Synopsis of the Chapter
The wife of Jeroboam, going to the prophet Ahijah for the health of her son, receives from him dire threats from God. Then, from verse 29, the remaining deeds of both Jeroboam and Rehoboam are recounted.
Verse 1: Abijah the Son of Jeroboam Fell Ill ¶
1. ABIJAH THE SON OF JEROBOAM FELL ILL — God punishing the idolatry of Jeroboam through the illness and death of his son.
CHANGE YOUR CLOTHING (so that having put off royal garments you may put on common clothes, and go alone without an escort) SO THAT YOU MAY NOT BE RECOGNIZED AS THE WIFE OF JEROBOAM — lest Ahijah, who conferred the kingdom on me with the obligation of preserving the true faith and worship of God, seeing that I have erected golden calves as idols, should sharply rebuke or reject you and me, and not deign to give an answer. This wife the Roman Septuagint asserts to have been the older sister of the queen of Egypt, and they call her Ano; Lucifer of Cagliari, in On Apostate Kings, calls her Anna. So Serarius and Salianus.
Verse 3: Ten Loaves and a Cake ¶
3. AND A CAKE. — In Chaldean: and cakes; the Septuagint: and pastilles; Vatablus: sweet breads; in French, des gauffres (waffles): for they were accustomed to stamp upon them a certain form in which there were holes. For in Hebrew nickudim means "dotted things," namely cakes or pastries marked and distinguished with dots. This queen offers gifts not royal but common and rustic (as she was pretending to be), namely loaves, cakes, and a jar of honey.
Verse 6: I Have Been Sent to You as a Harsh Messenger ¶
6. BUT I HAVE BEEN SENT TO YOU AS A HARSH MESSENGER — to announce that the son for whom you consult me will die, and to inflict other far greater disasters by God's command: because Jeroboam was hard and obstinate toward God; but for a hard knot a hard wedge must be sought.
Verse 10: I Will Bring Evil upon the House of Jeroboam ¶
10. AND I WILL STRIKE DOWN FROM THE HOUSE OF JEROBOAM HIM WHO URINATES AGAINST THE WALL — that is, every male: for only males urinate against the wall, says Elias in his Tishbite. Or rather, as if to say: I will kill every living thing in the house of Jeroboam, down to a dog, so that I will not leave even a living dog in it: for only dogs with raised leg sprinkle the wall with their water, as if to say: I will not spare even the dogs. So Theodoret, Vatablus, Serarius.
AND HIM WHO IS SHUT UP — that is, confined in prison, or hidden at home.
AND THE LAST — that is, the final one, who shall have been left till the end of the war, as if to say: All the rest shall eventually perish. Or "the last" means the most vile, the most abject. Scripture uses this phrase when it wishes to signify absolutely everyone, as if to say: I will destroy all the remnants and dregs of your family. In a similar manner God killed all the firstborn of Egypt, "from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the captive who was in prison," Exodus 12:29.
AND I WILL SWEEP AWAY (I will sweep, I will sweep out with brooms, I will overthrow) THE REMNANTS OF THE HOUSE OF JEROBOAM, AS DUNG (in Chaldean: manure) IS USUALLY SWEPT AWAY UNTIL IT IS CLEAN — so that nothing of the dung may remain, but the whole floor of the house may be clean.
Verse 12: When Your Feet Enter the City, the Child Shall Die ¶
12. AT THE VERY MOMENT YOUR FEET ENTER THE CITY, THE CHILD SHALL DIE — so that it may be clear that the death threatened and sent upon the child by God through me was on account of your and your husband's idols, and therefore you may grieve all the more, since you have been, as it were, the murderers of your own son. So the Emperor Valens drove away the illness sent upon his son because of Arianism through the prayers of Saint Basil; but then, calling the Arians to visit him, he lost the child.
Verse 13: He Alone Shall Be Brought to the Tomb ¶
13. FOR HE ALONE OF JEROBOAM'S FAMILY SHALL BE BROUGHT TO THE TOMB, BECAUSE SOMETHING GOOD WAS FOUND IN HIM BEFORE THE LORD. — Some think this son had done something good, for which he merited burial from God, for example, that he allowed the faithful going to Jerusalem to worship God in the temple to go. So the Rabbis. But this child was a boy, as was said in verse 12. Others better attribute this not to the son's merits but to those of some member of the household; for this is what "in the house of Jeroboam" means, as if to say: Some of the family of Jeroboam did some good things, for which God will reward them with this favor, that this son of Jeroboam may be given a proper burial. So Vatablus.
Verse 14: The Lord Shall Raise Up a King over Israel ¶
14. AND THE LORD HAS APPOINTED (has decreed to appoint) FOR HIMSELF A KING OVER ISRAEL (Baasa, the servant of Jeroboam) WHO SHALL STRIKE THE HOUSE OF JEROBOAM ON THIS DAY AND AT THIS TIME — that is, shortly, after a few days, after a brief time. For "at this time," the Hebrews have literally: and what? even now, as if to say: Indeed, from now, from this very instant, I will begin to strike Jeroboam, by killing his sick young son. Otherwise Vatablus interprets it as: What now? that is, how small and insignificant is this punishment and tribulation compared to those being prepared for King Jeroboam in the future, namely in hell. The Chaldean also translates differently: He shall exterminate from the house of Jeroboam him who lives today, and also whoever shall be born from now onward.
Verse 15: The Lord Shall Strike Israel as a Reed ¶
15. AND THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL SHALL STRIKE, AS A REED IS WONT TO BE SHAKEN — as if to say: God will strike King Jeroboam and his people Israel continually from all sides and in every direction, just as a reed is continually shaken by all winds, so that it will have no rest, but will be battered by the continual incursions, plundering, and battles of enemies, until it falls and perishes.
Furthermore, HE SHALL SCATTER (that is, He shall disperse into every wind, and through the four regions of the world and the winds He shall dissipate) THEM (the Israelites) BEYOND THE RIVER — namely the Euphrates, which was the boundary of the land promised to the Jews. This was actually accomplished when under Hoshea the last king the ten tribes were carried away by Shalmaneser into Assyria in the sixth year of King Hezekiah, as we shall hear in chapters 16 and 17.
BECAUSE THEY MADE FOR THEMSELVES GROVES — namely forests planted with trees, shady, pleasant, and wooded, in which after the manner of the Gentiles they worshipped their idols, to which they dedicated these groves. Hence in them, by feasting, getting drunk, and fornicating, they served Bacchus and Priapus, as is clear from chapter 15, verse 13. Pliny adduces other reasons for groves, book 12, chapter 1: "These," he says, "were once the temples of the gods, and by ancient custom the simple countryside; even now they dedicate a distinguished tree to God: we worship not so much images gleaming with gold and ivory as groves and in them the very silences. The kinds of trees sacred to their respective deities are perpetually preserved, as the oak to Jupiter, the laurel to Apollo, the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus, the poplar to Hercules. Indeed we believe that sylvan spirits and fauns and genera of goddesses are attributed to the woods, and their own divinities no less than to heaven."
Philo, in his book On the Monarchy, lists the reasons why God so strictly forbade groves: "First," he says, "because the true temple of God does not require pleasant amenities but strict purity. Next, because it is not lawful to bring there things that promote the growth of trees, that is, the excrement of animals and men. Third, because wild growth has no use, being, as the poets say, a useless burden upon the earth; while fruit-bearing trees would distract the somewhat sensible and pious from the attention of mind and religious devotion due to sacred rites. Moreover, the thick growth of woods suits evildoers seeking security from hiding places and opportunities for ambushes; but open places exposed to view, which those entering can both be seen by others and see others, are most suitable and fitting for sacred rites."
Verse 16: The Lord Shall Deliver Israel ¶
16. AND THE LORD SHALL DELIVER ISRAEL (that is, the Israelites, namely the ten tribes, into the hands of enemies, namely the Assyrians) ON ACCOUNT OF THE SINS OF JEROBOAM. — Note here four most grave plagues with which God chastised the public idolatry of Jeroboam. First, He foretells that his young son will die. Second, that he himself will perish with all his descendants, and with infamy, so that they will lack burial and be torn by dogs and wild beasts. Third, that the kingdom will be transferred from Jeroboam and his family to another king. Fourth, that the entire people will be carried off into captivity.
Verse 19: The Rest of the Deeds of Jeroboam ¶
19. AND THE REST OF THE WORDS (that is, deeds; it is a metonymy) OF JEROBOAM, etc., ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE WORDS (deeds) OF THE DAYS OF THE KINGS OF ISRAEL — namely in the Annals, Chronicles, and Diaries in which the deeds of the kings and people of Israel were recorded day by day. Some think this book is the Book of Paralipomenon (Chronicles); but they err, because this book is cited in the book of Paralipomenon (Chronicles), and therefore was written before the book of Paralipomenon as well as before the books of Kings (for it is cited in them here and elsewhere). See Abulensis, Prooemium to the book of Paralipomenon.
Verse 21: Rehoboam Reigned in Judah ¶
21. NOW REHOBOAM — having finished the deeds of Jeroboam, the first king of Israel, he passes to the deeds of Rehoboam, the first king of Judah.
THAT HE MIGHT PLACE HIS NAME THERE. — "Name," that is, the knowledge of His name, faith, worship, adoration, as well as renown, fame, glory, miracles, oracles, etc. For in Jerusalem there was the temple, priests, pontiffs, and prophets, who instructed and advanced the people in the faith and worship of God.
AND THE NAME OF HIS MOTHER WAS NAAMAH THE AMMONITE — namely the sister or daughter of Shobi, whom David had appointed king of the Ammonites in place of Hanun who had been defeated in war, who therefore, in order to bind David more closely to himself, requested that Naamah be given as wife to Solomon the son of David, as I said in 2 Kings 17:27. David granted this because Naamah said she wished to convert to Judaism; but Vatablus and Emmanuel Sa, and others suspect that her conversion was feigned and pretended, and that she remained in her heart a pagan and a worshipper of her gods; indeed, that she drew Rehoboam her son to their worship: and that this was the cause of the growing strength of idolatry in Judah. For therefore Scripture immediately adds here: "And Judah did evil before the Lord, etc. For they also built for themselves altars and statues and groves." Let princes learn here how dangerous and displeasing to God it is to marry the daughters of infidels or heretics, even if they say they wish to convert to the faith: for they say this out of hope for a kingdom or principate; because it is difficult for them to seriously uproot from their heart the heresy which they absorbed from childhood. Hence also David, by marrying Maacah the daughter of the king of Geshur, begat Absalom from her. But what kind of man was Absalom? Surely a fratricide and parricide, because he conspired against the life of his father with all Israel. Furthermore, the daughter or granddaughter of Absalom was Maacah, who received this name from her grandmother, namely Absalom's mother, and she was the wife of Rehoboam, and imitating the idolatry and crimes of her grandmother, she herself, or rather her sister or granddaughter, became the chief priestess of the rites of Priapus, whom therefore her son Asa deposed, as we shall hear in the following chapter, verse 13. The propagation therefore of idolatry, as well as of heresy (as I showed from Saint Jerome on 2 Timothy 3:6), was accomplished through women, as lovers of novelty and obstinate in their own judgment.
Verse 22: Judah Did Evil before the Lord ¶
22. AND JUDAH DID EVIL — namely idols, which are antonomastically called "evil" or "sin," because they are the supreme crime. Note that Rehoboam for the first three years of his reign persevered with his tribe of Judah in the faith and worship of the true God; but after these years had passed, he abandoned it and permitted various debauched practices of effeminate men: for which reason God in the fifth year of his reign sent against him Shishak king of Egypt, who captured and plundered Jerusalem, all of which is clear from what follows and from 2 Paralipomenon chapter 11, verse 17, and chapter 12. The cause of the idolatry was partly the mother of Rehoboam, namely the aforementioned Naamah; partly his wife Maacah, of whom verse 21; partly the proximity of idolaters: for all the nations round about, and especially the ten tribes of Israel, worshipped idols, and many of them flourished in peace, wealth, and luxuries, and enticed the Jews their neighbors to worship their idols, promising them a similar abundance of goods from their gods.
Verse 24: There Were Effeminate Men in the Land ¶
24. AND THERE WERE ALSO EFFEMINATE MEN IN THE LAND — as if to say: The idolaters, with Rehoboam's permission, established brothels, not only of prostitutes but also of male harlots, that is, of male prostitutes, catamites, for the perverse and accursed lust, such as the impious Simon established, 2 Maccabees 4:9. Behold, the fruit of idolatry, as well as of heresy, is lust, and that an infamous and horrible kind; for the foul demons whom they worshipped in idols wished to be worshipped in this way, so as to drive men to every filth and every crime, to the injury of God their Creator, and to provoke His offense and vengeance.
Verse 25: Shishak King of Egypt Came Up to Jerusalem ¶
25. AND IN THE FIFTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF REHOBOAM (God punishing his apostasy and idolatry) SHISHAK KING OF EGYPT CAME UP TO JERUSALEM — with sixty thousand horsemen and an innumerable infantry collected from Egyptians, Libyans, Troglodytes, and Ethiopians, as is said in 2 Paralipomenon 12:3. Herodotus in Josephus calls "Shishak" "Sesostris;" by Diodorus, book 1, he is called "Sesoosis," who also adds that columns were erected by him in Palestine on which were carved female genitals, to mark the lust of the inhabitants, and through their effeminacy and cowardice, as if they had lost their manhood and, timid like women, had not dared to take up arms and resist him. This Shishak seems to have been a relative of Rehoboam: for his father Solomon had married a daughter of Pharaoh, of whom Shishak appears to have been the successor and son in the kingdom of Egypt (1).
Verse 26: He Took the Treasures of the House of the Lord ¶
26. AND HE TOOK THE TREASURES OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, etc. — Shishak plundered Jerusalem, but did not overthrow it, both because in Jerusalem there were found good works of penance, namely of religion, prayer, sacrifices, and almsgiving, by which pious men had overturned the divine wrath, and begged God's forgiveness, 2 Paralipomenon 12:12, and because King Rehoboam, seeing Shishak devastate Judea, repented with his people, saying: "The Lord is just," as is said in 2 Paralipomenon 12:6, where it is also added: "And when the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying: Because they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them, and I will give them a little help, and My fury shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem through the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall serve him, that they may know the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the earth:" what it means, namely, to serve God versus serving a man, like King Shishak. For God enriches and exalts His servants, while Shishak brings them low and despoils them. Finally in the same place about Rehoboam, verse 14, it is said: "And he did evil, and did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord."