroboam. It is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you. I chose you out of all the people and I made you the leader of my people, Israel. 8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David. I gave the kingdom to you, but you have not been like my servant David. David obeyed my rules. He always tried to obey me as much as he could. He always did what was right in my mind. 9 But you have done more really bad things than all the people that lived before you. You have made other gods for yourself. You have made idols with metal. You have made me very angry. You have gone away from me. 10 Because of this, I will destroy the house of Jeroboam. I will kill every male from the house of Jeroboam, whether they are slaves or free men. I will take away the house of Jeroboam. It will be like when people sweep away dung. Everything will go! 11 Dogs will eat any of Jeroboam’s family that die in the city of Jerusalem. The birds in the air will eat those that die in the country places. This is what the LORD has said! 12 But you, Jeroboam’s wife, go back home. The boy will die when your feet reach the city. 13 All Israel will cry because of him and they will bury him. He is the only person from Jeroboam’s family that they will bury. He is the only person in the house of Jeroboam that Israel’s God, the LORD, has found anything good in. 14 The LORD will choose for himself a king of Israel. That king will destroy the family of Jeroboam. It will start now, yes, even today! 15 Also, the LORD will hit the country of Israel. It will move like a thin plant that is growing in a stream. The LORD will take Israel away from this good country that he gave to their ancestors. He will move them beyond the River Euphrates. That is because they made the LORD very angry. They did that when they made Asherah poles. 16 And the LORD will give Israel to its enemies because of Jeroboam’s sin. Also, it is because Jeroboam caused Israel’s people to sin.’

17 Then Jeroboam’s wife stood up. She left the house and she went to Tirzah. When she walked through the door of her house, the boy died. 18 They buried him and all Israel cried about his death. This is what the LORD had said would happen by his servant the prophet Ahijah.

19 There is a book with reports about the kings of Israel. They wrote about everything else that King Jeroboam did, in this book. It includes his wars and how he ruled his people. 20 Jeroboam was king for 22 years. Then he died and they buried him with his ancestors. His son Nadab was king after him.

Rehoboam dies

21 Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was the king of Judah. He was 41 years old when he became king. He ruled for 17 years in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. The LORD put his Name in Jerusalem. Rehoboam’s mother was called Naamah. She came from the country called Ammon. 22 The people in Judah did what the LORD did not like. Their sins made the LORD angrier than the sins of their ancestors had done. 23 They also had made high places for themselves. They had put Asherah poles on every high hill and under every big tree. 24 There were even temples where men could have sex with other men for money in Judah. The people did all these very bad things. They were the things that the people did before the Israelites came. The LORD had killed all those people.

25 After Rehoboam had been king for 5 years, Shishak attacked Jerusalem. Shishak was the king of Egypt. 26 He took away the valuable things from the temple of the LORD. He also took the valuable things from the king’s palace. He took away everything. That includes the shields that Solomon had made with gold. 27 So Rehoboam made shields with bronze. His soldiers used these instead of the shields of gold. The soldiers stood at the door of the king’s palace to keep out enemies. 28 Every time that the king went to the LORD‘s temple, the soldiers carried the shields. After that, they took them back to the room where they stored them.

29 There is a book with reports about the kings of Judah. People wrote in it everything that King Rehoboam did. 30 There was always a war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. So Rehoboam died and they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. Rehoboam’s mother’s name was Naamah. She came from the country called Ammon. Then, Rehoboam’s son Abijam became king after him.

Notes about chapter 14 ^{▼▼14:31 Verse 2. Ahijah first met Jeroboam in 1 Kings 11:29.} ^{▼▼14:31 Verse 19. We do not have this book. We do not know what this book was. Nobody knows where it is.} ^{▼▼14:31 Verse 21. ‘Put his Name’ is a strange group of words. Maybe it meant that it was God’s own city. Or maybe it meant that he lived there. Isaiah and Revelation tell us that he will live there on the New Earth.}