Commentary on 1 Kings 14:7–9 (Summary)

1 Kings 14:7–16 go together because the linguistic structure demands it. 1 Kings 14:7 begins with a command to the woman to go back to her husband Jeroboam and deliver a message to him. The message begins with the word because, which prepares the hearer to be given a reason or reasons for some conclusion that will follow. In this case, the reasons consist of two things that the Lord has done for Jeroboam and the miserable response that Jeroboam has returned to the Lord. The conclusion then begins in 1 Kings 14:10. So, we have this kind of thought: because the goodness of God to Jeroboam and his disobedience in return, therefore, the result will be God’s unbearable judgment on him and his descendants.

Ahijah speaks God's message to King Jeroboam's wife, whom Ahijah commissions to pass along to her husband. There may have been a number of reasons for this way of doing things. Ahijah was almost blind, which would make the relatively long journey to Tirzah (many miles to the north of Shiloh) difficult for the prophet. Further, the woman was present and was, therefore, capable of carrying the message. The nature of the prophecy might have made the situation dangerous for Ahijah, if he had delivered the bad news to the king.

Apart from the commonplace reasons listed above, there is another issue we might be advised to consider. The fact that the prophecy was not to be delivered directly to Jeroboam was possibly a demonstration of the Lord's contempt for Jeroboam and his entire family.

Whether or not that possibility is true, it does prepare us for something that is true. Ahijah’s message from God is not just a warning, calling for a change in behaviour. It is a pronouncement of a settled determination of the Lord to be done with Jeroboam and the continuation of his family line of rule.

We now, therefore, consider the reasons for the judgment given in 1 Kings 14:7–9. The Lord mentions that he is the One who took Jeroboam from relative obscurity and placed him as the leader over Israel. Moreover, that place was not a man behind the throne, but a tearing away of the kingdom from the descendants of David, so that he would be not just a leader, but the king of Israel, taking the place of the heirs of David.

Yet, the name of David is not dropped with the mention of his house. David serves as part of the indictment that leads to the unendurable judgment. Though God removed the kingship of Israel from David’s family, he still uses David as the mark of faithfulness to which Jeroboam is unfavourably compared. David, said the Lord, kept his commandments and completely followed him with all his heart, doing only what God considers right.

How are we to read the Lord's evaluation of David? The reader may ask the question because the biblical record presents a portrait of David that is considerably less than perfect. How can the One who cannot lie use such glowing language of David?

Many commentators deal with this supposed discrepancy by suggesting that we are to interpret the language as it is relative to Jeroboam. His evil, they suggest, is so great that by comparison it is as if David were a perfect man.

But does this treatment go far enough? The words that come out of the mouth of the Lord are always true. We may be looking at the issue from the wrong perspective. We need to adjust our vision.

When the name of David is mentioned to us, we think of him as a historical figure, who lived and died and has gone from the stage of history. The eternal God, however, thinks of David from the standpoint of eternity. As Jesus reminds us, God is the God of the living and not of the dead. From that standpoint, David is perfect. The writer of Hebrews tells us that in our worship we come to the spirits of the righteous made perfect (Hebrews 12:23). In that same verse, God is mentioned immediately before these righteous men made perfect, and he is called God the judge of all. Therefore, it is the judgment of God that has found them made perfect. Through Jesus Christ and through the glorifying work of God, all who live with him in eternity are indeed perfect.

What we have said, however, is not a complete answer to the apparent overstatement of the Lord’s language concerning David. There is another issue that ought to be considered as David and Jeroboam are contrasted.

David is described by the Bible in 1 Samuel 13:14 as a man after God’s own heart. This described the inner posture of his soul. As grievous as David’s sins were, they did not alter his inner orientation.

On the contrary, Jeroboam had no inner commitment to God. He acted more wickedly, says the Lord, than all who were before him in Israel. This statement includes Solomon, on account of whom the kingdom was torn away from David’s house. It also includes Saul, who also lost his opportunity to be the monarch whose descendants would rule Israel perpetually.

Particularly, the Lord singles out the making of metal images. This emphasis focuses our attention on the calves of Dan and Bethel, but it may not be limited to them. It also focuses our attention on the second commandment that forbids the making of physical images for worship.